“There are other Realms besides our one, other planes where life exists, both material and immaterial. Celestia recently travelled to one of them, many many years after the banishment of the Prince of Daemons back to the Realm of Chaos. When she returned I asked her how her trip was. Her eyes were wide and I swear she was trembling a little. Later I found out she had borne witness to a grand battle rivalling her own against the Daemon Prince. She can only refer to it by two words, names actually: Sigmar and Morkar.”
- Star Swirl the Bearded, Master Conjurer and Chief Archivist, Pre-Classical Era
Quote referencing the existence of other realms suppressed by order of Princess Celestia
(WH)
Six years ago…
Princess Celestia gazed up at the moon, following her ritual of tracing it across the sky after the setting of the sun. Such had been her custom for 980 years following the departure of her younger beloved sister Luna. Celestia was kneeling on a rug, which was spread out on her balcony outside her chambers. She was dressed in casual wear consisting of a white tunic with yellow button holes with parts cut in the back to allow for her wings, as well as white pantaloons that bore her Cutie Mark on the flanks which was the Yellow Sun itself.Her technicolour mane ever rippled, the power of the Elements of Harmony reflected within, as she stared up at that moon, the head of an alicorn seemingly imprinted upon it.
‘Luna,’ she thought, saddened when once again it would always remind her that she had lost her not long after losing the other important pony, or person rather, in her life.
And what both of them shared in common was that she had lost them through corruption. She had lost Erik through the tainting influence of dark, extra-dimensional powers, and Luna through her own feelings of bitterness towards those ponies with no appreciation for the night – the domain that she had once had charge over. Celestia sighed, seemingly torturing herself with memories of them both. She downcast her eyes briefly, before raising them back up towards the moon, and to a more curious sight.
Her saddened expression morphed to curiosity when she saw a comet sail across the stars above the moon. And not just any comet, either, but a twin tailed one. She studied it closely as it seemingly skimmed past the sky itself. Before she realised it she had stood back up and stretched her wings, before propelling herself off the balcony of her tower, beating her wings briefly before sailing away from Canterlot Castle, intent on following the path of the comet she suddenly felt herself drawn to.
Her flight from Canterlot gave her a breathtaking view of her realm as she followed the comet east, soon she was over the Foal Mountain and then flying between Fillydelphia and Baltimare, her unexplained determination to follow the twin-tailed comet slowly beginning to unease the Sun Princess. The comet itself appeared to briefly shine brighter and invitingly at her, beckoning her to continue following it.
Soon she reached the eastern coast of Equestria, the comet seemingly above her and shining it’s brightest, almost close to illuminating the land below it. The glare irritating her eyes, she looked downward across the beaches, to see another curious sight. A boat, a carrack rather, beached upon the shore. She sailed downward, beating her wings as she touched down on the sand.
‘I don’t recognise the design of this boat,’ the alicorn thought. ‘Curious.’
Celestia saw that the ship was more a wreck than anything else, the wood that made up the boat appeared to be old and slowly rotting with holes and whole planks of wood missing. The sails were tattered and full of holes and then there was the faint smell of what the alicorn recognised to be rotting flesh…
‘Rotting flesh?’ Celested internally questioned, alarmed.
She beat her wings and leapt up and onto the deck, her left hoof going through the wood…
“Ah!”
…furtherdriving the point home that the boat was a wreck. She looked up and saw that the deck was empty. Then slowly and cautiously she walked across the deck towards the hole and the wooden stair ladder leading down into the hold, the smell of dead flesh growing stronger and, for the first time in centuries, she felt a sense of dread weighing down upon her.
All this time, the comet above her shone it’s brightest.
Celestia carefully climbed down the steps of the ladder leading into the hold.
“NO!”
She almost screamed, and was horror-struck when she was greeted by the sight of close to several dozen hairless, monkey-like bipedals she recognised as 'men' dead, all dressed in filthy rags, all packed tightly against one another. The incessant buzzing of flies assaulted her eyes and ears, while the stench of slowly decaying flesh and voided bowels assaulting her nose caused her to recoil and almost lose her footing on the steps.
