There are few things more glorious in this world than a sunrise over Canterlot. The way the light reflects off of the golden rooftops beautifully sends rays of luminescence in every direction. No, not many things can compare to a Canterlot sunrise.

The ponies of the capital city awoke with the rising sun, which didn’t happen very often. Usually the higher class did not rise with the sun, they were privileged enough to sleep in on most days. Today was not one of those days.

It was a day of mourning and solace for all of Equestria. No one was too privileged on this day to sleep in. No one was above anypony else on this day, there were no different races: No pegasi, no unicorns, no earth ponies. Just Equestrians.

The ponies flocked to the palace in the center of the city en masse, it was a sight to behold. Thousands of equines all trotting towards the shining jewel of the city in order to mourn the deaths of fallen heroes.

Banners of the regents flanked the large crowd, moons and suns watched over the populace as they gathered below. At the front of the throne room, the same place where only a year ago a joyous wedding had been held, eight tapestries decorated the far wall, covering the stained glass windows and bringing a somber darkness over the room.

Each of the eight banners were special in their own right. They spanned every color of the rainbow, and the designs on them were custom made for the ponies they represented.

The banner on the far left was a soft yellow, three pink butterflies decorated the center of it, and the edges were embroidered with the finest Cloudsdale silk to represent the fallen element of kindness’ heritage.

A banner of bright pink hung next to it, three balloons alternating between blue and yellow adorned the center, simple flowers made up the fringe signaling the element of laughter’s earth pony lineage.

A lavender tapestry hung gracefully next to it, a six pointed purple star surrounded by bright white shining stars, magic was woven into the cloth to make it flow as if it was in a summer breeze to proudly exclaim her unicorn roots.

The next one was much bigger than the rest. Bright white, pure and clean. A glorious gold emblazoned sun stood out in the center of it. The only thing that could compete with such a monument to the regent of the sun was the banner next to it. Dark as the night sky, a crescent moon surrounded by an inky starry night in the center.

The next three banners were white, orange, and sky blue. The white one was rimmed by purple, a set of three diamonds in the center of it. The orange banner was obviously hoofmade, three apples standing out against the background boldly. The last banner, the sky blue one, was fringed by a rainbow of colors and a polychromatic lightning bolt coming out of a storm cloud decorated the center of it.

Each banner represented a fallen hero, all lost on the same day. It had been a terrible tragedy, a group of changelings infiltrated the castle disguised as a group of tourists and detonated a magic bomb that took their lives along with the Princesses and the elements of harmony.

The bomb was only meant for the Princesses, the elements had been there on a surprise visit. It had been something that shocked the nation, no one had expected Changeling radicals, no one had expected the Princesses to die.

Now the regency had been taken over by the last surviving alicorn in existence. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza had been recalled from her throne in the Crystal Empire in order to gain regency over the sun and moon and the throne of Equestria.

The new Princess of Equestria stood before the eight coffins, each one rested underneath the banner that represented them, the two center coffins being the biggest of the eight.

“Citizens of Equestria.” Princess Cadence’s voice was shaky and nervous, nopony could blame her though. Anypony would be nervous at her aunts’ funerals after inheriting the throne of the most powerful nation on the planet. “I regretfully welcome you to this somber occasion.” A few woeful sobs echoed from the crowd. “We are here to honor the lives of eight ponies who changed the course of world history with their noble actions. They were taken from our realm by a group of creatures who wanted to see our nation defenseless and vulnerable. But we cannot let this happen, we must show that even in our darkest hour we are strong. We must stand as a nation brought together by need, not divided by tragedy. We must protect the Equestrian dream that has been nurtured by the Princesses and the Elements of Harmony.”

A cheer started out in the front of the crowd and quickly worked its way to every equine in the room. The noise coalesced into a patriotic roar that formed into a war cry all around Equestria.

An ancient being shook its head at the noise. It had seen everything in the history of time, it had been there when Luna fell into madness, when Discord became encased in stone, and when countless other world leaders fell to their own hubris.

It’s name was Qilin. An ancient chimera with the head of a dragon, the body of a tiger scaled over, the hooves of a horse and the tail of a buffalo. Upon its head two deer antlers protruded, giving it one of the most regal looks imaginable.

Qilin showed himself during the fall of great leaders, wise creatures who showed themselves to be pure and untainted by the evils around them. It was Qilin’s duty to protect these righteous creatures, but some could not be saved. There were fixed points in time where every great and pure leader must die, not even the Qilin could stop them, and the death of the Monarchs of Equestria was fixed. He had saved them countless other times in their youths, making sure no roguish beast or fiend tainted them, but now he was helpless.

The truly great loss however, was the loss of the elements of harmony. Qilin could see where this new Princess was going, the path she was so dangerously treading. It lead to war, war that would divide a world and devastate it. It lead to the release of Discord, the return of chaos, and no way to stop it. He needed to protect the future.

As a being of unlimited magical energy, Qilin could see all possible outcomes to any situation. He needed this ability to see whether a leader was truly righteous, or heading down a path of deception. His golden eyes scanned the past of the elements of harmony, analyzed every variable that had a profound effect on them…and found that every outcome lead to their deaths in this very place. Though their fate was not fixed, it was simply improbable that it would vary.

Among the millions upon millions of deaths he saw, he saw one glimmer of hope. Removal. Not removal from the world, removal from their original place in the world. An entire life not even he could see because he would need to set it in motion…entire lives unlived because he needed to do something about it.

So he did.