The Beginning

The Beginning

On a lush green plain by the sea just outside an old forgotten castle, all Tartarus was breaking loose. Savage war ponies from across the sea were at war and holding their own in the old fortress against the ponies of the land. There were four kingdoms that united to stop the onslaught from the invaders. The kingdom of earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi. The last was the Crystal Kingdom, the only one in its time that had all three pony races living together peacefully.

The unicorns weaved great spells of fire and launched them at the castle trying to bring down the walls. Arcane Bolt yelled through a spell to make himself louder, "HOLD THE SPELLS LONGER, THEY NEED MORE POWER BEFORE YOU LAUNCH! AND MAKE SURE YOUR AIM IS TRUE PONIES, WE DON’T WANT TO HIT ONE OF OUR OWN!" Then the old unicorn called on his magic and made a barrier to protect his fellow mages from the incoming boulders that were flying out of the castle. The invaders had put up trebuchets and were using them to bombard the unicorns.

The earth ponies were making their way to the castle walls behind siege towers trying to get inside. They were however held at bay by the hail of arrows the invaders were letting loose. Any that tried to move the siege towers forward were soon picked off. An earth pony then yelled as loud as he could "TWISTER, CAN YOU DO ANYTHING ABOUT THOSE ARCHERS?''

Twister soon landed as fast as she could next to the pony yelling at her. Catching her breath she said, "I'm sorry Rune. We are doing the best we can but we are having a hard time as well trying to get through those arrows. Every time we try to dive our way in from the cloud cover they start shooting our way the moment we leave." She then pointed to the sky as her troops made another attempt to land and deal with the archers. As always it failed and this time two pegasi were downed and soon killed by the invaders.

"Damn it. Call for a full retreat, we need to get out of here before we lose any more ponies." Rune said. Twister then flew high in the sky and blew on a horn. All that heard the call then began a full retreat. As the last of the ponies were leaving the field of battle an arrow with a note landed next to Rune. He picked it up and made his way over the hills to the nearby camp they had made in the forest that very same morning.

Later that night, the commanders from three of the four kingdoms were present. Rune, high commander of the earth ponies. He was a plain well-built stallion with a scar across his muzzle. He has a dark red pelt with black runes on his legs. A brown mane and tail with green eyes. Twister, high commander of the sky is a slender pegasus and she has a light blue pelt, with a gray mane and tail. Her eyes are red, but glazed over as if she was blind. Her body has a few small scars on her legs where she was hit by arrows. Arcane Bolt, one of the few archmages of the unicorn realm. He was an elderly stallion. He has a light gray pelt, with a white mane, tail and beard. Although you could still see some black strands here and there that just refused to turn white. All were arguing with each other on what to do next after reading the note that was shot at Rune and the arrow it was on.

The note said

"Hello commanders. I am Nightshade, leader of the forces that now ravage your lands. As you are well aware I have the princes and princesses of your land held here in the castle with me. You also know that I will not give them up unless my demands are met. Your feeble attempt to get them back has angered me and now I will kill them all if my demands are not met in two days. Here is a little gift for you so you know the extent of my displeasure."

Stuck to the arrow was some skin of each of the princes and princesses.

The commanders were still arguing when Rune picked up the arrow and stuck it into the table. "Something has to be done now before we lose the sons and daughters of our rulers! Furthermore, where is Clear Skies with the reinforcements from the crystal kingdom? The crystal king's note said they should be here by now." Just as he finished his statement one of the guards came into the command tent and handed him a scroll. Rune than barked to the guard, "What is this?"

"Half the reinforcements have arrived. On approach to the camp they encountered an enemy ambush preparing to assault the camp from the rear. They engaged the enemy and successfully eliminated them but suffered heavy casualties." Rune put his hooves to his head and started to rub his temples in frustration. The guard then said, "Sir, there is more bad news."

"What!?" said Rune starting to lose his patience with the guard.

Nervously the guard proceeded, "Commander Clear Skies was slain in the skirmish. She's dead sir." All the commanders then looked stunned at this most grievous news.

Arcane Bolt then said, "And the scroll?" because Rune was too flustered to speak.

