The Shimmer Effect

Chapters

The Shimmer Effect: Book One, Conquest's Dawn-Part One
The Shimmer Effect: Book One, Conquest's Dawn-Part Two
The Shimmer Effect- Book One: Conquest Dawn part three.

The Shimmer Effect: Book One, Conquest's Dawn-Part One

Wind rushed into Rainbow Dash’s face as she flew through the air. She was attempting a new trick she had been trying to pull off for a while now, and knew for sure that this was the time she’d get it right. In about five seconds, she had propelled herself into the sky as high as she could physically go until she needed fresh air. Once she had reached there, she stopped and just started to free fall like she had been a rock dropped from a tower, and was now plummeting to the ground at an incredible speed with her eyes closed. It was like the wind was performing her a song with it’s whistling, and she could have listened to it for hours, but she knew she needed to stop. With a jolt, she opened her eyes and started going even faster, but as soon as she was no more than ten feet above the ground, she darted in another direction. This caused the wind to blow for miles, though it was no more powerful than a strong breeze. Rainbow Dash headed towards the town center, and immediately stopped in the square.

She felt amazing, like a champion, and the master of speed. Though this was not the fastest she had ever gone, this was the fastest she had could possibly go without causing damage to Ponyville. Her feeling of triumph was short lived though, as she looked up at the clock and realized that she was supposed to be at the castle thirty-minutes ago. A sense of dread soon came upon her, and just as fast as she came in the town square, she left. She had already been late to recent meetings, so being late again would not be met without consequence.

When she finally had gotten to the gates of the castle, she rushed by the guards, who were neither surprised nor confused as to why Rainbow Dash was just now getting to the castle. She was then greeted by the disappointed face of her friends minus one, Pinkie Pie’s chair laid empty.

“Heh,” she nervously replied, “Sorry I’m late guys.”

Rarity sighed as she replied, “Darling, please make an attempt to arrive on time. If not for us for yourself.”

“Yeah,” Applejack added, “I’m starting to get mighty tired of having to wait for you to show up to these meetings.”

“Hey Pinkie Pie isn't here either, so why am I getting blamed while she gets off scot free?” Rainbow retorted.

“Oh, she’s out helping make preparations for the next festival,” Fluttershy answered, then pulled back quickly as if she had just done something wrong.

“Ladies, well decide what to do about making sure that Rainbow gets here on time from now on later. In the meantime though, we need to talk about the upcoming festival,” Twilight said.

“Uh, another one, really? Why do we have so many festivals?” Rainbow asked. She had never really known what work went into planning each festival in ponyville, and it had started to take its toll on her.

“Rainbow Dash, these festivals are a way to help relieve the stress of everyday life, and they provide party-planners a way of making money. Without them many planners lose a viable source of income,” Twilight snapped at her.

“Now, as this is supposed to be the Time of Remembrance Festival, I'd like to incorporate a pre-Equestrian history presentation so that we can remember those who tried to keep harmony and establish it as virtue before the founding of Equestria. However, there’s a problem, there is no pre-Equestrian history.”

“What do you mean there is no history,” a surprised Rarity said.

“I mean that all the history books and references to the subject only point to the story of Hearths Warming. So, nothing is known about what happened before it.”

“Well, maybe Celestia and Luna know about pre-Equestrian history, after all they’ve been around for a while,” Applejack said.

“I’ve already spoke with them, and they don’t know anything either, they were born during Discord’s reign over Equestria. From Celestia's explanation though, the reason for this is more than likely that the ponies from Hearths Warming used the books as fire starters to stay warm. So almost all knowledge before this was lost forever.”

“So does that mean we can cancel the festival?” Rainbow asked hopefully.

“No, I’ve promised Princess Celestia that this will be a segment for the festival, and I plan on keeping that promise.”

“So what’s the plan then Twilight?” asked Rarity.

“Right now the only thing we can do is try to find any information at all on the time period. So this is what I need you to do, Applejack and Fluttershy, I want you to go gather every history book form libraries through Equestria. Rarity, you and I will head to the castle of the two sisters to look for books there. Rainbow Dash, I need you to stay here and make sure the festival preparations go accordingly.”

“Fine, as long as I don’t have do any reading myself, I’m ok with staying back,” replied Rainbow.

“Great, now everyone has their roles, let’s get started.”

The room cleared soon after that as the ponies left. Twilight and Rarity left for the Everfree Forest, Applejack boarded a train headed for the Crystal Empire, and Fluttershy did the same to Canterlot. Rainbow Dash stayed and was actually happy about it. She would have hated having to go out and look for books that were of very little interest to her. She walked over to Sugarcube Corner to see how the festival was going along, and when she got there she found something shocking. Pinkie Pie was running from place to place, working hard on the bake goods and the decorations for the festival, but the room was a mess. Cake batter covered the walls, streamers and other party decorations were everywhere, and Pinkie had a look of anger and pain on her face.

