For a Dream (Operation Alaska_Down)

by Static Mk 0

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Alternate Universe, Comedy, Adventure
Length: 7137

A select group of "background ponies" learns a valuable lesson on friendship, purpose, and the existential continuity of Equestria and the universe around it.

A select group of "background ponies" learns a valuable lesson on friendship, purpose, and the existential continuity of Equestria and the universe around it.

The codename for this story is/was "Operation Alaska_Down."

Story abandoned in February 2014.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-06-11 14:30:03 UTC

The Dawn Rises

Droning roar.

A lone pony stood in the blizzard. The dry, cracked, desert sand beneath him crunched beneath his hooves. Snow- or what looked like snow was rushing and howling like torrential rapids, yet as the snow hit the ground, it continued to flow, not accumulating in the least. The ground was undoubtedly hydrophobic. Coldness prevailed, yet the hiemal tempest felt compassionate and spared the poor stallion by moderating its fury. In all directions, thick clouds of the frozen precipitation matted the world, reducing it to a monochromatic prism. Grey hooves, faded yet vital brown hooded cloak, an iron-grey face, a black tail.

Advancing conflict.

Deep turmoil tore the pony’s heart. He was now in a land inhabited by nobody- or nopony. He had been walking for some time, his obscured head drooping low, his hooves now starting to drag from fatigue- or so it seemed.  He continued on in this manner. And continued. Interval.

Expended.

Twenty minutes- or two hours- or fifty seconds- passed. Something changed. Off in the distance, a form was starting to take shape like a slide of developing instant-film. It looked like another pony. It seemed to be heading in the same general direction as he, though on a path to imminently intersect his. The storm raged on. In symmetry, another form, at an orderly angle, was coming into view, also destined to gradually encounter him. Four more lines of destiny came into view until the fateful hexagon was formed.

Absolution.

The six, now the interior angles of the polygon, raised their heads. Black, dead eyes directed their focus to the center of the shape, devoid of direction. Two pegasi, two earth ponies, two unicorns- all obscured by the white curtain-flood. All shells uniform. All shells one. All ones naught but shells. All shells saw nothing but whiteness. Deep, somber silence. All words were depleted, vain, and empty. Only space and emptiness had value.

Interval. Interval. Interval. Interval. Interval. Solid stillness.

End.

The words, chanted by all in monotone unison were as follows:

“All is empty

Life is suffering

Weakness is power

All is impenetrable

Isolation is purity

Sadness is truth

All is grey

Still is one

Dead is ____ (a pause here, symbolizing the death of “worthy” words and the implication of a worthy word)

All is ended.”

With that, the voices resonated, reverberated off of the particles of the depleted souls present. A ray of light connected the ponies, forming a two-dimensional shape. The shape then developed ornate visual texture within due to the rising chaos emanating from the now-quaking hearts, captive within the stone-like neutral faces.

Their eyes then became white with light, and hidden ornate pieces of spectral neon-like ghost jewelry formed on the figures. A tremor had been compounding, and soon the very land around the ponies was quaking, fracturing. The tremor intensified until it seemed ready to destroy everything.

The desert now prepared to collapse or explode, time froze.

The ponies then vaporized and the world imploded.

A pony was jolted out of the nightmare. He sat up immediately in his bed sheets in terror, gasping for air, sweat almost dripping from his short scruffy mane. It was early in the morning, the equivalent of around seven A.M, the wan cyan light now diffused by the linen curtains. He had to wake up soon. His breathing and heartbeat now slowing, he found himself staring at the obscured window. This was the third weird dream he had had in the past two weeks. The first dream had been about running away from a stampede of angry ponies, the second about getting trapped in a strange world made of rivers, aqueducts and abstract metal structures. Was Princess Luna trying to convey some strange message to him? Nonsense.

Despite the fact that he was born, raised, and still studying and living in Canterlot, Spark was never directly addressed- or recognized by Royalty. Even though he was an adept intellectual and not half-bad at magic, he still remained just a unicorn. Worse still, he didn’t even have a real Cutie Mark- and he was a young adult in the Canterlot Higher School of Magic. The things he could do were not “worthy” enough [or something] to illicit a Cutie Mark. When he was young little colt, his parents created a Cutie Mark for him that was artificial yet completely authentic-in-appearance: a blooming plant seed which symbolized that one day, he and his real cutie mark would take the whole world by surprise. Thankfully, nopony noticed that it was just a type of tattoo. Spark told everypony who asked him about his cutie mark that he was a gardener, as he had a part-time job maintaining the gardens of the Goldenmane Estate- a property of Filthy Rich not too far from the Castle.

