Snakeasaur Saga - The Quest For Harmony

CHAPTER I: A Real Dragon Quest - Part 1

"No doubt but there is none other beeste comparable to the mightie dragon in awesome power and majestie, and few so worthie of the diligent studies of wise men" ― Gildas Magnus, Ars Draconis, 1465

The first rays of sunlight peeked over the edge of the horizon, with a shine brighter than what most mornings brought; Princess Celestia never disappointed in starting a day that made one pony happy to wake up to. Even if you got home late and only slept for less than a hour, you couldn't resist smiling at something so beautiful, unless you were incredibly evil or just downright cranky. It was sunrises like these that made Twilight Sparkle happily wake up, even when the sleep she was having was especially deep and pleasant this time around.

The lavender filly that had become Celestia's prized student was no more; in her place had grown a beautiful young mare with an equally beautiful mind and incredible magic skill. It had been more than ten years since that fateful day she had become one of the most famous and important ponies in Canterlot, and since then her magic and knowledge had grown ten fold...though she was no longer a resident of Canterlot.

With a deep and lazy yawn, Twilight stretched out in bed, popping out all the kinks and stiffness in her joint; that had possibly been the best sleep she'd had in ages. Sighing contentedly, the lavender mare rolled out of bed,  landed on her hooves and trotted merrily to the stairs; as she opened the door to the lower floor, the scent of what was surely an immaculate breakfast of pancakes and scrambled eggs struck her full force, making her stomach rumble in anticipation. Spike's personal pancake recipe had yet to meet another that could best it; maybe it had something to do with him cooking the batter with his dragon-fire.

On more than one occasion she had tried to copy his recipe, and on just as many occasions had almost set the library ablaze; she was soon banned from ever trying to cook, since it was clear that cokking was one of the few things that she couldn't do, magic or no.

She plodded slowly downstairs into the kitchen and, sure enough, there was Spike, holding two plates towered high with delicious pancakes and steaming scrambled eggs, just as she had smelled. The young dragon had also changed quite a bit from being the helpless newborn that Twilight had hatched; now, those still a baby by dragon standards, he was now her number-one assistant. He always helped her with the little things in her life, such as cleaning up the place, cooking meals (since she couldn't even cook toast to save her life!), helping her with her studies, and so forth.

Spike looked up from setting the table, his face brightening at the sight of her. "Hi, Twilight! Have a good sleep?" He asked, going back to his work afterwards.

Twilight nodded. "Mmm-Hmmm." She hummed, lighting her horn up, picking up a empty mug from the cabinet.

*SMACK!*

"Ow!" Twilight cried, clutching at her horn; the mug fell back to the counter with a clatter. "Spike, why did-"

"No." Spike said, face set in a steely glare, broom still raised to strike.

"Oh, come on! I can make a cup of coffee."

"Last time you said that, Blueblood wounded up in the hospital." Spike stated flatly, not the slightest bit amused.

"I was experimenting!" Twilight insisted, stomping her hoof angrily. "If you'd just let me-!"

"No. Never again." He said flatly. "Now, if you want breakfast, you'll forget about making coffee, go take a shower, and get cleaned up! You're a mess."

"Now wait just a-"

*SMACK!*

"Okay, okay! I'm going, I'm going!" The lavender unicorn shouted as she bolted from the kitchen as fast as she could go, a flurry a broom swings barely missing her flanks. She grumbled multiple curses and profanities to Celestia, Luna, and even Discord as she stormed up the stairs to her bathroom, only minding the books laid across the floor during her late-night studies during her tantrum.

'Jerk...' She mentally muttered, glaring back at the door as she closed it with her magic; it was then, when she saw her reflection in the mirror, did she realize what Spike was saying. She was, indeed, a mess; her normally silky fur was rough and dirty, chunks of dust painting her body like a techno-color cow. Her mane and tail, normally smooth, clean and well-kept, was stringy, knotted and wild from days of neglect, the once-pretty stripes of her hair now tangled with the main color in a cobweb of dirt and grime. And she didn't even want to know what that smell was...

"Yikes..." She murmured aloud; she blushed with a sheepish grin, slightly ashamed for letting herself go this badly.

'Maybe I should take a break from studying for a while...' She decided as she turned on the shower; the familiar sound of the shower's stream of water, coupled with the warm steam building in the bathroom, made her filthy body tingle in anticipation.

And with that, she didn't wait another second to jump in...ahhhhhhh...soooo much better.

Still, it was incredible how bad it had gotten this time; true, overnight studying was a routine thing for Twilight Sparkle, but this was too much, even for her...perhaps that's why last night's sleep was felt so good...being the first decent rest she had gotten in three days, and the only reason she had gotten it was because Spike practically strapped her into bed. It was always the same excuse: just one more page, she kept telling herself. And then just one last note after that...followed by just one more book. By the time Spike finally broke the chain and dragged her kicking and screaming from her desk, it had been over 40 hours since her last sleep, having lived off of coffee and Donut Joe's the entire time...and don't even ask out bathroom breaks.

Twilight paused lathering her mane with shampoo, smiling in a goofy manner; when exactly did it suddenly go from her taking care of a baby dragon to the other way around? Huh...had it really been that long in general? Her smile faded as she sat back, letting the water run over her as she just pondered her thoughts. It seemed just like yesterday...and yet like a lifetime ago...since the day she pulled off a feat not even the princesses could do and became one of the most famous mares in Equestria. And by Faust's mane, how her life had changed.

For the following ten years Twilight studied under Princess Celestia's personal teachings, with Spike by her side the entire time...but despite her fame, the impact she made on Equestria was minimal at best: she grew up kind and understanding, but at the same time reclusive and shut-in. Thanks to her studious lifestyle, as well as more than a few bitter encounters with jealous students and other ponies, Twilight had come to value knowledge and skill over friendship and other social connections. Friendship was pointless; purposeless, and just as easily broken. There was no point for her to waste time on such trivial matters, especially when no one truly appreciated them. The only ponies whom she could have considered her friends were Spike, Celestia, her older brother Shining Armor, and her foalsitter Cadence (who is also Celestia's niece).

In simple terms, friendship simply seemed worthless.

But that changed soon enough, for one day, while Twilight was studying up an old book of ancient Equestrian legends and prophecies, she came across the legend of Nightmare Moon.

It was a tale Equestria knew very well, if only as a fairytale. According to the story, there were originally two alicorn princesses that ruled Equestria in the ancient times: Celestia herself, and her sister, Princess Luna. As everypony knows, Celestia uses her power to raise and set the sun each day, while Luna used hers to raise and set the moon each night, and thus the natural solar cycle was kept in Equestria...but it was clear who was the favorite: All of ponykind lived and basked in the grand light of Celestia's day, but slept through and shunned the dark beauty of Luna's night. At first, Luna merely kept silent and waited for the time when ponies would love her creations, but soon she became bitter, resentful, and jealous...and finally, one day, the growing darkness in Luna's heart consumed her, turning her into a twisted, monstrous reflection of said darkness: Nightmare Moon. Celestia pleaded for her sister to come to her senses, but the newly-dubbed Nightmare Moon would not have it: she swore to plunge Equestria into Eternal Night, first by refusing to lower the moon for day, and then by destroying the one who rose the sun. The heart-broken Celestia was left with no choice but to summon forth Equestria's greatest force of light: The Elements of Harmony.

What the Elements are and where they came from had long been lost to the depths of history, but it is known throughout Equestria that they are the most powerful force of magic in the entire world; they were the physical incarnations of harmony and light itself and, when combined together through worthy bearers of each elements, can accomplish anything...even defeating a god.

And that's just what they did: with a heavy heart, Celestia summoned the Elements and, with their incredible power, banished Nightmare Moon, her own sister turned evil, from the very planet, sealing her within her own moon for all time...however, according to the legend, that would not be the last of Nightmare Moon: after a thousand years of banishment, the stars would align just right to 'aid in her escape' from her celestial prison, and in her return she would defeat her sister and bring forth nighttime eternal, for the Elements of Harmony had also disappeared over a thousand years. And her return was nigh; that year's upcoming Summer Sun Celebration would mark the thousandth's year of Celestia's solo reign, and thus would be the night of Nightmare's return...and the Summer Sun Celebration was that very night.

Twilight knew something had to be done; most ponies probably would've just laughed at the idea of the old legend being real, but if there was one thing Twilight had learned from her years of studies under the princess herself, was that legends can sometimes be very real...and if that was the case, then there was but one thing to do: she must find the lost Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon. She didn't waste anytime contacting Princess Celestia about her recent discovery; the young unicorn was certain that the princess would take immediate action, always putting true faith and trust in her student.

So imagine her surprise when Celestia responded by telling her to get her nose out of her 'dusty old books'.

Twilight scowled at the memory, a little hurt by the rather mean response. She knew now why Celestia had done it to begin with, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt anymore; the sudden doubt and betrayal in that simple sentence had struck hard.

Anyway, the princess also responded by sending Twilight and Spike to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, which would be held that year in the quaint little town of Ponyville. Settled by the famous earth-pony Apple Family, the town was a far cry from Canterlot in every way, shape, and form: Canterlot was a big royal city home of tens of thousands of nobles and citizens alike, whereas Ponyville was a farming village populating a little more than a thousand ponies at best; it was also a town where all three races of ponies lived as equals, whereas Canterlot tended to favor Unicorns. Not that such things mattered to Twilight; her mind was set on one goal: getting through the preparations as fast as possible and resuming her studies to find the Elements of Harmony, despite Celestia's orders to find and make friends while she was there. However, her goals were ruined by the constant interruptions of the town's inhabitants; amongst them were five ponies that would change Twilight's life forever: the strong, hardworking cowgirl Applejack, the boastful yet loyal Rainbow Dash, the lovely and generous Rarity, the shy but kind Fluttershy, and the wild and fun-loving Pinkie Pie, all of which welcomed Twilight with friendship, much to the unicorn chagrin; she did not have time to waste on petty friendships!

And her fears were confirmed. That very night, during the final hours of the Summer Sun Celebration, the stars aligned perfectly with the moon and Nightmare Moon returned. She quickly took the power and throne of Equestria, banishing Celestia to the sun and bringing forth Eternal Night, vanishing soon after. Twilight quickly returned to her library, joined by the five ponies she had met before; there they discovered that there were five remaining elements, with a mysterious sixth element that would only come forth when the other five were joined by the 'Spark'. They were hidden in the Ancient Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters, which was located in the infamous Everfree Forest; all of the ponies were hesitant to enter the forest, for good reason, but they all stuck loyally by Twilight side, much to her irritation.

Through the darkness of Nightmare's night, The six mares journeyed through the monstrous forest in search for Equestria's salvation, but they did not go unnoticed; Nightmare Moon knew of their plan and set up multiple obstacles to force the ponies to give up, ranging from scaring them away to outright assassination. But each one failed; each of the five ponies that followed Twilight used their talents and best parts of their characters to overcome these obstacles, and soon the group found the Ancient Palace of the Royal Pony Sisters. Inside the main hall they found the pedestal bearing the five elements, dormant in stone; as she used her magic to bring the elements down, Twilight admitted it: she wouldn't have gotten there if she didn't have her...companions with her.

Friends? No. She still didn't get friendship. It was a step forward, though.

But just as she prepared to ignite the 'Spark' with her magic, Nightmare Moon arrived and swiped the elements, taking them and Twilight to the ancient throne room of the ruins. The show down they engaged in was unnerving, but brief, and Twilight struck the elements with her magic in hopes to ignite the spark...only to fail; the elements did not activate, and the sixth did not appear. Laughing madly in victory, Nightmare Moon crushed the elements under her hooves, announcing to Twilight and the world that they would never see Celestia or their precious sun ever again.

The night would last forever!

At that very moment it seemed that evil had won; Twilight truly felt that all was finally lost...but then...she heard the others calling for her, telling her that they would be there for her, even at the very end. It was then, deep within Twilight's heart...that she felt the true Spark: the spark of friendship. She realized just how wonderful it was to have them, how great it was to care for them, to be with them...to have them as her friends. She revealed her discovery of the newly-discovered truth of the Elements of Harmony to a shocked Nightmare Moon: they were no mere physical objects, nor could they be so easily destroyed. No, the Elements of Harmony resided in the hearts of her and her friends.

Applejack, who reassured Twilight when she was in doubt, represented the spirit of Honesty.

Fluttershy, who tamed the ferocious Manticore with her compassion, represented the spirit of Kindness.

Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represented the spirit of Laughter.

Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful sea serpent with a meaningful gift, represented the spirit of Generosity.

Rainbow Dash, who would not abandon her friends for her own personal desires, represented the spirit of Loyalty.

And with the Spark ignited within her, the final sixth element was born: the most powerful of all the Elements of Harmony, and the one that she represented: the Element of Magic! With the six elements combined, their power surged forth and struck Nightmare Moon, destroying the evil monster and releasing Princess Celestia from her celestial prison...as well as freeing Princess Luna from her darkness. Beaming with pride in her student, Celestia revealed to a confused Twilight that she had been aware of Nightmare Moon's return all along; she knew that Twilight had the magic within her heart to use the Elements and defeat her, but couldn't release it without accepting true friendship into her heart...and now it was time for another to do the same. The pony that had been left in Nightmare Moon's place: Princess Luna, now freed from the dark magic that had tainted her body and soul. Celestia approached her sister, but where most would strike out in rage and disgust, Celestia offered her sister apologies and friendship, having waited a thousand years for the day to be reunited with her again. Luna, consumed with sorrow and regret, threw herself into her sisters arms, crying out in apology.

Nightmare Moon had finally been destroyed, the Alicorn Sisters reunited, and the sun restored to its place in the sky. Celebration filled Equestria from all corners of the land, and Luna was welcomed back by Celestia's side as co-ruler of Equestria.

And yet, despite the reason and joy for celebration, Twilight was downcast; now the adventure was over, she would return to her studies in Canterlot...but now that she had finally found friends, she didn't wish to leave them. Celestia, however, merely smiled and asked Spike to take a letter. She decreed that the unicorn Twilight Sparkle would take on a new 'mission' for Equestria: She would continue to study the Elements of Harmony through learning the magic of friendship, and would write to Celestia her findings from her new home in Ponyville. Thrilled, Twilight thanked the princess, and had been living in Ponyville as the owner of the Golden Oaks Library ever since.

