Chapter 1:
White eyes glared into the chilled and empty night with piercing might. A hollow and painful breath escaped as a blast of fumes in the cold darkness. Drums, a pounding of heavy steps on a darkened landscape, black as ash. With each beat, the volume of the thunderous sound grew louder and the whole world seemed to become heavier. There were constant screams yet no bodies were present to claim them as their own. It was an orchestra of horror without any visible instruments. The world was devoid of anything but darkness and a pair of white orbs that moved with a cruel purpose, constantly bounding and increasing in size. There was no life within those lights, only malice and pain. They drew near and time started to speed up until the world seemed to be moving at a dizzying rate. It grew to be too much to bear; fear, the only word that came to mind and also broke her mind. Her legs buckled and collapsed to the ground as a helpless body, she felt unworthy of everything she was. Her eyes were flooded due to the great strain of trying to remain open—she had to see her fate. A single blink and everything was gone; the white eyes, sounds, and sped-up time. Now there was nothing but her pitiful self and haunted memories. She feared the dark, not because she knew not of what lied within it, but because she had met that which lurks in the dark, and she had trembled at its shadow for thousands of years. Her eyes hinged open and the world was a blur yet she knew that this was the real world; not a safe one but at least a real one. It took several blinks of her eyelids for everything to come back to focus and to her surprise her sister was sitting at the end of the bed with tears in her eyes. She was still trying to recover from the restless night but she managed to find her voice.
“Luna, what is wrong, what...what has happened?”
As if her head weighed that of the moon, she struggled to lift her head to face Celestia. Luna managed though and Celestia saw how much Luna was shaking and she was truly worried. Then Luna whispered with a shallow breath.
“I saw him...I felt his dreams, and they were my nightmares.”
Celestia’s dream made all the more sense now, its intensity was far greater than ever before, and if what Luna said was true, then dreams would be the least of her worries.
“Luna...Luna!” she is nearly in shock, thought Celestia. “Listen to me Luna, we need to act fast...are you listening to me?”
“Ye...yes” she stuttered
“Good, I know how you feel but we need to take responsibility for our failure so many years ago, we must look after all of those whom we have sworn to protect.”
“I understand and I know what I must do, this day has plagued my mind for too many years yet I am ready.” And with that, Luna turns to leave but not before Celestia stops her and speaks.
“Wait, before you go, remember to not raise any suspicion, I will alert all the guards and inform them of what we might be dealing with. Until we know for absolute certain that he has decided to reveal himself, we don’t want our subjects to worry." Luna gave Celestia a reassuring nod and exited the room with a hurried pace leaving Celestia in her quarters. Celestia sat down and took a minute to gather herself and her thoughts. She couldn’t believe it to be true.
A few hours later, Celestia had gathered all available head guards within her city of Canterlot into the throne hall. The city towered over the world with its location being placed on the side of a jagged mountain and was a symbol of Equestria’s strength; the land that Celestia and Luna reigned over with caring yet stern hearts. Within the throne room Celestia stood in front of her throne, looking down upon the forty guards with whom she held a high amount of trust with, she explained the situation.
“Listen Carefully my most trusted guards, an evil of the likes that you have never seen before has possibly reappeared.”
Celestia stated. She gazed out across the Canterlot guards and saw that each possessed a stern and serious face that showed they were paying attention.
“Under any other circumstance of such little evidence, I would not have asked so many of you to come here. However, Luna’s powers have shown that an old enemy of ours, whom we thought to have ceased to exist, still lives on.” The guards made no remarks, they remained at attention and Celestia was pleased to have such well disciplined guards.
“The creature that I speak of is an ancient being, a unicorn that condemned his soul and body for the form of fear” This is where a few guards seemed to show confusion in their expression, for they wondered what form fear took. She saw their concern but proceeded to say
“What I need from you is to inform each of your respective guards under your command that from here on out, there are to be two guards at every post at all times. Any and all suspicious sightings or activities need to be reported to me directly or Luna when she returns. Work it out amongst each other how you will accomplish this but get it done soon; I will not tolerate any excuses.” She pronounced with a crack of thunder in her voice.
