In the nightmare of machines that is a future Equestria, where unicorns are persecuted for their gift, the son of Twilight Sparkle must reclaim his life and country from the wicked mare behind it all.
Magic is a word seldom used here in Equestria, and when it is it's with hateful implications.
There was a time years ago when unicorns lived in harmony with the other pony races, but that time is no longer. Now, the magical ponies are dragged from their homes and locked away for their gift. Some hide from the dangers of Equestria's new overlord, a wicked mare known only as Motherboard. Others fight her cyborg armies. Comet Sparkle, the son of Twilight Sparkle, is one of those who defends ponydom against the mechanical minutemen.
Equestria may be lost forever to the horrors of technology, but it must not be left in Motherboard's hooves any longer.
I remember back when the grass grew because the earth ponies helped it do so, and the clouds needed to be moved by pegasi. Magic? I'd probably forget unicorns altogether if I didn't have a horn jutting out of my own head.
'Magic' and 'unicorn' are seldom-used words here in modern-day Equestria, and for one reason: earth ponies think magic's an inconvenience.
Okay, let me explain a little better. My name's Comet Sparkle, I'm 17 and I'm a unicorn. My mother's the pony known throughout the old kingdom as the Element of Harmony - Twilight Sparkle. This brought a certain respect when it was learned that I too had a talent for magic, but I wasn't given any special treatment - far from it, in fact. More was expected of me than anypony else, and I always felt like I had inconvenienced my mother despite her affections.
When I was five, there was an event that shook all of Equestria - an event known as the Fall of Celestia, and to us unicorns as the Death of Harmony. A massive explosion ruptured the foundation that held up Canterlot, forcing the royal princesses to use their own magic to keep the kingdom from tumbling down the mountainside. During this moment of weakness, a pony known to us today as Motherboard stormed the castle with a small army of robotic ponies called Ironsides.
Motherboard and her group of mechanical minutemen captured the princesses and locked them away, far from ponykind's eyes and reach. Canterlot fell to ruin, and in the confusion, Motherboard herself claimed the throne.
The evil mare began to spew lies about magic, saying it oppressed those without it and ridiculed the unicorns for making earth ponies and pegasi feel obsolete. The people rallied behind her cries like moths to a flame, and soon unicorns were dragged out of their homes, young and old, and placed in prisons. Their horns were broken off and covered with a metal cap built to block magic energy, and they would be sentenced to live there forever. Children no older than I was, foals even, placed in cages just because they were born with magic. Even my mother was taken in those times, leaving me with only my father and my uncle Spike.
My father kept me hidden from Motherboard, forcing me to grow my mane over my horn so I could claim to be an earth pony just like him. The Ironsides were fooled by the ploy, and ponies who knew my mother and me swore to secrecy.
Six years after her takeover, the land had become a technological nightmare. Ponies more machine than mare roam the street and infest bars, and stallions stand in mile-long lines to see glorious concerts sung by android superstars like P!nkie Pi. Ironsides watch from everywhere, having outgrown their clunky steel shells to look just like us. Spies wait ever-ready to sell out unicorns in hiding, and the toxins in the air have grown so potent as to kill ponies over time.
I'd now this personally. My father passed away three years ago from lungrot, like many in Ponyville dying slowly from the poisonous air. Some of us have the bits to purchase re-breathers to keep their lungs from dissolving while the rest of us have to deal with the feeling of glass shards in our chest. Life's rough here, and nopony's going to do anything to change it. Nopony except us.
I'm a member of the Rebellion, an order of ponies who are through with being enslaved by the machines that surround us. Many of us are the children and friends of those taken, hoping desperately to free our loved ones and find them still alive. I hope my mother's okay, and I'm willing to do anything it takes to see her again.
Luckily, I'm not the only one who feels the pain. My best friends have all lost somepony, our bond similar to that of our parents, three of the six Elements of Harmony. Glow Stick, a friend of mine before Motherboard's rise, is the adopted daughter of my aunt Rainbow Dash and her partner Vinyl Scratch. She lost a mother in this ordeal too, so we share a similar feeling of empathy towards each other. Tool Belt and Copper, twin sons of my aunt Applejack and her husband Flim, lost their little sister Gadget and their father during the raids. Their mechanical skills makes them valuable to our cause.
We are all colts and fillies missing pieces of our lives thanks to that vile mare, and we scramble from the steel hoof of her tyranny to pick up the pieces of a long-lost Equestria.
Comet Sparkle stared at the television screen in front of him, a documentary playing that Comet watched despite having seen it many times before. It seemed routine now, despite the dark implications of the show. It was history, it was tradition - and it was the only chance he ever got to see a peaceful Equestria.
