Sealed Empire

1 March 2018

ZERO CHAOS FORCE -“Through Friendship Comes Victory”

Document Code – ZCFNA1212001

Subject: Twilight Sparkle recounting her experiences concerning the ongoing actions of the Zero Chaos Force.

Information: The events recounted dated 21 April 2017. Memo dated 25 February 2018.

[The following reports have been approved for general viewing by all staff with a Level 3 or higher clearance.]

[Twilight’s Note: Okay, so as I write this journal, I want you to keep me accountable and make sure I don’t insert any sort of bias in here. I want them to be as fair as possible.]

[Editor’s Note: Sounds simple enough. Fire away.]

This journal documents the events preceding, during, and after “The Bubble” incident and the formation of the ZCF, an event that irrevocably changed the course of human and equestrian history. This is not a formal report or anything of the sort. I write this so that perhaps one day I can show these documents to the public and give a full retelling of what happened in those days.

I realize that I probably should have started writing about these events earlier. There have just been so many different thoughts on my mind that documenting these events took a back seat to what was transpiring before me. Fortunately, I now have the chance to make up for lost time.

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if events had gone as originally planned. I wonder where I would have gone. Maybe I’d be exactly where I was before. Maybe I’d have a completely different life. That’s not what happened though. I ended up taking the mantle as a leader. I’m no princess, but I can still lead. Anyway, I should back up to when this entire page of history began; the first contact event.

I had lived in Ponyville for almost 30 months. My teacher, Princess Celestia, had sent me there to learn more about Friendship. Yes, when your own mentor and the leader of your nation tells you to make friends, it speaks volumes about your social life. I’m glad she did though, because I met several ponies there that would become my closest friends. I learned a lot about myself and others while I was there, things that a book couldn’t teach. As much as I value reading, there’s something about experiencing events firsthoof.

[Editor’s Note: Hey, this is a summary of events. Not the personal memoirs of Twilight Sparkle. Get to the point.]

[Twilight’s Note: Hey, it’s an establishing paragraph! I don’t want to just jump ahead of myself.]

Normally, I would go about my day managing the Golden Oaks library in Ponyville and meeting with various friends. One day however, was a departure from the norm. I received a letter that day from the princess herself, asking me to gather the Elements of Harmony and meet her in the park fields near Ponyville. She was apparently going to bring someone with her- someone that necessitated the use of the elements.

I became nervous as my eyes went across “Elements of Harmony,” and for good reason. Princess Celestia only used that phrase when referring to my five pony friends, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.  The elements were almost always used in defeating powerful threats. Worse yet, the princess was being purposefully vague in her letter, so I wasn’t aware of what she wanted the elements for. Despite my concerns, I did what she asked and got my friends together.

Unfortunately, only three of my five friends were immediately ready; Applejack and Fluttershy were consciously absent. Part of me wanted to go and find them, but they were made aware of the situation. They would be there, eventually. The rest of us had gathered at the park area, where we waited.  And waited…  and waited.

My friends, growing impatient, started to kill time. Rarity was doing her best to look her finest for when Celestia arrived, spritzing herself with perfume. Rainbow Dash was simply trying her best to relax, avoiding Rarity sprays. Then there was Pinkie Pie, bouncing up and down, announcing her excitement over the solar princess’ unexpected visit.

“I LOVE it when Princess Celestia comes to Ponyville!” Pinkie exclaimed in one breath. “I got my hoof shined like Rarity for the occasion!”

She gleefully showed off her hoof to Rarity and asked, “You like?”

Rarity examined the hoof in question and was clearly impressed by the party pony’s show of grooming.

“I certainly do!” she smiled, admiring her reflection in the pink hoof.

Meanwhile, I was still a little nervous. I had been pacing around earlier and the small talk from the girls wasn’t calming me down one bit. “I’m surprised she’s not here yet,” I mumbled.

“I wonder what’s taking so long,” Spike asked, doing nothing to alleviate my concerns.

“And where are Applejack and Fluttershy?”

“Fluttershy is detained helping Applejack with a mishap at Sweet Apple Acres,” Rarity stated while still admiring Pinkie’s hooficure and her own reflection. “They’ll be along!”