‘What…what could have caused such…such death?’ Celestia noted that there were no signs of physical injury upon them, nor disease.
But then she noticed many of them appeared to be extremely malnourished. She felt her eyes water when she saw smaller bipedals amongst them, many within their parents' arms. There were foals…children, amongst the dead, their expressions echoing peace and serenity as if they were asleep. Sleep that they would never wake from, ever.
Celestia bowed her head sadly, and was about to step backward out of the hold when the sound of muffled infantile wailing was heard and her eyes moved towards the bow side of the hold. She stepped back down off the stairs and, as best as she could, treaded over and past the bodies until the crying could be heard beneath another body.
Using her magic she telepathically moved the body of a man to the side to see the crying baby wrapped in thin cloth, still in its dead mother's arms. Celestia's face softened, and no longer did the stench of death bother her when her eyes and those of the infant briefly met, its crying temporary ceasing. The alicorn smiled softly, but it faded once the baby begun to cry again.
“Don’t cry, little one,” Celestia said soothingly. “Allow me to take you away from this terrible place.”
She lowered her horn and it glowed with a light gold colour as she magically lifted the infant from her mother’s arms and it hovered before her. She briefly noticed the colour of the baby’s eyes were green.
‘The same colour as Erik’s.’
“My…son?”
Celestia froze, immediately recognising the language as Breton. She then looked down to see the baby's 'dead' mother's mouth move, as if panting. Her eyes then opened, revealing dull, brown irises. Her hood fell back to reveal her dirty, matted brown hair. Celestia was silent, and watched with pity as her eyes glazed upward and she slowly raised her weakened arm.
“W-where is m-my son? I cannot see…where is my son?” she said panicking in what Celestia perceived to be the Bretonnian tongue.
Taking in this knowledge, Celestia felt her conviction and self-determination return.
“He is here,” she kindly addressed the stricken woman. “He is with me.”
The mother gave a weak smile, “Oh, t-thank the Lady. Have…we reached Avalon? We p-prayed to Manaan to grant us safe waters. I…beg for forgiveness for having t-to travel with t-these filthy…f-filthy peasants…”
Celestia felt saddened upon hearing what this mare thought of the corpses of the dead lying around her.
The mother’s smile faded, “I-is this truly Avalon, my Lady? The Misty Isle?”
Celestia sighed, “Yes, you have arrived.”
“And who are you? Are you a Damsel of the Lady, here to welcome me?”
“Yes, I am the One who welcomes those who have made the pilgrimage,” Celestia played along, to ease this mare’s passage. “Your long journey is over.”
Tears were streaming down from the mother’s eyes, “I-I wish to beg for my son’s l-life. H-his birth is c-cursed. He had been touched by the Fey, and the Enchantress wanted to take him away because of…it. That-that’s why I made the pil-pilgrimage…to beg for forgiveness for m-my sins…for my son…”
She then reached for Celestia, desperate for contact.
“Surely the Lady does not want my son’s life. P-please, f-forgive me…”
By this time the colt had stopped crying and was now sleeping peacefully, still being levitated by Celestia’s magic. Celestia stepped forward and lowered herself before the mother, allowing her to touch the side of her face.
“There is nothing to forgive,” Celestia told her, now smiling lightly. “Your child is safe. He will not be taken from you. Raise him well.”
The mother was smiling again, her tears now of happiness.
“Oh…thank you….thank…you…”
Celestia’s smile faded as the mother’s hand fell limply from the side of her face. There, the mother drew her final breath and expired, her final moment a happy one with the belief that she had reached friendly shores, that her son was safe from whatever fate she wanted to spare him from. At least, that was what Celestia believed were her last thoughts.
(WH)
Soon the carrack burned, courtesy of Celestia and her magic. Celestia silently watched the timber that it was made of slowly blacken, as it was incinerated. The baby was still floating magically beside her; Celestia drew him towards her so that she was able to cradle him with her wings, curving them under and outward, kneeling down on the sand. The alicorn stared deeply at the dozing man foal.