Twilight smiled as she scrubbed herself down with her poofy pink sponge, the dust and grime washing off her coat and disappearing down the drain, leaving her coat with its usual silky shimmer; more than two full years had passed since that fateful day, and she and her friends have gone through some crazy adventures together, ranging from something simple yet goofy as designing and making dresses for the Grand Galloping Gala, to as life-changing and dangerous as using the Elements of Harmony once more to stop Discord, the God of Chaos, from destroying Equestria through his twisted power. Not much had changed in her lessons on the topic of friendship since Celestia assigned her to it, other than the alicorn decreeing that, after a rather bizarre incident (and admittedly embarrassing for the purple unicorn, one that always made her blush when it was mentioned) involving brain-washing the entire town, all of the Elemental Bearers were to write to the princess when they discovered a lesson in friendship.

But what would take place in the following days change the very face of Equestria for all time.

Spike was just stacking up another batch of pancakes for himself, made with shards of emeralds mixed in with the batter, when Twilight returned from upstairs. She was looking much better than she was before; her fur and mane had returned to their usually clean silkiness, gleaming with the shine of damp hair, while her horn and hooves were polished and shining like jewels themselves. She was brushing her mane into its usual trimmed, smooth look as she descended the steps, the brushes floating by her head through her magic.

"Better now?" She asked with an annoyed scowl as she set her brushes away, her voice heavy with sarcasm.

Spike grinned, setting his plate at his spot at the table. "Yeah, yeah, it's fine." He stated, clambering up onto his stool as the unicorn took her seat on a red velvet pillow with golden tassels at the end. "You have to admit: that was for your own good. You let yourself go really badly that time."

Twilight's scowl faded with a tired sigh. "I know, I know..." She admitted, grabbing a fork with her magic and poking at her pancakes dejectedly; they were still warm, probably thanks to Spike. "I didn't mean for it to go that bad. I was just so caught up in my latest studies that I'll...well, you know."

"Wha' was so im'pur'ant abou' 'his on'?" Spike asked with swollen cheeks, pancakes crumbs and syrup spluttering from his mouth.

Twilight's frown returned as she lightly bopped him over the head with the syrup bottle. "Manners, Spike!" She scolded; Spike grinned sheepishly, unwittingly making it worse by showing off his muck-coated teeth. Twilight merely sighed, helping herself to the syrup. "As for your question, I've been studying and catching up on ancient Equestrian legends and prophecies. After the whole incident with Discord, I felt that I should read up on all those old legends if anything like that could...well...happen again..." Her voice dropped with her gaze, her eyes sad and lonely.

Spike could understand how she felt; it had been less than two weeks since the God of Chaos was defeated, but the effects of his power was still effecting everyone who experienced it. Ponyville had been the center of his brief reign, and therefore had taken the full brunt of his madness, in both body and mind; everyone in town was suffering from some sort of issue that the Draconequus had inflicted upon them, and the Element Bearers were probably suffering the worst. They had, after all, faced and were corrupted by the darkest parts of themselves under his influence, and became absolute monsters.

But none had suffered worse than Twilight; the only mind he hadn't poisoned...and the only one left to face the insanity that her world had become. Spike hadn't been affected either, but he didn't have to face Discord alone with those who were once your closest friends were now ruining your very life; the worst he received was a really bad stomachache from Celestia's letters...but what she went through was something he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy. It was painfully obvious to him that she would want to do something to make sure that would never happen again.

Twilight shook her head, as if to rid it of the terrible memories. "But enough of that. What's on today's agenda?" She asked before taking a sip of her coffee.

"Don't you remember?" Spike asked in surprise, remember to swallow before speaking. "The great Dragon Migration is today."

All grogginess Twilight had left in her vanished in a snap, followed by the most impressive spit-take Spike had ever seen.

"THAT'S TODAY?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER?!" She shrieked, leaping from her seat right after; Spike merely wiped the coffee from his face, watching with a deadpanned look as Twilight ran about the Library, gathering the things for the event in a crazed frenzy. "Nonononononononono! Princess Celestia's expecting me to write a document of the migration! Spike, I'll need you to prepare the food while I get the trench dug! Oh, I was sooo caught up in my wooork..."

"Relax, Twi." Spike said coyly, causally following her to pick up anything she threw about. "I knew you were going to be caught up, so I went ahead and made preparations with the others. Applejack and Pinkie Pie are busy digging out the trench as we speak, and Rarity made the camouflage outfits just last night."

Twilight could've fainted with relief. "Oh, thank goodness...thanks, Spike. You're the best." She told him, ruffling his head spines playfully.

Spike grinned. "Well, I try..." He admitted, arms folded and chest puffed up proudly. Twilight smirked; her number-one assistant did always have a bit of an ego, but that was probably normal for all dragons.

Which deflated with the next confession. "...but...there's one thing that I couldn't get ready..."

"Come on, Fluttershy; It'll be fun!"

"There's nothing fun about dragons! Scary? Yes! Fun? No!" Fluttershy cried softly in fear as Rainbow Dash dragged her by the tail toward the door, trying to get her to join them and the others outside; for a moment the cyan pegasus lost her grip, and the vanilla pudding-colored pony immediately made a bolt for it, but didn't get far before the cyan pegasus caught her and started to push her toward the doors.

They had been at this for more than an hour: The trench that they had dug to watch the dragons from was set up about a mile out of town, not far from Fluttershy's Cottage at the edge of the Everfree. The town itself looked as if it had been completely deserted, the girls not seeing a single pony on their way out here; it was understandable, though: giving the dragons' infamous reputation, no pony in their right mind would be caught out in the open and not barricaded within their homes on today of all days...thought Twilight and her friends were exceptions to that fact, if only because of being the Elements of Harmony. The lavender unicorn had originally planned (before she got caught up in her studies) for them to watch the Dragon Migration together...but she had forgotten to take into account a certain dracophobic mare of their herd.

"But Fluttershy, the great Dragon Migration happens only once in a generation." Twilight tried to reason, but to no avail. "Do you really want to pass up a chance like that?"

"Now that you put it that way...yes!" Fluttershy squeaked; she had braced herself against the doorway with all four of her legs in a desperate attempt to stay inside, with Rainbow Dash trying to push her through, but having little luck.

With a flash of her magic, Twilight teleported outside the house in front of the yellow pegasus. "Aw, Fluttershy, we just don't want you to miss out." She assured her friend sweetly.

That was only half-true, though: yes, Twilight didn't want for one of her friends to miss out on what she believed to be a momentous occasion for anypony, she also wanted to have their resident Beast-Tamer on hand, just in case.

"Miss out on what?" Fluttershy asked, still fighting the battle for safety against her fellow pegasus. "Dragons? Big, scaly, fire-breathing dragons?"

"Well... yeah!"

"Thanks, but... no thanks!"

Rainbow Dash, fed up with trying to push Fluttershy through the door, stopped and tried to 'reason' with her. "Look, Fluttershy, I watched that boring butterfly migration with you..." She snapped as she held up a picture to Fluttershy, depicting the pegasus watching butterflies with binoculars while Rainbow Dash laid next to her, looking very bored and irritated. "...So now it's your turn to watch the dragon migration with me! You owe me!"

And with that, Fluttershy finally snapped.

"I. Said. NO!" She screamed, and with that she whirled around and tackled Rainbow towards the ground, even jumping on her and planting her back hooves on her stomach as she leaped over; Twilight gasped in surprise as Fluttershy ran towards the window in her home at full sped, releasing a high-pitched squeal of fear and frustration. When she reached it, she stood up onto her hind hooves, looking as if she was actually going to bust the window open...but instead, she lowered herself and gently opened the windows, whimpering as she jumped out.

Twilight ran toward the window, watching in shock as the pink-maned pegasus ran off into the distance; if she guessed right, that would be the last time they would see Fluttershy for the rest of the month. She then looked back to see Rainbow Dash lying on the ground in a daze, limbs bent oddly and twitching; she could almost see the butterflies circling around her head.

"Okay, I guess I'll let you off the hook this time." The cyan-colored pegasus stated.

After making sure Fluttershy hadn't broken any of Rainbow Dash's bones, she and the pegasus joined Applejack and Pinkie Pie in the newly-completed rectangular trench; currently all of the present ponies were laying low in the trench while dressed in army-styled helmets and camouflage, scanning the skies with large binoculars for any sign of dragons.

"I don't see any dragons." Twilight commented in a hushed tone after observing the sky for a moment.

"Me neither." Applejack added, in the same tone.

"Me neither neither." Pinkie included, looking up with her binoculars...but through the opposite side. "Shoot!"

"You don't think we missed them, do you?" Rainbow Dash asked, causing Pinkie to look at her through the wrong side of the binoculars.

"No, I don't think so." Twilight stated, speaking in a soft whisper should the dragons arrive at that very moment. "We're just a little early, and I'm glad we are. This way we can watch every moment of the migration without bringing any unwanted attention to ourselves."

As if fate decided to mess with the unicorn's claim, the last of Twilight's friends arrived.

"Yoo-hoo!" Rarity's voice announce from a distance in an overly exaggerated and dramatic tone; the white unicorn was currently dressed up in what supposed to be a camouflage hat and dress, but it's bright purple, red, and yellow style and golden laces didn't just cut the bill for 'blending in'. "Well?" She asked as the long, fancy red carpet she was walking over unfurled at the ramp dug out of the trench, bursting forth a flurry of confetti and noise makers around the other girls. "What do you think? Am I the toast of the trench or what?"

"Ya'll be toast alright..." Applejack stated flatly in a hushed tone. "...when the dragons see ya parading around in that getup."

"You look very nice, Rarity." Twilight commented, trying to keep a straight face and a calm voice as she used her magic to form a bubble around the confetti and red carpet, causing them to disappear as Rarity joined them in the trench. "But could you maybe look nice down here in the trench with us?"

"Nice is an understatement. I look fabulous! Who says camouflage has to be drab?" Rarity said in a posh, sophisticated tone, apparently ignoring the looks her friends were sending her.

Then Pinkie silenced them all.

"Ahoy, maties! Dragons ho!" Pinkie Pie announced in a hushed whisper, pointing skyward. Twilight and the others looked up at the sky above to see what could've possibly been the most amazing and intimidating sight any of them had ever seen in their lives.

Dragons, thousands of them, filled the skies above as they flew past the ponies in the trench. They came in all sorts of sizes and colors as well, being mostly red, blue, yellow, or green, though there also was the occasional grey, brown, and black. They flew through the skies about two hundred feet above the girls' heads, all heading in one direction toward the mountains beyond Canterlot in one large straight line. It was a very impressive, but  very intimidating sight for all of them, and one that would not been seen again for more than another hundred years.

"Oooh... Ahhhh!" The girls all awed, using their binoculars to watch the mighty beasts fly overhead. One brown one swooped down and performed a somersault in front of the trench before flying back up to the flock, as if showing off for the girls.

"Wow, amazing!" Twilight commented, she and her friends lowering their binoculars to watch the closer dragons in awe.

Rainbow Dash, however blew her tongue, not impressed at all. "Pretty lame move. Is that all they've got?" She asked sulkily.

One blue dragon bumped onto a red one, whether on accident or purpose, and quickly flew away; the red one did not like that one bit and fired out a huge wave of fire from his mouth, aiming for the dragon but hitting the trench instead. The girls all quickly ducked to avoid the flames...minus Rainbow Dash, who received the full force of the dragon's fiery breath.

"What do ya think of that 'move', Rainbow Dash? Still think they're lame?" Applejack asked with a coy smirk on her face.

Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, contained an almost pained expression of shock on her face, which was a bit charred, along with her smoking mane. "Uh, not so much. The word 'fierce' comes to mind." She admitted weakly.

"And 'formidable'." Rarity added with some admiration in her tone.

"And 'super-duper scary'!" Pinkie included, lying on the ground in fear, but that fear was immediately banished up when Spike came along and placed a cupcake to her hooves.

"Yeah. Us dragons are definitely a force to be reckoned with." The baby dragon said with pride as he took out a cookie from the bowl of sweets he made and handed it over to Applejack. His sense of pride, however, was shattered when Rainbow Dash collapsed onto the ground on her back, laughing her head off at the sight of him.

"BwaHahahahahaha! Yeah, right, Spike." She managed to squeak out, her voice tight with laughter. "That's one of the scariest aprons I've ever seen!" She cooed with obvious sarcasm before bursting into laughter again, with Applejack and Pinkie Pie joining her.

Spike immediately recoiled, what manliness he had shattered by the teasing. "W-W-What's wrong with wearing an apron?" He stammered, looking at his pink apron with furry trims that presented a hot pink heart in the middle. "You won't be laughing when you spill blueberries all over your scales. Urh...Feathers. That's one tough stain!" He object, trying to sound tough.

Rainbow Dash paused to breathe, a tear running down her face. "One tough stain against one lame dragon." She squeaking, laughing afterwards, much to Spike's annoyance.

As much as she hated to, Twilight had to admit her rainbow-maned friend had a point. Spike was not exactly what anypony would consider to be 'Dragon Material'; she was also pretty sure that was probably one of the only reasons ponies accepted him on sight instead of shunning him for his dragonish nature. After all, what harm could a small, chubby, squishy, wingless hatchling like Spike cause? Sure, he wouldn't be like that forever, but until then...

"You leave him alone, Rainbow Dash!" Rarity scolded with a frown, causing the cyan pegasus to stop laughing and look up in confusion. "Spike's style is unique. He doesn't have to look like other dragons."

"Or act like them." Twilight offered.

"My little Spikey Wikey is perfect the way he is." Rarity complimented, fondly flicking his top scale with her hoof, causing it to vibrate.

This comment seemed to worry Spike. "I don't...act like other dragons?" He asked timidly.

"Oh, not even close!" Pinkie answered cheerfully.

"But why would ya want to, Spike?" Applejack asked.

"Yes. You've got something those dreadfully fierce dragons can only dream of." Rarity told him.

"What's that?" Spike asked in a hopeful manner. The answer, however, was something he didn't have in mind:

"The cutest widdle chubby cheeks!" Rarity fawned in a babyish voice, pressing her hooves against his face and squishing said cheeks. "Ooooo!"

Spike blushed hard, making his entire face turn pink. "C-C-Cute? Dragons aren't supposed to be cute!" Spike stammered, tapping his fingers together shyly. "R-Right?"

But that just made it worse for the poor baby dragon. "Oh, sweetie, you are turning the most delightful shade of red; it is most becoming." Rarity said with a hint of a fond giggle. Spike then noticed every one of the girls staring at him in acceptance...but that just made it worse; dragons are supposed to be scary, tough, strong! Not cute and chubby! This was insulting, even to him.

