Memories Of Equestria

[Master Inika]

Memories of Equestria Twilight Sparkle stood in the center of the dead town. This lonely stretch of land was all that still existed of Ponyville, once her home, where she laughed, played, made friends, and learned. Now, it was only an eerie reminder of what happens when sister turns against sister. Twilight found herself in the center of a number of stones on the ground, arranged in a circular pattern. It appeared to be the remains of Carousel Boutique, once the home of her friend Rarity, but after the relentless bombings of the village, who could be sure? The Unicorn sighed. Rarity, the Element of Generosity, was a good pony. She would always talk of becoming famous throughout Equestria for her fashion innovations, which Twilight had to admit were always dazzling. Of course, nopony had time for things like fashion anymore, now that just getting enough food was a struggle. In the distance, Twilight could see Canterlot, the shining capital of Equestria. Or at least, it was, back when Equestria was one united country. But that was before the war. The devastating, horrible, treacherous war. It was formally known as the Equestrian Civil War, but it had various names throughout what remained of Equestria. In the circles which still honored Princess Celestia in spite of her crimes against ponydom, it was known as the Great Royal War. To those once subjects of Princess Luna, it was the War to Bring Forth the Night. To those formerly governed by Princess Cadence, few as they were, it was the Confederate War of Independence. A cloud floated in front of the sun, casting a shadow over Twilight. Such things were once the job of Rainbow Dash, a Pegasus pony and the Element of Loyalty. But the only memories the shadow brought to Twilight now were of the darkness which seemed to cover all Equestria until the war ended. ---- Ten Years Ago Ponyville was a battlefield. Bombs flew through the air, and poison gas was sprayed from the rooftops. Not only stallions, but mares and fillies killed one another as well. Twilight Sparkle was among the mares, hiding in her old tree library. It was once a quiet sanctum she could come to in times of trouble. But now, it served as the outpost from which she recorded the battle. Ponyville was one of the towns under Luna's control. Earlier that morning, the armies of Cadence invaded in a bold attempt to seize it. Nopony knew that Twilight, a subject of Celestia, was among them. It was her duty to gather information, to prove or disprove her princess' theory that Cadence and Luna were more concerned with fighting one another than her. The war had raged for two years, although its roots actually rested generations before that, when Princess Luna turned into Nightmare Moon and tried to usurp power from Celestia. Luna was condemned to spent one millennium trapped within the moon for this. She spent her time, and was eventually restored to Luna. For a brief time, she truly had learned her lesson - as far as Twilight was aware - but Luna ultimately fell to the darkness once again. She did not adopt the guise of Nightmare Moon, but she rebelled against the Kingdom of Canterlot all the same, declaring the Empire of the Moon and seizing roughly one-third of Equestria. Luna claimed Celestia had turned into a tyrant. She was right in many ways. Celestia had already dissolved the Equestrian Parliament, and even passed several laws limiting the power of Luna, her alleged equal. This was the war's inception. Twilight, as one of Celestia's closest students, immediately began doing recon for Her Majesty's Royal Army. Still, Twilight often went to her childhood foalsitter and friend Princess Cadence, looking for a solution to the war. Cadence, too, fell to the corruption which seemed to grip Celestia and Luna, and founded the Cadent Confederacy. For a country named after its leader, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, it was no surprise the Confederacy was the most propaganda-ridden of the three sides. And so the Equestrian Civil War reached its current magnitude. Based in Canterlot, the Kingdom held most of the northern lands, including Fillydelphia and Trottingham. It remained the largest in terms of both land and population, as well as the strongest militaristically. The Empire, while not as large or formidable as the Kingdom, had a powerful weapon: the moon it was named for. When bathed in its glow, the soldiers of Luna grew stronger, faster, and smarter. In fact, the Imperial Army was so powerful from dusk to dawn that Celestia and Cadence were forced to sign the Nighttime Truce, vowing to aid one another against Luna when the sun did not shine. The Cadent Confederacy was the smallest, but far from the weakest. The Confederate Army was one of the strongest forces in Equestrian history, in no small part because of its leader, Shining Armor. He formerly served as Captain of the Royal Guard under Celestia, and was also Cadence's First Stallion. But, as the war raged on, Twilight's belief in a peaceful end and a return to normal life grew weaker. She finally submitted to the violence and committed herself to a cause when she realized her friends had as well. Rarity was able to move to the city of Canterlot, something she had always longed to do, but not as a fashionista. Rather, the Element of Generosity became the head