The guard continued to say, "One of the crystal soldiers handed this to me and said that he received it from a hooded pony. He was told that it is to be for the commanders' eyes only." Rune then dismissed the guard and with a salute he turned and left. Rune, with one hoof, slid the scroll over to Twister and motioned for her to read it.

She proceeded to read the scroll aloud,

"Greetings commanders. You do not know me but I know of you and your plight. My brother and I have been watching from nearby mountains. Normally we keep to ourselves and do not interfere in the affairs of common ponies, but we can see that you are in need of dire assistance. We are willing to lend our aid. Even if you do not wish for our help, our offer shall stand. Though you may not think two ponies could change the tide of battle we urge you to put our skills to the test. If you wish for our aid, on the back of this scroll tell how you would signal us to join in the fray. Then the scroll will be transported back to use."

Twister looked up from the scroll with a puzzled look on her face for she knew that the nearest mountains were miles away. Twister then said, "What should we do? This sounds like a joke to me. There is no way anypony could be watching us from any of the mountains around here. They’re just too far away."

The three commanders then looked at each other for a moment. Breaking the silence Arcane Bolt finally said, "I do agree with Twister on this one. It does seem highly improbable, but there has to be some merit to what is on this scroll. I can sense the spell that has been placed upon it. I say we at least send them a reply. If we need them, we need them and if not, then we don't. My former teacher always said keep your options open for you never know what the future will hold."

Rune took the scroll and flipped it over then dipped a nearby quill into its inkwell and wrote a message on the back of the scroll. Once he was finished he watched the scroll but nothing happened. A moment later there was a bright flash of light and the scroll was gone.

After recovering from the bright flash, Twister asked, "What did you write?"

"Arcane Bolt believes that we need to keep our options open. So if he believes we are in need of assistance, he will then launch a rainbow colored flare high into the sky, summoning these two to us." Rune said. All commanders nodded in agreement and left to prepare for the coming morning.

The following morning they began their attack on the castle again. Thanks to the reinforcements of more unicorns and heavily armored crystal ponies the attack was going well. Since the Crystal Kingdom is the only one that has all three pony races living there, they sent the most troops. The unicorns were able to put more power into their spells and brought down a small section of the castle wall. Thanks to the heavily armored crystal knights, they were able to push the siege towers into place. Though the crystal knights looked like porcupines with all those arrows embedded into their armor. Rune was the first out of the siege towers hacking away at the savage ponies from the beyond the sea screaming "CHARGE!"

Now that the battle was in full swing again and the archers under heavy assault, Rune blew on a horn to signal for Twister and her forces to begin their rapid descent onto the castle. Off in the distance you could hear Arcane Bolt yelling, "Group one get into that castle and aid our allies as you see fit! Group two with me! Now spread out and tend to the wounded. Treat the more severe injuries first!"

Rune was laughing as he split the skull of one of the enemies as he thought, "We've won! The battle is ours!" Just then the loud bellowing of a horn could be heard and the ground began to tremble. Rune looked around and saw a dark purple unicorn standing on top of the tower blowing the horn. The unicorn had a crown upon his head, it was Nightshade. Just as Rune moved to go after Nightshade he heard a loud roar, some screaming and saw the flare that Arcane Bolt was to launch. He turned to see what was going on and froze in sheer terror at what was happening. There was a heavily armored Ursa Major rising out of the ground.

Just moments before Arcane Bolt and his group were running around the field looking over their injured for any that needed aid. As he was trying to save the life of a pegasus that took an arrow to the chest, he heard the bellowing of a horn. Just then the ground right under his hooves began to move. It looked like a small hill was forming and kept getting bigger till he was well above the castle. The ground began to slide away as a loud roar and the scream of his troops filled the air. He was then falling toward the freshly moved earth. In a split second he shot the rainbow flare high in the sky just in time before he hit the ground and was knocked unconscious.

Rune was soon snapped out of his frozen state by Twister when she screamed, "RUN YOU FOOLS!" The Ursa roared as it ran up to the castle. With one swipe of its claws, it threw ten ponies up into the air and leveled more of the wall. The ponies were dead before they hit the ground. A few were split in two.