The Guards all disbanded shortly afterwards, heading back to their given posts to tell the others that many long days and nights were to follow. Celestia remained in the throne room with four guards and began writing a letter to Princess Twilight Sparkle. The letter asked that Twilight come to Canterlot immediately and to bring her companions if possible, Celestia needed their help more than ever. When she was finished with the details, Celestia sent the letter with an entrusted Pegasus to Twilight. A while back, she would have delivered the letter to Spike, a dragon and former assistant to Twilight, by way of dragon magic but Spike no longer lived with Twilight, he had grown too large and independent about five years ago. He visited from time to time but Celestia doubted Spike was with Twilight now. The letter was now out of her hooves and so Celestia departed, leaving her guards behind by her order.
All those who had heard what Celestia had to say, gave their subordinates the orders who all seemed rather disappointed about them except for a few. However the Captain of the Guard felt rather disappointed that those few exceptions did not happen to include his son, Buckler. Buckler was given the post for the North-Eastern guard tower along with his friend Leister and the both of them had shown their distaste with working the extra hours. They both were known for their antics and lack of respect, especially with the fact that Buckler was the son of the Captain of the Guard, but they often did their duties with pristine quality and none could deny that they both were skilled guards. So while they might have complained, they did their jobs to the best of their abilities. On the third day of the extended posts, the Captain of the Guard came to retrieve the two guards.
“Hello my magnificent father, how might I assist your divine...n...ness, yah that’s a word, right?” Said Buckler as he gave his father an overly large grin.
“Yes my friend that is a correct word, and hello sir, please excuse Buckler’s outbreaks, I do believe he is rather depressed that his mistress is cheating on-“claimed Leister before being interrupted by Buckler.
“Aww shut up you lying idio-“started Buckler
“Enough!” shouted the Captain, “I have not the patience to deal with your babbling, nor do we have the time to waste here. I have already found two replacement guards for your post, the both of you are coming with me. Do not dare ask me why?
“Why?” asked Buckler
“Leister, you are now Buckler’s commanding officer with a single bit increase in pay.” stated the Captain with a hidden grin on his face.
With that the three of them departed, Leister happy with his new title and Buckler gritting his teeth. The Captain brought the both of them to the castle courtyard where two ponies awaited them, a yellow pegasus and a blue pegasus. Buckler and Leister immediately recognized the blue one as Rainbow Dash, The Sonic Flyer of the famous Wonderbolts, so they both rushed over to meet her. The two guards introduced themselves trying to hold back their enthusiasm. Dash however remained stern and gave them a fierce glare that showed now was not the time.
“Excuse these two, girls; these are the two guards that will accompany you while you are here. I know that they are a little unorthodox, but they are skilled” proclaimed the Captain.
“Oh, it’s alright, completely understandable with Rainbow being famous and all.” Said the yellow pony, “Oh, and my name is Fluttershy, thank you both so much for being our security while we are here” she said with a smile.
Before anyone else could say anything, the Captain explained how the requirement of the two escorts was an order given by Celestia and that she will explain everything when they arrive at the throne room. The Captain led them there and departed, but not before giving his son some advice.
“Listen boy, half the time I’m uncertain of whether I should be proud of you or ashamed, however, Celestia picked the both of you for some uncertain reason to guard these two. Now, I don’t want to hear of any screw ups on your part, those two girls are prestigious guests whose deeds are far greater than any I know so you treat them with respect.” Declared Buckler’s father, who then departed.
Buckler and Leister accompanied Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to Celestia who was with two other ponies. The two guards recognized Princess Twilight Sparkle yet could not put a name on the orange pony that stood next to her. Before any conversation was had, the two guards bowed their heads and were told by Celestia to wait outside by the door. On the way they saw two guards standing by at the other door and figured they were the escorts for Princess Twilight and the orange pony. Buckler and Leister stood guard at the door for about two hours before they were re-joined by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. It was getting late so Buckler and Leister showed the two girls to their given rooms. Buckler decided to ask Fluttershy some questions before she entered her room. He learned the orange pony’s name to be Applejack and that Fluttershy was an animal caretaker. He also learned why Rainbow Dash seemed to be so upset earlier and it was due to her missing a rather important race to be in Canterlot. He had one last question before Fluttershy departed to her room.
