PROLOGUE
The train passed through the country side quickly. Twilight Sparkle sighed and turned her attention back to her book and continued to read. Then, the train went through a tunnel and they were in Canterlot. Twilight grabbed her luggage and then walked off the train. She made her way to the castle and found that the guards gave her no trouble. Sometimes when it was a new recruit they wouldn't know what she looked like. And they wouldn't believe her when she told them who she was. Unless she had her id on her. But it wasn't every day she had her saddle bag on hand.
She walked into the throne room. Celestia and Luna were there. "You wanted to see me, Princess Celestia?" Twilight said, walking up to the two.
Celestia nodded "I have a task to give you Twilight," she said.
"you do? Why didn't you tell me with a letter?" Twilight asked.
"Because this task requires you to be at Canterlot," Celestia replied. Twilight's eyes widened in surprise.
"Don't worry, it should take too long. So you won't be away from your friends for very long," Luna stepped forward and said. Twilight seemed to calm down a bit.
"So what would you have me do Princess?"
"I want you to go down into the Canterlot Caverns-" Twilight's eyes widened again "-yes, the very same that you and Cadence were held in. I want you to map it out, because after an extensive research Luna and I have found that there is no maps on the caverns."
"In fact there is no record of them ever existing at all," Luna voiced.
"So you want me to map them out... alone?" Twilight asked and Celestia shook her head.
"No I am sending a few guards with you. And take this saddle bag with you," Celestia leviated a saddle bag over to Twilight who took it in her own magic.
+===========+
It had been about two hours since Celestia gave Twilight this task, or so she thought. It's hard to keep time without the sun over head. Twilight had about 3 guards with her. And they seemed to be recruits since they had no idea what they were doing. Often times Twilight had to remind them she was in charge or get them to settle down. They were like a bunch of colts finding out they were going to Ponyland [Disney Land if you didn't catch it].
"So did you hear about the new Ponymon game coming out!" One of the guards, Twilight thought he was named Black Saren.
"Oh Celestia no, I hate it!" Another one said, She was pretty sure he was named Torrez.
"You hate all the new ge-"
"Would the four of you please be quite?" Twilight turned and glared at the four.
"S-sorry miss," Black Saren stuttered in fear, but that is what Twilight didn't get. Why fear her when she hasn't done anything to make them scared.
Twilight sighed and turned back to the front, grumbling something under her breath she continued to map out the path ways. Making sure Torrez marked the way they went so they could get back. After all, it would take more than a day to map these. These tunnels seemed to go on and on. There was no telling how long this was going to take. So Twilight continued to walk, until suddenly she came to a fork. She didn't know which way to go, she wanted to go all ways. But she knew she could only go one. Because it would be smart to bring all her guards in case something was down here.
"I think we should go down the middle path. Then when it ends, come back and go down the right," Torrez suggested. Twilight sighed and she knew that was a much better plan then hers. In fact she didn't have a plan, which was really strange. But oh well. So Twilight and the guards went down the middle path, when suddenly it opened up to a large open area. Twilight looked around the area and saw the crystals were a different colour here, instead of being the light blue colour, they were dark grey. As if they were corrupted by something. Twilight looked up and saw at the top of the area, there was an opening to the sky. But instead of a bright blue sky, it was dark and cloudy.
'How odd...' She thought 'the weather team doesn't have a storm scheduled until next Wednesday. And even then, the sky should be clear...' "hey purple girl!" Black Saren yelled out.
"It's Twilight Sparkle!" Twilight yelled at him.
"S-sorry! But I think we should leave and go back. I don't like this place.... it has a weird.... feeling? Aura? I dunno exactly what's different about it, but I just don't like it!" Saren said.
"Right Torrez?" Saren looked over at his friend, who was standing there frozen. "Torrez?" Saren poked him and Torrez fell over "Torrez!" Saren exclaimed worried for his friend. The third guard who had barely spoken a word since they had arrived, walked over to Torrez.
