Canterlot Castle was in total chaos. Everywhere one looked, there were aids, scribes, royal guards, and nobles running to and fro, all intent on fulfilling whatever desperate task they had been given. When the Changelings had been thrown back by the love between Guard Captain Shining Armor and Princess Cadence the week before, there had been a great celebration and all had been happy for the night. And the day after they were miserable, as they realized just how much damage the Changelings had caused to their beloved city.
Many citizens had been injured during the fighting or weak during the Changelings’ vicious feeding frenzy. Hospitals were packed and the doctors were having problems dealing with the sudden influx of patients. Hundreds of homes, businesses, and monuments had been damaged during the fighting as well and now all of those had to be repaired or, in some cases, completely rebuilt from the ground up. Even the palace had not been spared its battle scars. Much of the throne room was covered in scratches, holes, and scorch marks from the countless magic bolts being hurled about by both sides. And while this was the most obvious damage the palace cleaners would quickly tell you that the worst of the damage was the liberal amounts of green slime coating the walls, floor, and ceiling. It just got everywhere.
But there was one wound that all ponies, in Canterlot and beyond, felt more deeply than any injury or scar. They had all stood there at the wedding when Chrysalis had been revealed. Their beloved princess Celestia had rushed in to defeat the vile creature, but had been defeated herself. Her crown blasted from her head, her horn burned, and her royal person cast to the floor before being lifted up and encased in one of the foul queen’s slimy pods. For over a thousand years, since the banishment of Nightmare Moon, the ponies of Equestria had seen Celestia as a symbol of power and invincibility. A being that stood watch over them and would banish any evil that dared to come against her little ponies. But now that faith was being sorely tested. During the first real battle that any living Equestrian had seen the princess fight, and she was defeated in a less than a minute, without even dealing any wounds to her foe. While nopony would ever dream of removing princess Celestia from her throne, for many the days of blind faith and obedience were over. From now on, there would be far more questions that they would put before their fair princess: Far more.
However, despite this undercurrent of doubt and dissatisfaction the restoration of Canterlot was continuing apace. The scaffolding was being put up, ponies were all working side-by-side, and all seemed right with the world. Two royal guards, resplendent in their gold armor, stood watch on one of the castle’s guards towers alert for any disturbances.
“What’s that?”
“What’s what?”
“That speck there. Get me a telescope would you?” After a moment of rummaging around the second guard complied, levitating a worn telescope to the other.
“By Celestia, that’s a pegasus! Look at how fast he’s coming in. Get a medical team together, at the speed he’s going he’s not going to be able to stop himself.” Rushing down the tower stairs, the second guard came out at the base of the tower calling at the top of his voice for a medic. Within moments, a team of two medics had rushed in and followed the guard back up to the top of the tower, where his companion was still watching the rapidly nearing pegasus. Another moment passed before they could get a clear look at him without the telescope.
He was a cherry red pegasus with a black mane. The guard couldn’t make out his cutie mark from here, but he could tell that this pegasus had been through the ringer. His wings were beating fast and hard as the pegasus took gasping, shuddering breaths from sheer exertion.
“Here he comes!” yelled the first guard. “Get ready to catch him.” The other guard nodded, magic flowing into his horn. When the pegasus was finally close enough both he and his partner reached and grabbed him with their magic, trying to slow him down so he wouldn’t break a bone when he slammed into the tower. The effort was intense, but succeeded. Strong Wing crashed into the two unicorns on the tower and sent them all flying back to collide against the opposite rampart. Dazed from the impact, Strong Wing struggled to extricate himself from the two guards even as the medical ponies rushed over to help them.
The medical ponies took their time in examining the three, but there were no major injuries sustained thanks to the efforts of the guards in slowing Strong Wing down. After they had pronounced them fine the guards turned to Strong Wing expectantly.
“Whatever reason you had for coming here must be pretty important for you to be flying like that. So what is it?” Strong Wing took a deep breath as he tried to think of the best way to phrase what he was about to say.
“Manehatten has been taken by strange creatures. The city is burning and its citizens have fled, died, or been put into prison camps. I have to warn the princess before they come for them as well.” The guard’s jaws dropped open, stunned at the horrifying revelation. The first guard quickly shook himself from his stupor.
“Right. Come on, we need to see the princesses now.” They marched quickly through the fine stone hallways of the palace, the guards reflecting on what this pegasus had told them. It was horrifying. The first major battle fought in Equestria in over 1,000 years had been the Changeling Invasion which had been ended with no deaths and in one day. Now, not even a week after, more creatures had invaded. And now Equestria was on the brink of another, fiercer fight for its survival. When they arrived at the throne room, they were surprised to find both the Element Bearers and Princess Luna already in attendance.
