In Canterlot, high above the city in the tower balcony of the castle Princess Celestia stood watch over the darkened land stretching out from beyond the base of the mountain. The night was ending, and soon it would be time for her to raise the sun and bring about the light of a new day. Her sister, Princess Luna, was scheduled to arrive at any moment to bring her word on Equestria's status as the night had progressed. Though as the time went on, she noticed a hollow feeling within her, one she had not felt for some time and could only vaguely remember. There was something off, and she couldn't quite nail it down.
She closed her eyes to try to tune to her own senses. To see if she could remember where, or even when she had felt it last. Though her concentration was broken by the soft beating of feathers behind her. A rush of air sweeping past her followed by the clopping of hooves were the sign of a pony who had landed. The clicking of hoof steps atop stone neared, slowing to a halt to her side. Opening her eyes, it was affirmed to Celestia that Princess Luna had arrived. Together, they cast their gaze across those beneath their charge.
"My sister," Princess Celestia greeted the alicorn, "how was the night?"
"It was well," replied the younger of the two, looking up at her elder, more regal sibling. "Most of the ponies are dreaming in peace, aside from those who chose to be awake at night, or intend to rise before your sun does." Celestia nodded, closing her eyes while she did. "Speaking of which, shouldn't you be illuminating Equestria about now?"
She exhaled. "My apologies, Luna. I have been distracted." Her long horn glowed with a faint golden aura. Spreading her wings, she took several breaths in and out, relaxing both body and mind. Beyond the horizon far in front of them, the sky began to turn from black to orange as if a distant wild fire was approaching. It grew brighter and brighter, consuming more of the darkness with it. Soon a brilliant ball of light emerged, shinning its rays upon the land.
"Pray tell?" Princess Luna turned her body towards the white alicorn. "If it has to do with the consulate meeting this afternoon, I would be able to take your place, should you wish. I could understand that a meeting of this caliber with dragons of all creatures could put immense pressure on yourself and Equestria."
"No, it is not that. I have a strange feeling about something. I do not know what is causing it."
"You've felt it, too?" Celestia quirked an eyebrow to her sister's question. "I started to feel it midway through the night. It came at once with no indication of it approaching."
"Hmm... There is has been a great shift in magic."
"How do you mean?"
"Something has been added to the land that is taking vast amounts of magical energy. So much so that we can feel it."
"I wonder if Princess Twilight or Princess Cadance are able to feel it. Or maybe even other unicorns?"
Celestia shook her head slowly. "Although they are alicorns as well, they have not been around as long as us, and are not as in tune. Take note, my dear sister. My sun is rising, but something else is rising with it. This new day could very well mark the beginning of something important."
Nodding, Princess Luna turned back to face back at the horizon the sun rose behind from. Before either of them got the chance to speak again, the doors behind them opened up. In the doorway stood a Royal Guard, his white coat covered in gold armor. "Your highnesses," he bowed respectfully, making sure that his horn wasn't directed at the two alicorns. "I bring news from an archaeology team in the Everfree forest."
"Yes, Sergeant," Princess Celestia greeted. "What is it?"
"They found something in the lower levels of the ancient castle of the Royal Sisters, your highness."
Luna took a step towards the guard, tilting her head to the side. "Impossible. We know of everything within that palace. There is nothing new to be discovered."
"Let him speak, sister," Celestia said. "Go on..."
"Behind a book case in the lower levels," the guard began. "When the team pulled it back, they found a large stone door that looked like it was once sealed."
"A sealed door?" Luna asked. "I know of no such door. Celestia?" She craned her neck to look at her sister directly. The white Alicorn had her eyes half closed, looking intently at the guard, analyzing the words as the the came out of the stallion's mouth.
"What was inside?" she further questioned the guard.
"Uh... we do not know, your highness..."
"What do you mean, 'you do not know?" Luna took another step towards the guard.
"Nopony went inside. It didn't feel right."
Celestia held her tongue for a moment of thought. "Princess Luna," she turned to her sister. "Accompany the sergeant here back to the castle and investigate what he has found. Should you need, use Princess Twilight as a resource if necessary."
