The Known World - Fall Of The Parliament

Chapters

Chapter 1: A beginning
Chapter 2: A Chained Darkness
Chapter 3: The Response Of The Parliament
Chapter 4: The Chaos Play Of A Mischievous Draconequus
Chapter 5: Into The Hole
Chapter 6: Underground Prison

Chapter 1: A beginning

Chapter 1: Where It All Began

A unicorn mare was sleeping peacefully on the soft white sand bed of an unknown island. When she opened her eyes, she lifted her head and looked down at the sand. She stretched her hoof and started moving the sand with small strokes. The mare was intrigued with her surroundings, and wanted to know more. She gazed down at her side, she turned and watched behind, and she put a hoof to her head and felt her mane and its smooth feeling. She also felt the warmth of the sun above. Her mind then processed and understood everything she saw like it had been already experienced.

She didn’t know how or why, but she had full knowledge of what everything around her was and what to call it by. Her mane and tail were the colors of the early morning sun. Her coat was was a beautiful pale orange, and her eyes matched the colors of her mane and tail.

She trotted about the beach and smiled as she galloped giggling, watching at all beautiful scenery. The sand texture was soft which gave a cushiony feeling under her hooves in which she galloped around in circles smiling and expressing her joy for what she had felt. She gazed up at the clouds and stopped her galloping. She watched as the clouds moved madly about the skies. Some moved horizontally, others moved vertically, and a few others moved diagonally through the skies.

"Hmm... The sky doesn't look well at all.” she said as she looked at the sky in its entirety. The oddest occurrence for her was that the Sun had shone down on one side, and the Moon had shone down on another.

She rubbed her head and trotted off into the jungle. She was aroused by the varieties of leaves, trees and birds the jungle had offered. Going through and stepping on giant leaves, she was intrigued with the crackling and swishing sounds that were made as she traveled about the area. The further she traveled, she only noticed more birds and interestingly shaped trees that were embellished all about the area.

After traveling for sometime, she came upon a forest. She was quite confused as she scanned her surroundings. Trees floated about the air, and chunks of earth were levitating about the forest. The forest even lacked the level of oxygen for proper breathing in some parts.

“What could this all mean?” she thought as she walked about the forest despite its confusion.

She traveled for hours through the forest and noticed more and more things that just didn’t seem in order. Her instinct told her that not everything was in its proper order.

Upon further traveling, her energy started to wane. She fell to her side, and as her consciousness was fading she thought of why was she so tired.

“It feels so, peaceful here even though it looks out of order.” She look over at tree that was fully grown and straight and the ground below wasn’t levitating. “I guess it’s not so bad after all.”

Just then as she was about to fall into a deep sleep, her eyes narrowed over at a creature who laid on its side near a tree surround by bed of flowers. She got up from the surface her slumber and walked over to the pony. When she got close, she realized it was a stallion.

“Umm... Hi?”

The stallion heard the words of the mare, opened his eyes, and rose to his hooves. He had the mane and tail of the night sky. His coat was dark blue, and his eyes were as the stars in the night sky. He looked at the mare and then scratched his head. He looked as though he was trying to remember why he was here as well.

“Hello,” the stallion replied. He looked around then gazed back at the mare. “I don’t know… why am I here?”

“I don’t really know,” the mare said looking down at the ground. “I don’t have answer for that,” she said as she laid back on the flowers and looked up at the night sky.

The stallion sat back on his haunches and watched down at her. His starry eyes gazing upon her eyes of morning light.

“Umm, why exactly are you here? My name is Astrim by the way, what’s yours?”

“Astrim, what a nice name that is… my name… my name is Lucena…?,” the mare said as she laid back on the ground and gave out a sigh of bliss. She felt so relaxed and so free.

“Lucena… So Lucena, where do you come from?”

“Come from?”

“Yes,” Astrim replied as he looked up at the night sky.

Lucena put a hoof to her chin and thought for a moment. Then she arose and sat on her haunches.

“I don’t really know… All I remember is that I woke up on the beach, then decided to do some pioneering, and then met you.”

“Well, I want to fix this whole mess, but… when I got this place felt like drifting off into dreamland,” Astrim said as he laid back down on his back and gave off a sigh of happiness.

“Yeah, me too. It really puzzles me how funny order can be in certain areas,” Lucena said as she looked up at the night sky through the trees of the forest. “I don’t like seeing the sun and moon dividing the sky.”

“Well that will not be solved by sitting here,” Astrim said looking up at the divided sky.

“So are you going to help me then?” Lucena asked as she looked over at him.

“Sure, why not?” Astrim replied as he looked back at her.

Lucena slowly rose to her hooves and a little smile adorned on her face.

“Ok, well let’s go then. The sooner the better.”

“Well then, I’m right behind you,” Astrim said with a smile.

Lucena started galloping off further into the forest, and Astrim followed. They traveled about the forest and the deeper they traveled the crazier and more confusing it looked. They didn’t see other creatures at some point. All they saw were trees, plants and small chunks of earth were levitating awkwardly about the areas. The clouds were heavy with rain but didn’t pour. They floated about the sky without any control. The wind patterns also got more confusing. They traveled through in all different directions with great force.

After a certain point, there no more trees, but large chunks of earth that hovered about. The chunks appeared as though they were rooted from the land below and some sort of sorcery was keeping them afloat. Heavy sound waves were heard no to far off from them. One wave sent them off their hooves falling back on the loins.

“What could be causing these terrible waves to come about?” Lucena asked as she rose to her hooves.

“I don’t know, but when we find out, we will know,” Astrim said as he also rose to his hooves.

They made their way to the area where the wave of sound came from. As they neared the area, two other ponies were seen facing each other. One was an earth pony, and the other was a pegasus. When they reached the site, they looked at them both standing over a chunk of floating earth staring at each other.

“Umm, what are you guys doing?”

The pegasus mare frowned and grunted. Her mane was green and brown in some areas, and her eyes were green also. Her coat was a pale brown.

“Well, what does it look like we’re doing?”

“I don’t know. It just looks like you two are staring at each other.”

“Very good. Looks like someone is learning,” the pegasus mare said.

Astrim eyes narrowed. He took a deep breath and then continued.

“Alright, I could see that… Why are you guys staring at each other so intently?”

“Well dear friend, we are have a contest to see who could control this piece of land we’re standing on better,” the earth stallion replied. His mane and tail were of bright red, and his eyes were as blue as the clear skies. His coat was dark brown.

“Yeah… Do you know where that last huge sound wave might’ve come from?”

“Oh, well came from us my friend. Our powers are mighteous indeed. You should probably run while you still have the chance.”

“What do ya mean?” Astrim said frowning “What could possibly happen with you two-”

A powerful sound wave explosion from both their powers causing massive damage to a great part of the forest. Astrim and Lucena stood up on their hooves and glared at the two ponies.

“Okay, that is enough. You two must stop what you’re doing now. We should all be trying to figure out how to get this place back in order. It’s not normal as you guys already see.”

“And just who are you?” asked the pegasus mare as she furrowed an eyebrow of disapproval at the unicorn mare.

“I am Lucena.”

“Ooh Luceena… I’m sorry, are you the queen of this world?”

“Never said that.”

“Well then go and figure it yourself.”

Lucena was very irked at the thought of those words. She stomped her hoof.

“Take look around, take a look at the sky! Doesn’t this whole world look out of order to you?!”

“Well I don’t care! If you haven’t notice… I didn’t create the world, neither did I put it like this.”

Lucena grunted and stomped her hoof again, and the earth trembled.

“Your lack of thinking angers me.”

“Is that a challenge I see?”

Lucena’s horn lit up a bright orange. Astrim cut in between them both.

“Stop! Why can’t we settle this in more civilized way?”

“STAY OUT OF THIS!” the both mares cried.

“Ok, no problem,” Astrim said as he trotted back to the side.

“The kind fellow is right, I think we should settle this like-”

“SILENCE!” both mares shouted back and immediately hushed the earth pony.

The two mares glared at each other. Even though Lucena’s horn was lit, she didn’t care enough to think of how was she able to make her own horn light up. All of her focus was on the mare that stood in front of her.

“Why won’t you care, just for a little bit, about your surroundings?” Lucena said as she huffed and stomped the ground once more.

“Because like I said before, I didn’t make it the way it is!” the mare said. She stomped up two boulders. The mare then stood up on her hind hooves and punched both boulders and sent them spiraling towards Lucena. Lucena’s horn lit up, and she quickly disappeared and reappeared in another spot. Astrim was amazed at what Lucena performed.

“Wooh, how did you do that?”

“Do what?” Lucena responded with a perplexed look on her face.

“You just disappeared and reappeared, It was simply amazing!” Astrim said as hopped about in a circle.

“I don’t really know… Oof!”

Lucena fell to the ground after being struck by a rock to the face. The mare flew over and stood over Lucena. She put a hoof on her neck and started to choke her. Astrim quickly knock her hoof aside in total shock.

“Get off her! Why did you do that?!”

The pegasus mare responded by the frenzied throw outs of hoof-punches. Astrim dodged them all, turned around, and knocked her back with a kick from his hind hooves.

“Knock it off! Who are you, and why are you doing this?! This just doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well tell that to her, she’s the one that started it.”

“No I didn’t whoever you are!” Lucena spat back. She spit some blood down at the ground.

