//------------------------------//
// Learning the Start of War 
// Story: MLP: Journey Across Time 
// by B. J. Williams 
//------------------------------//

	He was about to go to the library, a message came through the room. "When I talked about the Heriotza, I forgot to mention that all members have a reaper tattooed underneath their mane." The message stated. Basil just rolled his eyes.
"Tirac, there is no such thing as the Heriotza." Then, he threw the message away hoping that they didn't exist. The next morning came. Basil was in the library. One of the walls had a bookshelf filled with books all of the non-fictional books were taken down because of Basil. Rainbow Dash came down from her room.
"What's up, Basil?" She looked up and saw a book. "Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god." She pulled out the book. "It's the legendary Daring Do – Doctor Whooves crossover. I so wanted to read this." Rainbow Dash sat down on the couch and started reading it. She completely forgot about Basil.
Twilight comes in afterward. She noticed the books on the ground and Basil looking through them. Basil was tired. Nislatrom came in with her.
"Basil, what's going on?" Twilight asked.
"I'm looking around for information." Basil replied.
"About what?"
"Something called the death guard."
"Death Guard."
"Oh, that?" Nislatrom stated. "The group does not exist." Basil showed a sign of relief. "However," The relief was then gone. "There was a similar group that existed during the fall of Equestria."
"I never heard about the fall of Equestria." Twilight Sparkle replied.
"I don't know much about it." Basil said. "I only knew the legend of Celestia and Discord."
"Unfortunately, the legend only covers part of what happened during the fall of Equestria." Nislatrom said. "I did research on the fall of Equestria. It actually triggered the Great Pony War."
"Can you tell us?" Twilight asked.
"Are you sure? It is not a pretty picture."
"Please, tell us." Of course, Rainbow Dash was not paying attention due to reading.
"Fine, I will tell you." Nislatrom began his story.

300 years after your time, Equestria was anything but magical. It has turned into a hell hole with so many social problems it’s not even funny. The upper class had kept Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in the dark, deceiving them on what was really going on. They told them that Equestria was the best place to be, a utopia as it were, but in really the upper class was corrupted and were manipulating them for their own greedy purpose only caring for themselves, and not the lower class. The lower class only had 20% of all the wealth if even that while the upper 20% of the population had at least 80% of it. Equestria had become a false utopia.
But poverty was not the only problem. People from not as good of quality nations had some of their population deceived and were forced into slavery which was illegal. Due to the corruption, those that were caught with slaves were not punished. The minorities were discriminated against greatly by the upper class for pony supremacy. The minorities: buffalo, zebras, donkeys, rhinos, and more had suffered greatly. Sometimes some of them were killed just for fun by upper classmen. Some of the lower class would kill them because they were desperate for funds. The employees were given little benefits and crappy wages in unsafe conditions. There was a lot of moral decay. A large number of bastard ponies were born through premarital sex and even rights for the unborn were not a sure thing and the violence increased each year. As this terrorist group formed, it caused terrorism to enter in the equation and riots began to break out.
At first, every pony blamed Princess Celestia and Luna for all of the problems. Then, Discord came and terrorized Equestria. Celestia fought and sacrificed herself to kill Discord. She died believing the lies that the upper class told them. But by the time Princess Luna found out the truth, it was all ready too late. It was when the Equestria Doomsday Clock ran out of sand. And it was the last straw. 
A huge riot had broken out in Canterlot as lower class members from all across the kingdom stormed the city in revolt. The upper class was outnumbered 4 to 1. Some of the riot members wanted reform, others wanted to take over the government, while others just wanted to see chaos and watch Canterlot burn.
“Officers, do something about this.” a unicorn gentleman stated.
“I have been tired of your orders, sir.” the officer replied. He turned on the upper class man and beat him to death. Due to sheer numbers and strength, the riot had overwhelmed the police and military stationed there. Some of the riot tore down the statues of famous ponies. Others had set the city ablaze. Others threw grenades into the buildings blowing them up. While, upper class ponies were being killed indiscriminately: every last one.
Meanwhile, Luna looked out amongst the burning city in sorrow. One of the guards came to her aid the guard was wearing gold armor that has been worn.
“Princess, we must give the orders to fight back.” the guard stated. Luna only cried. “Princess?”
“I can’t believe I was that foolish to think that way and this is what I get for believing them.” Luna replied.
“I know, but we can turn this around. We can save Equestria.”
“How much sand is left in the clock?”
“What?”
“The Equestria Doomsday Clock. How much sand is in there?”
“Is that the strange hourglass in the middle of the archives?”
“Yes, please answer my question.”	
“When, I saw it this morning, there was no sand at the top.” Princess Luna sighed in sorrow. “Luna?”
“Then, there is nothing we can do.”
“What do you mean? We can save Equestria.”
“Lance, Equestria is beyond salvation. There is no hope left. The age of Equestria has come to an end. I do not know what will happen.”
“What will you do?”
“Lance, gather the guards to the border. I ask you to escort me out of Canterlot.”
“But…”
“NOW!!” Lance was a descendant of Twilight Sparkle, a purple unicorn. He gathered up the palace guards: Hopper, a descendant of Pinkie Pie; Tornado, a descendant of Rainbow Dash; Turquoise, a descendant of Rarity; Falcon, a descendant of Fluttershy; Peach Seeds, a descendant of Applebloom; And Pecan Rodelero, the father of Basil Rodelero the first. As they gathered around the Princess, they were ready to fight for the Luna.
“Good, I have a mission for you.”
“What will that be princess?” Tornado asked.
“I need the seven of you to escort me out of here.”
“As you wish, princess.”
“I will explain as we leave.” So, the ponies fought off some of the mob but they have eventually escaped the city. The guards and Luna were beaten and sore from the mob. While at the edge of a small forest, the seven looked out over the bonfire of what was Canterlot.
“So, what do we do now?” Hopper asked sadly. “That was our home.”
“Just take me to the border.”
“Why there your majesty?” Turquoise asked.
“I am no longer the princess anymore.” Luna said. “There is no place for me in this land anymore.”
“We will follow you, your majesty.” Luna gave her a cold glare.
“I said, I am not princess Luna anymore, I am just Luna.”
“But where will you go, Luna.” Falcon asked.
“Until I am able to come back peacefully, I will forever be in exile.”
“Luna,” Peach Seeds added. Luna looked at her. “We will follow you to the ends of this world to protect you.” The six smiled.
“You guys were such loyal friends, but I need to go alone.” The smiles had left the ponies faces. “For your services after I cross the border, I will release you so you do not have the burden of protecting me. I hate to part from you but I have no choice. I want to keep you safe.”
After the ponies got to the border, they parted ways with Luna, not knowing where she was going to go. It was the saddest moment in their entire life. Their future of the land remained uncertain as the centuries-long conflict began.

"By the time, it was over." Nislatrom stated. "Canterlot was in ruins. All of the upper class there was slain and Princess Luna had disappeared that day. No one knows what happened to her. After the uprising at Canterlot, the Great Pony War had begun."
"That's horrible." Twilight stated. In complete shock, she fell to the ground. "That just can't be true." She turned to Basil. "Basil, this isn't true. Is it?" She asked in denial.
"I'm sorry, Twilight." Basil replied. "What he stated was accurate." Twilight was unable to bear it. Basil then comforted her. Rainbow Dash looked up.
"Hey Twilight, why are you crying?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Rainbow, when did you get here?" Twilight replied.
"At the beginning of this chapter."
"Then, how come you aren't crying too."
"About what?"
"The story Nislatrom told."
"Wait, he was telling a story?"
"I guess she was too focused on a book." Basil stated.