The Power of Six

It was Dangerous, Twilight knew it, she had gone into the Everfree forest before. She had gone in alone to make the short trips to Zecora’s but she had never gone in deep into the forest without her friends before. She had been looking at the night sky for several days taking notice to strange phenomena that had been happening. The first was something that most of Ponyville had enjoyed. It was a simple meteor shower, it was unexpected and confused Twilight because things such as this were expected ahead of time but she ignored that one, thing like that was unpredictable anyways.

The next strange thing was that hours of the day seemed to be slowly messing up. It was fall but slowly each day the sun stayed in the sky longer. Had the princesses lost track of time? Maybe that one had to do with Discord, it had only been a few days since he was “reformed” and she still didn’t fully trust him. He already displayed the power to control the sun and the moon as well.

The final one wasn’t observed by Twilight but by Rainbow Dash. She had noticed strange weather over the Everfree forest- even stranger than normal. Despite it being fall there was considerable heat coming from the forest. The Everfree worked in ways nopony ever really understood; it had its own weather and didn’t need anything to help it. Sometimes its weather would fall into Ponyville but was usually fixed. Could it also have something to do with all the odd things happening?

She was doing this alone because nopony else took it seriously. They dismissed it all and said she was overreacting. “So what if a few things fell from the sky no one knew about. It was cool and it doesn’t mean the world’s going to end.” Rainbow Dash had said. Even Pinkie had said how it didn’t make sense to worry about it- PINKIE said that her worry didn’t make sense- PINKIE PIE said that something doesn’t make sense!

Twilight was dead set on this and when Twilight’s mind was set on something it was near impossible to get her to stop.  So here she was walking through the Everfree looking for… something. She didn’t know what she was looking for just that she would know when she saw it… hopefully. She could see the castle ruins that they had visited when her and her friends were stopping Nightmare Moon. She decided to go inside and crossed that old bridge Rainbow had fixed. As she ventured further she entered the main hall of the old castle. Broken stain glass windows, floors and walls covered in dirt dust and webs, the whole place looked decrepit and… well old.

“This world has been disconnected.” An unknown voice rang through the large room.

“Zecora?” Twilight called out in weak hope

“So tiny… so ignorant.” A distinctly female voice said. The voice sounded detached she couldn’t tell if the owner of the voice was talking to Twilight or to herself. She went up the two large stairs that connected to the small balcony at the top A large picture that was partly destroyed showed the young Luna and Celestia sitting in front of two large ponies but there faces were weathered and worn making it impossible to identify them. It stood above a doorway to an empty hallway. It was what stood just in front of that doorway beholding the picture of the Princesses that got her curious. Tall was the pony but that was all that could be made out. The figure was cloaked and refused to look directly at her.

“Hello?” Twilight said timidly.

“Hello, young one.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Watching,” The figure said cryptically “Observing, Waiting… a lot of waiting.”

“For what?” Twilight asked more curious than ever

“The inevitable.” Twilight found herself getting impatient with all these cryptic answers.

“Just who are you? What are you doing in a place like this?”

“‘Who are you?’… if you could truly comprehend you would understand how little that question makes sense. My reasons for being here are my own. You understand so little.”

“I could try to understand,” Twilight said “I could learn what you’re talking about if you would just explain.”

The figure turned her back to Twilight completely and started to walk away, the silent clopping of hooves being echoed through the large empty room. “A meaningless effort, to truly learn one must understand, one who understands nothing learns nothing.” In a quick burst of light the figure vanished leaving Twilight by herself.

Twilight was confused more so than when she first came, but felt somehow, without any grounds, that there was nothing left to find here.

Twilight made the lengthy venture back into Ponyville with all that was spoken to with the strange pony racing through her head.

Rainbow Dash was racing around the sky trying to put the finishing touches on today’s weather. Partly cloudy skies were scheduled for today and she still had quite a few clouds to move. She saw Twilight walk past her towards her home. “Hey Twilight, where have you been?” Rainbow Dash asked not really stopping her placement of the clouds in the sky.

“I went into the Everfree forest.” Rainbow stopped dead in her track and swooped down to get right in her face.

“Seriously? You do just mean to Zecora’s, right?”

“No I went to the castle ruins.”

“By yourself?! Are you crazy you should have asked someone to come with you?”

“None of you were taking what I was saying seriously and it could have been something big. It probably still is!” She screamed in frustration and ran off. She ran in frustration of that odd pony and her odd answers, of no one believing her when it comes to something weird like this. Things were happening and no one seemed to notice or care. The stress was so high she felt as though she would just burst into flames! Rainbow Dash just watched her friend run off a little dazed and confused over what happened… what did happen?

Elsewhere Fluttershy was gingerly escorting some lost baby bunnies back home. A rabbit that lived near her cottage had lost her young ones and Fluttershy just had to help. She found them near the middle of town “Just a little further now, we’re halfway home.” She said gently to them as they followed. She and the bunnies stopped though as they heard the sound of singing, the sound of running and one pony screaming.

