The fall of the kingdom of Equestria

The (Cutie) marks of a warrior-

''Time, I've found, isn't a very reliable thing.'' A dark, hooded figure said to another, similarly

clothed figureas the walked through the entrance to the Great Forest. ''How could that be Moonfur?''

Replied the other figure.  ''Well,'' started the one called Moonfur, ''The main problem is that some

ponies, like me and yourself have the uncanny ability to bend it to suit our own needs.''

''A very true point, but I feel as if we're getting off topic here.''

''What do you mean Blacklight?''

''We are here to meet up with the others, not to discuss temporal activity.''

''They are not present, why shouldn't I?''

''I feel that we need to prepare ourselves, after all we haven't seen them since the great incident

way back.''

''What incident could that be?'' A voice spoke out nearby. ''In my eyes, that was a success.''

''Oh...Hello Darkstripe, did you see any of the others?''

''My friends,'' Replied Darkstripe, ''They have been gone for many years. You forget that only the

immortal and the temporal masters could live this long.''

''Well that explains a lot.'' Said Moonfur, ''I thought they were just late.''

''If by late, you mean long-dead then yeah, they are.'' The three gathered ponies continued walking, now in the forest.

''Careful you two, I've heard some pretty interesting rumours about some witch-doctor around here.''

Blacklight and Moonfur replied at the same time, both with looks of suprise mixed with slight fear

on their faces. ''Say what now?''

''It's only rumours, still, you can't help but feel as if something odd is here.''

Blacklight stopped walking and called for the others. ''Hey Moony, Darky, I think I found something.''

Moonfur trotted over to where he had stopped. ''What is THAT?'' He said, looking a bit unsure.

Darkstripe also trotted over to join the two ponies. ''It's just a flower.''

''Not that, THAT.'' Moonfur pointed with a slightly shakey hoof.

''Woah...That's pretty nasty.''

Meanwhile, in the Twilit palace, princess Luna was trying to find out who had sent the message to her

sister, without luck. She sat down, staring out of the window, When all of a sudden a very odd idea came to her.

''I don't suppose...No, I couldn't have been...Could it?'' She thought out loud. ''That greyish stallion

maybe he sent it, but why would he do that? Maybe it was so I wouldn't notice the dissapearance

of the townsfolk...But I thought they'd all been killed by the flames.'' She sat still for a short while

working out what she had just thought. ''Wait, I heard that some filly had managed to escape with

a dark stallion...I wonder...Could that be the same stallion that sent the message and lied to my sister?''

She stood up, ''GUARDS!'' She yelled, ''Bring me a stallion!'' Several guards who had rushed into the room

now stood to attention. Their leader blushed slightly as he approached the princess. ''Er...Princess

what do you mean by that?'' Luna seemed confused as to why her guards were suddenly massively interseted

in the floor tiles. ''I should think it would be obvious as to what I meant by...Oh...I see now...Um...''

The door at the far end of the room burst open, a single pony fell forwards on to the floor from outside.

''My princess!'' The newcomer said as he picked himself up off of the floor. ''I think somepony wants to see you down in

the main entrance hall.'' Luna quickly recovered from the suprise and galloped off towards the entrance.

One of the guards turned to the young pony by the door, ''Kid, you have no idea what the princess

was about to make me do.''

In the entrance hall of the Twilit palace, a young uniorn colt stood, surrounded by royal guards.

He spoke with a very strange voice, like that of a maniacle killer mixed with the calm tone of a business man.

''Please step away dear guards, I have no doubt that you are following your orders, but if you don't step back

now I'm going to have to force you back.'' Several of the guards started laughing, then a pure white haze formed around

the unicorn's horn. ''I will ask you once more. Please step away now.'' One of the guards who clearly didn't understand

magic, spoke back, ''What you gonna do? You got less strength than my ol' gran.''

The unicorn spoke again in his perfectly calm though unsettling tone, ''You sir are a perfect subject

for me to make an example of.'' The white haze spread from the colt's horn towards the laughing guard.

It wrapped around him like several pieces of chain. The guard stopped laughing as the chain-like haze

tightened around him. ''What you doing with your freaky magic?'' The guard sounded slightly worried.

The bands of magic tightened again, completely restricting the guard's movement.