"I think it's these crystals. I think there is a magic in them that is corrupting him," He said, Saren looked up and glared at him.
"And how would you know this! This is your fault isn't it!?" Black Saren accused the third guard who shook his head.
"No, I'm not at fault. I only know this because I'm experinced in magic involving crystals. It's why my cutie mark is a crystal," He turned and showed off his flank. Which, indeed had a crystal on it. It was a red crystal that had two crystal shards on both sides.
BEGIN
Suddenly, the earth rumbled and the crystals turned a dark, dark purple. And they all heard a voice in their heads.
NO ONE GETS THE LIGHT FROM ME
And they heard the cracking of crystals, and they all turned their heads to the source. The left wall of crystals, there was a large crack in it. And it slowly became bigger and bigger. Twilight felt fear course through her, because anything could be breaking that. She felt the need to run, but her body did not respond. She was frozen in place with fear as the crack became too much for the crystal and the crystal shattered in a large explosion. Then she heard the thump, thump of heavy foot steps on the ground. The crystal dust dissipated and there stood a large bi-pedal creature. Wearing darkened armor and having four appendages that held 4 large swords. And a sense of evil and darkness rolled off of the creature.
The two healthy guards readied their spears and jumped in front of Twilight to protect her. The beast moved into a fighting stance but other than that did no move.
"Miss Sparkle, I believe if you slowly move away from the beast we may be able to escape. How-" the guard said, but was cut off by Black Saren as he unleashed a battle roar. Black Saren rushed towards the beast, gripping the spear tightly in his magic. The beast then brought its swords together and sliced towards Saren and the blades created an energy wave of some sort that moved quickly towards Saren. He didn't even have the chance to dodge it.
Twilight yelped and looked away, not wanting to see what had become of the childish guard.
"Miss Sparkle. I never did tell you my name. It's Crystal Blast. And it's been an honor protecting you," the guard said and then charged towards the beast.
"No!" Twilight yelled out and the beast once again did the same thing, however Crystal Blast expected that, and ducked just before the monster created the energy wave. Now with that past him, the beast moved towards Crystal Blast and moved to stab him. Crystal threw up a quick shield to defend him, but the beasts sword cut through it like a hot knife through butter.
Crystal looked at Twilight.
He said, "r-run....."
Twilight's eyes started to water and she ran towards the other side of the room. The beast threw Crystal against the wall and then watched as Twilight fled. It didn't bother giving chase.
END
Twilight ran and ran, not stopping and not looking back. And as she went farther down the tunnel, it got darker and darker. Until she could barely see. Twilight's hoof caught a stone and she tripped. She yelped and her body hit the ground. She felt her body burn with all the exertion. She laid there for a few moments and tried to catch her breath, eventually she did. Then she stumbled to get up, and when she was standing on all four. She used her magic to light up the area as best as she could. Right now she didn't have a lot of energy, she thought it had to do with these crystals. She hypothesized they absorbed your magic slowly.
Twilight's stomach growled loudly, echoing off the walls. She mumbled something under her breath and continued to venture deeper into the tunnel. Until eventually she came to an opening again, this time smaller than the last one. And in the center of the room was a pool of water. Twilight moved to the edge of the water and looked in. Her mane was dirty and disheveled and her coat was no better. She also noticed a small cut along the side of her face, she must have gotten that when she fell but she was too focused on other things to notice. Twilight sighed and sat down. She figured here would be a nice place to eat a meal. Twilight opened up her saddle bag and rummaged around in it, until she found the lunch that she had packed in case she was down here at lunch time. It was a tulip sandwich.
Twilight took the plastic wrapping off of the sandwich and bit into it, it was a simple and bland flavor. But she was just glad to have any food to eat at the moment. Twilight ate the sandwich slowly, and when she was finished, she drank from the pool of water. Then she washed her mane and coat, along with the cut. After all this, Twilight looked back to the way she came. She wondered if she could go back... or should she go the other way? But then she thought about the beast, and it surely must still be there.... correct? She didn't want to take that chance. So she picked her self up and went down the other way.
