A young pony with a red coat and golden mane trotted between the window and front door of her small cottage, glancing quickly out of each before turning back to face the gathering of friends with a smile. Her name was Morning Star, and it just so happened that it was her birthday.
"Are you sure she's coming, Star?" A brown-eyed, green earth pony with a rose for a cutie mark squeaked, tilting her head. She was small and slight for her age, except for her massive, meterstick-straight yellow mane. "Vanhoover is really far away..."
"I am sure, Harmony Rose. She would have sent a note if she could not make it!" Morning Star again poked her head out the front door, looking about excitedly. She returned with a shrug and took her spot at the small chestnut table her friends were gathered around.
"How does your friend send you these notes, anyway? Is she a dragon?" Another of Star's friends asked, propping her head up with a hoof. She was a purple pegasus with a cerise mane twirled into a pair of loose ponytails. "I haven't ever met a dragon before. Except, you know, Princess Twilight's dragon, but I've never really MET one. You know? That'd be like, so cool."
Morning giggled. "She could be a dragon, Wishful Mind, but 'Diamond Dust' sounds more like a pony's name, yes?" She nodded and pulled the latest note from her pen-pal up to her face. She unfurled it with her magic and scanned it for the right section. "...We can meet up on your birthday, Star. Something totally excellent will happen, so look forward to it!" Reading the passage again, Star's smile widened and she rocked from side to side.
"Does it say when she's coming? I wanna see this 'totally excellent' thing!" Harmony said as Morning's excitement started to rub off onto her, a grin replacing the hesitant frown from before.
"I," - Morning skimmed the rest of the note, flipping it over and back - "I don't think it does."
Just then, a sharp rapping sound came from the front door. "It's her!" Morning exclaimed, leaping up and dashing to the door. Her note fluttered down slowly, landing on the table and curling back up. As Morning whipped the door open with her magic, a mustachioed mailpony greeted her.
"Package for one 'Morning Star'!" He said, holding up a plain-looking brown box and a clipboard. "Just need a signature."
"Oh? I was not expecting a package... but thank you!" Morning took the box, signed her name and quickly returned to the table, almost forgetting to close the door.
"What is it?" Wishful asked, flapping up into the air and inspecting it from above. "Who's it from? Come on, Star, open it!"
"Okay, okay! Give me a moment!" Morning placed the box on the table, spinning it about to find a tag on its side, marked with a tiny scrawl. "...To Morning Star, from your friend, Diamond Dust." All three ponies gasped. After a moment of mumbling and chatter, Morning looked to her friends.
"...Should I open it? Or should I wait for Diamond to arrive?" As Morning spoke, a blue shimmer of light shown over her table, and with a soft puff of white smoke, a rolled-up scroll of parchment appeared. "Another note!" She said, snatching it with her telekinesis magic and opening it with haste. Her eyes leapt to the text, and she began to read aloud.
"Dear Morning Star," she started. "Happy birthday!!! I hope you, Harmony and Wishful are having a blast today! I will be along to see all of you a little later, once you open the package! It is the beginning of something really excellent, I promise!" Morning let loose a squeal and flipped the lid from the box, almost expecting her friend to leap from within. When she peeked inside, however, she merely tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.
"Well?" Harmony said, leaning forward over the table. "What's in the box?"
Morning's horn began to glimmer with her magic, and a disc of metal with a hole in the center rose from the box. "I do not know," she said, looking into the distorted reflection it cast of her.
"It's... it reminds me of one of the DJ's records, but a lot smaller." Wishful said, glancing at the disc's faces. "Hey, there's something on the other side!"
Morning flipped the disc over, revealing a side painted dark grey decorated only by the word 'Cycle'.
"Cycle...?" she mumbled, looking to her friends. Wishful shrugged, landing next to Morning and poking her head into the box.
"Nothing else in there... maybe it's like a mini-record?" She propounded. "I don't have anything that could play it, though. Do you, Star?"
"I do not," Morning said, placing the disc gently on the table. "I am confused - what are we supposed to do with it?"
Just then, another shimmer of light and a puff of smoke heralded another note's appearance. Unlike the previous, it was not rolled up, nor as neatly written. Morning glanced over it and began reading.
"Bucking sun-butt, I-" Morning started, then quickly glanced to her friends with a blush. "Sorry! That is what the letter says!" she apologized while Wishful and Harmony giggled.
"Okay, okay. What's the rest say?" Wishful said, putting a hoof over Harmony's muzzle, quieting her laughter. Morning cleared her throat and tried again.
"By Celestia, I forgot to tell you how this thing works. It's actually really easy! Put it on something flat - like your table - and spin it. The magic will do the rest! See you soon!!" Morning looked briefly to her friends again, then back to the note. "That is what it says..."
"So... we spin it?" Harmony questioned, poking towards the disc with a hoof.