The colt spoke once more. ''Goodbye sir.'' Then the bands of magic turned into blackened chains.

All along the chain were hundreds of tiny, sharp spikes, like the sort usually found on a rose bush

just made of black metal. With the sound of tearing flesh and muscle and several nasty sounding crunches

The guard let out one terrible scream of pain, then he was torn apart, covering the remaining guards

and the colt in warm blood. The guards stood still, frozen with fear and shock. The colt licked the blood from his

face then walked forwards through the ranks of terrified guards.

In a nearby corridor, the princess was very confused. She had heard some sort of horrific murder

scene but no-one had rushed out to find her and no noise could be heard from the hall. ''I'm sure it was nothing.''

She said to herself uncertainly. ''After all, why would anypony want to harm me?'' She stopped moving

and leant against a large stone pillar closeby. She looked up and down the long corridor, trying to

see if any killers were about. After making certain there was nopony around except a couple of guards

and a cleaner, she continued to walk towards the entrance hall. The sight that greeted her as she pushed open the

huge oak doors leading to the rest of the palace, was not pretty. In fact the current sight looked

quite grim, ''Dear sweet sister of mine, is that Mr. Orion?'' she murmered in shock. A childish voice interrupted

her dark thoughts. ''Hey, Miss. Luna, hey!'' A small, perfectly black unicorn colt jumped up the steps to her.

He spoke again, ''Hey, Miss, Luna are you deaf of something?'' Finally the princess replied.

''What do you want, colt?'' She said slowly. The colt reached her and stopped right next to her front hooves.

''Have you seen anyone from the castle town, miss. Luna?''

''They are all dead, child. They all burnt and died.''

''So You're pretty sure there wasn't a li'l, blue earth pony filly here?''

''What are you talking about, child?''

''I heard that someone survived. And some old stallion dude told me to go find her.''

Suddenly an idea flashed into the princess's head. ''Tell me, child. What did the stallion look like?''

The colt looked down for a second, lost in thought. When he looked up again, his eyes had a dark twinkle

in them that wasn't there a second ago. He spoke with a slightly different voice now, kindof a calm

and evil tone but slightly to hyper to be completely calm and evil, almost physcotic.

''He was shadowy and grey and he knocked me out, I am very angry with him for that. If you see him

tell him that Jay has some unfinished business with him to deal with.'' Luna almost smiled, she had found the

stallion she was looking for, well, someone else had anyway. The unicorn colt looked down again.

His shadow seemed to fade from darkest black to a more normal shade of light grey.

''Well,'' he said,his childish voice returned, ''Looks like those strange shadows have left me finally.''

The princess looked quite confused. ''What?''

''Yeah, I'm not sure how it happens myself. These strange shadows just appear in my head and make me act all funny.''

Two of the guards by the entrance finally snapped out of their stupor, ''My princess,'' one of them shouted

as they galloped up the steps, ''Should we destroy the unicorn, my princess?''

The colt looked around towards the onrushing guards, ''That would be unwise gentlestallions.''

'Now, things are going to get messy if they fight,' thought Luna, 'Should I do something?'

Just as the two guards and the unicorn colt were about to attack each other, Luna made up her mind.

''ENOUGH!'' She yelled, every pony in the room looked up at her, frozen in place.

''Now, can everyone please just calm down a bit?'' She looked at the two guards and the colt.

''You lot,'' The three of them turned to look at the princess very quickly, ''Stop fighting. Please.''

The guards and the colt all dropped their heads, Luna finally calmed down. She began to walk forward

then she stopped as her hoof touched something squelchy ''Please do not tell me that I have just trodden

in a piece of Mr. Orion.'' The colt looked like he was about to say something, then thought better of it.

A mare dressed in a dirty, black dress stepped out of the door behind her. ''Excuse me, my princess, I have a job to do here.''

She said, then, dragging a brush, she trotted towards the pieces of the recently deceased guard

and began to brush up the mess of limbs and giblets, muttering to herself about the 'youth of today'.

Luna looked at her as she worked, then to fill the silence, she said, ''Master Jay, I do not know of the fate

that befell the filly who escaped from the fire, was that all you wished to know?''

The colt hesitated for a short, then proceeded towards the exit. As he was about to leave he turned

around, ''Princess...If you find the filly, I must be told immediately.''

