Session Zero: The Twinkle of the Stars
The night was fresh, and very windy was it outside. The leaves were falling from the trees, and the days grew short as the nights grew long. The season of autumn was upon the inhabitants of Equestria, and soon there would be a harvest festival to celebrate this year's prosperity. Twilight Sparkle was getting herself placed in position to lead the festival's activities alongside with Pinkie Pie, who was overjoyed at the immeasurable size of expectations of requirements that needed to be met just in time for the event. After whining for a while about how much work it would be, especially after all she had done already, Twilight got over it and began planning something that would certainly knock Celestia off of her hooves. Of course the guest of honor was Celestia, as without her rising and setting the sun, there would be no harvest to celebrate. The least they could do was invite her.
The night, however, still owned by Luna, would be for Nightmare Night. The princess of the night was contempt with that, at least, and did not bicker at all with her sister, who did not expect for Luna to say anything about it to her anyways. Luna could not bring herself to question her sister's authority again, not after what happened last time. She was sure it was not completely in cold blood, but since the times were tough back then, Celestia was no less than tense when she and Luna had their little "dispute". Luna appreciated that because of the entire situation one thousand years ago, she at last has something to be proud of, which was Nightmare Night. Of course, she did not understand it completely at first, but Twilight's dedication to teach her about the Nightmare Night tradition (mostly everypony else's fear misleading her) made in her a new, more settled love for the ponies of Ponyville, and moreover of Equestria.
Twilight Sparkle was reading a book in her room of her castle. The book was a large one with a golden cover and it was titled "The Great Magic of the Light King", written by a pony by the name of V. M. Starbuck. She lay underneath her covers, with her horn providing the light so she could read this book. As it was a fiction book, Twilight was instantly drawn in, as fiction books about magic gave her new ideas for spells she could practice and perform. She had by her side a small journal with which she wrote down any new ideas for spells she came across in the book, and one of these spells was called "Nirvana". Upon reading the background of "Nirvana" within the book, Twilight found that the spell was actually a dark magic spell, and it was used to create an illusional world where the caster of the spell could control fate and physics. The numbers 7 and 2 also played a huge part in this equation of the spell, but Twilight had only made it two thousand of the twenty thousand pages through which were in the book. This was all in one night as well, and she began to grow tired. Her excited eyes began to droop, and she found forcing herself to stay up quite a challenge. She got to the point where she got herself out of bed and put away all of the things she had been using and just went outside on her top porch. A great installment to her dwelling, she thought as she took a breath of the fresh air outside. How much better it seemed than that of the oxygen-deprived air which she was breathing under her covers, no wonder why she was so tired. She wasn't giving her body enough air to stay up, and she wondered if another minute under the covers would have suffocated her. It wasn't her fault, the book was way too good! It was really a fascinating read and it put away the craving for oxygen which her body constantly had... but shame on herself, she thought, putting a book over a need as great as oxygen. The thought was too much to have such worries for, she looked upon the peaceful, moonlit village she lived in. Everypony was inside and enjoying their night or sleeping as families. The wind picked up, and the leaves which had all fallen blew into swarms above the village, and the force of the wind nearly picked Twilight from her feet. She wondered which ones of her friends would still be up... Applejack was truly a day time pony, as all of her work depends on sunlight. Rarity was a worker either way, and would knit all day and all night, going to "parties" of gathering fellow unicorns, just to spread the word of her work around. Of course, Rainbow Dash was asleep, because todsy particularly she flew untill she gave out in the wings. The windy weather gave her an extra boost when she flew in the direction which the wind came from, and flying against its strong current proved to provide her with great exercise. Fluttershy's position this night was inevitably in her bed. As for Pinkie Pie, she was either partying or sleeping, either one strangely suited her.
