The night skies were clear, not a single cloud in sight. The moonlight shining bright down on the Everfree forest down below allowed the long-forgotten ruins of a castle to stick over the tree canopies and be seen by all who longed for a walk in the infamous forest.
“Twilight, ah’ still don’t get what’s so important ya’ll had to drag me from bed now,” Said a voice with a strong accent, “And what are we doin' in the ol’ Everfree castle?”
“-Yeah Twilight, what gives?” said another voice, slightly cracked through unmet sleeping requirements.
Trotting through a particularly dark corridor, Twilight sparkle’s horn glowed, allowing the unicorn and her friends for a better view. Looking around, she finally arrived to the chamber she was searching for, and spoke up.
From behind her, a terrible sound reverberated in great cacophony. They all screamed in unison, backing away from the source of the noise. It quickly died out, and with twilight’s lighting spell they all saw it was but an urn that was knocked off. Realizing nothing was happening, they stopped.
“-Sorry!” whispered Rainbow Dash. Twilight sparkle just leered at her.
“-W-well,” She said, shifting glances between four ornate stained windows decorating the ruined chamber, “I found something rather disturbing. This is really important you two, so pay attention!”
Applejack and Rainbow dash rubbed their eyes to better acquaint them to the now much illuminated environment. Twilight wasted no time entering the chamber, pointing a hoof towards one of the stained glass windows.
It depicted a large, black unicorn with piercing green eyes with a dark purple glow around them, being cast down by the princesses. “-You recognize this?” Twilight asked nervously.
“-King Sombra?” asked applejack, staring at the window and slowly narrowing her eyes. “What’s he got ta’ do with it?”
“-To be accurate, this is his first disappearance, after the princesses banished him. Now check out the next one.” Pointing a hoof to the adjacent window, this one depicted Princess Luna. She was nightmare moon, and banished to the moon by her older sister.
“-Nightmare moon,” Rainbow dash let out, growing slightly sterner in conjunction with the atmosphere.
“-Right, now look at this.” Twilight directed them both, with a nervous point to the next window which featured Sombra, crackling with light, a look mixed of horror and anger on his face. “This chamber’s ancient stained glass windows represent an old prophecy through different events in time, it seems. This one is Sombra’s death at the crystal fair. But…” She grew slightly more somber as she strained to find the proper words and motioned her stare towards the last window. “.. But this is what troubles me most.”
The last neighboring window showed a large gathering of clouds above Equestria, with two angry green eyes – unmistakably identical to Sombra’s -- staring through. Six bolts of bright fire stretched out from the center of the frame towards the end. “This section is named ‘The end of days’,” She pointed to the writing under the window. “I shudder to think of what that means. But Sombra is supposed to be dead… what do you two make of this?”
“-Well sugarcube, ah’ don’t know what to tell ya’. Informed the princess yet?”
“-Yeah. Princess Celestia has to know about this! But… what did you need us for?”
“-W-well.. I've sent a letter but so far had no reply. I want to monitor the situation; I’ll need you, Rainbow, to monitor the skies with the weather team.”
Letting out a quick salute, rainbow replied with “You bet!”
“-Applejack! I need you to gather the earth ponies. Help us protect the town. If anything should come to pass, Ponyville should be ready for the worst.”
“-Count on me” was applejack’s quick response.
~~Meanwhile, somewhere else entirely...~~
*BEEP! BEEP! BEEEEEP!*
The alarm clock in Michael’s room woke him up.
“-Ugh..”
Rubbing his sunlight-craving eyes, Michael went towards his alarm clock, deftly dodging the clutter and chaos in his room. Careful not to knock anything down, he sat down by his computer’s desk and turned the clock off. He turned the screen on by moving the mouse, and was greeted by a wallpaper of Rainbow Dash on his monitor, his eyes finally adjusting to the abundance of light in his vicinity.
Click, click.
Clicking on his already working ‘Skype’ window, he attempted to rejoin his friends’ conversation. With two best friends who each have their own troubles to worry about and problems to deal with, having a way to interact with each other was a solution to a bothersome lifestyle. Not an ideal solution, but a solution nevertheless.
Click.
