"A princess true is quick to wake, and slow to rest.
But remember first, the nation needs you at your best."
- Her Majesty, Princess Celestia, circa 1015 Post Nightmare.

The sun was setting in the west, as it always did. But there was no mind to guide it anymore. It seemed to be the case, that the sun gave magic power, and magic in turn powered the sun, but there was no more magic to sap the sun's speed, or to push it along again. It moved uniformly, and constantly now. Dipping above and below the horizon, bringing day and night, summer and winter, life and death. Long ago it was a symbol of mystery, for to the west was the impregnable, infinite ocean. Not long after that, it became a symbol of hope and benevolence, for the sun god lived, and she was the leader of a great people. Now it looked hollow, idle and lifeless. The solar light seemed weak, and uninteresting, as wind buffeted against the feeble shrubbery on the cliff, exploring further and more freely than ponies could dare, in those days. Or in these days, for that matter. The first few flakes began to fall with the impending night, and the snow set in with a chill. The light blanket of snow was still there, as were the wind and the sun. Roads ran on for miles, and in passing view thousands of carriages still sat upon them. What had changed?

A few moments of waiting, and one would see. Rather, one would hear. What had changed was the sound. So many years ago, these roads roared like thunder itself, a testimony to the infrastructure of the world, and to the constant turmoil that was modern life. But now they were stagnant, and silent. The carriages did not speed along them, whirring with power and hunger for fuel. There were no ponies to drive them. The old home of the Minotaurs had never been more peaceful than it was after the collapse, all those years ago. No more rocket science to shake the earth with plasma exhaust, no more air raid sirens to warn of the impending doom, no more fear. Yes, the land around the Cosmodrome was silent. Save for the sounds whistling air, and that of a Ghost.

It hummed a quiet tune, and searched the wastes, with boundless interest in every crevice it encountered, trailing with light and an electric whistling sound. The brushed steel surface of the machine started to form a thin layer of frost in the sudden chill of dusk, and it sparkled a little, as though the hollow sun were painting it with light. From spot to spot, it floated. Casually it would poke its non-existent nose into a car, or under a rock. It knew it was being followed, but did not worry. As long as it found what it was looking for, the Fallen wouldn't stand a chance to harm the little robot.

Its whimsical humming turned to curious "Hmm?" as it inspected another nondescript nook. "Is that...?" the ghost trailed off. Before practically hopping in excitement "Yes! I found you!" It swirled around its own axis in joy "Now let's fix you up..." The thing popped its little extremities out, and they hovered on the surface of a sphere of light around its core. The Ghost whirred with energy and life, drawing tendrils of electricity from the ground closest to it, and after concentrating very hard for a few seconds, it erupted with a spherical, washing wave of blue light.

"Did it work?" It asked what it hoped to be alive. A few more seconds passed, and this hopeful mass of flesh and bone twitched a little. "It worked!"

The ghost pretended to take a deep breath -the poor thing had no lungs, but if felt like a kid on Hearth's Warming Eve- and it addressed the little clump of hope.

"Guardian?"

--------*--------*--------*--------

"Guardian. Eyes up here, Guardian!"

Twilight felt like death. Everything was dark and blurry, but she could tell she was lying in snow just by the slight cold that plagued her side. Something was speaking in her vicinity, but she couldn't quite make it out. A doctor, maybe? No, doctors don't leave their patients lying in the snow. Twilight was definitely not in a hospital, and she felt as though she had just awoken from a coma, which was a feeling she was unfortunately experienced with, at this point.

"It's not safe here, I need to get you somewhere else."

She understood the voice that time. Her mind wasn't fully in the game, however. Twilight couldn't muster up the will power to speak, or even comprehend what she had been told. Only the most tried and true behaviours found their way to her now. She did what her beloved brother had taught her to do when disoriented, long ago, step by step. Try to stand. At first it was a struggle, but her muscles eventually loosened from a cold, hard state and allowed motion. With a few grunts, and failed attempts she made it to her hooves. A stumbled shake threw the snow off of her, and left her in decent condition. Check for injuries. Twilight twisted her neck around, to look at her body, even as her spine popped and her tendons creaked. Wincing in pain, she pressed on, and finally was rewarded with a view of her own self.

"Are you listening to me?"

