The War Begins
It was a rainy, cloudy day. Everypony was inside, as you would expect them to be. Everypony except for Rainbow Dash and the other pegasi who were up in the sky working the clouds, and Applejack who was running to the library with a piece of paper. Once she got there, she opened the door to see Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Spike.
"Hello everypony! Did I miss anything?" she said wiping the mud off her hooves.
"Not at all," Twilight responded. "What's that?"
"Ooh!" Pinkie Pie blurted. "Is it an invitation to a party?"
Straightening her hat, she spread out the paper on an empty table.
"I don't know," Applejack confessed. "I found on a post just before the rain started, so I didn't have time to read it."
"Well then, what are you waiting for?" Rarity asked.
"Earth Ponies," Applejack read aloud. "Get ready for a meeting. Friday night I, Black Diamond will hold the biggest earth pony gathering ever. Bring all of your earth pony friends and anything else you desire. On the back is a map of the location."
"That's it?" Fluttershy replied in her soft, quiet voice.
"That's all it says."
"I think," Spike broke in, "that you and Pinkie should go and see what this is about."
"Yeah," Twilight agreed. "It wouldn't hurt just to at least show up, would it?"
Thinking for a while before speaking, Applejack made her decision.
"Alright. Pinkie and I will go."
"Yay!" Pinkie shouted. "This is going to be so much fun! This will be like the biggest party ever! But, with only earth ponies. Then it will be the biggest EARTH pony party ever!"
"Slow down Pinkie!" Applejack interrupted. "We don't even know what this is about. We'll just have to wait and see. Friday is tomorrow. We'll wait until then to make any further plans."
As the rain settled, Thursday faded away, and Friday crept its way in. As the sun came out and shined on everypony who was asleep in the library, they all slowly started to wake up.
The day went on as it usually would, But by the time nightfall was coming, everypony, including pegasi and unicorns were wondering what the gathering might be for. Everypony except for Pinkie Pie, who was at Sugarcube Corner baking cupcakes.
As she was taking a fresh batch out from the oven, she heard a knock on the door. She took of her oven mitts and hurried over to see who it was. When she opened the door, it was Applejack.
"Oh, hi Applejack!" said Pinkie.
"Hi Pinkie. What are you doing?" Applejack replied.
"Just making some snacks for the earth pony gathering."
"Yeah, about that, we're about to leave now. Applebloom, Big Macintosh and Granny Smith are waiting outside."
"Okay, just let me pack these up!"
Once she had all the cupcakes packed up in boxes, she and Applejack met up with the rest of the Apple Family and left. Once they got there, they came to a security guard. When he saw that they were all earth ponies, he let them in without hesitation. Inside there was what looked like every earth pony in Ponyville. They went over to where an empty table was and let the cupcake boxes rest there.
"So," Applejack started towards Pinkie Pie, "what do you think this is for?"
"I don't know, but a party's a party, isn't it?"
"Um... I don't think that's quite what this is,"
Just then, another earth pony came up to the stage at the other side of the room, guarded by four other earth ponies wearing black aprons with stone hammers in a pocket on the side. His mane was black and his coat was white. On his flank was a cutie mark of three diamonds, like Rarity, except they were black and sideways.
"Mares and stallions," he spoke into a microphone to get everyponie's attention. "I am your host tonight. My name is Black Diamond. Please, enjoy yourselves, and at midnight, we shall talk once more. Treat yourselves to some snacks. If you need anything, please ask me or one of my blacksmiths here. With that, until midnight, the night is yours."
After he stepped off the stage, everypony went back to their normal business.
The gathering went on, and Applejack and Pinkie Pie stayed at the back. As mares and stallions came, talked a bit, and then left, they stayed, wondering exactly what was going on.
As midnight was nearing, anticipation grew inside every one of them. Then it was time. Black Diamond went back on stage with his guards.
"Earth ponies," he said, "the time has come. Let me start by asking, have you guys ever felt that you are being pushed under the shadows by the pegasi and unicorns? Because I have. The unicorns have their magic, and the pegasi have their wings. But what do we have? Nothing. Only our hoofs. The pegasi have Cloudsdale and the unicorns have Canterlot. We used to have Ponyville, but the unicorns and pegasi infiltrated that too. That is why I gathered you all here. It is time for a new era. The era of the earth ponies! A revolution! Together, we shall overthrow the unicorns and pegasi! Is anypony with me?"
