Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro. I make no legal claims to it whatsoever, only to the original characters created for this story.

Author's note: This fic is the brainchild of Evilhumour-author, and is beta-read by his co-writer Anon e Mouse Jr., who also maintains its TV Tropes page at FanFic/ThePiecesLieWhereTheyFell ; a link to its FIMFiction Dot Net posting may be found there. Translation assistance (and a few other details) has also been provided by Anon e Mouse Sr and a number of others over the course of the story. Enjoy.

Author's note 2: This chapter was originally posted on FIMFiction Dot Net on 2016-12-18.

---

Chapter Zero

In what had been the great hall of Canterlot Castle, once a happy place where a wedding was being held, all Tartarus had broken loose.

During the ceremony, the Changeling Queen had unexpectedly revealed herself and her soldiers, who had begun to flash into existence from formerly trusted ponies before attacking others, hissing and snapping at them.

In the midst of all this pandemonium, a flash of light came as Twilight and an emaciated Princess Cadance appeared out of nowhere, startling everypony and everyling there. It was enough to even distract Princess Celestia, who had been struggling with the Queen on the dais in her efforts to protect her ponies and intended nephew-in-law. Taking advantage of this, Chrysalis hurriedly cast a spell of her own.

With the unholy buildup of magic, it went off.

And in a horrific explosion that rocked the city, the entire castle vanished, leaving behind only a flurry of stunned Changelings to be blasted away from the mountain.

What happened next would reshape the face of the planet for years to come, but this is not that story.

This story takes place one thousand years later.