“Pinkie Pie, are you al-,” Rainbow started, but was immediately interrupted by Pinkie.

“What do you do you want Swift Stream?” she screamed at Rainbow Dash, and turned around to see that she had mistaken who it was that was talking to her, “Oh, sorry Rainbow Dash, I thought you were somepony else.”

“It’s fine Pinkie, it looks like you’ve been kind of stressed out,” Rainbow said as she looked around the room .

“Yeah, I guess I have been. Swift Steam, the other planner they hired to help plan the festival, has been down my neck recently because I’m a bit behind on my work. I’ve told her that I have everything covered, and there’s no need to worry, but she just keeps checking up on me. To top it off I got get these cupcakes done today so that we have cupcakes for the festival,” she said as she was putting a batch of cupcakes into the oven and then started on another.

“But the festival is next week, why do you have to make cupcakes now?”

Pinkie Pie looked dumbfounded at that comment and then grab a list of the countertop behind her, “Oh no, I didn’t did I? No I did! I cooked the cupcakes four days too early. Oh, this is great, now I have all these cupcakes and I’m out of ingredients!”

The look of despair on her face was incredible. She hardly looked like the Pinkie Pie anyone knew anymore.

“Hey,” Rainbow told her, “If there is anything I can do for you, just ask.”

Pinkie looked up with a soft face after hearing that, “Well if you could pick up these things for me that would be wonderful,” she grabbed a piece of paper from a near by cabinet drawer and wrote down a few things she need to make the cupcake batter again then handed it to Rainbow Dash who then looked at the list then gave a reassuring nod and said, “No problem Pinkie, I’ll have it done in a giffy.”

With that, the pony then took off out of the door after saying goodbye to her friend, then started her way towards the market center.

Rainbow looked at the list one more time to make sure she had gotten everything that was on it. “Milk, eggs, cocoa, sugar, sprinkles. Did they run out all of this at Sugarcube Corner? ‘Cause this all seems like stuff she could… WHOA!”

Rainbow had not been paying attention to what was in front of her, and ran into somepony. When she looked up, she saw a Stallion in front of her with a fire red coat that was neatly groomed, and was wearing a guards uniform.

“My apologies Miss Rainbow Dash, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” the pony said to her in the most sincerely fearful voice anyone had spoken to her with.

“It’s ok, I wasn’t either. Say, are you one of the new guards we’re getting in today?” Rainbow asked out of curiosity since none of the guards she’s met before have ever acted like this.

“Yes ma'am. Private Post Flare of the Royal Unicorn Guard,” the unicorn said with a new sense of pride and confidence in his voice. After further inspection, Rainbow saw that the stallion had a fire formed into the shape of a shield as his cutie mark. He also had black-colored mane and tail, but his tail’s end was a smokey gray color.

“Here, let me help you with that ma'am,” he said very softly as he bent down to start picking up the knocked down items.

“Thanks, but don’t call me Miss or ma’am please. It makes me feel weird, and we’re about the same age it looks like, so there’s no need . Just call me Rainbow,” Rainbow said as she too bent over to start picking up the dropped groceries.

“Well, ok then, Rainbow. So what brings you out here, doing some shopping?”

Rainbow was about to answer, when a large explosion went off in the distance and instead shouted, “What in Equestria?”

“That sounded like it came from the Everfree Forest.”

Rainbow Dash flew up to see how far away it was. “Looks like it’s pretty far away. Don’t think anypony will get there in less than thirty minutes… except me,” she said cocking a smile.

“Hey can you take these over to Sugarcube Corner? Pinkie Pie needs them for the festival,” Rainbow asked, hovering down to hand the stallion her saddlebags.

“Sure, just be careful,” Post Flare said as he takes the bags.

“Okay, thanks,” and with that she was off.

It took Rainbow Dash longer than she thought it would to get there, and when she did she could barely believe her eyes. In what used to be a section of the forest’s edge, was a small crater with broken trees and plants surrounding the area. A pulsing energy could still be felt in the air, almost as if the blast was still going on. “What happened here?” she muttered to herself as she started to descend. She looked around trying to find something that could possibly explain this. When she heard moaning coming from a nearby bush that had survived the blast relatively well, she almost jumped out of her skin and gave a small, weak yelp. After regaining her composure, she started toward the bush, and saw an earth pony with a light gray coat sitting there with his hoof to his head.

