The Seven
Book 1: A Chosen Few
Chapter 1:
The Shadows
It was dark, the stars gleamed, and a bipedal figure was crossing a street. It was at this time that a car, rather strangely, swerved around the corner. Before we continue I shall go into detail why this is. Ron Greenman, a below-average man who worked at a rather small company, had recently left a bar and brothel. He had blown the last of his paycheck in the establishment due to happenstances involving his family and was getting ready to head home to, ahem, take matters into his own hands when, and this was strange to any account, a creature with the head of a pony, among other things, walked up next to him. Whispering in his ear, it handed him a keychain and disappeared. Suddenly, for just a mere second, the man remembered, then his face went blank and he made his way to a rather fancy car nearby. Entering the vehicle, he started it up and made his way home, mind blurred with alcohol. It was at this time that he crossed the road, and I must return us back to the person crossing the street. He was overall, an average person except for one small thing. He was, as is used by others, a brony. This brony, I fear I never got his name, had reached the center of the road when wheels skid, brakes squealed, and a loud thud was heard.
The brony, I shall call him Thanatos for lack of a name, could see nothing but darkness and it troubled him. No, he didn’t feel scared, more like he was uncomfortable, like something was going to happen. It was then that he felt a dropping motion and opened his eyes to see a strange creature. It had the head of a pony, two different antlers or horns, a claw, paw, goat leg, a tail, a lizard leg, and lastly, eyes of yellow, and pupils of red. Each of the pupils were a different size. This creature studied him for mere seconds.
“Well, Lulu said you would seem rather ordinary by most accounts but you are far too ordinary. I’ll have to do something about it.”
The creature vanished and Thanatos saw nothing for just a few more moments. Then, slightly farther off, a light appeared. Thanatos watched it, curious. Suddenly he felt a falling sensation and as he touched the light he was forced to close his eyes once again. After a few seconds the burning sensation vanished and he found himself in the ruins of a once great castle, situated on the side of a mountain. Looking around he found a stone tablet of sorts. Broken and cracked the only lines he could read said,
When the Sun has been broken,
The Moon is lost,
One will appear,
Reborn from Death,
The tablet’s fragment said no more. Thanatos placed the tablet back down and moved towards the window. Below the window lay the ruins of a city. This city looked to be ancient. Buildings had fallen, streets broken, doors fallen, and curtains frayed. Thanatos turned back to the room. The walls were blackened and an age old burnt smell seemed to fill it.
Now, as the author, I suppose it is my duty to explain what the creature, or Discord, had done to Thanatos. A once normal teenager had been turned into a dark-haired, tall, strong, rather impressive looking man. His eyes, once a normal brown, were a glowing blue. His now black hair was shoulder length. These features were not the most impressive thing about him. On his back, near his shoulder blades, sprouted magnificent wings of a moon-less midnight black. Thanatos opened the door from the room and found halls covered in dust. The windows had long been shattered and the floors were covered in sand. Making his way down the hall he entered what must have been the ballroom. The ceiling was gone and the sun beat down on the already worn out flooring. Glancing around, Thanatos saw nothing but old ruins of things long gone. Following a path that seemed more navigable Thanatos reached the other side of the room. Outside the room he found an overgrown garden. Pushing his way through the bushes he found himself next to a large pond and finally caught a glimpse of himself.
Gaping at himself he spoke, “Gods above… So that’s what he meant.” For a couple of seconds he studied himself in the pond, then, finished with his discovery, he turned to leave and bumped into a statue. Looking at the creature above he found not one but five. The five ponies in the statue seemed to ring a bell but he couldn’t remember. Looking closer it hit him. These were the ponies from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Something was wrong. There was only five. Where was Twilight? Below the statue it said,
The Elements
These five ponies were the first to rebel against our Queen, SolarFlare.
The Time of the Sun- Year One
Thanatos looked up at the statues with a sad look on his face. He knew that Discord had survived but Discord was immortal. A regular pony would likely not survive in stone for who knows how long. The statue itself looked to be several centuries old. He laid his hand on the pedestal.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s not my fault but I’m so sorry,” he said.
He looked back up at the statues and started to turn back around. He had stepped only a few feet when he heard a cracking noise and looked back. The rock covering the ponies was cracking and had already fallen off in places. The rock suddenly fell off and there stood five ponies. The yellow one seemed to pass out and he caught her while the others stood there rubbing their eyes. Holding the yellow one gently he spoke up.
“What? How are you? You were in stone!” He stammered.
It was Applejack who answered. “Who are you? Ah know we’ve been in there awhile but ain’t nopony seen something like you before.”
“I’m uh… I don’t remember my name,” he said.
It was at this time that he realized most of his memories were gone. Digging through what he could remember he spoke again. “Just call me Thanatos. It’s the only name I remember.”