Five years prior, his small group of friends had dispersed all over Equestria to pursue different fields of study. Now, all he had were acquaintances. He knew a little bit about various people he met every day, but he was not friends with them. He lived, studied, ate, and worked alone- and yet in the company of many.

Despite Spark’s seemingly abject situation, both apathy and various forms of distraction had managed to postpone his struggle with identity. He just lived for the day- making it from grade-to-grade in the School of Magic while also finding various recreational activities to fill the time in between. He still had his coworkers, with whom he talked and shared some laughs. But deep within him, unconscious and dormant, was a sense of heaviness.

Finally calm, Spark decided against going back to sleep. His classes began at the earth equivalent of nine A.M.  He crossed his dark room and stepped out onto his private balcony.

Equestria was waking up. Birds were chirping and flittering about; some pegasi were reorganizing some wayward clouds. A pink-orange light reflected off the white stone of Canterlot castle, which did not refract once it reached a nearby blue-water fountain. A cool zephyr breezed by. Flowers were opening their blooms as if to greet the ponies now commuting through the streets. On a balcony on the highest tower, Princess Celestia could be seen orchestrating the symphony that is an Equestrian morning. Spark looked down at his hooves. He was merely a speck in the macrocosm of Equestria—or even merely the CHSM (Canterlot Higher School of Magic). Shaking his head, he decided to lay down and enjoy the spectral experience that was the morning.

Two hours later, Spark was in the auditorium-like classroom. He gazed blankly ahead, his classmates chattering in vivacious conversations. Five minutes later his instructor, Arcane Silvermoon, a sage old stallion, took his place at the lectern.

“Good morning, everypony!” he said with his usual eccentricity.

“Good morning, Professor Silvermoon” reflected the classroom with much less energy.

“I have good news for everypony today. Today is a special day. Today, I am going to select one lucky pony in this classroom to accompany Azure Adventurer on a Field Learning Adventure in the Everfree Forest to study the mysterious Transatlas Flower.”

All ears in the classroom perked up. Field Learning Adventures involved taking a two-pony field trip (one student and one mentor) to some remote location to learn something that could be used for a significant portion the CHSM Final Exam, a requirement for graduation established by the Canterlot Board of Education.

Spark sat lost in thought. He usually tuned this part of the lecture out, as he never got selected from his class of forty, one of five classes in the CHSM, to go on Field Learning Adventures.

“Spark!” said Professor Silvermoon a second time.

Spark looked up.

“You’ve been chosen, Spark!”

His heart leapt within his chest. His classmates were clapping their hooves. He had finally been chosen. He was finally receiving some form of recognition.

The rest of the day didn’t matter much to Spark. He passed nigh-absent-minded through lecture and lunch. This was the opportunity he had been anticipating for years. It was a chance to learn something really valuable and maybe even get a real cutie mark in the process. He had trouble sleeping that night, as he was both nervous and excited about the next day.

“Good morning, Spark,” said Azure Adventurer, who was waiting for him at the city gates of Canterlot, vested with several saddle bags.

“Good morning, Sir Adventurer!” said the ecstatic Spark.

Out of nowhere, a cream-yellow pegasus zipped right between them at an incredible speed then pulled right back up into the sky. The two froze, their eyes wide open.

“Don’t worry—our adventure doesn’t involve random crazy pegasi. What was that about anyway? Do you know that pony?” asked Azure.

“I’m just as confused as you are, Sir Adventurer” shrugged Spark.

“There’s no need for such formality. Just call me Azure, Student Spark, “winked Azure.

“Alright, Azure. Let’s go!” said Spark—again with energy and authenticity that was a bit abnormal for him.

The journey to the Everfree Forest was a long one. En route, Azure explained the rules and guidelines and fine details of the Adventure in a casual manner. Spark listened and reciprocated attentively. In the meantime, in a cloud high above, two unknown pegasi were watching the two unicorns, their forms hidden by the cloud’s edge over which they peered inconspicuously.

“Heeeheee!” squealed the first, the same cream-yellow pony that had passed between Azure and Spark, “do you think he’s going to find it?!”

“I’m certain. I have faith in him,” said the other - a dark grey concrete-like pegasus in a solemn tone. His sharp petrified (but not afraid) grey eyes focused sharply on Spark.

The first pegasus was but a filly and was now bouncing and flittering about on the cloud.

“Stop that. If you weren’t so freakishly light, you could have zapped or drenched both of them by now,” snapped the first, “He can’t know about us. Not yet.”

