In the far reaches of Equestria, is a beautiful and shining city, known only as the Crystal Empire. Normally, it's buildings shimmered in the sunlight, and glistened in the moon.
Normally...
Now the sun is obstructed by a wall of shadowy smoke. The crystals, that once sparkled and shined, now fall dull and lifeless. At night, a pony could barely see their hooves in front of their face. Even the crystal ponies, ponies whose coats and manes were almost as glossy as the empire itself, have become solemn and sullen, which is reflected by their dull and dark fur and mane. These ponies were slaves. Forced to mine the crystals that make up their empire and create statues of their evil tyrant ruler. It has been this way for many years. Now, however, this empire has one more chance for peace. The Royal Sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, along with both the Royal Guards, and Luna's bat pony Guards of the Night, have made a push for the empire, and now sit on the outskirts of its border. The troops have been rallied, and Princess Celestia and Luna have readied their weapons. Celestia carried a halberd, covered in the color of her armor, a bright yellow. The halberd, had a very intricate design and could channel Celestia's magic into powerful blasts of energy. Both the sharp axe part and spear tip at the end where sharpened and polished to perfection. Luna carried a dark blue sword, the hilt carrying the symbol on her flank. This sword, also coming to an extremely strong point and matching the color of her armor, also had properties that reacted to her magic. She could create magical copies or duplicates of her sword to be flung at her enemy as well as create, what can only be described as portals that sped up her movements, allowing her to slash through her enemies.
The sisters readied themselves and flew toward a destination none of their guards could reach, the center of the empire, which yielded a massive castle. Inside this castle, was the pony they were looking for. But who was the tyrant. He is known by many names, but from creation, he was given one true title...
Sombra, King of Shadows
In his castle, Sombra looked out over the empire, his empire, and sighed. A rather normal and laid back reaction, for the king of shadows himself. It's almost as if he knew his fate.
A moving shadow approached Sombra, and stopped about two feet behind him. From this shadow, a pony rose up and materialized behind Sombra. This pony's face, if existent, was not visible, being covered by a suit of full black armor. An axe rested on it's holster on it's back.
"Sir, the two alicorns are..."
"On their way here? Yes, I guessed as much." Said Sombra, clearly knowing that the arrival of the sisters was inevitable.
"We should secure a perimeter in the throne room to hold them back from the Crystal Heart." the guard suggested.
"My thoughts exactly commander."
"Right! My men and I will..."
"...go hold off the ground troops." replied Sombra, finishing the other pony's sentence.
"But... my lord, why should we..."
"Commander, don't you see? The ground troops are obviously trying to storm the base of the castle with little resistance, we need to surprise them and fortify the base of the castle. Even I can't take on hundreds on ponies and bat ponies. Besides, what could you and your men do to an alicorn?" Sombra spoke calmly, considering the situation he was in, yet still had that sense of annoyance in his voice.
"Um, yes my lord. But what about you?" asked the commander reluctantly
"Me?" asked Sombra, with an obviously fake sense of concern in his voice.
Suddenly, a scythe, made entirely from crystals materialized from the ground, which he grasped with his magic. the scythe's handle was not a straight line either. It slants diagonally about half way up the scythe, which is where he is grasping it with his magic.
"I think I'll manage."
He then let his scythe rest on his "shoulder".
"Before you begin your defense, Is the Crystal Heart still on the top of the castle where I left it." asked Sombra, this time with a bit of legitimacy in his voice.
"Yes, my lord, it is still there, there is no way that anyone will figure the way down there without the knowledge of advanced shadow magic."
"Good, this combined with my other trap will ensure that Equestria will be mine... even if I do fall today."
"Other trap, my lord?" asked the guard without a clue of what Sombra was talking about."
"I have harnessed the power of the Crystal Heart, and with my magic, shaped that magic into something even more powerful."
"Really, my lord?"
"Yes, now go, commander, and hold the line as if you life depended on it, *scowls* which it does."
"Y-Yes my lord!" yelled the guard, fearing for his life. He then turned to shadow once more and scurried off
Sombra now made his way to the throne room to secure his position and guard the entrance toward the catacombs, which lead to the Crystal Heart.
"Heh heh, soon they will all fear me..." strated Sombra, who looked through the window at the ongoing battle.
"...and the power of the Shadow Heart."
----------
1000 years later
"Rainbow Dash! Give me back my hat!"
"Or else what? You'll come up here and get me? Hah hah hah!"
"Or else I'll hog tie ya up and feed ya to the nearest pack of Timberwolves!"
On the far outskirts of Ponyville, 6 best friends, for now, where enjoying a picnic far from their town of residence, to simply enjoy the beauty of nature. As well as being as far away from Sweet Apple Acres as possible due to the Cutie Mark Crusader next crazy attempt at a cutie mark. The phrase...
