Our new Friends, Our new Enemies

by The Potato Guy

Prologue: The darkest of futures

A small campfire flickered amid the dense trees of the forest it was among, the orange light from its flames making its presence known on the trunks of various trees. The dark night was quiet with only the crackling of the fire keeping the group of ponies from feeling truly isolated.

The group that surrounded the fire was not so large, numbering only around twelve, all young Ponies , all of them still experiencing the start of their lives. An even long look at these Ponies and one would not suspect much of them. These were no warriors, no hero's of Equestria. These we ordinary folk, from all walks of life.
All but one, an ageing grey Pony with an un-kept mane. and a moon shaped amulet around his neck. He was situated atop a small flat rock placed by the fire, with the rest of the group forming a circle around the flames in order to keep warm. As the fire continued burning the wood, and as silence continued to reign among the ponies, nervous eyes amidst the group flickered around, the young Ponies startling at even the quietest sound emitting from the forest. Each face was one of fear and sadness, others hung their heads low to hide their shameful faces from their comrades while in some, tears began to form in saddened eyes. Yet the older pony was not one of these, his face simply stared deep into the fire, emotion nowhere to be found.

“W-what are we going to do now?” suddenly cried out one of the Ponies, finally breaking the silence, a fearful tone underlining his words.

All present raised their heads at this outburst, and all understood.

Everypony here had reason to panic, to lose hope. All had been terrorized, traumatized and cruelly punished up until this moment., least of all Star Wing, the Earth Pony who had just spoke up. His tale was a particularly tragic one, one of the most painful of losses. Every Pony here knew but just a single month ago he had a beautiful family, two adorable Fillies and a loving wife.

No more. Them only existing in memory now.

Star Wing now battled tears. All knew his spirit to be a broken and shattered one, but there was not one other to get up and comfort him. Nopony was heartless, on the contrary, friendship was such a ear thing to them, but all here had suffered equally, and now all were sucked into the void of painful remembrance. It was a vicious trap, one in which snared its host with pleasant thoughts of the past, an illusion of a better set of thoughts, but alas, its parasitic nature served only to depress and sting.

There were twelve Ponies here, and not one of these had lived alone. Not one didn't have a family, and now not one of them had anypony with them to comfort them in this dark time. All were alone, and all had reached this place alone, only memories of their loved ones in tow.

The broken group, mere shadows of their past happy selves at this point, they were the only remnants of their humble town, which now lay in fire and ruins just like the souls of all present.

It had all come so quickly.

It was a day like any other. Ponies went to work, foals played around in the streets, and light, joy and happiness comforted the town in an eternal glow.

That was until the darkness came, until they came.
It was all so unexpected, so brutally fast. One moment the town existed in its usual glorious joy, the next, only a grave.

Granted all had not been totally normal up the then, but this change from normality had never yielded such disastrous and painful circumstances. News from the Capitol, Canterlot, flowed daily, constantly making interesting reading. To many such news and developments were an oddity, something to be viewed with caution and suspicion. Yet still, it was just drama to most, high up goings on with the Princesses.

However even the Princesses couldn't stop this storm. It arrived like a great flood from over the sea, claiming and destroying anything and everything it touched. Its indiscriminate nature was so strong in fact, so destructive, that no Army could hold it back, no magic could slow it. It was a juggernaut of darkness, a relentless force of nature that finally broke Equestria's years of eternal peace.

All remembered how Celestia broke herself witnessing such death and mayhem. Her people, her country, her little Ponies dying before her very eyes. Her sister Luna couldn't help her at this point, she was far too gone. The Princess of the Night did manage some response, but alas, none could stop the inevitable. All of Equestria's heroes tried in fact. The Elements of Harmony from Ponyville tried, and many tales now existed of their fate.

Rumors of the Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash had been of some hope. That she and Luna had discovered the weapon to end this onslaught, but if such a thing existed, it was of little comfort to these Ponies now. For them, everything was lost, Equestria had lost, and their lives were as empty as their destroyed town.

"S-surely we can stay here? This is safe...right?" stuttered out a beaten looking Unicorn going by the name of Marble Bolt. He too had witnessed his life and home go up in flames to this dark and mysterious force.
His denial of their situation though was not helpful. Yes, these ponies had found temporary safety here, deep in the woods, but a temporary thing it was indeed. No soldiers were close, if existing anymore. Equestria had been shattered in one foul swing, and all survivor Ponies now were alone, having to fend for themselves. Any denial of this fact was dangerous, foolish in fact. Denial and attempted bravado would surely end in disaster.

