The Age of Celestia

Chapter 1: Dour Skies

If Ponyville was known for anything besides housing six of the most powerful beings in Equestria, it was the trouble that followed the renown Mane Six. Of course, the townspeople were so accustomed to such intrusions on their otherwise peaceful existence that they did not bat an eyelash in the direction of half of the Mane Six stumbling out of Ponyville's library which also served as Princess Celestia's student's home. Should they had, no doubt in their mind would they have been pulled into whatever nonsense the girls had—were—been up to. Still they did garner a decent amount of curious, but not obvious, looks from the townspeople. It was early in the morning and Ponyville didn't want to spend the rest of the day being chased by monsters, having ancient deities of some noun taking over or a lesson of friendship tearing apart the town.

At the head of the group, only ten feet from the library, the town's own stylist and overall drama queen collapsed into the dust with the most relieved smile.

"Ground! Sweet ground!" Rarity shrieked with relief.

Pinkie Pie followed Rarity's example with a giggle as she rolled onto her back with pink hair bouncing with each motion. Dust quickly covered the girl.

"That was so much fun, Twilight!" she giggled. "Let's do it again."

Twilight Sparkle, who had been the last to exit the towering tree library, stumbled and fell upon her butt without any hint of ever getting up. Her hair was a jumbling mess of stray pieces with a pair of what once were safety goggles dangling from her neck. The lab coat she had donned for the sake of calming Rarity, who had been more than ready to point out flaws in her appearance, was a sickly yellow from what only could be described as magical discharge from the draconian species. Or vomit when the dragon boy had regained consciousness.

"No!" cried Rarity. "Never again are we doing that!"

"I have to agree with Rarity, Pinkie Pie." absently nodded Twilight Sparkle. "I think we should leave astro projection alone. At least for now. The Princess might have more books on the subject. I can see if—"

"Don't you dare, Twilight Sparkle!" hissed Rarity. "I've had enough of floating through space!"

"Well, it wasn't really space—" Twilight trailed off when a glare from the fashionista sent the hairs on her nape standing erect in fear of her life. "Okay, okay. No more astro projections."

Together, the trio sat in the cooling shade of the library. It was before dawn in which the purple haired student of Celestia found herself dragging Pinkie Pie and Rarity out of their beds to perform an experiment she had found while rearranging the library shelves. Now, four hours and twelve failed trials later, her mentor had already risen the sun with the citizens of Ponyville going about their usual business. The weather team had cleared the skies, and a slight breeze rolled in from the south. Ditzy Doo could be seen flying about delivering today's mail while the Cutie Mark Crusaders were causing their usual mischief. A few people had to jump out of the way when the three troublemakers swiftly ploughed through the center of Ponyville with little care for the poor, unfortunate souls in their way. A hasty string of apologizes could be heard when they zoomed past.

Twilight shed her spoiled lab coat and magicked it away into her laundry bin. Spring was here with summer close on it's trail. The morning was warm with clear signs that the rest of the day would be hotter. Unfortunately, that meant that the library would be too hot to work in today. That meant rescheduling her plans for today for this weekend.

"Bye, Twilight, Rarity." suddenly announced Pinkie Pie, already bouncing up and down in her usual mien. "I have to go help the Cakes so see ya guys later!"

Without much ado, the energetic girl bounced away with a smile upon her face towards Sugarcube Corner. There Twilight Sparkle spotted Mrs. Cake with the twins and a frown. No doubt she was upset that Pinkie Pie had disappeared before making the morning's mundane treats and delights. However, the frown vanished when Pinkie Pie disappeared into the store and came out seconds later with breakfast for the tired mother of twins.

"I, too, must go, Twilight." said Rarity. "I have to get the boutique open in time for the noon rush."

Brushing off the dust, the other purple haired girl strode towards her boutique. Her shrill screaming for Sweetie Belle to stop rough housing could be heard all over Ponyville.

