The New Spark

For generations, Equestria had been well known for it's peaceful rulers, welcoming cities and towns and the love and friendship the ponies shared. The kingdom was home to thousands of ponies who lived and thrived alongside one another.

However, behind the secure walls of Canterlot, Princesses Celestia and Luna knew that this peace was soon going to come to an end.

Night had fallen, casting a dark shadow over the land, lit only by the full silver moon that Princess Luna had just raised along with the countless stars scattered across the sky. If you observed the sky carefully enough, you could see that some of the stars' colours were different, showing that there were actually planets for those who looked hard enough. The city of Canterlot was quiet, with only a few ponies working late.

Luna marveled the beauty she had just created for the night before turning and trotting back inside the palace which was patrolled by guards that gave her a quick nod before continuing on with their patrols of the dark castle.

Always the same. Luna thought bitterly. Despite all her efforts, barely anypony looked at her the same as they did before her jealousy over her sister had transformed her into Nightmare Moon. Celestia often told her that they would soon learn that she had changed, but it had been over three years since she became Luna again and the only ponies she really felt close to were her sister, King Shining Armour and Queen Cadence of the Crystal Empire and Twilight Sparkle and her five friends.

She couldn't help but wonder if the little trust she had also had something to do with her not being there when the Changelings had attacked Canterlot the previous year. That was hardly her fault, really. It was daytime, so she was naturally asleep. As well as that, whoever had made the palace had thought it would be a good idea to make the walls and windows completely soundproof. How was she supposed to know that they were being attacked when nopony came and woke her up?

The two Pegasus guards opened the large, double doors leading to the Hall of Age and the Princess of the Night stepped in. She was mildly surprised to see her older sister standing near the end, looking at one of the stained glass windows.

As Luna made her way through the hall, she couldn't help but glance at each of the windows in turn. Though she had walked through the Hall of Age countless times, she always looked at the separate images displayed on the coloured windows. The founding of Equestria, the age of Chaos, the finding of the Elements of Harmony, the first imprisonment of Discord, the crowning of the Alicorn Princesses, the banishment of King Sombra, the rise of Nightmare Moon (personally, Luna didn't like that one very much), the return of Princess Luna, the second banishment of Discord, the Canterlot Wedding and the death of King Sombra. Celestia was standing at the end, gazing at a blank window with a distant look in her eyes.

The fact that there was a window with no image on it made Luna feel edgy. It happened the night before the Nightmare Moon incident and it happened the day before the Changelings invaded Canterlot.

“There's a new age coming, my dear sister.” Celestia murmured without looking at her, “I sense old foes returning.”

“Old foes! I love old foes!” Discord appeared between the two sisters and energetically threw his arms around each of their shoulders, “Why, I was once an old foe, myself! And I returned and now look at all the fun I have in Canterlot! I blow things up and I turn things to stone and I scatter LEGO around ponies' bedroom floors while they sleep...”

Celestia gave him a small smile, “Yes, and even some of your behavioral issues have been fixed.” She said, “Please let go of me, I can't breathe.”

Discord smirked and let go of the two Alicorns before straightening up to his insane height, “Having a good night, wistfully staring at the pictures of me wrecking havoc?” He asked them.

Luna scowled, “No.” She said shortly, “We are discussing the future of Equestria.” She nodded at the window marking the new age, “With every new age, this hall grows by a bit. The Crystal Empire has one, too, but it is a lot smaller that the Equestria Hall of Age as the Crystal Empire had disappeared for one hundred years, meaning that there is one hundred years of history missing from it. This makes-” She broke off when she saw Discord making a big show out of him yawning.

“Sorry, please continue.” Discord mumbled, staring at the stained glass window of him tormenting an innocent group of ponies.

“Never mind, Thou art not interested. It is complicated magic.”

“I love complicated magic!”

“Thou hates complicated magic.”

Discord made a face and pulled a wooden stick out of the air. He pointed it at the dark blue princess and screamed “Avada Kedavra!” The wand disappeared, “Complicated enough for you?”

Luna sighed and was about to make a cocky comment (at least, about as cocky as you can get if you only speak in Old English) when her older sister began speaking.

“Discord, Luna, watch.” The two of them turned to look at what the white Alicorn was looking at. It was the empty window, it was changing.

Black cracks were spreading across it's surface, creating shapes in which colour flowed into. The black cracks twisted outwards from the centre, forking and joining with other cracks and more colour rippled through the image, dark colours that spread outward from the centre of the window, not unlike how the cracks were spreading, too. At last, the image stopped growing and a stained glass window marking the new age was standing tall in front of the two princesses and draconequus.