Twister was blowing the horn for a full retreat and Rune was yelling, "Get away from it! RUN! Run for the forest!" The Ursa continued to swing it's paws and thrash about injuring and killing more ponies.

Rune stood his ground against the beast as he yelled to his troops, "Run, I'll hold the beast here!" He picked up a spear and threw it, piercing the beast in the nose. The beast, angered by this brought its paw down trying to kill him. Rune however just barely got out of the way, but the force of the blow however sent him flying into the rubble of the broken wall, hitting his head hard. Stunned, with bleary vision and a broken leg he could barely make out his surroundings as the Ursa lifted it's paw again, ready to bring it down on Rune himself.

All Rune could say was "Where are those two!? They said if we called they would come!" He looked up as the beast was bringing its paw down full force. Rune closed his eyes waiting for the end to come. Smiling knowing he gave his life so more of the ponies could flee but the end did not come. Rune opened his eyes thinking he should be dead to barely see a young snow white pony next to him. He looked around to see a dome of golden light stopping the killing blow, but only just. It wavered under the force of the beast's blow, though the white pony was slightly bleeding from the side of his mouth because of the shock wave caused when the beast hit the shield.

The white pony then smiled at Rune and said "Sorry we're late; my brother could not find his helm. Are you okay?" Rune looked at the pony in awe and confusion only to yell when the dome began to crack. The white pony with a strain in his voice then yelled, "BROTHER, NOW!" Rune heard a loud booming noise. Then all of a sudden the Ursa was knocked down on it's side.

Moments before, the ponies that had gotten to the forest edge turned to look at the carnage, seeing Rune stand his ground before the beast. Then getting tossed aside after hitting it in the nose with a spear. The Ursa was just about to kill Rune and Twister was screaming, "NOOOO!" being held back by her troops as it brought it's paw down, throwing dust into the air with the blow. She let out a sigh of relief when the dust had settled and she could see an orb of light around Rune and one other pony stopping the killing blow.

Then she heard somepony shout "BROTHER, NOW!" All of a sudden a loud booming noise filled the air and a black ball of fire was ripping through the sky. The blazing ball smashed into the side of the Ursa Major's head, hurling it to the ground. They all cheered at this sight, but then were struck with fear when the beast began to get back up. Though pieces of the helm that guarded it's head fell to the ground as it stood.

Now under the falling piece of metal Rune was shocked by what he just saw through the still standing ball of light. Once all the metal fell to the ground the white pony undid the spell and Rune saw the Ursa hit by the blazing ball of fire again, this time in the jaw knocking it onto its back. Rune's vision was now clear and he saw what he thought to be a black pegasus come out of the fireball. The pony landed next to him and the white pony that saved his life. He could now see that there was something off about them. They both had pegasus wings and a unicorn’s horn. Rune had never seen anything like them before in his life.

Just as Rune was about to speak, he was tossed onto the back of the white pony by the black one. The black pony then said, "Brother, take this pony to the others I saw by the forest edge. He needs healing and I saw unicorns in the group. I can hold my own against this beast till you return." With a quick nod of his head the white pony was off. The black one then turned and saw the Ursa was getting back up. With a quick jerk of his neck to pop it the black pony said, "Come get some, monster." and attacked the beast once more.

By the edge of the woods, the ponies looked on in awe as the Ursa was knocked to the ground time and time again. Though it did hit the black pony a few times plowing him into the ground, the pony would just get up and charge again. Soon the white pony landed, laying Rune on the ground and said, "Come quick, I need a healer. This pony has a bad head injuries and a broken leg."

Rune could hear two voices shouting for others to move out of the way. It was Twister, who hugged him, after slapping him the moment she got to him and Arcane Bolt who just woke up after being knocked out. Twisted looked up to say thank you but the white pony was already flying back to battle. Arcane Bolt began to heal Rune as he tried to get a good look at the white pony but failed. All the ponies looked on as the white one began to blast the Ursa with spells, throwing up barriers to defend when the beast was sure to land a hit and was still taking some damage.