The two pegasi’s wings now appeared luminous and glowing and the colt now lie still beside the stallion watching the surface-bound ponies.

At long last, Spark and Azure came to the Everfree Forest, the edge of which grazes the little town of Ponyville. A short walk saw them to their first destination—the home of Zecora the zebra.

“To this forest, I am no stranger. I know its every boon and danger. But for you adventurous two, I have prepared a brew. This drink will protect your mind in a bind. I know the danger of the flower but also that it may hold some power,” said the sage zebra granting to the two adventurers each an opaque white bottle of liquid.

“Thank you, Zecora. We will be careful” nodded Azure, imbibing the tonic alongside Spark.

“What did Zecora mean by ‘protect your mind in a bind?’” Spark asked after they had resumed their venture.

“The Transatlas Flower is not like a normal flower—it’s a dangerous flower that thankfully only dwells within this forest. You see, when anything living approaches it, it emits a poisonous fume that will daze its prey and send it ‘into another world’ back the way it came. If you approach it very slowly, it might not sense you and you will be safe. Thankfully, the potion Zecora just made for us will protect us from that poison and allow us to obtain a petal of the flower, the essence of which can supposedly be used in powerful magical spells.”

“Are we sure this potion works? Has anypony ever tried this before?” asked Spark again.

“Of course! How else would we know anything about this flower?” Azure assured him.

The journey through the Everfree Forest was a very gradual one. Azure, whose very cutie mark was a symbol resembling adventure, knew all of the hazards and wonders of the forest. He knew which ground was solid and which could give way beneath one’s hooves. He knew which creatures of the forest were hostile and which were docile. He could even navigate the forest by looking at tracks and patterns in trees. Maybe the Daring-Do could learn a thing or two from this master forest ranger.

At last, the two found themselves pausing as Azure attempted to scope out their next move. He held a pair of binoculars to his face and stepped forward, searching for sylvan clues.

“Hang on just a moment. We aren’t going to be lost for long.”

Spark finally allowed himself to take in the essence of the Everfree Forest. It really was a strange, almost hostile place. No wonder only the most vigilant ponies lived here. The trees could be hiding a predator animal, something found only in this forest. His eyes scanned the stifled horizon then wandered upwards into the tree canopy and then to the free-moving clouds beyond. Why was this forest the only place in Equestria where everything natural could roam free? Why was freedom confined to a dangerous forest? Was it really that dangerous? What was freedom?

While absorbed in thought, Spark allowed his hooves to wander freely—like the rest of the forest. Before he knew it, he had stepped off of the path Azure had guided him on- and on to a patch of soft ground.

“Alright, Spark. I think I- Don’t step on those vines!” exclaimed Azure, rushing to the wanderer.

It was too late. The vines retracted upon sensing Spark’s hoof, sending him tumbling down a deep dark hole.

Once the world had come to a stop for Spark, he found himself in a damp moss-lined cave. Every part of his body ached.  He had a headache already. The air smelled strange.

“Are you alright?!” came Azure’s voice from the surface.

“Yeah,” came the reply after a pause.

“Stay where you are! I am going to make a rope and come get you!”

And with that, silence.

He was alone in the dark—or—almost in the dark. There was still light from the surface pouring in, highlighting him like a stage spotlight. He could see a hazy outline of the cave and naught but thirty feet away, the Transatlas Flower. He remained very still, not wanting to disturb the bloom. Out of nowhere, he heard hoofsteps getting louder and louder. Was it Azure Adventurer? He stood up.

A tall, solemn veiled shadow approached, ominous and threatening. It was a pony—but it was not Azure. It passed right in front of the flower, and sure enough, fumes were emitted with a hiss—but it kept approaching.

“Who’s there? Who are you?” asked Spark, now frightened, placing his hooves over his face.

“I once asked myself the same question,” came a dark, somewhat muffled, expended voice; the origin of which was starting to become more visible.

“What’s your name? What do you want from me?”

“I- you- are the beginning of the end of this world. I- you- are the dawn of the death of the star that is Equestria,” said the voice, now coming to a stop.

“What? What are you talking about?”

A flare of light appeared and remained sustained before the figure, revealing it. It was a powerful-looking unicorn clad in tarnished iron armor from head-to-hoof. Its hateful-yet-sorrowful eyes appeared yellow through the tinted glass lenses in its gas-mask-like helmet (which also coated his horn in iron). A black hooded cloak was draped over its body. He looked somewhat like the old tyrant king Sombra.

“Behold your self,” it said, its words piercing through Spark and reverberating off of the stone walls. “Alas, the world truly is cruel, as you will soon learn.”

