Chapter 1: An Ominous Dream
Chapter 1
“… And that, my little ponies, is how Jamie the bear learned the magic of friendship, and how he and his friends could benefit from each other and the happiness they shared. Jamie went on to live Happily. Ever. After. The end.” Celestia finished, her voice light and soothing, upon her finishing a loud uprising of high-pitched cheers echoed through the walls of the room. It was afternoon daycare at the Celestia’s School for Magical and Gifted Unicorns and for the little fillies and their overworked teacher that meant only one thing, story time. But today however, was a very special story time indeed. Not only would the little fillies’ favorite story be read to them before nap time, but none other then Princess Celestia herself would come in and read it to them! The Princess had managed to get her schedule cleared for that afternoon, and since graduation day, when all the little foals and fillies would be moved up to the 1st grade, was coming up, she had decided to give them a little treat before they departed into the world of beginner’s magic. What better way to end the school year than with a lesson on one of the most important and amazing magic’s of them all, friendship. And it made it all the better that the little fillies and foals were so elated and ecstatic when they heard her of all ponies would be coming in to teach it.
In Celestia’s opinion, “Jamie the Lonesome Bear” captured the magic of friendship in only a basic and oversimplified manner, one a kindercare student could comprehend. There was so much more to friendship, like all the hardships they could encounter and all the obstacles they’d have to overcome. Things like death, love, your friends not keeping up with you, and oh so, so much more. But Celestia knew, as she looked upon the faces frozen in pure wonderment and joy in front of her, that these students would one day rise to great heights and learn these lessons; whether they learn it the hard way, or the easy way. After All, they were attending one the single most prestigious magic school in all of Equestria. These were bright young minds, seeds beneath the freshly fertilized dirt ready to sprout out into beautiful flowers that would contain a wealth of knowledge and talent. All that had to be done was to tap into that knowledge and talent. Eventually, their loud screeches and cheers came to a halt when their impatient teacher came forward.
“Now, Now, my little ponies, what do we say to Princess Celestia?” He asked conspicuously. Almost instantaneously a polite chorus of “Thank You Princess Celestia” erupted from the crowd of tiny foals. Celestia smiled sweetly at the class, getting up from her sitting position and heading towards the door, giving one final look to the class of kindercare foals before departing.
“You are quite welcome, and remember, no matter what you learn in your time here, friendship has been, and always will be, the most important magic of them all” She said in a knowing tone. All of the fillies and colts nodded simultaneously, each one giving a “Mhmm” in response. Celestia always loved coming in to see the younger classes. They were so well behaved and polite, and such good listeners. Sadly, that was a virtue that they would loose in their teenage years, only to have it once again regained in adulthood. Celestia gave one more smile, turning around to leave. But right as she was about to step out from the classroom, a small filly’s voice could be heard from the crowd.
“Princess Celestia?” The small child asked in a tone that only meant she wanted something The Princess. Celestia turned around, looking at the little filly with kind eyes before responding.
“Yes, my little pony?” She responded sweetly, walking forward. The little filly nervously looked around at her group of friends who all nodded and pushed to continue. She took a deep breath and once again looked at The Princess.
“Can… Can you tell us another story?” The filly asked nervously. Her question was backed by an outcry of “Yeah!”’s from the class.
“Now class, Celestia has a very, very busy schedule to attend to, sadly she cannot stay any long-”
“I’d be happy to, little one” Celestia cut the teacher off as she once again entered the classroom fully. The teacher nervously trotted back to his desk, where he sat and hoped that he didn’t just do something rude in front of her majesty. Celestia looked over to the shelf of colorful picture books. Each one containing a simple and pretty story with a valuable moral. She began to levitate several books forward and sat down once more, her mane magically floating as if it were being kept up by the wind. “Now, which story would you like to hear?” She asked as she showed the options to the class. After a short stare, a small foal in the corner of the room raised his hoof.
“Yes, Crimson Fire?” The teacher asked calmly, awaiting the little colt’s response.
“Can you tell us the legend of the elements of harmony?” The foal anxiously asked, a large smile of hope planted on his face. Celestia was token aback by his question; why, she hadn’t even thought of those old stones and the six ponies that they embodied since they themselves were her subjects. But, that was hundreds of years in the past, and their tale had now become a popular folk lore. Most argued that it was fake, and others retorted that it was a real story. But Celestia knew the validity of it, because she herself was there to guide it along. After a small time of concentration The Princess opened her eyes and answered.
“A very excellent choice, my little pony. Why, I haven’t told that story in years.” Upon her response, the foal’s face lit up with pure joy and excitement; as did the rest of the class, leaning in and tentatively listening. Celestia took a moment to recall the tale and how it went; afterwards, she loudly cleared her throat and began.
