Chapter 0: Inrtoduction
[Queue the theme song!!!]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation\_id=annotation\_414696&feature=iv&src\_vid=67Xx\_S49F\_s&v=eQtXIHiASNk]
It was a sunny afternoon, without a cloud in the sky, and unusually hot for the time of year. Lots of ponies were out and about, whether they were lying on a cloud reading the latest Daring Do novel, caring for their animals, bucking apple trees to prepare for cider season, or trying to earn their cutie marks for the hundredth time.
That is, a lot of ponies that weren't named Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight was busying herself putting away the many books she'd pulled off the shelf during her night-long studies. She would've had Spike do it, but he was off buying a few things; extra quills, more parchment, some spare ink, and a dandelion daisy sandwich for lunch, to name a few.
"Dang it, all I wanted to learn was how to put all the books away without having to do it one at a time." She whined, placing the final book back in its place.
She leaned against the now neat bookshelf, exhausted after using so much magic for so long. Suddenly, Twilight noticed an odd glimmer behind the books.
"What's this?"
Reaching out with her magic once more, Twilight moved a few books aside, revealing one of the most unusual books that she'd ever seen before. Placing the book on her desk, she began to looking it over, curious as to where it had come from, as she had no recollection of it being there before.
"Hmmmm... the Bozuk Kitabı; never read this before. Come to think of it, I don't even know where this came from." Twilight said,exhilarated by the prospect of a new book to read.
What she loves to do the most in her time was to read books. Opening the book, she saw weird writing on the pages. They looked like circles combined with sticks and curvy lines, ones Twilight had never seen in her life. When she flipped back to the front of the book, what she found written on the front was legible, but what is said made her raise an inquisitive eyebrow.
“In order to read this book you must pledge yourself onto these passages. By pact born of blood may you be bound, and only by blood may you be unbound. In exchange, speak your heart's desire and it shall be given onto thee. Speak of nothing, and you shall go without. If you follow this passage wrongly, you shall be hunted down by the terrors that exist beyond the void, and succumb to the fears that reside within your heart.
If you fail to commit to this, you shall be trapped within the endless void, forever bound beyond the aid of both gods and man. In order to accept this passage you must offer your blood; only then will the pact be fulfilled and the doorway be opened."
Twilight red and re-red the strange writing, curious as to the purpose of the book, and what secrets its cryptic pages held. Something gave her the weird feeling to obey its message.
Getting a knife from her kitchen, Twilight lifted her left hoof above the book and cautiously cut the side of her hoof, wincing at the sudden pain. Blood seeped out, landing on the page and she gasped as it sink away, vanishing completely its the thick, yellowed pages.
At first, nothing happened stifling much of the lavender mare's enthusiasm, but as the seconds crept along in awkward silence, a dull thudding could be heard in the distance, and with each passing moment, it grew louder, until it vaguely resembled the sound of a heartbeat.
'Thu-Thump,Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump'
Slowly rising from the desk, the words began to glow an eerie purple, pulsing in time to the disembodied pulse. Twilight was so entranced by the bright colored words, she didn't even notice her wound heal, leaving no trace of a scar or blemish. The book slammed shut with a loud thud, and with a flash of light, Twilight collapsed onto the floor, her eyes rolling into the back of her head.
Twilight came awake with a start, sweating and breathing fast as she felt her heart sprang into her throat. Looking around, she found herself floating in a black abyss of empty nothingness, and somehow managed to stand shakily on open air.
"W-where am I!?" She said, frantically turning about, desperate to see anything other than stark blackness.
As the seconds of mind-numbing silence drew on, Twilight became of a faint whispering, distant murmurs carried from far away, yet still there was nothing in sight. Wherever she was, it definitely wasn't Ponyville.
"Who's here!" Twilight cried out, hoping for an answer from these distorted whispers.
This only seemed to entice the whispering voices, as they gained both volume and moment, becoming evermore insistent.
What is your desire?
Fulfill the pact.
Speak your wish.
What do you want?
Tell us.
Open the door.
What do you wish of us?
Speak and fulfill the pact.
Tell us your wishes.
Speak.
Speak!
SPEAK!!
SPEAK!!!!
Grimacing, Twilight covered her ears in a desperate attempt to stave off the now booming voices, frantically howling, and surrounding her with a wall of endless sound. The voices reverberated through to her very core, rattling her bones and pounding against her skull.
“I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT!!!!”
In an instant; all the voices fell silent, leaving an ominous silence to hang in the air. With a jolt, the invisible floor beneath Twilight gave way, and she plummeted down into the shadowy abyss, shrieking at the top of her lungs.
BBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNNGGGG!!!!!!
Twilight shot out of her bed, sheer terror consuming her, only to realize that she was in her bed; she was back in the library.
She hurries downstairs, but, to her surprise, the book was nowhere to be found, and glowing purple words were written on the wall, seemingly scorched onto it by an unknown force.
The Pact Is Fulfilled. The Doorway Has Been Opened Onto Us.
Walking towards the message, Twilight lifted a hoof in an attempt to touch them, but as soon as she tried, the forbidding message faded into oblivion, leaving the library eerily quiet. Nothing made a sound, and leaving Twilight more than a little unnerved.
As Twilight began to ponder the events that had just unfolded, a series of frenzied knocks on the door interrupted her thoughts.
"Hang on! Just hold on!"