Nopony said a word. They all just stood there, not able to believe what happening. Then boos started to come up throughout the crowd.
"This is useless!" the guard on the left of him said. "I told you Ponyville would be no good."
"No matter. They can keep their earth ponies. At the end of the day, we still have enough to overthrow them."
Black Diamond and the guards slowly turned around and disappeared behind the curtains.
"Applejack! Did you hear that?" Pinkie said.
"Pinkie," Applejack responded, "I think we should warn the others! C'mon! We have to leave here."
Along with some other ponies, the Apple family and Pinkie Pie ran out the door.
On the door to the library where Twilight was sleeping, there was a loud knocking.
"I wonder who that could be," she said.
"Maybe it's Applejack and Pinkie Pie?" Spike answered.
"Why would they be here? Especially at this time?"
"Maybe they have something important to say?"
Getting out of her bed, Twilight went over to the door. She opened it, and sure enough, it was Applejack and Pinkie Pie.
"Twilight!" Applejack called. "Quick, we need to gather the others. We'll explain later."
Without hesitating, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle each went to get a different pony. When everypony was gathered, they all met at the library as they did on the previous night.
"So, why couldn't this wait until morning?" Rainbow Dash questioned.
"Oh, I hope nothing's wrong?" Fluttershy said in response.
"It's about the earth pony gathering!"
"Yeah!" Pinkie cut in. "There was this Black Diamond guy who wants to destroy the unicorns and pegasi!"
"What? Come on! Don't be ridiculous!" Twilight said.
Applejack looked out a window and saw that other earth ponies were rushing to get home. In the distance she saw a black silhouette of what appeared to be a carriage, but it was bigger, at least five times the size of a normal one.
"Look!" she shouted.
Everypony gathered at the windows and saw it. Pulling it was eight of the guards. On top of it was what looked like Black Diamond dressed in a cloak without a hood. As it passed by, it made vibrations so big it things were falling off shelves and tables.
"Whoa, I guess something is happening," Rainbow Dash confirmed.
As the gigantic carriage passed by, the six of them went outside to watch it. As it reached the edge of Ponyville, it stopped and turned around. It was still for at least five minutes, but still, they stayed out and watched it. Then, coming up from behind it were a number of ponies that all appeared to be earth ponies. Every two of them was pushing large objects that they were probably getting from the carriage.
"What in Equestria are those?" Rarity asked.
In the distance, they heard a voice calling out to Ponyville.
"Citizens of Ponyville, you guys took me as a joke, but now you shall see the joke is on you. You can leave this town now, or go down with it!"
After he spoke, loud thunder-like noises were heard, and following them were big spherical rocks that crashed through walls and houses.
"If you will not join me, then you shall feel the power of my cannons!"
"We have to get out of here!" Twilight called.
The six of them immediately fled and came to an abandon normal-sized carriage.
"We have to get to Canterlot!" Twilight said. "Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, can you guys fly us there?"
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy strapped in to fly the carriage while the rest of them including Spike got in the back.
"Is everypony ready?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yes!" Rarity reassured.
As soon as they lifted off, they saw that other ponies had the same idea. All around there were carriages full of ponies being pulled by pegasi. All around the thunderous sound of cannons could be heard followed by the collapsing of houses and other buildings.
Once they got to Canterlot, the streets were filled. Guards everywhere were trying to keep them under control, and possibly stop a riot from happening. The princess, unaware of what was happening, was also trying to calm everypony.
Once she sighted Twilight and the others, she immediately went over to them, hoping she could get answers.
"Twilight, what is going on?" she asked.
"Ponyville is being attacked! Earth ponies all across Equestria have started a revolution!" Applejack answered for her.
"A revolution?" the princess hesitated for a second before speaking again. "Come with me."
As they all started following her, the princess stopped.
"Guards!" she shouted. "I need you to go to Ponyville and see exactly what is going on."