“Once upon a time, back in ancient Equestria, back when your great, great grandparents were just tiny little colts and fillies, there thrived a beautiful and prosperous town filled with lovely ponies of all kinds; Pegasi, Unicorns, Earth Ponies, all of different gender, breed, culture and color. And in that town, there lived six very important ponies. Now, what made these ponies so special was that they where the living and breathing embodiment of six strong and ancient powers, The Elements of Harmony. Fluttershy, Element of Kindness. Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty. Applejack, Element of Honesty. Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter. Rarity, Element of Generosity. And last but not least, Twilight Sparkle, The Element of Magic. Together, their combined friendship united the stones and created harmonious peace for all of Equestria.”
“What was this place called?” A small colt asked curiously. Celestia smiled as the name came into her head. How could she forget it? It was a household name to her, and all of Equestria. It was a name that would stick with her until the day she was no more.
“That town, my little pony, was named Ponyville…”
***
It was a clear and bright day in the town of Ponyville. Ponies were up and milling the streets, venders were selling their products, the Pegasi were clearing the gloomy clouds in the sky above, and Celestia’s sun was shinning down on everypony, bringing them a bounty of warmth and comfort. It was almost as if Celestia herself was watching down upon them, protecting them from dangers that could be lurking around every shaded corner. It was a very peaceful and serene morning as well; nothing loud or exciting happening as the ponies slowly woke from their slumber and began their days.
Suddenly, out of nowhere a loud gallop sounded. Ponies quickly moved out of the way as an excited, purple unicorn barreled through the crowd. She kept a haste gallop, making several ponies who side stepped to let her past grumble and yell in complaint. But she didn’t care; the mare was far too elated and distracted to pay any mind to anything else but her current goal of getting home and unpacking her bags. She came out of the marketplace, taking a sharp right and galloping down the next street. Next she dashed through the town proper, past the local park, and down one lost long road until she reached her destination. A large, hallowed out tree in the center of the street, complete with all the comforts of home; windows, balconies, a roof, and everything else anypony would need. The tree was also the town’s local library, inside were thousands of books on numerous subjects. Math, Science, Fiction, Fantasy, The Arts, reading material that could last even the fastest of readers’ years to come.
The purple mare impatiently busted through the front door, forgetting to shut it behind her as she ran into the main room. In one quick motion she swooped her saddle bags off onto the floor and levitated the latch open. After a look inside she took a small step back and clopped her hooves together in glee, a humongous smile spreading across her face. This was a very joyous moment, the mare felt like doing absolutely nothing but hopping around the room in an unorthodox manner similar to that of an excited foal. And she soon began to do just that, bouncing around the room with her eyes closed and a smile still plastered on her face.
“Twilight… What are you doing? It’s 7 am in the morning and I’m trying to sleep…” A grumpy and tired voice said from behind her. She stopped her tracks, turning around and blushing deeply.
“Oh, Um… I’m sorry Spike…” Twilight said only somewhat apologetically with a nervous laugh. “But you will not believe what happened!” She changed the subject, leaning forward in anticipation for Spike’s inevitable answer. The small, green dragon rolled his eyes and put his claws on his hips. Even though he didn’t want to, he knew he was going to have to play along.
“What?” Spike asked, not even trying to sound curious. It was way too early in the morning and he didn’t have the patience for things like this when he was sleepy. Twilight didn’t even seem to pick up his lack of care as she dashed to her saddle bags, soon returning with them in tow. She threw them down on the ground and looked at Spike expectantly with a large smile on her face. Spike blankly stared at the saddle bags and back to Twilight, waiting for some sort of sign of what she wanted him to do.
“Open it! And look at what’s inside!” Twilight prodded on, anxiously waiting. Spike sighed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and gradually making his way over to the bags. He opened the first latch and pulled out its contents, two books so polished they’d almost look brand new if it wasn’t for the frayed pages in between the seems. He carefully put them on the ground as he opened the other latch and pulled out a much larger book, so old that it even had dust on its cover. He set it with the other two and turned his attention back to Twilight, giving the overjoyed mare a look of confusion.
“I don’t get it, it’s just a few books” Spike said nonchalantly. Twilight gasped, giving a look of offense to the dragon as she levitated the books back to her. ‘uh oh’was the first thought that came to his mind as he realized he had just accidentally gotten himself into one of Twilight’s famous lectures.