"What is it?" The darker alicorn asked. "Do you know of this?"
"I'm hesitant to say... Now go, what ever this is, it may be important."
Luna nodded, her horn glowed a deep purple, swirling around her to form a sphere that encompassed both herself and the guard that shrank into the ground, leaving nothing behind but empty space. Celestia turned back to face her rising sun, and the land that it illuminated.
"I fear that this day may be more memorable than I had hoped."
In the lower levels of the ancient castle of the Royal Sisters, a flash of light signaled the arrival of Princess Luna and the Royal Guard. They appeared in a dimly lit hall, covered in thick layers of dust broken only by the tracks of other ponies who had passed through not long ago. Princess Luna looked around, letting the sights soak into her mind, contrasting with what she remembered how the ancient hall used to look.
Her ears picked up a busy sound coming from the half opened doors of a nearby room. The Royal Guard led the alicorn towards the doors, opening the rest of the way for he and ushering her inside. The room appeared to be a small library that was covered in a thin layer of dust the same as the corridor outside. Wooden scaffolding created elevated platforms for ponies to climb along in order to reach the higher sections of the decaying shelves. Unicorns carefully used their magic to remove books, giving them to ponies below who examined them on a large table in the center of the room.
Just as Princess Luna crossed through the threshold, they all turned and bowed out of respect, some even shocked to see her there in the first place. "As you were," Princess Luna calmly commanded, returning the ponies to their original tasks.
She looked around. Everything seemed to be normal at first. Ponies were milling about conducting their work. The room was a mild temperature. An old musk hung in the air, released after being trapped for hundreds of years between the pages of old archives. Aside from the effects of aging, everything was as how she remembered. Except for the far corner. A bookshelf had fallen over into the middle of the room, and nopony seemed to dare to go near it.
As Luna approached the area, the air around her felt as though it was growing colder. The sergeant who had been following her as an escort, stopped, and staid behind with the other ponies. Luna slowed her confident pace to a hesitant one; the reactions of the other's putting her on edge as to what was hiding in the darkness in front of her.
Nearing, it became clear that something had pushed the bookshelf over from behind. On the wall where it stood against, was a set of large stone doors, just smaller than the shelf itself so that it was hidden from view. There were four circular indentations in the crack that separated the two halves. lined up vertically and evenly spaced, the first being just above the floor and the last hanging just below the top of the door. What ever they held had no fallen to the ground in a pile of dust. The doors themselves were were opened slightly into the small library, a current of cold air flowing through the small crack. Luna held her ground, gazing into the darkness on the other side.
In the edge of her vision she could see the other ponies anxiously hiding behind desks, chairs, other bookshelves, anything they could find while she examined the doors. Directing her attention back to said doors, Luna telekenetically opened the them the rest of the way. Their stone hinges grinded to dust after years of no use. No longer held by the walls, the doors too fell to the ground like the bookshelf before them, seemingly shaking the earth, knocking the dust off of everything else in the room. Condensation built up on the objects nearest to the dark opening, a sign of the cold temperatures coming from within.
"What is it, your highness?" asked a mare who had gained enough bravery and stand, taking a step out from behind the protection offered to her by a pile of books.
"A magic I have not yet encountered," Luna replied hesitantly. She took a step forward, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Even using her innate ability to see well in such an environment, it was impossible to pick out any details. She cast a spell; projecting a ball of light into the room only to have it consumed by the darkness. Luna extended a hoof outward, reaching into the void, feeling as the cold enveloped itself around her hoof. Retracting it, she bowed her head slightly, taking her first steps forward.
The archaeologists watched tentatively from the side lines as one of their princess disappeared into the blackness. They looked around at one another, waiting for somepony to step up and take charge over the situation. It was eventually the Royal Guard who assumed that roll after several long minutes.
"Well," he said, placing himself in the center of the room, "you might as well get back to work, there's nothing we can do from here."
Without confidence, the ponies returned to their research of the room, removing and dusting off ancient books from the shelves, examining their pages and recording what they found. Except for the same Royal Guard, who remained in the center of the room with his eyes fixated on the void. Faust... he cursed himself. Well, it is my responsibility to protect her...