It was still dark so she was still using the light magic. But suddenly, she froze. She saw two piercing red eyes looking at her. She didn't know what it was, but thinking back to the beast from before it couldn't be friendly..... She gulped and stepped closer and the light lit up the creature. It was a shorter creature. It had orange skin and looked slightly chubby to her. It had long arms which ended in sharp claws like a dragon. It's mouth was open revealing its row of very large and point teeth. Its legs however weren't as large as the arms. In the light, the creatures eyes were red but they didn't seem to glow. Twilight figured only in the dark would they glow.
She took another step forward and the creature rushed at her. It jumped at her, and swung its claws. Twilight yelled out and threw up a shield, but the claws went right through it and the claws slashed her other cheek. Twilgiht yelped in pain and jumped back from the creature, who still came at Twilight. Twilight bit her lip and charged up a spell, she didn't want to, but she had to kill this thing. But she was scared, she'd never killed anything before. And she had told Celestia that, she would be prepared to if it ever came to something like this, but now Twilight realized how hard it was to TRULY kill something.
Twilight continuously dodge the beasts attacks, which didn't seem to hard, it was the slow and stupid type. The beast made Twilight think of a demon goblin, which was of course, only a myth. But seeing as this beast acted and slightly looked like one, Twilight dubbed it, the Demon Goblin. Soon the spell was charged up and she threw it at the beast. The spell pierced through its chest and it wailed out and collapsed to it's knees, then strangely, but slowly became transparent and disappeared. Twilight groaned and collapsed, exhausted both physically, magically and mentally. She didn't think she could go on anymore. She didn't think she'd be able to kill another creature. Tears came to her eyes and spilled out onto her coat. Her coat soaked it up become a darker shade. She cried there for a few minutes until she realized that she had to go on. For the guards... for Celestia... and all her friends. If she were to die here, she'd never see them ever again.
She felt a new found strength course through her and she stood up. She looked in her saddle back and found some herbs, in which she chewed up and then spat out, putting the sticky and now chewed up herb on the cut the Demon Goblin gave her. It wouldn't heal it instantly, but it would certainly help with regeneration and perhaps keep it from getting infected. Twilight kept the sticky herb on her face and continued her venture farther into the tunnel. Eventually though, she noticed it started to light up. And soon she stood before a large steel door. She moved to push it open with her magic, but found it wouldn't push. She grumbled something and tried again, but this time with her body. But it still wouldn't budge.
"That's not how you open it," She heard a voice from behind her. She yelled out in surprise and turned around. There stood an earth pony stallion. He had a dark brown coat and a beige mane. His eyes were a dark green.
"W-Who are you?" Twilight asked the strange stallion.
"I am Story Narrator," He replied, Twilight felt slightly better knowing his name.
"Why are you here?" Twilight asked Story.
"I should be asking you the same question, no one has been down this tunnel since the time of Equestria's founding. No one has been to this door since the days of the Holy Land," Story stated.
"I was sent down here by Princess Celestia to map out these Tunnels and I suddenly found this door," Twilight replied.
Story laughed "you mean old Sunny is still alive?" Story asked and Twilight nodded, she assumed Old Sunny was Princess Celestia.
"Wow, I knew she lived long, but it's been what? Five thousand years?" Story said.
"Actually the founding of Equestria took place ten thousand years ago," Twilight corrected him.
"I'm not talking about that you sill filly! I'm talking about the last time I saw Old Sunny," Story exclaimed.
"Now if you want to get through that door, the only way is if I tell you the dangers on the other side."
"D-Dangers?" Twilight stuttered.
"Oh yes, on the other side of that door, is a very dangerous place. And I assure you, it won't be no walk in the park. In fact you might never even return, you might die over there. And once you go through the door you can't open it from the other side," Story explained.
