Fender POV
“Ugh, where are we?” Asked the blue pony as she woke up. I didn’t say anything. I only stood and observed the six ponies in front of me.
“I don’t know Rainbow,” Said an orange pony with a country accent. I still didn’t move. I wasn’t supposed to address the ponies until all six of them woke up.
“Hey,” The blue pony had noticed me, “there’s another pony over there. Okay,” She flew over to me and pressed her face up near mine, “what the heck is going on here? Who are you? What did you do to us huh?”
I was beginning to feel uncomfortable, but I still didn’t speak to either of them. The pony got out of my face after another moment or two. She and the country pony had started to go around and check on their other friends.
“What’s happened? Why are we in this dark room?” The white pony was awake now.
They slowly went around checking on their friends, and each of the ponies kept asking about where they were. When they had all awoken, I spoke to them.
“Ponies,” I started, “you have all been brought here at the request of this kingdom’s great leaders, Terra and Caelum. They rule the sky and the earth.” The ponies looked at me skeptically, “lately, our kingdom has come under attack by a great and powerful threat. Not only has this threat wiped out half of our country, but it has taken your Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.” They all gasped.
“We have lost legions upon legions of valiant ponies in the effort to defeat this foe. We asked Princess Celestia many times for help. She told us to find you six. She says that you have conquered many worthy and terrifying foes in your own land. However, friendship is not enough to save us from the enemy that faces us. Our leaders shall tell you more about this later.” I concluded.
“So uh, what is this enemy that we’re facin’? Is it Discord, King Sombra, Chrysalis?” Asked the orange pony.
“No, they are far worse than that. These creatures were once ponies. They were horrible, terrible ponies, and they were locked up down in Hell by Terra, but one day, a monster that had long been forgotten set them all free, and he and his queen have once again begun to roam the earth. They bring death and destruction wherever they set their hooves. Now, please follow me.”
I led the ponies out of the chamber that they had been kept in, and down the hallway.
“Oh my goodness!” Exclaimed the white pony, “We’re walking on clouds!”
“Yes,” I said, “when you arrived here, our leader Caelum blessed you non-Pegasus ponies with the magic of cloud walking. It will come in handy while you’re here.”
AJ POV
“Good gravy, this pony doesn’t seem very cheerful does she?” I whispered to Rainbow. She shook her head.
The pony that had been standing guard over us was a gray Pegasus pony with a purple and black mane and tail. She was wearing some sort of armor, but her cutie mark was odd too. It was a black guitar, but she didn’t look like much of a guitarist to me.
“Watch me scare her,” Rainbow giggled to me. She snuck up behind the pony, and screeched in her ear.
The pony merely flicked her gray ear in response, “please don’t do that again. It hurts my ears.” Rainbow sulked back into line next to Rarity. The pony turned down another hallway. This place seemed as though it was a maze.
Twilight came up to me, “I wish somepony would tell us where we were going,” She complained, “and I wish somepony could also tell us how we got here.”
“Well don’t complain to me sugar cube,” I told her, “if you got a problem with it, just ask. That pony seems willing to tell us what we want to know. Hey! Gray pony! My friend here has got a question.”
Twilight laughed awkwardly, “I was wondering if you might be able to tell us how we got here? And also maybe HOW CAN WE TRUST YOU?!”
“Yeah!” Rainbow jumped in, “And just who are you anyway? How DO we know we can trust you?”
“Okay look,” The pony halted and turned to us, “All I know is that my leaders sent me to come and get you. You can ask them all of your questions. I’m just a Pegasus pony. My name’s Fender. I own a music shop down in one of the towns on the earth. The reason I’m here is because our leaders have moved everyone here because of the demons that have claimed the land.”
“Because all of the royal guards and soldiers have been out fighting, I offered to help fill the position until they come back,” She huffed, “I don’t know who you are. I was given specific instructions to come get you take you to the leaders, and leave. How can you trust me you ask? I don’t know, and quite honestly I don’t care. I just need you to follow me so that you can help us in the war. Your own princess sent you for Celestia’s sake. Now please, follow me.” She got up again and continued to lead us down the hallway.
We finally reached the throne room a few minutes later. No one had said anything after our guard’s little outburst. Not even Pinkie had spoken up.
The throne room was massive. Tapestries and weapons hung on the walls. My mouth dropped. It was absolutely breathtaking.
Rainbow POV
The throne room was all right. It wasn’t as awesome as my cloud house back home, but for a throne room it was okay.
I landed on the clouds as we approached the great leaders that the gray pony had been rambling on about.