“Are you King Sombra?” asked Spark, quaking in fear.

“No. Not at all. Sombra wanted to see Equestria in chains. I want to see it in flames- starting with you.”

An orb of firey red light was materializing around the menace’s sharp horn as it resumed advancing upon Spark, who was now retreating.

“No! Please don’t!” the latter cried.

“I’m sorry, but this is for the best,” said the voice, with a hint of authentic regret.

With that, the terrorist reared up on his hind legs, the light now becoming intense, and came down with a thunderous stomp, blasting Spark with an intense red laser beam and sending him flying into the rear of the cave.

All went dark.

Falling Morn

There once was a pegasus filly known for her witty humor, high energy, and general craziness. As expected, she lived in Cloudsdale with the other pegasi and was the only child of two pegasi who, though they were at the bottom of the local social caste (if there are indeed definite castes in Equestria), remained positive and optimistic in their outlook of life.

Her name was Felicity, or Fel for short and she was indeed a lighthearted and happy pony—as positivity had been reinforced within her by her parents and she had come to appreciate her place in life. The bright cream-yellow hue of her coat and mane reflected her sunny brightness.

Despite feeling rather satisfied with her life, Fel had no serious life-long ambitions. She, like Scootaloo, wanted to be like the ace flyer Rainbow Dash. She wanted to inspire and empower others and to hopefully learn the legendary Sonic Rainboom. Her life was rather vain at the moment but she was still just a filly, so she had some time to figure out what she was going to be in life and obtain a respective cutie mark. Yet this mattered not to this little filly, for alongside youth is the notion that life is eternal.

Though Fel was not unanimously loved for her endless happiness and positivity, she had quite a few friends at school and was relatively close to them. What was great about her friends was that they accepted her for who she was, as she reciprocated such respect and genuineness.

Yet at such a young age, friendships and other relationships are never as complex as they are later in life. The youthful life is indeed simple, despite the narrow, lambent fate of the youthful mind.

The rest of her story before she began her path to synchronization is negligible.

As Fel progressed through life and school, she reached a point in her social life where her friends stopped to accept her being for who she was, as the social trends and standards of her peers were evolving to exclude her behavior and character. Slowly and quietly, she was being rejected, even by her friends. She did not think much of the silence and strange looks of her friends when she did what she always did to stay connected to her friends. She remained positive. Yet her positivity was slowly abating, as her parents were struggling financially and were continuing to fall deeper into debt. One loss after the other chipped away at their spirits. They had now fallen to working at a miniscule rock-farming plant in this glorious city in the clouds.

The efforts she made to better herself and her parents were ineffective and failing, no matter what she tried.

How could something like this happen in Equestria? Was it actually happening?

One day, on the way to school, Fel was approached by two of her classmates: Ruby Luminescence and Royal Glitz. They had jeered at and berated her before and surprisingly had the support of a sizable amount of the school.

"Hey, Felicity. I heard that the Morning Weather Team is preparing a serious thunderstorm. If you want to prove to the rest of the school that you’re still cool, you’ll fly your blank flank through that thunderhead and retrieve my homework for me. Everyone else has been able to do it. I’m so nice I even reward them for running such a simple errand for me,” said Royal Glitz in a demeaning manner.

The sky was indeed darkening. Beyond the clouds, a deeper darkness was building.

Felicity did not say anything.

“What’s wrong? You can fly, right?”

Felicity pretended she didn’t her them.

“Hey, everypony! Look! Fel still can’t fly!”

Sure enough, they were all now on the school grounds and everypony except her could fly. Being able to fly was more important than having a cutie mark in Cloudsdale. Had Scootaloo been living in Cloudsdale, she too would have been amongst the ridiculed.

“I can fly! Even if I don’t use my wings, the light heart still allows me to fly!” came the reply.

“Where did you hear that? Did your mommy, the rock scraper, tell you that?” Jeered the two, laughing. Some others joined them in their mockery. The momentum of social conformity was building in that direction.

“Fine! You asked for it! I’ll prove you wrong!” retaliated Felicity. She never really had to snap back at somepony else until that day.

That day was different. The whole world felt dark for Felicity. She wasn’t happy. She wasn’t herself.

She approached the edge of the cloud-terrace and stood atop a stone parapet. Three small clouds lay below her like stepping stones or lily pads. She leapt elegantly from one to another, using her feeble wings for propulsion. The next cloud was a little farther away and there was a cirrus-like cloud below. Such clouds provide very little protection against long falls and have the equivalent density of a sheet of thin wood. They can be stood upon, but only by the nimble.