‘These men…they must have accidentally found their way into Equestria from…the other realm,’ she ruminated mentally. ‘How, though?’
Her expression was once again sad upon realising that this little foal was the only survivor.
“I’m so sorry, little one.”
She looked back up at the burning carrack, then closed her eyes as she concentrated on magically levitating it off the sand and back into the water, pushing it so that it drifted back out into the sea. She then looked back down at the man foal, only to see he was awake again and reaching a tiny hand towards her, as if trying to grasp her magically flowing hair. Celestia smiled and moved her left pointer finger above the foal, allowing him to grasp it gently.
“Welcome to Equestria.”
Her breath caught in her throat when she could suddenly sense…power within the foal. Incredible power.
‘I can sense the Winds flow around him,’ Celestia thought, feeling a mixture of alarm and amazement. ‘Light. Shadows. Life. Death. Fire...they all breeze past him…such raw potential…’
She then frowned when she found herself drawing upon her knowledge of the other realm.
‘Only the alicorns, and the Asur of Ulthuan from the other realm can tap into every lore of magic. Not Men.’
She should be wary that such power was embedded within this little human foal; that was on par with the Asur, or the High Elves, that existed within that other realm; further, she should consider what his mere presence could mean for this realm, especially Equestria. However, Celestia just smiled in spite of herself, cradling the foal in her arms now. Somehow, just holding the little man colt in her arms now, it just felt right, for lack of a phrase. She felt unfamiliar feelings stirring within her; feelings that she had never felt even once during her millennia of existence. That the hole that her loss of two of her most precious ponies felt like it was slowly being filled, if only for a while.
Celestia’s eyes widened in realisation, ‘Is this…what they call ‘maternal instinct?’
She then remembered the Comet that had she found herself chasing after. She looked up to see it flying in the night sky above her. Eyes still wide, she struggled to make her mouth work.
‘You wanted me to be here this night?’ she mentally asked the forces that be. ‘You heralded the Barbarian himself, didn’t you?’
She then narrowed her eyes as she beat her wings and ascending into the air, cradling the baby protectively against her bosom.
‘Any other ponies looking upon you right now?’
(WH)
Considered to be a little tall for his age, Shining Armour was a white-coated unicorn colt of seven years whose short mane was a combination of sapphire and cerulean blue. Lying on his bed within his room, inside his house within the residential section of Canterlot he couldn’t sleep. He twisted and turned in his bed as light shone through the window upon him. He groaned into his pillow; sure the stars were shining their brightest tonight and were pretty to look at, but he had school tomorrow; and that test on the basics of unicorn magic he had been preparing for all week.
He sighed even louder suddenly when a loud, piercing wail cut through the air; the kind that could only belong to his newborn filly sister. He put up with the crying for about two minutes before he tore the blankets off himself, revealing that he was wearing plain light blue pyjamas, and slowly climbed out of bed, just missing stepping on one of his textbooks that he had just lazily dropped on the floor before going to bed earlier after some last minute study.
Out the corner of his eye past his window in the distance he noticed a twin-tailed comet sailing across the sky. Dismissing it, he opened his room door, he stepped into the hallway and slowly stepped towards the nursery. Just as he was about to gently open the door the filly’s cries stopped. Opening the door slowly, he peeked in to see his mother, Twilight Velvet, sitting on a rocking chair next to an empty cradle, smiling and gently rocking a bundle she cradled in her arms.
The young unicorn mare turned her head towards the door, still smiling, “I know you’re there, Shining.”
He opened the door, blushing lightly from embarrassment.
“It’s way past your bed time, you know,” Velvet stated.
“I-I know,” Shining said. “I heard the filly crying and…and I thought something was wrong.”
Velvet regarded him for a few moments, before replying warmly, “You’re a good big brother.”
Shining smiled sheepishly and looked down at his feet, turning even redder. Velvet giggled at the sight of her firstborn colt being flustered.