"Cutie Mark Crusader Marching Band, Yaaaaaaay!"
...would give them nightmares for weeks.
Luckily, clear calendars for all Element bearers meant a perfect day for a picnic, and a perfect day for Rainbow Dash to be Rainbow Dash.
"Hah hah, hah hah, this is RICH. I've never... WOAH!'
The sudden stop was a result of a certain farm pony getting sick of chasing a certain multi-colored Pegasus for her hat and used her lasso to grab her legs and yank her to the ground.
"Uhhhh, heh heh, you weren't serious about the whole Timberwolves thing were you?" asked Rainbow Dash with her legs tied, and her confidence gone.
"Well, I am the Element of Honesty, not Kindness or Generosity, soooooooo." Said Applejack with a grin on her face and rolling her eyes for the last part.
"Please! No! I'm too talented to die! I'll never pull another prank again! Please!" said Rainbow, scared out of her wits. Not because she thinks AJ would do that, but because AJ NEVER goes back on her word.
"Pinkie Promise?"
"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! Ok! Just PLEASE untie me!" bellowed the rainbow mare, doing the motions and all that.
"In that case." Applejack said before untying Rainbow Dash
"Heh, good, I was losing circulation in my legs, I wasn't scraed or anything though!
"Oh really?" asked Applejack
"I, ur, oh Fluttershy, are those cupcakes?" asked Rainbow, trying to avoid AJ."
"Heh heh, while that was really amusing AJ, you really shouldn't threaten ponies like that.
"And ponies shouldn't steal other ponies hats."
"Hmph. Touché."
"Wow, some Princess of Friendship you are." said Raibow sarcastically."
"Look on the bright side, at least now Rainbow Dash can't prank us anymore."
"What! I..."
*Applejack's glare*
"Uh, yeah, no more pranks from this mare."
"Finally my wardrobe is safe from, oh, I don't know, THUNDER STORMS DIRECTLY OVER MY HEAD!" screamed Rarity, clearly carrying personal baggage into this statement
"I don't know what your talking about."
"Hmph. Fine, be that way."
"Wow, Fluttershy, this food is amazing." said Twilight, in utter amazment
"Oh, thank you, Twilight. I just wanted to make this picnic memorable so I..."
"It's ok Fluttershy. We don't need to hear why you took MY job, that I usually do, that makes EVERYONE else happy." Pinkie rambled, getting more and more aggressive with each word. She then went to Fluttershy's ear and whispered...
"I'm on to you"
"Um, ok" Fluttershy whispered as hid behind her mane."
Twilight then got up and said...
"I'm just glad we could all make it here and enjoy this lovely day, I've been pretty busy with getting accustomed to being a princess and studying the map, that I'm lucky I had time to..."
Twilight was then interrupted by a message that would change her life, as well as her friends lives forever.
Above Ponyville, a large rectangle of magic floated above the city. Inside this rectangle, was a familiar face.
Princess Celestia
The ponies could only see her neck and above, so it was clear she was sending Ponyville a message. Twilight took a close look at Canterlot on the mountainside to see a similar rectangle above the city.
"What's happening? Why is the Princess sending us a message?" thought Twilight out loud, concern riddling her voice.
"And why does she seem so upset?" asked Fluttershy
She was right, the Princess had a grave look on her face, which didn't bode well considering the apparent urgency of the message.
This grave nature followed her through all her words.
"My dear citizens of Equestria, I am afraid a time of mass crisis is upon us, and I must act and speak quickly. Not particularly for my sake but for... yours."
"A dangerous threat is approaching you, all of you, all over Equestria. The properties, origins, or specifics of this threat is unknown, but one thing is for certain."
"It is deadly."
"The danger is some form of...creature. Creatures to be more specific. They are powerful and plentiful. Brute force alone with our strength, numbers, and technology will not put a stop to these creatures. They can wipe out entire cities. I know this... because they already have."
"They have already wiped out 3 cities, Las Pegasus, Trottingham, and... Manehatten."
*gasp*
"They have destroyed buildings, filled the streets, and... killed ponies in those 3 cities. My extreme condolences to all friends and family lost in the experience."
"I must protect the rest of my citizens, so, I will."
"I am forming barriers around all Equestrian cities still running as well as some other cities outside, but still close to Equestria."
"The barrier will fully close around you in 5 minutes. If your town is fine 1 hour after the barrier closes, executives, send a message via magic to me in Canterlot, and I will know to keep your barrier up."
"All ponies, not in their town at this moment please, for you own safety, run, fly, teleport, do anything you can to get back."
"And for anyone still outside their city after these 5 minutes... I'm sorry."
"Please stay safe."
Suddenly, the rectangle disappeared, and a flash shined above Ponyville and a force field slowly began to fall around the town.
And the hearts of the six ponies in that clearing fell deep into their chests.