“Hey, that’s Vulcanaria too you missy! I don’t care about this place, and I don’t care about you! If you want to fix the way it looks, then do it all by yourself!”

“Ladies, that’s enough now,” spoke the earth stallion as he made his way to them.

Lucena teared up. She turned around as tear dripped from eyes and quickly galloped back into the forest. Astrim glared and grunted at Vulcanaria. He then ran off into forest after Lucena.

“Lucena, wait!” Astrim yelled.

The earth stallion looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

“What?”

“You know what.”

“It wasn’t my fault!”

“Look, no matter how much you say you don’t care about this place. The fact is if we don’t find something to ensure its order, it’s only going to get worse, and you know that.”

“Well what do you want me to do? It’s not like she knew what to do herself anyhow.”

“You’re probably right, she may not have. But we could’ve at least offered some additional help instead of rejecting her. That is all I’m saying.”

Vulcanaria dropped down to the ground. Her anger was washed down by thoughts that made her feel gloomy. Silence filled the air and she could feel was the presence of the earth stallion that stood behind her. She closed her eyes and tried to hold back the tears from flowing, but she couldn’t.

“I’m sorry alright… I’m sorry for rejecting her. I… I just didn’t know what to do, how could I help with what I don’t know?”

“I’m glad you have said this, but I’m not really the pony you should be saying this to.”

Vulcanaria stood up and looked at the stallion.

“I know… I’m going to go tell her that now. See you later, Vulganaris.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Astrim galloped across the forest calling out to Lucena, but he didn’t hear any response. He continued further as he struggled hoping over levitating grounds, and on some levitating trees.

“Lucena, where are you?”

“Lucena?” Astrim yelled as he looked all about the forest.

He galloped a little further and slipped on a rock which sent him tumbling down a long slope. When he hit the bottom of the slope, he slowly ascended to his hooves and scanned the area.

“Wow, that was one tumble,” Astrim said as his whole body shuddered a bit.

He was quite surprised to see a small white animal with long ears hopping about the forest. As he tried nearing the animal, it hastened its hops and scurried into the bushes.

“Odd… but interesting. I have to find Lucena, but I would really like to know just how many of those furry little animals are there.”

Astrim started to paste about in back and forth as he thought of what he would would decide to do.

“I have to find Lucena… but I want to see that furry animal went.”

He then looked up the long slope. His ear slopped, and his expression of excitement washed away leaving him crestfallen.

“It’s gonna take forever going up that slope. I think just follow after that small furry creature.”

With that in mind, he stopped pacing about the area and continued through the bushes and deeper into the forest. He noticed something different as he traveled about that part the forest. It was more alive. Small creatures would either crawl, hop, or fly about the forest. Everything seemed to be in a certain order. It was like as though it was supposed to be that way.

After traveling for some time, he reached a cliff, and the forest was bright as the vibrant colors of all the beautiful plants, trees and flowers were seen as he watched out into to the distance. He was stricken with amazement at what he saw. A beautiful pegasus whose mane and tail was like the beauty of the forest. Her eyes resembled the color and elegance of the shiny rivers that ran throughout. The pegasus’s coat and wings were alluring with its fallow brown color. She laid comfortably near the edge of the cliff along with many furry animals of all sorts, both big and small.

Astrim slowly trotted over to the beautiful mare.

“Hello?”

The mare looked straight at him. She was surprised as him to see that another pony exists.

“Sorry to bother your moment of silence, but we do have quite a problem with the forest being all chaotic and wanted to know if you could help us-”

“Help us eh, who is us?”

The loud roars of thunder came from a giant cloud above. Astrim watched as it descended upon him enshrouding the area with smoke. In the midst of the smoke opened two glowing eyes and the rest the figure became clear as he walked closer to Astrim. Astrim yawned in boredom, his eyes narrowed.

“Well, us meaning me and three others. And for the record that entrance wasn't impressing at all.”

“What do you want of us? What do we have to offer you?”

“Your abilities. You two would be great for helping us get the rest of the forest back in order.”

“Hmm... something is telling me not to trust you,” said the pegasus as he came ever so closer Astrim.

“Look I would like to talk more, but we need to get whole chaotic setting under control,”he said as he backed away from the pegasi.

“He’s right,” the pegasus mare said in soft tone of voice.

The stallion pegasus turned back and glared at the mare.

“So you believe what he says?”

“And Astrim is how you refer to me.”

“And what if I said I didn’t care about your name?”

“You just want problems, don’t you.”

“I’m Seasoris, and I will clear these skies when I want!”

Astrim and Searsoris glared at each other. The The pegasus mare slowly walked passed them with her eyes closed.

“Are you two going to stare at each other all day, or are we going to move and get about putting order to our planet? I certainly don’t think staring into each other eye’s are going to solve anything.”

“Fine…” both stallions replied.

“Umm... if you don’t mind me asking, what is your name?” Astrim asked as he followed behind both pegasi.

“My name is Seasonaria. I have an idea of what my role and purpose is but not in its entirety. I still have plenty to learn, but I think I could help a bit with returning some order to the forest.”

“That’s great. The more help the better. At least that’s what I tell myself,” Astrim said smiling.

The three ponies kept trotting till they had reached the slope in which Astrim had tumbled down on. The two pegasi looked up and smiled. Astrim however glared up and then shook his head. He knew it would take him forever to climb such a steep slope.

“Uh... guys?” Astrim asked as the two pegasi turned back at him. “Think you guys could give me lift?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back on the shores of the beach, Lucena sat there alone. She looked out at the beautiful sea and how beautifully the sun had shone down on its surface which gave it a mystical shine. Thoughts soon came back about what had happened with her and Vulcanaria. Tears started dripping down her cheeks.

“Why doesn’t she care about the world... Why is she so mean… Why can’t I just figure this out by myself?”

Because you can’t…

“Who said that?” Lucena asked as she looked all around her. All she heard was the whistling sounds of the breeze and the melodic sways of the ocean. The voice didn’t sound like any of the ponies she had met. She turned back at the jungle only to hear the voice again come from behind.

You can’t figure it out alone…

Lucena became afraid. Her senses heightened, and she started looking all about the beach watching and suspecting the worst she thought possible.

Don’t be afraid young one… Turn up to the skies, and you shall see who I am…

She looked to the skies and bright light had shone down on her. The light shining so bright covered the mare’s vision completely. Lucena close her eyes in fear of being permanently blind.

Open your eyes, my child…

When Lucena opened her eyes, she looked around only to find everything was white. She kept turning all about her. She kept her eyes open, and her ears up.

“Look up here my child.”

Lucena eyes averted upwards towards the face of a giant white horse. Upon seeing this figure, she immediately leaped backwards. The horse creature made her way closer to the young mare.

“My child, why do thou fear me?”

“Wh- Who are you?”

“I am your Mother.”

“My Mother?!” Lucena responded gaping up at the giant celestial creature.

“Yes. I am your Mother, the first empress of all the galaxy. I was in control of the twelve realms of the galaxy but no longer. After the conflict I had with my brother, I had not the strength to fully control all twelve universal realms, so I sacrificed myself bringing about the birth of a new world. You are my children and from this day you will take my place in keeping the universe in perfect harmony.”

“So what happened to your brother?” Lucena asked as she sat back on her haunches.

“We used to rule the entire universe together. We both shared the control of both realms equally. He and I had an equal amount of power and space to rule the entire universe in harmony. But it wasn’t so long till the greed which he had build within himself took over and had consumed the one I once knew as my beloved brother. In order to save the universe from utter chaos I had to imprison him.”

“So where is he now, and… what is my role and purpose in this universe?”

“He is on a distant planet far away chained away to four other planets that bear no life.”

Her mother showed her the planet where the dragon was on. Lucena looked all around her and was quite confused at why the entire place was dark.

“Mother, why is it so dark?”

“Look above my child.”

Lucena looked up. Her pupils were dilated, and her ears flopped down. Her body began to shake uncontrollably staring up at the mighty, ancient dragon, the overlord of darkness.

His very presence made her experience fear in its truest form. He overshadowed them blocking the light of all the stars for thousands of miles. His aqua blue eyes radiated extreme levels of anger and hate. The chains wrapped about his limbs and scaly neck left severe burns and scars which had him struggling about in pain ever since.

The elder dragon stopped and scowled down at them with deep hate. He breathed through his nostrils blasting them with thick plumes of black smoke. Lucena put a hoof up to her mouth and started coughing as the area was cloaked with its breath of darkness. When the smoke had cleared, both stood amidst a giant eye. Lucena closed her eyes and clenched her teeth tight. Her body became stiff.

“Ah… Sister… How long has been since we’ve last met? Oh yes… Over ten thousand years…”

His voice was powerful and trembled the entire planet they stood on. The great alicorn trotted past Lucena and stood in front of her. She glared into the eye of the great dragon and spoke using the royal voice.

“Don’t waste your time in counting the years brother, this place is your home for all eternity.”

“Ah… I see you haven’t lost your voice of all the twelve realms… And I take it that the little one is your offspring… The one who is now in control over the universe in your passing…”

“Yes, she and her fellow brethren now possess powers to protect the world and the universe from your evils.”

“Hmm… It won’t be long till I have retribution within my grasp dear sister. You will soon meet your true demise, and all of your offsprings will perish away with the bringing of my rulership throughout the entire universe. Your offsprings are worthless and they will only be extending the time of your own death. Mark my words sister… I will have my revenge,” the elder dragon said with his ever calm voice.