“Come over here and say hello,” she motioned him over towards her.
Shining did so, stepping over towards his mother, and his little sister. Shining couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he took his second glimpse at Twilight Sparkle. She was almost a spitting image of her mother, except that her coat was a pale mulberry purple and her mane was a mix of sapphire blue, violet and rose. She was quietly and peaceful, a far cry from earlier.
“H-hello, Twily,” Shining quietly said, deciding to be creative with her name. “Remember me from the hospital? W-we met after you were…y-know..”
He smiled even wider when she opened her eyes and looked at him.
“I promise I’m gonna be the best big brother there is,” he declared, keeping his tone done though.
He and his mother thought their hearts skipped a beat when Twilight, at first appearing like she was going to cry again, suddenly emulated his smile. Velvet looked lovingly up at Shining.
“I know you will be,” she said.
She looked past Shining’s shoulder and out the window, past the Royal Castle to see in the distance what appeared to be a two-tailed comet sailing downward across the sky.
(WH)
Golden-armoured and plume helmed Royal Guardsman Stalwart Sentry was a vanilla-furred, blue maned and brown-eyed Pegasus pony stationed on the eastern wall of the Royal Castle in Canterlot; where behind him were the royal gardens. And for the past three minutes he had been watching the two-tailed comet sail across the sky with fascination, gripping his spear tightly.
“Beautiful, ain’t it Trooper?”
Stalwart turned his head suddenly to see his annoyed looking supervisor, Sergeant Bronze Shield; a grey coated, brown maned, golden-eyed and largely muscled Earth Pony that, despite his name, wore the same kind of golden armour Stalwart wore.
“Sergeant,” Stalwart stood to attention, smiling sheepishly. “Err….yeah, just admiring the view, sir.”
His smile faded instantly when Bronze leered in, eyes narrowed with ill humour, “And afterwards some sneaky piece of horse apple could have been admiring your corpse just as he pulls the blade from the back of your neck.”
Stalwart paled slightly and swallowed, immediately getting his meaning, “Y-yes, sir.”
Bronze stepped back and sneered, “Really, try not to embarrass yourself on your first night watch in Canterlot, Sentry, I…HEY…”
His head shot up to see a familiar looking silhouette descending upon them. Sentry followed suit and gasped when he recognised it to be Princess Celestia herself. Following the impulse to suddenly salute, the two Royal Guardsmen straightened their backs and stood to attention behind the wall’s battlements just as Celestia touched down in the garden below them, cradling something in her arms.
Without turning to face them, Celestia asked with a smile, “Isn’t it time for the changing of the guard, Sergeant Bronze Shield?”
The Earth Pony looked up at the position of the moon, eyes lighting up with realisation.
“Ah, yes your Highness,” he responded.
“Carry on, then,” Celestia said. “Sergeant, Trooper Stalwart Sentry.”
Walking away from the wall through the garden towards the exit leading into the keep, Stalwart watched her leave, a dumbfounded expression on his face.
“S-she knows my name?” he asked.
“Of course she does, Trooper,” Bronze stated gruffly. “She knows every pony. Especially her own Guardsponies.”
(WH)
To the Far East, within the edge of the Griffon Kingdoms in one of the numerous coastal cities still burning, Claw-Brother Alek Bloodied Talon of the Temple of the Axefather, grunted as he put his left talon down on the chest of a lightly-armoured loyalist soldier. He forced his single-headed battle axe out of the soldier's chest, blood spraying upwards and onto Talon's face.
The cities had been in a state of constant turmoil following the end of the Succession Wars a month ago. The Wars finally saw an end to the Kingdoms' monarch and the rise of the nobility as the joint-ruling Hierarchs.
The brown-feathered, red-eyed and moderately armoured griffon let out a piercing war cry, stretching his bladed wings out as he swung his axe and took the head off another loyalist, spraying blood and scattering feathers all over. He then kicked another loyalist into the wall, sinking his right talon into his gut and disembowelling him before bringing his axe down on his neck, more blood spraying out and all over before the corpse slid down the wall onto ground.