Groaning again he looked up to see Rainbow Dash, “Could you lend a hoof this way mate? My head is killing me.”

“Who are you?” Rainbow asked as she helped him up.

“Well that’s kind of rude considering I’m a-,” a sudden look of remembrance came on his face as his eyes opened revealing their dark brown coloring, and then they darted toward his side. Looking back again he replied with a sigh, “Oh that’s right. My name is Malshine, Malshine Shimmer. And yours?”

“Rainbow Dash, wait, you don’t know me?” she asked confused. Ever since they defeated Triek and the castle was formed, they had been known throughout most of Equestria. Their pictures had been taken for the national newspapers and magazines, so most people knew her by name and look. She had to admit though, there was something refreshing about meeting someone who didn’t know her.

“Sorry, but no. You could say that I just got here though so- wait!” he sternly said. He grabbed her by the head and then shouted, “Is the tree of harmony still up?”

“What, how do you know about that?” she asked back. Not too many ponies knew about the tree, so she was again surprised by the Stallion.

“Just tell me already!” he demanded.

“Yes it’s fine. The elements are even there to,” she didn’t know why she told him, it’s just that she seemed almost obligated to, compelled even.

“Oh thank Harmonicus. I think I’m going to pass out now. Yeah, I am,” finishing his sentence he collapsed onto the ground. Panicked, Rainbow picked him up and began yelling at him to wake up.

When he didn’t, she looked back to see that the guards were on their way to see what was happening. She called out to get their attention, “Hey, over here! We got a survivor who needs to be taken to an infirmary now!” They quickly got a stretcher out and lifted him on it, “Take him to the one in the castle, I want to talk with him when he wakes up. Make sure he gets the best care too.”

“Yes miss. Rainbow Dash,” One of the guards said as they took the Malshine away to the castle.

‘What had just happened here,’ she thought as she walked back following the guards on the way to the castle. ‘Who is that that, where did he come from, did he set off that explosion, and who the hey is Harmonicus?’ These and many more thoughts went through Rainbow’s head as they walked back. She saw one of the guards look back quickly, like he saw something.

“Something wrong?” Rainbow said looking back as well.

“Just had this feeling is all. It’s probably just an animal coming to see the source of the sound,” he said as he turned back.

The Shimmer Effect: Book One, Conquest's Dawn-Part Two

Malshine woke up to a throbbing pain in his head. He rose from his cot in the castle’s infirmary to find himself in a place he had not seen before, a place made of cloth and paintings covering up solid gray stone. There were windows, but nothing else really. Turning his head to the left, he saw a few ponies laying in cots beside him, and to his right nurses caring for others. Where am I? He thought to himself. Did she bring me here? The previous events before he passed out were still clear in his mind, he remembered, Rainbow Dash was it? It made sense, she was a pegasus and her cutie mark was a storm cloud shooting out a rainbow lightning bolt, that cutie mark analysis class had been good for something finally. Her main was also in the color pattern of a rainbow, so that could explain it to.

“Hey, ‘bout time you woke up from your beauty sleep.”

Speak of the devil. She waked into the room with a some what sense of urgency in her steps, and glared slash stared slash looked with wonder at the gray pony, “What in Equestria were you doing in that explosion?” she said.

“So thats what you call this place then huh? Equestria. Not bad I suppose,” he replied.

“Can you start making sense now?”

“The thing about that is that I need to know what constitutes as making sense.”

“What?”

“Oh sorry, I’ll tak slowly. The-thing- a-bout-that-is-that-I-need-”

“Enough games Mallshine, tell me or I’ll have you arrested for disturbing the peace.”

“It’s Malshine love, it’s not that hard to memorize. Kind of hard to forget really.”

“Just tell me!” she yelled at him.

“Hey you stole that line from me.”

“Guards!” Rainbow yelled out.

“Ok, I’ll tell, geez,” Malshine said. Rainbow Dash had sent the guards off on their way with a quick look. A moment later when some of the nurses had left to attend to other patients, Malshine spoke with a sigh in his voice, “I caused that explosion, but it was kind of out of my control.”

“I’m listening.”

“I’m not from this time period. More specifically I’m from Fifteen-hundred years ago.”.

“What?”

“The explosion was from the time spell, and I actually couldn’t control where I ended up. I just went as far as I could go.”

“I can’t believe this.”

“I know this is shocking, but I do have a reason for coming to the future. It’s about the kingdom before this one.”

“There was a kingdom before this one?”

“Oh, you don’t about it?”

“Sorry, most of the history before Equestria’s founding was destroyed during a huge deep-freeze, before Equestria was even founded.”