“Silence, you… you creep!” Lucena spat back as she breathed deeply. She arose to her hooves and glared up at him with all the bravery she had inside.

The elder dragon frowned at the small unicorn that was all but a tiny pebble to his enormous galactic mass.

“Hmhmhm… And you have the audacity to tell me when to silence!”

The unicorn stumbled backwards onto her lion letting out a small squeal for help. The alicorn quickly rushed in front of her and spread forth wings.

“That’s enough! We are done here brother.”

A white veil of light came about the alicorn and Lucena. As they were slowly being teleported from the plant, the dragon roared about the planet. His roar rung loud in Lucena’s mind, and she started shaking slightly. Her mind couldn’t take the trauma, and she immediately became unconscious.

Deep within her mind, she was surrounded by all these strong levels of evil. Each one snapping at her with their sharp and hideous teeth. They would come one after another roaring, laughing madly, and grumbling words of hate. All she could’ve have done was curl up and close her eyes tight.

Lucena felt something touch her head, and she immediately started screaming about and squirming. Lucena opened her eyes and realized she was again back in the zone of white. The alicorn came to her and embraced her with love, holding Lucena in her hooves, comforting her like a mother would a foal who had slept through a terrible nightmare.

“Are you alright, my child.”

“No Mother,” she responded as tears trickled down her face. “It was horrible. The darkness forces formed out of nothing into these horrid shapes and started eating away at my body. And. And.”

“Fear not my child, for I am with thee. I will never leave my children’s side. Never forget that.”

“Yes mother,” Lucena said sobbing into her chest. After some time, the alicorn pulled her forearms from around her filly and arose to her hooves. Lucena sat and looked up into her mother’s eyes.

“Lucena. I’m now going to show you how to control the sun. It is important for the balance of the world and the inhabitants there of. You must also be careful and aware of how much time the sun must stay above the sky.”

The mother alicorn walked a few inches away from Lucena. She opened her wings and slowly rose and stood on her hind hooves. Her eyes started to glowing, and she began levitating as a white aura encompassed her body.

“You must feel the powers of sun flow within you, my child. You must one with the nature of what you’re trying to control.”

“But how do I get the powers of the sun to flow within me, Mother?”

The mother alicorn took Lucena’s hoof into hers and smiled.

“Let me show you, Lucena. Arise, and that will be your first step to learning how to control the movement of the sun.”

Lucena’s horn lit up a bright orange. She tried to float just like the mother alicorn, but she somehow, no matter how hard she tried, rise off the ground.

“Ugh, it’s not working Mother. I can’t raise myself of the ground.”

“Relax and Focus. If you’re not in neither of those stages, you cannot unlock the connection to all other powerful forces in the universe. You must focus well and be at ease in order to do so.”

“Alright, I’ll try again.”

Lucena relaxed and focused as best she could, slowly breathing in and out. The mother alicorn descended back to the ground and sat on her haunches, and waited for Lucena to understand the connection between the realms and herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Both Astrim and Seasoris laid on their sides trying to catch their breaths from a series of races throughout the forest and the jungle.

“Ha, I beat you... in that last one... my dark friend,” Seasoris said coughing afterwards.

“I you kidding me? I had you... in that last one… by far,” Astrim said as he glared over at Seasoris while trying to catch his breath.

“Are you guys done competing with each other yet?” Seasonaria said slowly approaching them from the forest. “Thank the heavens there is nothing on beach for you two to do other than-”

“Do you joke?” Astrim said as he got up and wore his competitive smirk. “There’s plenty for us to do here and beat this guy in.”

“So it’s another race I hear?” Seasoris asked as both stallions rammed their head together and had his eyes meet Astrim’s eyes.

“One more beating it is then.”

Seasonaria quickly wrapped them both around in vines and trotted passed them.She closed her eyes and trotted straight not looking them once.

“Try seeing who could get out of those first.”

Both Stallion glared at each other and struggled away at trying to free themselves from the vines, tossing the sand about.

“I’m. gonna. break. first,” Astrim said as tried his best to break free from the vines.

“No. You. foolish. Stallion. I. will. break. first,” Seasoris replied.

“Would you two please stop? You’re both acting really foalish right now,” Seasonaria said releasing them from the vines. She then pointed a hoof at the mare who levitated in the distance.

“Astrim is that your friend?”

“Lucena!” Astrim said as he raced across the beach to meet her.

“Look at the sun,” Seasoris said pointed a hoof at the setting sun.

“She is able to set the sun?!” Seasonaria said as she gaped at the sun which had now went down completely below the horizon.

Astrim reached in front of Lucena and started panting as she came down. Her eyes closed but she stood in front of Astrim. He trotted up and started to look all about her. He then stood straight in front her after finding nothing unusual about her.

“Lucena, are you alright?”

As he finished his question, she started to mumble a few words.

“I fully understand now, Mother.”

Lucena fell to her side and everything around her went into a blissful silence as her head hit sand…

Chapter 2: A Chained Darkness

Lucena was still in a deep sleep. She was once again haunted by the dark figures that moved about her. She lay there in the midst of a dark ocean of evil monsters all by herself.

Why can't I just wake from this dream...?

Why am I surrounded by all this darkness...?

"Who will save me?" she thought as the pool’s black sludge pulled her down slowly.

Suddenly, a light appeared above Lucena. From the light came a hoof, and Lucena could hear her name being called from above.

Lucena, are you awake yet?

Relax, friend, she'll be fine. Just give her some time...

Many thoughts raced through her mind as the light grew brighter and swallowed all the darkness around her. She opened her eyes only to meet Astrim's hoof on her shoulder.

"Aaaah!" Lucena screamed as she scrambled up to her hooves within moments.

Astrim leaped backwards, alarmed by Lucena’s reaction.

“Are you alright, Lucena?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Mother wants to speak to you.”

“Mother? Who?”

Lucena trotted up to Astrim and placed her hoof on his muzzle. His eyes closed shut then shot open bright with light. She stepped back as a part of her basic instincts, but there wasn’t anything that took place at all.

Astrim stood in front her like a statue. Lucena placed her hoof on his chest, but his body didn’t move a muscle.

“Hmm, strange…” Lucena said as she began to notice her friends coming closer.

“Hi, fellow friend of ours, how are you, and what happened to Astrim?” Seasoris said as he waved his hoof in front of Astrim’s glowing white eyes.

“Mother wants to speak to you all. She has an important message for every one of you,” Lucena as she came closer to Seasoris.

“What in the world…? Hey Lucena, are you okay? We don’t have mothers. You should check out your-”

Seasoris became stiff as Lucena placed her hoof on his head. Seasonaria took a bow before her closing her eyes.

“Please, take us to our mother. I would love to know how to use my powers to help bring to an end this chaos and create a better world.”

Lucena had also placed a hoof on her head and Seasonaria immediately froze in position with her eyes glowing bright white. She then looked over at Vulcanaria who was amazed by what she saw.

Vulcanaria looked at her then down to the ground and said, “Lucena, I just… I just wanted to tell you that I was sorry for earlier. I didn’t mean any of what I said I-”

Lucena placed a hoof under her chin and looked at her with a cheerful smile.

“It’s alright, my sister. I don’t want your heart to be heavy. I want to know that it’s light. I forgive you, but Mother has something important to tell you. You must go,” Lucena said as she removed her hoof away from her chin and touched her horn.

“Thank you.”

Vulcanaria froze in position also and her eyes began to glow a bright white. Lucena sat down on her haunches and looked up at the night sky.

“I’ll wait here for them till then,” she said lying on the ground and then closing her eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ah, my child, I see you wanted to meet me indeed,” the great alicorn said as she neared her foal.

“Well, even though I’m quite confused as to why I’m here, I do want to learn my purpose and role in the world,” Astrim replied, giving her a sweet smile.

“Hmm, are you ready to learn how to use your powers to help save and keep the universe?”

“More than ready,” he replied looking at his mother as she started to fly up above him.

“You must first connect with your powers and the universe,” the great alicorn said, tossing a boulder in front of him.

“Umm, what should I to do with this rock?”

“Move it.”

Astrim closed his eyes and focused his magic around the rock. He tried to lift it, but the rock didn’t move an inch. He tried moving it sideways, and he tried pulling it. He even tried using his magic to move it forward, but the rock simply wouldn’t move. After trying those methods over and over again, he stopped and collapsed on the surface.

“Argh, hmm… I must say, this is quite the rock,” Astrim hummed as examined the boulder.

“Yeah, quite the rock it is if you don’t know how to properly use the magic within you. You need to reach within yourself and connect with the magic of the twelve realms of the universe.”

“Right. So… what are the twelve realms of the universe?”

The great alicorn looked down at him and showed him her ever-flowing radiance of white beauty. Then she took a kneeling position and placed her wings around Astrim.

“Close your eyes, and I will guide you to them.”

Astrim obeyed, closing his eyes. He soon felt a soft breeze pass through him. His body started to feel light. His mane and tail started to whip about as the breeze became stronger. Soon everything felt normal. However, after a few moments, he noticed that his hooves were not planted the ground. Instead, he still felt light and felt his body floating about like a bubble in the wind. When he opened his eyes, he was in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in outer space.