“Thanatos? Like the God of Death?” asked Rarity.
“The god of death…” he murmured.
It was at this point that the couple of seconds before he found himself in darkness returned to him.
The car sped around the corner towards him and seemed to be driven by some will other than the driver’s as it raced towards him. In the last second he tried to throw himself to the side but the vehicle came on too fast and he heard a crunch and felt pain, more pain than he had ever experienced before. It was as if every atom in his body was being incinerated and was being electrocuted at the same time. The pain carried on for a couple of seconds longer before he opened his eyes and found a figure, it was dark, tall, and held an air of importance about him.
“My child, I am sorry. I never meant for you to meet me this way, but I’m afraid I couldn’t control it. I am Thanatos. My only way to save you is to let you go with another being. His name is Discord and he will help you but only if you help him.”
The dark figured waved his hand and spoke again, “Goodbye my son, be well.”
Thanatos turned to the ponies. “So, what happened? Why is the city like this?”
This time it was Rainbow Dash who spoke. “Rarity? Can you pull up a memory?”
“Of course darling, but I need you to focus on that one. Twilight taught me the spell but I’m not as powerful.”
Rarity’s horn glowed and an image appeared.Thanatos focused on the image and it filled his vision.
The Celestial Battle
A thousand years ago, not long after the defeat of Sombra, a residual spell was found on the throne of the Empire by the Princess of the Sun. Inspecting it Celestia found no immediate harmful effects and so lay her hoof on it to further deepen her understanding of it. Cadence had already sat upon it merely moments before to accept the role of governing the Empire but she seemed to have become distracted. Celestia had sensed this and had expanded her magic, finding some sort of influence acting upon the alicorn. Moments after having inspected the throne the same influence had begun acting upon her as well. The alicorns had quite soon shown actions of evil and cruelty and Cadence had already gone so far as to have a simple merchant who had come to the castle, executed. Concerned, Luna and Twilight tried to counteract the magic but failed. This ended with Twilight and Luna in exile and Cadence or, as she called herself from then on, Queen Dark Love ruling side by side with Queen Celestia or SolarFlare. Then, leading a small rebellion, the Elements marched on the castle and demanded that SolarFlare relinquish the throne back to Luna and Twilight. Ignoring the demands, SolarFlare fired a burst of magic at the Elements imprisoning them in magic.
I’m afraid that if I go into further detail of what Thanatos saw we would be here quite longer than most would like due to the fact that these events transpired over quite an expansion of time.
The Present
Thanatos looked up from the image. His face was filled with shock.
“So, Celestia and Cadence turned evil?” He asked.
“Yes,” answered Applejack.
“Gods above…” He said, “What happened to Twilight and Luna?”
“Rumors said somethin’ about a Rebellion of sorts in the Southern Mountains.”
“So, I’m guessing you want to go there?” He asked.
“It’s our best bet, what with SolarFlare bein’ out there an’ all.”
“SolarFlare?”
“Celestia calls herself that now.”
“Oh,” Thanatos turned towards the other end of the Garden. Strangely he was still holding the yellow pegasus. “Shall we go?”
“Yeah,” Applejack led the others out as Thanatos followed with Fluttershy.
Elsewhere
A flaming white alicorn, eyes bright red, was looking into a mirror. Her face was scrunched in anger. She had to abandon her old castle because of those annoying do gooders but she never expected that someone had left behind that statue. After all, it was one of the few things in the entire world that still knew who she was. Calling up her magic and focusing on the mirror she cast a spell upon it and another face appeared.
“Auntie. What happens to be the occasion?” asked the deep pink alicorn. Much like the one she called “Auntie” this alicorn had an air of darkness. Many people and ponies had felt it before. The feeling you get when there is nothing around but something feels dangerous like something is going to jump out and get you. Her mane was a dark purple as it flowed like it had a mind of its own. Her eyes were a light green color and looked like the could kill if she wanted them too, which, not surprisingly, she had done before.
“I need you to take a certain statue into your care.”
“Oh sounds interesting. Which one?”
“The Written.”
The pink face frowned. Her mind quarreled with itself as she spoke. “You told me you had that one locked down.”
“I do, but recent events have made me think further actions will help.”
“Actions? What actions?”
“The Elements escaped with some creature.”
“Fine. I’ll take it in.”
“Good,” she said as the image vanished.
The Mountains
The alicorn known as Twilight Sparkle had woken up that morning feeling something had happened. What had woken her was a release of chaos magic. Not that strange right? Well actually this magic was only made by one entity. Discord and he hadn’t been seen in ages. Literally flying out of bed Twilight flew down the hall to Luna.
“Luna! I felt chaos magic! He’s back. Discord is back.”
“Hm? Oh. Yes I know,” came the alicorn’s voice.