"Rrrgh!" He growled in frustration, jumping out from the trench and storming off.

All the girls peeked over the trench, watching him go. "Oh, isn't he adorable when he waddles off in anger?" Rarity giggled waddle.

"Waddle? Rrrrrggggh!" He growled before leaving the area angrily.

"Wow..." Twilight muttered, watching her number one assistant storming off in confusion and concern. "And I thought he loved getting attention..."

"I don't see what's to get so upset about." Rarity responded, she and the others returning to their watching. "He's so adorable! What's the harm in that?"

Twilight, however, just stared after the baby dragon, frowning in thought.

The rest of the day was spent watching the dragons on their migration, and then Twilight and her friends ended it by going out for dinner. After enjoying a long, exciting day ending with a delicious meal with your friends will leave any creature, human, pony, dragon, or otherwise feeling very satisfied and eager for sleep...but tonight, Twilight wasn't going to find it.

Spike hadn't enjoyed the day nearly as much as Twilight and her pony friends; what they had said about him not being a dragon had left him greatly disturbed. It was true though: the magic that had been used to create him from within the egg was that of a pony, and therefore it left him as a pony in mind: he hadn't been born with the ancient wisdom and fierce, animalistic instincts of a dragon; those instincts had been erased by Twilight's magic and replaced by the gentle, peaceful mindset of a pony that Twilight was, even if she didn't mean to. He didn't even know how to act like a real dragon, even if he wanted too.

"What am I?" He asked himself as he laid in his basket-bed next to Twilight's bed, staring at the ceiling in thought. "Where am I from? Who am I suppose to be?"

Twilight, who had been trying to drown out the dragon's questions with one of her pillows, groaned in aggravation. "I don't know!" She nearly shouted for what seemed like the hundredth's time as she sat up to face him. "For the last time, Spike, you were given to me as an egg." She told him, her voice softening in pity as she spoke. "I don't know who found you or where they found you."

"Seriously? That's all you know?" Spike asked, turning away from her in disappointment.

"I'm sorry, Spike." Twilight said as honestly as she could.

"That doesn't tell me anything about who I am!" Spike stated as he sat up and climbed out of bed; he made his way to the bedroom mirror, looking as his reflection in sadness; a reflection of a copy. A creature resembling one but not entirely one at all. "I need answers! I feel like I'm...I'm looking at a complete stranger."

He then broke down and curled up on the floor, stricken with grief. Twilight's heart tightened in her own sadness and pity; she knew that she didn't know what he was feeling, but she knew that she needed to help. "Oh, Spike..." She said softly, getting out of bed and coming up to him; she gently placed a hoof on his body, gently stroking the scales on his back. "...why don't we do some late-night research? See what we can find out." She offered, turning away and heading to the bookshelf.

Spike looked up, a small glimmer of hope passing over his face. "Really? You'd do that?" He asked hopefully, wiping away his tears.

"Of course." Twilight said as she used her magic to turn on the light and levitate the first book of Mythical Creatures in front of her. "I'm sure we can find something." She then opened the book with her magic and begun to read.

For the next couple of hours the two studied into the night, trying to find any information on dragons that the books of the Golden Oaks Library would have...but for all their efforts, they came up sort with any kind of real information about the mighty beasts. The only stuff the library had on them were old legends of Equestria's past, and bedtime stories for foals, both of which expectantly represented them in the same way: big, ferocious monsters whose soul purpose of existence was to torment ponykind. Needless to say that was more than just a little discouraging.

Twilight's face scrunched up in disgust at the crude interpretations of dragons, unable to picture Spike as them in the books; was this how ponies viewed dragons? Yes, she remembered the Bane of Faust. Yes, they had a bad reputation. Yes, she knew Spike was different than all other dragons in the world...but really?

As she read her current book (one containing a historic tale of a griffin knight slaying a blue dragon) , she recalled an event that took place just a few weeks after the whole Nightmare Moon adventure, when a large red dragon had taken residence in a mountain about twenty miles outside of Ponyville. There was no real threat from the creature as it had chosen that mountain to enter a hundred-year hibernation, but the smoke it was creating with its snoring would choke the very life out of the land surrounding its mountain for miles, including Ponyville. So, under orders from the princess (which Twilight still privately questioned to this day), she and her friends set off to the mountain in order to 'persuade' the dragon to move elsewhere.

What. The. Buck?! Even to this day, Twilight questioned the wisdom of the Princess's decision to send six ordinary teenage mares up to deal with a full-grown dragon; why would anyone even think that would be a good idea, let alone an immortal alicorn of eternal wisdom and leadership? What were they to do if the beast attacked; hit it with apples? Sing it a song? Give it the healing magic of friendship? This was a dragon, not a simple school-yard bully or cranky neighbor; it wouldn't hesitate to harm or even kill them if they set it off. Perhaps if they had the Elements of Harmony with them they could've been protected, but aside from that there was no guarantee that the dragon would cooperate on friendly terms.

So imagine her surprise when he did.

He didn't at first. They each tried numerous attempts to get him to move: Twilight tried to persuade him with calm reasoning, Rarity tried to charm and woo him into skipping his nap, and Pinkie Pie even tried to make him laugh to get on his good side, each one ending in failure (side note, Twilight thought: Rarity's idea was working until she went greedy and ruined the whole thing). Then things did turn nasty when Rainbow Dash, with her ever-present ego and aggressive nature, decided to take matters into her own hooves and outright attack the beast, bucking it straight in the face with her hooves. Of course, the dragon did not approve of this and attacked, blasting them with smoke and leaving them defenseless. And in that moment Twilight feared that her mother's warnings had come true...until something amazing happened.

Fluttershy made him cry.

That's right.

Fluttershy, the pony who freaked out at the sight of her own shadow, who was mortally terrified of dragonkind, went up to him, gave him a stern talking-to as if he was but a foal caught breaking a window...and he broke down into tears, bawling his eyes out in sorrow and shame.

It was unbelievable; when Twilight first entered the cave, she imagined meeting a species of a body and mindset far above that of a normal pony. A creature with mental processing and physical strength that nopony could never even hope to match...one, who would regard her and her friends as mere vermin intruding in its home...but here it was, the 'monster' that had haunted the nightmares and lives of all of Equestria, and Fluttershy was fearlessly babying it as if it were just another one of her critters.

Was this the monster that she had heard of so much yet knew so little about? Was this the species that destroyed countless lives and were feared and hated from sea to sea?

Apparently not, as it turned out: once the dragon had left and they returned home, Twilight went to Canterlot personally to question Celestia of the nature of her encounter. It turned out that the dragon was an unnaturally equine-friendly individual named Sahqoyol, or Red-Fire in mortal tongue; he was a dragon who had grown up in Zanzebra (a country on a separate continent than Equestria), nearby multiple settlements of Zebras, a race known for respecting and worshiping dragons. It was these zebras, who had served his family line for generations, that gave birth to and nurtured his peaceful outlook toward equines in general, as well as his softer side. He had come to Equestria to hibernate in peace, knowing that other dragons would not enter the pony's territory and not bother him...but, thanks to the Mane 6, he returned to Zanzebra to nest in his old home; Twilight admittedly felt a little bad about making him cry, despite the overall bizarreness of the whole situation, and thankfully she was able to get back home without letting her parents or brother found out about her little adventure.

There was no way she was ever going to tell her family about it; they'd skin her alive!

But what the princess had told her also gave birth to many other questions: apparent the Zebras, a race not too different from Ponies, lived in perfect peace with the mighty dragons. She also learned through research that many of the other races of Equestria lived quite peacefully with them as well: The Buffalo of the Appleloosan Planes practically worshiped them as gods, while the Minotaurs had actually set up a primitive form of trade with them: jewels for meat, and such. The Griffins didn't...but then again, they didn't get along with anyone; even Celestia had constant trouble trying to keep the eagle-lion hybrids from going to war for whatever crazed reason they could think up on the spot.

Why was it, when all the other races of the world could accept them, Ponykind, the main race of Equestria, could not?

"Hey, Twilght!"

"GAH!" Twilight shrieked in surprise, literally jumping off her pillow. She fell backwards into a pile of books on the floor, one that had been building up over the night; a loud yet cushioned thump filled the room, a flurry of paper and binding scattering through the air.

"Spike! Don't do that!" She snapped as she poked her head out of the pile, a medium-sized book impaled on her horn. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Spike grinned sheepishly, trying hard to hide his amusement under a mask of fake regret. "Sorry..." He lied; Twilight didn't even need to be the Element of Honesty to see through that one. "...it's just that I found this; I don't think it's one of ours."

What frustration and aftershock Twilight was feeling vanished when she saw the book her number-one assistant was clutching in his hands and holding up for her to see. Anyone who came to Ponyville for any reason would learn very quickly that Twilight Sparkle, owner of the Golden Oaks Library, knew her collection completely, to every last page, and anypony living in this town could vouch for that claim; if any new books were added behind her back, she would find out immediately, and if any book goes missing or becomes overdue, then may Celestia herself save the sinner in question from Twilight tardy-loathing wrath. There was a reason no one visited to check out a book to take home.

So anyone else would've been as equally surprised as her to see this strange new edition to the library's literature...if they even realized it was out of place to begin with.

It wasn't a very large book, just a little more larger than the average reading book in height and length; it's page count barely made it into the pamphlet category, no more than twenty pages at best. It's binding was made out of brown, smooth leather flaps tied together with red string, possessing no solid skeleton of any sort; a paper-back, so to speak, made at home by someone with non-professional materials. At first glance no one would think it was anything important...but it what was on the front that really caught Twilight's attention; the dust that had gathered on the front was so thick it was almost impossible to see, but she was able to just make them out. Engraved into the leather on the front cover was the symbol of the sun, featuring six symbols surrounding in the great star in a hexagonal pattern: a trio of apples, a trio of butterflies, a trio of gems, a trio of balloons, a cloud with a rainbow-styled lightning bolt, and in the center was the symbol of a star burst, surrounded by numerous sparkles.

Her and her friends' cutie marks. Surrounding the symbol of Celestia's cutie mark.

"Where did you find this?"

"Back behind the books in the lower shelves of the Fictional Literature section," Spike stated as he approached Twilight, turning the book around to face him before blowing on it; an enormous cloud of dust billowed forth, sending both unicorn and dragon into a coughing fit. "It-...*Cough, cough!*...It looks like...*Cough!*...it's been there...*Cough!*...for years."

When Spike mentioned the book was found in the Fiction section, Twilight almost mentally tossed it aside; it was obviously a piece of fiction, most likely made and placed there by a 'fan' of the Elements of Harmony...but at the mention of years, Twilight knew that this book was an impossibly. "That can't be," She said. "I just cleaned out and re-shelved the Fiction Section a few days ago; it couldn't have been there. I wiped the shelves clean of dust myself!"

Grabbing the book with her magic, she pulled herself out of the book pile and practically ran over to the shelves in question...and nearly tripped over her own hooves in shock. There, what was once a top clean enough to eat off of that very morning, was a layer of dust thick enough to look like snow...minus a large clean square where a book had been laying the entire time.

Twilight was unable to form words, her mane suddenly becoming unraveled with a comical *Boing*. "...How...Wha...I...that...it...how is that even possible?!" She finally squealed, her eyelids twitching feverishly.

She glared the book floating in her grasp accusingly, as if scolding it for warping her sense of reality...when she saw the cover again; with the dust gone, it was much easier to see the symbols engraved into the leather, including one that she hadn't been able to make out before: circling the seven cutie mark symbols, like a great serpent around a ball, was the image of a flying dragon, his body circled around the symbols, as if shielding them from the world.

A book with their cutie marks and a dragon...that suddenly appeared, as if after years, on the night she and Spike were purposely looking for book of dragons...

There was no way that this was pure coincidence.

Spike, who had remained silent during Twilight's mental breakdown, suddenly blinked. "Hold on...I just thought of something." He suddenly spoke up. Twilight looked at him expectantly. "Well...that thing's supposed to have been around here for years, right? And it certainly looks that way..."

"Yeah?"

"...well, if it has...then how does it have all your cutie marks together?"

Twilight froze, realization smacking her in the face. Spike was right; this book was old...older than how long she and her friends even knew each other.

"This...this is too weird." She finally concluded, setting the book on the nearby table and collapsing back on her pillow; her mind was spinning with questions and confusion, and her body suddenly felt the rush of exhaustion. She wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and forget this ever happened.

Then Spike asked the dreaded question.

"Well? Aren't you going to read it?"

Twilight stiffened at the question; the moment those words registered in her brain, the all-too familiar urges of curiosity and hunger for answers tugged hard at her very core...but for once in her book-wormy and studious life, she fought back against them. She merely sat there, biting her lip as she gave the book a wary stare.

"I...I don't know..." She admitted, not breaking her gaze. "This thing's obviously unnatural, maybe even magical...I want to read it, believe me; maybe it'll answer a few questions, like who made it and where it came from...or it could be set to explode when opened, or cast a curse or something on whoever reads it."

Spike grinned. "What was that, Twilight? Did I just hear you say the 'C' word?" He cooed, cupping an hand around his ear.

The lavender mare glared flaming daggers at him. "Oh, you're hilarious. Ha ha." She growled sarcastically, before turning quite cross. "I'm being serious, Spike! There's no telling what this thing might do!"

"Or maybe you're suppose to read it," Spike objected, motioning to the book as he approached her. "I know you're thinking it: A magical book about dragons pops up when we're looking for dragon books? This can't be just a coincidence. Maybe it's like that because you're suppose to read it, and if you don't, all of Equestria would be doomed!"

Twilight gave him a flat, unamused look. "That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

The baby dragon met her look with one that matched. "Says the Element of Magic who was just going on about curses..." He deadpanned; his foster sister opened her mouth to snap something back, but came up with no reply, her mouth flapping like the jaws of a fish. "Maybe it's not cursed; maybe it's just an ordinary book, but there is something important about it. Even I can tell that."

Twilight rolled her eyes as she turned away...only to find herself looking back at that strange book again. She gave it a deadly glare, as if trying to make it burst into flames with her mind; this was ridiculous, all this fuss over a stupid book. Never before had the student of Celestia ever met a book she didn't like (not counting those horrible vampire romance novels that Rarity seemed to love so much; her name was the laughing stock of the school thanks to those stupid things...), but this one was coming very close to being the first. Stupid book...stupid frustrating book! She wanted to throw it out; to set it aflame, bake the ashes into cupcakes, turned the cupcakes to stone, and banish those stony cupcakes to the moon! But...she...just...couldn't.