"I just want this all to end! I want my life back!" sobbed a female Pegasus named Ivy Dust. Her complete lack of self support, her broken strength just collapsing her spirit on in here, it was a domino effect that toppled each Pony present, one after the other.
As one Pony lost total hope, so did the next. The night was dark, and the world darker.

“QUIET!” suddenly shouted the elder pony sternly, prompting all attention to be focused towards him. “Have any of you listened to yourselves? Do you know what you are saying?” commanded the old pony, his eyes digging into all those younger than him. “You have lost hope. You have given up!”

No Pony knew this elderly Pony. whether he was from the town was unknown. He simply had escorted this group from the burning remains of their homes, to this relatively safe and hidden spot. All saw his amulet and Moon markings. He was a servant of the Night, a servant of Luna herself. He was no Guard, nor fighter it seemed. He never stated who he was, nor his connection to the Princess, but connected he was none the less. He seemed to have the authority to scare together some organisation at least, but a fact weighing heavily on his heart, and something he would carry for the rest of his life, was out of a town population of two thousand , only these twelve remained.

He had saved a grand total of twelve ponies from that mass grave, himself included. Shame was a word too forgiving for him.

Despite this though, he had responsibility for these Ponies, and he would do whatever he could to keep them alive.

“Of course we have!” replied Star Wing, who's current despair and great loss had totally broken him , and resided him to the pits of anguish and gloom “We have lost everything. We’ve been hunted and tormented to the end of our lives, here, far from any other Ponies. We will die alone!” With this said, the rest of the group knew for a fact that this was not a lie and almost had no choice but to begin to audibly continue in their cries of hopelessness, some resorting to crying and torturing themselves with words of sorrow and misery.

“No!” shouted the elder in return, once again gaining attention. “You are not just an animated body of flesh and bone, you are Ponies! And for as long as you shall live you can never let this humiliating primal state of fear and hopelessness consume you!”

The Elders words were harsh, but in this hour of pain, they needed to be. Equestria had ignored all warnings of this apocalypse, squandered all opportunities of unity, strength and preperation. In his mind, he too saw very little hope, and who couldn't? All organised resistance had been plucked apart, chased into the wilderness. His Princess was no where to be found, only rumors of her shadowy figure of a Night Warden having help her escape from the land.

“How can we not? We have been given no other option!” cried a member of the group in desperation.

The Elder pondered on these panicked words. It was true, for them at least, there was very little hope. He wouldn't never voice this fact, least he condemn these Ponies to their final moments feeling only depression. His job here, as Princess Twilight had ordered all to do, was to maintain hope. Without effective leadership, her advice was to use the bonds of friendship to keep Ponies fighting and alive until salvation came. Such a glorious hope however, that seemed almost completely unlikely, even to the Elder.

Both allies and enemies alike to Equestria had also bore the force of this destruction, and they too had suffered. He remembered, before all this, no nation cooperated. Unity was never a thing. hatred and lies were all too common in the political world, and when they were too late, this divided nature showed. It was exploited and it was meant to be, and all beings suffered because of it.

The Elders only hope had been in the recent developments in Canterlot, that these strange and curious happenings and talks of potential allies would allow an understanding how to defend against this storm. Alas, from what it seemed, such a thing had never materialized, and all hopeful allies and talks broke down, and dispersed back across the sea.

But the Elder wouldn't let these Ponies last moments be spent in fear, if they were all to die, they would do so with hope in their heart, hope that the light would shine once more.

"Listen to me all!" The Elder demanded, gaining the attention he needed, even if it was through tearing eyes.

"This is not the first time we Ponies have suffered such darkness, we have fought from hell and death before!"

It was with this that the group did indeed settle down, or at least verbally given that faces of fear were still plastered onto nearly all the group, and eyes began to focus on their elder, ready to hear what he had to say.

"It was long long ago, before our noble Princesses were even born. A darkness came from across sea like now, It did not differentiate whose lives it claimed, and it did certainly not care for who the pony was before it forced them to leave this world."

These words were all too familiar to the Ponies present, and they had too much experience with it all, something the Elder picked up on, as he was determined to strike some hope into these Ponies.

"“Armies from throughout the land, from Pegasus to Zebra to Griffin tried to fight against this plague like force. Massive armies clashing on lands of once great and vibrant cities. From plains to ruins. From city to castle. From the mountains to the rivers we continued to lose. The fire continuing to spread at an unstoppable rate while the sky turned dark and tall figures ruled, but not all was as it was seemed. See, this wasn't a force so unstoppable, it wasn't no unnatural. Like all of us, it had the capability to lie, to cheat, and to fear. "

The Elder stood up, straightening himself to appear and strong and confident, and his epic tale continued.

