Prologue
When the comet first appeared in the sky, nopony paid it any mind, even as it grew larger with each day. When it eventually entered the atmosphere and crashed somewhere in the badlands, we still paid it no mind. After all, the only creatures that made their home in the badlands were the banished changeling colonies, and the majority of Equestria's dragons. We didn't much care what became of the changelings, and dragons are extremely tough, they would be fine.
It wasn't until the attack that destroyed Appleloosa that we finally paid attention. A dragon, unlike any that had ever been seen before, emerged from the badlands and laid waste to the town. It was, changed. Bigger, meaner, more vicious than any creature in Equestrian history. Almost mindless in its desire for destruction. And it proved nigh on unstoppable.
Through some miraculous good fortune, no-one in Appleloosa was killed, though many were injured. After it destroyed the town, the dragon cut a path of destruction across the landscape, torching everything in sight; only narrowly passing both Dodge Junction and Ponyville, until finally it reached Canterlot itself.
The Royal Canterlot Army could not halt its advance. Their weapons and magic simply bouncing off the creatures scaly hide. Desperate to stop it, Celestia summoned Twilight and her friends to try the Elements of Harmony against it. But even the power of the Elements of Harmony themselves proved ineffective against the beast, and the six of them barely escaped the battle with their lives.
It took the combined efforts of princess Celestia, princess Luna and princess Twilight to finally bring the creature down. It left them all magically exhausted. It also left Celestia, who dealt the killing blow, somewhat traumatized. All ponies hold life sacred, and Celestia more so than anyone. That she was forced to kill the creature only showed just how dire the situation had become. For the first time in recorded memory, a pony had been forced to take the life of another creature.
Much of Canterlot city lay in ruin. And this time, there were fatalities. But the tragedy did not end there. As if striking one last blow from beyond the grave, the dragons body ruptured, spilling blood and other fluids everywhere. As unpleasant as that was, the true danger didn't become apparent until a few days later when ponies became violently ill. The dragons body fluids proved to be extremely toxic. Many more ponies succumbed to the toxins and the city had to be largely evacuated. It took the best science ponies over a month to find a way to safely dispose of the toxic dragon blood. And the cleanup itself took almost as long. Finally we dared to breathe easy again. Finally there was time to mourn the dead, and life could return to normal. Or so we hoped. It was not meant to be.
The second dragon emerged three weeks later from the San Palomino desert and wiped Las Pegasus off the map, before making a beeline towards Ponyville and Canterlot. It was finally brought down during the battle of Ghastly Gorge when Pegasi from Cloudsdale dropped the cities entire lightning supply on it. The resulting devastation collapsed much of the gorge and buried the dragon under a landslide. When a third dragon eventually emerged from the badlands, we realized this was not gonna stop.
Thousands of refugees fled the south. Flooding Ponyville and Canterlot. Even more fled further north to Manehattan and Van Hoover. Dodge Junction was abandoned and booby trapped by the weather Pegasi, hoping to slay the beast before it could reach a populated area. But it wasn't enough. Though wounded, the dragon took to the sky and chased the fleeing Pegasi all the way back to Cloudsdale. In a desperate attempt to save the floating city, princess Celestia launched an all out assault on the dragon. Luring it away from Cloudsdale. With the last of her strength she managed to blast the beast from the sky by obliterating one of its wings, and impale its falling body on one of Canterlot Castle's towers, ending the threat. The dragons bulk crushed much of the Castle. Reducing it to ruin. Her reserves spent, Celestia collapsed and slipped into a magical coma.
The loss of Celestia sent a ripple of fear across the length and breadth of Equestria. Panic induced riots broke out in the remaining cities and towns, causing almost as many casualties as the dragon attacks. Princess Luna, realizing that the situation was unsustainable, ordered the evacuation of all the remaining citizens. Sending them north to the Crystal Empire. The peaks of the Crystal Mountain range and the open wastes of the frozen north should hopefully provide a natural barrier against the dragons. At the very least it would buy them time. Realizing that the Crystal Empire could not possibly harbor so many refugees, the city of Cloudsdale itself was moved in its entirety across the northern wastes until it hovered over the very spires of the Crystal Empire itself.
Celestia has been placed in a secure room inside the crystal palace. The best doctors have examined her. Physically she is unharmed. But no matter what we try, we simply can't wake her. And so the task of raising the sun and leading the kingdom fell to Luna.