Finally, after engaging in a staring contest with it for a good five minutes, she broke. "...if anything happens, I'm telling Princess Celestia it was all your fault." She hissed at Spike, picking the book up with her magic and levitating it in front of her.

"Awesome." Spike stated, plopping down next to the unicorn, waiting expectantly for her to start.

Twilight huffed at him, then turned her attention back to the book; for a brief moment the dragon on the cover seemed to be staring at her, as if daring her to try something. She swallowed nervously, sweat building on her forehead as she began to pull on the tip of the cover. "W-Well...here goes..."

And with the stillness of a tree in a hurricane, she shakily opened the book.

Nothing happened.

She slumped back with a sigh of relief...before laughing quietly at herself. 'Look at me, the student of Celestia freaking out over a book. Me, scared of a book. I really do need to get out more...' She mentally giggled, before looking down upon the newly-dubbed harmless reading material...but what she read aloud to herself and Spike, written on pages turned yellow with time, was of a very familiar horn-writing...

Dear Twilight Sparkle.

Hello, I suppose...forgive me; I'm not very good at writing in a social method at the moment, but I plan to change that soon enough. I may not have met you yet, but if you are reading this, then that means we have now and probably know each other very well, so I'm trying to be as friendly as I can.

I know this all seems rather strange, and I truly wish that I could explain what's going on, but I fear that I could inadvertently cause a lot of damage. Listen carefully, though: this is very important. I can tell you that I'm placing this message in the Golden Oaks Library knowing one day you'll find it when the time was right, and that it is enchanted so that will only open to you or the other Element Bearers.

If you are reading this, Twilight, it means that the time has come: something very important is about to happen near you, something that will forever change the very face and future of Equestria. It is very hard to explain, and I can't tell you much for fear of damaging the world, but I can tell you that all of the Elements of Harmony are involved in its workings, as will their bearers be. I cannot stress to you enough how important this is; if you are reading this book, it means that it is already beginning to happen, and you must prepare.

I will warn you, though: what will happen will shake your life and very world badly; you and your friends will not come out of it unchanged, just as Equestria won't as well...but this needs to happen, for the future of all of ponykind depends on it. It will be hard, ponies will be hurt, and your friendships will be put to the test...but I have faith in you, even as I write this, awaiting the day when you will be born.

I trust you, my future student. I know you can do this. Be strong, young pony; be wise, alert, and understanding. And remember to always keep your heart open; true friendship can be formed between even the most unlikely of hearts.

I look forward to meeting you one day.

Signed, Princess Celestia, sol ruler of Equestria.

The book fell to the floor with a soft *thump*, though Twilight paid it no mind, for she was no longer aware of the physical world around her; she just stared into nothingness, her face twisted in stunned disbelief and fear, the words that she had just read echoing through her mind.

'...No...that...that can't be...' She told herself. 'This...this can't be r-real.'

"...uh, T-Twilight? W-What's going on outside?"

Sweat began to roll down her forehead. 'It's just a j-joke, right? Haha, very funny...real funny, Princess. Y-You never told me y-you had a sense of humor.'

"Twilight?"

The world closed in around her, the darkness swallowing her whole. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. 'I-I-It just can't...she c-couldn't have...s-she...she k-k-knew...she knew...it was me!'

"Twilight! Snap out of it!"

'S-S-She knew I was the Element of Magic all along!'

"TWILIGHT!" Spike shouted and, in a final desperate attempt to gain her attention, bit down onto her arm.

The world came rushing back as hot-white pain burst through her foreleg; the sheer trauma-like confusion, coupled by Spike's teeth breaking through her skin, caused her to scream out loud. She threw herself backwards, yanking her leg out of Spike's mouth and toppling head-over-hooves into a tall tower of books; the impact caused the tower of books to topple over and fall to the floor with a loud crash, collapsing on top of Twilight's work table, knocking over the horse-head figurine and smashing a multitude of glass beakers, their contents spilling forth onto the table's top, soaking everything they came across.

Twilight laid on her back in the pile of books, gasping for breath as if choking, clutching her wounded arm as she fought back her tears; Spike had bitten down harder than he intended, and blood was leaking forth from the teeth marks.

She looked downwards at her dragon assistant, who stared back with a mixed look of worry and shame. "S-S-Spike...y-you bit me..." She whimpered, shaken from everything happening.

Spike shook his head, clearing it from the guilt. "I'm sorry, okay, but look!" He told her, pointing to the window.

Twilight followed her assistant's finger to the window, about to question his reasoning, when a distant rumble sounded from outside. Shakily she got up and limped to said window, being careful to avoid putting any pressure onto her wounded limb, and looked outside.

What she saw, she would never forget.

The night sky, once filled with Luna's masterpiece of stars, was transforming before her very eyes; the wind howled through PonyVille, leaves and debris tearing through the air at incredible speeds, as the sky itself twisted and morphed into a monstrous storm. Pitch-black clouds rolled over the town, covering the night skies, thunderous booms rumbling through the air as lightning blazed and danced across the foreboding black. She could actually see the clouds forming into existence, swirling in out of nowhere and filling the heavens in a maelstrom of darkness and fear; rain poured down from the skies in what could only be described as a hurricane, coming down with a strength and fury of the likes no Ponyvillian had ever seen. The very earth shook under the storm's wrath, the trees of PonyVille and the Everfree lashing in the wind, leaves, dirt, branches, and even large rocks soaring through the air; the hailstorm of debris rained down upon Ponyville, soaring into and damaging homes or even destroying entire buildings. Ponies were already fleeing from their damaged homes, running about the chaos in panic, trying to find shelter from what could very well be described as the end of the world.

That's when she saw it, forming miles above the canopy of the distant Everfree Forest: the clouds began to swirl in on themselves, forming the beginnings of an enormous twister in the storm cover...one that was forming upside down, sucking the clouds around it inwards. The closest thing Twilight could compare it to was the little twister that formed in a bathtub; the little swirling whirlpool that formed above the drain when unplugged, though on a godly scale. And from within the growing typhoon blazed a brilliant purple light so bright it became almost white; it was as if the sun had fallen to the earth, lighting up the night as if it was day, lightning of purple and white hues blasting forth and spreading across the cloud like a great spider's web, the thunderous roar destroying the silence completely...and the light grew, building in brightness and power...

Her eyes widened in disbelief and horror.

'It's beginning, isn't it? The 'event' in the book...' She thought, unable to move or speak; fear had claimed her very being. 'The time has come.'

Then, with the light and power comparable to a miniature super-nova, it exploded: from the blazing vortex of death and power shot forth a beam of light, like a giant laser, striking straight down into the dark forest with an ear-splitting explosion of power. Twilight screamed in horror and agony, clutching at her ears as the sound wave ripped through her body...then the shock waves came, softly at first, until it blasted through the earth hard enough to throw the lavender unicorn and her dragon assistant bodily into the air, both of them screaming in horror as their very world spun; any object not bolted down was sent flying, raining down on them in a fury like the storm outside.

"T-T-Twilight!" Spike cried in fear, whimpering with the emotion, huddled in the corner as the library continued to shake. "Twilight, help! Please!"

At the sound of her dragon's frightened voice, all fear and trauma surging through Twilight was vaporized on the spot; now, only a fire of maternal protection raged in her heart. Forcing herself onto her hooves, she charged through the chaos and destruction toward him, taking hits from the books flying about; it hurt, yes, but she forced the pain out of her mind, trudging ahead until she reached him, scooping him up in her hooves and hugging him close, using herself as a living shield.

Her baby dragon was in danger, and in that brief moment, pain and fear meant nothing to her.

"It's o-okay, Spike..." She assured him, holding him close as the destruction raged around them. "...It's going to be okay..."

Then she heard it: through all the rumbling, the thunder, the destruction, and the chaos, a new sound boomed forth above all the rest from within the storm and forest. A sound that made Twilight's blood run cold.

A roar.

It was a roar of pure rage and ferocity, one that should've been silenced long ago by the very creation of civilization; no mortal creature in existence could ever create such a horrific cry of pure primal rage. A fury and hatred so fierce...so ancient...so powerful...it shook her to the very core, as well as blasted her and Spike back against the wall by the sheer strength of its ear-tearing volume.

It was the roar of a true dragon.

The roar of death.

And the beam of light finally blasted forth, and existence itself went white.

The Everfree Forest.

Since the founding of Equestria, this dark and foreboding forest has haunted the dreams and legends of ponies and all other races everywhere. It was the largest section of untouched wild land on the entire continent, covering more than a fourth of Celestia's entire kingdom, slithering in and stretching to cities throughout the land and going far beyond the borders and the horizon itself.

So why did the ponies avoid it instead of take advantage of its natural bounties?

Fear of the alien.

And what was so alien about this forest?

It was completely normal.

As all those who live in Equestria know, this planet's natural cycles are manually taken care of by the ponies that inhabit it: Unicorns use their magic to change the seasons, Pegasi move clouds and create weather patterns, and Earth Ponies tend to the growth of plants and care of animals on the ground. But the Everfree Forest was different: it did all this by itself. Unlike the rest of this planet, the Everfree was perfectly natural in comparison with other worlds: the weather and seasons changed on their own, plants grew and thrived without the help or interference of ponykind, as did the animals that lived in it. To most outsiders, this would be perfectly normal, but to ponykind's blind innocence, it was downright terrifying. Even more so thanks to it's appearance and inhabitants.

From above it was a sea of green, stretching on for all eternity and resembling pretty much any regular forest...but beneath the canopy, it was a terrifying place; trees and plants beneath the branches fought and strangled each other over even the smallest patches of sunlight: a rare necessity in this dark land, leaving the smaller, weaker saplings to starve and die in the dark undergrowth. Down there, several hundred feet below the suffocating canopy, dense vegetation thrived on the dank forest floor and carpeted the putrid dirt with its tentacle-like web of roots, providing miserable but sufficient hiding-holes for the many creatures which inhabit this forest.

The creatures of the Everfree were even scarier and more savage than the forest itself. Many of Equestria's most horrible and feared monsters lurked in the darkness of this forest, eagerly awaiting for a foolish outsider to set foot in it: Dragons were amongst these, though they were far and scarcely spread. Manticores, great lions with bat wings and scorpion tails, were a more common threat to travelers. Timberwolves, canine-like beasts made and grown from the trees they live beneath, hunted in packs to bring down tougher prey. These were but just a few of the many mythical and monstrous beasts living in the Everfree. And then even the beasts themselves could succumbed to other predators, though they not be animals. The lower vegetation itself was alive with poison and toxins of all kinds, from the infamous Poison Joke to their carnivorous cousins the Fang Floras.

From the smallest of creatures to the largest of beasts, from the top of its canopy to the roots of its trees, the Everfree Forest is definitely, by all accounts, a deathtrap for the inexperienced and unprepared...which is why the secrets that laid inside its borders have remained untouched by civilization for centuries, including a famous yet mysterious relic of a time long past:

The Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. The very same ruins where Twilight and her friends defeated Nightmare Moon with the Elements of Harmony.

Having been around since the time before the War of the Sun and Moon, this ancient fortress had stood strong against the ravages of time as well as the many wars it had been through in its existence; even as age and the forest fought to claim it, the ruins still stood as strong now as it did then, even if time and Nightmare Moon's attacks had reduced it to a dirty, broken, rubble-scattered shell of its former glory. It stood on a large plateau in the middle of a large circular canyon, which served as a natural moat; the only way for land-dwelling creatures to reach it would be across a flimsy wooden bridge, which barely held the weight of a couple ponies when Twilight and her friends last used it to reach the Elements of Harmony. This, couple with dozens of booby traps and even a few magical defenses, is why it remained mostly untouched by the forest that surrounded it.

But tonight a beast of a new sort would come to sit on the ancient throne as the new king of this world.

As the unworldly storm above slowly died down into a still cloud cover, the blazing white light of the purple beam also faded from existence, revealing the carnage it had left behind. For the castle had been ground zero: the location where the laser had struck.

The palace had stood against the blow, but it and the forest around it had not come out unscratched. Everything within a thousand foot radius of the impact site had been completely vaporized; all the trees, plants, animals and even the larger rocks within range had been incinerated on the spot, their ashes scattered across the forest by the lashing winds of the shock waves; even now a blizzard of ash was slowly falling over the distant canopies, floating down like snow. The forest just shy of the blast radius had been blown back by the force of the shock waves, entire acres of trees knocked over, crushing anything in their path and tearing up the earth with their roots.

The Sister's Castle remained standing, for the most part: all the weaker pieces, those already destined to fall before the rest, had been blasted down and scattered in heaps across the burned, grass-less plateau. What remained standing had been struck by the force of a hurricane; all the plants growing on the walls and shoved into the cracks had also been vaporized into ash, leaving the ruins in a surprisingly cleaner state than they previously were, though now weaker and more damage-ridden. A thick spray of dirt, stone, and mud kicked up at ground zero of the impact had ruined every last piece of the surviving banners and painting, as well as covered most of the walls and floor surrounding the enormous fifty-foot crater located just in front of the palace, along with the blazing fires still feasting on the last scraps of ruined organic matter.

But it what was new to the palace that really stood out; decorating the burned plateau and forest around it were these alien crystals. Strange, almost gem-like formations filled the Everfree Forest, with many large formations clustered around the impact crater, but countless more scattered far and wide throughout the entire forest by the blast wave; they ranged in size, from a few as large as Canterlot's towers, and some as small as a full-grown pony. They also ranged in different colors; the main color was a dark purplish-pink in color, though there were a few that were rarer and more unique: some were blood-red and strangely healthy-looking, others were electric-green and crackled with energy, and others were a soothing, almost heavenly sky-blue...but all the crystals had one thing in common: they glowed and pulsed with the energy of the storm and beam, dotting the dark forest like stars in the sky.

Pity there was only one native soul currently there to bear witness to what was going to happen next.

As she coughed hard to clear the ash from her mouth and throat, Zecora weakly crawled out from the abandoned burrow beneath the roots of a fallen tree near the canyon, shaken badly from the experience. The zebra herbalist was lucky enough to have found it when the storm first hit.

"In all my years in this magical land, never have I seen such an event first-hand..." She whispered in a shaken breath. She looked up to the sky, hoping the freak storm was finally over; thankfully it was, obvious by the cloud cover breaking apart and fading into the air, revealing the beautiful night sky once more.

