Chapters "Twilight! Twilight!." the purple unicorn blinked he eyes open to she her friend and assistant, a baby dragon named Spike, shaking her and holding a scroll. "The Princess just sent this! It's an emergency letter!"
Twilight shook herself awake and used her magic to grab the scroll from Spike. "Dear Twilight Sparkle," she read aloud, "A terrible threat has been made for the whole of Equestria. You and your friends must find this enemy and use the Elements of Harmony to destroy it. We do not know who it is, but a hurt pony turned up saying that whoever attacked her was coming for the rest of Equestria, and Baltimare has been taken over and destroyed."
Twilight gasped and dropped the scroll. "Come on, Spike!" Twilight motioned for the purple-and-green dragon to jump on her back, "We need to get the others and see the Princess in Canterlot!"
"The elements!" Twilight gasped. The Mane six stood before the empty case where the Elements of Harmony were supposed to be locked away.
"No!" Celestia examined the case. "Not again! How in Equestria did they go missing?"
"Has anypony has access to them?" Rainbow Dash asked, folding her wings and landing in front of the empty box.
"Nopony except for me, Luna, Cadance, and Summer!" Celestia flipped the case around, as if hoping the elements were stuck in a dusty crack within it. "Only alicorns can break the spell."
Luna was Celestia's sister, and Cadance was Twilight's sister-in-law, but nopony had ever heard of an alicorn named Summer. "Who's Summer?" the Mane Six asked at once.
"She's a new alicorn, come from a land far away." Celestia explained, finally dropping the box on a nearby table, "She's a light blue with a white mane and tail, you'll probably meet her later, she's out right now, meeting with friends."
The mane six all exchanged looks, suspicions aroused.
However, before they could say anything, Princess Luna flew through the window and landed in front of Princess Celestia. "Sister, news has come from Las Pegasus. They have been invaded, and very few were able to flee with their lives. Survivors seem too scared to tell anypony who has attacked them so violently." she reported.
"This is terrible." Celestia pointed her hoof to the empty box, showing her sister. "The elements are missing, as well."
Twilight had never seen Celestia look so worried. She stepped forward. "Princess, what if we go visit Las Pegasus and Blatimare, and we may get a glimpse of our enemies."
"It will be dangerous." the Princess warned.
"Don't worry, Princess, we can handle it!" Rainbow dash flew up into the air, did a few quick spins, then stopped in a hover above her friends.
"You can count on us, Princess!" Applejack said.
"Yea, we'll stop those bad guys!" Pinkie Pie bounced up into the air then held her hooves in attack position and growled.
"Very well." Celestia said, clopping over to stand directly in front of the group. "I'm counting on you, My Little Ponies. find our enemy and the Elements of Harmony!"
"We'll head for Balitmare, first." Twilight said as the Mane six trotted down a dirt road that lead to Baltimare.
"Gotcha!" Everypony said, excluding Fluttershy, who whimpered.
"Don't worry, Fluttershy." Twilight said, hearing this. "Remember, we have to do this. think of how unhappy you animal friends would be if the enemies attacked Ponyville."
Fluttershy gulped and trotted faster.
"Rainbow, you fl-" Twilight was interrupted in the middle of her order when she saw a sky blue pony racing towards her. As she came closer, Twilight saw large, beautiful wings spread out from her sides and a glowing horn. It was the alicorn that Princess Celestia had been telling them about, Summer!
"Help!" the alicorn screeched. She appeared to be running from something, and the reason her horn was glowing was because had a force-field around her. On closer inspection, Twilight saw a huge crowd of Changelings chasing her.
"Are Changelings the threat?" she wondered out loud. Nopony heard her, because they were all focused on Rainboe Dash, who had flown over to the, and, with a huge swoop, scooped her off the ground and dropped her on a nearby cliff, out of harm's way.
Now, however, the Changelings were heading right for Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. Twilight gasped and her horn glowed. There was a loud snap and the five ponies had disappeared, re-appearing on the safety of the cliff beside Summer and Rainbow Dash.
"Thank you for saving me." Summer gasped to Rainbow Dash. "My name's Summer. I was going to visit some friends in Baltimare, but I got attacked by those Changelings!"
"Are those the enemy who's taken over Baltimare and Las Pegasus?" Rarity asked.
"I don't know." Summer looked down at the Changelings who looked bewildered below, wondering where their victims had gone. As they watched, a Pegasus colt passed, and one of the Changelings dashed towards him. Wide-eyed, the colt flew off as fast as he could, swooping into a nearby forest to hide from the bug-like creatures.
