In My Time of Dying

"Twilight, you have gotta see this!"

Princess Twilight Sparkle jumped out of her beanie bag in fright, making her book soar in the air; she hadn't heard anypony come in. She was almost over the sudden shock when the book hit the ceiling and proceeded to land right on her head. It was a heavy book, too; biographies of all previous Commanders of the Royal Guard, of which there were quite a few. Twilight hit the floor with thud when the massive book struck her skull.

Rainbow Dash was on the floor and laughing hysterically, as the whole situation was the most bizarre and hilarious thing she had seen in ages, until she realized that Twilight hadn't got up. She frantically got up from the wood floor and rushed over to her fallen friend, looking for anything around the room that might help her.

"Twilight, are you okay? Talk to me, please!" Rainbow Dash began pushing as hard as she could on the alicorn's chest, as she thought she had heard of doctors doing it during attempts at revival; Twilight began coughing wildly and squirming around, and Rainbow quickly moved away from her and leaned against the wall.

"What the...Tartarus...Rainbow..." Twilight managed to say in between coughing fits. Rainbow began to try and explain herself before uncontrollably laughing again. Twilight slowly got up from her prone position, holding her head with a hoof all the while, and gave Rainbow Dash a death glare as she continued laughing.

"That was the stupidest and weirdest thing that's every happened to me! Dear Celestia!" she managed to get out, before laughing hysterically once more. Twilight sighed before casting a spell; the pain in hear head had momentarily subsided, but it would be back in about an hour. Shaking her head, she began laughing as well. When they all calmed down, Twilight began to speak.

"That was...odd. What was it you wanted me to see, anyways?" With that remark, Rainbow Dash shot up, her eyes wide open.

"How could I forget? There's a really weird cloud over Ponyville right now, and everyone is gathered around to see it! I was hoping the resident egghead, being you, of course, would know what it was, so I came here to tell you and...well, then this whole odd mess happened. But come on, lets go! There's no time to waste!" With that, Rainbow sped out of the library and out the door faster than Twilight could keep up with; the rainbow trail staying in the room for several seconds. Twilight gave a long sigh before slowly making her way out the door.

She saw it as soon as she exited the library. She expected to walk a little, but there it was; a massive, swirling cloud in the sky, almost over her house. As Rainbow Dash had said, everypony in the town was gathered around it. Upon seeing her, Rainbow Dash trotted over to Twilight. With her she had brought Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack, who were eager to approach the princess.

"Well, do you know what it is? I've tried to get some weather ponies up there, but they say they can't get near it without being launched back down. Is it part of some prophecy? Is it a new enemy?" asked a very eager Rainbow Dash. Twilight looked at the rapidly swirling cloud for a good long minute before answering her.

"No...I have no idea. It is very unnatural, so signs immediately point to the Everfree Forest, but I haven't seen anything like this come out of there yet. I can't give a guess to anything else. Maybe-"

At that moment, a blue beam shot from the cloud. It was just fast enough that the eye could catch it, but that didn't didn't matter as what happened next would certainly alert those unaware of its presence.

With an awesome power, the beam collided with the ground, sending a shock wave that blew anypony (which was everypony) back at least a hundred feet. Flying through the air and skidding to the ground, as many other ponies were most likely doing, Twilight Sparkle's head exploded in pain; the book collision was coming back to haunt her, and the massive force of the wave made it much, much worse. Holding her head and groaning, Twilight slowly got up to see the most terrifying figure she had ever laid her eyes on.

It's body was completely hidden by bandages, but Twilight could guess that it was a bipedal creature. It was the head that was disturbing; it was just a giant green eye, which, to the utter disbelief and horror of Twilight, happened to be fixated on her. It did not move. It was glued to her, which made Twilight rather uncomfortable, as well as petrified with fear. And then it spoke.

"You.." it said, in baritone, raspy voice (which Twilight had no idea how that was possible, considering it didn't have a mouth). Twilight looked around her, which only proved to strike even more fear into her heart; everypony had not gotten up, save her five best friends. She had also not notice the scenery, which had been utterly destroyed around her; the library, the trees, everything. This was clearly planned, which made it all the more horrifically terrifying. Twilight reluctantly pointed a hoof to her chest. "M-Me?"

Before she knew it, the Eye was right in her face. She jumped back in fear, letting out a cowardly squeal. Her friends were just as horrified as she was, and made sure to keep their distance to the thing that came from the sky. It did not seem to pay attention to them, though, the eye firmly fixed on Twilight Sparkle.

"You are the most powerful being on the planet...and one of the most powerful beings in the universe." it stated. Twilight's countenance of horror quickly turned to one of confusion as she backed away from the figure once more. "Me? No no no, you must be mistaken, I'm just a-"

Twilight would not finish the sentence, as she was interrupted by a sound she would recognize anywhere; teleportation. Looking behind her, she saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, along with Discord the Draconequus. They all had concerned looks on their faces, which turned to surprise when they peered upon the scenery, and on to fear when the looked upon the dreadful figure in front if them.