He looked around at all the stars that shined from far away, and the planets which offered the beautiful mixed colors different sizes and unique shapes. He was able to make out more than fifty constellations that the universe had to offer, bringing pleasure to his eyes. The sight of it all was good for the exploration therein.

“Where am I…” Astrim asked still breath taken by the beautiful scenery presented before him.

Well, you’re in an unknown area of the universe! Well, at least your mind is.

“Who just said that?” Astrim asked as he began turned his head about in frantic manner looking all where he could’ve to see who was talking to him.

Fear not, little brother.

“Little brother?! What do you mean? Where are you?” Astrim said as he continued turning around in the same manner.

Suddenly a giant creature appeared before him. He had the head of lion, complete with the crown of fur on its neck. His eyes were green, and he had razor sharp teeth. His coat was brown and he had the hooves of a pony. And on his rump, he bore the sign of the fifth realm: Leo.

“Hello,” the creature said.

“Aaaah!” Astrim yelled as he tried his best to scurry away from the pony giant.

“Fear not, little brother, I will not hurt you. The name’s Torlock. You could call me Tor if that’s fine with you,” Torlock said as he smiled, showing his carnivorous teeth.

“Heh heh, of course. Torlock sounds fine to me,” Astrim said with his eyes focused on his teeth.

“I, being one of the twelve realms of the universe, have the responsibility to keep the universe forever in harmony and peace, along with your help. That is one of your main duties along with protecting the world,” Torlock said as backed away a little from Astrim.

“Mother sent you here to learn your connection between us and how to use us along with your powers, right?”

“I believe so,” Astrim said as he tried to keep himself standing straight, which was difficult since there wasn’t a platform for him to stand on.

“Hmm… Hey! Everyone! Come and teach our brethren how to use his powers,” Torlock said with a loud but friendly roar.

“There are more of you?”

“Why of course, dear brother. You’ll see them in just a moment,” Torlock said, smiling.

“Another one?” a large pink pony said as she appeared from the depths from galaxy trotting up towards them.

“I guess so. Maybe Mother had yet another to show us,” a large blue pony said, running up alongside the pink pony.

“Hmm, so she shows us yet another one? I wonder how many she has.” A large brown pony with two horns that protruded from his forehead landed from above next to them.

“Where are the others?” Torlock asked the other realms.

“I guess they weren’t supposed to be here for him,” the brown pony said as he exhaled through his nostrils.

“Was everyone here for Lucena?”

“Nope, only Sarah, Teza, Lia, and I were there for her,” the pink pony responded.

“Okay, let’s not waste any more time. He needs to know his roles right away. So, Astrim, are you ready to know what your purpose is and how to connect with us?” Torlock said looking down at the foal.

“I guess so,” Astrim said holding up a hoof.

“Good. First, let’s just create a platform for you to stand on.”

Torlock placed his hoof underneath Astrim, bringing together small fragments of destroyed asteroids, which made a smooth platform for him to stand on.

“Wow. Much better.”

“Alright, now I want to begin with you,” Torlock said leaning his head forward and closer to Astrim. “Do you know who you are and why you even exist?”

“Now that you mention it… No, not at all.”

Torlock raised his head back and the dark brown stallion began to speak.

"Before I say what I have to say, let us make ourselves known to you, brother. I am Azar of the second realm, Taurus. Pleased to meet you, brother."

The twin ponies swarmed around Astrim for a while, giggling before they went back into their positions.

"Hello Astrim, I'm Karla."

"And my name is Sarah."

"We represent the third realm of the universe which represents Gemini," Karla said.

"And now to move on with who you are," Azar said.

He leaned in towards him and looked at him with a serious expression.

“You are the son of Mother Faust, a brother of the twelve realms, and a guardian of the universe. Your purpose and responsibility is to help us keep the universe in check. That means keeping yourself and all the inhabitants of the universe in harmony and peace with the help of our powers and your fellow brethren.”

“Do you get everything I have said so far?”

“Yes, perfectly,” Astrim responded. “I was wondering if you would be able to answer why the island looks so chaotic?”

The four realms looked at each other.

“Yes… that,” Azar said as sighed showing a slight frown.

“I figured maybe we were the keys to completing the creation of the world or something.”

“You’re responsibility is protecting it. It is already done with its creation,” Azar responded.

“Then who could’ve created such chaos?” Astrim asked.

“The Draconequi,” Torlock responded.

“Who are they?” Astrim said, turning to Torlock.

“Those creatures brought complete discord to your world. They stop at nothing to turn order into chaos. Even as we speak, most parts of your world are controlled heavily by those damned creatures.”

“Then what are we to do to restore the world and keep the balance?” Astrim asked giving a slight frown.

“You have to terminate them!” Karla said with malice.

“You must show them who rules around here,” Sarah said, pointing her hoof at Astrim.

“Alright, we will,” Astrim responded as leaned his head forward respectfully.

“This means war against the Draconequi, my young brother. These creatures are part of a group called “The Parliament of Chaos” which hosts seven of the most powerful Draconequus to have ever existed, Azathoth being the ruler of it all,” Azar said as he slowly stepped back a short way from Astrim.

“Azathoth…”

“That’s right,” Torlock continued. “You six must defeat the great chaos that holds a powerful threshold over your world.”

“Now for your powers,” Torlock said as he moved his hoof right over Astrim. “Can you lift anything?”

“Well, no. I don’t even know how to use magic.”

I may be able to help with that… a voiced echoed from the universe. Suddenly, a large white unicorn mare with a blonde mane and tail, decorated with the beauty of a rainforest, her eyes as blue as the sky appeared in front of him.

"I am Teza of the sixth realm, Virgo. I shall help thee make known thy power. And thou shalt understand its use."

She looked at the other realms and continued speaking.

"I will return him to Mother when he gets ahold of the magic."

She lifted the platform and trotted off with Astrim into the depths of space.

"Have a great time, brother," Torlock said, waving to him.

"Excuse me, where we going? And why are we moving so fast?!" he said as she skipped past many planets like lightning.

"You shall see, brother."

When they arrived at Teza’s realm, she placed Astrim in a beautiful garden of lush grass and thick trees. The sun shone down beautifully on both Astrim and Teza. A nice breeze would constantly pass through, and he liked the breeze going through his mane. All the feelings were of great pleasure to Astrim, but Teza quickly set two boulders in front of him so that who wouldn’t get lost within the mesmerizing sensation of ease the world gave all the inhabitants.

"Where am I now?" Astrim frowned a little at the two boulders.

"You are now on my home planet, Sumalia. But we have no time to show thee around for thou hast not come here for that."

"Right," Astrim said as he frowned at the two boulders.

"Let us start."

“Before we begin we must first meditate.”

“Meditate?”

“Yes young one, you must so that you can understand your magic. For behold you will see who you really are.”

“Okay…” Astrim said flatly sitting back on his haunches. Teza had done the same, and they both stared at each other.

“Close your eyes, Astrim and breathe in and out,” Teza smiled. He did as he was told and within moments of doing it he felt like he was slowly drifted away into another universe of its own.

Do not stop…

Do you feel anything happening yet?

“Well, I do feel, different…” Astrim opened his eyes and quickly looked down at how large his magic aura was. He was all alone in a dark open space.

Amazing, he thought. He continued marvelling at his great aura of magic.

Do you see your own aura yet…

“Yes.”

Then let me have a look…

“Where are you?” Astrim looked up, and his eyes almost popped out of his head. The area lit up at bright peach shade and Teza’s giant face descended before him. The sudden shock broke Astrim’s concentration and he quickly backed away from her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Why were you so large?” Astrim said breathing heavily. Teza began laughing.

“Well young one, we’ve been around for many years protecting your planet. Did you not think that our powers wouldn’t be more massive?”

Astrim remained silent, and his ears flopped down.

“Well, you don’t have much time now, so we will move onto your first lesson.

“The first lesson, would be “Magic Concentration”.

“This is where you learn to focus your magic on the item you are trying to do anything you desire with, whether it was to lift, or throw, or crush it. That power lies within you once you master how to grip your desired point with focus.”

“Got it,” Astrim said.

“Well then, focus and lifted up at that rock then.”

“Okay, here it goes,” Astrim said looking on at the rock.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Astrim had finished his training and understanding the basic uses of magic. He was back in front of his mother.

“So, are you ready to move this “small rock” beside me?”

Astrim looked at his mother and then back at the boulder. A purple glow emanated from his horn. Finally, with a gust of magic, he lifted the boulder and tossed it so far into the distance behind him that it vanished into the white.

“Very impressive,” the white alicorn said as she clapped her hooves together. She arose and walked away from Astrim. “Keep practicing, child, and one day you will be able to perform more powerful magic.”

A white glow emanated from her horn. The light became brighter, and suddenly Astrim wasn’t able to see his mother. She fired a powerful beam into the whiteness. Suddenly Astrim was covered by the radiance of the magic light.

After the light disappeared, Astrim lowered his hooves from his eyes. He looked straight at his mother as she hung her head and looked at him.

“But for now, that is wonderful that you can do such thing. Now, there is something I want to show you. I have already shown Lucena, but I want you to see him as well. So that you will know who desires your destruction.”

Astrim and his mother warped away from the white realm into an area that was filled with darkness. Astrim couldn’t see much, but a giant eye opened in front of them. As it rose higher, he was able to make out the dark image of a dragon.