Why did that voice keep saying things in such a rushed tone? Twilight grumbled and slurred something that could have been interpreted as "Not really." After which she proceeded to observe her bodily condition. Firstly, and most obviously, she was wearing some interesting attire. A thick, quilted trench coat, coloured a deep maroon and purple, with a large ornate belt of black around her midsection covered her torso and upper forelegs, while the flowing back end of the coat shrouded her posterior in a layer of mystery. Uniquely articulated manchettes, a grey violet with golden trim, were attached to her front shins, and tall, black, rimmed boots covered her back hooves. Additionally, upon her front leg, was a purple band of cloth with the insignia of a six pointed star upon it. The collar of her coat, and a fancy looking lavender scarf tucked into its neck protected her throat from the cold. .

Soon after her attention had been drawn to her neck, it was drawn to her head. Although she couldn't really look at it, Twilight felt like she was wearing a motorcycle helmet, or similar implement. On her side of the headgear, it was padded and warm, raising a hoof to the side of her head, she felt that the other side of the equipment was incredibly hard, and smooth. While feeling around her head, she felt a familiar object. This was a nice change of pace, Twilight thought. It was her horn, something that had been with her for her whole life, and never failed to impress her with its untold power.

She stretched, trying to shake away the last of the stiff muscles and locked joints. Her legs popped, and slid along in the snow while she pushed them outward as far as they would go. Her spine creaked and cracked when she rolled and twisted it side to side, in a similar fashion to her neck, which followed suit. She swished her tail, blinked twice, and unfurled her wings. Ah, her wings. The appendages of godhood, a gift from the wisest being in the world. Though her horn was her favourite by far, the wings were always a welcome addition. She twisted back, to start preening the feathers. But her nose was met with nothing but air.

Oh no.

Twilight thought she had checked for injury, but she failed to notice her wings were missing. Stupid, stupid! She frantically felt around the place on her back where they used to be, expecting to find some horrid, scarred set of stumps. But she was surprised to find the flat, slightly soft muscle and fur that had been there long, long before. What's going on? Twilight had started to actually wake up, and was now capable of asking questions to herself. Wait, there had been a voice earlier. It could tell her what was going on! Twilight frantically looked around in search of whatever was speaking to her. She was about to tentatively call out a meagre "Hello?" When a small form leaped into her line of sight, and a few inches from her face. Twilight squealed, and reeled back, falling to a sitting position.

"Hey, seriously! Do you want to be cooked alive by Arc light?"

A little silver creature, or machine perhaps, was floating a hairs breadth from where Twilight's face was a moment ago. It had small, pyramid shaped protrusions radiating out from its center. A single eye, glowing white-blue in the shape of some unfamiliar symbol, occupied its core. The sun had almost entirely set behind the perpetrator, and its last rays of golden light refracted off of the frost on the creature's surface to form a little sort of halo. The eye flicked around Twilight's face, showing interest and intelligence. The pyramidal structures rotated and twitched slightly around its axes, and the inhuman creation somehow managed to appear annoyed.

"Wha?" Twilight was enamoured with the intelligent, annoyed, radiant, little thing. So enamoured, in fact, that she could only stutter an embarrassingly simple word.

"Okay look, we started off on the wrong foot." It apologized, in a smarmy sort of voice. "I'm Ghost. Your Ghost."

Twilight blinked twice, though she did not know that her darkened visor had shrouded the expression from her 'Ghost.'

"There's no easy way to say this, so I'll say it blatantly. You were dead a very long time."

Dead? Twilight's mind asked that as a question, but it felt more like a wondered exclamation to her. Dead... It came out how she imagined it that time. Didn't do much to ease that news to her, but it was something. Nopony had ever truly come back from the dead, never once in history. She remembered asking Celestia a question about resurrection long ago, when she was still a mere student. Celestia had explained that the magic of life was unlike any other magic known to the world, and for the same reason Cutiemarks couldn't be changed by magic, neither could life. Celestia said that was why she was so interested in Philomena, her pet phoenix. The only living species that could transcend death entirely.

"Where..." Twilight began shakily, looking at her surroundings. Shrubs poked through snow on a hilltop, where she stood now. Below her an ancient road of cement lay cracked and worn, with the rusted out shells of carriages littered across it for as far as she could see. Disturbingly enough, small glimpses of sun bleached bones could be spotted through the windows of the vehicles.

"Where are we?" The Ghost finished for Twilight. "We're in Old Minotaurnia, not far from your new home." he explained hastily, and impatiently.

"No..." Twilight slurred, she still felt groggy and confused. "My wings. Where are my wings?" The ghost lowered the bit of its form that could be called a brow.