“Well, you might want to take a seat then. This may come as a surprise to you.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“Rarity, come here! I think I found something!” Twilight said as she pulled a book from the bookshelf down. They had been at the castle of the two sisters for a bit over a hour now, and Rarity had started complaining about the dust, the wild creatures roaming around, and anything that was dirty in the slightest.

“Oh, please don’t tell me that you grabbed another book that you think I’d like because it’s about ancient fashion. I mean, the first few were great, amazing even! However, after the fifth and sixth, I started getting less interested.”

“No, I think I found something that tells us about pre-Equestrian history. Here look at this.” Twilight floated the book in her magic as she passed it to Rarity, who then took it into her magic, and started reading the title.

“Legend, King, God: The Tale of Harmonicus. Twilight, this seems kind of like a story book more than a history book.”

“That’s what people thought of the story of Nightmare Moon, but we all know how that turned out.”

“Fair point I guess, but still I’m taking this with a grain of salt,” as rarity said that she opened the book and started reading.

Long ago, before Equestria, there was only the alicorns. They lived in a world before cutie marks, the three tribes, and the Immortal Alicorn. A constant state of chaos was the world they lived in.

He was not born, he showed up on a hill top one day. He was not a colt, he was fully grown. He did not look like the others, he was taller, slender, and had a sense of importance with him.

When he looked out from the hilltop and saw the chaos that was unfolding amongst the ponies, he stomped his hoof on the ground. Everypony looked up at the hill and gathered toward him in all of his majestic glory. Once everyone gathered, the king summoned a magic into his horn, then shot it out in a beam of light. In a flash, there were no more alicorns, but in their place unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies.

The alicorn gathered Magic into his horn again then shot out another beam of light outward toward the the ponies. All the ponies now had different marks on their flanks, and new sense of purpose with each pony.

The alicorn looked around, but was still not satisfied with his work. He stomped his hoof down, and a wave of energy came from it. This caused everypony to now give their every last bit of attention to him.

He stopped his foot, and big stone tablet rose from the ground. The tablet read as such:

Be Honest

Be Kind

Be Enjoyable

Be Generous

Be Loyal

The next day, he declared himself as their king, and used his magic to erect a hole castle and multiply villages for the ponies.

“Twilight,” Rarity looked up, “do you really think that this is real? It sounds like this telling the origins of the world as we know.”

“That’s because it is,” the two unicorns were surprised to see Rainbow Dash, and a gray colored earth pony walked in with a guard from the castle.

“Rainbow Dash, what are you doing here, and who is this?” Twilight asked, staring at the gray pony. His cutie mark appeared to be a puppeteer's handle with it’s stings attached to a ball of light.

“Yeah, about that,” Rainbow Dash stated, “So, I found this pony in the aftermath of an explosion by the forest edge, and well, he says he’s from the past.”

“Specifically Fifteen-hundred years ago, and about Five-hundred years after the events in the story you just read,” the pony said walking toward the pair. He then held out his hoof then said, “Hi, I’m Malshine. Pleased to meet you.”

“Rarity,” Rarity said as she shook hooves with the pony.

“I’m Twilight,” she said as she did the same, “If don’t mind me asking, why you here?”

Malshine smiled, “That’s the question I get a lot these days. Well, to really answer that you need to hear the whole story. So, you know Harmonicus, but his kingdom is still a mystery to you. Allow me to enlighten you about the kingdom of harmony.”

“The kingdom was huge, it covered every corner of modern day Equestria. Everypony in it was happy, and Harmonicus was their king. The way nobility worked back then was that every noble earned it or was born into it, and the sign of their nobility was that Harmonicus had made them into a alicorn.”

“The three tribes lived in harmony, just as every one should. The Unicorns were the scholars, the Pegasi the guards and weather keepers, the Earth Ponies were the farmers, but everyone had the opportunity to be what they wanted to be.

“For the most part, everypony was happy, they lived in a world with relatively no conflict. That is until, Dawn Shimmer, my brother, decided that the law, and everything it stood for was wrong. The formation of the three tribes, cutie marks, and the code of harmony was just way for Harmonicus to control us. Sadly, I thought he was right at the time. He convinced me that if I help him rebel, and gather a following that he’d make me a god amongst ponies, and I believed him.

“I should explain something about our family, we were nobles, so we were born as alicorns.”

“Wait,” Twilight stopped Malshine’s speak, “if you were an alicorn at birth then explain why you’re an Earth Pony.”

“Patience please, I’m telling a story,” he said smugly. “Any way, so after we started planning to overthrow the government, we went to the slums of the cities, and from there we gained a following.