The documentary was currently displaying a lush forest that, despite the eerie feel, looked simply beautiful for the fact that it was an ACTUAL forest. Birds chirped, butterflies flew by gently, and grass blew in the wind. Just the sight made Comet feel a pain in his chest as memories passed over him of walking with his mother down to his aunt Fluttershy's house. This very forest was right there for him to explore, and he only now realized how precious something like that was - especially in this new Equestria.
"But when members of the Resistance started making secret bases in the Everfree Forest, our wise leader took the steps required to clear out the threat, at the cost of a beautiful landscape." The narrator started, the picture on-screen becoming a huge landfill filled with junk and pipes spewing steam. "She flooded the forest with gas, killing all rebels inside and all life in the forest. Seeing some use for the land, Motherboard ordered it be converted into the Everfree Landfill. Since then, ponies living nearby complain of toxins emitted from the waste, but Motherboard has released statements that the pollution levels created are too low to damage ponies. Still, lungrot spreads through Equestria."
Comet's lips dropped to a frown, his eyes narrowing at the word 'lungrot'. That illness that left babies coughing blood and stallions collapsing in the street had already taken his father away, and even he now felt the effects of the disease. He bit back a bit of bile rising through his torn throat, coughing as the sour taste made him gag. He rushed to his bathroom and vomited in the toilet, retching and cringing as bloodied bile filled the bowl. Wiping his mouth, he flushed and looked in the mirror.
A grey stallion stared back at him, a wild copper-brown mane partially obscuring a pair of olive green eyes that looked full of sadness at their owner. Comet sighed and picked up a comb with his magic, brushing his mane to somewhat tame the mass of fuzz and stray hairs. Wincing when the brush caught in the locks, he set it down and humphed. Trotting out the door, he looked over the railing a few feet away to see his uncle Spike helping a filly check out a book. Looking to the corner of the library's lower level, he also saw a black pegasus staring up at him and pointing nervously at her forehead with eyes filled with apprehension.
Comet looked up, and gasped when he saw his horn protruding from his mane. Moving his curls over it, he nodded a silent thanks to the pegasus before trotting down to her.
"Thanks for saving my tail, Glow. There could've been an Ironside in here for all we know." Comet stammered before glancing around, eying everypony suspiciously. Glow Stick giggled, flicking her neon-green hair back.
"There is, featherbrain! He's sitting at Desk-2, and he's been staring at a copy of War and Peace for three hours already. It'd be okay cover, if he were actually reading it!" She stifled a snicker, pointing to the stallion in question.
A blue colt sat at the desk, his swirly light-mint mane drooping over his face as a pair of grey eyes looked up and down the cover of the book seemingly perplexed. Comet smirked, thanking Celestia that Ironsides were idiots. The stallion looked up at the two ponies, who immediately looked away nervously.
"I think we should talk someplace else. Bots have ears, after all." The unicorn suggested.
"Good idea." Glow Stick nodded, turning around a trotting toward the door. "Bye Spike!" She waved a hoof at the dragon as she passed him. Spike waved back, stopping Comet as he tried to walk by.
"Whoa! Where do you think you're going?" He asked suspiciously. Comet stammered, looking furiously for an excuse. Thankfully, his friend had one ready.
"He's going with me to Fluttershy's house." She winked at Comet, who smiled.
Spike shrugged. "Fine, just be back by sundown. And stay out of the Wastes!"
"I promise I'll be back, uncle Spike." The stallion nodded.
"Then get going, hotshot! You only have a few hours." His uncle chuckled. Comet trotted off after his pegasus friend, opening the door and stepping outside.
The town he was welcomed to was more of a small city, with large buildings everywhere and ponies rushing by in huge crowds. Luckily, Comet could move through these crowds without drawing attention so he ducked into the first one to come by. Glow Stick joined him, walking alongside the unicorn down the street. The two ponies occasionally got shoved by impatient ponies behind them, but the trip was altogether calm. Turning onto the path that led to Fluttershy's house, Comet glanced back to see if they were being followed. Sure enough, a few of the ponies from the crowd were walking behind them.
"Workers from the mine up ahead. Don't pay them any thought, Comet. Let's keep going." The mare explained to calm him down, walking down the path without him.
Galloping to meet up with her, Comet smiled in embarrassment. "I-i knew that.." He chuckled. The two ponies turned on a fork in the road, heading straight toward the home of Aunt Fluttershy.
The unicorn and pegasus did not notice the two mares following them with cold grey eyes.