They were tall, much taller than the Princesses. One was a beautiful female pony. Her body seemed to be made out of trees and dirt. It was a weird look, but she looked pretty cool.
The other was a male pony that seemed to be made out of clouds. His eyes changed to a different color of the rainbow every time he blinked. His mane was as blue as the sky on a clear day. He looked totally cool.
A bird from one of the branches of the earth princess flew down and landed on Fluttershy.
“He likes you,” She commented. Fluttershy blushed and didn’t say anything. She did that all the time though.
The orange-eyed pony who had led us here bowed to the leaders.
“Terra, my queen, and Caelum, my king, I have brought you the ponies as per your request.” She was practically groveling at their feet.
“Thank you Fender. You’ve been kind to give us your time these last few months.” The king bowed back to her, “You may be dismissed.”
Fender nodded and trotted away.
“I am Caelum,” Said the sky pony, “and this is my palace, the only safe haven that remains within our lands. I am the watcher of the skies, and the creator of the clouds. This is my sister.”
“I am Terra,” said the queen, “I am ruler of the earth, and guardian of the fields.”
“Now,” Started Terra, turning to us, “I’m sure Fender explained to you ponies why you were brought here. For the next few months, you will be staying here, and studying ways to defeat the monsters that have been killing our people.”
“Few months?” Twilight gaped, “but we have to get back to Equestria. We can’t spend a few months here.”
“On the contrary,” Caelum said angrily, “if you ponies don’t defeat these demons, they’ll move onto your precious Equestria. They will cause evil and hate among your people. This is the only castle in the entire world that is protected by a spell that keeps out all of the hate caused by these beasts. Once in your land, they will cause all of your foes, and new ones to reemerge.”
“For now, they cannot enter your land, for my sister and I have been working hard not to let anything past the barrier of our country. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have also given up much of their strength to prevent the evil from spreading.”
We all looked at each other. No one really wanted to stay here for that long, but we didn’t really have any other choice.
“Okay we’ll stay,” Twilight sighed.
“Excellent, you will begin working tomorrow. For now, I believe all of you are in need of some rest. Silver Wing, Fender Riff, and Star shine shall lead you to your rooms,” Caelum nodded towards a corridor at the far end of the room.
“One last thing ponies,” Terra said, as we began to walk away, “before you defeat these enemies, one of you will die.”
We were all hurled into a suffocating silence.
Twilight POV
We were all led into our own rooms. I had come with Rarity, Fluttershy had gone with Rainbow, and Pinkie and Applejack had been put together.
“Oh my Twilight,” Said Rarity as we were led into our room, “Just look at these curtains! What are they silk?” She turned to the pony that had led us here.
He shrugged, and closed the door.
“Rarity!” I yelled, “Do you really think now is the time for us to be inspecting the curtains! One of us is going to parish for Celestia’s sake!”
Rarity looked down out of slight shame, “I know Twilight... I just… I don’t want to think about that.” I noticed that there were tears brewing in her eyes, “I mean… Those ponies can’t possibly be sure of that. How would they know? Does that mean they know the outcome of the battle? They could just be trying to scare us into believing that.” She sounded hopeful as she said those last words.
“You know what Rarity… You have a point. We don’t even know those ponies. I’m sure they can’t be right. I just can’t imagine one of our friends not being alive anymore.” I said looking out the window, a tear rolling down my face.
Rarity and I weren’t sure what we were going to do. Soon though, the door opened, and Princess Celestia walked in.
“Princess Celestia!” I exclaimed, “What’s going on? Why in Equestria are we here?”
“Hello Twilight,” The Princess greeted me grimly, “Princess Luna and I are both very sorry that you have had to be brought into this, but there is no other choice. We have been asking all of our subjects to come to this land to help aid in the battle that is claiming it. Many of your other friends have also arrived.”
“The reason that you are here is because the battle is beginning to spread. We are trying to keep it from claiming the entire land. I have been doing my best to aid in Caelum and Terra’s fight, but it’s becoming too huge for us to do it alone. Twilight,” the Princess turned back to me, “I don’t want to see any other harm come to any other ponies within this world. I’m counting on you. It’s your duty as a princess to oversee the wellbeing of these ponies.”
I nodded grimly, and she sighed. I could tell that she must be using a great deal of magic. This war was really taking a toll.
She went to leave the room, but I ran to stop her.
“One last thing Princess,” I begged, “will one of us really die?”
She looked at me with sadness in her eyes, but she left without saying a word.
Author's Note
Feedback would be greatly appreciated! Hope this story is enjoyed.