They walked up many stairs and went through many halls, but finally, after at least ten minutes, they got to the longest hallway yet. At the end was Celestia's throne room. Stained-glass windows covered the walls and high above the throne was a circular window.
"For many years I have feared of something like this happening. I should have seen it coming."
"Princess," Twilight began. "They aren't just doing this with their hooves. They have weapons. He called it a cannon I think."
Just then, a guard burst in with a terrified look on his face. He was white, but appeared almost grey from ashes.
"Princess! The guards! They're all dead!"
"What?"
"They destroyed all of them! They let me live so I could warn you!"
"We have to fight back! We can't just leave Ponyville like this! We have to do something," Rainbow Dash said.
"It's too dangerous! If they killed the guards how do you expect us to survive?" Twilight responded.
As everypony went on with their debate, the princess made her decision.
"Enough! I have made my decision. We will fight back. We will go to war if we have to! This revolution needs to end!" she exclaimed.
With an army of royal guards ready, Princess Celestia flew off to Ponyville. By the time she was there everything was destroyed and the earth ponies were gone.
"Search the area for survivors," she ordered.
She went over to a collapsed house and started digging through it. In the ruins she found nothing, so she went over to another house. She started digging, but then something caught her eye. Using her unicorn magic, she lifted up pieces of wood to free a buried object. When she lifted it up, she saw a big stone cylinder with wooden wheels that she concluded must have been one of the cannons she heard of. Just in case, she kept it with her.
"Princess," a voice called from behind her. "There are none. It looks as if everyone escaped. But we have recovered the bodies of the fallen guards."
"We will give them proper burial. Gather everyone up. I think I found something that can help us."
What they thought they could end in no more than a few days became a war. Two years had passed since the start. The earth ponies rebuilt Ponyville as their own town, and Princess Celestia managed to make a copy of their cannons. The sky was beginning to fill with black clouds from the smoke of constant bombs and factories making cannons and other weapons. Along with the smoke, the sky was also gaining a reddish tint to it.
Canterlot had now been through many battles. Celestia, now barley hanging on was doing her best to keep everypony under control. Over the two years, Pinkie Pie had begun to lose some of her playfulness. Applejack and Rainbow Dash had become messengers, taking messages from Canterlot down to other allied cities. Rarity was now in charge of making sure more weapons were made. Any citizen was now turned into a warrior. The only ponies who held on to their characteristic qualities were Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle.
The Second Year
"Celestia," a blue-coated Pegasus called out in her throne room.
"What is it Starcannon?" she responded, the sound of stress in her voice.
"They are back. The earth ponies are at the doors. It looks like this could be the worst battle ever. Our army is already assembled. We are waiting for orders to attack."
The princess rose up from her throne and walked out the door of the room.
"Come. If this is going to be the worst battle ever, then let's go on. It's not like we have anything to lose! Besides, who knows, maybe this could end the war?"
They continued walking through the hallway. They got to where the army was and started walking through a narrow path in the middle of it. At the end of the hall was Rarity standing next to the huge doors.
"Rarity," the princess said, "how are the weapons coming along?"
"Same as usual," she answered. "Although we're running out of material for the knives."
"Use what you can," she commanded. "After that, take the knives of our enemies."
"Yes, very well."
Rarity stepped aside and Princess Celestia took her place. Explaining that this might be the final and most deadly battle, she opened the door. The earth pony army seemed to almost double the size of the unicorns and pegasi, but when Princess Celestia gave the orders, it was time.
Everypony including Rarity and Starcannon rushed out the doors, and the bloodbath began. Instead of fighting with the rest of the army, Black Diamond and his blacksmiths came up to Celestia.
"So, here we are again," Black Diamond said in a spiteful voice. "I have to say, I find quite amusing that you have unicorns and pegasi and even some earth ponies of your own, and you still can't manage to win this war."
"Black Diamond, although you might have the stronger side, I can still destroy you now! It would be wise to leave," Celestia warned.
"You're looking a little stressed," he taunted. "Maybe you should just surrender now. It would be good for you. You know, to take all that weight off of your shoulders."