He too took steps towards the door. All the while his subconscious screamed at him not to. As he neared he felt the air grow colder.
"Princess Luna?" the Royal Guard called into the vastness. He had expected at least an echo to return. But much like how the light seemed to be consumed, so too did the sound seem to disappear. Just as he was about to take his own first steps into the blackness, Princess Luna emerged from it, merely inches away from him. The guard quickly backpedaled out of her way. Noticing her reemergence, the other ponies in the room directed their attention back to the developing scene. "Your majesty," the Royal Guard bowed after stepping off to the side. "Did you find anything?"
The Alicorn hesitated for a minute, visually scanning the room and it's inhabitants before redirecting her attention to the Royal Guard before her.
"Where is Twilight Sparkle?" she asked.
"Uh," not expecting his question to be met by another, he rose and thought for a minute. "Unless she's been called to some duty, I would imagine that she's in Ponyville, your highness. Might I ask what the problem is?"
"Stay here and watch the entrance," Luna began to walk out of the library and into the corridor. "Nopony enters," she called back, her voice echoing, "and nopony exits."
The last part of her command caused his stomach to become uneasy. He gulped, looking behind him at the void. Nopony... exits?
"Ah just don't get why ya can't at least filter the water before ya put it in the clouds!" Applejack argued. She and one of her closest friends, a pegasus by the name of Rainbow Dash, walked side by side down the halls of the new tree castle outside of Ponyville. After having breakfast with the rest of their friends earlier that morning, the two took their leave to tend to chores. With an upcoming harvest, the farm ponies found themselves hard pressed to spend their free time on anything else but the land. All the while the weather ponies were bringing in final storms in order to help keep the crops healthy.
"There's nothing wrong with my clouds!" Rainbow Dash retorted, her emotions putting her into a hover along side the orange pony about a foot in the air. "Besides. I don't make them. Cloudsdale does. I don't have any control over what water they use; it isn't Ponyville's turn to bring them water yet. And that's assuming there's something wrong with my clouds."
"When Granny Smith got up this mornin' she found one of the fields dryin' up. They didn't get any water! Even though somepony was supposed to bring rain the other night."
"It did rain! Two nights ago! I remember because Cloudsdale added too much lightning and a bolt struck the top of the school tower. I had to do all the paperwork to cover the damages. Still got the paper cuts, too!" The cyan mare hovered in front of Applejack, presenting her hooves for the earth pony to examine. Along the tips were small red lines. "Maybe it's your plants that's the matter, not my weather."
"Ain't nothin' wrong with them crops. I picked out the seeds mahself!" The two approached the double doors leading to Ponyville. "Maybe you should do your job for once instead of nappin' or practicing all day."
"My job?" Rainbow Dash opened one of the doors to allow Applejack through, intending on continuing their friendly conversation on the other side. "How about instead of eating your crops all day you could go out and work the fields!"
Applejack froze, flabbergasted at what she had just been accused of by her friend. "Did you just call me fat?"
"I ain't callin' ya big boned," Rainbow Dash mimicked the farmer's accent.
"Why you..." Applejack grabbed onto the hovering pegasus' tail with her teeth, dragging the cyan mare to the stone pavement. Just as she was just about to jump on top of the downed pony, a shadow being cast over them stopped her. Rainbow got up to turn and fight, but she too was halted.
"Princess Luna," the mares scrambled to their hooves, jumping out of the way of the doors and giving the royal alicorn a respectful bow.
"We're sorry, your highness," Applejack began, "we didn't see ya there."
She motioned for the ponies to rise from their curtsy, her eyebrow quirked. "Young Applejack, Rainbow Dash. What is your quarrel about?"
"She's trying to blame me for her stupid plants not growing!" Rainbow Dash directed an accusing hoof at Applejack.
"Well she's been sendin' me polluted water ta mah fields!" Within seconds, the two mares were muzzle to muzzle, sparks threatening to ignite between their two foreheads.
Princess Luna telekenetically separated the two, placing Applejack on her left, and leaving Rainbow Dash to hover on her right side. Pressing on through the doors and into the castle, she spoke, "Your indifferences will need to be set aside for now. Is Princess Twilight present?"