Agitated yet determined to defend the honor of her and her family, Felicity made the jump. She did not quite have the spring in her step and her wings just weren’t strong enough to provide lift. She plunged right towards the cirrus, which appeared much thicker at second-glance. Panic struck her nonetheless. No grown-up pegasi were in the sky and doubtless anypony would reach her in time. Now facing the surface, Felicity shut her eyes and prepared to crash through the thin cloud. A moderate shock from the impact tore through her and she continued to scream- but the wind ceased to rush by her.

Opening her eyes, Felicity saw nothing but whiteness in every direction. Her hooves were still visible before her but nothing else was. She was still falling but she could not see the ground to where she was falling.

Was she really still falling? Was she dead? Had all of this been a dream?

Below her, Fel spotted a hole of blackness. As she continued falling, it got bigger and bigger, slowly revealing a strange wireframe-looking image. Eventually, the image engulfed Fel and her acceleration rapidly decreased. She came to a soft landing on a metallic grey wireframe platform. Her sense of motion sensation seemed altered. Things seemed to be moving a little bit slower and she even felt less whole.

Fel could see all about her that she was no longer standing in Equestria- at least, not the Equestria she knew. As far as she could see, there were strange metallic pillars, strictly geometric tower-like structures, and blackness. Connecting the towers were strange tubes of cyan, purple and white light. Turning about, Fel could see way off in the distance a massive castle-like structure towering high into the sky- if there was an atmosphere in this strange dream-like world. At the edge of her wireframe platform there lay an enormous circular mirror-like plane of glass. Beyond the glass-like portal, she could see a very long tunnel, like a subway system without a train or tracks. Curious as to what it was, Felicity approached the edge of the platform. Maybe the tunnel lead somewhere. Was there a train or some sort of vehicle that transported ponies to the castle-like structure?

Speaking of ponies, where was everypony?

Intrigued yet a little absent-minded, especially after falling through the clouds, Felicity flittered down onto the track. Upon passing the threshold separating her platform from the track, she felt immensely strengthened in her wings and actually hovered above the ground. Not only did she manage to stay afloat, she started to move forward- then accelerate. Before she knew it, she was flying down the track rapidly. Her wings were luminous and twice their normal size and density. She was actually flying. The joy of the experience radiated in her heart and renewed her diminishing spirits.

She felt awesome! Totally, extremely happy!

With her strength renewed, she burst forward in a flurry of speed, the cyan-and-black track around her becoming more and more blurred by the speed. If she kept speeding up, she might even do the legendary Sonic Rainboom!...but only Rainbow Dash could do that.

And yet she was still accelerating. Felicity believed she could go faster and faster and so she did. What was in her heart, her intrinsic will, was directly fueling her abilities. Why couldn’t this have happened a few moments ago?

The speed was becoming exhilarating- so amazingly thrilling that Felicity finally thought she was going to explode. Sure enough- BOOM! A radiant blast of color exploded behind her and she reached legendary speeds. She was moving as fast- if not faster than Rainbow Dash. She kept accelerating. Her speed was starting to become frightening. The track on which she was travelling had been mostly straight, with some slight bends and drops but if she kept moving faster, she might tear right through the walls of the tunnel.

And yet she was still accelerating. She was going to outrun the colorful trail she had been laying. Before she knew it, there was another explosion and a wave of white light- the sum of the colors of the rainbow- exploded behind her just like the Sonic Rainboom. But this was faster than a Sonic Rainboom. Surely she was now writing history. The world around her was moving by so fast it was starting to disappear. While looking away, Felicity did not notice a bend in the track and inevitably she felt a hard impact.

Upon contact, the world suddenly seemed to vaporize into blackness and she rapidly decelerated. Everything was completely silent. She felt drained of power—the impact had had an immediate, extreme effect on her emotions, which she did not notice at the time. Everything was moving in slow motion. This state endured for a few moments and then as soon as everything disappeared, the world re-atomized around her.

Felicity was now standing in the grand castle she had seen from afar. The interior indeed looked like the clean halls of a castle—they looked somewhat like Canterlot Castle! The place seemed empty and the colors entirely greyscale- but not dishearteningly so. The marble-like surfaces still glistened with imperial grandeur. Looking up, Felicity saw rows of balconies lining the side of the tower that extended to the heavens.

While marveling at the halls, Fel heard hoofsteps. Somepony was coming. A grey unicorn entered the halls and trotted right up to Felicity.

“Excuse me but could you please tell me how to get back to Equestria?” he asked.