“My special talent is hyper-persuasion, so it was very easy to convince people to join us. I even could use my magic to ‘influence’ the more persistent ponies. However, I only had to use that to move police away from meetings, and every time we met up with ponies they seemed to agree with my brother before I even had a chance to talk to them. I guess they always wanted to rebel, but never had a reason to.

“I digress, so we planned on trying to fight harmony with disharmony. To do that, we got five ponies we felt that embodied the opposite of the rules of harmony, dishonesty, irritability, covetousness, cruelty, and indifference. At first it worked well, we had taken a few districts in the private sector, and was about to capture a part of the business district too. Then, true to his element, indifference decide that it would be better to not be apart of this army any more. We, barely won the districts, and had lost so many soldiers in the process.

“There was still hope.We had my brother and me, the only alicorns in the army. I could make entire units turn coat for the time being, and he was gifted with magic, just like you princess.

“How did you that I was a Princess, and that my talent was magic?” Twilight asked.

“Rainbow Dash caught me up on your status in the kingdom, and I took a class on cutie marks when I was younger. It taught me how to identify peoples talents by just looking at them.

“Back to my story, we starting to divide amongst ourselves. Irritability hated us all, Covetousness didn’t trust any of us, especially Disharmony; but who would trust her, and Cruelty, I’ll let you think up what he did, because he probably did do it at one point in time.

“It was amazing we were able to infiltrate the castle. When we got in there, we headed to the throne room to meet with the king, and when we did, they were prepared. Dishonesty was the first to fall. We all hated her the most so we used her as a shield at one point, and it was the last thing we all agreed on, minus her of course. I believe it was Covetousness that died next. Yes, she dropped one of her special items, and went out to pick it up. Then got blasted by a soldier's magic. Forgot how Irritability died, but Cruelty, talk about painful to watch. He was destroyed by the elements of harmony used Harmonicus himself. However, that opened up him up to be attacked, and Dawn did not hesitate.

“Now, immortal alicorns can’t die of old age, or be killed by normal weapons. They can however can be killed by heavily concentrated magic attacks. So, he used every ounce of magic in his body to conjure a sword made of pure magic, and then, well, you know.

“He killed him,” Twilight muttered, “your brother killed the one who gave us harmony. How could do that?”

“How could I let him do that is a better question,” he said in a depressingly low voice, “ if it wasn’t for me, none of this would have happened. Harmonicus would still be alive, thousands of ponies wouldn’t have given their lives for a pointless cause that would only hurt them in the end, and my brother wouldn’t have become a killer.”

“You still haven’t told us why you’re here,” Rarity said.

“Yeah about that, so after Dawn killed Harmonicus, the rebels gave up.”

“Why, wouldn’t they like that he had been killed,” Twilight asked.

“They wanted to try him first, and Dawn had promised that he would. So, when he had murdered him, the response wasn’t positive. That’s actually when things started to go really downhill. The rebels struck a deal with the kingdom to bring us in for trial. We barely escaped from the mobs. If it wasn’t for are magic and being able to fly at the same time, we would have been gonners.

“We went into hiding, and it was the worst months of my life. Dawn would not shut up about wanting to try again eventually, and we were exiled from ever returning to the kingdom. If anything good came from this, it would be that, Dawn learned that disharmony is no way to run a kingdom or army, but he still hated harmony.

“Back at the kingdom, a replacement king was chosen, but was in no way as good of a king as Harmonicus was. The best thing he did was plant a tree in the name of Harmonicus. This was called, the Tree of Harmony.

“So that’s where the tree came from,” Twilight said.

“Yes, and from it, two things came. A resting place for the elements of harmony, and a prophecy.”

“A prophecy?”

“Yes a prophecy. It says that when an Immortal Alicorn dies, another will take it’s place when Another the world needs them the most.

"Dawn wanted to destroy the tree, he hated what it stood for, and thought it burn for its evils. However, I had learned over time that harmony, though wasn't perfect at first, would be later on with time. I couldn't let him destroy the tree, and that’s why I took us hear, so that he-”

“Wait, he’s here?”

“Yeah, he came with me the time spell, but I’m sure that the elements of harmony plus the Immortal Alicorn can deal with him once we find him. By the way, who is the Immortal Alicorn here?”

“That would be, Princess Celestia, and her sister, Princess Luna. They work together to run this country, and I do think they are going to want to talk to you about your arrival.

“No problem, I can be at their every request if I must. It’s the least I could do to start me redemption for what I’ve done.”

“Great, I’m sure they’d be glad to hear that. Now about your brother.”

“Aw yes, I presume that he is probably recovering from the whole experience of time travel. He could be in the Everfree right now doing just that.”

