Faint scribbles could be heard from inside the Princess' chamber. The atmosphere within the Kingdom had changed drastically over the past two years. Equestria used to be a place envied by her neighbors, with riches beyond what the common griffin warlord could have imagined. But now, not so much. You see, normally the nation was protected unnaturally by various magical artifacts such as the Elements of Harmony and the princesses.
But now it was all gone, plagues were raging through the land, crime was on the rise. Not a week ago a large Equestrian settlement was sacked by a large griffin war-tribe from the northern mountains. The Equestrian militia, unable to keep our northern front safe any longer, was ordered by the Princess to retreat back to the cities and try to hold them for as long as possible.
The cause of the princesses’ disappearance was never found, although many ancient scholars and prophets told of the day that "our guardians would disappear" and "harmony will be replaced with indefinite chaos". Twilight had finished filing the orders for the Royal Guard. She gave an exhausted sigh and stood up, her legs barely able to support her weight, but she still managed to conjure up the energy to trot over to the balcony.
Opening up the doors, Twilight was hit by a gust of wind. The air of Equis had become stale, as if one were breathing ash. Looking over the once great city showed a rather dour image. Ponies laid across the streets, starving and battered, the smoke from their campfires rising high into the sky. They were refugees, ponies forced to leave their homes by the rampaging plagues dominating the land. Twilight looked to the city outskirts, the green fields of the past having been replaced with a bronze hue. The mountains in the distance seemed evermore imposing with the storm clouds lingering around them. A crack of lightning emitted from the mist. Shivering, Twilight closed the balcony doors and turned back into her room.
Her chamber wasn't quite as cozy as it used to be, with all of the parchments and whatnot. She jumped onto her bed hoping to get some rest, until three booming knocks came from the room's entrance, Twilight gave a frustrated sigh. She got up and hastily cantered to the door. Opening it revealed one of her younger guards.
"A-ah your Majesty!" He stammered and gave a quick salute. "The pony you requested is here, she's down in the foyer."
"Ah, good!" This greatly improved Twilight's mood. "You're excused, private!" She said happily before almost skipping down the corridor. She immediately returned to a composed state after just realizing the weight of the situation.
The vast halls of Canterlot had become a lot less lively than they once where, a mere shadow of the political centre it used to be. The echoing clipping and clopping of hooves against the cold stone of the floor made this eerily apparent. The guards that once lined up against the marble walls where now stationed in far away places and the nobility and social elite favouring the relative safety of their homes to their cruel surroundings.
Trotting down the final hallway and taking a peek into the foyer she could see her client, and best friend, Rainbow Dash. Twilight's eyes widened and her calm canter became a reckless gallop. She quickly unfurled her wings and gave a mighty push sending her to the other side of the room in the blink of an eye. She tackled the cyan pony.
"H-hey what's the big idea?!" A winded Rainbow Dash choked out, she let her guard down as soon as the noticed who her assailant was." "T-Twilight! Eh, I haven't done anything wrong have I?" Rainbow tilted her head in confusion.
"Oh no silly! I' just happy to see you!" The princess laughed.
"Oh, whew." The pegasus visibly deflated in relaxation. Twilight hadn't seen her friends in a few months, the way to the city from Ponyville was rather rugged. It wasn't safe for lots of ponies to be in the same area at once outside of protected zones, so trains tended to be out of the option for most travelers. The safer option wasn't much more appealing, as could be seen by the state of Rainbow Dash's fur, it was laden with small scratches and bruises and was overall a mess.
"Er, how was your journey?" Asked the Princess, Rainbow seemed slightly taken aback by the question.
"H-heh fine! Nothing worse than I've handled before! I'm a little hungry though!" The mare faked confidence, although Twilight seemed to let it pass for now.
"Oh good! You'll be able to eat something after you've been debriefed on your mission." The lavender mare started trotting across the hall, "Follow me!" She prompted the pegasus. Rainbow Dash quickly followed her princess. Although Twilight was technically standing for the head of state for Equestria, her power was rather limited. The declaration on which Equestrian ideals are written only gives the right to power to the Princesses of Dusk and Dawn. Ever since the their disappearance, the various provinces all gained near-absolute autonomy. While they were still part of the nation, Twilight had almost no power over the actions of these places. Twilight didn't even have the power to sit on the real princesses’ throne.
Moving along one of the Canterlot halls they eventually came to a large door. Using her magic, Twilight forced open the doors, revealing a long, narrow staircase. Using her magic again, she lit all of the torches that dotted the walls all the way to the bottom. Twilight gave a content sigh and started walking down the stairs. Rainbow hesitated, intimidated by the long walk, but just rolled her eyes and continued.
Finally reaching the bottom, they were both visibly shattered by the walk, Rainbow moreso considering what she had to go through to get there. The room at the bottom was spherical in structure, with a huge reflective ball in the middle.
"What the heck it that?!" Shouted the Rainbow maned pony; her yell echoing around the room.
"That my friend is Equestria's last hope! I've triangulated the location of the Elements of Harmony! This mirror is tuned to send a single object directly to the last known location of the Elements.”
"Oh cool! But, where are they?"
"Another dimension! Don't worry, this is old science and has been proven to be safe time and time again! Also I sent a magical echo through the world and it came back with almost nothing. Because of this it should be relatively easy for you to find the Elements."
"O-OK" Rainbow had to let the information sink in. "So you want me to do what exactly?"
"You'll get the details tomorrow. For now it's time for you to eat and rest." To say Rainbow was delighted at that was an understatement.
"Heh my pleasure!" She exclaimed back in response.
20 hours later.
They were now both back in the room, Rainbow was clad in a comfortable uniform, last night was one of the most comfortable nights she had ever had. Or at least in the past year or so. Twilight was twisting some knobs behind a control panel just out of Rainbow's sight.
"Are you ready to proceed?" Twilight asked over a loud speaker.
"As I'll ever be!" Rainbow responded.
"Good! If I could bring your attention to the medallion on the desk." Rainbow picked up the medallion and examined it. "This will point you to the Elements, it is crucial to your success, don't lose it." This was starting to sound less appealing by the minute.
"Eh, Twilight, I'm having sec-"
"Beginning the transporting sequence now." Twilight cut Rainbow off. As she activated the machine, the mirror ball started behaving more like liquid than a solid.
"Step through when you’re ready, Dash." Rainbow Dash was about to protest but decided against it. She stepped into the ball. Her vision went completely white and then after a few moments, completely black.
Rainbow felt a cold breeze hit her body, she shivered, opening her eyes. She was in some sort of forest, not unlike the ones back home. Snow covered the entirety of her vision. She felt strange. She was sitting in the snow, her back was against a tree. She attempted to get up but she couldn't muster the strength to do so. She gave a frustrated sigh. It was starting to snow; heavily. She lifted her hooves out of the ground, and she noticed something really peculiar. Her hooves had been replaced, with something. She had strange digits protruding from them, she looked at the rest of her legs, they were much longer, and awkwardly jointed. She had no idea how she would be able to walk like this. She could feel her consciousness fading, the world slowly fleeting away into darkness.
‘Look papa! There she is!’ She couldn't understand it but that was the last thing she heard before drifting away...