Now alone, Twilight gazed absently at the clear blue sky. Applejack was most likely prepping her farm with Big Mac, Fluttershy was in Canterlot for a veterinarian seminar for the week, Rainbow Dash was probably napping on some cloud, and Spike was still fast asleep after an hour of vomiting. That left Twilight Sparkle utterly alone. At least for the morning.

Seeing as how she ranked of dragon vomit, Twilight rose and opened the door to the library. A nice shower would do her some good before the girls got together later. And a letter to the Princess on astro projection wouldn't hurt, too.

Canterlot, home of the Royal Sisters and capital of all of Equestria, was in full swing. The capital, while not as populated as Manehatten, was busy with the usual hustle of aristocrat lifestyle. From her perch on the balcony connected to the Sun Sister's royal bedroom, Celestia stood with her hands gently rested against the white railing, listening to the hums of the people below.

She had often watched life pass before her eyes for several years. Her amazement at the progression of technology, fashion and social norms throughout the ages never ceased. Though the pain often increased in its steed. However, today was not one for mindless people watching. The court was to come into session in half an hour, giving Celestia enough time to collect her thoughts. Not that the chaos in her mind could be controlled. The maelstrom of endless thoughts tormented the otherwise peaceful mind of the Sun Goddess.

"You have been awake for days, sister." said Luna, announcing her presence. Her voice was ice, cold and bitter to the touch. "You have risen the Sun. Rest now."

"Court is due soon, Luna." Celestia answered.

She could feel her sister's eyes narrow and glare into her back. "Then let me attend court, sister."

"You do not have the experience, Luna." she said.

"I hold night courts, sister." Luna hissed. The old speech patterns that Luna had retained during her banishment was notably missing. "I do not lack experience."

"The day court will devour you, Luna. While you are efficient with dealing with pesky aristocrats, they still fear the possibility of a repeat in history." explained Celestia. The ginger grip tightened as feathers shifted against her back. "I will attend court, and when it is time to rise the moon, I then will rest."

"Sis—"

"No, Luna! This is not up for debate!" the Sun Goddess snapped. Light purple eyes locked into the clear blue ones of her dearest sister. A frown was etched into the elder sister's otherwise calm facade. Her throat restricted on itself. "Life must continue as it has. We cannot compromise the civilian population with treacherous thoughts of something lingering just out of their sight. I will attend court and you will tend to your guards' training. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sister." gritted Luna.

The smaller nocturnal Goddess fished her lanky fingers through her waving, night blue hair. Celestia could feel the underlying tension of powerful magic crackling in desperation to be utilized by the youngest Royal Sister.

"Forgive me, Luna." Celestia sighed. "I did not mean to snap at you. Everything is just... confusing right now."

Luna did not seem to accept the apology, but a nod of her head alerted her that Luna understood the complexity of the situation.

"I do not enjoy being... kept in the dark, sister." dryly said Luna. "Should you feel inclined to actually share what exactly is going on rather than throwing scraps at us, perhaps you wouldn't be so tired."

"It is for—"

"My safety, dear sister? If it is for my own safety, then why do you insist on bring that thing here? Are you that ignorant to forget what he did to us. To you?"

"We need him, Luna."

"No, you need him because you're the only one who knows what the buck is going on." raged Luna. "He is a freak, a monster. If you won't get rid of him, at least tell me what is going on."

Celestia remained silent, her solemn face revealing nothing, while a look of pure contempt fell upon the younger Goddess. It was a startling reminder of millenniums ago when a similar plot unfolded and tragically engulfed the Royal Sisters.

Luna pivoted on her heels to leave.

"Sister..."

"Luna?"

"If he does anything, I will kill him."

Rainbow Dash, resident Element of Harmony and all around fastest flyer in all of Equestria, was having a pretty good day. It had started out with the usual routine: a hundred wing push-ups, a couple mile fly around Ponyville and the surrounding area, and some awesome stunts that were sure to get her onto the Wonderbolts. She had a quick breakfast before joining her team to clear the slight cloud coverage. It had taken her ten seconds flat to clear the skies.