“I know that I’ve heard all your names before, if I’m not mistaken are you the girls who fought the changelings and Sombra about nine years ago and defeated them?”
“He-he, yes that would be us, although in both those conflicts, Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence did a lot of the work.” Said Fluttershy who was obviously getting tired as the night drew near.
“Well, before you go to bed, I’d like to thank you. My Father told me those stories when I was younger, about how you girls helped the Princesses time and time again—it was pretty cool. My dad thinks very highly of you, especially because he believes he thinks he owes his life to you after the changeling incident. He told me that he would’ve died had they not been defeated when they were. So yeah, thanks again.” Said Buckler with a serious and grateful look.
“Oh, I’m so glad to hear that we could have had such an impact, but your father does not owe his life to us, he has done plenty enough as is. By the look of things, he has become an amazing Captain of Canterlot and so give him my thanks, the next time you see him, for looking out for all of us.” Fluttershy said happily.
After that Buckler and Fluttershy nodded their heads and Fluttershy departed to her room. Buckler joined Leister at the front of the building in between Rainbow Dash’s and Fluttershy’s rooms. They stood at attention for a few hours before two other guards came to relieve them for the night. The following morning, the two came back to relieve the night guards and accompanied Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash wherever they went. This became the way of things for the next week with some occurrences in between. Luna returned for the Crystal Empire with little news other than that the empire was on full alert. Two other ponies, named Rarity and Pinkie Pie, showed up and they too were given two guards to accompany them everywhere. Buckler and Leister, and all the guards for the matter were growing tired as no real news of any evil appeared. Everyone began wondering if Celestia and Luna had been wrong about their visions.
It was on the seventh day, that Celestia decided to call upon the six ponies who had been assigned guards and tell them the story of the evil that everyone was so worked up over. However this time she had all the guards stay to hear what she had to say. Luna stood by Celestia’s throne waiting to help her sister tell the past.
“A long time ago, further back in time than any book dates within our libraries, Alicorns like Luna and I lived in great numbers as a powerful empire. Our Father and Mother were this empire’s rulers and their rule lasted for ages. However, all those years ago, our kind was blind and we excluded all others who were not of Alicorn blood. Earth ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns alike despised our empire. This hatred for their exclusion eventually led to great conflicts.” Said Celestia with a saddened expression.
She continued on and described the many atrocities that occurred by all and how these led to the great Alicorn war. Celestia talked about countless battles that took place and all the countless dead that resulted from those battles.
“The war raged on for several years with no end in sight until one battle—everything changed. Cruel and evil magic was birthed through the desperation of the unicorns who had been suffering heavy losses. They had found a way to reanimate their dead to keep fighting.” Said Celestia, just as shivers ran down her spine as she closed her eyes to the images that flew through her mind. Luna stepped in and spoke.
“Sadly, they also reanimated our dead. In future battles, we saw many of our loved ones rise from death, only to attack us in manners of pure horror. This mockery of magic gave our enemy the advantage in numbers but war still raged on, so the enemy began working together to gain an edge against us. The result was a bastardization of the body and soul!” Luna shouted as she herself began losing herself to her memories.
Celestia Calmed Luna down and carried on with the horrible truths of the past. “To clarify what my sister said, Earth and Pegasi ponies volunteered to undergo terrible concoctions of both unicorn magic and nature magic. The results were terrible creatures that were capable of many forms of destruction.
Celestia once again took the time to go into great detail and talked about how some of these creatures were capable of manipulating fire to melt rock or span entire battlefields. Some were capable of freezing everything that they touched or even breathed on while others had the power to bend plant life to their will to have roots and weeds entangle and strangle the unlucky. More and more examples of these creatures with different powers were detailed by Celestia until she came to a sudden pause.
“All of these terrible beings though, were but a flicker to his flame. The war was nearing victory for our enemy as our empire had been reduced to a single city with less than a thousand of our kind left in existence. They wanted to kill us in a single push with few casualties so... he who was considered to be the most powerful unicorn of them all during the time, decided to experiment on himself using the unicorn and nature magic combinations.” Celestia stopped, and looked towards Luna who was gazing up with a tear in her eye. Celestia decided to keep going.