“Your highness,” A royal guard walked in with a some what concerned tone in his voice, “there is a maroon Alicorn in Ponyville preaching words of rebellion, and slandering the name of the government! Worse, I think he might be convince some of them” They looked back at Malshine.

“Or, you know, he could be doing that. That is definitely a possibility as well.”

The Shimmer Effect- Book One: Conquest Dawn part three.

Post Flare walked along his patrol route, keeping a close eye on the ponies as they went about their day. He was still flustered about what had happened before, and how mean one pony could be to another. Swift Stream really was a jerk to Pinkie Pie, and he was glad he had intervened in that fight the two were having.

_____________________________________________________________________________

He had just recently walked into Sugarcube Corner when screaming came bursting out of the room. “Why did you make the cupcakes now? The Festival is in a week, and we have no ingredients for cupcakes, or any cake for that matter! Why, why did you do this Pinkie Pie?”

“I...I just made a mistake is all. I sent somepony out to get more ingredients, they should be back soon. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t make cupcakes now does it? If you would just think for a moment, instead of being a scatter brain, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

Post Flare walked into the back room, now seeing the two ponies arguing. One was Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter. He had know idea who the other pony was though. She was teal, a pegasus, with a dark purple mane, and her cutie mark was a cloud that seemed to be raining confetti.

“Excuse me,” he said, “but if this is a bad time, I can wait outside if I need to.”

“If you could, that’d be great. I need to a have a word with this worthless party planner they partnered me up with,” Swift Stream said as she glared at Pinkie.

“Worthless? That seems a bit harsh.”

“Oh I haven’t even begun to be harsh yet. She ruined the festival. What are we going to do without cakes?”

“Calm down, I have the ingredients she sent out for here,” he laid the bag of groceries out on the table next to him, and then asked, “Why are you so mean? She made a mistake, we all make mistakes.”

“This ‘mistake’ almost ruined the festival. So, if would kindly back off, that would be great.”

“Is that a threat?”

“And if it is?”

“Then I’d have you arrested for threatening a guard.”

Swift Stream stood there for a moment, weighing her options, and then decided that it wasn’t worth it.

“If fresh cupcakes aren’t ready for the festival, then you will never plan a party again, got it?” she spat out as she left the room.

“Thanks for your help back there. I really appreciate it,” Pinkie said as she took the bag of ingredients from the table.

“No problem. The name’s Post Flare by the way.”

“Nice to meet you. Ooo, you’re new here right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well then we need to have a party soon! Oh, wait, the festival. Tell you what, after the festival, we’ll throw you a big party welcoming you here. I throw one for every pony who’s new here. That way everypony can know who they are, then become friends!”

“Thank you for the offer, but my duties as a guard come first. I would like to go though.”

“Aw, that stinks. Hey, why did you protect me from that mean pony anyway.”

“Protecting ponies is what I’m meant to to do. That’s why I became a guard, so that I can be there when others need me the most. Protection is actually my special talent,” he said this as he turned his side to show his cutie mark.

“That’s cool. Sure did protect me. Hey why’s the shield on fire?”

“Oh, that’s because I specialize in fire magic.”

“Ooo, can you show me some?”

He turned back around, and started out the door, “I’d love to, but I really have to get back on my patrol. I’ll come by on my break though to show you if you want.”

“That sounds like a plan,” she said, “I’ll see you later then. Bye!”

______________________________________________________________________________

That was a couple hours ago, but he still felt irritated. Maybe because it reminded him of that one time, but who knows.

As he kept walking he saw a group of other guards running past him.

“Hey,” he yelped in surprise, “Where’s the fire?”

One of the guards turned around and said, “There’s some kind of commotion going on down in the town square. Somepony is making talks of revolution. We’re being sent into help calm the crowd. You just keep on your route though, we can handle this.”

“Ok,” he said as the group went on to the town square. Why would someone want to start a revolution? He thought. Equestria is almost perfect, and nothing bad had really happened lately. Expected Nightmare Moon returning, and Discord returning, and the Changelings invading, and lord Sombra returning, and the Princesses disappearing for a while there, and Tirek returning. Actually a revolution does seem more likely now. The Princesses haven’t been on top of things for the most part lately.

______________________________________________________________________________

Well, that was a complete waste of time, Applejack thought, I can’t believe that the Crystal Empire of all places doesn’t have any information on the past.

Applejack stepped off the train, frustrated after looking in the Empire’s Library all day, and finding nothing of anything dealing with the subject of “Pre” Equestrian history. She had really started to believe that there might not even be such a thing.

She just wanted to go home now. The whole experience was exhausting, and she wanted to get a nap before she had to tend to the apple fields. However, she needed to grab something from town. They had just ran out of milk, and she promised she’d get some on her way back from her duties.