“But I still don’t get why the princess would be so late!” Spike quickly replied.

I got a reprieve for about six whole seconds. Thanks for that, Spike.

“She’s bringing an important visitor,” I stated. “That could be part of it.”

Rainbow Dash, who had been silent up until now, zoomed in front of me.  “A visitor who’s important and slow!” She said as she rolled her eyes.

“Maybe it’s somepony who’s so terribly important, she still had plenty more terribly important things to do before she got here!” Rarity quickly theorized.

“Maybe the visitor…” Spike trailed off. He appeared to be lost in thought, as if trying to hatch his own explanation for the long delay.

Eventually, he just shook his head and sighed. “I got nuthin’.”

I shrugged. “Well, we’ve got no choice but to wait for her arrival.”

So we continued to wait.  And wait… and wait some more.

Applejack and Fluttershy finally arrived, having dealt with a dispute with beavers building a dam near Sweet Apple Acres.

[Editor’s Note: Not even gonna ask.]

Then, we continued to wait. Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into an hour. Nothing.

I feared that something might have happened, that whatever my mentor was afraid of had suddenly became a much more formidable threat. Anxiety built in my chest as I tossed that terrible possibility around in my head, the idea seemed more and more plausible as the sun inched its way across the sky. My friends tried their best to cheer me up, but they were just as clueless as I was. I gave them an uneasy smile, trying my best not to assume the worst.

After what seemed like an eternity, we were greeted by a squad of guards ponies. From their wear, a regal and ornate golden armor with red accents complimenting the design, I could tell that they were not just average guards ponies, but from Celestia’s personal guard.

However, there was no sign of the princess herself. My fears started to feel more real by the second. The captain of the detachment trotted up to me.

“Miss Twilight Sparkle?”

I gulped.

“Uhm, yes. I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

My mind was racing now. What could have happened to her? What changed? My mind jumped to the possibility of a great pony war, but I pulled myself back down to reality.  Even then, this could not be good. I braced myself as I awaited his response.

“I have orders from Princess Celestia herself. There has been a change of plans. The Elements of Harmony are to be taken to Canterlot immediately.”

“What?” I exclaimed.  “But wasn’t Celestia supposed to meet us here?”

I was incredibly worried at this point. I might have been a little premature in writing off that destructive pony war.

“Again, there has been a change in plans. We have several royal chariots waiting for you.”

I shot a nervous look back to my friends.  I didn’t like this one bit. I looked down toward my number one assistant and whispered to him, “Spike, I need you to go back to the library. It looks like things could get dangerous.”

Spike looked back at me, dejected. “What? But I wanna go with you!”

“Please Spike, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”

Spike stared at me in silence before hanging his head. “Okay, but come back soon okay?”

“Of course we will.”

I watched my young dragon run off back toward Ponyville. I turned back to the guardpony and said, “Okay, we’re ready to go.”

The six of us got situated on the two large chariots the guards had brought along. Soon we were being taken to Canterlot.

Conflicting thoughts surfaced in my head. On one hoof, Princess Celestia seemed fine from the way the guard was talking about her. But on the other, she had a huge change in plans… and there was clearly something wrong if the ruler of Equestria needed the Elements of Harmony.

My pondering was cut short as the chariots landed beside the Royal Gardens. As we got off, the guards told us that Princess Celestia was waiting for us in the center of the gardens by the fountains. I immediately thanked the guards and darted off, barely hearing the calls of my friends as I weaved through the labyrinth of crafted shrubbery.

I soon found my mentor just where the guards said she would be. However, her regal presence was overshadowed by what stood behind her. It could only be described as a rip in the very fabric of reality, a myriad of colors emanating from it as it towered over Celestia.

I slowed down to a crawl as I took in the bizarre sight. There were many magical and unusual phenomena in Equestria. I’ve seen several of them and read about so many more, but I had never learned anything like this before! No, this was something new. It was mesmerizing.

It took me a moment to realize that at least one of my friends had finally caught up with me. Rainbow Dash dived down from the sky in front of me, blocking my view.