It looked doubtful, even disappointed for a second. Then it furrowed its 'brow' even further, and hummed in thought. After a split second of glancing between spots on the ground, and the upper right side of its 'face.' it gasped quietly, seeming to realize something. Floating a little closer to Twilight, and raising its expression in wonder, it spoke.

"Are you Princess Twilight Sparkle, by any chance?" It was practically quivering with hope.

"Uh, well..." The Ghost got uncomfortably close, and if it could smile, it would be grinning maniacally and ear to ear. "Yes?"

All of a sudden, the compacted and restrained joy of the little robot was released in an explosion of dancing fits and rambling. It flourished its apparently detachable knobs in a circle and floated about very quickly. It would glance about frantically, but always return its eye to the unearthed princess.

"This is amazing! That's it; amazing. There really is no other word to describe this!" It explained fanatically. "You're Twilight Sparkle! We thought the Darkness had entirely consumed the Elements, but you're proof they still exist in some form!"

"The Elements of Harmony?" Saying those words hurt Twilight. It wasn't her twinging joints, or her splitting head ache, or even her throbbing muscles. It was a little pang of loneliness, and emptiness in her heart. She remembered all of her friends, all at once. The memories rushing to her left her breathless, and sad. Where were they? Why weren't they all together? They were always together.

"Yes! Exactly! Your Highness, you probably don't realize what this means, but it is truly incredible." The Ghost said. "It's a little heavy to explain all at once, though. We need to go, before the Fallen find us." Twilight opened her mouth to ask something, but was cut off. "I'll tell you about them later, we'll have plenty of time in the City. Right now, we need to find you a ride. Let me send in a report, just a moment."

The Ghost flashed out of existence with a blue light, and some energy particles which moved upward rapidly before fading out. Twilight looked around in worry, trying to find the eccentric being, before a voice played through her enamel coated helmet.

"Don't worry, I'm still here." It explained, before going on. "I've got reports of a Guardian deployment coming in about half a kilometer north of here, we could ask for a ride back to the City."

A white diamond shape appeared in front of twilight, clearly digital in nature. It was overlaying a simple compass at the top of her vision, and appeared just a little to the right of the clear North marker. Twilight took that as a cue to start trotting, with the diamond in the dead center of her compass. Twilight took the time of the short canter to take in the scenery. If one ignored the ancient remains of dead civilians sitting in rusted out vehicles, the land was a sight to behold. The night had now solidified its grasp over the sky, and in the soft silvery light of the moon everything held an eerie glow. Twilight looked up at the moon, and frowned to see something far more ominous than the Mare in the Moon. The celestial body looked like a titan had drawn a groove out of its surface with a set of ungodly claws, wreaking giant gorges that ran for hundreds of kilometers each. She shuddered to think what could have caused that damage.

The Sun had seemed hollow, and lonely in the sky. But the moon was worse. It looked dead. Actually, more than dead. Where it used to hang with an air of motherly watchfulness, it stood with an aura of envious greed. Like it stared at Equis with the hunger of a starving wolf, ready to attack anything if it meant a chance at survival. But at the same time as it looked threatening, and evil, it managed to look injured and pathetic. Something rent a gorge larger than a small country in its surface, and something made it seem so malicious. Twilight didn't want to know what.

Prying her eyes from the ominous sky, Twilight decided that she had enough of sight for a moment. Closing her eyes she focused on the many other beauties of nature. Inhaling deeply through her nose, she smelt snow. Snow and grass, a crisp and refreshing scent it was. Reminding her of home in Ponyville, during the winter. Nostalgia overwhelmed her, a longing for the simpler days. Twilight chuckled to herself, for considering those days simple. When she had fought some evil which threatened the existence of life itself at least once a year. Scents were always nice for bringing back memories, but as she continued to breathe, her sense of smell was putrefied, just as her sight of the night sky had been. Not noticeable without focus, she detected the faintest smell of ozone and smoke. Like a thunderstruck forest, or a flawed power plant, it sent bolts of worry through Twilight's mind. Wrinkling her snout, she shook her focus from that spoiled scent, hoping to find an unadulterated wonder.

