Prologue part1: Lunar intervention
One thousand one years ago...
The night was pristine, a cool breeze swept across the courtyard-sized garden with the soft symphony of cricket chirps. The moon casting its silver light across the statues scattered across the garden and its sole occupant. This occupant, a pony, alicorn (a pony with a horn and wings) to be exact, had a royal blue coat with a crescent moon as her cutie mark. Her mane and tail seemed to be made of the night sky itself and waved softly from a ethereal wind. Her name was Luna, princess of Equestria, ruler of the night, and at the moment, very angry. She stomped angrily through the statue garden, muttering to curses under her breath. She didn’t understand, why did nopony appreciate her night? Why did they frolic, love and play during her sisters, Celestia’s, day, but all but shunned her equally, if not more so, beautiful night? This alone infuriated her. She was her sisters equal, but everypony love her sister, not her. Her sadness and loneliness led to jealousy, and now that jealousy was slowly turning into rage. She hated her sister! She hated the sun! She hated…
You should not think like that, your Highness…
Luna stopped, what was that voice she heard just now?
Tis I, your Highness…
Wait, what?
Look to thy left…
Luna did as the voice instructed, and found herself staring at an old statue. Time had long since worn away the details, but it look vaguely like an alicorn, sitting on its haunches and bowing its head with its wings slightly open.
Do not be afraid, Princess Luna, I mean you no harm…
“Who art thou?” Luna found herself asking.
I am but a humble being, offering salvation to you from your own darkness…
“‘Salvation’? What does thee mean by ‘salvation’? We demand answers from thee!” Luna said. She had heard from her sister that some of the statues were actually beings trapped within stone, she should know, she help Celestia imprison Discord. She also knew that they all shared a telepathic link with each other to communicate. She and Celestia could intercept these “conversations”, but decided against it after they both eavesdropping on a particularly “colorful” conversation regarding her sisters diet. Lets just say it took Celestia a good month to even look in the direction of a cake crumb.
I am not some criminal that got turned to stone, your Highness. The state I am in is due the the side effect of a particularly powerful banishment spell. As for your other questions… well…
Suddenly, she heard the sound of something flying through the air and then something long, shiny, and sharp flew past her. Luna whipped around and found a sword embedded into the gravel with what looked like a blackish-blue cloud impaled on its blade. The aforementioned cloud appeared to be writhing about in pain, trying desperately to get away from the sword that had pinned it to the ground before falling limp and imploding on itself.
…Was that answer to your satisfaction?...
Luna whipped back around, eyes as wide as dinner plates with pin prick pupils. “What in the name of Tartarus was that!”
That, your Highness, was what your kind would have come to call “Nightmare”, had I not removed it from your person. It finds those with weak hearts that are wavering between Light and Darkness and turns them evil by increasing the feelings that would have been their drive. Had I not removed just removed it from you, you would have eventually gone against your sister in a conquest of power. And had I not destroyed it, it would have just return to you to try again, and it would have repeated the process until it turn your heart black…
Luna just stood there, letting her mind process this new information. If the being trapped inside this statue had not just destroyed this “Nightmare” she would have tried to harm her sister? No, that wasn't right, she would have tried to kill her sister. That thought had crossed her mind more than once over the past few days, and the urge to act upon that thought had grown stronger every time. How…
… Could things get any worse? That was just a scout…
Luna stared at the statue.
A greater force was just behind it, and they plan on destroying this world, and many others. They are the things that I have been keeping at bay for thousands of years with the banishment spell that I casted. But if that lowly scout got through…
“...Then thy spell is weakening.” Luna finished for it.
...Yes… it is…
Luna paused for a moment, the statue was suddenly quiet, and she had an idea…
Take the sword…
Luna was drawn from her own thoughts at the statues voice.
If you truly wish to help me, take the sword. It is the only weapon in existence that can harm them…
Luna looked at the statue then at the sword still embedded in the ground. it was a simple thing, the hilt was wrapped in leather and the guard was just a thick slab of metal, the blade itself was straight and double edged. All in all, a standard sword.
She walk towards it.
With this weapon, you will become this worlds’ guardian…
She stopped before the weapon and slowly extended a fore hoof.
… Thy will protect it under the cover of night, the time where they are active…
She rested her hoof against the hilt and brought her other hoof forward.
… For a time, you will be alone in your task…
With her other hoof on the hilt, she began to pull upwards.
… But at the same time…
There was a bright light as the tip of the blade finally left the ground.
… You won’t be…
When the light subsided, in place of a sword in her hooves, Luna found herself holding what looked like a ash gray unicorn doll. But in place of one straight, spiral horn on its forehead, it had two curved, smooth horns sitting some ways apart from each other. Luna was so surprised that she dropped the doll sized pony and it landed with a small thud. It was then that the tiny dolls beady black eyes opened and it gave a small, admittedly adorable yawn then drew itself into a sitting position.
With the aid of the moonlight, Luna was able to see that this tiny creature also had a pair of tiny bat like wings and a serpentine like tail. It’s mane and tail were pitch black and it had no cutie mark whatsoever. The tiny creature then looked up at Luna, then made a happy squeak and fluttered up and landed on her head, immediately getting comfortable. Luna was slightly irritated, and the only thing stopping her from magically throwing the imp to the other side of the castle was an amused chuckle she heard from the statue.
Hehe… That adorable creature is one of my soldiers and your partner. He can transform into just about anything and can help you on and off the battlefield…
“We do not see how this little annoyance can be helpful at all.” She mused, putting the thing on the ground for the third time before it flew back up and put itself back in its previous place. The statue openly laughed.
Oh, he will grow on you! Just give him time, you will see his usefulness in due time!…
“For some reason, we doubt thy claims…” she muttered, finally giving up on getting the imp off her head. At this, the statue gave another chuckle.
Do not worry, Princess Luna,… No… Guardian Luna, Imp will be necessary in the task before you, but unfortunately, alone, you will not be enough to protect this worlds’ inhabitants.
“What does thee mean?” Luna asked, cocking an eyebrow. The newly named Imp gave a confused “Moe” and copied its new master. The statue gave a sigh.
This world is vast, and unfortunately, you cannot be everywhere at once. However, my soldiers can…
Luna cocked her head in confusion, nearly throwing Imp off her head. The statue once again chuckled.
I can create as many soldiers as I need, and they will aid you in protecting this planet's inhabitants from our enemy, and maybe create a few new partnerships along the way, giving you many new comrades. It will be up to you and them to stop this enemy…
“And what will become of thee?” Luna asked, cocking her head in the other direction, this time succeeding in throwing Imp off. The tiny creature flew before catching itself in the air and returning to its perch on Lunas' head, much to her annoyance.
The spell is diminishing in power, and when it is gone, I will be able to roam the land once again, as well as the rest of the enemy's' forces… However, I will be able to assist you in both combat and any other issues that may arise…
Luna’s confusion was at it’s peak, she had no idea what the statue was talking about. Imp’s cheeks turned a bright red and started chattering angrily. The statue once again chuckled.
Sorry, I could not help myself…
Now Luna was really confused.
I am sorry Luna, but our time together must come to an end.
“What does thou mean?” Luna ask with a hint of concern.
In order to conserve what little energy I have left, I must end our meeting soon. Take of of Imp for me Luna, and Imp, be good for Luna. Goodbye for now, your Highness, I cannot wait for the day I can fight by your side…
And with that, the statue fell silent.