Normally Zecora wouldn't be out at this hour, but this time was an exception: as a herbalist of the Everfree, she was familiar with the growth and blooming cycles of all the magical plants of this mysterious forest, and a recent potion request from one of Ponyville's citizens called for the petals of the Lunar Lily, a rare nocturnal flower that only bloomed during a full moon. She was out looking for this very plant when the earth-shattering storm struck the forest, forcing her to take shelter in a hole in the ground.

She quietly dusted the dirt and ash from her brown cloak and striped legs, staring out with suspicion at the flaming, crystal-twisted palace before her. The skies above the plateau was the only place where the black clouds hadn't broken up, though that could've just been the smoke from the fires burning around her. The glow from the fires and crystals alike lit up the smog, giving the fog of black an almost demonic red, orange and purple glow, like the fiery glow of a sunset.

'This forest is known for countless dangers foretold, but this is something not of this ancient hold.' She thought to herself, glaring suspiciously at the crystals across the canyon. 'Twilight and her friends have no doubt seen this; I must tell them of the changed palace and forest.'

She turned to leave and head for Ponyville, when the night was lit up once more by a brilliant purple/white blaze and a sudden clap of thunder. Zecora let loose a whinny of alarm as she brought her foreleg up over her eyes, shielding them from the blinding glare, the boom of the explosion of power knocking her back a few steps...until the light faded, allowing her to look back to the ruins. Within the crater blazed forth a swirling maelstrom of black fog, filling up and spilling forth from the crater like an overflowing pond, unleashing a dark, sinister mist across the plateau. From the reforming clouds blasted forth flashes of lightning, blazing red, orange, and purple as they boom through the air, sending tremors through the earth and the zebra's body.

Then she saw it...emerging from the smoky void in the crater: A sight that would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life...

The large talon-ed hand of a reptile, as large as a small carriage in size, lifted out of the crater and grabbed onto the edge, the meter-long claws ripping into the very stone. Then the rest of it came, cloaked and silhouetted in the smokey mist and crackling with a unholy purple and red energy, pulling itself out of the ground like a giant demon emerging from Tartarus itself. Huge draconian wings, as long and wide as the palace towers were tall, stretched out to full length before folding down and gripping the earth, aiding the coloum-like arms and legs in lifting the creature's enormous body in an upright, four-legged stance. A massive reptilian tail, as long as a small river and as thick as a full-grown tree, rolled back like a giant snake, it's bladed end smashing into the distant rubble of the palace. A long, serpentine neck rose above the rest of it, holding up the monstrous reptilian head covered in twisted, demonic horns and a webbed, basilisk-like frill...as well as bearing a pair of fiery white eyes.

Those eyes...

Those horrible...flaming...monstrous eyes!

Zecora couldn't scream; she couldn't run...she could only stare, frozen on the spot, into those eyes. Two balls of pure white flame with no pupils, resembling twin suns blazing bright white light throughout the night. And it wasn't just an ordinary fire they were burning with; no, that would actually be preferred! These eyes...they burned with hate...and rage. They burned with a dark yet calm, deep-rooted fury and hatred that blazed with a inner fire comparable only to the pits of Tartarus itself. She wasn't sure what events or force could ever cause anger of that sheer level of ferocity...but it was clear that nothing in Equestria ever could. It looked very similar to a dragon, but it was no dragon...at least, not the kind Zecora knew of.

This...this beast...this demon...

It was not Equestrian. She didn't know what monstrous realm birthed such a creature of war and death...but one thing was certain:

Nothing in Equestria could ever create such a monster.

The lightning continued to flash and blaze around this monster dragon as it stepped forward out of the crater, it's body sliding like water through the air as the earth trembled between its very presence; it lifted its head back and yawned deeply, as if awaking from a long, deep slumber, briefly closing its horrible eyes but revealing jaws lined with the terrifying, flesh-ripping, dagger-shaped teeth of a carnivore. The eyes opened once more before it closed its mouth and looked around, taking in its surroundings with a tense yet calm aura, as if studying, getting familiar with the alien terrain and already plotting how to use it to its advantage. It's wings lifted off the ground and folded to its sides, the long fingers trailing back with its tail, as it turned itself around, turning its head toward what remained of the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Its eyes and face were no longer visible from her angle, but Zecora had the strangest feeling that it was...satisfied.

She paled, the blood draining from her face; if this thing behaved in any way that dragons here did...then she knew it was viewing the castle, and all the crystals that it was most likely familiar with, as a cave. A new den to call home.

It was planning to stay.

The dragon then turned it's full body around began to approach the main doors, which were obviously far too small for it to fit through...not that it would've mattered; Zecora was certain that this creature was plenty strong enough to smash it's way through a mere stone wall. Her thoughts were proven correct when it stopped just a few feet from the doors and, with the deep, rumbling growl of a primal beast, shot forward and slammed its horned head forward so fast into the doorway that it became a dark blur.

The front wall of the castle exploded with a powerful blast of rock, dust, and flame, shattered rocks and splintered wood flying off in all directions. The echoing explosion from the impact tore through the night, sending flocks of birds scattering from the distant treetops.

Shaking the dust from its head as a dog would shake water from its fur, the dragon snorted in satisfaction with a sound comparable to a Flame Throw Spell igniting, and lifted its right foreleg to step inside the new opening in the wall...when it stopped. It simply froze on the spot, listening, feeling...searching for something...

...and then, to the zebra's heart-stopping horror, the dragon turned its head around and glared directly at her.

A flash of lavender lightning lit up the sky, revealing the creature's satanic form in full: pitch-black scales shining in the dim light and glimmering with the purple light, face twisted into an enraged snarl as it rumbled a deep, blazing growl...demonic eyes locked with her own.

Her nerve broke, and she bolted for Ponyville, screaming and tearing through the forest in a blind panic.

The dragon stopped growling and merely watched as the small, striped mammal disappeared into the undergrowth while whinnying in absolute mortal terror, its blazing eyes narrowing in deep thought. Without any sign of emotion other than the calm rage and suspicious glare, the great beast slowly turned away from the forest and disappeared into the shadowy interior of the castle.

There was work to be done.

For what felt like an eternity, Twilight's entire existence was nothing but a dark, dreamless void, plagued only by what was left over from the fear and confusion that had impact her just before she went unconscious. It was almost a welcomed experience; to simply rest, no worries or troubles, not a care of the outside world. So she was, admittedly, slightly disappointed when she slowly returned to consciousness.

"Welcome back ta the land of the livin', sugarcube." A familiar country-slang voice said in a mixture of relief and amusement. "How ya feelin'?"

Twilight groaned as she shifted in place; her body was sore and aching in multiple spots, and her head felt like it was going to crack at any moment. "Sore..." She admitted weakly as she struggled to open her eyes; her vision was blurred at first, but soon the orange-and-yellow blob above her cleared to reveal the smiling face of Applejack. "...very sore."

Applejack chuckled softly. "I figured ya might be." She admitted, turning around and grabbing something. "Ya had an entire bookshelf fall on top of ya; the docs say it's a bonafide miracle that nuttin's broke." The earth pony turned back around, carefully cupping a glass of water in her hooves. "Here. This'll help yer headache."

Twilight smiled gratefully as Applejack sat down next to her and gently propped her up against her shoulder, helping her sit up with one arm while using the other to bring the glass to her chapped lips. Twilight drank slowly but greedily, the cool water soothing her parched mouth and throat; as she drank, she could feel her headache subside a bit once she got fluids back into her body.

"Better?" Applejack asked.

The lavender unicorn nodded. "A little, yes. Thanks...where are we?"

She asked that question as she finally took in her surroundings; instead of the familiarity of the library (which she realized was probably ruined beyond repair now), she found herself and Applejack in a large medical tent set up in town square. It was a Medi-Tent, just like the one they had set up during the 'Baked Bads' incident: these were always used whenever there were too many ponies for the admittedly-small Ponyville Hospital Staff to rush to said hospital.

And too many ponies there were: the tent Twilight was currently laying in had at least thirty injured ponies, plus at least ten more tending to them all. She was one of the lucky ones who got one of the cots; most of them were laying about on blankets, while either moaning/crying in pain or laying silently on their beds or blankets. Most of the ponies injured were either bruised, bleeding, or had broken bones, many either wearing casts, slings, or bandages, or having them tied on my a doctor, nurse, or volunteer; one of this volunteers was Rarity, who, other than a large but light bruise formed on his right shoulder, was one the lucky one unharmed. Looking toward the open flaps, Twilight saw at least three other tents set up outside, in what was left of town square; it was still dark out, but lights had been set up to see by outside.

Rarity, who just finished wrapping fresh bandages around the forehead of a sea-green unicorn mare, beamed brightly when she saw her fellow unicorn awake. "Twilight! Or, darling, I was worried sick!" She exclaimed as she trotted over. "When we found you and Spike in the mess of the library I almost feared the worst for you. Thank goodness you only had-"

"Ohmygosh, Spike!" Twilight shrieked, nearly jumping out of bed. "Where is he? Is he okay?"

"Hold yer horses, Twah'!" Applejack said, forcing her back down. Twilight gave a soft 'ow' as the farm mare's shove agitated her brushes. "Sorry...but don't you worry none. Spike's fine; he's with my sister and her friends over in the next tent. The little rascal awful tough for just a youngin'."

Twilight sighed with relief. "Thank Faust..." She whispered softly. Her mind at ease, her gaze fell to the bruise on Rarity's shoulder. "Oh, Rarity...your shoulder."

Rarity followed her gaze to the injury, as if noticing it for the first time. "Oh, this silly little thing? It's nothing, I assure you." She reassured the worried librarian with a fond laugh. "One of my display mannequins knocked me in the side as I was trying to get Sweetie Belle and myself to shelter."

Twilight smiled in relief, and then steeled herself before slowly rolling off the cot and setting her hooves on the ground; a soft burning pain shot through the leg from where Spike had bitten her, which had been wrapped in bandages, making the limb nearly give out. Applejack made a motion to grab her, but she held a hoof up, letting the soreness past as she steadied herself.

"Are ya gonna be okay, Twah'?" The orange mare asked worryingly.

Twilight nodded again. "It's just a few bumps and bruises. I'll manage." She assured her.

Applejack shook her head softly in disbelief, looking out of the tent and at the carnage outside; not one building had gotten out of the sudden 'storm' unharmed. "Can ya'll believe this...what in the flippin' pits of tartarus was that thing...?!"

"Applejack, language!" Rarity scolded, frowning at her colorful words. "...though I must agree with you on your question. Whatever that was, it was no simple storm. I guess I should be grateful that I had the Boutique set up on the opposite side of town after all; it'll be quite the mess to clean up, but at least it came out intact."

Applejack frowned. "Well, that's more than what I can say for Sweet Apple Acres; that thing sent an entire Celestia-danged boulder flying through the orchard and smack-dab right inta our house! Tore up half the trees and smashed the whole buildin' to rubble..." She lamented, pulling her slightly battered hat off and placing it over her chest; her eyes began to glimmer with forming tears. "...I know I should be grateful that we all got outta it alive and unhurt...but dag-nabbit, y'all! That was our home! And now it's gone..."

Despite knowing this wasn't her fault, Twilight couldn't help but dread: could...could her reading that mysterious book have caused this? The book did say that by the time she was reading it, that an event would already be starting, so perhaps this was it...

...but could she have somehow inadvertently caused it to go off?

"What about the others?" She then asked, with a hint of dread in her voice.

"They're all doing well, more or less." Rarity told her, using her magic to lift a warm wet cloth and dab it gently on the lavender unicorn's bruises. "Fluttershy got out of it unharmed, but one of the forest's trees had fallen onto her cottage and many of her animals didn't make it." She looked rather down-cast by this. "The poor dear's utterly heart-broken; she's taken the loss awfully hard. Pinkie Pie's been trying to comfort her, but hasn't had much luck; they're both helping the foals that got injured in the 'storm', if you can call it that."

A sick feeling grew in Twilight's stomach. Even children hadn't gotten out unharmed...oh, she really hoped she didn't cause it now.

"...and Rainbow Dash?"

Applejack snorted, looking rather cross. "Alive, but I'm surprised that she is." She said, anger lacing her tone. "That dang-fool pony tried stopping ta storm with her crazed pegasus stuff and nearly got herself killed; winded up gettin' both her wings sprained! I'm just glad she landed in the lake, or who knows what might've happen!"

"I can hear you, Applesmack."

Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity all turned their attention in the direction of the voice; laying on another cot near the other side of the tent was the cyan mare herself, glaring indignantly at them; she was covered in scrapes and scuffs from head to hoof, her mane, fur, and feathers ruffled and even torn. Both of her wings were bandaged, tied firmly to her body.

Applejack, however, remained unfazed as she stormed right up to her, Twilight and Rarity following nervously. "Well, I sure hope you can, cause I'm gonna give you such a talkin' to-!" She stopped herself, forcing her anger down. She let out a deep sigh, her face becoming one of worry, the tears returning to her eyes. "Don't you ever pull such a dang fool stunt like that again, ya hear?! If somethin' had happened to you, I'd..."

Rainbow Dash's own anger went out like a light, water thrown onto the flame. "I...I'm sorry, okay? Yeah, I was really stupid...but I just thought that if I could get to the center of the twister, I could-..." She shook her head, knowing excuses was useless. "...that storm out there; it wasn't ordinary, even by Everfree standards."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Rarity stated flatly, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Quiet, Rarity." Twilight scolded; the fashionista looked offended, but was ignored as the lavender unicorn turned back to Rainbow Dash. She lit up her horn, and the purple glow spread onto Rainbow Dash's wings; the pegasus purred softly in relief as her body relaxed, the magic soothing the pain and beginning to repair the damage done to her wings. "Go on, Rainbow."

Rainbow nodded softly, shifting herself to look at them more comfortably as began to explain as Twilight continued working on her wings. "Well, when I got closer to it, I could feel this...this power, coming from inside; I want to say it's magic, cause it was kinda like the magic feel that I get when you use your magic on me...but that...that was not magic. It was something else. Something much, much stronger." She looked at her friends, her gaze confused and worried. "I don't even think it was a storm."

"Not'a storm?" Applejack asked in confusion, "Then what could've it been?"

Twilight frowned in thought as she continued on her Low-Level Healing Spell, her own mind racing with the very same question. She recalled watching as the vortex first formed, the glowing light of a purple sun blazing from it; Rainbow was right that it wasn't a storm, even if it formed one...but what was that strange power she was talking about? 'And where was this 'power' coming from? If it was a type of magic, then it couldn't have just appeared out of thin air; all forms of magic and energy need a source to generate from. If it wasn't coming from the storm itself, then...'

