Prologue
Time has been called many things. Some say it is a straight line— unchanging, unfaltering in its steady progression through the ages. Some say it is like a circle— everything that has happened before will happen again like a spinning wheel. It has even been called a big ball of timey-whimey... stuff. While I do not profess to understand the last one, I do know what time really is.
Time is a river.
It has a beginning and it has an end, though it is what happens between those points that is important. The water is a rolling mass of choices; they can either branch out and widen the banks the more of them are made, or narrow to a stream when there is no choice.
There are changes in the currents as well where some choices will send the water in two different directions, only for the
change to sort itself out on the far side of the obstruction in the river. With enough time, even these small changes will be worn down and erode away by the unrelenting flow until one questions if any choice had ever even been made at all.
Then there are the big choices, the ones that don't just change what dress you wore that day, or if you called in sick or not, or even if you decided to side with one group or another in a war. There are choices that will alter the flow of time completely, causing the river to split and flow in another direction.
Sometimes these choices will end the flow of time prematurely, dead ending into a destination far short of what the original course was going to be. Sometimes, however, this new river of time flows on just as long or longer than the main branch before reaching its end. Sometimes it even rejoins the first time line further along its path.
Splits like this do not happen often. They cannot, or time would be spread so thin it would be more like an ocean than a river. But sometimes a choice is so drastic that time itself cannot help but to diverge, even when the choice is something as small as choosing love or choosing duty.
That choice was presented to one stallion at a point in his life. He had served loyally and found love in who he served after many shared trials and tribulations. He had friends who would die for him and whom he would die for as well, who would follow him no matter his choice.
Fate offered him a cruel choice: to save the lands he was sworn to protect from a nightmare eternal, he needed to betray his love. His other choice was to let the world fall to darkness so he may remain at her side.
You are likely familiar with the first choice. Jer'rahd Kaisur, Bearer of the Element of Loyalty, sided with the Goddess of the Sun, Princess Celestia, to defeat The Goddess of the Moon, Princess Luna, who had turned into Nightmare Moon by a lust for power and supposed jealousy of the Sun Princess. Nightmare Moon was sealed away and her love and his friends followed her into imprisonment.
That is where the river splits. That is where time diverged.
In this course of the river, Jer'rahd Kaisur looked up into the eyes of Nightmare Moon while he and Princess Celestia stood on the dais in the Royal Garden and did not see anger, grief, or sadness in them. He saw relief, joy, and love. When Princess Celestia saw those eyes, she moved quickly to protect herself from the choice that was made.
Before she could even feel her magic power build, she felt the cold steel of the Waning Moon erupting through her chest as the blade tore through her.
The sun goddess's fall spelled the end of the reign of Canterlot. Before her body had even cooled on the marble, Canterlot had fallen to the Lunar Republic. Many died that day, and many more were imprisoned or enslaved.
The other nations, of course, fought back as best they could, but against Nightmare Moon and the Five Beasts of the Moon, they might as well have been foals trying to hold back the sea.
The Harpies, The Griffons, and the Diamond Dogs were nearly wiped out completely within the first year. Even today, only a hooffull remain of each of the races. The dragons were hunted down and killed off to a whelp until the only dragons remaining in the world were the Bearer of Laughter and the eggs that remained in Canterlot and Winnysor.
In those dark years, the remaining Five Beasts of the Moon were granted the same powers as their leaders and became an even more feared force across the world. When the last opposing forces against her fell, Nightmare Moon declared herself empress of the world. She controlled the sun, the moon, and five of the most dangerous creatures ever to walk the lands; none were foolish enough to stand before her. Those that tried were made an example of; very few examples were needed.
This is not to say that it was all bad. Though the iron hoof of the new Empress was strict, it was also just. No one was punished without reason, and races that had nearly been destroyed were brought back from the brink of extinction. Half-Dragons flourished, as did the wandering tribes of the Elk and the even rarer Windigo, Snow Ponies, and River Ponies.
The Zebra, too, found new prosperity under the rule of the Empress and the Bearer of the Element of Kindness. The stigma of the Untouchables was removed and equality among genders became a way of life in the zebra lands. The whole country became the leader in the world for medical knowledge and discovery.