“Whoa, Twilight!” she said, somewhat annoyed. “Since when did you become such a quick runner? You just left us high and dry there! It’s like you’re the one with wings.  What’s so important that y-”

Her statement was cut short as she turned around to see what had me so captivated. Needless to say, it had a similar effect on my bold friend.

“Whoa!” She managed to blurt out, her jaw dropping like a stone. “What in Equestria is THAT thing?!”

As if to try and answer Dash’s question, Pinkie bounced ahead of her to examine the distortion.

“Whoa! It’s like totally flat somehow!” Pinkie Pie walked behind the portal and wrapped around it, giving credence to her observation.

“Wheeee!”

My other friends quickly gathered around, having the same sense of awe that I just had.

“What in the blazes is that hole doin’ there?” Applejack asked, tilting her head in an attempt to maybe better understand what she was looking at.

“Well,” Rarity said, “at the very least, it’s certainly very appealing to gaze upon.”

“Yes,” Celestia’s regal voice answered. “It certainly is. However, this distortion is the source of our current troubles.”

It’s a bit embarrassing to say this but until Celestia spoke, every single one of us managed to ignore her. Naturally, I calmly worked to correct this error.

“Gyah! I’m so so sorry, Princess Celestia! I was just so… so fascinated by that anomaly that I… s-sorry!”

[Editor’s Note: Wow, so that’s “calm” for you? I’d hate to see panicked…scratch that, I’ve seen you panicked before. Not. Fun.]

[Twilight’s Note: Sorry…]

[Editor’s Note: Gah…shit; look I didn’t mean it like that okay? I’m just trying to do my job here. “Diminishing the bias” as you put it.]

[Twilight’s Note: Right, I’ll be more careful about that.]

“It’s alright, Twilight,” she answered kindly. “This is a rift, a tear in the fabric of space and time. This tear was not initially the reason why I brought you here. You see, I originally needed the Elements of Harmony to release Discord.”

Everypony including myself went bug eyed at the prospect.

“Ah… princess with all due respect,” I said, in the calmest tone I could muster. “WHY, IN THE WIDE WORLD OF EQUESTRIA, WOULD YOU WANT TO DO THAT?!”

All of my friends chimed in agreement.  They were right to feel uneasy. Discord was a self-proclaimed god of chaos.  His magic was powerful and unpredictable.  Simply being around his spells for too long would have an adverse effect on a pony’s mind, turning them into a terrible reflection of themselves. What is worse is what those afflicted ponies did to others, affected those ponies as well; a never ending spread of chaos.

“Yes, I am fully aware of what Discord did. I also know that a group of six ponies joined together and managed to seal him away.”

She said the last part with a small hint of pride.

“But,” she continued, “I had hoped that you all would be able to persuade him to use his powers for good instead of evil. However, as it stands now, we will not be able to even try that. You see… Discord has disappeared, and since this spot is where his statue stood, I believe that he created this tear in reality.”

“But wasn’t he sealed in stone by the Elements of Harmony?” I asked.

“Yes. Only the Elements of Harmony could possibly unleash him.” She paused. “Or an evil force just as powerful.”

I gulped, chills quickly rushing through my body. “There’s an evil as powerful as the elements?”

“It is entirely possible,” she pondered. “However, I am unable to determine what it could be.”

She took out a list of reports and sifted through them with a furrowed brow. I wasn’t able to see all of them, but a few caught my eye, including “Possible use of the Gateway mirror in the Crystal Empire” and “Black Roots found shriveled in the Everfree Forest”.

She sighed and put the reports down. “I suppose the ‘why’ can wait,” she said sternly. “We have a crisis that needs solving now.”

I came to attention, ready to help my teacher in any way that I could. “What do you want us to do, Princess?”

Celestia gave us a brief warm smile before returning to stoic demeanor. “Discord’s magic was definitely behind the portal’s formation. It might not look like it now, but before you arrived here, the portal was much different.”

She pulled out a photograph from the file folder she was sifting through earlier.

My friends and I gasped at what we saw.

What was shown on the photo barely resembled the portal we were currently looking at. The rip seemed to be twisted and warped in all directions imaginable and the shape seemed to defy classification, its very existence defying every convention of Euclidean geometry. In short, it had Discord’s marks all over it.