“A unicorn had never attempted this before because it was believed to have complications with unicorns due to their natural magic prowess. Their suspicions were proven true and untrue. There was a complication, or so it seemed to us. The Unicorn became a grotesque figure of pure darkness. It’s hard to describe this creature because by pure darkness, I mean just that. When I saw him, he had no face, no mouth, nothing but a black form.” She said with such sorrow. A tear hit the floor followed by another and she realized she had finally broken out crying remembering one more detail about him.
Twilight stepped up and said “Celestia you don’t have to keep going if you don’t wan-“
“No, no, I must.” Celestia stated “On the day of the final battle, my Sister and I fought alongside our mother, father, and all our kin. We battled our now deformed enemies while warding off barrages of magic and other tools of war with great fury and passion to stay alive. The battle waged on for almost seven hours and by the time the dust settled, over five-hundred of us had died yet we were victorious—for a matter of seconds. We all saw the black form stand on the horizon, the heat of the sun on the ground below us created ripples of light between us and him yet we all saw and felt his presence. I blinked—a second later I felt the mist of blood on my face. A whole line of soldiers before me fell to the ground in a crippled manner yet I only saw one thing—his eyes, his pure white eyes. This black form had latched itself onto our father and opened its eyes to stare into his. I know not of the magic that creature performed but its purpose was to not kill, my father, the strong and proud being he was, fell to his knees and let out a horrible scream that has echoed through my mind for millennia’s.” Celestia needed a second to catch her breath after that as she tried so hard to hold back her emotions in front of her subjects. She continued soon after despite several inquiries to rest.
“Many soldiers came to fight this new enemy of ours yet all fell within mere seconds. Our mother grabbed me and Luna and rushed us off to the castle keep as soldiers continued to fall to that evil form. When we arrived at the keep, our mother brought us to the room of power. This room contained two artifacts that legend had said were the objects that gave movement to the night and day. At the time, Luna and I had believed this to be a thing of fiction yet when our mother removed these stone like objects and gave them to us; we felt a huge surge of power rush through our bodies. I felt safe for that instant—safe until I saw mother’s eyes turn white. The creature had broken through the gates and took her away from us and from this world. My memory of what happened next is a blur as my rage threw me into a fierce battle with this demon.” Celestia was no longer looking at those in the room but rather stared out the window and spoke as if she was reliving that day.
“The power that stone gave me was overwhelming and I used all my anger and strength to tear that thing apart. I remember pushing my horn into its chest yet I also remember there being no blood. Every strike I dealt, there seemed to be no affect. Our battle leveled the entire keep, yet with all my new found strength, I was still powerless against him. He struck me down and then Luna who was-“
Luna interrupted “I was scared—I felt the strength from the stone but I did not want to fight him. As a result of my cowardice, I fell to the ground with a hole in my chest. I would have died had that stone not protected me and if a few remaining guards hadn’t come to our aid. I remember trying to scream for them to run but my gasps were futile. When the creature was finished, I remember him standing still to face Celestia and me; he had no expression yet his aura told me he was smiling. I thought that I was going to die there, yet as you can see, that was not the case. Celestia stood next to me and together we summoned our courage. What happened next surprised us both, the moon and sun rose above the sky with the moon eclipsing the sun. The sight was breathtaking, yet what happened next still is a mystery to the both of us. The stones that hung around our necks glowed bright and burned at the touch. Both our stones then burrowed themselves into our bodies and as soon as they did, we felt the connection between each other.” Luna stopped and allowed Celestia to finish their tale; Celestia now stood by her side looking out at the twelve ponies that stood before her with awe in their faces.
“We sisters were at that point connected by both spirit and mind, and took aim at our vile opponent who now charged at us with great haste. We let out a magic that we did not know we possessed but rather felt in the moment, the destruction that ensued is why no trace of our once mighty empire can be found. We felt the heat of the sun scorch our enemy and the earth; a blinding light covered the lands and seared everything. This was my power; Luna’s power shielded us from the heat and kept us alive. That which I have known to be evil stood in front of us and moved not a muscle; it simply glared at us as its body disintegrated in the heat. I watched him turn to dust yet I have always had my doubts to it being over. When the heat dissipated, all signs of our civilization were melted away; even the mountains that were hardly visible in the distance had been decimated. The war was over, yet almost none survived. So for the past several thousand years we watched pony civilization rebuild itself time and time again.” Celestia now paused, her tears had all settled and she now even had a smile upon her face.