It depicted a sea of dark gray, almost black shadows rolling across the bottom of the window, taking up about a quarter of the overall image. Spiked green lightning criss-crossed the stained glass, forming something close to a massive, jagged circle in the centre of the window. Small shapes looking remarkably like tiny, bright green eyes stared at the trio from the background of darkness that the image displayed and in the centre of the jagged green circle were seven symbols that filled Princess Celestia's heart with dread, though she didn't let it show.

“Alert the wielders of the Elements of Harmony.” Celestia called and immediately, the two guards standing by the doors of the Hall of Age leaped into action, turning and sprinting through the castle halls, “We are facing a threat that may become potentially dangerous to the whole of Equestria.”

"Out of curiosity.” Said Discord slowly, looking at something past the Sun Princess, “A threat that may become potentially dangerous to the whole of Equestria doesn't happen to look anything like that, does it?”

Both princesses spun around to look through one of the stained glass windows. The full moon gave enough light for them to see a dark swarm of flying creatures in the distance getting closer by the second and on the horizon, a dark kind of fog that covered the stars as it steadily spread across the star-filled sky.

“I think it looks precisely like that.” Celestia murmured, “Luna, gather your Soldiers of Night. We will need them.” She turned and hurried out of the hall, ready to summon her Forces of the Sun. “Discord, keep them distracted for at least ten minutes, that's all we need.”

“Rightie-oh.” Discord sighed, “Why is it always me who's stuck on Distraction Duty?” He walked through the Hall's wall and flew at the advancing army.

Luna made her way directly to her chambers, a beautifully decorated room fully equipped with a walk-in wardrobe and en suite bathroom. Not to mention the large balcony that allowed her to look out beyond Canterlot and over at the Everfree Forest that lay miles beyond Canterlot's secure walls.

“Soldiers of the Night!” She boomed in her royal Canterlot Voice, “I, thine Princess, thine creator, thine mother call thee to defend Equestria. Th'art needed by the innocents!” Nothing happened for a minute, but then one dark shape rose from the forest and then another and then a group until well over a hundred dark blue and purple Pegasai were hovering above the forest. Then, with a flutter of leathery wings, they streaked through the night sky toward Canterlot.

Out of the forest, the same amount of Earth Ponies came charging and behind them, the Unicorns. All of them were either black, blue or purple. Colours of the night. They were all Princess Luna's soldiers awaiting her commands.

The Alicorn herself spread her wings and soared down to the Canterlot Palace Courtyard where her Pegasai warriors had landed in neat, straight rows. The Unicorns then teleported in and the Earth Ponies came running through the wall of the city as if it wasn't there. Each of these ponies were made from the essence of Night and only Luna could control them.

The Forces of the Sun began to arrive and get into rows too, casting distrusting looks in the Soldiers of the Nights' direction. Unlike Luna's army, these ponies were living and were seen around the castle each day while the Soldiers of the Night dwelt in the Everfree forest in the form of shadows so that nopony could see or find them.

Princess Celestia strode up to Luna, taking long, graceful steps as she approached, “It is time.” She announced to all the gathered guards, “We must unite day and night to defeat old enemies.” Luna had no idea what her older sister was talking about, but she put on a somber expression so that she looked like she knew what was going on. “It's time to put our differences between us and fight a common enemy! We must vanquish Queen Chrysalis once again!” There were loud cheers from the Forces of the Sun, but the Soldiers of the Night remained quiet.

By then Luna really needed an explanation. “One moment, my soldiers.” She excused herself and, dragging her sister over a few paces away from the gathered army, she hissed, “What is this th'art speaking of?” She demanded, “What doth thou mean, Queen Chrysalis has returned?”

“It was on the stained glass window.” Celestia explained, “The green eyes were Changelings and the jagged circle was Changeling magic. Then when Discord pointed out the approaching creatures, it confirmed that the Changelings are returning.”

“And how doth thou know that it is Queen Chrysalis?”

“That is just a guess, I may be wrong.”

“Thou should have told me.”

Celestia bowed her head, “I'm sorry.” She told her sadly, “But we needed to take action as soon as possible.” She looked at her, “There were seven symbols inside the jagged circle. A star, a butterfly, a diamond, an apple, a cloud with a lightning bolt and a balloon.”

Luna tilted her head to one side, “Those are the cutie marks of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.” She observed.

Celestia nodded, “Yes, it means that the Changelings will pose a big threat toward the ponies that wield the Elements.” She paused, “And there's one other thing.”

“What is that?”

“The seventh symbol in the circle was one of a sun.”