"Shouldn't we go help 'im?" Applejack asked, watching the Changelings swooping around at the forest's edge.
"I don't think they'll chase him." Summer said, watching the Changelings give up and fly away back towards Baltimare. "Look, they're leaving."
"Well, we have to continue on to Baltimare." Twilight said, clopping to the edge of the cliff and watching the leaving changelings. "All we have to do is find a way to get there safely."
"Why in Equestria do you want to go there for?" Summer asked, looking surprised. "They nearly made dessert out of me."
"It doesn't matter if we end up dessert or not in the end." Twilight whinnied, turning to face Summer. "This is for the fate of all of Equestria!"
"Yeah!" the rest of her friends said, whinnying their support.
"Come on, ponies! Let's get in there and find the elements!" Twilight gathered all her magic to teleport them back down to the foot of the cliff, but a glint caught her eye. She turned to see Summer glaring at her. Now, why was Summer glaring at her like that?
Suddenly, everything went black.
Twilight was running, but she didn't know where. Chasing after her was something, but she didn't know what. She needed to find her friends, but she didn't know where they were.
She was in the dark and the ground was slippery beneath her hooves. she heard the clopping of whatever was chasing her coming closer and closer. Up ahead she saw something that looked like a crystal. She jumped over it and hid behind it, and the clopping of her enemies faded.
As she was gasping for breath, she gazed into the crystal. It began to glow, and she saw her own surprised eyes looking back at her in the reflection. Then the glow became brighter and brighter, blinding even, and she shielded her eyes.
Now she appeared to be in a city, overrun by Parasprites. The cute little flying bugs ate everything, ponies ran in panic, and screeches of fear were heard. Then she was in a smaller village full of rampaging Changelings, then she was in a town filled with Manticores.
Then she was in darkness again. She was now surrounded by crystals and gems, all showing her face, drawn in fear. She kept calling, but her friends weren't near. Then the Twilights in the crystals all called, "The box, Twilight, the box! You must find the box! Parasprites, Changelings, Manticores, Hydras, and so many more evils will be set free! The box, the box..." their voices faded to be replaced an evil cackling.
"Help!" Twilight shouted, then she felt herself being tugged away from the nightmare.
Twilight blinked her eyes open. She was in a dark place with the fainest glow of white. She closed her eyes again. She didn't want to drop back off to sleep- she had been having the absolute worst dream- but she didn't want to be stuck in darkness. Wait, maybe she was still in the dream. That was it! She was still in that terrible dream.
She waited for more cackling and more panic, but all seemed quiet except for her own heartbeat. Where was she?
She heard a dripping of water in the distance. So quiet that she could barely hear it. She counted the seconds.... one....two......three.... four..... five....drip....one...two...three...four...five...drip.
Finally, she couldn't take it any longer. This couldn't be a dream, it was far too real. She opened her eyes and struggled to her feet. She observed her surroundings. she appeared to be in a dark place, but there were faint glows everywhere. On closer observation, the floor was glassy with only a few puddles of collected water. She looked about, trying to find where the water had come from, but couldn't see anything of importance in the faint glow.
She gathered her magic and her horn glowed with a ball of light. It illuminated where she was, and it appeared that she was in a cave. But not made from stone, oh, no, but made from crystal. Rarity would love this place. she thought. Then she remembered. In her dream, she couldn't find her friends. Did that mean her friends were missing in real life too?
"Pinkie Pie?" She called, "Rainbow Dash? Fluttershy? Applejack? Rarity?" Nopony answered. She was alone. Figures.
Her best hope was to head for the sound of dripping. If water was getting through, she could get through. Maybe. She hopped up on a long, jagged crystal that poked out from the wall and trotted along it, careful not to slip. This place was beautiful, but she needed to get to the elements. And the box... she had a feeling that her dream was trying to tell her something. She had to find 'the box', whatever that was.
Suddenly, she heard something from the shadows. She moved her head so the light from her horn would lit up the area in which had heard the noise.
It was a small badger-like creature. It looked up at her with huge eyes. Twilight had read about how some animals changed with their habitat. In pitch black caves, some animals lost their vision because it was unneeded. Since the glow was faint in this cave, this creature had probably grown bigger eyes to help it see.
"I make my home in here you see," the creature said in a mysterious voice, "It helps me solve the mysteries."
"What mysteries?" Twilight asked, jumping off her awkward perch on the crystal and trotted to the creature.