The computer produced a telephone’s sound effect. The communications app expanded and showed his friends online.
“-Hey guys, how are you--”
“~My little pony, my little pony…” Chimed Zeke’s voice in a mocking response to Michael, and was quickly followed by a snicker coming from his other friend, Eli. Michael drooped his eyebrows in annoyance.
“-Yeah, real funny, you asshole,” They knew his viewing habits and played at this quite often.
“-What did ya’ expect? You’re still following this trend on the internet, are you? “ A snort followed.
“-Whatever, You guys coming with me to the Sinkhole tonight?” Michael asked.
“-I won’t. Sorry bro’, Eli said, earning an unimpressed sigh from Michael.
He followed with a quick “-Pfft. We never get to see each other anymore, like we used to when we were kids”.
“-I’ll join you man; somebody needs to save your ass when you get into trouble. Besides, you’ve just turned 23, don’t make us feel so old.” Zeke interjected.
Eli simply continued with “-Hey, weren't you supposed to make your weekly project tonight though? You're gonna lectured again.”
Michael sighed and stared out of his room’s window. The benefit of living in a tall apartment building is that you don’t have to see the filth and grime of the big city pooling around at the bottom. The grey buildings and skyscrapers blotting out the horizon are a much quieter depressant to his pathetic life. “-Yeah. I’m just going stir crazy, is all”…
~~Later that evening~~
Club Sinkhole. It was a small, foul-smelling hole in a fouler environment. The name choice was probably spot on, as Michael imagined. The outside was littered and filthy, contrary to the inside’s lighting, that didn't provide for much inspection. He relished the chance to check out new places and to pretend, for a night, that he leads what others consider a normal life.
Booming rhythms tore at his eardrums as he arrived on the scene with Zeke. The interior flashed with smoke and lights, dazzling and dulling the senses. Drunks were weaving at the dance floor without a care in the world. Feeling already somber as he approached the bar, he asked for a bottle of Heineken. The waitress nodded and went on to fetch one.
“-What the shit? Don’t get drunk on me, you still need to drive. And you've got classes tomorrow.”
“-Yeah, don’t remind me. It’s just one beer.” As the music shifted to another track, the lights cleared a little, and to Michael’s surprise, Zeke recognized someone behind him
.
“-Hey man, I’ll be right back. Just going on to say hi”. Just as he left, Michael’s blue eyes made out a familiar sight of his own. One he hoped to get by without seeing for the rest of the week. Three guys approaching him, he tried to look away. But it was too late.
“-Look who it is!” said a tall, smug-faced guy.
“-Slim!” Pitched in another, small-framed guy and tried to make his way towards Michael’s short dark hair trying to mess it, but was swat away as Michael protested.
He let out a sigh. These were Tim, Dave, and Nate, three boys he grew up with in the block. They used to be friends, but as time went by Tim Dave and Nate become more distant to Michael and even bullied him around. This attitude carried on so much that they made him an almost instant target whenever they saw him. In the past, he even tried learning some martial arts for self-defense, but seeing as he was thin-framed, and outnumbered, no amount of physics on his part was going to save him.
“-What do you guys want?”
“-What, can’t we just say hi to an old buddy?” Dave smirked. His face quickly contorted into a grimace when Michael just glared at him with displeasure.
“I think you owe me a drink for your bad attitude, slim.” Michael’s heartbeats gained momentum. He was reaching a new low, being actively shaken down.
“-Yeah! In fact, why don’t you buy all of us drinks then, Slim?” Nate said, approaching and slugging at Michael. Tim just staying back with his arms folded, readying incase Michael tried something smart. His mind reeling with contempt at his own helplessness, he almost got a stroke the moment Nate spat those words.
Just then waitress returned with his drink letting out a “-Here you go,” quietly.
With a brash act without thought, he grabbed the bottle, spat at Nate’s face and screamed “-Here’s your drink, you piece of shit!” and slammed the bottle into Nate’s face, dropping the little crony to the ground bleeding and soaked. Surprised at his own burst of aggression, he backed up, only to be grabbed from behind by Tim. The people around them shot up with surprise, curiously looking at the scene, none daring to intervene as Michael struggled hopelessly against Tim grabbing and lifting him.