Twilight looked into her room, at the sleeping Spike who had gotten his own king-sized bed now. He slept with many knitted sweaters and blankets that he got from Rarity. Twilight giggled at her dragon friend's position, as it seemed quite funny actually that he was finally growing up. Not like last time, but at a slow pace. He would become a good dragon, as he already was a fairly good baby dragon. He was on the right path, and Twilight was happy to see so. He was snoring, as he was laying on his back, and looked quite uncomfortable actually. He was laying upon a mountain of cloth, and surely as it was piled up enough, all of those layers were like rocks holding him up like docks. All assortments of all the colors of the rainbow, including many a rainbow quilts as well. Rarity really went over the top for Spike this time. Twilight turned to look back outside, but a poofing noise followed by some very familiar twinkles caught her attention. And it came from Spike. She turned to face what had occured, and found a scroll rolled up on Spike's head.
"A letter? From Princess Celestia? At this time of night?" she had so many questions floating in her head now, and she was worried sick already. A chill ran up her spine, and she felt her knees wobbling. She closed her eyes and shook her head. The thoughts of the villains which she had fought over the years had gotten to her. She imagined the horrible things that they had done and would have done if she and her friends did not, or worse, could not stop them. She had no time to spare, but did not want to find out what was going on. Her heart began to beat faster, and breathing became unbelievably hard for her. She tried to take a step forward, but only took one back, and the darkness of her room put thousands of gruesome thoughts into her head. She knew she had post traumatic stress disorder, and it was fairly controllable until her battle with Tirek. She had never felt so hopeless before, and the thought of losing her friends made it no better. It was the only time she had truly felt fear to her enemy, as he actually tried and managed to inflict physical pain upon her. Discord was more of a mentally brawling being, and it was he who gave her the disorder in the first place. As the magic of Harmony was guided by a clear conscience, then the magic of Disharmony was surely a mind shattered and unfocused, drowning in its own despair.
Twilight closed her eyes and forced happy thoughts into her head, but each one was painted in blood and destruction. Seeing no end to her panic attack, she just forced herself to take the letter from Celestia and read it.
My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,
I and my sister need you to come to our castle in Canterlot immediately. Bring the Elements of Harmony with you, but do not bring your friends along. They will only get in the way. I will explain everything once you get here.
THIS IS AN EMERGENCY.
Such a short letter, but it was probably the one that worried her the most. Such a short letter, for Celestia had no time to write a longer one. Twilight rushed to get the Elements of Harmony, and flew to Princess Celestia's castle in Canterlot as fast as she could. Surely all of those sessions with Rainbow Dash had paid off, she was nearly flying as fast as her!
Rarity was walking along the road of Ponyville with Vinyl Scratch. The two had just come from Octavia's house for a game of chess. Rarity wanted not to play chess, but to find out more about Octavia. The mare was quite fascinating to her, and surely she would provide Rarity inspiration with her beautiful musical talent. The only was to get to Octavia was through Vinyl, whom Rarity only met through one of the unicorn parties she attended, and actually had the opportunity to host the party as Vinyl provided music. Vinyl only came because she heard that she would be providing music, so it was a no-brainer she would be there. Rarity met with Vinyl, and the two strangely became good friends immediately. And upon hearing of Rarity wanting to meet Octavia, Vinyl was determined to help Rarity in anyway now. But, the two caught sight of Twilight flying in the direction of Canterlot as the speed which she was. It startled them, and they ducked for cover when hearing the whoosh of Twilight's turbulence. They stood and saw that it was just her, and now they had questions.
"What's Twilight doing?" Rarity asked worrily, standing up and dusting herself off, scoffing at the dirt which now sullied her coat. "Startling me like that! The nerve of that alicorn!"
"It might be official 'Princess Business', y'never know..." Vinyl replied, "it might be nothing."
"But Twilight never leaves without telling us first. And to leave at night like this, flying that fast... I nearly thought she was Rainbow Dash!"
"Well... maybe there is something wrong..."
"But... there can't possibly be another threat already! We've done sooooo much!" Rarity then looked to Vinyl, who noticed tears welling up in her eyes. Rarity's voice began to crack. "I just want to have some peace and quiet... no I can barely sleep thinking that some terrible thing may happen during the night!"