Before Luna could say anything, Discord appeared in front of them, a few scratches but apart from that, unharmed, “They don't like to be distracted.” He complained huffily, folding his arms, “And they're no fun anymore! I thought they'd be more exciting, but nooooooo, they just have to be all boring!”

“Did thou see their leader?” Luna pressed, ignoring what he had just said.

Discord shrugged, “Yeah, I saw their leaders.”

“Leaders?” Celestia asked, sounding slightly shocked.

“Yep, leaders.” Discord confirmed, “There was this insect lady Alicorn and a gray male Unicorn.”

“King Sombra?” Luna exclaimed and clapped her hoof over her mouth, hoping that none of the gathered ponies had heard her. “King Sombra?” She repeated more quietly, “I thought he died!”

“Perhaps he didn't.” Celestia murmured, “If part of a Unicorn's magic is left intact, it is plausible that another pony – or Changeling may be able to channel dark magic into resurrecting them...” She shook her head, “But none of that matters at the moment. We must fight them, no matter who they are.”

Discord's eyes went all rolly-polly in his head, “We're up against a crazy Changeling queen and a senile king that is somehow alive despite the fact that he exploded.” He informed her, “Are you sure that just going up to them and fighting is the smartest move we can make?”

“It's the only move we can make.” Celestia told him, “We don't have time to call reinforcements from the Crystal Empire and the Elements of Harmony are too far away.” She hesitated, “And I don't think that we can use them for this fight. The stained glass window is our best guide to what we should and shouldn't do.”

Luna stared up at the sky, the Changeling forces were almost upon them. “Should we alert Princess Twilight Sparkle of this?” She questioned.

“I already have.” Celestia told her grimly, “Come one, sister. It's time to go into battle.”

It would have sounded a lot more serious if Discord hadn't spoiled it by cheering, “Yay! Battles! I love battles!”

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

While all that was going on in Canterlot, Twilight, oblivious to the danger that everypony was in, was sitting in her library house, practicing her magic.

Concentrating, she lowered her head and closed her eyes, feeling a tingling sensation as a purple aura grew around her horn. If her eyes were open, she would have seen the small wooden box she was concentrating on levitate and change in a way like somepony shaping plasticine with their hooves. Its material began to change from wood to silver and the shape became dainty and delicate.

Almost there... She thought to herself excitedly, Almost the-

"Twilight! Twilight!" Her concentration broke and her half-finished silver rose fell to the ground with a clatter. Her dragon assistant, Spike came running down the staircase, taking two steps at a time, "Twilight, we need to leave immediately!" His tone of voice sounded urgent and he thrust a piece of parchment under her nose, "Princess Celestia just sent us a message!" He puffed, "Read it quickly, I'll go and pack our bags." He turned and sped back up the stairs.

Twilight sighed and unraveled the scroll, Spike really should learn when it was a bad idea to interrupt her. Last time, she almost turned him into a strawberry, but she changed the course of the spell just in the nick of time so that the book that he was holding turned into the red fruit instead. But when Twilight began to read the letter from the Princess, the more worried she became.

My dearest student, Princess Twilight Sparkle.

I understand that now you are a Princess, you have more power and authority which I trust that you have been using correctly. You know that I trust you and I think very highly of your opinions. However, you must remember that my sister and I are far older and you still must obey us.

A new age is coming, an age of darkness that even my sister and I will now be able to fight. We will soon go into battle against the forces that we can't hope to win against. I give you a direct order to not attempt to fight by me. Though you are powerful, you are not strong enough at the moment to take on these forces of evil and you are not to travel to Canterlot in an attempt to be a hero.

Queen Chrysalis and her army of Changelings have returned to Canterlot along with another old enemy. Apart, they were powerful but together, I fear that they may be unstoppable and rushing into battle will not help anypony.

I ask from you nothing more than to hide yourself, your friends and the Elements of Harmony. That is all that matters at the moment. You must hide the Elements and protect your friends for they're the last hope we've got. No matter what happens, you must follow these orders.

Another thing I ask of you is not to trust anypony unless you're certain you know who they are. Though, you were able to tell Cadence and Queen Chrysalis apart last year, I have faith in you that you'll be able to do it more times.

Please remember that I am proud of how far you've gotten and what you have done, Twilight. I sometimes look back and remember you as a curious little Unicorn that came to me each day for your tutoring, now you're an Alicorn and the Princess of Friendship. You've grown so much since I took you under my wing and I'd like to say that when Luna and I am gone, I choose you to be the new ruler of Equestria.

Your loving mentor and guide,

Princess Celestia.