"This is your last warning. Leave here now!"
"Celestia, please. I am not afraid of you. We all know that you are powerless and the Elements of Harmony are now in our possession. We have practically already won this war!"
Having had enough, Celestia used her unicorn magic to throw Black Diamond out the door, landing him on his back.
"You have made a mistake," he grunted.
Black Diamond called in another army that he had prepared for a situation exactly like this one. With and evil grin on his face exposing his sharpened teeth, he commanded them to attack. Celestia was able to put up a barrier, but she knew it would only be a matter of time before they got through it.
Attacking the barrier with cannons, it finally gave up and shattered. Most of the ponies ran past her, but then a few attacked. As much as she tried, she could not keep up with what was going on, and eventually found herself pinned to the ground with Black Diamond slowly approaching.
"It is over. Let this be your warning."
He took out a knife that he had strapped to his side and cut Celestia's cheek. He then cleaned the knife, put it away and continued walking as if nothing ever happened.
"Make sure she says out of the castle. I have some… redecorating to do," he said to the ponies pinning her down.
The guards began taking her out of the castle as they were ordered. Now the only thing the princess could do now was look out at the battle outside Canterlot Castle and hope her army would win. But instead something else happened. Someone that she had not seen since the war started came back. Princess Luna.
Flying in next to Celestia, she picked up the guards using her unicorn magic and threw them out towards the battle.
"Luna!" Celestia gasped.
"Celestia, it's been a long time."
"Where were you? Since the war started you just disappeared."
"That isn't important right now. We have to stop Black Diamond. If we don't then he'll take over Canterlot!" Luna announced. "Where are the others?"
"You mean Twilight…" Celestia started.
"Yes, them," her sister interrupted. "Where are they? As we speak we are becoming weaker and weaker. We need all the help that we can get."
"Rarity is supplying weapons for our side of the battle, but I don't know where the others are. Applejack and Rainbow Dash could be anywhere delivering messages."
Luna pulled off a bag that she had on her back and started digging through it. She pulled out some bandages and medical tape and handed them to her sister.
"Here, use these. You don't want that cut to get worse than it already is."
The princess took the bandages and started unrolling them.
"You stay out here. I saw Black Diamond heading towards your throne room. I can't do much right now, but I can at least see what they're doing," said Luna.
Luna entered in through the open doors and quietly walked down the hall. As she got to the end of it, she could hear voices speaking and the sound of hammers on wood. Staying out of sight, she peered in through the door leading from the hall to Celestia's throne room. She didn't know exactly what it was, but they were building some sort of structure.
She turned around as quickly as possible, only to be stopped by Twilight Sparkle.
"Luna? It is you! Where is Princess Celestia?"
"Twilight, keep quiet. We have to get out of here now!"
Luna started running out, and not soon after, Twilight followed. They got away from the throne room and went half way through the hall where they couldn't be seen from Black Diamond or the battle outside.
"Twilight, when did you get here?" asked Luna.
"I came from over there," Twilight pointed to where there was another door in the right side of the hall.
"I must have missed that. But anyways, listen. Celestia isn't in the throne room. Black Diamond is. He has begun his plan to overthrow Canterlot!"
"What? Overthrow Canterlot?"
"Come with me, we must tell her."
They left their spot and went out to Celestia. She was watching the battle as tears started coming to her eyes.
"Sister," Luna said. "It has started. They are taking over your throne."
"What good is fighting now? We've already lost," Celestia cried out.
"Don't talk like that," Twilight came in. "We still have a chance."
Celestia said nothing, but stood thinking for a while.
"Twilight… I need you to gather the others. If Canterlot even has a chance then we need everypony."
Twilight took her orders and right away began looking for the others. The first one she found was Rarity. Without hesitating she agreed to come as she always listened to the Princess' orders. Next they found Fluttershy. She was the easiest one to find because she was in the same room as Twilight had been before the battle started. They found Pinkie Pie walking down the now empty streets of Canterlot away from the Castle. Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash were at the messenger post waiting for messages to deliver along with six other messenger ponies.
