The sky darkened over Discordalot, and for just a moment the sound of automatic gunfire in the streets closed. On that day the sky had been a pleasant mixture of orange and pink diagonal lines with four green suns and two purple ones. Overhead, though, the glowing spheres suddenly dimmed and dissipated. The differentiation between orange and pink in the sky decreased to nothing but gray.

All at once, the color scheme changed. What had been dark gray ignited with solid, undifferentiated blue. Ponies below winced, as they had never seen the sky that color before. Some of them cowered in fear, not understanding what was happening to their beloved Equestria.

Then the light came. A brilliant, blinding glow that rose from the east. Ponies cried out in terror as a glowing sphere rose into the blue sky, one more bright and hot than any than any of those created by Discord.

In the center of Discordalot, some ponies ventured outside. Some ponies were already out there. In many cases, it was the only place they had to go. The noncan revolution had forced them out of what homes they had, leaving them on the confusing and incomprehensible streets of the city that now seemed alien to them. They could not know it, but this had saved many of their lives. When the Chaos field had collapsed, the gravity of Discordalot had returned to its default. Thousands had died as they suddenly tipped off buildings and plummeted to their deaths, and those among them who were Pegasi or griffons were forced to watch.

Those that were watching looked to the sky and shielded their faces with their hooves. As they did, they saw something emerge from the blinding light. All of them watched transfixed as a group of ponies descended from the sky. Chief among them was a pony unlike any they had ever seen, a giant white mare who bore both wings and a horn whose body was surrounded by a flowing rainbow mane of pure energy.

Others came as well. The two principal ones among them descended at the sides of the white mare: on her right, a pale blue Pegasus with a long Rainbow mane and a golden cybernetic front leg. To the left of the great mare came a thin blue pony. She bore wings and a horn like the other, but she was smaller and far less impressive. Her mane did not drift and flow, but instead consisted of ordinary blue hair. Few ponies below noticed her at all.

Celestia’s gold-clad feet touched the strange soil of a city she had once hoped to call her home, and she looked out at the alien landscape, dismayed by the number of Discord statues that littered the city.

“This place could once have been so beautiful,” she mused.

“It can be again, my Princess,” said Hurricane. Celestia smiled, knowing that she was indeed correct.

By this time, a group of ponies had gathered around them. They stared, gawked, and talked softly to themselves, not recognizing their one true leader. They seemed afraid, but not afraid enough to flee.

Then one stepped forward. She was a little pale brown Pegasus who wore thick glasses and a metallic silver tiara. She was accompanied by a scruffy looking brown dog. She approached slowly and hesitantly, but finally stood before her Princess. Celestia smiled, and so did the filly in response.

“You are really pretty,” she said.

“Thank you,” said Celestia. “You might have grown up to be pretty yourself, had you not been born into this cursed world.”

Celestia’s horn ignited, and she saw an expression of confusion cross the filly’s face. It only lasted a moment, though, before she and her dog were both vaporized.

“Zipporwhill!” cried a pony who Celestia assumed was the filly’s father. He did not have much time to experience any sense of loss, though. Like the ponies surrounding Celestia, he was reduced to ash as well. Celestia then raised her horn and drew power from the sun, producing a spell of unimaginable power that radiated from her like the blast from a bomb. Instead of destroying the buildings of the city, though, it tore through them harmlessly, seeking out those infected by Discord’s Chaos. Those that the spell touched burst into flame, igniting the buildings where they had taken refuge. Within a matter of seconds every infected pony had been reduced to nothingness.

“Sister?” said Luna.

“Now is not the time to doubt me, Luna,” said Celestia, turning to her sibling. “You know that this is necessary. It brings me so much pain to be forced to do this, but it is for their own good. They cannot be cured.”

“But the children. What have they done to deserve this fate?”

“They were born diseased,” said Celestia calmly. She was more than willing to explain this to her sister. She certainly had time. “And their death is painless. So much cannot be said for those who willingly follow their former king, though.”

“Princess,” said Hurricane, spreading her legs into a defensive posture. She looked into the flames that now surrounded them, and Celestia followed her gaze. The city around her should have been silent, save for the cracking of the purifying fire. Instead, though, she heard the sound of hoofsteps. Many hoofsteps.

Shapes appeared in the fire. They started as silhouettes, but quickly resolved into ponies. Celestia’s eyes narrowed with mild amusement and a strange concern. She had difficulty understanding why so many of those approaching looked so similar to one another.

The leaders of the force were gray and mare-like, their bodies occasionally mutilated and perverted by modern technology that penetrated and replaced part of their bodies. Other than the modifications, though, they were all the same. They were in turn accompanied by enormous stallion-like soldiers, each dressed in armor and each identical in their own red color. There were others, too: armored Pegasi, all pink, and silver unicorns. No member of any group was an individual, though. Each one had at least a twin, and often several. Not one among them possessed a cutie mark.