Now, after a slightly boring morning, the rainbow haired girl laid lazily upon a random cloud. Tank was home slowly flying around with the rest of her friends doing something uninteresting. She thought of going to Applejack's but recalled the last time she had intruded while the farm girl was working. It had not been a pretty sight.

Next she thought of Pinkie Pie and Twilight since Rarity and Fluttershy were out of the picture. Twilight was probably doing something incredibly nerdy, and Pinkie Pie was working in Sugarcube Corner. She'd be too busy with Mrs. Cake breathing down her neck to go have some real pranking fun. Rainbow Dash sighed dejectedly.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash." called Thunderlane.

Rainbow Dash rolled over to eye the approaching member of the weather team. The dark skinned man waved.

"Thunderlane, what's up?" Rainbow Dash greeted.

"Didn't you hear, Rainbow Dash?" Thunderlane said, black wings keeping him afloat. "There's a storm heading in from the Everfree Forest."

Magenta eyes widened. Nothing good ever came from the Everfree Forest, and if a storm was brewing, who knows what could follow. Hopefully, it would not require the usage of the Elements of Harmony. With Fluttershy gone, they were at a greater risk. Nothing, of course, she couldn't handle.

Rainbow Dash glanced to the southeast where the Everfree Forest laid. Sure enough, sullen clouds toppled and tumbled one another in a desperate race to reach Ponyville first. A thick sheet of grey touched connected the eerie forest canopy to the bottom of the dark, towering mountain of storm clouds. It took a second for her to realize that the nearly opaque coverage was heavy sheets of rain.

"Madam Mayor wants us to take care of it immediately." Thunderlane explained. "I'm going to get the others."

She nodded farewell to the weather team man. She was already in the air with cyan wings flapping with ease. "It'll only take ten seconds."

'No, don't!'

The rainbow haired youth flinched. She faltered in midair.

"Who—?"

The mundane sounds of Ponyville filled her ears. There was nothing out of the ordinary save the storm. Even the storm could be a simply mistake made by her weather team. There was a storm scheduled for next week.

"Ugh." Rainbow Dash groaned.

She shot into the air and left behind Ponyville in her dust. Strong, cyan wings pushed against the air with ease. She lifted higher and higher, pushing against the boundaries of nature until she was at the top of the troposphere and the beginning of the stratosphere.

From her spot in the middle of the atmosphere, Rainbow Dash could see most of Equestria. To the north, Canterlot laid nestled between the bosom of the mountain ranges and high above vast plains Cloudsdale was an icon of rainbow waterfalls and fluffy white clouds. To the south, Ghastly Gorge stretched and plummeted into the depths of Tartarus. And to the southeast, whirling clouds covered the entire region of the Everfree Forest and more. Dour clouds, a shade that Rainbow Dash didn't know was possible in a cloud, spiraled upwards past what Rainbow Dash had ever seen as she heard the howling wind whip at the supernatural forest. She prepped herself to dive and intercept the storm before it reached the outskirts of Ponyville.

'No, you must turn back!'

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth as the same voice resonated in her ears. She had dropped ever so slightly at the abrupt voice.

"Who's there? Who are you?" demanded Rainbow Dash.

'Find them!'

She swirled to try and find the source of the voice. Still no one greeted her. An endless ocean of blue stretched forever. No one else, save the Princesses and Pinkie Pie, would come this far into the troposphere. There was no trace of a valkyrie this far up with no clouds in sight to hide them.

"Who's them?" tentatively asked the cyan valkyrie.

'You have to find them!'

The detached voice was elusive in what exactly it wanted from the Element of Loyalty. Yet even Rainbow Dash, the coolest person in all of existence, could not deny the faint trace of palpable apprehension that irritably tingled her spine at the sight of the vicious tempest.

"Twilight'll know." Rainbow Dash grumbled.

It was the safest choice in all honesty. A far outcry for the natural daring and adventurous Element of Loyalty. It was not the final decision of a coward. It wasn't. Really. It would be so uncool of her to do so.

Nevertheless, the voice did have a point. She would need to find Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the gang before she made a move. If this storm really was coming from the Everfree Forest, then the Elements of Harmony would have to be utilized. Also, it would prevent anyone on her weather team from getting injured.