Vinyl walked over to her and pat her back. She tried to say in a soothing and soft voice, "Hey now... don't go off crying like this. You guys have pulled through every situation that's happened, right? And I bet the worse is over already! So, don't cry..."
"But Vinyl, you don't understand... The fear that takes over whenever I think of the past... the memories of them... Discord is just so hard to be around, and I can't shake the feeling that him being a spirit of chaos will never change... I keep having the thought that he naturally causes chaos just with his presence, so if he lives in Ponyville with us... how much chaos will be cursed upon us?"
Vinyl gasped. "Whoa, that's...deep... I mean, I've never gone to the frontlines before, and I don't really know how much those experiences affect you guys, but if it causes PTSD this bad... I'm really in no position to be of any kind of help."
Rarity wiped her tears, looking away from Vinyl. "I...I'm... it's fine... Vinyl, I don't want to bring you in any of this, so I'll not be able to walk you home now... I have to gather my friends and go to Canterlot to see what's up with Twilight. Can I trust you to be safe?"
Vinyl blushed and nodded. "I promise... But, then... you be okay too... Okay?"
Rarity smiled, though a painfully fake one, it still provided enough hope for Vinyl to be able to walk away from her and put her trust in the Mane Six. After parting with Vinyl, Rarity made it her number one task to gather all of the Mane Six. Getting up Applejack and Pinkie was easy, but upon getting to Fluttershy's house, they found that Discord was there, and had opened the door for Fluttershy. Discord was wearing reading glasses and was levitating a book around himself, and it was the same book which Twilight was reading. He was actually the one who recommended the book for her to read.
"Oh, if it isn't the rest of my little ponies, well, minus Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Twilight," Discord said with a chuckle, now leaning on the door and folding his arms. "So, what brings you here this fine night?"
"I saw Twilight rushing to Canterlot alone, and I grew very worried, so I thought I should gather everypony together to go after her," Rarity answered. "And we need Fluttershy so she can wake up Rainbow Dash, because none of us can walk on clouds..."
"Oh, I would hate to wake up Fluttershy so suddenly after she has just gone to bed," Discord replied, "but I, however, am as up as the moon is in the sky right now... and walking on clouds is something which I am fairly sure I can accomplish. Why don't I go to wake up Rainbow Dash for Fluttershy?"
"But..." Rarity did not want to say something that she would regret, but had a feeling that Discord knew what she was thinking. "Well... I guess you can... Discord."
"Oh goody!" Discord exclaimed, closing the door and coming outside through the door after locking it from the inside. "You guys don't know how much it means to me that you would trust me enough to do something like wake up Rainbow Dash! It is truly an honor!"
"So... can all things that fly walk on clouds?" Pinkie asked them, looking up to the sky where Rainbow's house was floating above them.
"Well, yes, Pinkie," Discord answered, "all things that fly can stand upon the clouds. Even birds and bats."
"But those things don't have magic, do they?"
"Flight truly is magic in of itself, and anything, no matter what it is or what else it can do, once it gains the ability to fly through any means, it also gains the blessing to walk upon clouds. Magic is everywhere, and everything in the world and outside of this world uses it. Magic is universal, and not just limited to ponies."
Pinkie sighed, but then smiled again. She laughed out loud and hopped in place. "Well, maybe I could learn how to fly, then I will be able to stand on the clouds!"
Discord flew up to Rainbow Dash's front yard and walked through her walls into the house. Going up to the pegasus' room, he found her to be sleeping rather peacefully. She did not seem to be the same, but to him, nopony was the same when they slept. He was about to tap her shoulder to wake her up, but that would be too easy for him. He concocted a plan to wake her up in her dream through a dream. He infiltrated her mind and found himself in a cloud palace flowing with rainbow waters and carpets. Many golden statues of pegasi lined up to bow to an even larger statue of platinum and diamonds hit by light from the sun to create many pillars of flaming rainbows to surround it. The larger statue was of Rainbow Dash , and in front of it sat the Queen herself, Rainbow Dash. She was enjoying eating multicolored grapes and was being fed by Spitfire, who wore a clear black dress with dark eyeshadowing to match. The dress was frilly, and had fishnets going down her legs. Rainbow Dash was in the dress which she wore for the Gala, and her coat was a pure white, radiating golden and rainbow lights from her mane.