of Celestia's treasury. She quickly became reputed for her no-nonsense, radical capitalist mentality, denying funds to even starving foals unless they agreed to insane interest rates. Rainbow Dash gave up her dreams of joining the Wonderbolts, who remained loyal to Celestia, in favor of becoming a tactical commander for the Imperial Army. The Element of Loyalty had turned on the Kingdom and now fought against it, and many of her former friends. Pinkie Pie, a bubbly, optimistic Earth pony who represented the Element of Laughter, did very little of it since becoming the chief propagandist of Cadence's government. Twilight had never imagined that her creativity would be used to lie and deceive. Applejack was a farmer before the war, and she stayed a farmer through it. Around the same time she was dissolved the Parliament, Celestia also attracted criticism for her anti-Earth policies. Earth ponies had a long history of being discriminated against by Pegasi and Unicorns, so Applejack quickly bought into the lies spread by Luna and became the chief Imperial food supplier. The Element of Honesty, it seemed, was deceived quite easily. Fluttershy had been seen and heard from least of all. Other than the fact she willingly remained in the Confederacy after it invaded the plot of land she lived on, Twilight didn't know anything about her whereabouts at all. Being the Element of Kindness, Twilight could only imagine where the Pegasus was now. Between Celestia's autocracy, Luna's militarism, and Cadence's personality cult, Twilight was now sure that everypony was fighting for a lost cause, no matter which princess they supported. ---- Current Now, Twilight Sparkle was in the same town she performed recon within those many years ago. Of course, the war ended eventually, lasting a total of seven years. Luna's people, fed up with her military rule, rebelled against her as she did against Celestia, and killed her. Cadence, too, wound up dead at the hooves of the Confederacy's citizenry. Celestia was wise enough to see the pattern, and mysteriously disappeared, vanishing in an awesome explosion of light. With the three monarchs gone, the fighting soon ceased. Only a small handful of ponies survived. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and presumably Fluttershy all died somewhere along the course of the war. Applejack and Twilight were the two leaders of the new society, built from the scorched corpse of the old one. No usable farmland remained, nor did any dwellings or architecture. At that time, no place seemed more welcoming than the Everfree Forest, once a taboo to all ponies, but now the only place unscathed by the war. It was Applejack's suggestion that the land would then be known as New Canterlot. For the next five years until the current day, ponies farmed, built new homes, and passed new laws to ensure such devastation would never again grip ponydom. As a final act of abandoning to the old ways, a stone wall was to be erected around New Canterlot. Twilight was only back in Ponyville to see if anything they could salvage remained. The Unicorn was just about the head home and report nothing of use survived, when she heard a voice quieter than the wind. "Um, Twilight? Is that you?" The voice was Fluttershy's, but when Twilight turned, the pony she saw was not the shy, mild-mannered Pegasus she had known. Like Fluttershy's, this pony's fur was yellow and her hair pink, but the similarities ended there. She walked with a painful-looking limp, a red scar rested upon her face, and, strangest of all, she was dressed in the war uniform of a Confederate pilot. She even had the Medal of Victory, the highest of the Confederacy's honors, still hanging by a thread from her sash. "Fluttershy?" Twilight gasped in disbelief. The Pegasus took a moment to respond. "I almost forgot that was my name. Nopony's called me by it for a very long time. You might know me better as the Yellow Baroness." The voice was the quiet, sweet one Fluttershy was once known for, but the words they spoke were the last thing Twilight would have imagined her Pegasus friend say, especially the last two. Fluttershy, the Yellow Baroness? That was a title worn by an anonymous Confederate flyer, so-called for her yellow hair. Twilight had always thought the Yellow Baroness resembled Fluttershy, but she had never considered the notion that the two were one and the same. The Yellow Baroness shot down eighty other ponies! The Yellow Baroness was even the one to shoot down Rainbow Dash. And the Fluttershy that Twilight knew wouldn't hurt a fly. "Oh Twilight, I didn't think you'd be this surprised. I mean, the others abandoned their elements, right? Element of Kindness no more, I had to fight for Cadence!" Fluttershy said, still in her sweet voice, almost a whisper. "I was trying to be more assertive, like you always told me to." Only a few more words were spoken by either. Twilight escorted Fluttershy to New Canterlot, as the Pegasus appeared totally unaware of the new society. Twilight was sure to avoid mentioning that it was also the Everfree Forest, as Fluttershy was always dreadfully afraid of the region. Even though she was all but sure the Yellow Baroness would have since conquered that fear, the Unicorn still wanted to believe just one of her friends was the same, in just one way.

Edited May 26, 2012 by Master Inika