Rainbow Dash tightly folded her blue wings against her body and let herself free fall. The sensation was one that could never be fully described. Her skin was being pulled tightly back against her bones while her feathers felt as if they were going to be torn out with each passing second. The air haughtily gripped Rainbow Dash while the very limits of the atmosphere appeared around her. The ground rushed to meet her along with the roofs of Ponyville. At the last moment, to avoid deadly injuries, Rainbow Dash unleashed her wings.

The effect was instantaneous.

"So how are we going to get our Cutie Marks today?" asked Scootaloo.

The infamous Cutie Mark Crusaders of Ponyville: Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, had retired to their not-quite-hidden hideout after causing their usual ruckus in Ponyville. After what seemed to be their six hundredth idea that spectacularly failed, the trio was more than ready to lazy the day away. It was getting just hot enough for their escapades to take more of a toll on them.

They would go down to the pond for a swim if the clubhouse got too hot.

"Applejack is still working on the farm. Mah sister might need some help." said Apple Bloom in her normal country girl dialect.

The familiar bow, however, was gone. It had snagged on one of the various trees they had crashed into and torn in half. Fortunately, Rarity had taken the piece to mend all the while complaining about how little girls should not be going about rough housing like swines.

"We already did that last week." sighed Sweetie Belle.

"Big Mac is with Cheerilee."

"Don't you remember what Big Mac said if we did anything, Apple Bloom?" replied Sweetie Belle. The mage entertained herself with taking part a pen and trying to resemble it. It's guts laid spilled with no hope of repair.

Apple Bloom's face fell. "Oh yeah."

Scootaloo absently blew at a stray, purple lock of hair. For a town that was usually plagued by some disaster, today was turning out to be a real drag. Nothing truly exciting—besides the chaos they caused in Ponyville's center—had decided to rear its head as of yet. The flightless valkyrie wondered whether or not her idol was doing anything exciting.

"Why don't we see if Rainbow Dash is doing anything?" exclaimed Scootaloo. "She's always doing awesome things!"

"But we always do that." whined Apple Bloom.

"Well there's nothing better to do around here!" complained Scootaloo. "We already went through the week's ideas. Unless someone has an idea, we've got nothing to do!"

"Ugh!" came the collective sigh.

Scootaloo hung herself upon her scooter, bored to tears, while Sweetie Belle laid upon the treehouse's table with Apple Bloom sitting by the window.

The fast swipes of the metal blades of the fan was the only noise in the treehouse as the Cutie Mark Crusaders sat in silence. Inspiration, it seemed today, was fleeting. She taunted and tempted the trio before slipping right out of their grasps with mocking laughter ringing in their ears. She was a fickle mistress to the young adventurers.

Suddenly, Apple Bloom perked up when the sun was exiled and darkness crept towards their secret hideout at an alarming rate. Looking towards the sky, Apple Bloom stifled a gasp.

"Ah, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, is Ponyville supposed to be gettin' ah storm today?" asked Apple Bloom.

The two shook their heads. "Nope. Rainbow Dash said that this week was supposed to be sunny. Not a cloud in sight."

"Well, Ah think Rainbow Dash was wrong. Lookie here." Apple Bloom pointed to the darkening sky.

"Oh my."

Her cyan wings unfurled, catching the wind and tearing her upwards back into the sky. Those that were in close proximity of the aerial stunt were blown back with cries of surprise and worry at the haughty behavior of the resident fast flyer. Though Rainbow Dash paid no mind as she barreled through the thickening air towards the tree that housed the town's library and the resident egghead and Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle. She pulled to a dead halt before slamming her feet into the ground in a rather hard landing. A powerful gale shook the town in her wake before hitting her in the back. The library's windows shuttered and groaned, rattling in their panes.

Rainbow Dash had to be performing at least a notch underneath Mach 1 during her flight through Ponyville. It would be a fact that she would naturally boast about but the safety of the town came before herself. A thought that would have startled her if the voice in her head was yelling at her to find the mysterious 'them'. She quickly rapped the heavy door.