''You have my word, Jay.''

''Also...Do you happen to have any spare saddle-packs, I could do with some.''

''If you really want them, you can have my old ones. They should fit you.'' A guard trotted over to

Jay with a pair of saddle-packs in his mouth, he dropped them onto Jay's back, then he quickly walked back to the ranks

of still-shaking guards. Jay looked at the packs, admiring the crescent moon pattern,

''Thank you princess.'' With that, he turned and trotted out into the sun of a bright new day.

Meanwhile, Cyanrush, an earth pony filly, was wandering the burnt-out castle town of the

Twilit palace, ''Wow...I never knew fire could cause so much damage,'' She said in awe, ''I wonder how

it started though, it rained non-stop last week so it couldn't have been dry enough for the heat to

start the fire.'' Just as she finished saying this, an idea formed in her head, ''Maybe is was magic. That

would explain why it didn't need to be dry to start a fire. In fact, that wasn't just magic, that was unicorn magic.

Now didn't I see some little unicorn creeping around near here earlier. Hmm....I think that I've found the culprit.

That unicorn is dead, not only to me, but literally give it a day or so.'' She gritted her teeth in a grim smile

she finally had a goal, she could leave this horrific scene behind and pursue a worthwhile cause. She turned towards

the town gates, ''Tonight I find the unicorn, tomorrow it will be destroyed. This is revenge, hear me unicorn, you will

DIE!'' She galloped towards the gates, not slowing for anything, even a mysterious, dark stranger who had

seemingly just materialized nearby. The newcomer laughed slightly, ''Hehehe...That filly, embodiement of

power, she seems to have figured out about the fire, but she didn't work out who started it.'' The figure grinned

showing perfectly white teeth, contrasting against it's shadowy coat and mane. ''We'll see what happens now.''

With that the figure stepped backwards to the shadows, dissappearing.

Jay was unsettled, why? he had no idea. Something told him someone or something was out to get

him ever since he had entered the great forest and set up a small camp in a clearing. He had check around him

several times, trying to find something telling him he wasn't imagining this feeling.

''What could it be?'' He mused, ''It's not like any of those pathetic guards would chase me, not after what I did

to their useless friend.'' Jay smiled slightly at the memory of the guard being torn apart, being showered with warm

blood, the shock of the nearby guards. That was good, that was whaat he lived for, inspriring fear in the

hearts of the lowly pegasi and earth ponies. ''I wonder, is there a pony hell? Heck, if there is then it looks

like I'm gonna be there for a while. That is, if I die. I doubt that will happen any time soon.'' A rustle in

the leaves of a bush nearby caught his attention, ''What was that?'' He whispered, tense. Was somepony

after him? Jay trotted over to the bush, summoning up some stunning magic as he did so.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bushes, three dark, hooded figures stood, frozen.

They all remained perfectly still, all staring at the same sight. A beaten and mangled zebra lay in the bushes.

Finally one of them spoke, ''Moony, darky, I think we should get out of here.'' He sounded worried.

''Why, It's not like you've never seen something like this before. Remember 'Operation Ground Zero'?

That was truly horrific.'' Answered the one known as 'Moony' or his actual name, Moonfur.

The third of the group walked forward, towards the zebra's still body. He reached towards it, running

a hoof down the side of the zebra's neck. He felt something, two rows of puncture marks.

''Moony, blacky, the zebra isn't dead. I can feel her pulse, unfortunately I think shes been poisoned.''

Blacklight turned to the stallion by the zebra, ''I recognize that zebra, check if she has anything in that bag.''

Darkstripe examined the small pack dangling from the zebra's neck. He pulled out a small silver coin. Imprinted on

the steel was a single sentence 'I, Zecora, the sixth of the seven, aim to use my medicinal mastery to help achieve the

goal of the seven through any way possible.' Darkstripe called out to Moonfur and Blacklight, ''Hey, guys,

I think we found another of us. That makes four of us. I am the second of the seven, Moony's the third and Blacky's the fourth.

And zebra face is the sixth. Maybe...Just maybe the rest of us DID survive.''

''Yeah whatever,'' Interrupted Moonfur, ''She ain't gonna survive if we don't get her some help right now.''

''Good point, Moony, TELEPORT.''