"Yeah," Applejack nodded. "She was still in the library when we left."
"Egghead..." Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath, unknowingly loud enough that the other two ponies could hear her.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack followed Princess Luna down the light blue, crystalline walls. The castle was amazing and served its purpose; a home for the Princess of Friendship. At the same time, none of them had really gotten used to it yet. Twilight often spoke of how she missed the simplicity of the old library, having lived away from the regal lifestyle Canterlot had offered for so long. Not to mention how it clashed architecturally with the rest of Ponyville.
The three ponies turned right at an intersection, following another, shorter, corridor to a set of double doors. Pushing through them they entered into the main library of the castle, something that Twilight didn't gripe about her new abode. It easily rivaled the old one. There they found the intellectual pony skimming through a pile of books, and her purple dragon assistant snoozing on a recliner made of them.
"Princess Luna!" she gasped, looking up from her studies. In a flash of light Twilight teleported herself in front of the other alicorn. "Wha-What are you doing here? Spike didn't say anything about a visit from you today..."
"Trust me, Princess Twilight," Luna replied, "if it were my decision I would be in a deep slumber by now."
"So why are you here, then?"
"Something was discovered in the ancient castle of the Royal Sisters..." To this news, Twilight perked up a little, already levitating note paper and quill to her side. "My sister sent me to investigate it. A room, hidden behind a bookshelf, that was once sealed but is no longer. There was something to this room... I magic I cannot explain and am not familiar with."
The purple alicorn had been taking extensive notes, practically writing down what Luna had spoken word for word in addition to her own theoretical notes written along side them in the margin.
"Twilight," Princess Luna continued, "I would like for you to examine it for yourself."
Her pupils grew three time in size, seeming to glow around the edges as sparkles danced across them.
"Yes!" Twilight blurted out. "I-I mean of course, Princess Luna. I would be glad to assist you in anyway I can. Spike!" At the mention of his name, the young dragon startled himself out of his sleep, popping the bubble of saliva that was expanding and contracting at the edge of his mouth.
"Huh?" he moaned.
"Could you go get some of my equipment, please?"
"It's already by the door, Twilight..."
"Thanks, Spike, you're the best!"
"Hmmhm..." Yawning, the dragon rolled over to face the opposite direction, quickly falling back asleep.
"Come on, there's no time to waste!" Twilight nearly ran out of the room, levitating her friends behind her despite their best protest. Princess Luna followed behind the three mares. By the time they reached the door Applejack and Rainbow Dash had stopped resisting, following the excited alicorn on their own free will. Along the way they had encountered Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, who had yet to leave. Twilight managed to convince them to come along as well, some more than others. As the exited the castle, she picked up her equipment, along with note taking materials, and eagerly lead the way to the Everfree Forest.
The trip over all took them several hours. When they finally arrived, Princess Luna took them down to the old library, which had nearly been completely emptied of its literature by now. All that remained were a couple of Royal Guards who stood post outside of the dark void.
"You are dismissed," Princess Luna commanded as she approached them. They nodded, bowed, and went about the rest of their assigned duties for the day. She stepped off to the side so that the six others with her could see the gaping entrance.
Most of them took several steps back, with Fluttershy practically bolting from the room with nothing but an "Eek!" to sound her escape. Applejack went to retrieve her while Pinkie Pie was the first to approach the void. She extended her hoof towards it, giggling when the darkness stuck to her as if she had just reached into a jar of freshly made taffy. Just before she bit into the shadows extending from her hoof to the void, she was pulled away by Twilight's magic.
"Pinkie," the alicorn began, "we don't know what this is. Eating it probably isn't the best way to find out."
"But it is the funnest!" the bouncing pony retorted.
"That may be true, but we need to approach this carefully."
"Pfft," Rainbow Dash blew away several stands of hair dangling in front of one of her eyes, at the same time rolling them. "So let's just find out already!" She jumped, opening her wings and propelling herself forward, only to land just before the entrance upon hearing Twilight yell at her to stop. Inches away, she turned to face the frustrated alicorn.