"I guess so." Wishful looked on, curious. "You should do it, Star. It's your gift! Let's see what it does!"
Morning shrugged, putting the notes into the box and setting them aside. "Here it goes," she said, the disc glowing with her magic and slowly rotating. After a moment of nothing, she pushed harder with her magic, and it began to spin in earnest. A flicker of light streamed from the center, and the disc rose from the table, gaining momentum and shedding the color of Morning's spell as it did. The ponies each backed up, and Wishful Mind and Harmony Rose moved to Morning Star's side.
"What's it doing now?" Harmony said as the disc altered its orientation. The face which read 'Cycle' was now facing the ponies, and a golden light shown around the rim.
"It must be the magic Diamond spoke of," Morning said. "What else will it do, though?"
As if reacting to her question, the circle of golden light began to expand, and a void grew within the circle, eclipsing the spinning disc. It was then that Morning felt the slightest tug on her body, compelling her to approach the circle. The tug soon grew into a great wind, pulling Morning Star closer to the ring. She let out a yelp and dug her hooves into the floor, though it yielded no resistance to the pull.
"Star?!" Wishful shouted, flying up and grasping at her friend. Though she found purchase, her wings could not fight the gravity of the circle's pull. "Harmony! Help!"
Immediately she leapt up and grabbed at Morning's legs, pulling hard against the force - though she, like Wishful, could barely halt her friend.
A moment later, the three were wrenched from the ground with a scream and sucked inside the circle. The golden rim broke apart like shattering glass, and the black void collapsed upon itself - leaving nothing behind at all.
Get up...
Morning Star rolled over, her eyes slammed shut against the pounding in her head. She felt grass under her side and a light breeze, but it felt strange, alien to her. A burning sensation accompanied her headache, though she felt neither feverish nor alarmed.
Come on, wake up! A voice in her head came. You can do it. She could not place the voice, but it didn't sound like anypony she had ever met before. It rang with unusual clarity, cutting through the pain and weariness.
She greeted the voice with a grunt, and kicked at the ground under her.
Get up already! It urged her again. Your friends are looking for you!
Her eyes fluttered open weakly, and a shadowed sea of pale green grass swam before her eyes. The sky overhead was dark, without even a single star to illuminate it. She could barely make out a series of sounds, like the voices of her friends, echoing close by.
"Star? Where are you?!" she heard Harmony cry. She lifted a hoof, waving it slowly in the air from her prone position.
"Over here, Harmony!" a voice like Wishful's called. "She's over here!" The sounds of movement
A pair of ponies trotted into Morning's clearing vision - Wishful and Harmony - and she let her head rest against the ground. Though the grass felt soft, the ground itself was hard - almost like stone. Slowly, she pushed herself up to sit, shaking her head.
"Where are we?" she managed, looking to her friends.
"No idea," Wishful said, glancing around. "When we got here, it was just Harmony and me. We couldn't find you anywhere!" She took a seat next to Morning and placed a hoof on her shoulder.
"Why were you asleep, Star?" Harmony asked, tilting her head. "Were you tired? Or did you hit your head, or-"
"I do not know, Harmony," she replied, closing her eyes and rubbing them. "Did either of you hear a voice in your head when you arrived?"
Harmony and Wishful looked at each other, eyebrows raised and lips moving in whispers. They shook their heads almost in unison before turning back to their friend.
"No... I don't think we did. Are you okay?" Harmony muttered; to this, Morning nodded.
"I think I will be... it is just a headache. Is this -" she stood up, slowly gazing out over the landscape "- the excellent thing Diamond Dust wanted us to see?"
Rolling hills extended out from in front of the trio of ponies, the sickly-looking grass agitated only by their movement now. Awkwardly-angled trees of grey bark and scant leaves rent upwards against the dark skyline, as if they were attempting to escape the earth. In the distance, an impossibly tall tower stretched skyward, casting an ominous shadow across the world below. It was only now that Morning saw the heavy, black clouds that haunted the firmament; under their tyrannical coverage, the landscape - shrouded in shadow - seemed to be dying.
Wishful flapped her wings and leapt up, sighing. "I hope not. This doesn't seem all that great..."
"It just looks so... sad," Harmony said, frowning. "Oh, but where's Diamond Dust? Wasn't she supposed to meet us?"
As if on cue, a gout of smoke erupted from the ground, and a translucent pony stepped forth. Though it appeared to lack substance, there was a hint of color and detail about it: a grey coat and a disheveled sky-blue mane, cerulean eyes and a snowflake cutie mark. As the smoke from its appearance cleared, it smiled.
"Hi, Morning Star! With Harmony Rose and Wishful Mind in tow, too!" she said, her smile growing wider. The trio exchanged worried glances.
"...Is that you, Diamond Dust?" Morning said, stepping forth.
"Yup! Well, sort of. I'm projecting myself onto your space so you can see me while I talk. I know your gift doesn't look that great right now, but believe me - when you climb up the Fleche of Conquest, it gets a lot better."
