The fall of the kingdom of Equestria

by shardikku

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Dark
Length: 6789

Is it really a good idea to trust the fate of Equestria to three mislead foals?

When the whole of Equestria was split in half several years ago by a terrible beast, three brave ponies journeyed deep underground to destroy the beast, they failed.
The beast became lost far under Equestria, and now it is rising again. Three completely unrelated foals become twisted into the story of Equestria's survival. Can they do anything to help and is everything as simple as it seems?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-06 18:32:16 UTC

The beginning.

-Jwolf-

I present to you,

The fall of the kingdom of Equestria.

One remarkably unremarkable day, as the sun shone down on the vast kingdom of Equestria, a single pegasus

could be seen high in the sky. It seemed to be rushing towards Canterlot, the capital of western Equestria.

The pegasus carried news, news that would seem bad to some ponies, but to others, this news would be the

cause of many a celebration. The news, in fact, appeared in the form of a small sheet of torn, ragged leather

with only two words upon it's surface 'They come.' The words were not marked on in ink as it appeared on first glance

but in blood, no doubt the last words of somepony, but why should this seemingly insignificant message cause

anything more than a funeral and some sadness. Maybe the message wouldn't have caused so much trouble

if it had been from any normal pony, no, the message was from one of the royal sisters, Luna, directly to the other, Celestia.

The two sisters each ruled a half of the kingdom. Celestia ruled over Western Equestria, while Luna similarly administered over

eastern Equestria. The two sections had very different laws and ways of life. What would be considered perfectly

normal behaviour in the west could be interpreted as a treasonous uprising in the east.

The princess, Celestia, stood by a large window in her throne room, gazing out upon her vast domain

The messanger pegasus crashed through the door at the opposite end of the huge room. He just about managed

to pull the letter from his saddle bags before collapsing from sheer exhaustion. Celestia trotted over to where

the now unconcious messanger lay, she reached down and picked up the small note. After staring at the piece

of bloodstained material for several minutes, she snorted, then dropped the message. ''Guards!'' she called

''Take this messanger and have him rest and eat. I need him up and going again by next sunrise.''

Three of the royal guards dashed in, quickly, they picked up the unconcious pegasus and then zoomed back

out of the room, leaving the princess alone. ''My sister...What has become of you?'' she murmured to herself

as a single tear fell from her eye.

As the sun rose over Canterlot, Celestia trotted down the main palace stairway, her golden

anklets clacking on the marble steps. Only one pony was currently awake, other than the princess, a single grey stallion.

''My princess,'' he fell to his knees as the princess walked over to him, ''I've managed to communicate with some

of the ponies from Eastern Equestria. They appear to be hugely stressed about something.''

''You have my thanks Mr...?''

''I have no name, my princess.''

''Alright then. Can you send a message to them?''

''It may be done, my princess.''

''Then please send a letter to Luna, the ruler of the east, I must know what has happened.''

''Your wish shall be done, my princess.'' He said before moving towards the shadows in the room's corner

and disappearing from view. Celestia thought nothing of it, she had seen far more mysterious things

than mere shadow transportation.

Four-hundred kilometres to the east, all was not well. The first thing to go wrong had been an

assassination attempt on the ruler, Luna. The unlucky assassin had missed by a matter of inches. The guards

had found the broken body at the bottom of the great castle walls, when one of the guards had said about this

to Luna, she merely shrugged and turned away whilst saying, ''Those that wish to cause harm to others

should be more wary of their targets.'' An old, grey stallion seemingly materialized from the shadows of the throne room.

''Princess Luna, your sister has a message for you.''

''Go on then mortal, before I get annoyed.''

The stallion laughed slightly before saying, ''Celestia asks after you, she says that she recieived a strange note

from you and she wishes to know what it means, my princess.''

''Mortal, is this some sort of trick. I sent nothing to Celestia.''

He laughed again, this time it seemed somewhat evil, Luna shivered slightly before turning away and

galloping off into the vast complex of rooms and corridors that made up the Twilit Palace.

No-one saw the grey stallion leave, he just disappeared.