"Did you not just hear what I just said to Pinkie Pie? There's obviously something very wrong with this. We need to take our time with it or else—"
"Or else what?" Rainbow Dash scoffed. "It's gonna grab you? Ooooooo stay away or else it'll eat you!"
Fluttershy cowered behind Applejack, "It would be nice to listen to Twilight, Rainbow Dash. We don't know what kind of magic is in there... You know, if you want to listen to her..."
"Quite," Rarity spoke, "something doesn't feel right. It's best to approach this situation thoughtfully before we trigger something awful."
"What?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head to one side. "Seriously? You're not afraid of the dark, are you—ooouuaaaaaahhhh!" In the time that she had been speaking, several black wisps had extended from the dark void and wrapped themselves around the hind legs of the unaware pegasus. Just as they tightened their grip around her, a third wisp shot out and grabbed the mare around her barrel, making sure to include her wings in its grasp. It forced her on her knees and began to drag the mare back, despite her desperately trying to claw her way away. More wisps emerged, grabbing hold of her shoulders and fore legs. One entangled itself around her muzzle before she could let out a scream.
"Rainbow Dash!" the pegasus' friends gasped. They ran forward and tried to pull the struggling mare away, but were swatted away by quick moving wisps. By the time they got back on their hooves, she was gone.
"Oh my..." Rarity covered her muzzle.
"That's it!" Applejack threw her stetson to the ground. "Ain't no shadows gonna take mah friends away from me!" Only a few steps into her rage induced march, she was halted by the pressing hoof of Princess Luna.
"I shall go first," she said, positioning herself in front of the five other mares, her wings spread open protectively. "You may be afraid of the dark, but it is afraid of me."
The mares nodded, following the Princess of the Night into the entrance of the void. Twilight and Applejack were close on her flanks while Pinkie Pie and Rarity practically pushed Fluttershy through the gateway. Instantly everything around them went black as they were enclosed by the chilly air.
"Everypony stay close..." Twilight whispered. Her voice seemed to echo indefinitely, along with their own hoofsteps.
"Close to where?" Applejack asked. "Ah can't see anypony."
"Eek!" squeeled Fluttershy. "Something touched me..."
"Sorry," Rarity apologized.
"Oh oh oh!" The unmistakable sound of Pinkie's hyperactivity resounded throughout the void. "I spy with my blue eyes..."
"Pinkie!" Twilight halted the mare's game barely after it started. "Now's not the time."
"Really, we need ta find Rainbow Da—" Applejack began but was cut off.
"Ah!" Rarity yelped. "Now something's touched me!"
"Oh, I'm so sorry..." Fluttershy said.
"It's quite all right. So long as we don't run into anything—" on cue, she did run into something else, her and the other mares with her. Each ran into Princess Luna's extended wings, keeping them from going past her. Though none of them new for sure what it was.
"My apologies," Princess Luna said, re-furling her wings. "We're here."
"Uh, princess?" Applejack asked. "Where exactly is here?"
A purple glow radiated from Princess Luna's horn as she cast a spell upwards. The ball of magic shone bright above them, remaining in place to act as a flare. It's radiance illuminated the area around the ponies. They were standing a top a cracked stone floor. The walls and ceiling were still to far away to be seen, the space in between them and the ponies occupied by more darkness instead. In front of them was Rainbow Dash, seemingly unharmed, though her attention wasn't fixed on the arrival of her friends. It was directed to what was directly beneath Princess Luna's flare.
There stood a small stone pillar about half the height of the pegasus. A stand that held a blue and white crystalline covered book. It had been opened to a series of blank pages about half way through it. Positioned around the pillar forming a ring were four more pillars. Atop one sat the stone bust of an alicorn, another an earth pony, a unicorn, and lastly a pegasus. The stone that comprised them was cracked and flaky, with various colors of smoke drifting up from within the gaps. White from the alicorn, green from the earth pony, blue from the unicorn and red from the pegasus.
Rainbow Dash took several steps away from the center pillar, rejoining her friends in cowering behind Princess Luna. It was only her and Twilight who didn't cower, they instead looked around trying to gather as much information about their environment as they could. One looking for any threats to their well being, the other for any scientific or quantifiable information.