“Who is that?”

“My brother, the mighty elder dragon of darkness.”

“So you return to me again, sister,” the elder dragon grumbled, glaring down at them. The darkness emanated from his scales. The giant chains tied to him shook around as he placed his claws onto the cold dark earth.

“This is the creature who you and Lucena must keep chained. He must never break free from these chains.” She looked up into the eyes of her brother. “But as long as I stand here, I will make sure that the chains only stay tighter upon you.”

“Hmhmhm…” The evil and contorted laughter made Astrim’s body shiver. “Do you really think you have the power to keep me like this? You’re slowly aging away with my ever increasing power of great darkness. Soon, you won’t have the power, and I will overpower and consume you, sister. Your time is nigh at hoof,” the elder dragon pushed his body forward at them against the chains that were wrapped around him, burning his scaly skin.

“Your hopes die right now, sister.”

“What do you mean?”

The breath of chaos blew from the elder dragon’s mouth, covering Astrim. Soon the two were enshrouded with his breath. The air caused the white alicorn to lose her control over the chains, and Astrim coughed from breathing in the terrible air of chaos.

“Got you right where I want you, sister,” the elder dragon said as he ripped one claw free from the chains, but before he could crush them both, the alicorn mustered a spell that teleported Astrim back to the white realm.

For a moment, he couldn’t breathe. The light was too bright for him to see where he was. But the light had dimmed down and suddenly he was in front of his friends.

“Astrim, are you alright? What happened?” Lucena looked into his eyes. Astrim’s eyelids began to get heavy. His eyelids closed shut and all became dark...

Chapter 3: The Response Of The Parliament

Astrim's eyes had shot open and his gaze met the eyes of Lucena.

"Astrim, are you alright?"

"Yeah," Astrim rose to his hooves rubbing the top of his head, "Mother is not fine however. I wanted to help her, but the dragon was far too strong. I couldn't even breathe."

"Do you remember what happened to Mother?" Seasoris said.

Astrim fought hard to remember what happened to Mother Faust in that moment, but couldn't see past the thick black smoke that was breathed upon them. Every time he tried remembering what happened, the black smoke would wash over his thoughts, drowning them in a dark mist that would then almost force him out of thinking completely.

He strained as best he could to see thought in such blackness, but couldn’t remember nothing but that moment when Mother Faust forced him back into the white realm.

"All I remember is that she was tricked and kneeled at the mercy of the elder dragon. When I was able to see again, I was forced back into the white realm."

They all looked at each other and back to Astrim.

"So, what happens now?" Vulcanaria said.

"I'm not sure, but we have to defeat Azathoth and the draconequi in order to save this world from their rule over us by chaos.

"So they are the rulers?" Seasonaria said.

"Yes, but they are not the rightful rulers for this world. Even still, they are why we can't correct some of the chaotic parts of the forest," Astrim bent his head forward and looked to the ground for a moment, but then looked back at all of them with an expression of confidence. "But if we defeat them, we would once again have the world restored to the way its suppose to be, for the good of us all."

"Right," Lucena nod her head forward.

Seasoris jumped up, spread out his wings, and flew away into the forest.

"Let's get started then. No time to lose," Seasoris said as his voice grew distant heading into the forest.

Lucena and Vulcanaria smiled and trotted off into the forest following Seasoris.

"Don't go too far from us now, Seasoris," Lucena said.

Astrim and Seasonaria nodded their heads smiling and followed behind.

They all traveled back through part of the forest and met Vulganaris who made his way towards them after being concerned for them.

"Hello my fellow friends," He said smiling, and they all gave their greetings.

Seasoris slammed face first into a tree branch. The impact had sent him spiraling down from above. "Look out below!"

Vulganaris leaped back while Astrim received the full impact of the crash leaving a huge cloud of smoke.

The smoke had cleared with Seasoris right on top Astrim whose hooves were crossed wearing a frown expression.

"It must be me that receives the blow," Astrim mumbled.

"Sorry there, my friend. Didn't mean you any harm. Tree branches are not my best friend when flying through the forest I guess. I’ll just fly higher next time," Seasoris got up from on top Astrim.

"Guess somepony needs to fly in the air more," Seasonaria chuckled along with everypony else.

"So where are you all headed?" Vulganaris said.

"We are not sure, but we have to focus on defeating Azathoth and The Parliament of Chaos. The sooner we do this the better for us and the rest of the world," Lucena said.

"Very well then," Vulganaris replied. He then turned around and trotted onward and the rest followed while Seasoris took flight to the skies and traveled above the group.

They traveled through the chaotic forest for hours.

The ponies enjoyed themselves, looking at the beautiful trees and plants, and they admired how the sun had shone down on them and created a mystical green glare throughout the forest.

All, but Astrim…

He kept on trying to remember all that happened between what his Mother had told him and her evil brother had said. No matter how hard he had strained his mind, the thoughts he really wanted wouldn’t come clear.

Why can’t I remember his name? I could see his eyes, but his name... what was it? Astrim stopped and held a hoof to his head. He thought on the moment he saw the Elder Dragon.So large, so dark, he thought as he opened his eyes and walked onward to keep up with the rest of the group. He then remembered when they were covered in his black breath.

What was that black breath he breathed on us? Why me? Why isn’t anyone having this much difficulty remembering as I am? Astrim pondered these questions making his way behind the rest of the group. Even though he couldn’t find the answers he sought for, he was determined to seek their meanings no matter what. It was not long before the six ponies came upon a lake.

It sparkled beautifully in the sun. All the ponies were excited and headed for the lake, but Astrim still kept his same moderate pace and stopped at the shore, still pondering his memories, searching for answers he still had no answer to.

Lucena hopped right in and Seasonaria followed.

"You all want to rest here for now?" Astrim sat near a tree.

"Yes, I could use a rinse," Vulcanaria joined in with the others by performing a cannon ball into the lake.

"Yeah, I don't see why not," Vulganaris hopped into the lake and caused water to splash on Astrim.

Astrim shook the water himself and glared at Vulganaris, who was smiling.

"I didn't want to get wet," Astrim grumbled.

"Oh come now, friend. Why don't you cheer up and have a good swim with the rest of us?" Vulganaris laughed then dived under water. Lucena and the others agreed as they splashed water on each other enjoying their swim.

"Did you not hear me say, I didn't want to get wet," Astrim's eyes narrowed. He despised getting his mane unnecessarily wet. He loved to watch his mane of many stars from time to time and couldn’t see them when it was drenched in water.

He looked around for a few seconds before he heard the second rumble.

Astrim became concerned. He looked down at a puddle near his roof hoof and watched it shake as he felt the third rumble.

He became quite curious to see what could've been making the earth move.

"Hey guys?" Astrim said looking everypony enjoying themselves.

"Yeah? What is it?" Vulcanaria said popping up out of the water.

"Is something wrong?" Lucena said looking at Seasonaria knocking out water from her right ear.

"I just want to check something real quick, I'll be right back," Astrim said walking off deeper into the forest.

"Don't trot too far now," Lucena replied. Astrim didn't respond and kept trotting onward.

Astrim trotted through the forest figuring out where could have the rumble been coming from.

He trotted on for a little while before he heard the powerful quake again. Astrim looked around at all his surroundings and still found nothing happening out of the ordinary. But with everything appearing normal to him, he couldn’t help to stay on the alert, the roars were too close for Astrim to trot any further. However, he stood on the alert for anything that might rush up on him from wherever he was not paying attention.

After a few moments of checking around, he heard more loud roars and a rumble that shook the earth beneath him. The roars came in multiple sounds, and Astrim frowned taking a step backwards.

“Who goes there! Show yoursel-”

Three loud thumps shook the ground beneath him and caused him to fall back onto his rump. He quickly rose to his hooves and gazed up at the tree that was about to fall on him. He gasped and immediately dodged to the side of the incoming tree.

The crash created a small cloud dust that clouded Astrim’s vision, and as a result he coughed from breathing in the dust. He still looked around expecting for the worst to rush up on him.

Something very large stopped right in front of him. He placed a hoof on the giant object only to have saw it slide back. Astrim’s eyes widened when he looked into the eyes of the giant pony. The giant pony was mostly covered in moss. He covered his nose smelling the stench that came from its body.

Great mother of light, what in the world am I smelling, he thought backing away from the giant pony.

Two other giants came to its side and looked down at Astrim. The three giant ponies roared in unison. The mighty soundwave sent Astrim off of hooves and back into a nearby tree.

“There’s… three of you,” Astrim struggled up from off the ground and looked at the giant ponies who started rushing towards him. The first giant hoof stopped right in front of Astrim, breaking up the ground and sending Astrim even further back.

His loin rammed against yet another tree. Astrim looked up and scurried away and barely escaped the giant pony’s hoof.

These ponies are fairly quick for their size, Astrim said as he increased pace leaving the ponies behind. If they reached the pool before me, the others would be killed under their weight. Just at the moment he crashed right into the hoof of one of the giant ponies behind.

They all rushed passed Astrim and headed down the path to the lake that wasn’t too far off from where he was. He got up from his haunches and dashed up behind the giant ponies.

“No, I will not have you crush any of my allies,” he galloped under the middle giant pony. It became tricky for Astrim to outpace the ponies: the ground wasn’t even in certain areas. He looked forward at the front hooves of the pony and dashed on just past them. They pressed into the ground and propelled Astrim ahead of them.