“Oooh oooh! It’s a…it’s…uhm…” Pinkie began before trailing off. She leaned into the photo, tapping her hoof to her chin, studying the picture with intense concentration. “I’ve got it!” she blurted out. “It’s not shaped like anything!”

I slapped my forehoof over eyes.

“Pinkie,” Applejack said. “Ahm pretty sure we already figured that out.”

“Juuuuuuuuust making sure!” Pinkie replied.

Celestia gave a slight nod. “When I first discovered the portal, it was unstable. It’s hard to imagine anypony besides Discord being able to use it effectively.”

“How did you change the portal into something more stable?” I inquired.

Celestia turned back toward the rift. “Reversing Discord’s chaotic magic is entirely possible with conventional magic. However, Discord can just as easily change it back with even less effort. But since Discord isn’t here to get in the way, the portal now remains stable.”

“Hmm… so do we know where this portal le-“, I began, but my thought was interrupted by a terrible sound of an explosion. As the sound faded, a small object flew out of the portal and rolled onto the ground. Everypony’s head whirled around to look at what fallen through the tear. Lying on the ground was a bright red apple.  However, a strange metallic object jutted out its top.

I went in closer, approaching the apple slowly and cautiously. The apple looked unassuming enough, but I didn’t want to take any chances with something that fell out of a portal that had been formed by a self-proclaimed “Lord of Chaos.”

I levitated the apple in front of my face, turning it over so I could look at the foreign object jutting out of it. Judging from the cylindrical shape and the presence of a lens, I deduced that it must be a camera of some sort. But it was so small, nothing like I’d ever seen before. Whoever designed it must have been a technologically savvy pony.

As I would soon learn, I was at least half right about that.

“Do you know what it is, Twilight?” Celestia asked.

“It looks like a camera…but it seems way too small to be hoofmade.”

Celestia fell silent, her eyes closed. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t find the words. Right as I was about to speak, she opened her eyes and called a guard over to her.

“I want you to bring me a green apple.”

“Of course!” He replied, darting off into the castle.

“What do you have in mind, Princess?” I asked, even though in the back of my mind, I felt I knew the answer.

“The camera you found in there was put in that apple by somepony, so I intend on sending a message to them. Though, it’s as you said the camera doesn’t seem hoofmade. We don’t know who is over there, what language they speak, or even if they’re actually ponies. So I intend to send a message that should be easily understood.”

I smiled and nodded. It seemed to make sense to me at the time. I was actually excited at this point. We might be meeting an entirely new world of beings not too different from us. Though if I knew what would happen later, I might have shown a bit more restraint.

[Editor’s Note: You make it sound like you hated your time over here.]

[Twilight’s Note: No, there’s nothing wrong with you all! I was more referring to the events rather than those involved.]

[Editor’s Note: Just making sure.]

Celestia must have seen how excited I was and said, “I know the prospect of a new civilization is exciting. However, don’t forget why

we stabilized the portal in the first place. We must track down Discord. Who knows what sort of antics he’s been up to over there.”

My smile faded and I felt myself surge with focus and confidence. “Uh, right! Don’t worry! Princess, we’ll take down Discord!”

Soon after I uttered my confident boast, the guard returned, green apple in hoof. The princess thanked him and took the apple as she made her way toward the portal. She took a brief glance at the fruit and took in a deep breath. She seemed to mouth something to herself. I wasn’t completely sure what she said, but I believe it was something along the lines of, “I hope this isn’t a huge mistake.”

[Editor’s Note: Wait, you’re telling me that Celestia had a thought in the back of her mind that she might be putting Equestria in danger? You’d think she’d care more about the well-being of her subjects.]

[Twilight’s Note: She also didn’t want some other planet to fall prey to his antics. Are you saying that it’s bad for a ruler to try and fix their mistakes instead of just covering them up?]

[Editor’s Note: No, but I also think that when given a choice between saving another species and your own, you’d probably pick your own, yes? I’m just saying that if I were in her position, I’d have closed that portal and be done with it.]

[Twilight’s Note: …I bet you’re glad she did though.]

[Editor’s Note: That’s debatable.]