"Hold on. Ain't that Zecora?"

Applejack's question, accompanied with the crowd outside exclaiming in surprise, drew Twilight out of her thinking spell; the unicorn looked up from her work on Rainbow Dash to see Zecora quickly pushing her way through the crowd, not even bothering to notice the ponies she bumped into or even knocked over, making a beeline straight for Twilight in a mad panic.

"Twilight there isn't much time to waste! You must write to your teacher post-haste!"

Twilight recoiled in shock at the herbalist's appearance; the zebra looked as if she had just ran the Running of the Leaves ten times non-stop; her fur was sweaty and mattered, while her skin was cut and bleeding in multiple places. Her mane was frazzled and unkept, and her cloak was torn and covered in dirt and...ash? But what shook the pony the most were her eyes. They were the eyes of somepony who had seen Tirek himself: wide, bloodshot, and dilating in terror, her face pale and wrinkled with the emotion.

And before anyone could react, she grabbed Twilight by the shoulders and began shaking her violently.

"You all must listen to me! A monster from hell roams the Everfree!" The zebra was screaming now, crazed with fear. "Help you must find before we all die! We are all but prey in its fiery eyes!"

"Z-Z-Zecora, s-s-stop!" Twilight cried; she grabbed the frantic zebra's hooves and held them so she would stop shaking her as Applejack and Rarity quickly pinned her in place with their body weight. Zecora thrashed and screamed out curses in her native language, desperate to break free and escape, but the two ponies held on tight until their captive finally calmed down, collapsing to the ground in tears.

A deep sense of fear began to fill Twilight's stomach as she watched the usually calm mare shaking and weeping in fear; nearly every time she had seen the zebra before, she was always in a calm state of mind, most likely with the wisdom of her native land and people...but now she looked so terrified.

"It's okay, Zecora. You're safe now." Rarity assured her calmly, though her own face betrayed her worry to her friends. "H-Here. Have something to drink." She offered, quickly using her magic to levitate another glass of water.

Zecora grabbed it with her hooves, quickly gulping the contents down in a hurry, gasping for breath afterwards. "I thank you for your generosity, but no one is safe from that monstrosity." She muttered, her paranoid gaze locked onto the Everfree.

Applejack frowned, as did the rest of her friends; by now Zecora had drawn a crowd, and everyone was expecting for an answer.

The zebra shuddered as she screwed her eyes tight, the image of the creature flashing before her mind. "Within the forest near the castle of old, a beast came from the storm untold: I knew that warning you all was most dire, the first time I looked into those eyes of fire! With teeth like swords and claws like spears, the creature's very sight made me cry with fear! With a power and strength greater than the sun, I knew that when he saw me I had to run! I beg of you: call your gods for help, and to don't ask me why! Or all of Equestria will perish by the beast of the demonic eyes!" She then broke down into a sobbing mess and started softly chanting in a strange language that Twilight had never heard off, praying to whatever spirits of her homeland for protection and deliverance from this darkness.

Twilight felt her blood run cold as Zecora described the monster she had seen; as a graduated student of Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, she had quite the knowledge of magical creatures, having studied on them ever since she adopted Spike in hopes of finding out more about dragons. And living next to the Everfree Forest only allowed her to gain field-work experience with these unnatural beasts. She had heard of them all, and even seen most of them herself: Dragons, Manticores, Timberwolves, Chimeras, Parasprites, Sea Serpents, Ursa Majors, Gragodiles, Cockatrices, Star Spiders. You name it, she knew of it.

But to hear of this...this...monster. Coming from one with probably even more knowledge of the magical wilds than her...

And apparently everyone listening was feeling just as frightened as she was; murmurs of fear and worry were spreading rapidly through the crowd, the ponies listening already beginning to feel panic coursing through them. Applejack and Rarity just stared with faces of slowly-forming dread, looking at each other in worry, while Rainbow Dash tried to hide her emotions under a stern glare, but you could spot the fear easily enough. Twilight spotted Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Spike, standing amongst the crowd and listening as well with their own looks of horror and dread; Fluttershy looked even paler than Zecora did, and Twilight feared that she would topple over at any moment.

"Twah'light..." Applejack whispered. "...what...what are we gonna do...?"

And for the first time in her life, the student of Princess Celestia found herself unable to come up with an answer. "I...I don't know."

Then Rainbow Dash had to open her big mouth.

"I'll tell you what we're gonna do!" She announced, jumping off of her cot and taking to the air, ignoring the slight pulling in her recently-healed muscles. "We're gonna march straight into that forest and use the Elements to blast that storm-causing monster back to Tartarus!"

"NO!" Zecora cried, jumping up and grabbing Twilight by the shoulders once more. "You must not go into the lair for the beast! If you do then on your very soul it will feast!" She was screaming now, shaking the poor unicorn like a ragdoll once more.

"That is enough!" Twilight shouted, finally snapping. With a flash of the horn, she fired a single blast of magic at Zecora's forehead, where it was absorbed into the striped flesh; Zecora herself barely had time to register what had happened before her vision went dark, and she toppled over with a soft thud, her mind once again in peace.

"What was that?" Spike asked, running up to Twilight's side.

"She was going into hysterics, so I hit her with a simple Sleeping Spell." She answered; she lifted the sleeping zebra up with her magic and placed her on the empty cot where Rainbow Dash had been laying moments before. She then turned away, leading her group of friends out of the tent and down the street. "Come on, Spike. We have to get the Elements and warn Princess Celestia about this 'monster'."

"D-D-D-Do w-w r-r-really h-h-have t-t-to g-g-go a-a-after i-i-it?" Fluttershy squeaked, leaning against Pinkie Pie to keep from fainting; even by Fluttershy standards, she looked truly afraid. "P-P-Perhaps t-t-the p-p-princesses c-can d-d-deal w-w-with t-t-this o-o-one."

"W-Well, what else can we do?" Rarity asked; she was just as scared as the others, but she was keeping the brave face for the group. "Another evil creature has shown up to threaten Equestria, even if it does sound rather...intimidating; if we use the Elements of Harmony against it, then it'll be no different than when we defeated Nightmare Moon or Discord, right?"

Applejack nodded in agreement. "W'all just be a might more careful this time around." She assured the cream-yellow pegasus, gently patting her on the shoulder.

Twilight, meanwhile, remained silent in thought as she trailed behind, lost in her own thoughts; she was so deep in thought she didn't even notice Spike until he tugged on her mane. "Hey, Twi-"

"GAH!"

"Sorry, sorry!" He quickly cried, holding one hand up in surrender. "It's just that I held onto this for you. I gotta feeling that it's gonna be very important." He pulled something out from behind his back, and Twilight's heart filled with dread at the sight of it.

The mysterious dragon book from before.

Suddenly, it all clicked in her mind as she broke to a halt; Rainbow Dash was right...it wasn't a storm! It was...

"A portal."

"What was that, Twah'?" Applejack asked, she and the rest looking back in confusion.

Twilight nearly face-hoofed. "Of course! I can't believe I didn't see it before!" She exclaimed aloud, scolding herself. "That 'storm': it was a portal! And that 'creature' came out of it!"

The only one to realize this was Spike, the only one who had read the book too; the others just looked at each other in confusion.

"And how do you figure that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You told me how." Twilight told the cyan pegasus, before clearing her throat; it was time for Teacher Twilight to make another speech. "You said as you got closer to it, you could feel a power that was yet wasn't magic coming from inside, right? Well, where was that 'power' coming from? All forms of magic and energy need a source to generate from. If it wasn't coming from the storm itself, then it must've been coming from a different, distant source, which came out in the form of a inter-dimensional wormhole which ended here!: the Vortex in the storm, where the power and beam of light came out of. And if it ended here...?"

Surprisingly, it was Pinkie Pie who caught onto this one. "...then where did it begin?"

"Exactly!" The unicorn praised excitedly, pacing back and forth in explanation. "Rainbow Dash was right. It worked in the same way my magic does, namely my Teleportation Spell: it took from a power source, like my spell does with my magic, and pushed it through space from one point to another! This, though, was something far more complex than my spell since, instead of pushing things through space, it tore open a 'tunnel' through reality itself, so to speak, from one point to here."

Applejack frowned. "Ah...Ah think Ah get what y'are saying, Twah', but if that's so...then where was that there tunnel and energy comin' from?"

At that Twilight frowned. "...wherever that strange monster that Zecora was talking about came from as well." She stated softly. "You heard what Zecora said: within the forest near the castle of old, a beast came from the storm untold. She saw the thing come out of where the storm opened up, and that means that this creature must've found the portal's entrance and came to Equestria through it...perhaps even from another dimension..."

"Woah, woah, woah, back up!" Rainbow Dash spoke up, waving her hooves in a stopping motion. "Are you saying that thing Zecora saw is some sort of Space Alien?"

"Not an alien in that sense..." Twilight groaned, glaring at her plain-minded companion; honestly, she needed to see the bigger picture here. "...but yes: this thing could very well be a being from another world altogether."

Everyone gasped in the usual surprised way; Twilight began to wonder if there was ever anything they didn't react to with frightened gasps all in perfect unison. Was it even that surprising, given everything else they had faced before? The Mare in the Moon, a God of Chaos, A hoard of hungry, clone-duplicating insects, a fire-breathing dragon in the mountains...was a monster from another world really that far off?

"...Is...is that even possible?" Rarity asked. "Do other worlds even exist?"

"Apparently so, and a resident of one is currently lurking in the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters as we speak." Twilight stated. "Though that means this could be even more dangerous than Nightmare Moon and Discord."

"How so?" Rainbow Dash asked, kick-boxing in the air. "We kicked their butts just fine, and they were some of the most powerful bad guys around! I doubt one big E.T. wannabe will be very much trouble: it might be like those aliens in that movie I saw with Gilda onetime: he might be dying of our common colds as we speak!"

The lavender mare glared at her, angry at her for not taking this seriously. "Yeah, or it could be a being of otherworldly body and power so great that not even Princess Celestia could stand up against it!" She snapped...before softening. "And judging from Zecora's description of the creature, it just might be that. We don't know, and that's why it's more dangerous: this time, its a threat we have absolutely no knowledge of, including on how to beat it."

There was a moment's silence, everyone just standing (or in Fluttershy's case, trembling on the ground in terror) there, trying to process the chaos going around them. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Applejack broke the silence with a heavy sigh, flopping down into her rump in exhaustion, both physical and mental.

"Why?" She asked, her voice sorrowful and heavy. "Why do these things always keep happening to us?" She closed her eyes, trying to fight back the tears building in them. "What happened ta the days when are greatest worries were gettin' the orchard fixed or not missin' the next Wonderbolts show, instead of keepin' every mad wacko with revenge issues from tryin' to destroy our very world and lives? Can't we just enjoy our lives without someone or something always threaten' 'em?! Why?! Why do these things always happen to us?!"

No one answered...until Twilight's gaze turned to the book, her eyes staring into those of the dragon...which were shown to be burning with fire...

...just like Zecora said...

"You know...I think that this was suppose to happen..." She told them. "...and I think I know what to do."

"Seems like only yesterday we were heading through these woods to find the Elements of Harmony." Rarity commented as she, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash traveled down the path through the Everfree Forest to the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

"Amazin' how time flies when yer havin' fun." There was no missing the friendly sarcasm in Applejack's voice, earning a laugh from the other girls. Hours had passed since the six mares first entered the forest, making their way to their ruler's former castle. Their journey this time around, however, was much smoother and more peaceful than when they first trekked to the ruins all those years ago to defeat Nightmare Moon. Every obstacle that the Lunar Goddess had placed before them was now no longer existent, allowing them to travel with ease.

They had already journeyed down the dirt path all the way passed the Serpent's River, and were currently following the cobblestone path that would lead them to the palace. To pass the time and relieved tension from themselves, they talked amongst themselves about the many things going on in their lives: subject's such as their work lives, latest music, favorite food, anticipated events, and even about some of the cuter stallions and who they thought was more attractive...but for one mare there was many questions already plaguing her thoughts wanting to be let out and answered for her own peace of mind.

Other than the clip-clopping of her hooves against the stony road, Twilight remained perfectly quiet as she stared at the book floating in her magical grasp. Part of her wanted to open it up and see what secrets lay within the pages she had yet to read...but something held her back: the dread of knowing. Never before in her life had she ever felt the fear of not wanting to know something...until now. And she wasn't sure she liked it.

What other facts and events of her past and future life had been recording onto these pages? How much more did Celestia know of what was to come? How did she even know to begin with? What factors of Equestria's history had been the result of her oracle-like knowledge of the future? And how was it so that this event would happen right after she obtained the knowledge to deal with it?

She observed the dragon picture once more; was this the creature the event...the portal...had brought into their world?

And what connection did it have with the Elements of Harmony?

The purple mare hounded herself trying to find a plausible answer that could satisfy her thoughts and to let her be free of the torment she created for herself...so deep was she in her own thoughts, that she didn't even hear her friends calling to her.

"Twilight?" Rarity called to her; when she received no sign of acknowledgement from the purple unicorn, the fashionista moved forward from her place beside Fluttershy and tapped a hoof on Twilight's flank. "Are you okay, dear?"

Twilight jumped for the third time that night, this time so high that anyone would've thought she had sprouted wings.

"WAAAAHH!" She screamed as she spun around, coming face to face with a surprised Rarity. "WHAT THE HAY?! Don't ever do that again! You nearly scared me half to death!"

Rarity recoiled in surprise from Twilight's reaction, instinctively putting a hoof over the purple gem over her element, which they had obtained with the rest from the display case in the Golden Oaks Library, where they were moved to since Discord's attack for in case of emergency...such as now. She knew the purple unicorn was deep in thought, but she didn't think that she would've nearly bitten her head. "Forgive me, darling...but you seem to have been in quite a trance for quite some time now." She looked into Twilight's eyes and could see the frustration and wariness in them "...Twilight, dear...is everything alright?"

It was a stupid question to ask; of course everything wasn't alright. She was tense, nervous, and overall genuinely afraid of what they might find in the palace. Some monster of other worldly origin and power waited for them, as foretold in an ancient prophecy recorded by Princess Celestia herself. It would take an incredible sense of self-denial to even think that everything was just fine; even though, as the girls spoke and laughed with each other, they were doing so in an attempt to relieve the heavy air of tension around them, and with little success. They knew that the Elements of Harmony were the most powerful artifacts in Equestria, but if this was truly something not of Equestria, it could very well be immune or even stronger than them...and that idea truly scared them all.

