Darker Than Purple

by Arkybrony

Prologue

A little over one thousand years ago, the Crystal Empire existed within a mysterious area known as Heaven's Gate. It caused great joy and happiness. But when it suddenly disappeared, it caused some ponies to go crazy. Most didn't notice it, but those who did and went mad because of it happened to include Princess Luna and King Sombra. Because of their evil, they were banished, along with all of the ponies within the Gate.

Because Luna, the Princess of the Night, was banished, it caused a Starless Night. Since there were no stars or bodies of the night, Princess Celestia had to forge an artificial night. It took great power and great magic to do this. While she was able to keep the original moon, she had to create thousands of new stars. To do this, many ponies were randomly given special powers by the star. The powers of a contractor.

Each contractor had their own special ability that even the greatest unicorns couldn't master with regular magic. But each time they used that power, it came with a price that their body forced them to pay, thus, giving them the name "contractor". The price would vary from pony to pony. Some would have to just do jumping jacks, while others would have to break their own bones. There was a wide array of contract prices that would have to be paid. Nopony knew what would happen to somepony who didn't pay their price, but since their bodies forced them to pay their price, it wasn't a problem. Unicorns would still be able to use their magic without paying, but when they used their enhanced powers, the price would be paid.

The government tried to hide the existence of contractors from the regular population. If anypony ever had or witnessed a magical encounter with a contrator, they would have their memory of it erased and replaced by Princess Celestia herself. If somepony had an encounter with a unicorn contractor, their memories would not be erased since unicorns are magical anyway. The only circumstance where memories would be erased after a unicorn contractor experience is if the unicorn mentioned that he/she was a contractor, or if they witnessed the contractor paying their price.

Every time a contractor died, their star fell from the sky. Princess Celestia appointed a special division to watch the stars and report to her if one fell. Every time one fell, she created a new one, creating a contractor.

When Luna returned with the real sky, Celestia destroyed the artificial stars, revoking the contractor powers of anypony who had them. But now, a new Gate has appeared over the Everfree Forest, but this time, everything within the Gate died, having the opposite effect as Heaven's Gate. Because of this, the new Gate was named Hell's Gate. And because of this new Gate, which has the exact opposite effect of the first one, the night has disappeared again, taking Luna with it. Now Celestia must create a new night, again. As much as she hates to create new contractors, she must create a new night, which causes the artificial stars to appoint new contractors.

And one of them is Twilight Sparkle.