"But where are we?" Harmony asked, holding up a hoof as she surveyed the area again.
"...climb the what?" Morning chirped, her brow wrinkled up. She looked to Wishful to find that they shared their reactions.
"I know, it's weird. What the hay's a Fleche?" Diamond shrugged, looking down to the ground beneath her. "You girls are in Nadir right now, which is why you should totally make your way over to that glowing golden ring-gate-thing -" her image motioned towards a tremendous tree in the distance "- and hop in. It's like a portal or something."
Morning squinted, searching the skeleton of a tree for a 'golden ring-gate-thing'. Her eyes caught a glimmer of light, somewhere within the discordant snarl of its upended roots. The labyrinthine mess resembled the maw of a defeated beast, left to rot in the earth. Though the tree's canopy was vast, the leaves within were so sparse it seemed to be naught but a net of vines cast to the sky. Morning Star shuddered, glancing back to Diamond.
"...Alright. Will that ...Gate, take us to you, Diamond?" She asked, a smile returning to her face.
"That's right," Diamond said. "If you could hurry up, I have something I want to show all of you."
"Of course!" Wishful said, bouncing up and down.
"Then we can figure all of this out as a team," Harmony chimed in. The three ponies upon the grassland smiled.
"So our course is decided, then - to the tree, we go?" Morning concluded, looking to her friends and nodding.
"Great! So I'll see you in a few minutes, then. I'm excited, Morning Star. Please hurry!" Diamond exclaimed, the image dissipating into the resurrected breeze.
"Alright, let's go, then!" Wishful took wing, making a bee-line for the enormous tree. Harmony took off after her, with Morning trailing behind.
"Wait for me!" Morning called, and just as she passed the spot where Diamond had appeared, a shimmer of light flashed and a small, torn piece of parchment appeared.
The parchment drifted lazily for a moment before catching on a gust of wind, flipping and careening away from the ponies. On it read a single word, scrawled in haste.
"Don't".
The three ponies crossed the grasslands with alacrity, eager to escape the melancholy that seemed to pervade the realm. They only noticed at the last moment the eyes that watched them from the darkness of holes and dens, reflecting a mix of hesitance and hostility. Growls could be heard echoing from deep inside, which served only to spur the ponies faster toward their destination. They slowed as they approached the tree, a low, steady series of sonorous bellows greeting them.
"Wh-what is that?" Wishful whispered, shrinking back. Morning and Harmony joined her, following her steady gaze.
A basin under the tree revealed a thicket of dying brush, along with the ring gate, which hovered just inches off the ground. A golden nebula spun within the gate, pinpricks of light shedding from it and falling upon the tangle below. What had caught Wishful's attention, however, was the scaled hide of an immense grey-brown beast coiled partway about the gate's threshold. A colossal claw sat half-buried under layers of dirt, and a crown of horns decorated its head. With each long and slow breath drawn, it revealed a jaw full of needle-like teeth - though luckily, its eyes were closed, and the dust of ages had collected on the creature's hide.
"Is that a dragon?!" Harmony squeaked, her eyes widening.
"Shh! You'll wake it up!" Wishful quietly chided, creeping closer on her belly. She poked her head over the edge of the basin, and shortly after, Morning joined her in doing so.
"I believe we can get to the gate," Morning whispered, motioning towards a worn path, barely visible from above. "See? There's a path."
"...you still want to go? What if we wake it up and it wants to EAT us?" Wishful said, throwing her hooves into the air.
"I don't think we really have the option to not go, Wishful," Harmony posited. "I don't know what else to do, at least."
Wishful looked about, as if searching for some reason - any reason - to pursue another path. In the end, however, she sighed, rolled her eyes and stood up. "Alright," she said, glaring down at the gate. "So how are we going to do this?"
Morning smiled. "We follow the path - slowly and quietly."
With silent hoofbeats, the three ponies crept closer to the gate, taking care not to stray from the path beaten before them. As they entered the glimmering field of light about the gate, Wishful spread her wings.
"Now!" Wishful whispered back to her friends, pushing off from the ground and darting straight into the portal. The nebula twisted and warped as she passed through, a bright light encompassing her form before disappearing. Morning and Harmony glanced to each other, a cloud of dust kicked up from Wishful's sudden lift engulfing them.
"Go, quick!" Morning mumbled, ushering Harmony towards the gate. Taking the cue, Harmony dashed forward and leapt up, barely clearing the ring. Again, the light flashed bright for a moment, and away went Harmony.
Morning bent low, glancing one last time to the beast's eye. She breathed a sigh of relief to find it still closed, creeping closer to the gate. With a quiet grunt, she sprang for the portal. In the half-second before touching it, a voice invaded her mind.
Hero of Light... you will not abandon us again, will you?
Before she could react, she passed through the portal, and tumbled into the unknown.