They and Princess Celestia were discussing, in grave tones, the contents of a letter held in the princess’s magic. At the approach of the guards and Strong Wing, conversation ceased.
“Guards,” Celestia said sternly. “What do you need?” The guards stepped forward.
“Your highness, this pegasus claims to have flown here from Manehatten and has given us disturbing news about some sort of invasion.” Both princesses started at that.
“Yes,” said Celestia with a sigh. “That is what this letter says as well. Step forward my little pony. What is your name?”
“Strong Wing your highness.”
“What news do you bring Strong Wing?” asked Princess Luna quickly, concern evident on her face. Strong Wing told the princesses what he had told the guards and they both paled.
“Can you give us a physical description of the invaders?” asked Celestia. Strong Wing nodded.
“Yes princess. They stood tall on two legs. They had no coat and their skin was a pale white. They had a patch of hair on their heads and instead of hooves; they had five gripping appendages for each limb. They wore armor and carried weapons unlike anything I’ve even heard of. They also talked a lot about somepony named “Magnus.”
The princesses were now more scared than ever as they quickly glanced at each other, their worst fears confirmed: Humanity had returned to Equestria, and they had returned in fire, blood, and rage. The sins of their past had finally caught up with them. Speaking mentally with Celestia, Luna asked the question they had both been asking themselves for years.
“Do you think there is any way that we can salvage any form of relations with them Tia?” Celestia sighed.
“I don’t think so Luna. I wish we could. I wish we could make amends more than anypony could ever imagine, but after what we did to them. . .” Luna nodded sadly.
“We lost any hope of their forgiveness long ago. All we can do now is fight for our little ponies.” Celestia nodded once more and turned back towards Twilight and her friends.
“Guards could you take Strong Wing someplace where he can rest. He has had quite the journey and has done a great service for Equestria this day.” Nodding, the two guards gently led an exhausted Strong Wing out of the throne room, the great golden doors closing behind them. Once they were gone the princesses turned back towards Twilight and her friends.
“My friends,” she began. “Luna and I both know what it is we are facing. And we also know that all that has happened is solely our fault.” Spike and the mares instantly began to deny this, with the obvious exception of Twilight. Celestia quickly silenced their protests with a hoof.
“No, it is our fault. Twilight knows this tale, in part, but we must now share it with all of you and ask that you forgive our past actions.” The two princesses launched into the tale of humanity’s discovery and exodus from Equestria with one notable change: how Humanity was forced to leave.
----
Over two thousand years ago. . .
Silver Tongue, Grapevine, and Highwind stood in shame before the twin thrones of the princesses. Not only had they failed to negotiate the return of the northern lands to Equestria, but they had somehow managed to get their entire race banned from ever even entering the northern lands under threat of war. A greater failure could not have been imagined and now they knew they would pay the price for it.
Celestia and Luna looked down on them with disdain showing on their faces.
“You have failed us. Worse, you have failed Equestria. Those lands are ours by right and you have let them escape your grasp with nary a fight!” roared Celestia.
“Agreed,” said Luna. “We cannot allow such failure to go unpunished sister. Guards! Take these three to the dungeons until we can devise a punishment suiting their crime.” With a sharp salute, the royal guards quickly took the three terrified ponies and swept them from the throne room down to the dungeons.
“At any rate,” said Luna turning towards Celestia. “How should we continue dear sister? These “humans” have made clear their intentions and diplomacy has failed.” Celestia looked pensive for a moment.
“They insulted us Luna,” she said slowly. “They mocked our powers, insulted our abilities, and now they dare to deny us what is rightfully ours. What else can we do? We go to war.” Luna nodded quickly, before summoning their guard captains.
“Captains,” began Luna. “An enemy has revealed itself to us. It has seized our rightful lands and threatened our ponies and ourselves. We cannot let such evil stand unpunished. We go to war to deal with these creatures now.” The guard captains nodded before rushing off to ready their forces to march north. Days passed before their forces were fully ready, but when they marched they marched with the might of Equestria behind and both princesses leading them.
Celestia was glad in white armor the same color as her coat that shone brightly in the sunlight. On its chest plate was a stylized image of her cutie mark and from her eyes blazed forth incredible magical power. Luna was no less battle-ready in her dark blue armor, the stylized image of her cutie mark emblazoned on the chest plate. The trek north was an arduous one, but with the power of the Princesses giving them respite from the chilling winds, the soldiers were able to continue on. When they reached the first border province of humanity, many of the guards were shocked at the appearance of the humans, having never seen anything like them before.