Next on the list happened to be sound, so she listened to the world. A faint wind whistled along her ears, and she could vaguely hear the heavy, large flakes of snow land on the earth around her, adding to the layer of white which blanketed the world. Oddly enough, under the sounds of weather, she could hear no hint of animal life. Usually, even in the cold parts of the world, there were birds in the distance, or a bug buzzing around one's head. But not here. There was utter silence, accompanied by yet more silence. Twilight frowned, and furrowed her brow, straining to hear something other than frozen water and differential air pressure. She instinctively tried to flick her ears around, but found her helmet restricted that motion, an such she had to rely on paying very close attention to what she could already hear. Silence, as she expected, however she focused harder. Still quiet as ever, as she feared, and so she listened more closely. Deep in concentration, eyes closed and ears open she listened. When her focus was violently ended by a sudden voice.

"Contacts, seven o' clock. Find cover!" Twilight jumped at the voice of Ghost, and was too surprised to heed his words.

Finally a sound other than the weather could be heard, but it wasn't a pleasant one. It started as a low hum, with a burble under it. Louder and higher the whine became, until it climaxed with a sharp clang, similar to metal being struck. A fraction of a second later, a fizz was heard just around Twilight's head, followed by electric crackling. Twilight screamed, and turned around to look upon the source of the sound. In the distance, she saw what looked like the head of a creature, a large spider maybe, peeking at her from behind a rock. When she made eye contact, it shot behind the rock, and out of sight entirely.

"First thing I'll tell you about the Fallen. It never rains." The Ghost paused, waiting for something apparently.

And just as the pause seemed to be getting too long, a limb reached out from behind the rock. Then another, and yet a few more. Limbs were hanging out from behind the cover in all directions, and grasping onto the earth around it. Limbs came, and never went, until finally, they began to pull whatever they were attached to out from behind the stone. Tens of creatures, poured out and toward Twilight, shrieking and brandishing knives of crackling energy. A hoarde, an army, or perhaps the best word for these things was a swarm.

"But it always pours."

Twilight, under any other circumstances, would have appreciated that allusion, but right now her very bones were frozen in horror. This left little mindfulness to catch the reference, and instead flung her mind into an impulsive state. The impulse of this moment happened to be 'hide.' As the monsters, wearing their rusted armour, chased Twilight down, she dove behind a rock of her own, just as a dozen tear drops of malicious blue electricity whirled by her. She panted, mostly in fear rather than exhaustion, and looked around, for nothing in particular.

"What do I do?!" She asked the sky, presumably not expecting a response. Though she got one, it was not from the sky.

"Stay calm, Princess. You may not have a gun, or any experience with combat, but you're a Guardian, and Guardians don't give up. Sit tight, and deal with them as they come around your cover. We're going to get through this, understood?"

Twilight gulped in fear, and said nothing.

"Do I make myself clear, Guardian?" Ghost said much more sternly.

Twilight squeaked a meagre yes, and forced herself to stop hyperventilating. After she steadied her breath, she said "Yes." And puffed out her chest, lowering her brow in determination, and standing up in bravery. "Yes!" She shouted, sure she would not falter. However, now in particular wasn't the time for sentiments, as a 'Fallen' skidded around the side of the large boulder Twilight was sheltering behind, and screeched at her.

Now that she saw it up close it was even more disturbing. Slightly shorter than her, and a lot thinner, the creature crouched. It wore rusted metal plates over a dark jump suit, and held a knife of lightning in an apparently telekinetic grasp. It had front and back legs similar to Twilight's own, though the back ones were booted, the front ones clearly had talon-like appendages on them. The more disturbing appendages were the ones coming out of its back. She presumed they would have been wings, were they not haphazardly amputated. Bits of tattered cloth, and other apparent attempts at fashion hung from its body, and it leaped at Twilight with ravenous vigour. Twilight did her best to dodge the attack, and the blade swung past her face while it buzzed like an electric razor.

The creature landed heavily, and clumsily beside Twilight, clearly off balance while it roared. Twilight understood she was in grave danger, but didn't quite know what to do. She definitely was not a fighter, and after a moment of confusion, she kicked the beast it the ribs, knocking it down, and casting the knife away. Twilight was now very confused about what to do. The quick and easy answer that came to mind was 'Kill it!' but Twilight wasn't quite sure that was an okay thing to do. It looked malnourished, weak and battered. It lay in the snow, face down, struggling to get back up. Twilight aimed to grasp the shock blade in her psychokinetic grip, and raise it in threatening defense, but when she reached for the wells of magic in her soul, she found an empty pit with a rusted winch and a rotten bucket.