"Bow down to your Queen, Discord," Spitfire ordered, as Rainbow Dash gestured for her servant to leave, which she did.
Rainbow giggled, "So, what is it now, Discord? Should I take your presence as a challenge?"
"Girl, you're dreaming," Discord replied blankly, "none of this is real and I neee you to wake up."
Rainbow laughed fairly loudly, in a tone which was truly royal, something that Discord never expected from her. "HA! A dream? You must be mistaken. I have just defeated the Demon Tirek, and Equestria is now praising me for my victory! How could you have missed it? You were there!"
Discord sighed, "Well, let's go through some things. First of all, Twilight defeated Tirek with you and the rest of your friends, and second of all, you at least have to be an alicorn to be praised as a princess or queen. And lastly, you're dreaming. I can prove it." Discord opened Rainbow's eyes in the real world as she was still dreaming, and Rainbow saw it was true. "See? All just a dream..."
Rainbow woke up and saw she was sweating and panting, then that Discord was standing by her side. She screamed at him and threw her pillows at him, but he made them slip right through his body. "Discord? What the heck are you doing here? Were you watching me sleep?!" Rainbow blushed at the thought of somepony being interested in her enough to watch her sleep, and though she was flattered, it still creeped her out. Maybe not as much as it should have but it did.
"I'm afraid we, as in the Mane Six, are having a surprise meeting concerning the well being of your friend Twilight," Discord answered her, as he opened a portal leading to the outside, and he and Rainbow walked through.
"Oh, you meant my friends?" Rainbow said angrily. "I mean, don't go on, callin' us the 'Mane Six'... that name sounds stupid for our group... It is so not cool at all!" She laughed until seeing how everypony looked, and it humbled her. "So... uhhh, what's up?" She also took notice that Twilight and Fluttershy were not present.
"I saw Twilight flying to Canterlot, and I thought something might be wrong with her, so I wanted to gather everypony together to go see what's wrong with her," Rarity explained, beginning to walk to the direction of Canterlot. "We have no time to waste, we have to leave... Now."
"What about Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked them, pointing in the direction of Fluttershy's house. "If we're going in concern of a friend, she should be one of the very first ponies to consider!"
"Yeah, sleeplessness aside, we really do need for Fluttershy to come with," Applejack added.
"Well, I suppose," Rarity said in sync with Discord, who opened a portal to Fluttershy's room. The Mane Six and Discord walked in and all began to poke at the sleeping pegasus, who immediately woke up screaming. Her eye covers were still around her head, but it did not stop her from finding her place under her bed.
"C'mon Fluttershy! It's just us!" Rainbow shouted, reaching under the bed and pulling Fluttershy from underneath it by her tail. "What are you hiding from?"
Fluttershy gasped, taking the covers from her eyes, looking around at her friends. She sighed in relief and relaxed herself. "Oh... well, what's going on? Is there something wrong?" she asked them all.
"Twilight has left for Canterlot and I don't know why, so I thought we should follow her," Rarity explained once again.
Fluttershy sighed again, and rolled her eyes to look to her window and the Canterlot Mountain in the distance. "Maybe it's royal business," she said softly, "we couldn't but in if that's the case."
"But what if something bad is going to happen?" Rarity whined back, putting her front hooves on Fluttershy's shoulders and looking her directly in the eyes. "I won't be able to live with myself knowing that we could have done something, anything to help!
Fluttershy smiled, and she poked Rarity's nose. "You all are just as Kind as I am! Maybe so, we should go!" She looked to Discord and giggled. "So, off we go!"
The group went outside to go to Canterlot, but were intercepted by a pony wearing a black cloak with red accents. Also the cloak looked as if it were reflected the light that would seep through a body of water. As if the sky were water or something. The group stepped back, as Applejack, Rainbow, and Discord stepped in front of Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity to be of any guard to them.