“Forward warriors of Equestria,” bellowed Celestia from the sky above. “Destroy their outpost and drive these monsters from our shores!” The warriors were happy to comply and ran rampant through the village. The humans tried to mount a counterattack, but the shock and sheer numbers of Equestrians were too much for the small village to bear. It was quickly claimed for Equestria, but that wasn’t enough for them. After seizing any and all supplies from the village the army marched forward and left the burning husk of a village behind, where the only sound that could be heard for the next hour or so were the screams of the dying.
So it continued, village after village was seized, sacked, and burned with no compunction about keeping prisoners. It was at their first city however where humanity began its counterattack. Expecting another easy victory like those that had come before this, the Equestrian forces charged headfirst at the city’s walls, and died in droves as a hailstorm of arrows flew down at them. Over one thousand human soldiers stood on the walls, bearing bows with which they held off the encroaching army. From further behind the wall massive boulders flew out, launched by catapults stationed in the city. It seemed that humanity had finally caught its breath from the Equestrian’s vicious attacks. And while humanity finally hurt the Equestrians back, it was also here that Celestia and Luna would discover the key to their victory.
Flying down towards the walls, the two princesses launched magical fire down at the defenders, striking large groups of them down. However it was what happened after that stunned even them. The humans on either side of the downed groups began to scream in agony. Their faces burned as steam rose from them, their skin sloughing off in great heaps as their bodies collapsed under the strain. Celestia and Luna now learned just why humanity despised magic: It was anathema to them. Even exposure to strong enough magic was enough to kill them. With this secret the tide of battle was swiftly turned. Unicorns became the main attack force of the army as they delivered death to men, women, and children through sustained magical bombardments of towns.
Months passed as the Equestrians drove before them any and all human forces that stood to fight. With the discovery that magic could kill humans with relative ease, the war had become an unwinnable one for humanity. Villages, towns, cities, none were spared the torch and soon the north was aflame from one end to the other. The last city to fall to Equestria was the capital of the late Thunder Tribe. Celestia and Luna led their forces all the way to their chieftain’s citadel and there, fighting beside his warriors, was Chief Thorvaldsen himself. Celestia fought her way towards him, hoping to personally end the human who had dared to deny her what was hers by right.
When Thorvaldsen saw her, his face contorted in bitter rage and he rushed her with his battleaxe held high; old, but not yet beaten. The battle however was painfully short. Celestia easily dodged his blows and bucked him in the chest so hard she could hear his ribs crack. With her magic she held him up before her, seeing the pain that that brief magical contact caused him.
“You were a fool to oppose us human,” said Celestia triumphantly. “We are as gods and none can stand before us!” Thorvaldsen spat at her.
“Even now you continue your blasphemy. You are no goddess. If anything you are a daemon! You have burned our lands, slain our people, and for what?! Your own vanity and pride? I weep for this land; for you can only taint it with every step you take upon it. But though you have driven us away daemon know this: Just as sons must bear the sins of their father, so will your spawn bear the sins of their mother! Whether it takes a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand years, we will return to visit upon you and your spawn all the pain that you have visited upon us. Humanity shall return in a wave of blood and fire and neither you, your sister, nor your subjects will be able to stop it!” With this, Thorvaldsen finally succumbed to the pain the magic surrounding him had caused and gave his last breath.
Celestia stared at the lifeless corpse for a moment longer, pondering the man’s last words. Surely they were just the ravings of a mad man; one last desperate attempt to scare her. She heard the flapping of wings to her left as Luna landed beside her.
“The city is ours sister. Not one human remains in the city, but I saw a small fleet of ships fleeing north across the sea. Shall we give chase?” Celestia considered it for a moment before shaking her head.
“No Luna, we have won. We have no need to chase down the dying remnants of a broken race. Besides, I feel we should attend to those reports we received a week ago.”
“The strange pink clouds you mean? I’m sure it can’t be anything too serious, but if you insist sister.” With that the two alicorns leapt up from the ground and took off into the sky, soaring away from the burning north and back towards Equestria proper.
----
“And I think you know how history played out from there.” finished Celestia. Her audience was staring at her, slack-jawed and varying expressions of fear playing over their faces. Luna and Celestia could both understand this. The girls had just realized that their homes were bought with the lives of thousands and that the ones who had perpetrated that murder were their princesses. It was liable to scare anypony. However there was one pony that didn’t look afraid. Instead she looked angry, of all things.