The battle was fierce, neither side wanting to give an inch, but the commanders could see the two ponies now fighting the Ursa alone were losing. The beast had just caught the black one with a good hit launching him toward the forest. He hit the ground, digging into the earth as he slid. Everypony gasped as they knew no pony could have lived through a hit like that, but what shocked them more was that after the dust had settled, he crawled his way out of the ground, bleeding from one bad gash down his side. Everypony there now got a good look at the black pony and Arcane Bolt had a look of utter disbelief on his face. The black pony growled as his coat began to turn crimson red and said, "Damn beast. You will not be rid of me that easily." Snapping his dislocated wing back into place, he took off after the beast again.

“Rage shift.” Arcane whispered.

Rune saw the look on Arcane Bolt's Face and asked "What is wrong my friend, do you know what that strange pony is and why is he red now?"

"Yes I do, but I did not think them real till I saw him." he replied, then asked "Tell me, does the white one look like the black one?" Rune was puzzled by his friend’s words but answered with just a nod of his head. Arcane Bolt then told everypony what he knew, "They are alicorns! One of the most rare and powerful of the pony races, but I thought them to be just a myth till today. The black one turned red because he rage shifted. It is a unique ability to us unicorns. When we are overcome with rage, and if we have substantial magical power our body's color changes. We get stronger and gain more power for a short time."

Twister asked "What does this mean Arcane?"

"That we are privileged enough to be in their presence, and we may live through this battle to save the princes and princesses with their help." he replied. All the forces watched in awe as these two alicorns traded blow for blow with the Ursa Major. With each hit both the alicorns and the Ursa became more tired. Each hit was as strong as the last. The brothers tore into the Ursa with all they had, landing some gruesome blows, though the Ursa did the same. The battle went on till night fall, but it looked like the Ursa was going to win. In the end, the brothers could not stand up to the Ursa's might and were pinned under it's paws. The beast then tried to crush the life out of the two alicorns. Just as they were about to fall, something happened. The two alicorns each turned into a ball, one black and the other White. Both flew high into the air and mashed together.

Rune asked "Arcane, what is going on?" slightly covering his face with his hoof because the light and force of the shockwave made when the balls smashed together was too much.

"I don't know, throughout all my studies I've never seen anything like this." he replied. Then suddenly as the light appeared it was gone, but now in its place was a new alicorn. This new alicorn was two colors. Split right down the middle, the left half of it's body was white with three black wings. The right side was like looking into an inverted mirror for it's body was black on this side with three white wings.

The alicorn then said in a voice that hurt the ears of Ursa Major and all of the ponies listening, "YOU SHALL NOT KILL ANOTHER THIS DAY BEAST, NOT WHILE I HAVE THE POWER TO STOP YOU!" After it finished speaking it shot a beam of pure magical energy at the Ursa, tearing it's armor asunder and launching the beast, a few yards away. The beast along, with the invaders went running for their lives. The fight ended a swift two minutes after the two alicorns transformed. The new form split back into two balls again and landed on the ground. The ponies by the woods came running over and cheering with all their might, but that soon stopped once they saw their saviors. They laid on the ground, breathing heavily and cringing from their wounds. They were covered in small scratches and scrapes, but they also had a few bad gashes that were bleeding badly.

Rune, now limping to them with the aid of Arcane Bolt and Twister asked, "Are you both okay? You look like you’re on your death beds."

"We are fine, just used too much power." was all the white one could say before he passed out and a sort of crystal cocoon formed around him.

"Need to rest... So tried…" the black one replied before he too was encased in a crystal cocoon.

"What is going on Arcane? We need to help them, they save our flanks." Rune barked.

"It will be okay; you heard them just as I did. They are fine Rune, they just need rest. So don't yell at Arcane." Twister snapped.

"But then what's going on with them?" Rune replied.

"I believe that this is a form of defense to keep them safe when they're recovering from that form they turned into. It looks like it drained them of all they had to save themselves." Arcane said. Though everypony could tell he was guessing.

One of the soldiers stepped up, "Sir, what now?"