“Princess,” said Commander Hurricane, signaling to the other members of her Pegasus force that accompanied her. “Allow me to dispatch them.”

“No,” said Celestia, stopping her second-in-command. “Something is…different. They don’t feel like the others. They feel like the guards we were given.”

One of the gray mares- -apparently the leadres of the group, and easily the strongest among them- -stepped forward. She moved without hesitation, doubt, or fear, and stopped before Celestia, looking up at the alicorn goddess with a pair of unblinking cybernetic eyes.

“You dare to approach me, even after I killed so many of your people?” mused Celestia.

“You slew none of mine,” said the girl. “And we find this quite interesting.”

“Interesting, you say?” Celestia was mildly amused by this. “What is your name, child?”

“The name I was given is Stoniecliff. I have no need for any other.”

“I see. I am Princess Celestia, Goddess of the Sun and the One True Ruler of Equestria.”

“No,” said Stoniecliff.

“You dare to correct the solar princess?” spat Hurricane, stepping forward angrily. “I should remove your eyes for this insult!”

“You would hardly be the first to do that to me. If you even could. But please not.” She gestured over her shoulder at a pair of gray mares whose bodies were covered in translucent orange armor. “Those two have a schism laser array targeting your head. No matter how fast you can move, you cannot move faster than a beam of light. And we will take quite a bit more than your eyes.”

“Leave her,” said Celestia, gesturing for Hurricane to back down. “I’ve been trapped so long, and even before then few dared to question me. I find this…stimulating. What do you mean, Stoniecliff? You say I do not rule this world, and yet clearly I do. Discord is dead by my horn, and I have already purged this city. I intend to build my new capital here.”

“You committed genocide. A pointless act of destruction. You control nothing. I do not know if Discord is dead or not. You could be lying. But he was only a directing force. None of the administration was handled by him.” She paused. “I suppose he considered it too dull.”

Celestia leaned forward. “Then who does control it?”

“We do,” said Stoniecliff, calmly.

Celestia frowned. “I’m assuming that is not the royal ‘we’.”

“No. I refer to our collective. The Noncanon Union.”

“And if I should try to break this union?”

“Then you will need to rebuild all business and administration from the ground up. But if you had wanted to do that, we would already be dead. Your spell did not touch us.”

“No. It did not. It only targeted the infected. You still contain some levels of Chaos…but you are different. Cleaner. Not perfect, but…adequate.”

“For what, might I ask?”

Celestia smiled. “I had been afraid, you know.”

“Princess?” said Hurricane, taken aback by this.

“Yes,” said Celestia. “I knew what needed to be done, but I was still afraid. That all that would be left with was my loyal servants, those from before Discord’s rule. I would be a Princess without subjects. I did not know that there were ponies like you in the world.”

Stoniecliff looked up at Celestia. “You are proposing that we become your subjects. That we serve you.”

“I don’t need servants. I am a god. I require worship. Ponies to build my cities, to realize my visions, to live in my world. Oh, and to worship my sister. To a lesser extent, of course, and only if you choose too. She is a lesser deity, but one nonetheless.”

“Then you wish to rule as Discord did.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “No. I do not want to plunge this world into chaos and strife for my own gain and amusement. I want what I had before.”

“Which is?”

“To dedicate myself to preserving Harmony and peace. Creating a world were ponies live unified and work together toward happiness and fulfilment.”

“Then our goals are not mutually exclusive,” said Stoniecliff. “In fact, in some ways they are the same. We do not desire war. Only freedom to live in a world of our own creation.” She paused for a moment. “I am only a machine. I was grown in a tank and born awake and adult. But the world you describe…if only I could believe it might exist for us.”

“It can,” said Celestia. “If you join me. If you are willing to become my subjects.”

Soniecliff paused, and a holographic projection appeared over one of her eyes. She looked at it for a moment, transmitting outward to others of her own kind. Then it closed, and she looked back up at Celestia. “We are in agreement,” she said. “We are willing to accept your offer with a single condition.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “A condition? What sort of a condition?”

“You need to answer a question.”

“A question?” Celestia chuckled. “You mean like a riddle?”

“In a sense. Although we think of it like a test. To determine if our goals truly do align.”

“I see. Then ask, if that is what you wish.”

Stoniecliff turned to the ponies behind her. “What do you see here? Or, phrased another way: what are we?”

Celestia frowned, confused. She did not understand what kind of question that was supposed to be. “You are ponies,” she said, giving the obvious answer.

There was a strange murmur of awe throughout the crowd. Celestia did not understand why they had that reaction. She had thought that it was supposed to be some kind of riddle, but they had responded to it as though she had said something incredibly profound.

Stoniecliff smiled, and Clelestia saw a small tear drip from her cybernetic eyes. Then, without a word, she dropped to her knees. The others did the same, each willingly bowing to Celestia.

“You understand,” said Stoniecliff. “You are worthy to rule us. And we are honored to be your subjects.” style='foel~>0