“I’m as confused as you are, erm…?”

“Call me Spark.”

The expressed character of the two had become statically narrow and restricted solely to practical exchanges. They were both beginning to fall prey to the numb singularity of the place. Thus, the two of them began to saunter aimlessly through the halls, engaging in flat banter.

“So where are you from?” asked Felicity, who, as has been mentioned, had become deprived of the energy that defined her.

“Canterlot.”

“Are you a student there?”

“Yes.”

A pause. The two stopped to survey the world in which they stood. More and more grey marble chambers with black-and-white checkered marble floors. The entire palace seemed to be made of marble. The very world around them was rather quiet, save a deep, guttural ambient hum- like the engine of a cruising ship. The strangeness of the place was continuing to dawn upon these two ponies. They looked at each other. The color in their coats and eyes seemed less vibrant. Their very form seemed less defined.

While musing, another pony approached, descending a stair case. Turning about, they beheld a strange being. It was indeed an earth pony- but he looked…different. His form was diminished or twisted. He almost looked like a ghost: dark grey, cloudy, and almost translucent. His eyes were closed but he knew exactly where he was going. His hoofsteps seemed heavy and his face was grim and solemn. Approaching the two Equestrian ponies, he opened his eyes, which were also grey and mutated- the pupil and iris bled into the rest of the eye.

“Welcome home, dearest seedlings” came a somewhat quiet, lambent, expended voice.

“Home? What are you talking about? What is this place?” asked the confused yet defensive Felicity.

“Welcome to Solum, the land of truth. I am Arc, the ambassador of His Omnipotence, Lord Aurora. Your presence here is no accident. You are both seeking answers and truth and only here in Solum will you find what you seek.”

Felicity and Spark were silent. They both wanted to know something. They weren’t even sure what it was, but they wanted to find out.

“This truth you seek cannot be found in Equestria, where there is no true peace. Only here will you find synchronization with a higher frequency of self-actualization.”

“Frequency? Truth? I don’t understand,” mused Spark aloud.

“Spark, seeker of knowledge and love,” began Arc closing his eyes. Spark felt a bit light-headed. “You want to know why your Canterlot friends and family left you alone and thought you’d be just fine without supportive friends. You also progress aimlessly deeper into magic studies without even knowing why you’re doing so. A perfectly ripe frequency for enlightenment,” he concluded, taking in a deep breath.

“How do you know these things about him?!” exclaimed Felicity, leaping into the air and re-gaining some color, invigorated by her strong new wings, “what are you trying to do with us?!”

“Felicity, seeker of acceptance, respect and happiness!” Arc’s words seemed to freeze Felicity in place. He was dead-on. “You want to know why your friends are rejecting you despite your enduring positive spirit and laughter-inducing antics. You want to know why your family is being mysteriously dishonored and humiliated. If you would cease your defensive aggression and hear out this world, you both would find what you have been searching for.”

The humbled Felicity landed. “I still don’t understand how you know so much about us.”

“Come and follow me and I will tell you.”

The three of them ascended the stair from which Arc had emerged. Another extensive incline lay beyond, as they still had yet to fully scale the tower. Arc began to narrate to the unicorn and pegasus the history of Solum.

“Long ago, when Discord was the overt enemy of Equestria, there was a secondary enemy whose existence has been censored in almost all literature to this day. His name was Despond and he was the kin of Discord. He was the master of all despair and sadness and thus, the most feared and dangerous threat Equestria, a land of love and happiness, has ever and will ever know. Luna and Celestia had to act quickly to defeat him and seal him away before they could target Discord.”

Arc stopped.

“They did not, however, consider the possibility of quelling his suffering. Using the suppressive power of the Elements of Harmony, they sealed Despond away forever- except for one of his iron feathers, which fell into the abyss over which he hovered. He did not resist- he simply gazed at them with his endlessly empty eyes and was destroyed.”

The three continued their journey upward.

“The little essence of Despond that remained in Equestria, that one feather, found a nesting place in that deep abyss, whose location is a secret to all except those two princesses. Thus banished from Equestria, Despond found a new place in the cosmos to call home- an empty, void place which became known as Solum, which in a strange mystical language translates to ‘The Lonely Place.' Nearly formless, Despond spliced his essence in half and took on a localized physical form- the founder and leader of Solum- Lord Aurora, which translates to ‘Lord Dawn.’ From his remote sanctum, Despond continued to channel the sadness, loneliness, and despair through that one feather, which slowly and invisibly seeped and bled into Equestria. Since then, he has regained a measure of influence in that land.”

They were nearing the top of the tower.