“-Now why did you have to do that? Guess we’ll have to teach you a lesson.” Preparing for the worst, Michael dropped to the ground in surprise as Tim unhanded him after a loud, sickening thud.
Crouching and grabbing the back of his head in pain, the brute was hit hard, slugged with a motorcycle helmet held by Zeke who stared at Michael in surprise.
“-Run!” He exclaimed, tossing the helmet towards Michael who needed not to be told twice. Strapping the helmet to his head as he bolted through the crowd of people, his senses were drenched with adrenaline. He didn't take long breaking through club. He could make out the noise of footsteps swiftly closing the distance between them; he was being chased.
He bounced on his bike and prepared for a ride. Dave frantically dashed to his nearby ride, a car nearby and started it to chase Michael, who hurriedly drove off. The weather worked against him as the night sky roared and a rainy thunderstorm broke.
Thankfully almost nobody was crazy enough to drive in this sort of weather, which allowed the rather inept driver, Michael, to speed ahead. “Thank god for small favors?” He thought to himself. The smaller vehicle allowed for better maneuvers and turns, a sound reasoning – only futile.
As fast as he drove, Dave was still right behind. The car he was driving was tearing speed limits in a struggle to catch up, determined to chase his quarry down. The threat behind him came first on his mind, and through his waterlogged mirror, Michael barely made out Dave glaring at him, one fist raised and clenched as he mouthed some unintelligible profanity. This ultimately proved to be a sad mistake; the inattentiveness Michael showed caused him to lose control over the speeding vehicle and slammed him with great force against a wall.
Lying down, his mind somehow still awake through the adrenaline-filled experience, Michael could feel his lung punctured as pain fired with a short delay throughout all of his body. He was badly slashed and he was covered in mud, rubble and shrapnel. His eyes, slowly losing the ability to absorb light, could make out Dave running towards him after ditching his car. Immobilized through the injuries he sustained, the last thing he could see is a blinding flash of light and Dave screaming “-Shit!” followed by a thunderous roar that knocked him unconscious.
The hospital around town was known for its under-staffing. Some assumed that with the abundance of crime and poverty, and the following demand for treatments would be enough to merit the construction of bigger departments. Instead, patients had to wait through long lines exposed to a buffet of diseases and choking of the strong odor of antiseptics.
Michael was badly wounded. Sprawled on a stretcher and covered by first aid bandaging to stop the bleeding, he was being hurried to be treated by a specialized trauma surgeon. His mother, a pleasant, aging woman shuffled in her long coat, frightened and hysterical. “Nurse! “ she shouted as she followed them around “-What happened? How long ago? I-“
The nurse shook her head and retorted, “-He’s been in a motorcycle accident. It’s been--“
“-Just a few minutes!” Rainbow dash screamed at Twilight Sparkle as a raging storm, who nobody predicted, completely dominated the night sky above Equestria. Between the clouds whirling in rapid motion, thunder and lightning having a heated argument, and several trees being uprooted, the entire town was in panic. “I’m going to take a look,” Said Rainbow as she flew off towards the epicenter of the storm. She stopped as a lasso thrown by applejack yanked her backwards. “-Ya’ll gonna’ get yourself killed, flying there!” she spat through gritted teeth and shut her eyes with exertion, her forehooves locked tight on the edge of the rope.
Rainbow Dash looked at them both, with the apparent intention of protest, and started “-But-“ only to be cut abruptly by a brilliant flash of light. “-AAAAAGGGHHH!!” A burst of force followed by a particularly loud thunder sent her flying as she tangled in applejack’s rope and was sent plummeting viciously to the ground.
“-Rainbow!” Twilight shouted, galloping towards her wounded friend. Turning her head upwards, she faced a familiar sight; from the epicenter of the storm, six spectacular balls of fire were hurled down towards Equestria, away from each other. Shaking in horror as she and applejack lent hooves to their fallen friend, she muttered “The stained glass windows… it’s beginning! It’s-“
But applejack finished, “-The end of Days.”
Author's Note
Sort of a pet project of mine. I'd appreciate any sort of feedback if you can provide, thanks!