"And who are you?" Rainbow questioned the pony, who took off the cloak, revealing themself to be an alicorn with a long, flowing mane of black and red, as well as twinkles within it. Her coat was black and her cutie mark was a red cross. Her eyes were too a deep, dark red. Both of her wings and her four legs were bandaged. She looked intensely at the group, then made them all drop to the ground. Discord managed to catch himself before he fell completely, and he dashed towards the alicorn, who teleported up into the air and dropped down behind Discord, who appeared in front of her and captured her within a barrier of his chaos magic. She could not escape.
Another alicorn flew to her side, another mare, who had a white coat and a short, emerald green mane in blunt bangs and spikes going upwards. She had sapphire blue eyes, and the tip of her nose was black, as were her legs. Her cutie mark was a green cross. "Emerald Kiss! To the rescue!" the second alicorn cried, making a rectangular barrier of green magic around Discord and the other alicorn. Her magic began to eat away at Discord's, and the draconequus noticed this, trying to get out of the barrier. It was no use, as Emerald Kiss's magic directly opposed his own. "It's no use! Drakodi! This time, we've got you! NOW, Rose Quartz! Cherry Blossom! Attack! Witchlily, back them up!"
An alicorn filly with a pink coat and a spikey hot pink rose colored mane jumped from the clouds with another alicorn, who looked to be in her early teens. The filly wore two eyepatches, each with a crystal rose on it, and had no cutie mark at all; she was Rose Quartz. The other alicorn had a pinkish-white coat with a cherry blossom pink mane worn in the style that Flitter wore but with a braid over her shoulder. Her eyes were the same color as her mane and her cutie mark was a cherry blossom tree; she was Cherry Blossom. These two alicorns flew around Discord, hitting him with pink orbs of offensive magic. The draconequus jumped back and tried to dodge, but the barrier bent to mimic his movements.
"Got you!" the last alicorn shouted, she was Witchlily, according to Emerald Kiss. She had a pure white coat with a golden blonde mane in a double bun double braided style with long bangs which framed her face. Her eyes were sky blue with no pupils, as she was blind, just as Rose Quartz was. She wore a black gothic lolita dress with fishnets on her legs, and a black witch hat upon her head. Her cutie mark was threesome of white lilies with golden enteriors. She used her sky blue magic, which sparkled black stars, to grab Discord and further trap him in a bubble of water. Her magic directly controlled water apparently.
Rainbow tried to attack the black alicorn, who teleported behind her and kicked her into Emerald Kiss. "Damn! I won't go down easily!" Rainbow exclaimed, smiling, until Rose Quartz held a blade of pink magic to her neck. "What the heck is going on?!"
"Don't move," Rose Quartz said, her voice sounding a bit like Sweetie Belle's. "I was put under direct order from Queen Bluebell to kill you if you resist."
"I am Ebony Selene, I am from a faraway land, and I am a Princess there," the black alicorn said, grabbing the rest of the Mane Six with her dark, cherry red magic. She nodded to Witchlily, who smiled and opened a portal to a dimensional rift. "We stumbled across your world through our Cursed Pond, and we sought for your help. But upon seeing you helping somepony like Drakodi, we had to reconsider. You are all under arrest."
"Drakodi? !" Discord shouted, sticking his head out of the water. "My name is Discord! I'm afraid you have the wrong draconequus on your hooves!"
"Your fates will be decided once Queen Bluebell gets back from visiting your Queen, Celestia," Ebony Selene said, as she led her squad and the ones she captured into the portal.
"What?! You can't do this!" Rarity cried, trying to break out of the magical restraints. "We were going to go see what was going on in Canterlot! Our friend Twilight might be in trouble!"
Ebony Selene punched Rarity in the face as she floated in the air. "Twilight Sparkle? Don't speak that name around us. Don't put your hopes into her... she's no better than Drakodi here. And 'Twilight Sparkle' isn't even her real name. If you think she's your friend, then you've got to have your damn head on fucking backwards..."
_-To Be Continued-_