As she walked to the center, she noticed that there was a fairly large crowd in the town square, and that there was somepony standing on a makeshift pedestal shouting something. From what she could see, the pony was maroon, but she couldn’t make out a clear tribe. The closer she got, the more of him she saw, the horn first, and then the wings.

Applejack rushed in to tell whether or not her eyes were playing tricks on her, but they weren't. There he stood, a maroon alicorn with a black mane, and a cutie mark of five four point stars with orange outside and red on the inside.

“And my friends we still have dangerous and wild creatures running a muck in the forests and our lands. They have let the lives of many ponies be in danger by not destroying these dangerous animals that exist solely to kill us. This is yet another reason that we need to rebel and fix the mistakes that the government has made!”

Rebel! Apple Jack thought. Then quickly shouted, “Who in the wide world of Equestria are you, and why are you trying to get these people to rebel against the kingdom?”

The alicorn smiled, “Why, if it isn’t the element of ‘honesty’ herself? Come here to see the light, and help the true nature of harmony be known? Or are you here simply to be a hypocrite?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Hypocrite it is then. Tell me Applejack, why do you lie?”

“Lie? I don’t lie.”

“Yes you do. You actually just did. Everyone has lied before, so have you.”

“I admit it that I’ve lied in the past, but I’ve always come forward with the truth. I mean, nopony is perfect.”

“So you are a hypocrite. Just another reason harmony is just a way for the government control and trick you.”

Applejack grunted and yelled at the pony, “Just who the hay are ya anyway?”

“I am the one who will give a new hope to this land. I am the second coming of the dawn, Equestria’s new dawn, I am Dawn Shimmer, and you are a demon of harmony who wishes nothing more than to blind us from the truth!”

“And you’re fool who thinks that he can trick anyone into believing a word you say!” The crowd parted and revealed Malshine in front of Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash.

“Twilight, who is this p-”, she couldn’t finish he started at Dawn again.

“Why do you continue to put yourself into this situation brother. It failed once, it’ll fail again.”

“This time, I have a new group of followers to arm, a new cause to fight for, and a new plan to put into motion. This time will be different brother. Why can’t you see it?”

“I can’t see what isn’t really there brother. Harmony is perfect, these ponies are perfect, why do you need to change it to something that’s not?”

“Because you’re wrong. Once you see how these people are, not as you think they are, you’ll come crawling back to me. Don’t worry, I can forgive you, unlike these demons you back.”

“Brother, please.”

“My plan has already been set into motion. I just need to find the two. Goodbye Ponyville, may the revolution be good to you.” With that he teleported away.

Twilight stepped forward, “Where did he go?”

“Couldn’t have gone too far. Probably into the forest to hide and rest. Though I have been wrong before.”

Twilight turned to face the others, “Rarity, run back to the castle, and have spike send a message to the princesses. Rainbow Dash, I need you to fly over head Ponyville to see if you can spot him.”

Applejack cleared her throat then spoke, “Excuse me fer interrupting, but could somepony please tell me what the hay is going on!”

______________________________________________________________________________

“So, yeah, that’s why we’re here, and why this is happening,” Malshine explained. They had just arrived at the castle to send the message. On the way, Twilight and Malshine explained Applejack about the time spell, the other kingdom, and about Dawn Shimmer’s plan to start a revolution.

“Just one thing I still don’t get,” Applejack questioned, “how did Dawn know all about Equestria, and the monsters too?”

“I assume that he used a memory reading spell and then just walked around ponyville in disguise while he filtered the information he leaked out from the ponies. That crafty brother of mine, he’ll be the end of us all if we’re not careful.”

“Ok, well I’m tired, and I still need to get some milk at the market. So I’ll leave all this ‘war’ stuff to ya’ll for now. Meeting tomorrow, Twilight?”

“Yeah, same time as today's,” she replied.

“Kay, see y’all later,” she said as she walked out of the front door.

“So what happens now Malshine?” Twilight asked.

“Now, we try to find my brother before he finds us. He’ll want to make a scene as soon as possible. Is there any festivals or town meetings coming up?”

“The Time of Remembrance festival is next week.”

“No doubt he knows about it. We need to make sure that we stay prepared to fight if it resorts to that. Hopefully it won't and we can just subdue him then have him face trial.”

“We’ll have to make more time for meetings, so our jobs will be cut shorter to make sure that nothing bad happens until we capture Dawn.”

Rarity spoke out, “Twilight, I do need to have my store looked after while I’m gone. I don’t need the money, but I do pride myself in being able to provide dresses at a moments notice. ”

“Maybe you can have Sweetie Bell look after the store while you’re away?”