“How could you-” she stopped herself as she noticed the exact draconequus they were talking about was sitting across from Luna sipping from a glass of coffee.
“Twilight, Discord and I have something to talk about, I would appreciate it if you would leave for the moment.”
Twilight, disappointed but compliant, left the room and Luna and Discord went back to talking.
“You found one of them?”
“Yes. Thanatos showed me him. He was dead but seemed to still be alive. In order for him to come here Thanatos and I worked together to put him back in corporeal body. Thanatos connected his spirit and I made his body.”
“So, he is in Equestria now?”
“Yes. He landed in the ruins of the old castle. I also took a peek and it seems he freed the Elements.”
“That’s very good news. Now. Have you any idea of the others?”
“Besides they come from his world? No.”
“At least them being confined to one world helps us.”
“Indeed. Would you like me to get back to it?”
“No. I need you here. I called in some favors as well so the others are searching now.”
“Alright Lulu.”
Luna exited the room as Discord vanished.
The Elements And Thanatos
Thanatos and the others had reached the edge of the city and could see before them that The land had been abandoned for quite some time which should have made it easier to travel but it just made it easier for the creatures SolarFlare had made to detect enemies. These creatures were Minotaur-like. They carried ropes of fire and had deep red eyes. Thanatos and the others could not travel at Night due to the fact that the Day was eternal. Sneaking their way behind bushes and trees they made it to the Everfree in just hours.
It was then that they could freely move. The trees had flourished. In the time since Night had ceased the had grown over triple their height and nearly double their size. Of course they had snagged some of the Apples from Sweet Apple Acres which, like the rest of Ponyville, had been abandoned. Other nearby towns they had seen flourished along with some new ones.
They entered the forest and made for the old abandoned castle but when they got there the castle, being so ancient, was impossible to enter. They instead found a cave to enter for the “night.”
The Empire
Deep in the dungeons of the Empire sat Shining Armor. No, he wasn’t dead. Cadence had put him in the only dungeon she had that would keep him alive. It didn’t allow ponies to age while inside and so he had lived in it for the past millenium. It was today that his new jailer arrived. The new pony seemed nervous as he slide over the food. Glancing around he whispered in Shining’s ear.
“Night must fall,” and left the dungeon.
Shining had heard other prisoners say this but could only guess what it meant. Inside the sandwich he found a note,
Shining,
I only found out that Cadence was keeping you alive recently and have sent one of our most devoted soldiers to aide you. Once he has seen you reading this he will disable the other guards.
-Your LSBFF
Twilight
Shining grinned. Leave it to Twily to think of a way out of a time-dungeon. Waiting for the clicking sound that signified the opening of the dungeons doors he peered out of the dungeon. A rap came from the door then a click and it opened. The pony from earlier had shed the armor and now wore a cloak. Her coat was a light blue, her mane white and light blue, and she looked at him before tossing him a cloak like hers but more suited to him.
“Armor. I’m Blue. As long as I’m out in the open I refrain from using my real name.”
“Oh, I can understand,” he said.
“Good, now. We must be gone before those guards wake up.”
Nodding he waited for the all clear, signaling it they sprinted out of the dungeon. Exiting the castle they passed several guards. Of course the guards didn’t notice these cloaks because while these cloaks looked ordinary, unknown to the ponies using them, they had been made by Twilight Sparkle herself using each and every spell to hide them. The two ponies soon reached the edge of the city and made for a small train which was waiting for them.
Recently travel had been opened up between the Empire and Solaria, once known as Equestria, meaning that rebels disguised as regular citizens could easily get in once again.
Armor and Blue made their way out of the city and climbed in with the engineer who, while not a rebel, supported their cause and was less likely to rat them out than punch SolarFlare in the face. This meant that he would give them free passage. Entering the passage coach they sat down. Nearby two ponies were speaking rather loudly about how they were dignitaries of Dark Love herself.
“I remember when we got to have tea with her,” said one.
“Indeed. The biscuits were quite nice.”
Their conversation carried on as such and later on, when they entered Helios, capital city of Solaria, they were immediately taken to the castle and never seen from again.
While the two ponies kept boasting about their position, Blue started a conversation with Armor.
“So what got you put in such a place? They’re usually for criminals, rebels, and sometimes nobles.”
“None of those.”
“Then what made Darkie put you in there?”
“Oh. I’m her husband.”
If I said Blue was shocked, it would be an understatement. Her eyes bugged out and she spewed the cider in his face, trying to breathe.
“Anyways, it all started at our wedding. A changeling monarch, known as Queen Chrysalis, had defeated Celestia and so Cadence and I used our love to blast them back. Around two months later the Crystal Empire reappeared. Celestia sent me and Cadence to watch over them. After a couple days there Sombra returned and so I had to bring Twilight and the Elements into the Empire. After successfully getting the Crystal Heart back Cadence and I were given governing rule over the Empire. She took a crown but I did not. After taking the crown something seemed to happen to her and Celestia. After a few weeks of this strange act I was put into that dungeon and you know the rest.”