She began to panick, and looked deeper into herself, only to find that she was truly empty of power. Where had the magic gone? Why was the princess of harmony, master of the arcane arts, devoid of the slightest hint of magic? Even the dullest, most violent earth pony had magic somewhere in them. She forced her self to focus, and tried to project the same magic she had thousands upon thousands of prior times, but her horn didn't even spark. It was like starting a fire without wood. No matter how well she was acquainted with her flint and steel, she could not burn the air.

"Oh! I suppose now would be a good time to tell you. Magic is gone from our worlds, the Darkness consumed it all."

"What?! How am I supposed to stop these things then? I'm not exactly strong or fast on my own!" Twilight yelled in fear, more than anger.

As she stressed herself over the state of her abilities, the first Fallen to encounter her was just about finished getting up, when three more of his kind bolted around the homely stone, and trampled the poor beast back into the dirt. Twilight felt a pang of sympathy, and then she felt utter horror, and with a rush of adrenaline, bolted. While she was running, and doing her best to avoid the oddly slow projectiles of lightning that corkscrewed toward her, Ghost decided help out.

"I'm not formally trained to instruct you, but I know enough about the Light to give a basic lecture." He disclaimed, and began. "You're a Guardian, you have a stronger connection to the traveller than any other type of pony. You can use that connection to draw from its Light."

Twilight felt her fur curl in protest as a bolt of blue energy whizzed past her ear, arcing through her helmet and into the ground she pushed herself off of.

"Where you found your mana when you used magic is close to where the Light begins. Focus hard, and ignore the well. Go deeper, until you see a star.' Twilight balanced her focus on running and searching her soul for a savior. "The star will see you too. If you only ask for its help, it will erupt, and the power will wash forth from your core to your body. You needed to guide magic, and push it forward. But Light knows what it wants, you need to restrain it, or else it will all be gone before you can properly use it."

Twilight remembered everything Ghost said, and began looking deep into her mind. She went back to the ancient well, but paid it no heed. A well without water is just a hole. She looked up from that well, and saw the void of a night sky. Without stars or moon, it was black and bleak. But she looked deeper, and there was a spark. A little light for her to reach, it seemed to beckon her mind with a strange appeal, and a slight tug. She found it to be more than a spark when she got close, it looked like a white sun. She thought to herself. Light, will you help me? and the sun stopped spinning.

Inside the white spark of a star was something dark. Not dark, really, but empty. There was a lot of nothingness in its core, and Twilight thought it to be fruitless. But then the nothing began to unfold, and between each instance of void, was power. That power multiplied, and expanded, until the white star exploded, and forced its wrath from Twilight's mind. Twilight was scared at first, and she stopped envisioning the strange part of her soul she never had before, but when she returned her attentions to the physical world, she could still feel the spark in her gut. It moved out to every wall of her being, and pushed on it hard, searching for an escape.

"Force it to your horn, and don't let it all out, you need to keep as much Light as possible." Ghost said, seemingly aware of exactly what Twilight was experiencing.

Twilight turned around to face the swarm, and she saw the many faces of terror. Behind the first wave of Fallen similar to the one she had kicked, there was a small number of larger, and prouder looking members. They had more muscle, and were taller than twilight. They also had the privilege of holding what appeared to be guns. Most notably, their wings were not amputated.

Twilight felt almost pained by the force of the 'Light' which searched for its foe. She drew upon her focus, however, and pushed it as hard as she could. Away from her skin, away from her heart, away from her mind and her body, but toward her horn. Once it was there, practically screaming to be fed the lives of the evil creatures before her, she opened a way for it to get out, just a little at first. As a smaller Fallen leapt at her, it seemed to slow down. A dark purple pulse coming from her horn yanked it back, and held it there, but did no damage. The Light however was raging, and forced itself out. Twilight tried to regulate its force, but it was like trying to repair a dam while water was flowing through it, everything she patched up was immediately torn asunder again, and the Light charged the beasts.

Crack. Boom. Thump, thwack. No amount of onomatopoeia could quite describe what Twilight had produced. The entire swarm of twelve amputees and three prouder Fallen were cast back with the force of a tsunami. Bones were presumably shattered, and their frail forms were cast asunder by a black Light. Rolling through the snow, flying through the air, and being pounded through the dirt, the enemies of the Light faltered easily. But so did the Guardian responsible.

Twilight no longer felt the force of the light escaping her, but she felt as though her blood had been drained. Her body wouldn't listen to her anymore, it was too busy collapsing. Barely able to see the havoc she had wreaked, Twilight fell to her side, and began panting and violently grasping for enough air to keep her awake.