It took nearly two hours to find all of them, and when they got back it looked as if the earth ponies had nearly completed their plan to take over Canterlot. The two princesses were still there, just hiding in a corner. Earth pony guards were now stopping anypony from entering as if it was their own castle.
Before they could get to Celestia and Luna, they were captured. A group of earth ponies surrounded them, and they had no choice but go with them. But before they could go far, the earth ponies were all thrown away by Luna and Celestia's unicorn magic.
"You have all of them," Celestia noticed.
"Listen, in the time you were gone, the Black Diamond has almost completed his plan to take over Canterlot! The only chance we have to stop him is if we go in there and kill him," Princess Luna explained.
"Then let's go!" Rainbow Dash said.
The eight of them went up to the door, Luna on the left and Celestia on the right, and ran through the hall. There were earth ponies were standing next to the walls going from the entrance to the throne room. Celestia and Luna held them back with their magic while they rushed to the other end of the hall. When they got there, they saw that it was heavily guarded.
Where the throne used to be there was now a large wooden structure going up to the circular window which was now the only unbroken one in the room. Standing on top of it was Black Diamond. As soon as they entered, they were surrounded by guards again, their knives and spears all pointed towards them.
"Enough!" shouted Black Diamond. "Let them go!"
The guards slowly backed away, and the group of eight formed a horizontal line. All of them were ready to fight except Fluttershy who was ready to fly away at any second.
"Do you like what I've done with the place? Canterlot now belongs to the earth ponies. So, for the time being, I shall welcome you here as guests," Black Diamond kept his same fiendish grin as before.
"This is your last chance! Canterlot now, or you will die!" Luna shouted.
"Easy now, Luna. Canterlot is not yours anymore. Did I not make that clear?" he said looking at his red hooves. "Besides, even if you do try to do anything, we greatly outnumber you."
"I think I can get him off," Rainbow Dash whispered to the others.
"Go ahead," Celestia approved.
Rainbow Dash flew up to where Black Diamond was in front of the circular window.
"Don't make me throw you off!" she warned.
"You? Throw me off? HA! Do not be ridiculous!"
"This is your last warning! Leave or die? It's your choice," she slightly shoved Black Diamond with her hoof.
Black Diamond pushed Rainbow Dash so she almost fell of the edge of the wooden structure and spat at her.
"Your power will never amount to mine!"
At that point, Rainbow Dash had enough. She ran over to attempt to push Black Diamond off the structure, but he quickly pulled out his knife and cut her from her right ear down to her hoof. Rainbow tumbled to the ground, still on the structure.
"Is there anyone else who dares to challenge me?"
That is when Fluttershy snapped. Instead of backing away, she now stood up tall, filled with rage. She spread her wings and flew up to Black Diamond. Before he could do anything, Fluttershy ran into him. She was holding onto him as they both burst out the window, and were now out of view from the others. The only thing he could think to do now was plea for her to spare his life.
"W-Wait! Put me down, please!"
They were now high in the air and the only thing below them were rocks at least 800 feet down.
"You had your warning!" Fluttershy said in a serious voice.
Flying a little farther she let go of him and watched as he fell to his death screaming.
Black Diamond was now dead. But instead of things getting better, they only got worse. Although the earth ponies now had no leader, they still fought on. Witnessing Black Diamond bring out his knife on Rainbow Dash did more than just change Fluttershy. It was at that moment that Rarity and Applejack started to think that it wasn't worth it to stay. Shortly after, Celestia lost all sanity left in her. The war was getting to her head. Unable to watch everything go downhill, Princess Luna disappeared again. Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy became the leaders of the armies.
Rainbow Dash was still a messenger, but she was now limited on how far she could go. Pinkie Pie did whatever she was told to do, as she had no specific job. After Celestia's insanity began, Applejack and Rarity were gone. No one knew if they died in battle, or simply left.
At the end of the end of the third year, Celestia became too dangerous to be around anybody. She had to be moved to a place nopony would ever go. They put her inside a cave in the mountain.
The Forth Year
Fluttershy was inside a dome in Canterlot Castle. She was doing nothing but peering out a window. There was a battle at the foot of the mountain. Twilight was leading their army, leaving Fluttershy to supply them with reinforcements.