“What’s wrong with this guy?!” A white unicorn with wild electric blue hair and a grey earth pony with a neat black mane ran as fast as they could and accidently scared the bunnies off.

“Oh my!” Fluttershy exclaimed in surprise. Just then the pony that was singing raced past Fluttershy as well. It was a light grey earth pony with an elegant white mane.

“Yes, run as you will the inspiration is heart stopping. The melody! Can you hear it?!” he declared. The unicorn dived behind a stand with the other pony.

“What are you talking about, you lunatic?!” They quickly abandoned it as he got closer and disappeared behind a corner with the strange pony in pursuit. Fluttershy quickly tried to find the little bunnies that ran away.

“It’s okay now, you can come out.” She called out hopeful they would come but when they didn’t she began searching. She was looking under the tables that were around and behind some of the market stands. “Oh, please come out from wherever you’re hiding.” She said in a more concerned voice. After worriedly searching some more she noticed Pinkie and Rainbow Dash coming her way.

“Hi Fluttershy, what are you doing?” Pinkie asked

“I was helping some bunnies when they got scared and ran off. You haven’t seen them have you?”  She asked hopefully

“Nope, I was actually going to ask for your help with something.”

“I’d love to, but I’m a little busy at the moment- if that’s all right with you.” She quickly said trying not to accidently hurt feelings.

“Alright with me!” Pinkie smiled “Dashie just told me how Twilight’s all upset and frowny,”

Rainbow Dash cut her off “I still don’t get what she’s angry about.”

“So I thought I’d throw her a nice party to cheer her up.” Pinkie continued without missing a beat. “You can come over to Sugar cube corner when you’re done.” Pinkie said happily bouncing away. Only Rainbow Dash stayed. She offered to help Fluttershy find them which Fluttershy accepted gratefully.

Somewhere else a Mint green Unicorn and a cream colored earth pony sat together outside a restaurant. The Earth pony had regretted bringing up a topic that her friend believed greatly in. “I haven’t found one yet, but I feel like I’ll see one real soon. You know, Bonbon?” Bonbon had to bite her tongue from admitting that she didn’t understand, it would only prolong this talk. She instead retreated to just agreeing.

She tried a tactic that’s worked so far “Not that this isn’t interesting or anything but maybe we could talk about something a little more grounded than your theories.”

“Like what?” Lyra asked

“Maybe us?” Bonbon offered with a slight tone of sarcasm

“Oh, Oh!” Lyra jumped. She looked under the table and saw an adorable, white, fuzzy face. “Oh my Celestia, who is this little guy!” Lyra squealed excitedly at the little thing. She levitated it up from under the table and into her forelegs, hugging it gently but happily “Bonbon look, a bunny!”

“Aww, it is pretty cute.” It was at this moment Rainbow Dash fluttered down next to them.

“Hey, that’s one of the bunnies Fluttershy was looking for, could you please give it back.” Rainbow asked. Lyra let out a sigh and gave it back.

Eventually night came but Twilight remained buried in books. A while ago she found a book with some really interesting things in it. There was one poem in here called “The Bell of Freedom”

Ring out the old, ring in the new

Time for a major alteration’s due

Soon enough we all must sing

Let the Bell of Freedom ring!

Ring out the news, speak loud and clear

Come on the day of liberation’s here

Soon the changes will take wing

Let the Bell of Freedom ring!

There goes the Bell, we won the fight

Sing out the song of victory tonight!

All the joy our thought will bring

Let the Bell of Freedom  ring!

Twilight couldn’t figure out what this poem could be referring to. She checked all the history books and saw no signs of any kind of enslavement in Equestrian history books. Didn’t see any in the books about the Griffon Kingdoms history. The only kind she could think of took place in the Crystal Empire and the way they always emphasized “Bell of Freedom” it would suggest that it was some type of thing; the empire only had the Crystal Heart, never a bell. It was always interesting when Twilight found out about something she’s never heard of before. It only made her want to find out about it even more. At first she suspected the book had something to do with the Crystal Empire when she saw the book title “The Great Dark King” but now she wasn’t so sure. The book was very vague and didn’t even mention the king by name. As if the author of this book was still trying to maintain a secret. Nothing was very specific, not the Kingdom he ruled, not where it was, not even what happened to it. Its disappearance, according to the book, was sudden- just in the blink of an eye.  “Six powerful beings stood up to the Beast King and commanded his kingdom leave, and then it vanished from time and history”

It was strange, how can anything just… vanish! It seemed beyond any logical reasoning, yet in the last couple years things have happened that she never thought possible. Ruling out the possible accuracy of this book could be a huge mistake. Spike came down the stairs and was stunned by the mountains of book surrounding her. “You’re still doing this?” Spike said with a mixture of exasperation and disbelief.

“Uh-huh.” Twilight said absent mindedly as she became more absorbed in her book.

“You know Pinkie is throwing a party for you, right?”

“Uh-huh…”

“I’m heading over there now, are you coming later?”

