Rise of the Red Spirit

Rise of the Red Spirit

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Written by: Anythingcanhappen

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Prologue: Of wings and bated breath

   Long ago, before the events that lead to Nightmare Moon, and the redeeming of Discord, there was an unspoken dream that fell into a dull memory.

    The story started off like this: Princess Celestia one day found an orphaned pony. Her coat was a bright, ocean blue, while her mane was the color of fire. Her eyes were silver, filled with intelligence and creativity. She begged the princess to take her in, saying that her mother died the day she was born, and her father abandoned her soon after. She claimed that she’d been living in the Everfree Forest for most of her short life.

     Feeling remorse over the filly, Celestia took her in as her own. She named her Ceri, which meant beloved one. Years pass and Ceri grew into a magnificent alicorn loved by all. However, it was around the time of her coronation that Celestia’s happiness faltered.

    There was an evil arising; Zoroarkto lived off of the dark thoughts and hatred that the ponies of Equestria locked into the deepest corners of their minds. He was the self-proclaimed King of the Timberwolves, and he wanted revenge on Ceri, for stealing his place between the two princesses.

     Princess Celestia knew that there was going to be an attack, and instead of crowning Ceri the Princess, she made her the Guardian of Harmony; which turned out to be a much better suited title. She proved that she had loyalty, kindness, honesty, generosity, laughter, and possessed the most powerful magic anyone has seen in her youth. A Guardian was the highest placing ever to be given.

    Days later, leading a massive army of Canterlot’s best, she left to fight. It was a long battle, raging for six days and six nights. Finally Ceri made it to Zoroarkto’s lair. She wasn’t afraid of him—for she faced him with Equestria’s fate on her shoulders. She brought out her full power, her soul radiating with a bright red light. When all victory seemed in her grasp, the King had another trick up his sleeve. He raised his glowing paw and wiped out Ceri’s powers, making her back into the cold, heartless filly she once was before. She didn’t have any support. For once her powers were erased her kingdom fell along with her.

    Furious with this outcome, Celestia banished Zoroarkto to the Everfree forest, paying immensely for the crimes he made. She grieved over her lost child for many nights; Princess Luna couldn’t even get through to her. The moment she had she erased the citizens memory’s of Ceri, for it broke her heart if the name was even spoken.

   Years soon pass and the scars are healed, including the memory that was forbidden to speak about. And well… like all things, it has yet to surface. The Guardian of Harmony would come back sooner than Celestia would like.

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          Not a soul was around in the depth of night, for they were in their respective homes for the time being.  There was an odd feeling to the air, like a dark magic drifting everyone away from it. A bird flew out of its own tree, singing a merry tune just to calm its own nerves. It was about to reach the sky until a huge down pour came out of nowhere, and the bird chirped vehemently. As quickly as it came, a bright aurora shot out of the sky, the color of blood red.

         An alicorn’s ear twitched to the sound of pounding rain at her window.  She sighed, looking around her small, yet comfy living room as she did so. Her pet owl stood on its perch respectively, peering over a book that was laid out for him. A dragon stationed himself in the kitchen, scrubbing the dirty spots he missed the other day. He’d grown considerably taller throughout the years, losing the baby fat, with newly found muscles to take its place, and a glorious set of wings.  Yes, some say he really is a lady- killer now, but he only had eyes for a certain white unicorn.

     Giggling at the thought, Twilight turned to a pony a few feet away from her, looking through a pile of books. Comet Tail was a very quiet colt, working by night in his astronomy tower and keeping a low profile during the day. He wasn’t right on his hooves, always tripping over himself whenever he wasn’t looking. Twilight didn’t really know what drew her towards him, maybe it was his everlasting interest to the starry sky, or his clumsy exterior, but she felt at ease with the awkward male. She probably liked him because he didn’t make an effort to try an impress her, like the other males her age did once they found out she was a princess. At the end of the day however, she personally felt that these foreign feelings could easily be solved by science. Rarity begged to differ.

     Shaken out of her thoughts, the male cleared his throat. He tied the books he wanted to take home onto his back. “I, um… I guess I should be going back to my home. Thanks for letting me stay late, Twilight.”