Outside the Twilit palace, the castle town lay in burning ruins, several dark figures could be

seen flitting in and out of the flames. One pony could be seen among the ruins, she stood there, staring

up at the great palace. She hated the fact that the nobles and the princess could be ignoring the destruction

of an entire town, even when it was just outside the door. As the heat of the flames began to singe her mane

and the smell of burning hair filled her nostrils, she charged towards the town square, hoping to find

somepony else who hadn't died. To her relief, she saw a figure sitting in the centre of the square, surrounded by

flames. ''Hey, hey, over here!'' she cried out at the figure. To her suprise it didn't seem to have registered her

prescence as she barreled towards it. Skidding to a stop just inches away from the figure, the filly again called to the figure

''Hey Mr, we need to move, the whole town is burning,'' She tapped the figure on the shoulder, ''Come on mr.''

looking around she realised that the whole of the square was now on fire, the very stones she stood upon

had begun to heat up and the air became very hard to breath as all the oxygen was burnt away.

Now coughing, she once again turned to the figure and said, ''Mr, if you don't move now, I will carry you

out of this hellfire myself!'' The figure remained motionless. The filly walked around the figure before

sharply bucking it into the air with her back hooves, she then ran underneath the falling figure, catching it on her back.

Now she looked towards the fires, she was surrounded. ''Mr, I'm sorry but this may hurt slightly.''

Closing her eyes, she galloped at full speed through the flames, her fur burning and her mane on fire

she burst out of the town gates into the fresh, flame-free air of the open country. The pain of the burns

quickly started to become to much and the filly collapsed in a heap, unconcious.

The figure now stood up and in a low, quiet voice said, ''The strength and willpower of a king, yet the caring

attitude of a lioness. The element of power has chosen well.'' The figure then disintegrated into dust

with blew away in a sudden gust of wind. The fire behind the unconcious filly gradually burnt out

leaving hundreds of ruined buildings and a smoking, melted mess where the town square had stood before.

The next day, the news of the fire had spread all over eastern Equestria and most of the west as well.

The paper 'Equestria Daily, Eastern edition' had wrongly stated there had been no survivors. Two things could

have caused this false information to be published, one, that the journalist team hadn't bothered actually

looking for survivors and had assumed that everypony had died, and two, the last living pony to be there

mysterously vanished. Although both reasons were perfectly reasonable, the second option was the actual case.

No-one had thought of these possiblities though and were content to just read what ever was written.

''Heh...They think they've all been so clever...But how could they really expect to break me?''

A single, midnight-black unicorn colt stood alone in a cold, stone room, deep in the shadowy recesses of The Blackened Hoof - The dark side of

the Equestrian security force. ''They can't break me now, not after what I've suffered.'' He laughed again

then, as hoofsteps could be heard outside the room, he fell silent. Two voices could be heard as the door

was unlocked, the first seemed to be quite angry with someone, whilst the second seemed more nervous.

''I tell you, the boss had no reason to make me do this. I should be off on leave, but no, I'm stuck

in here with you...Pah!'' The second voice just mumbled for a bit then they both stopped as the door

shut behind them. The first to move was a middle-aged, fairly unhealthy-looking, brown furred stallion

who appeared to be the owner of the angry voice. The second, however, looked quite athletic, although

he did appear to be nervous of the other pony, his fur seemed to reflect this as well with it's dull yellowish appeareance.

The first stallion then spoke, ''Jay...or whatever your worthless hide wants to call itself, get over here NOW!''

Nothing moved in the dark room. The second spoke, ''Er...sir? Maybe we should go away and try again later.''

His nerves appeared to be getting the best of him. Finally something stirred in the room. A young colt's laugh

echoed around. ''Hello Sirs, how may I be of use to you?'' The voice sounded strange, warped by the echoey chamber

Quickly, the nervous stallion lost all confidence and ran, smashing the door open in his haste. As his hoofsteps faded into

silence, the remaining pony closed the door again and locked it. ''It's just you and me now, horn-freak. Make things easier

for yourself. Come here.'' The laughing started again.

''I fail to see what you hope to accomplish here Mr. Starling, you cannot hurt me worse than you already have

and I will never reveal my secrets to you.'' The childlike innocence in the voice seemed to have been

warped and twisted by an unimaginably tragic and painful past. Starling stood up to his full height.

''If I have to drag you from here myself, I will. It will not end well for you however.''

''Mr. Starling, your colleague had the sense to flee. I will let him go, for he did not wish for this job.

You however love the way you can beat up all the helpless prisoners here. I will not ask you again.

Leave now. I will turn away, when I turn back you will be gone. If I see you again, NO-ONE ELSE WILL, Hehehe...''

''I ain't scared of you, brat.'' But his body language didn't show that, he was shaking slightly and his hooves were restless on the floor.