Moonfur groaned, shedding his hood to reveal a slightly curved horn. It seemed to glow a pure white

in the gloomy darkness of the forest. He knelt down, concentrating, ''Heh...It's been a while since I've done this.''

He said through gritted teeth. A large, white sphere grew from the tip of his horn, gradually consuming everything in the nearby vicinty.

''Here we go.'' He said.

No more than about twenty metres away, Jay, stood, stock-still. He could see three strange hooded

ponies on the other side of the bushes, one of them appeared to be a unicorn, the other two couldn't be seen

well enough to determine their species. Jay began to move just as a bright light began to grow towards him.

''What is this?'' He thought out-loud, ''Some sort of mass teleportation spell?'' Jay crouched down preparing

for the inevitable turbulence encountered when travelling through space and time using nothing more than

pure magic. ''Hmm..,'' He said as he began to fade into the light, ''To transport this many living beings must

take a lot of energy, Whoever's doing this must be really-'' He was cut off as the light flashed out of existence

leaving the nearby area empty of ponies.

At the Emerald Plaza, a pegasus stumbled from an alleyway, clutching a large bloody area on his side.

The bloody red contrasting against his dark blue fur. He looked back at the dark back-street, two bodies

rested there on the floor, curled up next to each other in a final embrace. ''Shame,'' the pegasus said to

himself after a little while, ''They weren't bad, just this crazy world kicked them about too much and now

they can't tell right from wrong. They should've remained alert though, they must have thought I was

unconcious or something, Heh, it's called playing dead. I guess I should feel bad about it though.....''

The pegasus starteded to move in the direction of the Emerald Plaza 'Skyside Apartments'. He seemed lost in thought

over the two foals he had just killed, albeit in self-defense, but still killed. ''Well...I can't change anything now

It's too late, next time though, I think I'll just stun and run instead of going quite so brutal.'' He looked back

as he said this, towards the two bodies, horrendous, bloody rents covering their still forms, ''I really need

to learn to control that adrenaline fuelled rage...'' With this he sped up his slow stumble into a brisk trot and

headed off towards his intended destination once again, ''This time I ain't stopping for anything, especially

not foals!'' He said with a slight smile. He reared back on his hind legs, ''For...Um..Err...Ahah! MYSELF'' And with

that valiant cry he dashed off, limping slightly on his bad side, towards home.

Nearby, a shadowy figure materialized from a fine dust, the faint sound of a small laugh could be heard

eminating from the figure. It moved in the direction of the oblivious pegasus, it's legs moving far to slowly

for it to move at it's current rate, but still closing the distance quickly. ''Star Strike,'' It whispered, far too

quietly to of been heard by the blue pegasus, yet it turned it's head in the direction of the shadowy figure.

''Star Strike,'' It whispered again, ''Star Strike, come to me.''

''Who is that?'' The pegasus called out, ''Hello..?''

''Come to me, Star strike,'' The shadowy beast said again, raising it's voice slightly as it moved closer to the

pegasus, ''Come to me Star Strike, I can give you what I can see you desire.''

''No beast, Equestrian or not, can offer me what I want.'' The pegasus said defiantly as it turned to see the shadowy

figure. The Pegasus stared straight at the dark apparation's face, trying to make out an identity. Failing

to recognize the shadowy form, he said, ''I do not know what you are, or why you're here, but please leave me

alone. I just want to go home, no more li'l adventures today, please...Wait, huh?'' He looked down at his hurt side

the large tear had disappeared, in it's place, an unmarked section of blue fur. He looked at the shadowy figure

again, ''Okay,'' He said, ''I may have misjudged you, mainly because of my terrible luck today. I would, actually, like

to hear what you have to say.'' The dark figure, knelt forwards, like it was bowing to the pegasus, ''You, Star Strike

must meet up with your destiny, a slightly twisted unicorn named Jay, and a generally upbeat but surprisingly tough

earth pony named Cyan Rush. They will come to you, but they will unknowingly be bringing purest hell with them.

I recommend you prepare, they will arrive in exactly one day, at dawn.'' With that, the shadowy figure began to dissentigrate

into a fine black powder. Star Strike stood, shocked, in amazement at this scene. He said just one thing, ''I wonder...Does that hurt?''