Twilight gulped "m-maybe I can go back....," She said and Story shook his head.
"Sorry to break your bubble, but back there is Old four arm. And unless your prepared to die painfully, I don't suggest you go back," Story said. Twilight's eyes widened, so the door was really her only hope.
"But how would I get back?" Twilight asked.
"The only way is if the idol is returned, but I don't think you have the idol on you," Story told her, and Twilight looked at her saddle bag. She opened it up and looked around until she found a strange item, it must've been one of the items Celestia had given her.
"Is... this the idol?" Twilight held it up for Story to see and he yelled out in fear.
"Damn right it is! Get that thing away from me!" Story exclaimed and Twilight put it back into the saddle bag, confused at his reaction.
"That thing you have there, who ever holds it is doomed to have misfortune befall them." Twilight's face fell. That's it, it was the end of this, there was no way she was coming out of this alive.
"But," Story said "if you're brave enough, you may be able to go home." Twilight looked at Story attentively.
"Though the journey won't be an easy one, there will be lots of killing, lots of pain, and you'll have to fight through many many things. You won't be getting any help on this journey, but in the end you'll be able to go home," Story told her. Twilight bit her lip and looked at the door.
"You may die over there, but at least you would die fighting," Story said. Twilight sighed, she didn't know if she was ready for this, all the fighting that she would have to do, all the killing. She didn't know if she'd be able to stand all the pain and suffering. But she knew one thing. She wanted to go home.
Twilight looked at Story with a fierce look and said, "I may not be prepared to fight and to kill. I may not be able to stand all the pain and suffering. But I know that as long as I hold my friends and family close to my heart, I can do anything."
Story was silent, then he smiled and said, "I think you may just be the right one. Well, go on, go right through the door now."
Twilight's eyes widened and she heard the door creak loudly. She looked at it and saw a bright light behind it. She walked towards the door and stepped into the light.
She heard Story say from behind, "best of luck to you!"
Her eyes were blinded by light and she shut them. She heard the door close behind her, and after a few moments. She opened them. She was no longer in the tunnel, but instead outside in a strange new place. She looked up to the sky and saw the same dark grey clouds she saw before. The clouds seemed to never end. Then Twilight focused on the area, it was a small area. It was a path way through a hill or so she thought. She looked at the ground and found some parts were dark grey, and other parts had given way to lava. Twilight decided stepping on those spots wouldn't be a good idea. Then, she saw not far from where she stood was a stone door way.
The Village
Twilight made her way to the stone door way, but along the way she found some more of the Earth Herb she had and picked those. If there was going to be lots of fighting, she was going to need it and badly. When she came to the door way, she found another metal door. But this one opened when she pushed on it. It swung open and she walked into the tunnel. The door closed behind her with a thud. She walked through the short tunnel to another door, she opened that one too and stepped through it. She was now in the opening of a cave.
Twilight paused as she saw an earth pony stallion sitting on the ground, he looked very very sad. Twilight walked over and greeted the stallion. He looked up at her in confusion. For a few moments neither pony spoke a word, but the earth pony stallion broke the silence.
"You... what are you?" He asked and Twilight looked at him in confusion.
"What... do you mean?" Twilight asked and he pointed to her head with his hoof.
"Why do you have... that thing on your head?" He asked and Twilight guessed he was referring to her horn.
"It's a horn, I'm a unicorn....you know... a pony that can use magic," Twilight said and the stallion's eyes widened.
"Magic! That's impossible! Only the forest folk could use magic! And they're all dead!"
"W-What!? But... where I come from... there are lots of... ponies who use magic."
"And what place would that be?" The stallion eyed Twilight suspiciously.
"Some... place.. far away...," Twilight said. She figured here Equestria didn't exist. So it'd be ideal not to tell them because then they'd think her a mad pony. And that is not what she needed at the moment. The stallion grumbled something under his breath.