“Alright, now to warn the others,” he hastened onward and kept the focus of the lake in the distance as the apple of his eye. The giant ponies roared and caused another powerful sound wave which caused few tall trees to fall no to far down the path from Astrim.

He quickened his pace and leaped over the trees, landing with a thud onto the ground.

“Ach, that was terrible,” Astrim painfully rose up onto his hooves and started again on his way to the lake. The giant ponies broke through the fallen trees with no effort and continued on, maintaining the speed they had prior, towards the lake.

Astrim galloped on down a small slope at an uncontrollable speed.. He slipped and tumbled down, stopping just before entering into the lake.

“Everyone!” Astrim said heading to the lake. “Get out of the pool, Now!”

Vulganaris and Vulcanaria looked over at Astrim who was trying to catch his breath.

“Slow down fellow stallion, no need to kill yourself to say a few words,” Vulganaris said. Lucena and Seasonaria popped up out of the water behind Vulcanaria. They both pounced their heads having the water pour out of one of their ears.

“Astrim, what is it?” Lucena said.

“Giant ponies are coming this way. You all must come from out of the lake before they-”

Huge rumbles shook the earth and Astrim fell onto his face. He got up and quickly turned to see the giant ponies walking in the near distance. The rumbles became more constant, and it became difficult for Astrim to remain on his hooves.

“The stallion is right! We best be getting out of the lake before we get flattened by these creatures,” Vulganaris got up from out of the lake and trotted off to the side.

Astrim turned back, and his eyes widened when he saw that the pace had ever increased.

“Come, you all! We must go now!” Astrim ran to the side and hid behind a tree.

They all made it successfully out of the path of the giant ponies, and watched as the giant ponies entered the lake. And they began taking giant slurps of water and sprayed it up over their heads and loins creating a mist around the three giant ponies.

“I guess there’s a lot that this world has in store for us,” Vulganaris began laughing while the rest gazed in amazement at the size of the giant pony. Seasoris shot him a glare, and he smiled sheepishly.

“Do you think it might’ve seen us by some chance?” Vulcanaria said.

“Who knows,” Astrim took a step back and trotted off deeper into the forest.

“Alright, I’m going onward. We have to find a safe spot for rest before it gets dark.”

“Agreed,” Vulganaris said.

“I already found a spot, follow me!”

Everypony looked up at Seasoris who came down on a cloud in the midst of them.

“I know a decent place for all of us to get a good rest for the night.”

They all followed Seasoris through the forest to the wide open space of grass and trees that stood in a circle around it. What made it quite a unique spot for sleep was that they could look straight up at the skies, unlike many other areas of the forest.

Lucena lowered the sun while Astrim raised the moon. The six ponies afterwards then prepared their resting places and began to sleep.

It was in the middle of the night when the rustling of the bushes awoke Lucena.

“Hello?” Lucena looked at her friends who were sleeping sound in their respective spots.

She then looked afar at the bushes rustle in the distance.

“Hey Astrim, Vulcanaria, wake up. I think we’re being watched.”

Vulcanaria lifts her head up from the soft bed of lush grass and looked around the open space. She then let a huge yawn.

“Who did you see, Lucena?” Seasonaria asked looking all around the bushes.

Lucena turned around at the bushes which were rustling about from behind. Her eyes widened as she saw two timberwolves appear from out of the darkness, growling and glaring at Lucena and the others with their sinister green eyes.

“Come together everypony,” Vulganaris turned and watched a few more timberwolves come out from the bushes behind him.

“Apparently these creatures don’t know who I am,” Seasoris said as the six came back to back, surrounded by the hungry wolves of the night. The stench of their breaths filled the air. Lucena and Seasonaria put a hoof to their muzzles.

“Oh goodness, their mouth could really use some cleaning,” Seasonaria said.

“I don’t think they would take your words to heart if you told them anyhow,” Astrim responded keeping full focus on the approaching timberwolves. He charged his horn with a dark purple spell and fired at one of the timberwolves.

The timberwolf exploded into multiple wood fragments on the ground. Lucena fired at another two timberwolves and they crumbled into heaps of wood on the ground.

The rest came at once to attack Seasoris and Vulganaris. One of the wolves’ teeth ripped into the right wing of Seasoris, and he let a small yelp. He kicked the wolf away into another three coming at him from behind.

Two wolves approached Vulganaris from the front. He shoved his right hoof inside the mouth of one timberwolf, and with his strength he lifted the wolf over himself and smashed its body onto the ground. The impact of the force caused the timberwolf to fall apart. The other came and sunk his teeth into his side.

Vulganaris cringed at the pain. He then quickly took up the timberwolf and hugged it tightly with his strength crushing the body of the wolf in half.

“Is that all of them?” Astrim looked around at the heaps of wood on the forest floor. He was shocked as he looked closer at a heap of wood that was quickly forming back into a timberwolf.

“No way,” Vulcanaria looked at three wooden piles form into a larger timberwolf.

She back away from the approaching giant timberwolf. Astrim charged his horn and fired away into the eyes of the giant wolf. Two timberwolves bit into Astrim’s hind legs, but Vulganaris came on one side and tackled one into a nearby tree, while Seasoris came down from the other side and hindkicked it into the sky, exploding into small wood fragments.

All of them glared up at the large timberwolf which howled away at the moonlight. It then raised a giant paw at them. Astrim and Lucena charged their horns, Vulganaris was prepared to charge right into its legs, Seasonaria and Seasoris were also prepared to do damage to the creature.

But in that same moment, a giant black figure ran from out of the dark of the forest and into the moonlight. He then slammed the large timberwolf in its side. It exploded on impact into tiny tiny wood fragments.

The six ponies covered their faces from the wooden debris. Three cloaked ponies rushed out from behind.

Astrim opened his eyes wide and looked at the beast turn its head towards them. It was a very large black bear. It roared at the six before it transformed back into a pony stallion.

“Who are you pony folk?” the beast that was now a pony said.

“We are,” Astrim responded scratching his head.

“We are... a group,” Vulganaris trotted forward. “Who are you?” he leaned his face forward to the morphing stallion. “What, are you stranger?”

“A shifter…” the stallion responded in a low and dull voice.

“And what is a shifter?”

One of the cloaked ponies walked forward from behind the shifter. Lifting the hood revealed a brown mare. The mare’s long dark mane flowed down from her neck.

“Why are you all out here in the middle of the night?” the mare said looking up at the night sky then back at them.

“We were on our way to hopefully a nearby city, but we couldn’t make it before night fall, so we decided to sleep here for the night,” Astrim replied.

“In the middle of a forest?” the mare retorted. “You six must be ruthless barbarians then. This forest is dangerous for even a momentary rest, let alone a full night’s sleep..”

The six ponies frowned at the mare’s remark. Lucena trotted up besides Astrim and put out her hoof.

“We don’t want any trouble. My name is Lucena.”

The mare placed her hoof in Lucena’s hoof with a smile, “My name is Silver Paw. We are of the Abbey Tribe, peace unto you and your friends. Come with us to our tribe to ensure your safety through the rest of this night.”

Lucena and Astrim gave each other worried looks. The others wore concerned expressions.

“Hmm…” Astrim looked down at the ground.

“Worry not, we are a kind folk. We surely don’t want you putting yourselves into more danger. Besides, the dawn will be coming soon,” Silver turned from them and galloped off into the bushes.

“Come my friends.”

The six ponies looked at each other, then turned and followed them into the forest.

After traveling through the forest for some time, the group came upon a tribe. There were huts with smokes coming up through the peaks.

Silver Paw lifted her hoof and took slow steps into the tribe, hoof by hoof. She turned back to the group and said “You six, come with me, and I will show you all your place of rest for the night,” she said trotting off to a near by hut. “The rest of you may return to your huts.”

The rest of the group quietly went their separate ways.

The six ponies followed Silver Paw to an empty hut. She trotted over to the side of the hut entrance and signaled them to enter inside. She then looked over at Vulganaris’s right fore hoof but noticed no bruises.

I was almost certain I saw their wounds, what happened to them?

She quickly smiled when she noticed that the six ponies were staring at her.

“Umm, sorry for having you all waiting, please make yourselves comfortable. You all should rest well, and we shall talk in the morning.”

The morning had come to the six ponies sleeping away in the hut when a light was revealed upon them.

“Is it really this far in the daybreak already?” Seasoris placed a wing over his eyes. Astrim, Lucena and Seasonaria began stretching and Vulganaris shot up and began making his way to the light.

“You have not much time, the elder awaits us,” Silver Paw said trotting off to the highest hut in the small village.

“I still feel a little weak,” Astrim said slowly trotting out of the hut.

The six ponies followed Silver Paw up to the chief’s hut. She rushed ahead and opened the hut pusher head inside for a moment and when she pulled her head back out she turned back to the six ponies, winked, and disappeared from their sight.

Vulganaris went forward, but then stopped as he was unsure of his decision to enter into the chief’s hut. He looked back at Astrim and the rest all with perplexed expressions on what they were suppose to do.

A few moments passed when an old voice called from within the hut.

“Hello?”

“Come in, come in my young warriors, come,” an old pony in a dark cloak spoke.

The six ponies looked at each other and entered inside the chief’s hut.

“Come and relax my warriors. We have much to discuss," the elder stretched his hands out at the spacious hut.