"Well, that was impressive. It looks like you're a natural void user, so congratulations." The Ghosts voice was interrupted by periodic ringing, and masked by a muffled buzz.

Twilight mumbled in exhaustion, and tried desperately to keep herself from lying in the snow for an eternity. She struggled to stand, and found the gravity of Equis to strong to fight. Too much work to even twitch her legs, let alone use them for something important.

"However, you do need to get up. There's at least one more Fallen coming this way, and it looks big."

Twilight's blurred and darkened sight could make out only the boldest of forms, with the greatest contrast to their environment. So when she saw an equinoid shape at least twice her height, bright white and rusting orange with blood red flowing behind it, silhouetted against the purple night sky, she was not able to pay attention to anything else. The form moved toward her and spat, or burbled something in an unknown tongue. It sounded happy though, like it was about to enjoy a reward of some kind. Twilight struggled again, she knew that if she didn't move she was a goner. Her legs barely shifted under her order, like they only understood a language she could not speak to them, unsure of how to move.

With an unreasonable amount of effort she brought her hooves beneath her body, and began to push the earth away from her. The earth was very heavy, however, and she was very weak. She growled and gasped for more air, as she fought harder than she ever thought she could to stand up, driving her vision further into shadow with every flex. The mighty being which approached her was now only a few meters away and seemed to be saying something in singsong to her, like a teasing child on a playground. Twilight was standing now, though barely staying that way.

She looked at where she thought the form's head would be if she could see it, and tried to search again for the spark. It wasn't there any more. No longer could she see the power hidden between the nothingness, but only true void. She needed it to come back, she wasn't going to make it if she couldn't use the Light. The Light was her saviour, but where was it now?

No matter, because although Twilight did not see the mighty blade being cast toward her, she heard it buzzing, burning a hole in the atmosphere, and leaving a wake of vacuum in its path. She could not leap out of the way, nor roll or duck. All she could do to move quickly was accept gravity's assistance, so she let her legs go and she fell. This did the job of moving her out of the arc of the large blade, but failed to put her in a more appropriate position, because now she was prone, and she did not have time to stop being prone. Not in her current state.

No longer expending so much of her non-existent energy to stand up, she had some to spare for vision, and things became vaguely clearer. The form was definitely a fallen. It was mightier than any pony could dream to be, at least two meters tall and probably hundreds of kilograms heavy. Two giant cutlasses, with blades edged by thunder floated around its armoured self. Though now rusted armour, and tattered cloth hung from its form. You could imagine it being a corpse of something once beautiful. If its plates were polished and the tapestry it wore were new, and it stood up straight, it would look grand. Alien, but heroic in a sense. Now it looked like a lesson in forlorn, a warning of what heroes are made to become, in time.

It did something which Twilight feared was laughing, and raised its second blade before her. Twilight was too scared to do anything, so she closed her eyes and hoped whatever befell her would be too quick to feel. But then the menacing fizz and pop of the electric blade was interrupted by a sound in the distance. A whirr, with a sinusoidal tendency in volume. It was harmonizing with two other similar whirr sounds, all fluctuating on different time scales, but all very similar. Twilight opened her eyes to look in the direction they came from, but saw only a hill. She frowned, and accepted her fate, though the Fallen giant was enraptured by the distant whirring as well. It first looked interested, but soon seemed to tremble. Just as it lowered its two mighty swords, and ran for safety, three vehicles came leaping over the crest of the hill, whirring a heroic whirr at Twilight. In a triangular formation, the head vehicle was dismounted, and it faded into nothingness, while its rider flew through the air, retaining all the momentum of his jump.

A pony, it looked like. Though he was covered head to hoof in glossy, ceramic armour. The only bit of clothing that was not armour was a sash on his waste, which displayed a blue, yellow, and red sigil. The armoured pony shouted a battle cry, it was muffled to Twilight's tired ears but it sounded like "Stand back, for the Horse of War has arrived!" Twilight speculated that he could simply have said 'war horse' which suggested the same thing, while remaining easier to understand and saving a syllable of breath. But that didn't matter much. What mattered was the spout of flame that a weapon he held was throwing, while little bits of hot, spinning metal drilled through the clouds of plasma, and traveled all the way to the giant which would have slain Twilight.