With one swift motion, Celestia tossed the apple into the portal. It vanished, disappearing to parts unknown. Everypony had their eyes affixed to the glowing rift, awaiting a response. The sounds of the world seemed to disappear as we watched the gateway. This was the defining moment; either we would be greeted with a reply, or the apple would be lost in the ether forever. From what I could see out of the corners of my eye, my friends had the same idea. Even Pinkie Pie, the hyperactive party pony, showed immense restraint as she stood there, her forehooves and head to the ground, ready to pounce at any given moment.

The only thing moving was time Itself and even then it was moving along at a painfully slow rate. Just when I thought I was going to fall asleep standing up, the familiar booming sound rang out once more. Immediately, everypony tensed up, wondering what object the portal would produce.

That’s when a small folded piece of paper flew out of the portal and fluttered to the ground. With a bit of hesitation, I approached the otherworldly note. Holding it against the ground with my magic, I unfolded it cautiously.  Once it was opened on the floor, I was intrigued by what I saw. The note was comprised primarily of pictures with a set of characters next to them. Below all the pictures was a sizable chunk of alien symbols.

This must be the written language of whoever sent this note, I thought.

Right off the bat, my eyes were drawn to a picture of a bipedal creature, sharing similar traits to monkeys.

Could these be the aliens that sent the note? I wondered.

Going down the paper, I saw a series of shapes arranged inside an ellipse. There were seven large shapes in all with various smaller shapes sprinkled throughout it. I took an educated guess that it was a map of some kind.

“What the hay are all them different pictures about, Twah?” Applejack said a bit too close to my ear. It was only when I turned to answer her that I noticed that everypony was leaning over me, trying to see more of the paper. I was almost taken aback by how close they were.

“Ah! Well, I think whoever sent this must be trying to communicate who they are,” I tried explaining. I placed the paper down on the ground for everypony to see. As they formed a circle around the note, Applejack suddenly got excited.

“Ah, hey look, they’ve got an apple on that note there!”  She exclaimed.

I looked at the bottom and sure enough, Applejack’s observation was accurate. The apple looked to be like the apple that was sent through before, minus the weird camera. This picture also had the alien characters next to it as well. That’s when an idea sparked in my head.

“Wait a second! Since we know that this is an apple, maybe I can use the word they wrote here to help translate their language!” I smiled and chuckled a bit.

Using the word “apple” as a starting point, I examined all the characters that used the same letters and started to speculate the meanings and sentence structure. I took a look at the other pictures that were there, doing the same process that I did with the apple. There were clear rules to be sure and I was starting to get the hang of it.

This was so exciting; I was translating an alien language! I may have only had a few things to go on but I felt that if I translated the lines here and maybe heard the language spoken, I could devise a spell that could help me understand it fluently.

I paused at that last thought, my excited look shifting to a look of concern. The only way I would probably be able to hear the words spoken would be if I actually went through to the other side. As much as I wanted to know more, I knew for a fact that I wouldn’t be able to go into the portal without Celestia’s permission.

“Princess Celestia, wha-” I began but Celestia cut me off.

“Twilight, I know you’re probably very fascinated by this alien language. Have you figured out a way of understanding it?”

“Well, judging from the characters associated with the pictures here and studying the grammar and structure of the language, I think I might be able to cast a spell that would give me elementary knowledge and I could understand somepony that spoke it, at least partially.”

“Good work, my student. I will need you to cast it on the both of us. We’re going through.”

I did a massive double take on that one. I had been Celestia’s student for years and I had seldom seen her make an impulsive decision like that. I shook my head. No, she must have had a reason for it.

“Princess Celestia, are you serious about trotting through the portal like this?” I asked, trying to keep skepticism out of my voice.

“I know that this may seem like a rash decision.”

“That’s one heck of an understatement! You’re usually not one to throw caution to the wind and just wing it!”

“THAT’S MY JOB!” Pinkie Pie sang, as she seemed to suddenly materialize on top of my head without warning.

[Editor’s Note: Did that actually happen?]

[Twilight’s Note: Yes.]