A black shape detached itself from the shadows, maniacle laughing filled the room comin from several

places at once. Starling backed away from the figure of shadows, putting his front hooves over his ears.

''STAY AWAY FROM ME!'' He shouted ''GET BACK!'' The laughing stopped and the figure silently moved closer

to the security officer.

Upstairs in the Blackened Hoof headquarters, a breathless stallion ran out of the main doors

just as a shout was heard from down below, it vaugley sounded like someone saying 'Help, help me.'

The shout was followed by a horrific tearing sound and then several sickly crunches. By the time the noises had stopped

The building was deserted, a few desks were on their side from the rush to escape. A single black colt

trotted up the stairs, blood dripping from his hooves and mouth. He chuckled darkly to himself

''Where'd everyone go. Hahaha, I'm amazed at how cowardly these workers are. Hehehe.''

A shadow fell upon him, a tall, slender pony with no distinguishable features - not even much of a face

as it was hidden by shadows. When the newcomer spoke, it's voice sounded way too old for the body

almost ancient sounding. ''Jay, you have an intresting way of dealing with situations. Follow me.''

''Who're you.'' Jay said as some sort of strange blackness started consuming his vision.

The shadowy pony started to trot away. As the blackness began to eat away at Jay's conciousness

he staggered forward, then fell to the floor, completely unconcious. ''An intresting choice... With such

a changeable personality and formidable strength and cunning, all tainted with some sort of evil streak.

I believe the element of shadows has chosen well.'' With that statement the slender pony crumbled to dust

and blew away in a light breeze coming from downstairs.

Deep within the labyrinth of corridors below the Twilit Palace, the princess, Luna, was trying to

converse with her sister through a portal linked between Canterlot and the palace. ''Celestia, sister, please listen to me.''

''Why would I listen to you after sending me such a message?'' Celestia replied with obvious contempt in

her voice, ''I though something terrible had happened to you, I was frantically trying to find out whether you were alright.''

''My sister,'' began Luna ''I sent no such message to you.''

''Then explain this.'' Celestia said as the held a tattered scrap of material in front of the portal.

''I have never seen this before.''

''WHAT!?'' Shouted Celestia, ''But I was told that you sent it.''

''I gave no order for such a message to be sent.''

''Then who sent it?''

''I will find out, my sister, for this is a most tasteless prank to pull on one such as yourself.''

''See that you do, then tell me. I will meet the son-of-a-nag myself.''

''It shall be so,'' Said Luna as she stepped away from the portal and closed the link between the two places.

She wasn't in a particularly good mood today, first, she had been moaned at about the fire in the castle town

then, she had been informed that one of her security officers had  been ruthlessly murdered

and now trickster had upset her sister. What a day!

Meanwhile, by Twilit Palace Town, the fires had completely died out. A single survivor, a small

cyan earth pony filly, slowly gaining conciousness. ''All I remember...Flames, such heat, pain, great pain.''

She staggered to her hooves, gritting her teeth at the pain from her burns. ''I...Need to find...Must find..''

Then she was cut off as a sudden gust of wind stole her words. A dark powder came with the wind.

It slowly formed the shape of a tall, thin, fairly featureless, shadowy stallion. ''Miss Cyan Rush, you must

find a unicorn named Jay and a pegasus called Blitz Storm, they are your partners.''

''Why...and what are you talking about?''

''The legend of the trio of rulers''

''Say what now?'' The filly was well and truly confused by this dark stranger.

''I will explain now, this could take a while.''

''Long ago, before the royal sisters and before the formation of eastern and western Equestria

There was a legendary being. The being was of such power that it chained itself to a massive crystal

miles underground, that way it's power wouldn't be able harm anything. Seven evil creatures tried to

awaken the being and release it upon the world. They partially succeeded and the huge amount of power

caused a huge earthquake, splitting Equestria in two. When the seven saw what they had done, they first

left a message reading 'To the three strongest of each race, Earth, Sky and mountain. You must qwell

this great force we have released. Forgive us.' The seven then mysteriously vanished. When word got around that

this quake wasn't natural and the message had been found. From each race, one warrior was sent.