“Just a few books?! Do you see what we have here Spike?! First addition copies of rare books! Like ‘Alchemic Concoctions and Reactions’, ‘Starsweld the Bearded, a lesson on advanced magic’, and ‘Early Equestrian History’!” Twilight lectured, levitating each book in front of the half awake dragon as she read the titles. Spike grumbled a sarcastic apology and walked back up the stairs. Regardless of how helpful of a librarian he could be, some books were too advanced for his intelligence level. All those books were was just a bunch of big and fancy words strung together into never ending sentences. Twilight ignored him however as he climbed back into bed, she was far too consumed with her books to care.
Twilight ran over to her one of her usual reading spots, just behind her window with a little pedestal for books to rest upon. When she got there, she looked at the options before her. It was so hard to decide which to start with. All were fantastic reads, and they all contained a bounty of knowledge for her to unlock. After a moment, Twilight threw the other two smaller books to the side and pulled forth the big alchemy book. Alchemy wasn’t a subject Twilight normally read up on; but to her, any reading material was good reading material. Besides, regardless of where the knowledge specialized in, she was still learning something all the same. And to her, it made sense to tackle the biggest one first, considering it would take her the most time to complete. A gleeful smile once again graced Twilight’s face as she levitated the book open to the first page, and began to read.
***
Twilight smiled as the cool wind brushed against her face. It was an amazing feeling, like she was being touched by a cloud. She soon opened her eyes to find the ground hundreds of feet below her, whereas the clouds met her eye level. She was flying! There was no scientific, extraterrestrial, or magical way this could be explained! She was a unicorn, and as she turned her head from side to side she didn’t see any wings. It must’ve been some sort of oddity of magic, some spell, perhaps. Twilight had never been any more than a few feet from the ground before without being in an air balloon. Even then, she was protected within the confines of the basket. But now, she was as open and as free as a bird. Twilight smiled brightly, dipping down and rising back up again; she felt so alive, so free! No wonder Rainbow Dash loves flying so much, she thought as she felt the cool breeze of summer air against her face. She couldn’t help but give a loud cheer as she dipped down again, falling several feet before rising up to the sky and breaching a cloud. Clouds felt just as she imagined! So soft, spongy, and squishy; like a large pillow filled with water.
She smiled brightly once more, doing loop-da-loops, spins, dives, every trick she could think of. But suddenly, something else appeared. Now, not only was she flying, but all around her over-sized alchemic bottles and mixtures were floating all about her. There was some even resting on the clouds! But if this wasn’t weird enough, now she found herself enveloped in a thick fog. She could barely see inches in front of her no matter which direction she turned or look. The fog’s cold touch felt deadly upon her coat and mane, as if some dark and ancient force from Tarturus itself was teasing her. Twilight began to feel panicked, she had no clue where she was going and she could smash into something at any moment! She began to struggle, moving her legs as quickly as she could, hoping it would accomplish something, anything! But as time went on, the fog only grew thicker, until the point where she couldn’t even see her own hooves. Twilight was far beyond the point of panic now, squirming in every direction as she tried to get a hold of herself. Panicking would do nopony any good, especially not her. She stopped struggling and took deep breaths, there had to be a way out of this, there was always a way.
Suddenly, it came to her. The answer should have been obvious before! Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated, transferring energy to her horn. Soon after, a bright light emerged from it, illuminating her path. Twilight relaxed, sighing in relief. The fog was still around her, but she could at least see a few feet in front of herself now. But, almost as fast as it came about, the cold fog instantaneously disappeared. Twilight sighed and opened her eyes again, as soon as she did, she wished she hadn’t.
The scenery below her had changed, instead of calm and quaint farmlands and forests she now saw something else, something worse. Before her was something she could only describe as a nightmare. Buildings were set aflame, blazing against the cold darkness of the night. The straw houses were burning to the ground, the flames spreading between each one quicker than magic. There was so much destruction… and the worse part, the town was Ponyville…
Twilight eventually landed in the streets, right in the center of the chaos. Ponies were running around in every direction as if they were chickens with their heads cut off. Mothers tried to rush their confused foals out of the collapsing homes and Pegasi flew above, gathering as many rain clouds as they could possibly get their hooves on. The unicorns that had barely even any magic ability were busy attempting to create moisture and precipitation form thin air, a very advanced spell to accomplish. Nine times out of ten it resulted in either the unicorn getting blown back by an electric jolt, or the cloud releasing something that further spread the destruction. The earth ponies, on the other hoof, couldn’t do anything but gather as many buckets and gallons of water as they could find. However, the sources of water were soon utilized by passing Pegasi who dumped them on burning houses, which just caught fire again soon after. Twilight had no clue what she could do… there was nothing to do but run around like so many others. She hated being put under pressure, it weighed on her heart and soul and caused her to make decisions that she would have otherwise avoided.