" A mighty hero of ours, our savior in fact, he discovered this force was not as it was seemed. It only appeared unnatural and unstoppable, in reality, it was loosely held together, and beset with problems. It was ruled by a mighty Tyrant who held together this force with an iron grip, a cruel grip to even its own forces. So our hero exploited this. He was clever, so clever in fact that he outwit this Dictator of darkness and shattered the fragile unity of this force, then, with a united force of whatever was left in this world , he led them to victory, defeating this enemy with the same intrigue that it performed. They were sent back across the sea, and contained to a world in which nopony would ever find them, powerful magic ensuring such deadly thing would ever happen again".

Time passed, a the group thought on what they had heard. The Elder looked upon their faces, nor himself desperate for any sign of hope. He took this chance to cement any sapling of light and hope.

"Our heroes are doing the same! Princess Luna and Celestia, the heroes of Ponyville and our brave forces are fighting back, buying time to crack open this force like we did before, I have seen it myself!" The Elder knew he was lying now. His words were made up, all to inspire fake hope...
But it seemed to work, and however unjust it was, he persisted in his lie, for the greater good.

"The forces of friendship are winning! There is no amount of evil and cruelty that can beat out bonds! We will adapt to this new threat, and we will win!"

The atmosphere, in time, began to change, and a positive momentum took hold these Ponies had not felt in such a long while. It was all based on a falsehood however, and the Elder knew this would break their hearts in time, but what else was their to do? He didn't even know if his story was true, most likely not, only hearing it from with the Night Court as rumors.
Was lying the way here? Would it really take anything to ensure some hope? He was not taught to be such a things, but such things had also meant all of this. It had not helped them in the slightest.

“Excuse me sir".

The Elder heard a little gentle voice below him, distracting him from his guilt, and when he looked down, he saw a small white filly, her large eyes looking up at him. He didn't know what had happened to her family, but he feared the worst, yet seeing the smallest flicker of hope in those eyes, no matter how early such a thing might be, that was powerful.

“Yes my dear?” he smiled in return.

“I know I shouldn’t think like it, and trust me, I do feel better now, but so there is so much bad happening right now, and so many Ponies are hurt, so when we beat the bad guys, will there be a happy ending?”

The Elder suddenly blinked, taken back at this question. He gave it great thought, but his answer was constantly the same. He too wanted to believe, no matter how bleak the situation may be, but surely he had to keep to his lie, maintain the saplings of hope?
So much had happened in these past few years,, so much excitement, so much wonder, but also so much danger, as a few Ponies high up feared.
The Elder thought beyond this small desperate group for a moment. He knew of the actual fate of Luna and her followers. He knew of where the Element where, and he knew of who's company both now shared.

Up until recently Equestria had battled its enemies and threats, and had won to the tune of friendship and continued peace. This was no fairly tale however, this was real and unfamiliar territory to Ponies, and in that moment, perhaps quite ironically, that quality Equestria had survived so long with until now, Friendship, it shone through.... Specifically, the importance of honesty. The Elder cursed its timing.

“I don’t know my dear. I don’t know”.

Author's Note:

Alright, first chapter!
It might not be quite perfect, in fact this chapter (and the next) i started a fair while back but only just got around to finishing , so here's hoping i've made a decent start.

Hope you all enjoyed reading and stick around for the ride. Ill appreciate each one of you clicking on my story. very Thankful to everyone of you.

Comments

[Jirodyne]

There seems to be some mistakes I've noticed while reading, so pointing them out as I come to them, in case you wish to correct them. I might not get all tho, depending on how lazy/engaged I am while reading and might just overlook some by accident. Here's what I found while reading:

The Princess pf the Night did manage some response, but alas, none could stop the inevitable.

of*

"I just wasn't this all to end! I wasn't my life back!" sobbed a female Pegasus named Ivy Dust.

want*

The Elders only hope had been in the recent developments in Canterlot, ' that these strange and curious happenings and talks of potential allies ' would allow an understanding hwo to defend against this storm.

Three mistakes here between 'Canterlot,' and 'that' are 2 spaces instead of 1 space. The same between 'allies' and 'would' Then the hwo should probably be 'on how'* As tho it's just a misspelling of 'how', without the 'on' as well the sentance doesn't sound right.

and dispersed back across the sea .

sea.*

There are probably more, but those are the ones I spotted while reading.