All of this was before my time, however. In my age, a curse has gripped the world and created tensions in places where none existed before. A new lower class has emerged despite the Empress's wishes and the best doctors’ greatest efforts.
Foals are growing up to adulthood without receiving their cutie marks in record numbers in recent years in all races that gain cutie marks. They are called blank flanks— talentless and soulless, the term adopted by most is “the cursed”. At the same time, the stars in the night sky are fading out, vanishing into nothing. Many believe there is a connection; many see it as the end of all things.
I have been studying for years to try and find a cure, to try and find the cause for this.
My name is Twilight Sparkle. I am the First Student of Empress Nightmare Moon and servant of the House of Loyalty.
I am one of the cursed.
TDR
Presents
Stories in Stone,
Reign of Night
buck yea looks epic
YES! Another addition to my favorite series. This time, Nightmare's in charge? i745.photobucket.com/albums/xx97/JML9999/brilliant_6811_zps7ab114d6.jpg
Not a bad idea for a side-story, though knowing how you work this will be longer than the other two combined. So it's an alternate universe now with Twilight as a servant under what we can only assume to be Jer, I look forward to seeing where this is going to go.
I'm, totally all over this.
-Mis
I love it! And all of the Doctor Who references, too!
oh buck yes
I can already tell this is going to be a greatttt story.
I'm going to love this story so much just because you wrote it
That is all that really matters and I can't wait to read it
Please keep us posted about the release of the first chapter for this story
OMG I can't wait
an alternate to a dark alternate universe, this should be fun o.O
Sleep is for the weak.
Let me make a prediction.
The princess will give Twilight something to scry and Twilight will learn the story of the princess and her five apostles.
This will have the side effect of Twilight seeing for the first time the goods and the bads of a world not ruled by Nightmare Moon, and she will start to question everything.
If there is still a garden, Twilight may release certain statues.
She'll search the pony god (related to the missing cutie marks?) who must have been born after Celestia died (I suppose she died. If a she barely survived a slash in the neck with a starmetal sword, the Waning Moon through the chest must be lethal. Seriously, she should have spent more points in DEF and HP than in I-will-slap-you-with-the-sun-itself, considering she's not into attacking others).
I suppose the new god was already found during his/her first decade by the Republic, and is somewhere where he/she won't interfere. Maybe in the garden itself, or living a pacific life and will have no intention of making a change, until Twilight does something (an OC? Cadance? Twilight herself unknowingly?).
Twilight will have the help of some friends, and will meet more during her quest. They may steal the Elements or Harmony at some point.
Spike the millenary dragon god will not be among them, as that would make it too easy for Twilight, at least until the Sorting Algorithm of Evil makes her face the apostles. They may have a dragon OC friend for traveling.
She will wield the Elements with five other friends, who may be the same as in the main timeline, or one of your present time OCs (most of them were in the Guard or equivalent, so I suppose in this universe it's more than probable they are too, as I suppose the rule of the Goddess of War will be very militarized), or you may find a place there for Trixie, as your fans are asking you to give her a cookie, after what she's going through in the other timeline.
Wow. If I didn't get right anything here, then now I have enough to write my own alternate universe side-story.
2831803 No...
Actually she spent all her points in diplomacy and charisma.
good prediction , but again no.
You might want to. theres some stuff in there that could happen though so far none of it is on my list of things to do. This will not be a follow along of SiSMoT. Heck even the normal events of the show didn't happen.
I am channeling something i likly shouldnt for this fic.
2831835 Is this chapter already edited?
Because i can`t find any errors.
Yet.
I am late commenting on this story as I only recently discovered it's existence. I have read his previous two and find he is an excellent yarn spinner, er writer, with a vivid imagination and a flair for dramatic story telling. I also look forward to its continuation and the inevitable twists that accompany each tale..
4959942 It will i have the next chapter half way done. There's also Lost Empire [ Book 3], Record of Beryl Wars[fallout inspired], The Mare the Dragon and the Draquonnuss[ prequel] and i'm rewriting the first book of stories in stone to clean it up.
Seems about everything i write is connected to SiS. even the fallout equestria fic.