Not just the ponies fled to the frozen north either. Large groups of Griffon's, Buffalo and even Diamond Dogs arrived at the city in droves. With so many new arrivals the city was soon bursting at the seams.
We were given no respite though. At least one dragon followed the trail of the evacuees all the way into the frozen north and assaulted the Crystal Empire itself. Using the power of the Elements of Harmony to amplify the Crystal Heart, a shield was erected to protect the city. It held, but the dragon was relentless. For three days and nights it pounded on the shield. Even trying to dig under it at one point. In order to lure the dragon away from the empire, the Wonder Bolts along with several brave volunteers launched a series of hit and run attacks against the dragon. Applejack and Twilight had to physically restrain Rainbow Dash, to stop her from joining them. Without their elements the crystal heart would not have enough power to maintain the barrier. After three grueling hours, the Wonder Bolts were finally able to lead the beast off into the frozen wastes. Neither they nor the dragon ever returned. A memorial service was held for their bravery.
Days passed with no sign of the dragons. But nopony dared venture away from the city for fear of attracting more of them. Food supplies were becoming strained and the tension and misery that hung over the city was thick enough to cut with a knife.
Salvation finally came thanks to Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer.
Desperate to find a solution, Twilight had once more traveled through the dimensional mirror to Earth, after finding a way to force open the portal. If she could not find a solution there, then she could at least see about securing a supply line for food, or a way to evacuate the city's population to Earth should the shield fail.
After explaining the situation to the former unicorn turned human, they not only set up a supply line for food and produce with the help of Applejacks earthen counterpart, but the rest of them came up with a solution both brilliant and so insane it nearly gave Discord a stroke from laughter. I believe the Draconequus called it: “Audaciously crazy.”
Using a combination of Equestrian magic and technology from Earth, they began a project to design a weapon that would allow ponykind to stand up against the dragons. It was dubbed Project Sleipnir, after a famous horse from Earth mythology, or so I am told. But I digress.
Based on works of fiction from Sunsets adopted home, she and Twilight designed gigantic mechanical ponies of crystal and steel. Controlled by magic and powered by the very energy of the crystal heart itself. These Sleipnir would be armed with weapons the likes of which have never been seen in Equestria. To control the Sleipnir, three ponies would be required. Two ponies of any species, moving in sync to dictate the Sleipnir's actions, and one unicorn to link their minds to the Sleipnir with magic.
It took more than a year for the project to be realized. Gold, metal and gems had to be dug up. The Diamond Dogs proved invaluable In not only locating and extracting the precious metal and gemstones. But in forging the metals as well. While we have many brilliant crafts-ponies, we actually use very little metal for our day to day needs. Diamond Dogs, while more interested in gemstones have knowledge and skill in metalworking that surpasses that of ponies.
The processed gold and gems would then be sent through the mirror to Earth, to exchange for currency to acquire both food and Earth technology, as well as other resources we lacked. An entire underground network had to be set up to smuggle these back through the portal to Equestria.
Radio transmitters. Raw materials such as rare metals we could not dig up in the Equestrian north itself. Hydroponics to establish underground greenhouse gardens. Even advanced computers. And then of-course ponies had to learn how to work with and adapt these devices. Sunsets knowledge proved invaluable in this effort once again. She trained a handful of ponies who then instructed another handful. And so the knowledge spread exponentially.
The city itself would need to be expanded to accommodate the project. New housing needed to be build. Workshops constructed. Factories raised. It was a monumental undertaking. Not only did the city expand across a large area on the surface, but underground as well. Vast caverns were dug and reinforced by both mundane and magical means. Hangars and launch bays were build to house the first of the Sleipnir. Long caverns were dug out to create hydroponic farms so we could once again provide food for ourselves.
A new army needed to be trained, as well as ponies to handle logistics and operations. Defenses needed to be build. Outposts, constructed to alert us to the approach of dragons, and ponies needed to be trained to staff them all. In the end our little ponies had to change and adapt to the new way of life. They had to become, harder, tougher. In order to survive, to preserve our very world, as distasteful as it was, they needed to learn to kill. Truly these are dark times.
In the end, the city became a fortress. The last bastion of ponykind in an increasingly hostile world. Our final refuge. No matter what may come, no matter how things turn out in the end, one thing is certain. Equestria will never be the same.
And yet, as I stand here looking out across the city, with the first stage of the project nearing completion, for the first time in a long time I look towards the future with a sense of hope.
Princess Cadance, signing off.