Ever since he was a chick, Bloodied Talon revelled in the violence he was exposed to; as should any good member of the Temple of the Axefather, the sect of still devout worshippers of the Gryphon’s God of War. Though the Hierarchs themselves refused to acknowledge the Axefather’s existence, stating they did not believe in old-fashioned deities, they still enlisted the Temple’s aid in rooting out the disposed Kings and his loyalists, knowing that all they had to pay them in was the opportunity to spill blood in the name of their so-called Axefather.
Talon inhaled, then exhaled deeply, opening his eyes and revealing the two dozen loyalist corpses surrounding him and the house they had been holed up in, the sounds of battle echoing throughout the city as his brothers and sisters hacked apart any loyalist they could find. He smiled, happy with himself with the knowledge that he had definitely pleased his patron God.
It faded, however, and he briefly appeared panicked when he noticed a bright, shining light in the sky just above the moon. A twin-tailed comet that the Temple Elders had told him, as a chick, that in another realm it heralded the greatest and most dangerous of the Axefather’s foes, and that to see it in this realm would give rise to another.
Talon’s panicked state gave rise to determination, and rage, as he beat his knife-edged wings and took off into the air above the burning city, giving him a good view of the carnage his kind were inflicting. No doubt they would be too busy revelling in the bloodshed to notice the twin-tailed comet, and that it would down to him to return to the Temple and alert the Elders that that sign of hard times for the Temple, and indeed the Eastern Griffons Kingdoms as a whole.
With steely resolve, Claw-Brother Talon grunted, “Praise be to Kharnath – the Axefather.”
This is a dark age, a bloody age, an age of daemons and of sorcery. It is an age of battle and death, and of the world's ending. But it is also a time of mighty heroes, of bold deeds and great courage.
Besides the perpetually warring Old World there is another neighboring Realm, the magical land of Equestria, where sentient creatures of legend reign supreme. Many of these stand on their hind legs. For almost a thousand years its populace of colorful, magical equine people known as Ponies has enjoyed unrivalled peace and prosperity. For almost as long as it has existed, the benevolent alicorn Princess Celestia has ruled Equestria, the principles of friendship, harmony and magic governing her righteous hand. She brings light to the world each and every day.
However, these happy, carefree times may soon be coming to an end. The nobility class of ponies, descended from Equestria's first settlers, continues to amass power and influence that may rival the Princess herself. To the east the Eastern Griffon Kingdoms have crushed the last of their internal rivals and its power-hungry hierarchs have turned their eyes upon the prosperous Equestrian lands. The dragons, aloof and uncaring about the world around them, have begun settling within the borders and less habitant parts of the lands away from civilization, yet continue to stir fear and discontent. Bands of nomadic canine folk are gathering within the badlands and have begun tunneling into the very earth while others are forging weapons. Reports and sightings of insect-like creatures are on the rise. And last there are the conflicting myths of daemons and dark gods that wait within an alternate realm of darkness that rivals Tartarus itself to resume a long ended and long forgotten unholy crusade upon the material world.
As the time of battle draws ever nearer, Equestria needs heroes like never before…
(WH)
(WH)
What can be said about Man? Other than that they do not belong here, and savagery runs in their blood?
- Starswirl the Bearded, Pre-Classical Era
The battle should have ended before it even began. She would have used the sun itself to vaporise the daemon and it’s griffon allies from the face of Equestria itself. But she had underestimated her alien foe, not counting on their masters’ power to suppress her and her sister’s own power over the sun and the moon. And now they paid the price with the lives of their entire army. All of whom willingly surrendered their lives for the two of them against the Hordes.
Kneeling amongst the corpses of thousands of ponies, griffons and the ashes of vanquished daemons, the alicorn known only as Celestia forced herself off her bloodied knees back onto her feet. Clasping her broken greatsword in her left hand, she realized that she was the only thing left, which stood between her beloved Equestria and certain destruction. Still feeling the burning sensation move into her scalp, her pink mane having been singed by a blast of daemonic fire, her vision begun to blur. She coughed blood and felt the golden plate armour she wore slowly starting to become heavier as her strength began to fade.