Rune thought for a few moments and said, "Twister, you take three fourths of the troops and see if you can find the princes and the princesses. The rest of you, make two stretchers. We are taking these two to the camp and guarding them till we are given our orders by our respective royal ruler's child." Everypony saluted and went to their assigned tasks. Once at camp with the two alicorns, the troops got the fires going and waited on good news from Commander Twister.

Twister and the troops soon returned with the princes and princesses. She ordered a medic to look at the three foals.

The field medic acted quickly, making sure that no dark blue feathers were out of place or tangled within the thundercloud colored mane and tail on Swiftwind. That no damage was sustained to Starlight's sunset colored horn or covered by her cherry red mane and tail. That Violet's purple limbs were in as good, if not better shape than here butter yellow mane and tail. The medic turned to Twister and said, "Other than the little bit of missing skin, the three foals are fine." He then turned to the young earth pony, Prince Soul Stone and asked, "Do you need to be examined as well?"

"No. I'm fine; please do not worry over me." Soul Stone replied.

All the pegasi troops ran over to see the Prince and yelled "We got Prince Swiftwind back. Hip, hip, hooray." Arcane Bolt and what was left of the unicorn mages did the same for Princess Starlight.

Rune and what was left of the earth pony forces saluted their princess till she said, "At ease soldiers."

Rune then said, "Good to finally have you back Princess Violet."

"Good to be out of there." She replied.

Rune then turned and walked over to the crystal prince, standing taller than the younger royals, at eye level with his remaining troops. Then he said, "Good to see you again Prince Soul Stone."

"Ah, Rune my good friend, how long has it been? Oh, by the way, where is Clear Skies? I know father would only trust her to come get me." Soul Stone said.

"I'm sorry to report sir that she was killed in action. The enemy was about to flank us as we made camp for the night. Her and her troops ran into them on the road as they made their way to join us. They killed all those that stood in their way, but you lost half your troops and the commander. She is a war hero sir, as are all your troops that fell. I'm afraid not but one fourth of your troops stand here. We could not have won without them." Rune replied as he saluted the prince as all the troops there saluted him.

"At ease." Soul said as a single tear fell from his face. The prince then snapped back to reality. "What happened to the field, the castle and what became of the enemies?" he barked.

Before Rune could answer, Violet asked, "And why do so few stand before us?"

Rune choked on his words as he tried to tell the royals before him what they wanted to know, but could not. Twister replied "The field, castle and lose of troops were cause by the enemy's Ursa Major." the royals gasped, "Furthermore the Ursa's defeat and the full retreat of the enemy, plus the saving of the lives of what few troops still stand is thanks to those two there." Twister pointed to the crystals by the fire.

All the royals went over and looked at the would-be heroes. "What are they, and why are they like this?" Starlight asked.

"Yes, please tell us." Swiftwind said in a commanding tone.

"Based on their appearance, I believe them to be alicorns your highnesses, and as for their current condition, they are resting in a defensive crystal shell to recover their powers. What we saw them do was unbelievable." Arcane Bolt replied.

"You must be joking Arcane. Surely you don't expect us to believe them to be mythical alicorns, now do you?" Swiftwind said.

"What else could they be my young lord? I mean just look at them, they both have pegasus wings and a unicorn’s horn. Plus they took down the once armored Ursa Major the enemy was controlling with little more than their own hooves." Arcane said in response.

"The beast was armored?" Starlight shockingly asked.

"Yes my lady, but that is not all. They traded blows with the beast as if they were one themselves. Then the Ursa pinned them and just as it was about to kill them, they turned into black and a white orbs which smashed together causing a blinding light and a shockwave." Twister excitedly yelled.

Rune finally found his voice again and finished the story, "Once we could clearly see again the orbs were gone and in their place was a new alicorn. The left half of its body was white with three black wings and the right was the exact opposite, black body with white wings. This new form blasted the armor off the Ursa and launched it a few yards. After the Ursa and the enemy ponies all fled, they split apart and said they needed rest and then crystal grew on them."

All the royals looked at the two alicorns in disbelief, but they could tell by the look on the faces of every soldier standing there that they were not lying. Rune spoke one last time. "My lords and ladies, I request we stay at camp tonight and rest before moving out. It has been a long and trying day for all of us." he said. The royals agreed and that was it for the night.