Rarity thought for a moment, and then imagined her younger sister destroying her entire selection of outfits and sewing materials. Cringing at the thought, she replied, “No, I don’t think she’s up to it. Besides, she has school to worry about, so me asking her to do that may interfere with her studies. However, that does give me an idea, maybe I can hire somepony to watch the store while I’m away. Yes, that seems like a perfect idea. I’ll go inform the newspaper that I’m hiring, and to place an ad in it for tomorrow's paper. Well, I best be off then. Lots to do between now and then so goodbye.”

Rarity walked out through the door as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy walked in.

“Hey,” Rainbow Dash said, “I didn’t find Dawn, but I did find her.”

“Did I miss something while I was gone?” Fluttershy asked.

“It’s been a long day,” Twilight said.

Malshine interrupted, “Hey, I just time traveled. If it’s been a long day for anyone, then it’s been for me.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“What is it sister? You seem concerned,” Luna asked as she entered the throne room. Celestia was reading a letter, and had a somewhat worried look on her face. She was holding the letter in her magic, and had actually sent the guards away.

“Luna,” she responded, “glad you came. I want you to read this.” Celestia levitated the the paper over to her sister, who in return to it into her magic. “We are in great danger as of late.”

Luna now had a look of shock and fear on her face,“Sister,” Luna said, “I can’t believe this! A revolution in Equestria? This is unheard of, and needs to be dealt with right away.”

“I know Luna,” Celestia said, “but I need to know more about these ponies from the past if we’re going to make the right move. We must also know on what basis this revolution stands. Let’s face it sister, we haven’t been the quiet little kingdom we once were for a while now.”

“Yes I suppose you're right. With all these recent events, I find myself actually only somewhat shocked that someone raised an eye to what we’ve been through. But a revolution, I just can’t believe it’s that bad.”

“Nor can I, but we must see this through. Tomorrow we leave for Ponyville at noon. We should arrive around a hour later, but this will still give us plenty of time to investigate.”

“I’ll have messages sent, and tell the guards to be prepared for our departure. Should I tell them why we are leaving?”

“No, I don’t want a panic throughout the city. Just tell them that we want to see how the festival is coming along. However, do send a message to Princess Cadence explaining the situation. I do believe she has the right to know what’s going on.”

“Very well,” Luna started toward the door, but then stopped, “Do you think a war will happen?”

Celestia paused for a moment, and then spoke, “As long as these issues are not addressed, we can not be sure that one will not.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“Oh, what am I going to do,” Rarity whined as she walked into her home. She had just gone to visit the local newspaper to find out that there is no room for her advertisement. Now, she’d have to find another way to get someone to look after her store.

“What I need is someone who knows about dressmaking, and can be available whenever I need them,” she paused for a moment, “Oh dear, I’m talking to myself.”

Rarity looked out her window. She saw ponies walk by without a care in the world, having no knowledge of the potential war that might occur. One little colt rushed by try to keep up with his mother, another group of ponies walked by chatting amongst themselves, a pale purple unicorn with green hair walked out of a curtain store across the street. A sour expression on her face as she took off her coat to reveal a needle sewing an invisible cloth as her cutie mark. Passing her was a- Rarity looked back at the pale pony. She noticed more about her know, like how her hair was worn on one side of her head, causing her to adjust it constantly to keep it out of her eyes, which was a dark shade of red.

Rarity burst out of the doors, and then called out, “Wait, you there!” This caused the pony to look back.

“Me?” she replied.

“Yes you. What’s your name?”

“Maldelva Ires. Wait, you’re, Rarity!” she gasped out, “You’re talking to, you’re talking to me!”

“Yes yes, I am. I have a question for you,”

“What?”

“Can you sow?”

“Yes, I can. I actually just got back from a job interview with the curtain store, but I don’t think that I got the job.”

“Ok, do you have experience with dresses though?”

“Yes, I do!”

“Well, then you’re hired.”

“What?”

“You are now my, assistant. You start tomorrow at eight sharp so don’t be late. I need you to look after the store while I attend a meeting.”

“You can count on me Ms. Rarity I’ll be there whenever you need me for whatever you need me.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Malshine walked into the apartment that Twilight had arranged with the mayor that he could stay in during his visit. The place was small, but comfy. It had a pool outside, and was close to the castle so that he could get to the meetings as soon as possible. He would rather stay at the castle, but the guards wouldn’t allow it.

He turned on the light to reveal the maroon pony sitting in the chair right in front of him.

“Dawn!” he yelled out in shock.

“Hello brother,” Dawn spoke in an unnervingly calm voice, “We need to talk.”