She painfully turned her head to see her sister, Luna, lying in a slowly growing pool of her blood, her black-plated armour and the numerous shades of the colour blue that defined her splotched in the vital red liquid. She gritted her teeth and turned her head back towards the horror that heralded the merging of her world and that of the Realm of Chaos, her horn charging with golden energy as she focused her magic.
Silhouetted against the eerie backdrop of a glowing, spiraling portal, which led into the hellverse that was the Realm of Chaos stood a Daemon Prince, the Daemon Prince of Equestria, Byrokal of the Bloodied Horse – Champion of the Chaos Gods; whose mere visage save for his sunken, red-coloured eyes and head full of brown, blood matted hair that stretched all the way to the small of his back, defied accurate description. However it could be summed up as a combination of daemonic and human flesh held together by spiked daemonic plate armour bearing the Eight-Pointed Star blessed by the Dark Gods themselves.
Byrokal’s slowly walked forward upright on his goat-like legs towards Celestia, his warhammer shimmering with dark eldritch power, smirking as he thought of the all pleasant, horrible things he could do to both regal sisters once he conquered Equestria in the name of the Chaos Gods. Afterwards, he would shift his attention to everywhere else within this realm, and then the realm after that, followed by the realm after that one.
“Erik,” Celestia croaked his real name painfully. “Please…don’t…make me…”
Byrokal chuckled darkly, “Do it? Do what, exactly?”
He stood before Celestia, staring down at the thoroughly beaten equine form that was the ruler of Equestria.
“Tell me, Celestia,” he then demanded. “How is it that you plan to stop me, anyway?! Everything you have done, it has only made Chaos’ grip on this world even stronger. To even lay a hoof against me now, you will be paying tribute to Khorne, the God of Blood and War! He and the other Dread Gods, they all stand behind me as I merge both realms together.”
He then paused, as if to reflect on his experiences here in Equestria, before and after the truth was revealed to him.
“Friendship? Harmony? Those things, this world and everything in it cannot hope to survive such a cursed reality. Discord, servant of Chaos, opened my eyes!”
Celestia remembered how Discord had driven the human insane, the start of his path to darkness and Daemonhood. Said Daemon raised his warhammer into the air, ready to deliver the killing blow.
“Please…” she pleaded, almost to the point of sobbing. “He’s a liar. He’s harmless now…don’t do this…”
“You may have stopped Discord, but nothing can rid this realm of the taint NOW!” he declared out loud triumphantly. “NOTHING! NOTHING AT ALL FOR YOU ARE NOTHING!!!!!!”
Openly glaring up at the abomination Celestia once called friend and comrade she forced herself back onto her feet, the six coloured gems on her breast-plate plate arranged in a frame beginning to glow as she focused her magic into them; as she did so, she regained her strength and the collective prayers, hopes and dreams of all ponykind.
Byrokal screamed and brought his hammer down, only to be hit by a bright light emanating from the Princess.
“Nothing…except for the ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!” Celestia shouted, forcing Byrokal to step back. “THEY STOPPED DISCORD, THEY WILL STOP YOU!”
“W-WHAT?!” Byrokal was stunned at the sight of her and what she just said. “THE ‘ELEMENTS’?! BUT THEY WERE WASTED ON DISCORD…!”
Byrokal cried out as he was blinded by the light that shone forth from Celestia, her eyes glowing white as she used her magic to telepathically tear the warhammer out of the Daemon Prince’s hands. She then gritted her teeth and grabbed the warhammer with her own two hands, focusing her magic into the daemon-forged weapon itself, purifying and ridding it of the daemonic energies surrounding it…
“AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
…and with her magic amplifying her physical strength she swung it up and into Byrokal’s chest, blood and flesh spewing out of his mouth from the impact sending him flying into the portal behind him.