    She couldn’t hide her blush as she nodded, and looked towards the door. “Not a problem. You’re practically a regular customer now. You know your way out.” Comet Tail smiled, shifting back and forth on his feet. He then glanced up at the window to the pouring rain and frowned.

   “Hang on a second. That came out of nowhere.” He didn’t move from his place as his breathing accelerated.  “Greaaat. Now I have to walk home in this weather.”

        “You’re right… and there’s something off about it. I don’t think it’s the pegasi’s doing, either. Don’t you feel it, the aurora?” She whispered; a tingling sensation shivered down her spine. Comet stared at the floor and closed his eyes, thinking about what his friend had said. He opened his eyes and gasped as a lightning clasped a little too close to the tree house.

       “What’s going on?” Comet asked in a tiny voice. He never liked thunderstorms since he was a foal, and one that could possibly involve dark magic didn’t help ease his fears.  Spike came in just then; he heard the noise as well and wanted to check if they were okay. He smiled when he saw Twilight’s wing extended, comforting her acquaintance.

        “I came to check if everything was all right, but…” he chuckled heartily when the pair blushed at his comment. “I see I am mistaken.” Twilight gave him a bashful smile.

“Hush now, Spike.”

       He laughed and flew over to mess her hair with his claws, his own way of showing affection. Now that he can fly his new abilities gave him better ideas to annoy the librarian, something that he had the pleasure of doing so. Comet chuckled at them, sharing a smile with Owlicious. Twilight then made a face and turned to her dragon, “Did you clean everything for the night? I wouldn’t want to have a rat incident again when Pee-wee left his food on the floor.” Spike rolled his eyes at the disgusted look on his mother figure’s face, but assured her that he cleaned every nook and cranny that he missed.

       Suddenly, as the dragon was about to wish everypony good night, a bright flash shot past their window, landing in front of them. A timberwolf’s howl could be heard in the distance, getting closer and closer. They all shared a worried glance with each other before rushing outside into the pounding rain. A Pegasus mare, with a messy white coat and silver eyes, collapsed onto the ground beneath a giant timberwolf. Her long blue and brown hair was scattered with blood, hers no doubt. What shocked them the most though, is that she was still picking herself up, and glared at the beast. “So that’s how you wanna play it…”

      She spoke clearly, a tone in her voice that she never realized she had. She glared at the opponent in front of her. Its entire body was made out of timber, a foul smell coming from its breath that reeked so bad her nostrils wanted to run away and die. A million questions were going through her head at this moment, but she didn’t bother the time to answer them. She was a little wobbly on her newly formed hooves—as she come to realize that she no longer had fingers, which was awesome and creepy at the same time—and a tad shaky on her first throw, but she made the impression that she was mad. Really mad.

     She flew up in the air, dodging an attack that the timberwolf threw at her. From below, Twilight and Comet were still staring at her with opened mouths. How she managed to cover from the fall so quickly, they’ll never know. Spike was the one who snapped out of his trance first, flying up into the sky next to the mare.  “Alright; let’s do this!” He exclaimed as he flapped his wings. The timberwolf recovered from the blow then, and growled.

     “Fresh meat up in here, dog-breath!” He called out to it, breaking a rock he picked up into tiny pieces and throwing each one at the timberwolf. The beast roared in its attempt to doge each attack. The tortured mare watched the show with growing horror. She couldn’t believe it. In the city she grew up in, she witnessed a robbery, a house fire, murders; anything you can think of.  However… a teenage dragon battling a five-foot-something timberwolf, and turning into a Pegasus? She screamed when the timberwolf slashed its claw onto her back, making her crash into the library sign.

Yeah. I’ve had better days, She finally reasoned, groaning the blood that trickled down her neck. The human could barely make out the beast aiming towards a male and a mare unicorn beside her. She didn’t know how she got this sudden wave of energy, but next thing she knew was that same, bright red light engulfed her from before, and she flew head first to the timberwolf. Then everything turned black again within the blink of an eye.