She turned her back to the window and turned her eyes to a purple unicorn that was in the same room.
"Stay here. I will try to be back shortly," she ordered.
"Yes, Fluttershy," he said.
Ever since she killed Black Diamond, everypony feared her, thinking she might do the same to them if they did something wrong.
Fluttershy a paper and quill with her. When she exited, she handed them to another unicorn that was guarding the door.
"I need you to write down that we need reinforcements. Tell them that Canterlot is running out of ponies."
"Yes, of course!" he said taking the paper and quill with his magic.
When they got outside, the unicorn had finished writing the message and gave it to Fluttershy.
"You may go back to your position now," she dismissed.
Taking the message, she walked over to the messanger post. One of the ponies standing there was a pony she had not seen since the death of Black Diamond. It was Rainbow Dash. Twilight Sparkle was the one who sent and received most of the messages, so it had been almost two years since they last saw each other. But instead of going to her, she first went to deliver the message.
"Where to?" the messenger asked.
"Fillydelphia," she said giving him the paper. "It is important that it gets there as soon as possible,"
The messenger, who was a Pegasus, flew off taking the message with him. Not two seconds later, Fluttershy made her way towards Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow Dash," she said
"Fluttershy? Is that you?"
"It is. It's been a while, hasn't it? I came out here to deliver a message, but since you're here, let's talk."
"What about?"
"It is important that we know, what size are the armies outside Canterlot? The unicorn and Pegasus armies?"
"From what I can see, the armies are bigger. Only, not by much."
"What about earth pony armies?" Fluttershy asked.
"I don't know how, but it seems their armies are growing," Rainbow Dash responded.
"I don't see how it's even possible. The number of unicorns and pegasi added together should be greater than the earth ponies."
"I don't know,"
Their conversation went on for five short minutes, but Fluttershy remembered she had responsibilities.
"Well, I have to leave. I need to talk with Twilight Sparkle," she said.
She lifted up off the ground, and started flying towards the battle. She looked around for Twilight for a while, unable to find her. When she decided to get a little closer, she saw a purple pony with a messed up pink and purple mane. She concluded that it had to have been her, and flew in to talk.
"Twilight Sparkle."
"Fluttershy? I'm glad you're here. We need reinforcements! We are failing the battle and won't be able to hold up much longer."
"I already sent a message to Fillydelphia," Fluttershy noted.
"Oh, good. So, why are you here?"
"After this battle is over, I want to give you control over the pegasi."
"What? Why? What about you?" Twilight questioned.
"I have many responsibilities. Almost too many to keep up with. If the earth ponies come unexpectedly and I am unavailable, you need to be able to have power over them,"
"Oh," Twilight understood.
"Also," Fluttershy paused, "it's time we found someone."
"Someone like who?"
"Applejack and Rarity. Some ponies think they are dead, but I think they are still alive."
"But, we don't even know if they're still in Equestria. They left over a year ago," responded Twilight.
"It's still worth a try."
"I guess. Who do you want to send?"
"At the moment I think the only person we can send is Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy stated.
"Pinkie Pie is in Appleoosa."
"Very well, I will write a message."
"No, wait. I will go to her. It's been a while since we last saw each other. Plus, I think it would be better to assign a task like this in person," Twiligh insisted.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I will take the train."
"Very well," Fluttershy said. "I will stay here with the army."
The next day, Twilight got on the train. Unlike it used to be, the train was now used for transferring weapons, reinforcements and messages. The battle was still going on, but she knew that Fluttershy was trustworthy.
It took nearly a day and a half, but she finally arrived. Apploosa looked in better shape than Canterlot, but it was still almost destroyed. She walked around for a while looking for Pinkie Pie. She found her inside one of the buildings watching the blacksmiths make weapons.
"Pinkie," Twilight called.
Pinkie Pie turned around and looked at Twilight.
"Twilight Sparkle? When did you get here?" Pinkie asked in confusion.
"About five minutes ago. Fluttershy and I have a task for you,"
"What is it?" she accepted the task before even hearing it.
"This might be your hardest task yet, but we need you to find some friends. Applejack and Rarity."