"Mysteries of the world, of course." he turned his huge eyes up to focus on the unicorn. "Now, who are you, horse?"
"Pony." Twilight corrected. "My name's Twilight Sparkle, and I just woke up here, and I don't remember how I got here."
"From this cave you wish to be free? Come on, pony, tell me."
"I need to find my friends and save Equestria from an unknown enemy." Twilight explained. "there have been attacks, but we don't know for sure by who. I need to get my friends and find the Elements of Harmony to defeat whoever it is."
The creature just blinked. "Your friends are not near, nor is a way to leave here."
"Can you help me find a way out?" Twilight stamped a hoof.
The creature shook his head. "But I can tell you this. Earlier suspicions you must dismiss." Then he turned and scurried away.
"Wait!" Twilight called, "What do you mean?" She chased after him until the clink of his claws on stone disappeared. She sighed and continued following the sound of dripping water.
Rainbow Dash felt danger. It lurked in every corner and slowly licked its claws, ready to attack. It loomed all around, eyes piercing the darkness. Waiting for her to cringe in fear. But she wouldn't, she was fearless!
"The box, Rainbow, the box!" something whispered. "Find your friends, then find the box!"
"Who are you?" Rainbow demanded, "What box?" but the voice was fading, repeating the words, "the box" over and over again. As the voice faded completely, complete darkness filled Rainbow's vision. "Help!" she called, "I can't see!" Then she heard the clacking of claws coming closer and closer.
Rainbow sat up and rubbed her head with a hoof. What had happened? Where was she? What had that dream been about?
The blue Pegasus flapped her wings to hover and look around, but felt a sharp pain in her head and fell back to the ground. Okay, so she appeared to be somewhere with a roof- that made sense. It was dark, excluding a faint glow from the walls and floor. She appeared to be in a cave made out of glowing crystals.
Then she realized something- she could still hear the clicking of claws on stone! She spread her wings to get extra speed and followed the sound. It was hard to avoid the obstacles of crystals jutting out randomly from the walls, but eventually the clicking of claw became louder and she could see a strange badger-like creature in the faint glow.
She landed in front of the creature, blocking his path. She glared at him. "Who are you?" she demanded, "Why am I here? Where am I? Where are my friends?"
The creature didn't answer, just weaved through her legs and scurried off. But Rainbow didn't give up. "Hey!" She called after it, galloping after it. "I'm talking to you!"
Suddenly, she got a face full of wall. She landed hard on her back, the cold of the crystal floor seeping through her blue pelt. She climbed back onto her hooves, rubbed her head and examined the wall she had hit. there was a small crack- too small for her to go through. the creature must have escaped through there.
"Come out!" Rainbow snapped through the hole, but she heard no reply. She growled in frustration and stuck a hoof in. She wiggled it around, but only felt more stone. Realizing that it was hopeless, she continued to try and find a way out. She was no unicorn, she couldn't make her horn glow, so she would have to go on ahead in the darkness.
She galloped on through the never-ending darkness, until the floor beneath her hooves suddenly disappeared. Startled, she fell a few feet, then her wings caught the air just in time. She flew back and bit until she was on solid ground and landed. She tried to observe the hole but it was pitch black and no glowing crystals were near enough.
She had an idea. She spread her wings and flew herself to the nearest glowing crystal. She turned so her hind legs were facing it, pulled them back, and, with all her force, bucked the crystal. there was a shattering noise and a few small crystals broke off. She picked them up in her hoof and flew back to the hole.
Feeling around the edges, the hole seemed to stretch four times her length across. She dropped one of the crystals down, and it illuminated it on the way down. It seemed as if it was just one huge pit that never ended. Until, distantly, she heard a small plop as the crystal landed in water.
"Should I check it out?" she wondered out loud. She knew she should go try to find her friends, but the curiosity was building inside her. "No, I have to keep going." she decided, flapping her wings and flying over the hole to the other side. She continued at a light canter until she found herself facing a dead end. She bucked the wall as hard as she could, hoping for another shard of crystal, but the didn't splinter at all. She tried a few more times, but this wall was tough. After searching all over for a way past, she turned back, hoping to find a turnoff she had missed.
"Hello?" she called down the long, dark, empty corridors of this crystal cave. All she heard was her own voice echoing back. No luck, she was indeed alone. She continued on, feeling every wall, until she was back at the hole. "Oh, well." She said out loud, "I guess I have no choice."
She spread her feathered blue wings and flew deep down into the hole.