During this speech Shining had emphasized certain points by waving his hooves around which led to him nearly hitting a waiter. Blue just gaped at him for a while. Suddenly a waiter walked up to Blue and whispered in her ear. Snapping out of it she turned back to Shining.
“Ok. It’s our stop.”
The train was still racing onward and quite fast at that. Shining was looked at Blue quizzically before accepting it. Climbing out of his seat Shining followed Blue who led him out to in between the train cars.
“On my count. One…”
A tree flew by.
“Two…”
Another tree.
“Three!”
Shining leapt from the train throwing himself as far forward as he could. His hooves hit the ground and he tumbled down the hill. Recovering quickly he stood up and found that Blue was already standing.
“Come on,” she started walking off and he galloped after.
Mountains
Across a small amount of sea to the south lies a rather large mountain range. Deep in these mountains near the tallest one around the base lies a long forgotten fortress. This fortress is of a relatively large size. In the main hall behind a large painting lies a tunnel system that leads to the top part of the highest mountain. On the top of the mountain lies an airship dock. The name of the fortress and mountain have been lost so long, the rebels have referred to it as Lunaè Maxia.
Airships have long been used as means of transportation but due to their original look they are often brought down in Solaria because they are associated with the rebels. Due to this Twilight, some five hundred years ago, used a spell on an ordinary ship allowing it to fly through the air like it did the water. It was one such ship, the Paisuv, which docked that morning. Her captain, one Storm Rocks, had been summoned by Princess Twilight herself. Entering the tunnels he made his way to the briefing room. In a matter of moments, he wasn’t a patient pony, he arrived to find her waiting for him.
“Captain,” Twilight nodded.
“Your majesty,” he said bowing low.
“I have a very special task for you to complete,” she spoke, “I require you to meet a blue earth pony and a white unicorn stallion at a dock in small town in Solaria.”
“Of course. It is my duty as a Captain in the One-hundred and Twenty Second Regiment of the Lunaè Maxia Army to execute any requests made to me by you or her majesty, Princess Luna.”
“Very good Captain. Is your ship ready to sail?”
“Not quite your majesty, we took a beating in the last storm and some of the deck requires repairs. We can sail within two days.”
“No matter, they will send me a message when they arrive.”
“If I may, your majesty, why are these ponies so important?”
“One of them is the rightful ruler of the Empire. He also happens to be my brother.”
Storm Rocks was a little stunned but not so much as Blue due to the fact that he had rumors of this stallion. Saluting the Princess he made his way back through the tunnels to the repair yards. One of the other ships, the Arcanè Minoria, seemed to be nearly done. Her captain, Split Seas, was glaring at a piece of paper.
“What ails you my friend?” Storm asked.
The mare’s rough voice answered, “Damn gryphons are saying my ship shouldn’t be flyin’ anymore.”
Storm looked back up at the ship. Her hull and such looked worn down but all in all the ship looked to be in good shape.
“Why are they saying that?”
“They say the spell is wearin’ out! This ship hasn’t needed a recast of the spell in the past five hundred years. Why should it need it now?”
“You have a point… I should get going.”
Storm turned back to his ship. Compared to the Arcanè his ship looked absolutely pristine though it was nothing to the Insitia. That beauty had been marvelous but she hadn’t been seen since her mission to the Breach. Like all the other airship captains her had mourned the loss of that ship but he knew she had likely been sunk.
The Breach Some 30 Years Prior
Captain Timult Rains screamed at the other poor wrenches.
“Our princesses gave us a job stallions and by Faust we’ll do it!”
“Captain,” gasped a soaked mare, “there’s something off in the horizon!”
Far off in the distance a rip in the very fabric of space time opened. As the ship approached it the pegasi all abandoned the already doomed ship. Captain Rains stood on deck, bracing himself for something but then all he could see was darkness. Standing on board waiting for death he heard a voice,
“So, one of you is a brave one eh? Good. She’ll need it where she is going,” spoke the voice.
“Who are you?”
“Me?” questioned the voice, “Why I’m the father of the seas, of course! Even you ponies in your world have surely heard of me? I’m Poseidon.”
Rains, just as superstitious as any sailor, bowed low.
“Lord, why have you brought my humble ship here?”
“I am fulfilling request from one of your deities. She wishes me to search for one of her “Chosen Ones” and due to certain, ahem, circumstances, I complied.”
Rains was concerned that one of the ones he spoke of was SolarFlare or Dark Love, but he complied to help the ancient one. After all, what was one pony against an eternal goddess or two?
Author's Note
So yay! The Seven's first chapter is done and ready.
Enjoy!