This pony looked rather impressive, it would be noted. The moon directly behind him silhouetted and back-lit his form, which shined like polished steel, as he so bravely charged down an enemy which any pony should have trembled to behold. He reminded Twilight of the romantic knights of legend, though she knew in truth knights were less heroic, and a lot more stuck up than the stories made them out to be. But no matter, for this stallion was not a knight, by all probability.

No matter, one would suppose. For the bullets flung forth form the hot barrel of this pony's weapon found their mark. The flank of the giant Fallen was struck, and its rusted armour dented and pulverized, while sparks and sounds of metal being punched were flung about the scene. Though apparently not causing grievous injury to the monster, it did stagger the thing. Which stumbled to its right, and lost balance, while its assailant soared through the night sky on wings of black flame toward him. The pony closed the gap immediately, and landed beside the Fallen, on its left. Reeling his head back, the knightly stallion slammed into the alien's side, and sent it careening off, on the verge of tripping.

Just as that happened, another of the three vehicles was dismounted, and disappeared in a manner similar to Twilight's Ghost only minutes ago. This time, the rider who dismounted wore a long coat, manchettes, and a scarf a lot like Twilight now did. Though his outfit was primarily grey camouflage, with orange accents. After leaping off of his vehicle, he pulled darkness out of the air, and made a sphere out of it, which boiled with purple vapour, and he tossed it toward the Fallen like a bowling ball. Doing so arrested his horizontal velocity, and he floated to the earth, not dissimilar to a feather. Far before he hit the ground, his orb of shadow hit the monster in the spine, and sent it face first into the snow.

Finally the third vehicle was dismounted, and disappeared just as the last two. This rider looked certain, precise. Deadly. While the first had looked brave, and probably insane. The second looked powerful, and proud. The final rider did not scream, nor summon a storm of godly energy. Her eyes glinted in the shadow of her hood, and behind the lenses of an ancient gas mask. With a single notion, she drew something from a bandoleer, as she sailed through the air, cloak trailing behind her. Nothing but a bit of metal, smaller than a rat. She went past the apex of her jump, but seemed to get a second wind before she fell, and kept going, now directly above the prone monster. With a nearly inaudible swish, and a conspicuous thwack, a piece of metal smaller than a rat was now attached to the neck of the Fallen.

The cloaked menace landed just past the newly produced corpse. Her motion stopped instantly and violently by the earth. But no sound, nor dust was thrown up. She spun around slowly, and nodded at Twilight. The knight cheered "Huzzah!" and the coated rider removed his helmet, revealing a sharp, bright looking face. Fur white, and mane blonde, he looked around with his eyes of ice, as if to study the bleak surroundings, conspicuously not making eye contact with Twilight. The final rider pulled her mask off to hang around her neck, and spoke.

"You look like absolute crap." She said, clearly speaking to Twilight. She took a few strides forward, and the Princess wanted to shy away, but she was too weak. "What, was the first thing you tried a super?" She sounded condescending, but a smirk betrayed sarcasm and a rough attempt at friendliness.

Twilight's Ghost materialized in front of her. "Actually, yes. It was." The robot defended. In the background the knightly horse was searching the corpse of the Fallen.

"Seriously, eh?" The cloaked mare sniffed with one nostril, as a gesture of something. "They're going to have fun teaching you." She yanked her head back, to gesture the party member wearing a coat to come closer, and called out to the armoured one.

"Well, Guardian. This is Sol, our team's Warlock." She gestured to the fellow in the grey coat, with the sharp face and blue eyes. His chin wrapped in a trimmed beard of grey-blonde. He nodded vaguely. Stoic as ever. "And this here is Jacks, our friendly neighbourhood Titan." She pointed to the tall, muscular stallion sheathed in ceramic and steel.

"Jumping Jacks, to be sure, my lady! It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance!" Jacks continued for his own sake, half bellowing and half chuckling.

"You can call me Crispy, the Huntress." Explained the knife wielder. "What's your name, Warlock? Or do you not remember?

And so, Light was her saviour. Though not in its rawest form, as she pleaded for when she was drained. The Light did not come back to eat away at the bodies of her foes again, with the tidal force of a god. The Light brought Twilight not one hero, but it brought three. A posh, silent scholar who wielded strength granted by a god made real. A knight, true and strong, with armour to repulse death itself. Finally, a blades mare, swift and silent, garbed in memories of a dead world. Now they seemed to want to get to know her, too.