“Now, Solum is the home of the localized soul, or Auroran Frequency, of every pony who has ever despaired in their plight. The more they have despaired and the lonelier they are, the more powerful the frequency that dwells here. Our Nightmare Moon frequency, NTM-045, is especially potent.”

A cold fear was starting to settle on the two Equestrian ponies.

“An Auroran Frequency is both an individual being and an illusionary projection. It is both dependent and independent of the soul of the being it represents and does not necessarily have to be sorrowful to exist. In fact, manic, serious, and comparatively normal Frequencies exist- they just don’t have any real power. You see, an Auroran Frequency exists at numerical balances of the three “RED” Energy waves that parallel a pony’s feelings, efficacy, and external relevance: R-Lambda, E-Theta, and D-Alpha waves. High energy levels generally correspond with happy, relevant, confident ponies- although there are some mysterious individuals that seem to be free of RED Energy. Once Despond’s Feather detects and harvests this energy, an Auroran Frequency is born and stored in our archives. Indeed, we have cataloged every pony in Equestria, no- your entire world- in our archives. Speaking of every pony, we have arrived.”

The three of them now overlooked a massive drably-colored hilly grassland landscape dotted with ornate metallic structures and buildings connected by roads made of pure silver. The horizon was a lined with a queerly illuminated thunderhead- partly obscuring the diminished sun. There was a strange, enchanting placid beauty to the grandiose scene. Ponies of all sorts could be seen commuting and working dreadfully hither and thither, their colors, their spirits all flattened as they lived in perpetual introspection.

“Welcome to your true home, dearest seedlings.”

Low Noon

Premonition

A sudden tumultuous shuffle of hooves and voices could be heard in the normally quiet halls of Canterlot castle.

“Stop right there!”

The struggle continued.

“In the name of the Royal Triumvirate, I order you to stop at once!”

Suddenly, a zebra and a pegasus rounded a corner, pursued closely by three armored sentinels. The fugitives had passed a checkpoint and the pursuit was quickly nearing the throne room.

Around another bend, the door to the official- but not actual- residence of the royal sisters was open and the intruders were approaching their destination.

“Stop them!” Shouted a guard from behind.

Immediately, a wall of armored guards formed in front of the door. That did not stop the pegasus from flying right over the barricade- but he landed right in front of a line of spearheads, which then entrapped him from behind. Any sudden move and he would be skewered. The zebra was tackled from behind, sending a saddlebag sliding on the marble floor.

Celestia and Luna were present in the throne room, as they had just finished speaking with an emissary from Mustangia. All attention had been drawn to the sudden commotion.

“Your majesties, my dearest princesses! I bring-“ began the concrete-grey pegasus.

“Silence!” interrupted a guard, “your excellencies, we caught these two passing a security checkpoint without a warrant. That pegasus said something about urgent news but that-”

“Despond is returning!” shouted the pegasus.

A sudden heaviness crashed through the room, although only Celestia and Luna knew of what the pegasus spoke.

“At ease, gentlecolts,” said Celestia. The pegasus and the zebra were released reluctantly. “Despond…I have not heard that name for at least five hundred years. How do you know of Despond?”

“Because of him,” said the pegasus, pointing a hoof to the zebra behind him. “You are looking at the direct descendent of the great scholar Mtefuta.”

The zebra stood up. His coat seemed diminished from long hours of study and his blue eyes seemed weary. His resilience and forthright resolve were evident in his solemn statue-like composure.

Celestia and Luna were taken aback. Five hundred years ago, they had banished this zebra’s ancient ancestor from Equestria for possessing dangerous knowledge about Equestria, which included the existence of Despond.

“What evidence have thee to support thine claim?” inquired Luna, with the tone (but not the volume) of the ancient Canterlot voice.

The zebra spoke something in his native language.

“Yes. It is the stars. Using a magical telescope, we have been observing the star closest the moon. Using a special lens, we have observed that that green-hued star is glowing brighter than before and is starting to flicker more intensely,” began the pegasus.

How did these two ponies know of Despond- and possess dangerous technology that Celestia had tried to destroy hundreds of years ago?

“While I do not condemn your studies of the stars, I am very concerned about the knowledge and the instruments you possess, both of which are forbidden. Despond was sealed away forever over a thousand years ago. He cannot return to Equestria,” explained Celestia. “Despond is the most dangerous foe our world has faced, as he is highly elusive and very deceptive. Even though he is no longer in this world, he can still influence it somehow. We currently believe that if you show too much interest in him, he can poison your mind. This is why I keep information like this hidden from my subjects- to protect them from harm.”