From the mighty earth ponies came Cyanhoof, he was the ruler of the vast plains. From the highly agile pegasi

came general Blitz, he ruled over the great sky domains. Finally, from the mysterious and dark unicorns

came Jai Diamena, she was the ruler of the great dragontooth mountains. The three first met when they

went underground to find the threat. They carried with them each, a gem. Cyanhoof, the ruby representing power

and the ability to control and command. Blitz, the sapphire representing great loyalty and Diamena carried a dark obsidian stone, this represented

The shadowy magic and mysterious, unstable minds of the unicorns. The three journyed to the deep, dark cave of the beast

When they arrived, they found a huge crystal, but no omnipotent being. They each placed their

respective gemstones near the crystal. They then vowed that if the beast was to be found then they

would destroy it. From that day, nothing was heard from the seven, the trio or the beast.''

The shadowy stallion finished his story and then stood in silence. The filly stared at the stallion

before slowly saying ''So Mr. you're saying that me an' them two other ponies need to meet up

'n' find them gems?''

''Precisely Miss Rush.''

''Where'n are they then?''

''What?'' said the strange stallion.

''The other ponies.''

''They are in other locations, Jay has been located but ,Blitz, the pegasi, has yet to be found.''

''So where we all gonna meet then?''

''I do not know.''

''What about the gems, where're they?''

''I do not know.'' Repeated the stallion as he began to slowly dissolve in to to fine, silky, black powder.

''Wait Mr!'' Shouted the filly, quite desperately ''Don't go yet!''

The stallion dissappeared in a gust of wind. The filly wandered over to where he had been. ''Don't go Mr, it's so lonely out here.''

He was gone.

Several miles away, in the sky, not a thing moved. In fact nothing was even alive for as far as the eye could see.

A lone pegasus wandered among the clouds. ''What happened here?'' He wondered out loud

''This place used to be a social focal point for all pegasi, only last year, hundreds maybe thousands of pegasi

came from all over Equestria just to see this place.'' A small, collapsed dwelling, made from solid ice

shattered as the wandering pegasus kicked it. ''Why did this happen?'' he said to no-one in particular

''And how did this happen? You can't just slaughter so many pegasi for no reason and without some sort

of super weapon.'' He shivered at the thought of death being made so easy. ''Ah well, I need to get moving.''

he said decidedly. Then he flew off towards the nearby ground-village, Emerald plaza.

Meanwhile, at the Emerald plaza, two ponies were desperately trying to find some food

''Yo, Sis, why can't we just steal some grub?'' Said the colt to a nearby filly.

''Cos that's how we'll get arrested, an' that's bad.'' Replied the filly.

''Yeah, but if we get arrested then we'll get fed and we'll have some cover for the night.''

''Bro, listen. If we get busted doing something stupid, how'll you look at ma's face again?''

''Tha's all very well. I'm pretty sure though, I mean if we explained why we did it, she wouldn't mind.''

''Just shut up and help me look for some food or cash.'' Then both ponies were silent and continued their search

for food, money and shelter. A pegasus flew towards them. ''Hey sis, look at that. A new face.''

''Let's get him!''

''But you said-

''I don't care what I said, I'm bloody hungry!''

''Then let's do this.'' The pegasus trotted, unaware, to the large block of flats at the end of the street.

The filly galloped past it, then before it could react, kicked it in the ribs. The pegasus swayed as it slowly continued to walk

Completely winded, it stopped for a minute to catch it's breath. Just as it was about to move again, the colt

jumped high above it, before crashing down on top of it's back. The pegasus collapsed in a stunned heap.

''Hehe, perfect shot bro.''

''Why, thank you.''

''Hey, where's his wallet?'' Asked the filly, whilst looking confused.

''Maybe, just maybe, he doesn't have one.''

''What did we get 'im for then?''

''Isn't it obvious?'' Replied the colt, a slightly evil twinkle in his eye.

''Um...No, no it isn't.''

''We don't have any money nor food, right?''

''No...''

''Then he can be our food supply.''

''Are you saying-

''YES, WE EAT HIM!''

''Okay then...I'm just so hungry...'' And with that the two ponies started to drag the unconcious pegasus

into a dark alleyway, the colt was drooling as they did so, the filly just looked desperately hungry.

As the colt moved one of the pegasus' wings they both saw his cutie mark -Three claw, tearing downwards.-

''You don't think we should go find something else to eat do you?'' Asked the filly, obviously unnerved

by the sight if the mark. ''Shut up and eat.'' Said the colt a little darker than he intended.

They both grabbed hold of it's wings and turned it onto it's side, exposing it's large, tasty looking flank.

The colt leaned forward and gripped the skin in his teeth, then he proceeded to shake his head about

tearing the skin off of a large area, exposing the red muscle underneath.

The (Cutie) marks of a warrior

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?''