"Well, what ever. What are you here for?" He asked and Twilight thought about what to say. After a few moments of silence she knew what to say.
"I'm here to find a way home. Like I said it's very far away, and I'm not even supposed to be here. So I'm looking around this place because I know there is a way home here. I just have to find it," Twilight told him.
"Hmph... well if you're gonna be in the cursed lands, then you should take this." He stood up and walked over to the side of the cave, he picked something up and then walked back to Twilight. In his mouth was a wooden club. Twilight gulped uneasily and took the club in her magic. She didn't want to take it, but if this land was as dangerous as Story said it was. She was gonna need a weapon. And while close range magic was no problem, it did take some time to charge it, time she may or may not have.
"Thank you," She said.
"Don't mention it, just helping out a fellow pony." He went back to his spot and sat down. Twilight figured now would be an ideal time to leave. So she walked out of the cave and took in the sight of the village. The village was basically a ruin. Only one building stood among all the rubble, but even that building was falling apart. Twilight decided to check out the building, maybe there would be something inside she could use. So she made her way to the building.
She pushed open the metal doors, and entered the ruined building. The first floor was very small and a piece of the ceiling had caved in. Though there was a fire, which was still alight and there were barrels and wooden boxes in the small room. And there was a single chest. Twilight walked over to the chest and opened it, inside was a pair of leather boots for her front legs, or back. Which ever she wanted to put them on. But she put them on her front, in case she had to punch anything.
But then, she heard some rustling, and Twilight twirled around, only to find her self pushed against the wall roughly and a knife held against her throat. She looked at the pony holding the knife. the pony wore a black robe that covered most of their body, the only things Twilight could see was a small amount of their face. They had crimson eyes and a onyx coat. The pony glared at Twilight, then spoke.
"Who are you and why are you in my home rummaging through my items?" They asked.
"I-I'm Twilight Sparkle and I'm sorry for rummaging through your items. I knew there was a fire alight but I didn't think anyone actually was living here," Twilight replied. The onyx pony eyed Twilight before letting her down. The pony said nothing and went over to sit by the fire. Twilight bit her lip.
"I-if it makes you feel any better... I only took the leather boots," Twilight levitated the boots in front of the pony. The pony jumped away from the boots and looked at Twilight with wide eyes.
"How did you do that!?" They exclaimed.
"I... I'm a unicorn... and where I come from Unicorns can do magic," Twilight explained. The pony looked at Twilight suspiciously.
"Didn't you notice my horn?" Twilight motioned to the horn on her head and the pony laughed.
"I just thought that was some weird head gear or something," they replied and Twilight groaned. 'Really? Have they seriously never seen a Unicorn before?' She thought.
"Well, what ever. Piece of advice, don't go around showing ponies your magic. Or ponies are gonna think you're a freak. The only ponies 'round here are the ground ponies. And they don't take to kindly to those that aren't like them," the robed pony told her.
"H-hey... thanks... uhh... what's your name?" Twilight asked. The pony looked away and appeared to be thinking. After a few moments they looked back at Twilight.
They said, "just call me Misty."
"Well, thanks Misty.... I'll be going now," Twilight said and turned to leave, only to be stopped by a hoof on her shoulder.
"Here, take this. You're gonna need it more than I am," Misty handed the boots to Twilight. Twilight's eyes widened and looked at Misty. She took the boots in her mouth, taking Misty's advice not to use magic.
"No need to thank me," Misty said and turned away from Twilight and went back to the fire. Twilight smiled and left the building, she put the boots on the second she left the building. She walked around a little bit to get the feel of the boots. She'd worn shoes before, but boots were different. Boots were typically used as protection against.. well lots of things. But shoes for ponies were used mainly as decoration. Twilight put the club in her saddle bag, which appeared to be quite larger than it looked. Perhaps Celestia had placed an enchantment on it, in case she ran into anything interesting.