“That’s one thing I don’t understand about you, Celestia! Sometimes, in order to protect a world, you need more than just one pair of eyes! For all we know, Despond’s invasion has probably already begun!” pleaded the pegasus.

A bone-dry ghost stirred in the castle. Blind yet seeing, Celestia knew just what she had to do.

“I regret to inform you that you cannot leave this castle with the knowledge you possess,” said the princess of the sun, bowing her head.

“You cannot do this! We’re here to help save this world,” exclaimed the pegasus.

Celestia remained silent. The trespassers were seized taken to Canterlot Castle’s greatest secret- the dungeon. Like the palace of the Crystal Empire, this royal castle, this beacon of hope, had a dark hidden secret- another bit of information to which the Equestrian populace was to remain oblivious.

The day waned on. There was no sunlight in the Canterlot dungeon- only the lambent luminescence of some decomposing charged light crystals. The two prisoners remained in captivity- one hunched over, his back against the crystaline wall, the other upright and pacing.

“We cannot stay here! We have to escape. There has to be a way out,” muttered the grey pegasus, scanning the refractory walls of the dome-like cell. After a brief pause, he turned to his zebra comrade. “Imprisoned by the benevolent and caring Princess Celestia!”

“Patience,” breathed the zebra.

“Patience?! You know we’re dealing with an emergency situation here! The longer we wait, the more Solum will eclipse this world. I am positive that there are Auroran Frequencies wandering this world as I speak. That’s one of the intermediate phases of the invasion. The longer they spread their poisonous influence, the less love and harmony will reign this world. And when that moment comes- when the star in the night sky nearest the moon, which is Solum, turns green, then will the Eclipse occur.” The pegasus, Solar Wind by name, was gifted in the knowledge of something very secret.

How did either of these ponies know all of this information? How did they know to even look for it? Perhaps they were privileged with something most ponies were not permitted. Perhaps it was a matter of genealogical-legendary inheritance.

The hours rusted onward. Escape was impossible. Solar Wind began to despair.

“If we ever emerge from this prison, we will discover a ruined Equestria- if the whole world is not a pointless, singular grey moor. We’ll be too old to bring about any sort of repair.”

The zebra did not say anything. His eyes remained closed. He was meditating in the way of his people, secretly preparing some Zebra Magic. This particular type of magic is highly mysterious and can only be performed by zebras. The more common forms of zebras involve the magical infusion of potions and medicinal vapors. The rarer forms of this magic involve long meditative sessions in which only the most patient, pure minds can tap into an elusive, powerful magic aura that can only be found in a certain state of sustained peace.

“Surely there is something we can do. Anything…” continued the pegasus, staring at the dirt floor with a defeated air.

“Patience. We must remain calm, observant and objective. Sit with me.”

“There’s nothing we can do.”

Despair endured for Solar Wind.

After a long time, a faint quake shook the cell.

The zebra, Ameni by name, opened his eyes. “Do you trust me?” he asked.

“Of course I trust you,” said the pegasus standing up.

“Believe in solidarity. Believe in strength. Believe in what we know of the truth,” he said, rising.

A blinding white tapestry-like portal was torn into a wall of the cell with a loud cracking noise. The two stood in front of it silently. They looked at each other then looked forward, entering the portal. The two were instantly whisked out of the cell and into an overwhelmingly white environment. Equestria was sealed behind them. After a moment, a strange, wireframe-looking world was emerging before them. Before they knew it, the two prisoners were standing on some sort of mud-brown pseudo-turf, made of a synthetic grass that had a soft, fabric-like texture. It did not crunch or hiss like normal healthy grass. The wireframe-like world had become clear and tactile. The turf extended forward until it was intersected by a path of pure silver, atop which a purple pony with a fuchsia mane was walking. Her very form was sharper and more jagged than usual, her mane and coat textured in an unnaturally fibrous manner, something highly foreign to Equestrian eyes. Her face was placid, neither sad nor happy, and contrasted with her fading cutie mark- three flower blooms with smiling faces. Not far behind her, another pony- then another- was walking down this silver road- one of many. Intermittently and non-strategically positioned by the roads, towering high, were ornate yet sturdy steel structures, lustrous and shining in a pearlescent luster. The architectural craftsmanship was outstanding. Such structures must have taken tens- or hundreds of years to complete.

“It’s unreal…isn’t it?” remarked Solar Wind quietly, turning to his zebra friend.

The pegasus stood alone.

=========================

// Primary DOE confirmed: 02/2014

Potential for secondary DOE: High.