“DAMN YOU TIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Gripping the warhammer mid swing could only watch as he disappeared into the tear and it closed up behind him, bringing forth blue, cloudless sky and signalling the end of Chaos’ attempt to merge the realms together. She then dropped the warhammer onto the grass…
“Erik…”
She then fell onto her hands and knees, bowed her head and wept. She had been too late save him, the first Human in Equestria, Discord’s last victim and the unknowing Herald of Chaos. She glimpsed at the warhammer…
“T-Tia? Erik?”
…before hearing her younger sister croak. Still weeping, she shakily stood up and turned to face the Princess of the Night…
That was when Celestia woke up.
(WH)
…It's known only to us unicorns that Discord's brand of Chaos was not the worst kind to exist. There are beings that exist, which are far more evil, given birth to by the darkness in our ancestors' hearts. To a filly or colt untrained in the gifts we possess, they are the gateway to a world of horror, of suffering, of no laws that exist, where daemons and dark gods reign – a true Realm of Chaos.
That is why you are here, my little ponies. Untrained, you are dangers to not only yourselves, but to those around you, especially those that love you. We will teach you to harness your gifts of manipulating the Winds of Magic that breeze past us. With our help, the daemon will not take you.
With our help, and yours, harmony shall continue to forevermore reign over Equestria.
- Part of the Welcoming Speech to all first year Students of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, until knowledge of the Realm of Chaos and Dhar (Dark Magic) was suppressed by order of Princess Celestia following the banishment of Nightmare Moon.
(WH)
2,500 Years Later…
‘Wha…what is this place?’
The human colt found himself walking through a misty fog. The last thing he remembered was being tucked into bed by his mother, then receiving an affectionate kiss on the forehead followed by her blowing out the candles. She bid him goodnight, then closed the door into his room behind her. The colt looked and turned in all directions, seeing seemingly endless fog in the middle of nowhere.
The colt of about six years was fair skinned with short, auburn hair that was neatly styled just past his ear lobes and green-coloured eyes. He was dressed in his bedclothes, consisting of a black tunic and pantaloons, images of a half-moon imprinted on the front, back and knees.
Rubbing his left arm worriedly, he began to feel dread…and loneliness. For as long as he remembered he could never stand being lonely. There was always Mother, his best friend Flash Sentry, followed by his tutor, the servants and the guards.
“Hello!” he called out, his young voice a mixture of regality and innocence. “I-Is anypony here? I’m…I’m lost…”
Silence was his answer. He stopped walking and stood, slowly starting to shiver from fear. He opened his mouth to call out again when suddenly…
“Roland.”
…he heard a warm, inviting voice call out to him seemingly some distance ahead of him. His eyes brightened up and he smiled when he thought his mother was calling out to him. However it faded almost immediately.
“Roland?” he thought. “Who is ‘Roland’?”
“Come,” he then heard the voice, invitingly, ever warmly. “Come to me, Roland.”
The colt, whose name the voice referred to as 'Roland' felt compelled to resume walking through the mist until he found the source of the voice calling out to him. He rubbed his eyes when he saw that the mist was starting to part ways before him until he found himself standing before a lake; a lake that 'Roland' could see suddenly stretched both ways away from him into the mist that now surrounded him, yet did not cover the running water before him. His eyebrows crossed wryly in confusion, before his attention span – atypical to one his age – drew his attention back to the water.
His eyes widened in fascination, briefly focusing on each of the water lilies that floated on the water. When he knelt to get a closer view the water rippled…
“Huh?”
…and ‘Roland’ thought he saw two eyes staring up at him from beneath the surface of the water. The water lilies parted and ‘Roland’ appeared petrified, falling over backward from his kneeling position and onto his behind, scrambling to get back up on his feet just in time to welcome the seemingly fair maiden that emerged from beneath the lake.
She appeared human just like him, fair-skinned, full lips, blue of eyes and brown of hair that flowed freely behind her. In terms of clothing she wore a simple yet elegant dress and a garland of flowers and ivy around her head. What drew ‘Roland’s attention the most, though, was the grail she held in both hands. The Lady of the Lake smiled warmly at Roland and his attention upon the grail. ‘Roland’ then looked up at her eyes.