Twilight looked around the village a little bit and found a shop. She went into the shop and found a green and brown pony. Who was yet again an earth pony, or a ground pony as Misty had called them. She entered the shop and there was a little bell that rang to single her entrance. The earth pony looked up from his counter which he was cleaning and looked at Twilight.
"A customer? How odd....," He mumbled and then looked back down at his counter top and continued to clean it.
"Umm... hello... I'm Twiligh-"
"I could careless what your name is, chances are you're going to die in the next few days. No pony survives here long....," he cut her off. Twilight closed her mouth and looked down at her hooves. She didn't know how to reply to that.
"But... what ever, business is business. So what do you want?" He asked. Twilight walked up to the counter and looked around in her saddle bag. She found a bag of bits and she pulled it out. The earth pony opened the bag and looked at the bits.
"What's this?" He looked at Twilight in confusion and Twilight's eyes widened. She face hoofed and thought 'of course! If this is a completely different place than they probably use a different legal tender.' She cursed her stupidity.
"That's money from where I come from. It's called bits," Twilight explained. The stallion eyed the bits closely.
"Looks like tiny pieces of gold....," He picked one up in his hoof and bit it.
"Tastes like it too... Is this pieces of gold?" He asked and Twilight nodded. "Hmmm....," He put a hoof to his chin and appeared to be deep in thought. Twilight started to sweat nervously, wondering if this could be used as a legal tender.
"Well they're small pieces of gold. And here we use pieces of gold, but large pieces. Gold coins actually. So... how about we say 10 bits to a coin," he said, Twilight's eyes widened.
"What!? 10 bits to a coin! That's an outrage! A rip off! 6 bits could easily make a full gold coin!" Twilight protested at the stallions outrageous price. The pony snorted.
"Well take it or leave it cause I ain't changing the price. So it's 10 bits to a coin or nothing," he stated. Twilight's mouth hung open in shock. 'Do ponies normally rip off other ponies here!?' Twilight thought in disbelief. She sighed and weighed the options, money to no money. Obviously money was the better option here, so she had no choice but to give into his outrageous price....
"Fine... there should be about 130 bits in there," Twilight said in defeat. The pony opened the bag and dumped all it's contents onto the counter. Then he counted each and every little bit.
"Nope, you got about 100 here," He said and Twilight's eyes widened. She looked at the pile of bits and proceeded to count them her self. 99.... 100...101... 129... 130. There was 130 bits in total in that pile. She looked up at the pony angerly.
"There is 130 bits here, I just counted them. So hand over... the 13 gold coins," Twilight said and the pony shook his head.
"Can't give you what you don't have, you clearly have 100 bits there, so that's 10 gold coins," He said and pulled out 10 coins and pushed them towards her.
"Take it or leave it, it's fine by me. I'll just be looting your corpse when your dead anyways," He hissed. Twilight groaned and took the bag that held the bits and put the coins in. The pony smirked. 'Rip off....' She thought bitterly.
"Pleasure doing business with ya," He grinned and she scowled then turned to leave the place. She exited and she was back in the ruins of the town.
"David being a dick again?" She heard a pony say and she twirled around, it was just Misty. Twilight sighed in relief and nodded. Misty sighed.
"I thought we talked about that.... looks like I have to talk to him AGAIN," Misty grumbled and entered the shop. Twilight couldn't hear what happened. But Misty came out a few minutes later and she handed Twilight 3 gold coins.
"Here. It's not much, but I guess it's a start in the cursed place," Misty said. Twilight pocketed the gold coins but when she looked up to thank the onyx pony, she was no where to be found. Twilight sighed and decided she'd have to thank her another time. Twilight looked up at the sky, which she noticed had started to get progressivly darker than normal. Which she guessed meant night time was coming. She'd need a place to sleep. After searching around for a little bit, she eventually found a place. But it was a ruined home with no ceiling. But it's walls were more intact than the other buildings.
This is where Twilight would stay the night. And in the morning Twilight would leave the village to look around for information.