Twilight could feel the rage building up inside her. Celestia, her princess, mentor, and friend had lied to her. Worse, the humans were right about her. She and Luna had decimated their race, burned their homes, and destroyed any mention of their race from history. Twilight had convinced herself that the humans had exaggerated, or that Celestia had done what was necessary to defend Equestria. But no, instead she and Luna had done what they had done out of their own vanity and ego. Out of greed and cruelty! It was too much for her to bear.
“You lied to me,” said Twilight slowly, rage evident in every syllable. “You lied to all of us. You slaughtered the innocent! Stole what wasn’t yours! Worse, you covered everything up!” Her friends looked at her, their faces looking at her in sympathy for her arguments and fear of her rage.
“You’re not a goddess, you’re not a princess: YOU’RE A MONSTER!” Her friends gasped and Celestia flinched at the ferocity of Twilight’s verbal onslaught.
“Twilight Sparkle, we. . .” Luna began before Twilight cut her off.
“No Luna. I don’t want to hear it right now. I’m leaving.” And with that Twilight turned to leave. Celestia looked down as tears began to form in her eyes as her most faithful student, a pony she had practically raised, turned her back on her. Twilight’s friends looked between the princess and Twilight, torn between their desire to help their friend and their desire to comfort the princess who was so obviously hurting. Eventually a sort of compromise was reached. Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie would stay with the princess while Applejack chased after Twilight.
“Twilight, Twilight!” Called out Applejack as she chased after her retreating friend. “Consarn it Twilight, where are you going?!” Twilight turned back to her friend, her eyes sad and weary.
“I go to pray Applejack.” Applejack looked at her confused.
“To pray? To pray for what?”
“For the strength to weather what is to come.”
“And just what is coming Twi?”
“The reckoning Applejack. The reckoning is to come for what was done over a thousand years ago. The humans will never forget... nor should they.” And with that Twilight walked off, leaving a scared and confused Applejack standing alone in the empty hallway of the castle.
----
“Princess you can’t be serious!” Called out Captain Shining Armor. Celestia and Luna had contacted him to apprise him of the current situation. He and Cadence were already on their way back to Canterlot to help coordinate the response.
“I am captain,” said Celestia firmly. While her heart was still aching from Twilight’s earlier words, she knew that she had to be firm. “My sister and I will lead our royal guard forces to relieve Manehatten. When you arrive at Canterlot with Cadence, you two will help to coordinate the defense of Canterlot. I have already had my scribes draw up a plan for a general draft. If all goes well, than we will have 10,000 more stallions and mares to aid us in the coming battles within a week, and another 10,000 within the month. If anymore are needed than we will widen the draft. It will be your job to train them.”
“But Princess, Canterlot will not hold them all, where will we train them? And why can’t you just wait for me to return? I could lead our forces against these “humans” myself; there is no need for the two of you to lead this attack.”
“To answer your first question, you are the only one I can trust to train them properly. In addition all of these troops will be drawn mainly from Stalliongrad, Maresville, Ponyville, and Tramplevania. They will muster at Fillydelphia and Detrot for training and arming. And as to why we must lead our forces now captain: an escaped pegasus told us that the humans have a few thousand ponies locked within a system of prison camps within the city. And from what he has told us that their living conditions are terrible. We have to protect our ponies and any further delay could cause the loss of hundreds of lives. Luna and I will lead our forces to save these ponies and we shall do so now!” Cowed by the emotion in her voice, Shining Armor simply nodded.
“Very well Princess. Cadence and I should be back in Canterlot tomorrow. I’ll begin organizing a proper defense and then make my way to Fillydelphia to oversee the training of our new recruits.” Celestia gave him a small smile.
“Thank you captain. I wish you luck.”
“Same to you princess, same to you.”
Celestia and Luna stood together on the balcony of Canterlot Castle. Gathered below them was the full force of the royal guard: 2,000 gold and blue armored soldiers standing proudly before their princesses.
“You are the greatest of our warriors,” said Luna stepping forward. “On this day, you are tasked with the liberation of your fellow Equestrians and the retaking of occupied Manehatten. We will not lie to you. This mission will be dangerous and many of you may not return from it, but know that your sacrifice will free thousands of innocent citizens from imprisonment.”
Celestia stepped forward to stand beside her sister.
“Now, follow us guardsmen: For Harmony! For Freedom! For Equestria!