Twilight felt shrunken by the confident, oddly named warriors who seemed to be interrogating her. So much so, that she almost actually forgot her name.

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Somewhere, there was a cave. So deep that nothing had gone in or out for centuries. Hours could have been spent trying to climb to the very bottom, and years could be spent trying to pry one's self back out. Walls of black, volcanic glass ran wet with water warmed by magma, and silence poured out from the cavern's depths. The deeper, the darker the cave became. Further and further from a sky of any kind, the shadow encapsulated all. So one would assume, that in the deepest, farthest reach of this cave, that the pattern would be followed. One would be wrong.

For in the deepest, and the farthest reach of said cave, there was a light. Warm, it cast specks of orange light across the black stone. it would look like the light of a fire, had it flickered. But it was static, unchanging, and beckoning. The light was not cast, but reflected, by that which all would hunger for. The root of evil, in its most famed body, was gold. Plain and true, a hoarde of treasures sat within this room, a mountain great enough to feed a solar system.

Hidden, partially obscured by the mountain there was a form which was great enough to feed on a solar system. It had scales, it would first be seen. Dark, like the night sky of earth black, but almost purple. An oily sheen on each scale made it look like each structure were a puddle of gasoline in the sunlight, with slight hue shifts in the shapes of chaos. Every scale was rigid, strong and rimmed. No blade, bullet or brawn could ever puncture the coat of oily darkness. A coat which was still as stone.

Wings, though they were folded. Crushed down, to fit in the humble cave, they were deceptively unimposing. For unfurled, they would cast a shadow to darken a whole sky. Leather stretched tight, between the mighty bones and sinew which framed the appendages, was more purple than the scales, but not a friendly purple. Grey, bland, more like rot than lavender were those wings. Wings which held there, still as stone.

Spines. So many spines. Spears, or saw teeth protruding from the creatures back, like it had been impaled a thousand times over. They were a beige, like sun bleached bone, but with the slightest hint of green blended into their sickly age and wear. They started small, and grew larger for a while, before tapering back down, toward the rear of the creature. Leading into its tail, which curled back up the form, and under the mountain of wealth. The spine of the beast was long, and held a frame to belittle a cyclops. The spine which was still as stone.

It had eyes, as well. Oh the eyes, they were open, and burned with a fire that no other portion of this creature did. Where the scales were oil, the wings were rot, and the spines were bone, the eyes broke the pattern, and they were emerald. Sage rim, raised into a burning , vibrant green halfway to the pupil. On a small border, just around the black pits of nothingness, sat a rim of gold, a hair thick. The eyes were not so still.

Something moved them, an event for them to witness, they dragged along the room filled with treasure, until they made their stop upon a pedestal, held above all else in the room. The pedestal held something broken, or perhaps many broken things. It was hard to say for certain, but there was a purple dust, crystalline in nature atop it. The beast flexed for the first time in decades, if only to move its mighty head a meter. Lifting the black master of the black body, was its long and powerful neck. Cords of sinew rippled beneath the scaly coat, and the eyes were moved closer to the stone pedestal, to witness the purple-pink dust.

Not that this creature preferred the pinkish dust over the deep purple, or the red, orange, cyan, or light pink. But the pinkish purple -we shall say cerise- dust was doing something which the others were not. It was quivering, oh so slightly. Only the god like eyes of the oily black monster could have noticed it without proximity. What was quivering, at first, became sliding. The dust seemed to attract itself, no longer inert. It heaped itself into a pile, and began to become warm. The monster did not fear heat. What was warm, became hot, and in turn that became searing. The dust glowed, first red then orange, yellow and white. It scorched the stone it sat on, and began to claim a shape for itself.

A star. A cerise star had quenched itself out of the white hot crystal. Now it sat there, curiously. Presumably awaiting something, and the monster feared that its cerise dust would be taken away. There were preparations to make.

Author's Note

There it is, Chapter One! Alright folks, ladies and gents, friends, Romans and country men. There it is, an actual bit of literature, not just a few paragraphs stitched together to set the scene. Please share with me your criticisms, distastes, and general rabblerousery. As I said before, I'd like my work to not be folly, so help me out here.

Finally, I do not plan to make the entire story around Twilight. I will shift protagonists, hopefully roughly equally between the six. So keep watching if you're just waiting for best pone to show up!

Chapter two is not near a finished state at all, and there may be more time placed between this chapter and the next, then was placed between the prologue and this chapter.

Thanks for reading so far, and I hope I've enraptured you!