Celestia continued on to explain some details about all that had occurred during such a long time and the power of the stones. The stones that were now embedded within the two sisters had controlled the rise of day and night so that job had fallen upon the responsibility of the sisters. The whole time, the twelve ponies in attendance had listened to the princesses’ story diligently without interruption, only when Celestia finished, did any of them speak.
Twilight spoke first, “Celestia, why have you never spoken of this before?” She said with a true look of care in her eyes.
“Because that was a story I had hoped to never revisit and that I had hoped you would never have to hear. Yet you have now, and now you know why my sister and I have been on such high alert for these past days. I can’t bear the thought of having another slaughter like that war and so that is why I have brought you all here.” Celestia’s face now grew more serious as well as Luna’s.
Celestia continued speaking, “My sister and I have been able to feel his presence within this world, and he is gaining strength, slowly but surely. Luna and I are leaving Equestria to search for the vile creature. We believe that if we can catch him while he is still weak, we might have a chance at stopping a future war. So we have tasks that we need to ask of you. Twilight and Applejack, I need you stay in Equestria and keep things running smoothly. Twilight you shall take command of the Canterlot Guard and Applejack, I need you to organize a group to start creating a stockpile of food and equipment. Now, Pinkie Pie and Rarity, I need the both of you to travel to our neighboring ally of Saddle Arabia and ask for their assistance and military support. I will arrange a caravan for you to travel with that will be filled with supplies and payment for the Saddle Arabians if they will provide their support. Now, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, I need you to travel through the mountains and find the Dragons. We could greatly use their support if Luna and I fail to find and defeat this great evil. Seek out Spike, word has crossed my ears that he has become notorious amongst dragon kind and if you can receive his support, I’m sure you will be able to convince some dragons to rally with us. Finally, guards, you have been given the task to protect these girls with your lives, the fate of all Equestria rests on the tasks that I have laid before them.” Celestia finished and then all as one, the six guards bowed their heads and swore to Celestia.
“Yes, Princess, we will defend these girls with our lives” said the guards
Buckler then stated “We will not fail nor fall, you can count on us Princess.”
As Buckler looked up, he saw that Celestia was smiling. Buckler took this smile to heart, they would be victorious. Besides, Buckler was truly excited for he was tasked with guarding Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash which meant he was going to see the mighty dragons up close. For the rest of the day, everyone discussed plans and details and prepared to depart in the morning. Celestia sent the guards to the armory to be outfitted for their journey leaving the girls with Celestia and Luna.
“So Leister, what do you think of all this” Buckler said as they walked to the armory.
Leister Replied, “I’m not sure, I’ve never seen the Princesses show so many emotions before, and from the sounds of things, this creature they fear has reappeared would probably be able to kill us before we could react. That’s a scary thought and so I’m a little nervous, especially with the fact that we are going to meet the dragons. I don’t know, something about their huge teeth throws me off.”
“What?! Don’t tell me that you’re scared of some dragons.”
“Well excuse me for being afraid of things that can kill me” retorted Leister
“Well...I could kill you, but you’re not afraid of me” laughed Buckler
“Ughh, I hate you.” Sighed Leister, “And need I remind you of my seven victories over your one during sparring practice.”
“Yah, it’s pretty hard sparring against a Unicorn who can levitate his weapon while I’m stuck either mounting a weapon onto me or using my mouth. Sure I can fly, but kicks don’t count in weapons sparring practice.”
“Hah! I love hearing me some genuine Buckler excuses, but whatever, tomorrow we set out on a journey that will probably kill us so after we get our equipment lets go get some drinks and enjoy the rest of the night.” Cheered Leister.
“Sounds good my friend, sounds good.”
Author's Note
I will be going back through this to cover any errors, just posting to show some friends.