"Well..." Applejack began as she stepped forward, passing the others as she made her way to the front of the group. "I...I know y'all are just as scared as I am...but even if we are stuck with hafin' ta deal with all this craziness, we can find comfort knowin' that our friends and kin back home are safe because of it."

Twilight smiled. Applejack may have been lamenting about their duty before, but now she was glad to see the mare taking it in stride. "You're really brave, AJ." She told the farm-mare sincerely as she slipped the book into her saddlebag.

Applejack blushed, pulling her hat down to cover her upper face. "Aw, suck, Twah'. Ain't nuttin to it." She said sheepishly. "...now, what say ya'll that we go in and deal with that ol' beastie in there?"

"Hey yeah!" Rainbow Dash piped up. "Applejack's right: we can't back out like a bunch of scared fillies! The faster we kick that monster's flank, the faster I can get back to catchin' 'Z's."

Twilight frowned; along with everything else she wasn't sure about, one of them was fighting and defeating the monster when they found it. Were they suppose to do that? She remembered what the book had said before.

"C-c-can't we l-l-let t-the p-p-princesses h-h-handle t-t-this o-one?" Fluttershy whimpered as she timidly shuffled along behind Rainbow Dash.

"No we can't, Fluttershy; Celestia's usually asleep at this hour, and Luna has the night to govern and take care off. We can't tear them away from their rest or duties to handle something that only the Elements can accomplish." The student of said princess said as they neared the top of the hill; it was only a quick trip downhill before they would reach the canyon and cross to the palace. '...and to tell the truth...I'm not sure I'm ready to face Princess Celestia just yet.' She mentally confessing, becoming suddenly aware of the weight of the book in her saddlebag.

Rarity nodded as the mares reached the top of the hill. "Very well, darling, let us be off. I need to return back to my boutique soon to get some rest, I have an order due in a few days and I need...to...finish..."

She never got to finish her sentence, for her voice and thoughts died off as she and the others beheld the newly changed palace and forest surrounding it. The numerous and massive crystals formations crackled through the darkened landscape with an onimous reddish-purple glow, the plant life of the plateau incinerated and scattered to the winds as ash, which snowed down upon the burned-down forest surrounding the palace...and scattered throughout the fallen trees and flung rubble were the corpses of the native woodland animals that didn't escape the storm's wrath, their pooling blood painting the white landscape of ash, and what plants that were smoldering but still standing.

The mares stood in shock, barely able to believe the sight before them. This was far more terrible then when even Discord twisted the world into his mad vision just a few weeks ago.

Finally, Twilight finally worked up the stomach to continue forward; the thick layer of ash shifted beneath her hooves, and for a moment she nearly lost her supper, realizing that she could be walking through the remains of a dead animal. The others began to follow, each just as silent as her as they fidgeted through their steps, their skin crawling as their hooves stepped through the shifting remains of life. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy followed by flying, being spared from having to step in the carnage.

'This...this is terrible! What in the name of Faust was that beam of light?!' Twilight asked herself as she and the others began walking through the debris of broken trees and burnt grounds. But that would be a question left unanswered, and replaced with another from Pinkie Pie:

"How are we going to get across now?"

The party mare's voice snapped them all out of their traumatic daze, drawing their attention to the canyon separating them from the palace grounds: the rope/plank bridge that had previously allowed them to cross had also been vaporized by the beam; not even the wooden stumps that held the ropes were spared, now no more than cinder-covered bulbs in the dirt.

"How in Celestia's name are we supposed to cross over that dreadful chasm now?" Rarity repeated as she stared down into the blackness below.

Everyone was quiet for the moment until a cough from a rainbow-maned pegasus caught everypony's attention. "Uhmm, I think you guys forgotten that we got two unicorns here, one of which is the Element of Magic?" She emphasized, making a 'hint-hint' gesture toward Twilight's horn.

Twilight physically face-hoofed from forgetting such a thing. "Right, Teleporting..." She murmured; seriously, why did she keep forgetting?! Certainly this would've been handy in many of their previous adventures...though she never teleported this many ponies at once.

"Okay just give a few seconds to prepare..."

The Teleportation Spell that Twilight knew was an ancient yet complex spell created and archived by StarSwirl the Bearded himself; completed sometime in the brief era of peace between Discord's Fall and the Crystal Empire War, this spell is considered by many historians to be one of StarSwirl's greatest works, though its fame could only be appreciated by the stronger unicorn wizards and mages. The spell was so complex and powerful that only alicorns or the strongest of unicorns could use it, and even then it took great concentration and magical energy to cast. In the modern day, it had all but disappeared into the archives of the StarSwirl Wing of the Canterlot Castle; Twilight Sparkle, along with the princesses themselves, were the only ponies since StarSwirl himself to master and wield this incredible spell, used occasionally by the princesses in emergency, but by Twilight on a regular basis.

Twilight had first learned about this ability during her second year under Celestia's tutor-age, and it only took another year for her to perfect it; yet another miracle of modern arcane wielding by the young unicorn protege. It wasn't easy to use at first, and even when it was successfully cast, the effects could take their toll on the body of the caster; being suddenly and instantly jerked from one point in space to another in a eye blink was not a pleasant experience for beginners, but through constant practice and mastery, Twilight had quickly adapted to it, to the point where she felt nothing.

So when she teleported herself and her friends across the chasm in one swoop, she remained standing tall and completely unaffected thanks to her years of practice.

Her friends, however, sadly lacked her level of experience.

"Ooohhhhhh, that was a bad ideaaaaaa...ohhh..." Rainbow Dash groaned, clutching her stomach with her wings; the audible gurgling coming from it did not sound healthy at all. "...I-I think...I'm gonna...*Urk!*..."

She whirled around on the spot and promptly released her supper, staining the blackened earth with digested plant matter, spreading green and brown all over the dirt. She continued to heave until she had coughed up every last bit of food, but even then she could still taste the bile in her mouth, and feel the queasiness in her stomach.

Seeing the pegasus vomit was all it took for the rest of them; Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy all turned away and regurgitated the last meals on the spot; Rarity and Fluttershy let loose a few tears as the bile left their mouths, while Pinkie Pie...was the only one who seemed, for the most part, unaffected by the teleportation. She looked a bit queasy, but otherwise remained strong.

"Twah'...never do that again." Applejack groaned, using a hoof to wipe away the residue bile from her lips.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!" She pleaded pitifully, cupping her forehooves together in a plea. "It's been so long since I got sick from it that I forgot it even happened to beginners! I'm really sorry; I won't do it again, I swear!"

"Look, were cool...it just...ugh...no more teleporting for me. I'll think I'll stick to what I do best." Rainbow murmured, flexing her wings.

"Alright...everypony here good now?" Applejack asked, looking about her friends. The other sick mares just groaned in response, while Twilight and Pinkie Pie nodded. "Good...then I think we better git goin'..."

Only then did the six ponies remember why they were here to begin with, and they cast their dreading gazes up to the mighty castle before them; the true sheer sizes and mass of the energy-crackling crystals were much clearer now, many of them towering and looming over them, their dark shapes and ominous glow lighting the darken landscape. The ruins stood before them, like the gateway to the dark realms of shadow, just waiting for the ponies to dare step inside...to what very well could be their doom.

The demolished doorway was the only thing standing between them and the mysterious monster from another world.

"Is everyone ready?" Twilight asked, unconsciously shifting the element on her head.

None of them answered; of course they weren't ready. They had never been truly ready to face this; Nightmare Moon had been an easy break for them, and Discord's corruption had only shaken them at best. And during both of those attacks, victory had been assured, either by the spark of friendship or by the sweetened words of Princess Celestia.

This was the first time they were going up against a true threat.

Then Twilight's gaze fell upon her saddle bags; using her magic, she lifted out the dragon book and simply stared at it, mainly at the image of the beast circling over their cuties marks...as if protecting them from the world. She caressed the face of the dragon image with her hoof, and in that one strange moment, she felt safer than she ever had before in their entire life.

Encouraged, she swallowed her nervousness and steeled herself, placing the book back in her bag.

"Well...let's go."

From within the higher ruins of the castle, a pair of fiery white eyes shone through the darkness, looking down at the source of magical light and energy it had felt mere moments ago. It shifted its tail coils about in a serpentine manner, his purple scales glimmering in the dim crystal light as his tail blade flicking back and forth, eyes narrowed in thought.

So...these were the natives of this strange world...

They were just as unbelievably odd as their world itself.

That's what the hidden beast thought as he watched the six mammals enter the ruins that he had claimed as his new home since he had arrived in this realm. Normally, the new and the peculiar didn't hold such a strong impact on him anymore as it once did in his younger years; he had been to many different realms over the many centuries of his life, had seen many different things (and probably killed just as many) in them, creature, objects, and forces of nature and reality alike.

Nothing really surprised him in that sense anymore; there was the usual feeling of bizarre confusion when he usually first arrived in new worlds, but that would wear off in time.

In short: he had seen it all.

So he gave this world credit for once again re-sparking his long-dead sense of surprise in the new.

Under what circumstances of natural selection and chance, or by what world-creating deity in a sane sense of mind, would bring forth such a bizarre realm of existence, with equally bizarre life-forms to inhabit it? The very aura of the world was of the kind he had never felt before.

His scaled face tightened in a dark, scowling glare as his glowing eyes briefly pulled away from the creatures to look about the room; he could smell it in the air...feel it in the worldly aura around him. No realm or world lived through the arrival of even one of his kind and survived without some traces of them and the destruction they leave behind...but this one...

Its inhabitants...its aura...

It all felt clean.

Innocent.

..Too innocent.

That in itself proved that it couldn't be one that his kind had been to before. In both of his home realms his kind were strong and many, and therefore the very magic flowed with their scent...but not here; even in the aura of the world, he could not feel anything of his kind, either living or dead.

He turned his gaze back down to the six natives below, who had just begun to cross the main hall of the castle, heading to what remained of the grand stairway. His eyes seemed to glow just a bit brighter as he shifted above on the stones rafters of the palace roof, studying them each; observing their forms, analyzing their individual strengths and weaknesses, already strategizing multiple ways to beat and defeat them should need be...though he seriously doubted that was the case.

Closing his eyes, he inhaled through his nostrils, taking in the faint scents emitting from the creature's warm blood flesh:

Hmmmm...mammal...equines, like horses...or ponies, given their very small size...all female...and all with functioning yet under-developed hormonal glands and reproductive organs. Teenagers, or at least very young adults.

But these were unlike any equines he had seen in any world before. First off their anatomy was completely off in many aspects: First, their coat colors were downright outrageous, but anything with a working pair of eyes could see that. In the natural world, it was a universal fact that armor-less prey mammals too small to defend themselves from predators needed coloring that would blend them into their surroundings. He wasn't really one to talk given his own color, but he did say 'natural world'...and in what natural world would a creature with purple fur or rainbow hair ever have a chance at survival?! He could spot something like that from space.

Second, were their legs: A normal horse's leg was long, thin, and sturdy, because it was more flexible and easier to move with their powerful thigh muscles and allowed for more leverage. He would know; he had chased down horses for food before...one of the few prey mammals that could afford to skip aspect one: you didn't need camouflage if you could outrun predators...not with those stumpy little things.

Thirdly were their heads: While most equines had a head that sloped up in a uniform fashion, theirs...were almost human in appearance: large, rounded head, overly-large forward facing eyes that sparkled with intelligence and emotion, and short muzzles with flexible facial muscles...they all pointed to the same thing: they were sapient. Soul-Bearers: living souls with thought and morals, not just wild animals of pure instinct...just like his own kind, though these were on a much lower level than his own, even for mortals.

And finally was their power: he could feel it within each of them...it was incredibly weak (minus the purple one's), and of a kind he had never felt before...but he could feel Magic flowing through their bodies.

That last one alone made it almost painfully clear: there was no way that evolution could ever give rise to a species like this, not even supernatural evolution. These creatures were created, by some higher force or being; this entire world and just about everything that originated in it...but what kind of deity made a world like this? It was as if some god with a sick sense of humor had descended from on high and bestowed the sappiest, happiest, most innocent Nord girl with the power to create her own world and this was the result: a glittering pink pool of sunshine, rainbows, and pretty little ponies.

He was already feeling sick.

But then again, appearances could be deceiving; a little fact he had learned many years ago.

Question now was: what were these 'ponies' doing here?

Were they here for him?

There was no other even remotely logical reason for it: he had seen that zebra from before go screaming into the forest at the sight of him; if zebras in this world were, most likely in accordance with the other equines, Soul Bearers as well, then it had no doubt raced back to the nearest civilization and warned everyone of his presence. And, if they were anything like humans, they sent their strongest to find and confront him...or the local dare-devils decided it would be a good idea to seek out the alien from the outside.

Either way, let them come.

Perhaps they would provide him with the answers he sought.

"Anypony else gittin' the feelin' we're bein' watched?" Applejack asked quietly, glancing about the room in nervous suspicion.

Twilight would've nodded in agreement, but had no need to; all six of them could feel the foreboding feeling that they were not alone in the palace. The moment they had step into the palace they could feel it: a strange presence, like you knew someone or something alive was in the room but couldn't see it, no matter how hard you looked around. And in the middle of a dark, forbidden castle in the middle of a legend-demonized forest, it wasn't healthy for either their courage or sense of reality.

It also didn't help that it was a strong presence. Twilight could feel it; a...power...radiating through the air...a very strong power. It was comparable to the feeling she got whenever she was in the presence of Princess Celestia, or when she first came here and confronted Nightmare Moon; that feeling of sheer strength flowing from their bodies, making them seem even greater in might than they already were...but even the alicorns of the sun and the moon couldn't compare to this...

"Uhmm, Twilight?" Rarity whispered softly, breaking the uncomfortable silence between them. "I don't mean to pry or anything, but I was just wondering: what do you plan to do once we actually find this creature?"

"Yeah. What do we do?" Applejack asked in a hushed tone. "Ah sure hope ya actually have a plan fer all this, or are we just chancin' it along?"

Twilight, however, wasn't sure herself. "Well, to be honest, I haven't planned that far ahead." She told them, much to their outrage. "Now don't start; I made sure we brought the elements so we actually have some sort of protection should things go sour...but, to be fair, we don't even know what this thing is, let alone why its here or what it wants."

"Who cares what it wants?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in a hushed tone, frustration and aggression lacing her voice. "I say we just blast that thing back into space with the elements! Send it back to whatever wormhole it crawled out of!"