"Hello chief," Vulganaris sat down not to far off from the chief. The others sat down as well creating a circle round about the village chief.

"Hello, young warrior," he replied with a smile. "Yes, yes, much pleasure in seeing you all. My name is Elder Night Paw, but I wouldn’t mind if you called me Night Paw or Night. No need in being formal all the time, eh?”

"It has been many years since we had anypony much less any other equine willing to rebel against the draconequi. Many have bravely tried and have met horrible fates.”

“I’m indeed curious as to how the draconequi took over the world?” Vulganaris said.

"Well, let me tell you. Over two millennium ago, the draconequi came as large swarms among the lands of the entire world.

They killed off many of the inhabitants with their great, great strength.

There were six equines that rebelled against the mighty six, but sadly met their fates by the draconequi and thus the world was put under the iron claws of the great Azathoth.

Ever since that time, the world has torment under the reign from skies above down to the soil of our hooves."

"But why didn't they succeed. What difference would we be against them?" Lucena asked.

"The six leaders of the time had the courage, but they didn't have the strength to match it. As for you six, I see great courage and strength in you all, and we shall see now if you are all able to stop the reign of the draconequi," the elder druid rose up and walked out of the tent. "Come with me my young warriors."

They followed the elder druid from out of the tent and trotted with him away from the small village.

Listening to the great tale made them all curious of many things, but Astrim was curious enough to come out with the question.

“Where did the draconequi’s come from?”

“Hmm… good question,” the Night Paw said trotting on the trail to their destination. “I’m afraid I have not an answer for it that’s true. However, there are many tales revolving around how they may have came to be, but the creature for answering such a great question would be the draconequi themselves.”

Tales? Why are there many tales? And no one has come to a solid truth of where these evil monsters come from? Something just doesn’t sound right… Astrim thought on while trotting behind the group when the image flashed through his mind. It was the blue eyes of the elder dragon. He stopped trotting as he thought deeper on that image.

Could it all be his doing? Astrim looked on at the group and started trotting off. Hmm...

They traveled with the elder druid down a lone trail through the forest and unto a shrine which was surrounded by eight tall cedar pillars and were decorated with thick vines. The elder druid stopped.

"Here we are," Night Paw stretched out his hoof to the lake.

"What is this place?" Seasonaria trotted up to a pillar and passed her hoof down some vines.

"This is the zodiac shrine. It was used by ponies of long ago to connect with the twelve realms of the universe.

With this shrine, we were able to keep away evil from the world."

"Was this somehow halted by the draconequi?" Lucena asked as she walked up besides Night Paw.

"Yes. After the battle between them and all the equine races, they made sure to seal all the twelve shrines so that no pony or any other race would be able to use the power of the zodiacs against them."

"Damn those creatures of evil," Seasoris said as he stomped his hoof firmly on the ground. "I swear to Mother Faust when I see them, not one will be spared for this."

"All the seals must be opened for us to even stand a chance against the draconequi," the elder druid said.

"Then we must start with this one if we are to stand against them," Astrim said as he trotted up to the lake. He turned back to the rest. "Let us begin."

Vulganaris came on Astrim's left side and Lucena on his right, and the rest followed and also stopped at the lake.

As the six ponies entered in and stopped at the middle of small lake, a breeze rushed passed them. Three trees began swaying response to the sudden change in wind patterns.

The six ponies looked up to the skies when they heard thunder roar across the skies.

The clouds started to spiral above the shrine.

"What is going on?" Seasonaria yelled looking back at Night Paw.

The elder druid kept his stare up at the spiraling clouds.

"This is it! The seal is breaking!"

"Which zodiac does this shrine belong to, chief?" Vulganaris yelled.

"Taurus."

The spiraling clouds began to spread outwards opening up a great eye revealing the stars above.

A large sum of rocks suddenly rose from the earth and formed a circular seal which was broken apart by the crushing force of the giant dual horned pony galloping downwards from the hole in the sky.

The great force had sent Night Paw off his hooves.

When the pony landed before them, a great light came down from the heavens and the six ponies including the dual horned pony had disappeared from the shrine.

Night Paw trotted away from and continued in a brisk manner back to the village.

Now that the seal has been broken we may have another chance at winning against the draconequi. Finally, after so long.

Everything began twirling, colors began mixing in between themselves, and then only one color remained, black.

But then in a few moments all was white, and their were our six heroes floating about as they madly tried getting their own bearings.

“What’s going on?” Vulcanaria said.

“This doesn’t feel safe,” Vulganaris said. He was awkwardly floating along with the others.

The ponies were floating in a white space, but after a few moments gravity became normal for them and they landed on an invisible platform in the open space of white when a giant pony figure had appeared in front of them.

A large brown pony was before them. His size was of on a colossal level and they were as grasshoppers compared in size. He was very muscular, but his most noticeable feature, the black red tipped horns, were very large. Their length represented the mighty strength of Taurus.

He exhaled sharply from his nostrils, clear smoke, on the six ponies.

“Sorry about that. Didn’t notice you all were so close,” the brown pony looked down at them.

“Hmm, Azar of the second realm. Pleasure it is to see you,” Astrim said looking up into his giant yellow eyes.

“Ah yes, it’s you Astrim. Same for you. We don’t have much time here, but I would like to thank you all for being here and finally breaking the seal around these lands of the world. So long has it been since I had full grip with my role on protecting this planet, and I’m sure the others are longing for their grip as well as I.”

“How did you lose your grip?” Lucena said.

“Yes, that would be interesting to know indeed,” Seasoris said afterwards.

“I can’t tell you everything, but over two thousand years ago in the raid of the draconequi, the king of the draconequi named Azathoth came and sealed us away and silenced our protection over your planet.

“The black flute he carried on his side when he plays it the listeners become insane and disrupts all levels of harmony, so closing of the shrines wasn’t a difficult task for him at all.”

“Where did they come from?” Astrim quickly spoke up.

“Teza says that she saw them appear through a portal-”

“A portal? What did it look like?”

“It was a portal in which we have no knowledge of where it connects to, but whatever is on the other side of it is certainly not a friendly creature. Oddly, Teza didn’t say that Azathoth came from the same portal as the other ruling draconequi which makes me wonder where exactly did he come from?”

Astrim ears flopped down and his calm expression turned into one of frustration.

This is nonsense. It sounds as though he was in this world long before most things…

But just how could that be… if what he’s saying is right then… something doesn’t sound right.

His ears lifted up, and they all watched Azar step back. His muscles became tighter, and the veins in his neck became thicker. His eye had turned white, and he finally let out a loud wail that went on for a great distance.

“MOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Great rendering sounds were heard periodically throughout his roar. After a few moments of powerful winds and great trembles that came from his burst yelling, his eyes had turned normal, and he looked down onto the six ponies who were on their faces, one on top another, from such a powerful noise he had created.

“You must now go save the village for they are in grave danger.”

The surroundings got brighter, and Azar began to fade away in the bright light all around them.

They need your help...

Night Paw reached his village to his kind frozen and shivering with fear.

Night Paw dashed through the frozen crowd.

"What's going on?" the elder druids eyes widened when he met the void gaze of a lich upon the back of its skeletal dragon.

Its skull was crowned with several necklaces and two more around its neck, and a rusty red covering adorned its mouth. It wore an old dark grey cape with a few holes and tears at its edges.

It hopped off the its dragon and onto to ground creating little clouds of dust by its hooves.

The lich took a few steps away from the dragon and then it spoke with a mare's voice to all the druid ponies.

"Who here has opened the seal?"

The lich turned her head all around, her void gaze meeting the eyes of the frightened crowd.

"You all know the price for such crime," she summoned a dark scythe. “If none will speak, I will be forced to take all of your worthless lives. I could care less, either way somepony will pay with their lives today.”

No pony answered the lich mare. She used her magic and grabbed up a colt from the group and brought him near the scythe.

“Wait!” Night Paw held out a hoof to the colt. All eyes of the shivering ponies around were on the elder. He continued to glare on into the void eyes of the skeletal lich mare. “If you are to take anyone’s life, then take mine. I’m the one that opened it.”

The lich dropped the colt on the ground and he dashed back right in through the crowd.

“Gladly,” the lich said as she reeled back the scythe with her magic. “Any last words before your judgement? We are careful to write down the last word of every foolish hero who dare tries to oppose the great leaders of the world.”

Night Paw stood up and kept his focus on the lich. “None.” The scythe went spinning forward straight at him. Night closed his eyes ready to meet his fate, but he opened them again and looked at the scythe just inches before his very face held by the magic of another pony.

Night Paw then looked over at Astrim who held a vicious glare at the lich mare and held the scythe from ending his life.

“If you wanted to test your strength, why don’t you use it against some pony who has the power to send it back,” Astrim sent the scythe spiraling back at the mare, but she quickly stopped its motion and moved it behind her back.

“Hmph, you don’t look like the rest. Maybe you have not met me.”

“I don’t care who you are,” Astrim trotted over to the skeletal mare. “Tell your leaders that we will break every last seal and then it will be them.”

“You listen here and you listen well, child. You will try and then you will fall like all the others,” She pulled up five crowned skeletal heads of different equine races from the dragon’s loin. “These were five foolish kings who you equines deemed great. They went up against the draconequi and now they are dead. Would you like to be added to the collection?” She magically placed the heads in front of Astrim.