“Roland,” she sounded sad, which reflected upon her features. “Why hast thou not joined with thyself?”
Filled with confusion and innocence, ‘Roland’ stammered, “W-what?”
“The power within thee could spill out unto the world of man.”
“P-power?” ‘Roland’ asked. “What power?”
The Lady smiled, as if understanding something the colt had no say in. "It is not too late for thee. Return home and thou shall receive thy answer.”
She paused.
“Roland.”
“Roland?” ‘Roland’ scratched his head in confusion.
He then picked up that she was referring to him by what he thought was the pronoun.
“M-my name is Morgen von Sonne, not Roland,” the colt corrected the Lady of the Lake.
However she appeared…displeased.
“Art thou sure?” she asked plainly, all traces of warmth formerly in her voice now faded away.
“A-and my home is in Canterlot.”
Suddenly he felt something grab him by his left arm. Before he could cry out he felt a feminine hand cover his mouth and he was spun around to see two blackened eyes staring into his, They belonged to a…
(WH)
And right there, the dream ended.
Morgen von Sonne was staring up at the ceiling, his breathing panicked and a bead of sweat trickling down the side of his head. When he realised that it had all been a nightmare he slowly began to calm down, his breathing becoming lighter. However his heart continued to pound in his chest and the image of the Lady in the Lake and those two blackened eyes belonging to the creature that accosted him were close to having been burnt into his mind.
He sat up on his bed and looked around, the light from the moon shining through his window illuminating his rather spacious bedroom. He could make out his toy box positioned against the far wall, the small desk right next to it and his drawings blue-tacked to the wall next to it. He turned his head to see his wardrobe and body sized mirror right next to it. Also the moonlight impressively illuminated the various pastel styles of blue that made up the décor on the walls and ceiling, further convincing young Morgen that he was awake and safe in his bed in the royal palace of Canterlot.
And his mother was just down the hall from his room within their private wing of the castle.
(WH)
Knowing that the Royal Guards would not patrol this part of the wing at this time of night for fear of disturbing both him and his mother, Morgen was not in fear of accidentally walking into them as he ventured down the darkened, candle-lit hallway until he stopped before the doors leading her room. He gently put his hands on the door and pushed it open…
“Is that you, Morgen?”
He froze when he heard the sweet, gentle tone of voice that could only belong to his mother. He pushed it open and stood in the doorway, staring into the moon-lit room, the bedding where his mother laid obscured by shadows. The only thing he could make out of her was her magenta coloured eyes.
“Mommy?”
“I sensed that you woke up, dear. Is everything alright?”
Morgen rubbed his left arm, and looked at his feet, “I…I had a bad dream…”
Somehow he could feel his mother smile gently at him, followed by the rustling of blankets being pulled off, then by hooves walking on the carpeted floor towards him. Morgen looked up, almost eagerly, as moonlight shining in from the window revealed her to him.
Wearing a pink nightgown, the tall, white coated alicorn stood out in the light. Her mane was a combination of cerulean, turquoise, cobalt blue and heliotrope. His instinct had proven correct, for she was smiling, when she reached down, lifted him up and nuzzled him, followed by him throwing his arms around her neck in an embrace and burying his face into the side of her neck
Celestia closed her eyes and whispered, “I had a bad dream as well.”
“Huh?” Morgen looked up at her, surprised. “What kind of bad dream?”
She stared back at him sadly, “A very sad one. But I’m feeling much better now. Do you know why?”
“Why?”
She rubbed noses with him, careful not to poke him with her horn and smiled, “Because it’s over now; and you’re here with me. What about you?”
Morgen giggled at the contact and returned her smile.
“I feel better too.”
Soon enough Morgen was once again asleep, beneath Celestia’s warm gaze as he slept beside her, this time free of nightmares. Soon enough Celestia was fast asleep as well, dreaming of the day five years ago when she first found him…