Twilight glared at the pegasus. "That's unfair, Rainbow!" She scolded softly. "For all we know, it could be just as scared and confused as we are! It could be a living person, trapped in an alien world and doesn't know how to get back home."

"It's the alien, not us!" Rainbow Dash spat back, folding her forehooves across her chest. "That freak nearly destroyed our homes coming here. For all we know, it blasted us all on purpose and is planning to take over Equestria!"

"Maybe that's true or maybe not..." The purple mare continued, frowning at Rainbow Dash in disgust; what on earth had gotten into her? "But until we know for sure why its here, I'm not using my element against it."

The others did not like the sound of that. "What?! But we need all the elements to defeat it!" The cyan mare exclaimed.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? It could be just as much a victim as we are!" She argued back.

"And don't you remember how Zecora described it? I seriously doubt that a 'beast of flaming eyes' is a victim of any kind!"

"Just because it looks dangerous doesn't mean it is! Zecora was panicking and delusional; she let fear of the unknown cloud her judgement...just like you are!"

The indignant and fury-filled glare the cyan pegasus sent at the unicorn could've made a glacier burst into flames. "You wanna say that to my face?!" She just about screamed, flying down angrily at her.

"Now's not the time, girls!" Applejack called...unaware of the secret activation tile she had just stepped on; the trap door in the floor beneath the farm mare, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie suddenly opened with a clap of stone striking stone; the three ponies in question could only scream out in surprise and fear before plummeting into the darkness, their screams continuing out of hearing range.

"GIRLS!" Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight cried after them. With the rumbling of stone, the trap door snapped shut once again before any of them could try anything, effectively splitting the team in two.

"Now do you think this monster's 'just a victim'?!" Rainbow Dash screamed angrily as the echoes of the closing trap door sounded through the room.

Twilight faltered, her confidence and belief suddenly wavering. "T-That was one of the booby traps of the castle! This whole place was filled with them to keep intruders out!" She stammered, though she wasn't entire sure anymore; was the creature doing this, and if so, why?

"Girls...stop..." Fluttershy whimpered; no one heard it.

The rainbow-maned mare slammed a hoof onto the stone floor angrily. "No! I have it with your shit!" She growled angrily, advancing on Twilight threateningly; Twilight's ears flattened timidly against her head as she back away step-for-step until she felt her rear bump against the wall. The pegasus was on the warpath, and she was standing in the way. "I don't care what you think! That thing destroyed my town, scared and nearly killed my friends, and now its tearing us apart and scattering us through the castle! Why are you so tartarus-bent on saving that damn thing?!"

"I...I just..." Twilight stammered, tears coming to her eyes.

Suddenly it felt as though the temperature in the room dropped; Rainbow Dash glare suddenly went so cold and hard Twilight felt as if she was sitting on a floor of ice.

"...You did this, didn't you?" She murmured. "This...this is another one of your spells-gone-wrong, isn't it?! You read that book and caused that storm! You summoned that monster! Didn't you?!"

Twilight's blood ran cold, her eyes widening in dread. "I...I...I don't know!" She finally cried, eyes wrenching shut. "I-I was just reading the b-book's first page and t-then the storm happened! I-I don't know if it did or not! And I didn't mean to if it did! I-I-I'm sorry!"

Fluttershy whimpered. "Stop, Rainbow...please..." She tried to squeak out; in only came out in scared wheezing...though, deep within, a light had been lit in the darkness...

One could practically feel the rage building up in Rainbow Dash; her feathers and were fur bristling with anger, giving the impression that she was larger than she normally was. Her mouth was set in an angry snarl, and her rose-red eyes burned with an inner fire.

"I don't care! I just don't! bucking! care!" She finally roared, the glow of her eyes becoming even greater; Twilight whimpered, pressing herself harder against the wall. "Our friends are in danger and our home is in ruins, all because of your stupid spell! Again!" The pegasus pressed her face close enough to Twilight's that their noses were touching each other. Twilight's eyes began to glimmer with tears...

"I put up with you stupid ideas and freaky magic long enough! You wanna endanger our lives just so you can have a 'friendship report' to send to the princess? Then, buck you, Twilight Sparkle!"

"Buck! YOU!"

The wall behind Twilight suddenly opened up; the unicorn suddenly found the support she was backing her entire weight against disappear, and with a terrified cry she tumbled back into the blackness. The last thing she saw was Rainbow Dash's surprised face before she plummeted screaming into the darkness below.

The wall slammed shut with a stony clap, leaving the silent two pegasi alone in the dark.

Rainbow Dash's rage immediately vanished, leaving only horror.

"...T...Twilight...?"

The normally deathly stillness of The Palace Observatory was broken by a quiet screaming...which grew louder and louder until Twilight came shooting out from the chute in the wall, crashing into the stone floor painfully. This wasn't the first time this mare suddenly appeared into this room; if she were to look around, she would recognize it as the very same part of the castle that she first confronted Nightmare Moon...and felt the spark of friendship for the very first time.

Though now, all she felt was pain, sorrow, and guilt.

The tears continued to run down her face as she laid there, curled up into a ball, quietly sobbing into her forehooves, not caring where she was or what was happening at that moment. No one could really blame her if they saw her; as far as she knew, one of her only friends had turned on her and shattered their friendship. Fights like this were common in friendships, of course; no bonds, not even the strongest, were ever perfect, and they could heal with both time and mending between friends...but Twilight Sparkle, student of Celestia studying friendship itself, had yet to learn that. And Rainbow Dash was only the beginning; what would happen once the others found out?

It was Discord all over again.

Only this time, it was all her fault.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry...I'm s-so sorry...*hic!*...I d-didn't mean t-to, I-I-I swear...I di-...I didn't mean t-to hurt a-anyone...I'm sorry..." She whimpered, her words hitching in her throat.

But no comfort was to be found in the darkness of the castle.

She sniffed, wiping at her nose with her hoof, looking downwards. In front of her laid her saddlebag, tattered and covered in dirt; it had been torn off of her body as she fell down the chute, now damaged and ripped open, the contents spilled in front of her. The book that she had put so much faith into now laid before her, dirty and worn; what sense of mystery and importance it once held in her eyes was now long gone, and she saw it as what it had been all along: nothing more than a crude joke on her hope.

"I just...I w-wanted to believe..." She hiccuped as she lowered her hooves; the tears still ran down her face as she slowly forced herself up into a sitting position, she wiped at them with her hoof, still sobbing softly, looking down at the book before her. Part of her wanted to kick it away, and finally be rid of all of its stupid riddles and prophecies...but in that one moment, it was all she had. "...I...I just wanted to know why; I thought...I-I thought that there could be a deeper meaning to all this...t-that the book was telling me...that...t-there was something greater to our elements...to our friendship...than there already was...something more...than what D-Discord made it b-b-be!"

She screwed her eyes shut, her tears running anew.

"I just..." She sobbed, trying to hide herself from the world. "...I just w-wanted to h-help."

"Ruz Ho Vis Gonah Naal Ofanvon Zey Faal Fahraldde Zu'u Yah." (1)

Time itself seemed to stop around the unicorn's body when that voice thundered through her, banishing all sorrow and guilt from her mind and making her freeze where she lay. That voice...that powerful voice...it reminded her of a dormant volcano: possessing the immovable strength of a mountain and just as calm, but quite capable of becoming an eruption of fiery power should it be aggravated. The tone was strong and calm, just as the mountain its strength felt like, though it was a deep, almost animalistic growl, like that of a great beast, just waiting to grow into a great, fiery roar.

Then she felt it: that strong, power-filled presence from before; the same one she had felt when they first entered the ruins. The one that was comparable to those of Celestia and Nightmare Moon, only greater...but when she felt it then, it had been soft and distant, no more than a force far away. Now, it was like standing directly in front of a giant fire; the sheer power radiating from its form was blazing like the sun itself, and it was as if a great force was pushing down on Twilight from all sides...but mostly upon her horn; she could feel the power coursing through it, causing a deep 'hum' of sorts to vibrate through her skull. It was almost painful...and it was all originating from behind her.

For what felt like an eternity, Twilight didn't dare move or speak; she remained frozen on the spot, not daring to make any sort of movement. The only sound in the room other than the rapid beating of her heart in her ears was of deep breathing; the sound of enormous, powerful lungs pumping equally-large amounts of air in and out of a giant body. The deep, rumbling breaths reminded her of the red dragon that slept on the mountain, only not as large and loud, but just as strong.

Their was a shifting of great mass behind her, the floor shaking under the monster's feet, and then she felt something larger than herself looming over her; two powerful gusts of almost scalding-hot air blasted past each side of her head, blowing her mane forward. Twilight's heart was now pounding furiously in her ribcage, her breaths coming in quiet panicking gasps as she fought to keep from trembling; she could 'feel' it's snout hovering just over her, just inches away from touching her spine. She could feel it's breath against her neck, which was like the heat rising from a fire; it would've felt nice in the icy chill of the night...if Twilight wasn't trembling in pain.

The power from before had grown even stronger, and so did the force pushing on her body and vibrating in her horn. The feeling that she wasn't sure was pain certainly was now; it felt as if someone was driving a red-hot nail through her horn and into her skull, both of which were now visibly vibrating, the humming audible in her ears.

She squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth, whimpering in pain as fresh tears ran down her cheeks; so much power...too much...too much...

Then, as if sensing her agony, the creature pulled itself away from her, taking its energy and fiery breath with it; the pain lifted from Twilight's mind, but she didn't stop whimpering out of fear, trembling on the floor with her hooves covering her head.

What happened next felt was almost indescribable for the unicorn; the aura of power surrounding the being behind her briefly seemed to expand a bit before imploding onto itself. The sheer strength of the power flowing from the creature's body was suddenly absorbed and compressed into it, slowly draining out of the reality around them and disappearing within the creature altogether; the pressure on her body and humming in her horn vanished almost completely. The aura of strength still surrounded it, but it was still there, as if 'compressed' and stored away inside its owner.

Then it...or he, judging by the voice, spoke again, this time in perfect Equestrian:

"You can look, now; my power won't harm you anymore."

Twilight blinked as she stopped trembling, confusion making her frown; it's...no, his voice no longer carried that powerful, almost supernatural, power to it, just like it's body had. It still was deep, strong, and almost primal, but not overly so. It had become mortal...that was it: her curiosity and hunger for answers overcame her trepidation; no more hiding behind fear or guilt...she needed to know the truth.

So, gathering her courage, she did just as he commanded and, slowly and hesitantly, got up onto her hooves and slowly turned around, looking up to the creature from another world.

It was a moment she would never forget.

There, standing before her in all his might and glory, was the Dragon from the mysterious book.

Ever since she had made the connection of Zecora's description and the carving on the book's front, Twilight was expecting the 'monster with flaming eyes' to be a dragon, or at least something like it...but now that she saw him she knew that he was not a dragon of Equestria: he was unlike any dragon that she had ever seen before.

Standing on all fours, he stood two stories tall and was longer than Ponyville Town Hall was tall, his wingspan almost twice as long as that; his head alone was larger than a full grown stallion, and Twilight's head didn't even reach his elbow. He wasn't as large as the adult dragons she had seen before, but he was more than twice the size of a full grown chimera or manticore; a teenage dragon, or at least a young adult, perhaps. His long, lithe body structure was best described as a fusion between a feline and saurian skeletal structures, walking upright on all fours with his long saurian tail held out for balance, his entire form packed full of powerful saurian muscle and bone, not one ounce of fat or any faults of any kind on him. His hind-legs were almost twice the length of his forelegs and like those of a therapod dinosaur: powerful and muscular with the digitigrade ankle-joint and three-toed saurian feet, while his forelegs were almost primate-like, with three fingered, one thumbed hands; the fingers and toes each ended in a long, curved claw, the foot claws being shorter, duller and used for running, while the longer hand claws were clearly for tearing flesh. His large, three-fingered, bat-like dragon wings jutted out from just above and behind his arms, with red leathery membrane soaked in orange around the edges, and claws tipping the three 'wing-fingers'; The hands of his wings had six fingers each, three wing fingers for the wings and two fingers/one thumb for the functional hands. His long, serpentine, dinosaur-like tail was incredibly long, measuring almost twice as long as the rest of his body, and ended in a large tail-blade made up of three large pyramid-shaped arrows of bone fused with each other, forming a large segmented blade with razor-sharp spikes at the bases and tip of the blade, making it even more lethal; his long serpentine neck was about a third the length of his tail, and held its head above his body in the saurian 'S-shape'. Its head and jaws were those of the typical dragon: saurian in shape, structure, and appearance, with flaring nostrils, webbed fin-like reptilian ears, and a short snout and jaws with sharp, knife-like teeth and a long forked tongue. He had two long, brown draconic horns jutting out the back of his head, curving down a bit and then curving back up near the tips, and a fin-like reptilian frill, with brown bones and orange webbing running through the middle of his head, beginning at his curved forehead ending halfway down the neck, the frill beginning a trail of brown dorsal spines with orange webbing running down its back to its tail arrow. Its entire body had tough yet smooth scaly skin, except for his back, which was rough, bumpy, and armored like a crocodile's, and was a dark royal-purple in color, with even darker purple, almost black, markings and stripes covering and running down his spine and sides, and a golden chest and underbelly made up of large, overlapping belly-scales...but the most notable thing about him were his eyes: sharp, reptilian eyes with bright lavender irises soaked in yellow around the edges and snake-like silt pupils; in the dim light of the dark ruins, they seemed to glow with a mystic inner fire.

Twilight could only stare in awe, her previous fear replaced by amazement; the dragon showed no signs of aggression as he stood before her, looking down upon her as if she were but a child found running about his home. He stood before her in a classic saurian stance: on all fours, head held up above his body by his long neck, wings folded against his sides with their fingers trailing back, and his long tail held out for balance. The look in his eyes...they were not animalistic...nor were they sapient; it was like a fushion of both, ascended to a level of mind and body beyond anything any mortal race could ever achieve.

This was what she was expecting to find that day when she and her friends climbed the mountain to the red dragon's cave.

This was a true dragon.

"...you're him...aren't you?" She finally dared to whisper. The dragon cocked his head, silently questioning her. "The dragon of this book...it said, in a way, that you would come...who are you?"

The dragon stared down at her in perfect silence, other than its heavy animalistic breathing, before speaking once more in its mortal voice and tongue:

"I go by many names. In my native tongue, I am called Jendovahzoor...but in your tongue, I am known simply as Spyro."