"W-What happened here?" asked Princess Luna. "We sensed a great energy force in the area but we didn't expect it to be this powerful..." Discord stayed silent, but Celestia had quite a few questions of her own.

"Are...are all these ponies dead?" she asked, motioning to the ponies on the ground that wouldn't get up. The figure seemed to almost not care about the inquiry, as the eye was still fixed to Twilight, but he gave her an answer a few seconds after the question was asked.

"No, merely suspended. Once I am done here, they, and everything else, will come back to normal. I come here only seeking your Princess Twilight Sparkle, as she is one of the most powerful beings in all the universe. It is because of this that she may aid me. I mean to take her to a tournament where she will battle others like herself, so that, when a victor is chosen, he or she may save the universe."

Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and her friends were baffled by the figure's statement, but Discord seemed rather amused.

"While I'm not denying your claim that Twilight is one of the most powerful beings in the universe, as she is clearly the most powerful being on the planet, I do ask this: who are you to make such a grand claim, and why is it that this whole tournament exists? What are we saving the universe from? Because I've tried to destroy it quite a few times and, let me tell you, people tend to know about it." Celestia and Luna seemed to agree, but not before shooting dirty looks towards him for mentioning the numerous incidents in times past. The figure once again fixated the eye on Twilight.

"I am Genesis, one of the Masters of Reality. I, along with my comrades, built this universe, and we grow weaker every day. We know that some power source, an usurper, seeks to destroy us and, along with it, the entire universe. We seek the help of sixteen great champions to battle against one another. These will not be easy battles, and we will find the most powerful being this way. I would summon your Princess Twilight to the tournament."

Twilight and all her friends were slowly taking in all this news. Twilight was one of the most powerful beings in...the universe? There were still some days she forgot to brush her teeth in the morning! Spike still had to remind her to stop reading and get some sleep occasionally!

The Royal Sisters were calmer now, but they still remained silent. Discord seemed to want to ask the questions, so they left it to him.

"Say she enters this tournament and she loses a match. What happens then? I will not vouch to send her if she is to be killed, as she is needed here."

"She will be sent back here, simple as that. If the champion fails then the entire universe will be doomed, so she'll spend her final days here, if it indeed comes to that. Is there anything else you would have of me before we go?" Discord closed his eyes and began shaking his finger at the figure.

"I will have none of that. She may not go at all; is there something that forces her too? What if she is to refuse?"

"I will have to draw a substitute from another planet. You are the last one I have chosen to draw, so I would have to get a being significantly less powerful. I do not want that, as the champion might have been you if you had answered the call. No, there are no consequences, and no, no harm will come to anyone if she refuses. Now, is that all? Because time-"

"HEY!" shouted Rainbow Dash, who had been behind Twilight with the rest of Twilight's friends. "I have a question!" While all her friends, Royal Sisters included, were stunned at Rainbow's sudden outburst, no one was denying her and so she spoke.

"Why don't you send everyone against this...thing? Why does there have to be a tournament and have one person fight the being when you can just have all sixteen of these incredibly amazing warriors battle it? IT seems like a very stupid concept if you ask me, and I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed." The figure did not answer for the first few seconds.

"Our prophecy has deemed that one champion shall fight the usurper, but we are clouded beyond that. We do not go against prophecies, Rainbow Dash, as breaking the chains of fate will bend time as we know it. Now, I understand what you are thinking; what prophecy do we follow if we have created the universe? Put simply, we do not control what happens; we merely created the universe. There are other beings who are able to predict the future, somewhat at least, and we go by them. Now, I will have no more questions; Will you come with me, Twilight Sparkle? Or will you stay and watch the world burn?"

Twilight did not answer right away. Instead, she looked around. She saw Ponyville; the Library, Sugercube Corner off in the distance, the trail to Sweet Apple Acres. Her greatest friends behind her, and others she knew lying on the ground and not getting up. The beautiful green trees that were a little darker due to the gray sky that now covered them. The path she walked along everyday.

"Twilight." she heard. Twilight whipped around to meet Celestia. She put a hoof on her shoulder and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Follow your heart." she said.

And then she knew. Brushing the hoof aside, she turned to the menacing figure who, for whatever reason, did not seem so menacing now.

"I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Guardian of Equestria, bearer of the Sixth Element, Magic, will come with you. This is a greater duty that I am able to accept, yet I shall oblige at any rate." she turned to her friends.

"I love you all, and I must say goodbye now. Tell Spike that I love him too, as he's away at camp, and everyone else who lay on the ground. Whoever becomes the champion, I do hope they succeed."

With those words, she turned to Genesis and nodded. It nodded back, and then came another massive shock wave. Once it was all over, Everypony was standing up. The cloud was gone. The sky was blue. They all looked around in confusion for a few minutes before going back to their everyday lives, as if nothing happened.

The three that had teleported to the scene and the other Elements of Harmony had found themselves back at the castle. They did not talk for a good fifteen minutes before Celestia turned her head to the sky.

"Good luck, Twilight Sparkle." she said, and all was silent once more.