“I normally take these situations carefully and make strides to make the most informed decision possible. However, when dealing with Discord, I do not wish to delay. Every second we spend standing here is another he’s allowed to spread his chaos unchecked. I do not want to have his presence in an alien world any longer than necessary.”

I thought it over in my mind. I had almost forgotten why this portal was here in the first place; somepony broke Discord out of his prison and he created a portal to another world to escape. Who knows what Discord and his “friend” were up to?

“I understand, Princess. We’ll get ready to go through the portal.”

Celestia shook her head. “No, Twilight. It will just be the two of us.”

“Huh? Why?” I asked, puzzled.

“I want to get Discord as soon as possible, but first we must learn about the nature of this world before we can even hope to capture him. I don’t want to risk all the lives of the elements at once. I will represent Equestria diplomatically should we encounter the ones who sent the note.”

I nodded. “Hmm…okay, princess. I trust you.”

Celestia smiled. “As I trust you, Twilight Sparkle. Let us go through. Are you ready?”

I turned to my friends. They were clearly concerned about me, yet at the same time, seemed to be rooting for me to succeed. It was hard to feel discouragement after looking at their warm faces. I turned back to my mentor and said “Yes, I’m ready!”

Celestia turned back to the portal and in stern voice proclaimed, “Then let’s go!”

She leapt into the portal and I quickly followed behind her. An explosion rang through my ears as we entered the portal. The sights as we fell through the portal were bizarre and unsettling. Intense, over-saturated colors swirled all around us, bleeding into each other. An almost indescribably cacophony of sounds rang through my ear as the two of us continued out descent. However, as soon as the unnerving experience started, I heard that familiar booming sound and landed snout first onto a stone like floor.

“Ow,” I whimpered, wincing in pain. “I think I bumped my horn.”

“You’re okay, Twilight. You appear no worse off than before.”

“Easy for you to say,” I retorted. “Anyway, where are we?”

I looked around the room we were dropped inside. This room seemed to be the antithesis of the portal’s environment; the walls were an off white with only a mirror to the east of us and a simple door off into the corner northwest of us. The only thing of note seemed to be the source of illumination above us. It wasn’t a torch or a lamp that much I knew for certain and the light seemed far too white and bright to be naturally occurring. Could it be an invention by these aliens? I didn’t know. Celestia on the other hand seemed to have an idea of where we might be.

“Be on your guard, Twilight,” she whispered to me. “I fear that the aliens we encounter may not be entirely friendly.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked, keeping the same volume she had.

“I believe the building that we’re in might be a-”

The sound of the doors opening cut Celestia off as my head darted toward the door, my eyes widening. Several heavily dressed bipedial creatures trotted, or rather, ran inside and formed a semi-circle around us, cornering us. The being in the center took a few steps toward us, while Celestia and I took about two steps back to ensure a safe distance. From what I could tell, this biped was a male. The outfit he had on was colored a bit differently from the others, possibly the leader of this specific group.

Then the alien spoke.

“Fru yna you? Please cdyda ouin name yht ehdahd,” he said in a slow, stern, masculine voice.

[Editor’s Note: Heh, okay that’s kind of clever.]

I frowned a bit. I realized that my spell was not as successful as I had hoped and I was only getting part of the words.

“Can you ihtancdyht us?” he said, with a much calmer tone this time around. I was beginning to understand what was wrong with my translation spell. Taking a stab in the dark, I took a guess that he was asking if I understood him. I decided to shake my head, only later realizing that the alien might not even know that’s a non-verbal way of saying no. Surprisingly, he continued by saying, “No? Was dryd a no?”

He knew I was trying to say no? Wow, that was crazy! I nodded my head in excitement. Finally, I was getting progress! The biped seemed to be equally relieved that we understood each other on at least a very basic level. I think I understood more about the language to attempt to recast the spell so I could better understand them. I raised my head up and prepared to cast the spell. My eyes shot open when I realized something was terribly wrong.

I couldn’t cast my magic.

[Twilight’s Note: I think that’s a good point to stop, I’d better save the rest for other reports. Thanks for helping me with this. I think I’ll keep you on for this, despite your constant snarking.]

[Editor’s Note: No problem. Just let me know when you need me again.]

END OF REPORT