Opening the door, Twilight was greeted by a blurry pink flash, as a wild-eyed Pinkie Pie tackled her to the floor, only to be followed by Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and the rest of he friends.
“TWILIGHT!!!!! Hurry, come quick, something terrible is going on outside and the town needs your help like right now! Well what are you waiting for lets gogogo!!!”
“Easy there, sugarcube,” said Applejack, pulling on the pink party pony's tail, “We ain't tryin' ta flatten 'er, we're just here ta get some help.”
Pinkie just rolled her eyes, obviously not concerned as she began dragging Twilight towards the door. “I know that, but this is a super duper huge emergency we need her!”
“FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA'S SACRED PLOT, COULD YOU PONIES CHILL FOR FIVE BUCKIN' SECONDS ?!?!” Twilight roared, finally losing patience with the whole situation.
The other five mares exchanged glances, shocked into silence at the lavender mare's colorful use of vulgarity (Rarity, the drama queen that she was, abruptly fainted, her signature fainting couch appearing out of nowhere).
“...Dang. Way to go, Egghead." Rainbow Dash said as she leaned against the door-frame, grinning approvingly.
"Uh, sugarcube? You feelin' ok?"
Finally relieving her rather uncouth outburst, Twilight blushed bright red, as she rubbed her hoof on the back of her head. “Oh...sorry about that girls. I just, uh...had a bit of a rough night. Now, what is it that everyone's so worked up about?”
Five sets of eyes widened as they suddenly remembered why they'd barged in in the first place.
“Well..it's...uh...”
“Yeah, it's...well...”
Now rubbing her head, Applejack grinned sheepishly. “Well, fact a the matter is Twi, we don't KNOW what the hay it is.”
Rainbow was the first to find her voice. “What we do now is that one second the sky was clear and the sun was shining, the next, it got all dark, and these massive storm clouds started rolling in and no matter what the weather team and I do, we can't bust 'em.”
“Then a ghastly twister came out of nowhere and touched down in the middle of town. What's even weirder is that it hasn't moved; its just sitting there, flinging stuff to and fro. It swept up several for the brand new dresses I had was taking the liberty of delivering to one of my clients personally. Oh, it's all so dreadful.” Rarity said, lifting her hoof to her forehead, as if to faint again.
“We need your help getting this storm under control with your magic before someone gets hurt. Golden Harvest's house already took a beating...” RD stated, completely serious.
“...and Sweet Apple Acres already took a flyin' cart ta the side of the barn.”
“Say no more girls. Applejack, take Rainbow Dash and round up as many ponies as you can and get them to Sweet Apple Acres; it's the farthest building from Town Square and should be relatively safe, the last incident withholding. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie round up all the critters and get them to Sweet Apple Acres as well. Rarity, you come with me; I may need some help with this.”
“Aya aye, cap'n.” Raindow Dash shouted, sarcastically saluting her friend. With nothing left to say, the three teams took of in separate directions, each with there own tasks to complete.
As Twilight sped towards the Town Square at breakneck speed, she noticed that the sky was indeed an eerie dark gray, almost black, thundclaps sounding of repeatedly as the wind was howled in her ears.
How did I not notice this sooner? She thought to herself. For that matter, how had I not heard it when Pinkie Pie came in the front door. It was standing wide open for pity's sake!
As her thoughts continued to race another jarring realization came to mind driving her to a sudden and abrupt halt. Oh Dear Celestia! I'd sent Spike out this morning to get supplies, and he hasn't come home yet. He's out in this somewhere!
Now driven by complete terror, Twilight redoubled her efforts, galloping at speeds that would even impressed Rainbow Dash, determined to find Spike and put and end to this craziness.
Somewhere, in a universe far, far away...
Rick Taylor stood atop a small mountain of bodies, each beaten, bloody, and most were tore apart, there guts and entrails flung about like gruesome streamers. Every inch of his body rippled with more muscle than any living being should rightly possess, yet it remained proportional despite it. Boney spikes protruded from his back and arms, all caked with more blood, guts, and grit than should be rightfully possible.
Stretching across his face was a mask that looked as though it were made from the bleached skull of some ancient monster. The grinning mask seemed to leer out on the world with a malevolence and ferocity all its own, while it's extensions wrapped around Rick's head, painfully digging into the back of his head. Glowing yellow eyes leered down from the mask's eye sockets with a cold, judging malice. The small tendrils of blood ran up his hulking body to it, like tears flowing in reverse, only to just... disappear, as though the mask was feeding on the blood...and it was.
“Ah...now that was a feast in every sense of the word. Good goin', Rick-o.”
“Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did.”
“You have no... wait, wait a minute...”
“What's up; did you get the joke I just made?”
“Do you feel that?”
“Feel what?”
“That massive wave of demonic energy, dumb-ass. The Corrupted are on the move, Ricky boy. And whatever it is, it's gonna be big.”
Rick was about to ask what the Mask meant by that, but he was cut of as a massive portal opened up beneath him, swallowing him and the heaping pile of corpses he'd been sitting on.
“And wouldja look at that. Looks like the forces that be are on our side after all. So, whaddaya say, ready to go stir up some shit for those Corrupted sons-a-bitches?”
“Do you even have to ask?”
“No, but at least I asked this time.”
“LET'S RAISE HELL!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
“LET'S RAISE HELL!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