Twilight looked all around until something specific caught her eye. A white alicorn was flying above the town, preparing to land in the middle of the street. Twilight nearly cheered with rejoice, the princess had come! If anypony would be able to help, it would be her. The alicorn soon landed on the street, facing away from her. She quickly bolted towards it, smiling out of pure relief and happiness. She was saved! Ponyville was saved!
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight shouted as she neared the white figure. The alicorn didn’t move, it just stood there, doing absolutely nothing. “Princess Celestia!” Twilight shouted once more, her voice cracking this time. Still no response. Twilight became fearful again; she stopped in her tracks, only a mere few feet from the pony. She took a deep breath, gathering all of her remaining energy as she shouted once more “PRINCESS CELE-” Twilight stopped. The figure had turned around now, and what she had seen shocked her to the very core. The alicorn standing in front of her was not Princess Celestia… It wasn’t even a figure she recognized. The only two alicorns in existence were Celestia and Luna, and this one wasn’t either. It wasn’t even of the same gender! He was a tall stallion, just as tall as Celestia herself. His coat was stark white and his wings were trimmed with black feathers. His horn extended far above his head, ending with a sharply pointed tip. His mane and tail were colored pure gold, and they flowed in a way similar to Luna’s dark blue mane. But the most surprising part of all, Twilight couldn’t even see his face. It was covered by a mask, one half was died a dark black, whereas the other half of it was a brightly polished gold, reminding her of the odd figure’s mane. Twilight didn’t know how or why, but as she looked upon the tall alicorn she felt as if he was a very powerful and important being. More ancient and strong than even Celestia and Luna combined ten times over. As he drew closer, Twilight felt a strong aura emanating from him, similar to that of the one she felt from the Princess. But this wasn’t an aura of love and kindness. It was dark, evil, and malevolent. It stopped the mare in her tracks, making her freeze in pure terror. Her mind yelled at her to move, to run as far away as possible, but her hooves stayed planted firmly on the ground. It felt as if somepony had cemented them there.
The alicorn kept walking, keeping a slow and stoic pace. The closer he got to Twilight, the more intense the aura became. It was almost unbearable, to the point where Twilight could feel her breath escaping her. The figure was mere centimeters from her now, and its masked face was staring her right in the eye. Twilight began to cringe in horror, not only was this alicorn three times her size, it could probably kill her in an instant if it wanted to. And something told the mare that it might do just that. She could now feel its cold breath on her face, and the aura had become so strong that she started to feel trapped in it, like a spider’s prey, trapped in a silky coffin. It seemed that the being was doing nothing but examining her, looking her over as if she were a dog being inspected at a pet show. Twilight began to feel uneasy, she knew she needed to run, but for some reason she couldn’t move a muscle, no matter how hard she tried. Whether this was because of the shock or a spell that might have been casted on her, the mare didn’t know.
Then, in the oddest way possible, the figure began to speak. But… Twilight couldn’t understand a word that was coming out of his mouth. It was some sort of foreign language… But, this was no language Twilight recognized. Something about it, felt… ancient. Like it was established long before any form of pony life excited on this planet. From what she could gather, he only said a few sentences before backing away and looking straight at her.
“Chaos…” He said in a deep and booming voice that sounded as evil and dark as the aura around his body felt. Suddenly, as if she had just been snapped out of a haze, Twilight bolted as far away as she could. She ran far in the other direction, panting heavily as sweat poured down her face. Regardless of this however, she didn’t stop running. She knew if she stayed she would surely be killed, her whole body was running off of pure adrenaline and instinct. Out of nowhere, the alicorn fell to the ground in front of her, blocking her path. The mare looked around in panic, but she only saw burning building for miles and miles. There was no way out, she had to turn around, or face this beast head on. Then, just as Twilight was preparing to run again, the alicorn’s horn emanated a powerful and silky gold glow. The mare side stepped, only to be followed by the pony’s gaze. She then caught a glimpse of its eyes for the first time, gold and glowing, like some sort of monster out of a foal’s tale. His horn only glowed brighter before sending out a wave of gold aimed directly at her. Twilight took a deep breath and closed her eyes; the seconds seemed to tick down as the stream of energy neared her.
The impact was like being hit with a thousand boulders, like being thrown face first against a carriage, like she just spent the day being used a practice dummy for Applejack and Rainbow Dash. She flew back like a twig into the nearest building, crashing through and landing on the flaming wooden floor. Twilight closed her eyes tightly as she neared the flames, she knew now she was doomed. She opened her eyes just as her body touched the flame.
“Hear my name now, you foolish foal, for I am the ancient spirit that made you and this world. I. Am. Chaos.”