“You know, in fact, there was a foolish one, like you.” She raised up the skeletal head of a minotaur. “I forgot his name… oh well, he was, according his people, the strongest of equines. They say none could compare with his strength, and he took down any small and great beast that opposed him.

“Sadly, that wasn’t the case with Cthulu. He was just another sad statistic that foolishly tried challenging the mighty draconequus and it didn’t really end well. Hence the reason he’s in my hoof facing you.”

The skull started moving while the lich made the puppet sounds, “Please don’t challenge the draconequi. It’s foolish and you’ll just end like me, please reconsider your ways, ple-” the skull was smacked from out of the lich mare’s hoof.

“I don’t count your words of fools. We will silence them all and save the world from it being ruled by your filthy hooves. Now leave the ponies alone and go back from whence you came.”

The lich stood and said nothing. She shrugged and moved the scythe to her side.

“Hurrr, I guess your fate couldn’t be helped then.”

She swung the scythe as fast as she could in the effort to take off the dark unicorn’s head, but Astrim backed away as quickly as it came. Vulganaris quickly rushed out from the crowd and tackled the lich mare and caused her to skid along the ground. The lich used her magic and teleported back near her pet dragon who laid and waited patiently.

Her jaw was on the ground next to Vulganaris. He breathed out sharply through his nostrils and kept his glare. Astrim however held a glaring expression but with some mixture of fear from nearly losing his own his head to the lich.

Vulcanaria and Lucena trotted from out of the group of scared ponies, Lucena having her horn charged with magic and ready to release at any moment the lich tried to attack. Seasoris also came from out of the crowd, his cloudy beard and mane extended down to his hooves and out past the hooves of Astrim and Vulganaris. They all stood before the lich who was using her magic to twirl the black scythe above her head.

The lich summoned two spears and sent them spiraling at the Vulganaris and Arstrim. Vulganris rose on his hind hooves and used the power from his fore hooves and crushed the incoming scythe and afterwards it had turned into a cloud of dust. The second scythe was stopped by Astrim’s magic which was then moved underhoof that came down and crushed the scythe into cloud of dark smoke that quickly vanished into thin air. The follow up spear was noticed by Lucena who quickly fired at the beam at the scythe, the tip just seconds away from Vulganaris’s eye melting it all to dust that vanished away.

Vulganaris slowly trotted towards the lich mare, Astrim followed. Both stallions wanted to finish the enemy by breaking all the bones of the lich and bury them in the ground.

The lich mare eyed each one of them and started backing up to her dragon as they came closer to her.

I’ve never seen any equine with that sort of strength. Could they be the protectors back from the dead?

No but that would be impossible… That’s too long ago for them to be standing before me now, unless… No, be even still… But what if they are? Hurrrr….

The lich quickly got up on her pet dragon’s loin and took flight. The bony dragon’s wings began to flap, the dusty winds began enshrouding the ponies and within moments the lich and her dragon was gone.

“She better clasp her hooves together and pray to her leaders we don’t meet her again,” Vulganaris glared up at the spiraling clouds that became calm as the lich fled away from the island.

“Our meeting will be inevitable, but I doubt she will do it anytime soon,” Lucena said. Vulganaris looked over at Astrim who was still shivering. He placed a hoof on his shoulder and Astrim quickly turned his attention to him.

“No need to fear, she’s gone for now.”

Astrim let out a small sigh. He then turned away and trotted off to face the crowd, “I know.”

The whole tribe rejoiced in the lich’s defeat. The six ponies were called “saviours” by the tribe.

Layers below the world, down at the last level of a desert wasteland where the creatures who commited the most heinous crimes known to all equine kind rotted.

Tartarus.

The Leaders who sat on the might seats of such a dreadful place are seven of the most powerful draconequi the equine world has ever witnessed since the beginning of time.

The centre in which they resided was called the Parliament of Chaos. However, each have their own dwellings. The lich flew off into the dwelling of the Great King of Chaos.

The lich who has fled from our six heroes has come into the presence of the mighty king. The lowest level of all of Tartarus, Dies Solis.

The lich and her pet dragon landed and bowed in the circle of the great king of chaos who was playing an ritual tune of insanity with his black pipe in which the chaotic dancers of the zodiac danced.

She looked around the mighty circular room. The ceiling designed in ancient symbols of the sun. The patterns run down from the ceiling and onto the golden floors of the room. At the center of the room, the sun pattern around the black throne glowed yellow. None of the other patterns were glowing because it was not his sacred day.

The lich shook her head and focus on up at the great king of kings.

“My great king, Lord Azathoth, the saviors have finally come. They are able to control celestial bodies and are fierce in their strength against us, my lord.”

Azathoth kept on playing his insane tune, and the dancers kept on moving maniacally around his throne. The lich is confused by the non-response.

Azathoth aimed the direction of his insane playing towards the lich and began playing forceful tunes. Instead of the dancers moving around the black throne in their usual ways, their eyes glowed a dark red and there dance patterns changed, twisting their bodies in ways not seen.

The lich was able to hear the great king speak his words of chaos.

SSSO THEY COULD CONTROL THE CELESTIAL BODIESSS…

Yes, my L-Lord, the lich said answering the king within her mind.

HMM… WARRN THE OTHERS AND HAVE THEM DISPOSED OF THEN AS SOON AS POSSIBLEE…

Yes, my great king, the lich responded riding away with her dragon in silence.

The eyes of the dances became normal once more and the insane symphony of the great king continued.

Her travel from one circle to another within the mighty caverns of the underworld to three days. Upon that the lich and her pet dragon had entered into the layer of Nyarlathotep.

She quick landed in his presence and bowed.

“My king, lord of chaos. The saviors of the equine has come to this world from nowhere and seek to end our mighty reign over the lands of this world,” the lich said as she looked up into the eyes of the great Nyarlathotep.

“Hmm… that doesn’t sound good. Even though I’ve only been sitting bored in this uncomfortable throne for over two thousand years already, I still enjoy bringing chaos over my terrified equine slaves,” Nyarlathotep with the snap of his fingers caused his throne to levitate. He moved above the lich and down behind her.

“Where did you meet them?”

“They were near the edge of “Hoof Island” when I saw a light protrude upwards from the center.”

“And why couldn’t you handle them yourself?”

The lich turned and looked up to the mighty lord of chaos holding her hooves together.

“I’m deeply sorry my king, but these rebels are one of a kind. Their strengths, magic, and the ability to control the heavens separate them from all the rebels we have put down over the many centuries. They are even called the ‘saviours’ by the inhabitants of the island.”

“Oh?”

“They also unlocked Taurus’s shrine.”

“Hm?” Nyarlathotep had his eyes fixed on the lich mare. “Hmm… the ability to control the heavens? And they somehow managed to break a zodiac seal? That’s new. Seems like I need to really, pay them a visit. Never heard of my little equine friends able to do such things… Maybe they must be part draconequus!” Nyarlathotep slid down from his floating throne onto the dusty grounds of his layer and caused his place to shake greatly.

“I just love making whole place shake like it wasn’t attached to anything, so fun that is. I mean, after sitting in this chair for so long you… nevermind,” Nyarlathotep stretched his limbs. “I guess I could use the exercise of finding them myself.”

“Hmhmhmhmhm, may I come along Nyarle? I want to see them too,” a purple draconequus floated up behind Nyarlathotep, massaging his shoulders and pressing her face against his.

He slapped her claws away and shot her a glare.

“I thought I told you not to call me that. I like to be called-”

“Discord, I know, but I wanna call you Nyarle! There could only be one Nyarle after all, and that’s you dear,” the purple draconequus said rubbing his chin.

“Would you stop doing like that,” Discord grunted.

“Why, is it the part where you don’t like being called my dear or the part when I’m rubbing below your chin? Stop complaining and just be happy,” Shubbs pulled on his cheeks and made as many funny faces as she could before Discord slapped her claws away and quickly summoned a sword in which he stabbed her with.

“If I ever wanted to be happy or corrected, I most certainly wouldn’t need you to do such.”

Shubbs quickly popped and reappeared giggling behind him.

“Oooh Nyarle, you’re always gonna make me laugh with that old trick of yours.”

Discord grunted again before calming himself. He glared down at the lich mare and then walked off leaving them behind as he began smiling, “I’m going to search for these so called “saviours” and shall cast great despair upon them.”

“Why not just kill them?” the purple draconequus flew away with perplexed expression.

“Well, where’s the fun in that, Shubbs. Plus, I want to make it well worth it having been down here for so long and for sooo many years. I would like to entertain myself and could definitely a bit a moving. I haven’t tried out my powers in years,” The throne started to dance around Discord. Annoyed as he already was, he snapped his fingers and the throne reappeared back in its original place.

Discord twirls around himself and disappears. Shubbs looks around and only finds the lich messenger looking up at her.

“Don’t tell any other draconequi, especially not Cthulu. Or my little cutie pies will have you for lunch! You hear me?!” Shubbs looked down at the lich rubbing her belly.

“Y-Yes, my Queen!” the lich bowed and dashed back onto her pet dragon.

And with that, Shubbs had disappeared from the area. The lich flew away from Discord’s layer into another part of the great caverns of Tartarus...

Chapter 4: The Chaos Play Of A Mischievous Draconequus

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Chapter 5: Into The Hole

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Chapter 6: Underground Prison

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