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash called.

There was no answer.

Behind the rainbow haired valkyrie, angry complaints could be heard from the vendors, whose carts and stalls had been overturned or destroyed by her frantic flight. They could thank her later when her job wasn't on the line and imminent destruction wasn't on the horizon.

"Buck this." grumbled Rainbow Dash.

She barged into the library and slammed the door behind her. "Twilight!"

A set of footsteps could be heard upstairs followed by a disheveled, "Rainbow Dash?"

It took all of five seconds for the Element of Magic bearer to come racing down the stairs barefoot in nothing more than a white button up, black dress pants and towel resting on her shoulders. Her expression was of utter bewilderment.

"What are you doing here, Rainbow Dash?" asked Twilight Sparkle. "I thought you were napping."

"Yeah, change of plans." sheepishly grinned Rainbow Dash. "The weather team needed my help with a slight problem because I'm awesome. I, of course, could deal with it no problem."

The Element of Loyalty rubbed her nape.

"But I thought, 'hey, maybe Twilight would want to help. You know, seeing how the storm's from the Everfree Forest and stuff'. So I'm here." she explained, blushing with embarrassment.

"The Everfree Forest? Why's a storm coming from there?" frowned Twilight Sparkle. She had glided down the stairs while her purple magic engulfed random books from the towering shelves. "I have to do research."

"Can't you do something about it like now? The mayor is going to have my head if I don't clear it soon." she whined.

She shifted from foot to foot until she was frustrated with remaining grounded. Hovering just a tad, she joined her genius friend. Or rather, avoided getting hit by discarded books. Bright, magenta eyes followed the flying spines with little interest other than to get the voice out of her head.

'You need to find them!' the voice urged.

'Twilight is the Element of freakin' Magic. I think she's enough.' snorted Rainbow Dash. She didn't know if it heard her or not.

"Rainbow Dash, are you alright?" suddenly asked Twilight.

Startled, she dropped an inch. Again. "Yeah, yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you haven't said anything for ten minutes now." the protege of their Goddess said.

"I'm fine. Better than fine really." sheepishly replied the valkyrie. "I'm just letting you do your nerd thing. Can't be an egghead, now can I?"

Twilight Sparkle, the ever socially inept prodigy, furrowed her eyebrows and tightened the corners of her lips. While their friendship was an immovable force that could withstand nearly any force, natural or supernatural, the Mare Do Well incident had left a row that had ultimately changed the nature of their friendship. It was one of the extensive reasons why Fluttershy had taken to Canterlot the instant she had received the invitation to attend the prestigious veterinarian conference as key speaker. Which, if judged by personality, was not a good fit for the timid valkyrie who feared her own shadow.

And when Rainbow Dash saw the frown etched into the Element of Magic bearer's face, she felt the same twinge of guilt and disappointment she felt when first faced with the knowledge that it had been her friends to organize the entire Mare Do Well incident, along with a clandestine hint of loathing. It was not Twilight's right to judge her simply based on the sudden stoic stature of the otherwise boastful Rainbow Dash.

"Look, I can't really explain it all science-y like you want, Twilight, but something is just wrong with the storm. Call it valkyrie intuition or the fact that it's coming from the Everfree Forest, but there is something seriously wrong. Like 'grab the Elements of Harmony and blast the Tartarus out of it' wrong." she said.

"We can't. The Elements of Harmony were taken back to Canterlot last week and Fluttershy is in Canterlot." sighed Twilight.

"Then let's go to Canterlot." exclaimed Rainbow Dash with her usual bravo. "Let's get the rest of the gang and go."

"We can't just barge into the palace demanding the Elements of Harmony, Rainbow Dash. They're powerful and ancient artifacts. Princess Celestia—"

"Buck this, Twilight!" screamed Rainbow Dash. "He is returning and we'll are sitting here with our thumbs in our arses!"

Twilight Sparkle calmly took a breath. Hundreds of books remained frozen in the air, engulfed in purple.

"Rainbow Dash."

"What, Twilight?"

"Who is he?"