Elysian Fields

by Bullets

Prologue - "How the Story Ends"

"Equestria. A land of peace, a land of harmony. A land of war.

Equestria was a war zone. Three separate factions were all fighting for control and victory over the others' land. The ravaged land had been split into three separate territories: that which belonged to the unicorns, that which beloved to the pegasi and that which belonged to the Royal Equestrian Army.

The war had started when a sect of rogue pegasi that wanted superior control broke the treaty which gave each race equality in the lands. Following their actions, a sect of unicorns formed and fought for their superiority over the other races in Equestria. The only remaining group, consisting of earth ponies, loyal pegasi and loyal unicorns remained faithful to the treaty.

Under the leadership of General Starflare, the hostile unicorns claimed their moderately sized territory in the northwest of Equestria. Whereas, under the leadership of Air Marshal Swift Wing, the pegasi controlled the least amount of land; the southern areas of Equestria.

Under Swift Wing's command, each able-bodied pegasus was rigorously trained for combat, making them a small, but elite faction, capable of standing their ground against the others. Despite starting out as a small separatist group from the south, they quickly grew in numbers as they spread their propaganda to nearby villages and towns. Their support quickly grew as they continued to spread their ideas and ideals to further neighbouring towns, leading to more and more supporters joining their cause. Very rarely were they given the chance to move to land owned by the REA. Their takeover was slow at first due to many ponies ignoring the group and labelling their ideas as crazy. However, after a few assassinations, their support increased as pegasi began joining their cause, out of agreement and fear. The group had snowballed, starting off small, but quickly gaining more members as time passed.

The unicorn army had grown in a similar way to the pegasi army. General Starflare's plans were to control Equestria, with unicorns being the superior race, that would lead the land into a new age of prosperity. Unlike the White Army, any earth or pegasus ponies residing on unicorn land were either imprisoned or forced to work under the command of unicorns, with a few exceptions.

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Dear Princess Celestia,

I have been researching the old legend of the civil wars and this is what I have found so far. However, I’m having trouble finding out anymore information on this subject, and I was wondering if you had any material I could use to further my research.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle"

Celestia placed Twilight's letter on her desk in front of her. She was seated in her dimly candle lit study looking through old files when the letter had appeared in a puff of green smoke. She had asked Twilight to compile information about the history of Equestria using any material she had in her library. The essay was not important to her studies, but Celestia had wanted to know Twilight's knowledge about the topic.

Celestia pondered briefly before she rose from her desk and walked over to a large bookcase in the corner of the study. There, on the bottom shelf, rested a small lockable chest. It was blackened from rust that had developed over the years, and gave off a musky metallic smell. Celestia used her magic to lift the chest off the shelf and over to her desk. She pushed Twilight's letter to the side and placed the chest down. It landed with a thud, causing little flecks of the rust to break off and accumulate around it on the desk.

Celestia returned to her seat and rotated the chest so that it faced her. She fumbled with the old padlock for a few moments, trying to remember the combination. Even if she correctly guessed it, there was no guarantee that it would open; the lock had aged to the point of potentially seizing up.

"Think Celestia, think," Celestia mumbled to herself, as she screwed her face up in thought while observing the lock, and continued to fumble with it. After a few moments something clicked and Celestia remembered the combination. She began turning the mechanisms to input the correct code for the lock.

"Two... One... One... Two..." mouthed Celestia as she gently turned the four dials. When all four numbers had been aligned, the lock clicked and slowly opened. Seeing the lock grind open, Celestia's heart beat increased in anticipation of what she might find in the chest. I haven't opened this in a very long time. I can’t even remember what I stored in here... she thought, as she carefully removed the lock from the chest.

She placed the lock next to Twilight's letter and returned her attention to the chest. She paused briefly to take a few calming, deep breaths, then carefully opened the chest to reveal it's contents. Surprisingly, the chest opened without much resistance, despite the hinges and edges being rusted over. The chest was full of old papers and objects that Celestia had put in a very long time ago. Using her magic, she carefully lifted some of the delicate papers and objects out onto the desk. They mainly consisted of old letters and small keepsakes from a time long gone by.

"Just an ‘old legend’, Twilight..." She mumbled as she continued to look through the chest. After removing a few more papers, Celestia uncovered an old flask at the bottom of the chest. It was dented in places and heavily scratched. The inscription had mostly worn away from abrasion it had received over the course of its use. Celestia gently picked it up and gave it a look-over. She then slowly unscrewed the cap and placed it onto the desk with everything else.

A very faint whiff of whisky emanated from the flask; the smell preserved by the silver over the many years. Having unscrewed the cap, Celestia noticed a tightly rolled piece of parchment inside. She tipped the flask upside down and allowed the parchment to drop out onto her hoof, realising it was an old letter as she did so.

"How did I not notice this before? This letter must have been waiting to be read for over a thousand years. I'm sure whoever wrote it is no longer with us."

Using her magic once again, she unrolled the letter to look at it. What she saw next sent a deathly chill down her spine. The letter was covered in old blood stains and the writing scribbled, as if written in a rush.

Despite the state of the writing, Celestia had a faint idea of who had written it.

"No. It can't be..." Celestia whispered shakily, as she rotated the flask and studied the faded inscription more closely. Her eyes grew wide in shock-horror and realisation when she finally realised who the flask had belonged to. She quickly returned her attention to the letter and began to read it. Seeing what was written caused her eyes to well up. A single tear rolled down her cheek as her memories flooded back from another point in her life, the events long forgotten by others through time.

"Dear Princess Celestia..."

….

Comments

[Grimmfield]

seams interesting, i like your historical take in this, can't wait to read more.

[Borg]

Time travel?
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