The RCC Volume One: The Fall of Harmony

~History has often found that its own annals are written only by the victors. But what of the lost stories of those whom did not succeed? Those whom were not fortunate enough to receive the chance to tell their stories? Are they forever lost to time immemorial or are they merely shadows of events once believed to have happened...but now long forgotten?~

The artefact before her glowed with an intense light, brightening the darkened hallway to the point of appearing like daylight in the enclosed space. The shining luminescence of the tiny gem inside of it bathed her and her surroundings in a white light that cast away all semblance of shadows, even as she continued to stare in awe at it.

Shaped like a miniature claw, the dragon-forged gemstone set into the talisman would’ve made even Rarity swoon at the sight of it; near flawless in its crafting and perfection. Though no longer than one-quarter the length of her own horn, the finely polished gemstone held more information in it...more knowledge than anything she’d ever encountered before. Now that she was in the right location; hopefully it would deign to divulge more to her than it had in the last few choice destinations.

Once set upon the ground, the talisman flashed even brighter than before. Sooner than she could shut her eyes to keep from being blinded, the world faded out from around her as once more; it was wrenched from beneath her hooves and replaced with a memory from times long forgotten.

The air, which had been pleasantly cool before, was now stifling hot. The sounds of an overarching battle nearby echoed through the air; sword and spear on shield. Spell after spell flashing through the darkened skies above. If she hadn’t been standing in a hallway of the palace only moments ago, she’d be more than sure that the world had completely changed around her; such was the intensity of the visions.

Now standing in the halls of another very familiar castle, the caster turned tail and took in her surroundings. Castle Midnight; as it had once been called, stood tall and dark around her. The acrid smell of wooden torch-fire and dragon habitation stung her delicate nose. The sounds of battle echoed through the massive hallway, denoting her destination once more. It sounded quite intense even from a distance.

Steeling her nerves, she broke out into a gallop towards the ongoing battle. Her cloak flapped around her, smacking against her flanks as if to urge her even faster. As if she might miss one of the most historic moments ever to take place. It wouldn’t be far from the truth, but it wasn’t as if she could always just come back and watch the scene replay again if she had to. The talisman fueling the spell was more than capable of at least two more castings before the long unused magics it held faded away.

After rounding a corner, she came upon that which she’d been searching for.

There ahead standing on a parapet outside of the tower she’d arrived in; a group of ponies faced a monstrous creature riding a chariot drawn by four dragons. Four powerful, fur covered legs tipped with what looked like cloven hooves held a massive muscular body aloft above her unsuspecting equine companions. A torso like that of a minotaur extended from where a normal pony’s shoulders would be, steel plate mail stretched taut over an upper body with tendons and pectorals so thick that they looked capable of being able to rip a dragon apart, limb from limb. The arms that stretched from its shoulders were absolutely enormous and bare of fur. Covered in thick red flesh...they appeared even larger than the brutish muscles of that Iron Will fellow she’d met a year or two ago.

The head of this creature was shaped altogether differently though. A comparatively flat nose arced down from its brow where an even flatter mouth lay underneath. Two evenly shaped, golden eyes gleamed in the darkness that surrounded them. If this weren’t enough to unnerve the ponies; twin horns like that of a demon sprouted from either side of its head, curving high into the air. All of this was topped with a mane and lower body coat of a deep blue color, contrasting sharply with its skin tone.

While impressive and definitely terrifying...this beast was only half of the reason she’d come. The other stood before the monster’s retreating form in defiance on two legs, looking pound for pound to be the strangest monkey she’d ever seen.

Much like the demon, the human, as she'd learned they were called, had a face that was just as flat and very similar; instead however having a paler, whiter color flesh. A golden mane streaked down to its mid-back, and the ‘clothing’ it wore; which had Rarity ever seen...might have caused her to faint due to the color clash; appeared to be very form fitting and highly unlikely as a battle garment.

This particular human, the Meg-Han, as it’d been called in other instances before...was definitely not what one would expect to be standing up against the most dangerous foe the ponies had faced to date.

Together, the two creatures stared each other down as in a duel.

“The game is over, little ponies. The Power...Is...MINE!” The monster cried out, holding aloft a leather satchel as it drove its dragon powered chariot higher into the sky.

The Meg-Han jumped slightly as something the observer couldn’t see on its chest began to glow. Reaching down for the hidden object, it spoke up.

“We have a power of our own, Tirek. Take This!”

As she observed the scene before her, The Meg-Han held out a tiny red locket that glowed with the force of a small star. As it was drawn aloft, it opened.

From the locket, the most miniscule rainbow probably to ever exist floated out, barely a wisp of what it should have been. It somersaulted in the air a few times before coming to a halt a few hooves above the stone masonry of the castle parapet, forming into the familiar horseshoe shape it should have had.

“It’s not working! Maybe the Moochik was wrong.” All of the present ponies gathered around the tiny rainbow, looking despondent. That rainbow had likely been their last hope of succeeding.

Just as quickly as the scene had grown dark at this revelation...it suddenly became that much darker. The demonic entity known as Tirek unfurled his leather satchel and held it pointed like a weapon towards the collected ponies and the human.

“Behold! The Power of Darkness!”

With what sounded like an oncoming hurricane mixed with the explosion of a sonic rainboom, a violent gust of black mist and smoke ripped out of the satchel, magical energies whipping around it in a furious torrent. It arced down towards the tiny rainbow and engulfed it entirely. A whirling vortex of maddening hatred and bitterness infused into a very powerful spell; this could only have been the mythic Rainbow of Darkness. True, it was an ironic name, given that darkness itself was composed mainly of varying shades of grey and black. However...this did not mean that it was in anyway untrue. A nauseating feeling rushed over the observer, her horn now crying out in protest in the presence of everything that its magic stood to defend.

The noise of the magic was deafening in and of itself as the vortex arched up into the sky and over upon itself, becoming a black equivalent of the colorful moniker it had. The dark rainbow stood tall upon the parapet as Tirek laughed deep.

Until a glimmer of light appeared at either end.

With a sudden jerk, he reigned his draconic carriage around just in time to see the tiny rainbow colors creeping up the sides of his own magical weapon. Slowly but surely, the Rainbow of Darkness was being consumed by the only thing strong enough to destroy it; it’s antithesis...the Rainbow of Light.

“No!” Tirek cried out in anger, once again wheeling his chariot around to make his escape into the black of night. But the Rainbow of Light would not have this.

With the Rainbow of Darkness now consumed and feeding the Rainbow of Light’s energy, the mythical weapon roared off after Tirek like a homing spell. What came next was almost too disturbing to watch. To think that such a wonderful piece of magic...one that was meant to bring light and harmony to the world, could do what it had done to Tirek; no matter how evil or corrupt he had been...

It was almost unthinkable.

When all was still again, and the Rainbow of Light returned to the locket held by the human, Tirek; Lord of Darkness and Master of Castle Midnight...was dead. No trace remained of the evil Scimitaur sorcerer.

The scene slowly faded away, now that the victory had been won, and the hallways of Canterlot Castle returned to focus after her eyes adjusted to the darkness now surrounding her. The spell had gone silent and the amulet lay unmoving upon the cold marble floor tiles beneath her. In the still air of the enclosure, she could continue hearing the evil beast’s laughter...and the roar of the Rainbow of Light as it overpowered his screams of pain.

For the first time since first wielding the Element of Magic...Twilight felt a cold tingle run down her spine at the thought of her gift. She genuinely shivered in fright at its awe and power. For all intents and purposes...Twilight feared the power she had been trusted with.