Twilight stared at the letter in disbelief. Celestia's tone suggested that she was never going to see her again. It was as if she was going to die. That wasn't going to happen, not on Twilight's watch! She angrily rolled the scroll up again and when Spike emerged again, holding two overstuffed saddlebags, she shoved it into one of them, crumpling the paper.

"Alright, Twilight." Spike said, hurrying up to her, ready to strap the saddlebag on, "Let's go-"

"No!" Twilight exclaimed, shoving the bag away and marching over to the door, "Princess Celestia is in trouble! Luna too!"

"But Princess Celestia told you to-" Spike began meekly.

"You will hide the Elements of Harmony and alert my friends." Twilight said, turning to face him, "They're not in danger right now, but Celestia is. I can't leave her." Her purple eyes turned pleading, "Please, Spike!"

Spike winced and then sighed, "Fine." He muttered, dropping the saddlebags and making his way over to the dark display case where the Elements of Harmony were kept, "Twilight, just..." He paused and then said shakily, "Just be careful, alright?" He stared at her pleadingly.

Twilight flashed him a smile, "Careful's my middle name." She told him jokingly, shoving the door open and darting out.

Turning back to the display case, Spike pulled the glass casing off it and removed Twilight's crown first. She always insisted on keeping it with the other Elements.

He poured the contents out of one of the saddlebags and placed the crown Element inside it. The Element of Magic was soon joined by the Element of Generosity, belonging to Spike's girlfriend, Rarity and then the Element of Laughter. He was just reaching for another one when a window smashed and a pony named Bonbon landed mere metres away from him, snarling menacingly.

Bonbon had always been known as a kind, hard-working member of society with a sweet, laid-back personality. Spike cautiously stepped back as the pony began to advance on him. He pressed his back against the display case, wondering where Twilight had gotten to. He hurriedly glanced out the window to see a small purple shape in the sky growing smaller by the second. He was on his own now. Struggling to keep his panic down, "Why are you doing this?" He demanded, "What do you-" He remembered Princess Celestia's letter and everything clicked, "You're a Changeling, right?" Bonbon didn't answer, "What do you want?"

The Changeling nodded at the display case with the remaining Elements in it.

That's it, Spike. Spike thought to himself nervously, Keep it talking... What now? The best thing he could think of was Get the heck out of here! Get as far away as possible!

But Twilight wanted him to hide the Elements and alert her friends while she fought with the other Princesses. Hopefully, he'd still had time to save Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Apple Jack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy...

"So, you've come to take the-" He swiped one more Element – Honesty from the display case without bothering to finish his sentence, shoved it into the bag and sprinted up the stairs as quickly as his short legs could carry him. He heard the Changeling snarl and a green flash lit up the room as it transformed back into it's natural form and gave chase through the air.

Spike darted into Twilight's room, made a beeline for the window and had just enough time to think This is by far the stupidest thing I've ever done before he jumped.

Fortunately, somepony was there to break his fall.

Unfortunately, that somepony was Rarity.

She let a small scream of surprise as the small purple dragon landed on her, knocking her to the ground, "Spike, what on Earth-"

She let a small scream of surprise as the small purple dragon landed on her, knocking her to the ground, "Spike, what on Earth-"

"Changeling!" Spike shouted. That was all Rarity needed. She snatched the bag holding the four of Elements of Harmony, threw it onto her back and the two of them tore through the streets that were already overrun by hundreds of Changelings.

As Rarity tore through the streets, dodging fighting ponies and Changelings, a thought occurred to Spike, "What's happening?" He asked, clinging onto Rarity's neck tighter as she took a sharp right turn to avoid a bleeding Earth Pony desperately trying to fend off three large Changelings. He looked away, not wanting to think of any of his friends in that position.

"I have no idea, but it's simply dreadful!" Rarity wailed, her blue eyes wide, "I was simply working on a client's new dress, minding my own business when one of these monsters came in!"

A changeling's spell smashed into the ground just to the left of them and Rarity stumbled and Spike almost went flying off. A Changeling came running at them, wildly firing beams of light from it's chipped horn but was knocked back into the throng by a gray, googly-eyed Pegasus who was screaming about someone taking her muffins.

"Where are we going?" Spike called to Rarity over the noise. He'd only just realized that she appeared to know where she was going. Either that, or she was just trying to get out of Ponyville.

The Unicorn's white pelt was smeared with dust and sweat and her purple mane was a disarray. For once, she wasn't complaining about it and what she said next made Spike wonder if this was really the same Rarity he knew.

"We're going to Canterlot to fight."