“Uh-huh…”

“Well… see you later then.” Spike said slowly then carefully walked around the scattered book and out the door. Twilight remained in her home for roughly another hour before she felt her whole house shake violently. Her head shot up from the book and shock over took her face. The towers of books were shaken down and spread across the room. The remaining books also fell down and Twilight couldn’t even get herself to stand up. It lasted for about a minute before it abruptly stopped.

“What in the world just happened?!” she said to no one and rushed to the window. Other ponies were coming outside to see what was happening. As she watched she could hear the far off sound of explosions and it seemed that some others heard them too. “It’s Canterlot!” One yelled above the deafening silence “Something’s attacking it!” Heads turned towards the mountainous city and panicked murmuring started to spread.

“Canterlot?!” Twilight exclaimed and ran outside to see for herself. To her horror it was being laid siege to. Explosions could be seen from here and, although she couldn’t make out exactly what, she could tell that whatever was attacking was a force and not a single opponent. A low rumbling was heard again and the dark night sky gave a dim light now instead of the gentle light of the night. She turned her attention to the sky and saw the Sun and the Moon shared the same place in the sky. “An Eclipse, now?” A trail of fire could be seen racing across the sky heading this way at an amazing speed and stopped abruptly over Ponyville with another earth shaking rumble of a small earthquake. At this point the citizens were panicking and running for their lives making the world around Twilight one of pure fear. Every pony was running for whatever safety they could find. They ran, they screamed, they were in complete hysteria!

Twilight was just as terrified but couldn’t find the power to move, she was frozen in terror. All she could do was look up at the burning pony flying above her in awe and terror. The pony looked like an Alicorn the mane and tail were that of fire and the coat was grey as if it were covered in a thin layer of ash. The armoring was no different, It was threatening to look at and it only added to the intensity, it too was blackened by the mean of fire. It hovered in that place observing the terror of the town’s ponies and then, to Twilight’s terror, it turned its attention to her and the unseen power of the pony that seemed to radiate from its very being seemed to intensify as the Alicorns gaze landed on her. It felt like killing intent.

Without any provocation the fiery terror unleashed its power blowing up a house not too far from the two of them. Now Twilight felt the power to run and she ran like never before. Rainbow Dash might have been impressed if this weren’t a matter of life and death. The Alicorn did not even attempt to stop Twilight as it continued to make an Inferno in its wake. Without warning two spears impaled the ground just in front of Twilight making her stop in her tracks. If she were just a little faster her life would have ended there. Two Pegasi in the same blackened armor hastily landed in front of her and pulled the spears out. She crouched on the floor and covered her face, waiting for what was to come. But it never did Rainbow Dash came speeding towards the with such speed they plunged through the wall of an adjacent house. “Don’t gawk, run!” Rainbow insisted.

“But Rainbow Dash-”

“No arguing this time! I can handle these goons!” Hesitantly Twilight started to run away. She never stopped running but glanced over her shoulder and saw that more had come and they surrounded her. She felt like she needed to do something but was too scared to think straight and just kept running. More of the black armored ponies appeared there were Pegasi and Unicorns and Earth ponies too, all in that blackened armor. They too would set fire to the houses and shops, some would chase the townsfolk. It was like a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. The eerie brown sky was blackened with smoke and fire and the air was filled in terrified screams.

A mare was huddled in a corner with a foal held close as three soldiers closed in. On pure instinct Twilight blasted those with her magic they were swatted away almost like flies. They lay on the ground groaning in pain before they fell unconscious. The mother silently acknowledged the help of Twilight and ran off with her child. Twilight felt a little better after that but it didn’t erase the pure terror still infecting her. It was giving good reason as the Fiery Alicorn once again confronted Twilight landing on the ground with enough power to shake the ground. “INSOLENT FOOL! YOU DARE CHALLENGE ME?!” a booming voice roared from her mouth.  Gold and blue beams came down from the sky and knocked the monster down.

Celestia and Luna flew in place in the sky defiantly of this Tyrant.“You will not harm them!” Celestia commanded.

The Alicorn picked herself up and glared with those blank white eyes “NO ONE COMMANDS ME!” and flew after them enraged. They disappeared in the growing smoke but the light and sound of their battle was not lost. Through all this that Eclipse was the only thing that somehow remained visible in the sky. And odd flash came from the rims and then, from the direction that Twilight had come from, six beams of light shot into the sky and ran laps around the eclipse till the colors fused together… and then the worst happened arms of light fell from they and tearing the ground apart. The ground didn’t have craters; instead it seemed to be dissolving. They fell into chunks and gravity lost meaning as they flew into the sky. The buildings dissolved and were torn apart as well the world swirled and twisted in the most mind blowing and disorienting ways. Ponies trapped on the dislodged pieces of ground and some trapped in the buildings flew into the sky. The smoke swirled in a vortex and the center of the insane storm of destruction was the eclipse surrounded by the light. Twilight was trapped on a chunk of ground too and it got sucked up into the sky. She looked around one final time as she rose into the sky. The complete and utter despair was heartbreaking. The town that was peaceful and quiet only moments before was seeing its last light, and it was from fire. Light flashed blindingly and then nothingness, everything was dark and quiet.