"What is this place...?" Twilight finally asked.
Her question was greeted by more hoofsteps, however none of them were moving. The sound resonated from in front of them. From the shadows emerged a tall and regal white alicorn, one that was very familiar to them.
"We are in another realm," Princess Celestia stopped just before the center pillar, looking down at the blank pages of the open book in front of her. "A realm I created to lock away the greatest threat to us all. This place was designed for one purpose: to seal away the apocalypse... And the seals have been broken." Then came a brilliant flash of light as Princess Celestia's eyes turned white, and a spell was cast from her horn.
A flash of light lit up the center of the throne room in Canterlot Castle. Princess Celestia's teleportation spell had brought the ponies there, along with the book which was now hovering in the air by the alicorn's magic. They stood in a ring around her.
"Princess," Twilight said, "what's going on? What was all of that? What's in this book?"
Princess Celestia sighed. "All will be explained, my student..." This time a blueish aura surrounded Celestia's horn. A bolt shot from the tip and struck the book levitating in front of her. The aura that surrounded it turned from pink to blue. Spirals of magic rose up from the blank pages into a helix of white, green, blue, and red. They combined several feet above it before spreading back out to the ground in four different directions separated by their own colors. As the magical energy connected with the ground the rose up as pockets of colored mist that formed the vague shapes of ponies. The white was shaped to that of an alicorn about the size of Princess Celestia while the other's were of Luna's size; red being a pegasus, green an earth pony, and blue an earth pony.
"Mind you," Celestia warned, "this is no filly's bed time story." Another pulse of magic and the ponies found themselves standing in mid air above Equestria. So far in fact they could see from coast to coast, and from the Crystal Mountains all the way to the Badlands. They could see roads and paths as if they were marked on a map, as well as cities, towns, and the names of major terrain features and locations.
She took a breath. "Long before Equestria was what you know today, long before the formation of Equestria itself, there were different powers that controlled the world." As she spoke, lines faded, cities disappeared, mountains moved and changed sizes, lakes disappeared and reformed elsewhere. All of the land had changed before their eyes. "Harmony of a different sort ruled. Factions rose among the ponies," lines of various colors crisscrossed the landscape, showing the appropriate borders, "and they clashed." The lines began pushing and tugging at one another, with a few snapping under the pressure and melted into the ones that took them over.
"The world was in chaos. Until one of the first recorded alicorns emerged. Her name? Conquest." From the center of the land, out of the short mountain that once held Canterlot, or would rather come to hold Canterlot, the white colored mist rose and formed an alicorn with it's wings spread. The spirit looked down, it's head scanning across the restless world. "She sought to bring about Harmony to these chaotic times, but for her own selfish reasons. Conquest wanted absolute control of the world. To do so, she summoned three ponies to bid her."
Three tendrils of magic extended from the white spirit. The red formed a pegasus, "War." The green turned into an earth pony, "Famine." While the blue was summoned into a unicorn, "and Death."
"Using these incarnations, she set her sights on the world. First she used Famine, to weaken the population." The green spirit left its position near the mountain and galloped above the earth. As it did a sickly green colored swarm followed it that emitted a slight buzzing. What ever vegetation came within reach of the swarm was consumed, turning to a brown. Fields of crops, forests of trees, everything. Whenever the green spirit passed, the plants shriveled up. "With no food, the ponies began to starve. They became desperate, turning towards what ever sustenance they could find. But there was none. Slowly, organization began to collapse." The green spirit returned to its place beside Conquest atop the mountain.
"Next she reigned Death upon the land." The blue spirit followed along the roads, trialed by a blue mist. As it approached a settlement, it used its magic to move the mist forward and cover the town. After a few seconds, Death moved on to another settlement, leaving behind it a darkened hole. "Wiping out sometimes entire settlements. Unable to see Conquest's influencing hoof, the factions began to blame one another for the famine and deaths.
"Conquest took this opportunity to use War." As the unicorn returned to the mountain, the pegasus took to its wings. As it flew over areas of the continent, embers fell from its wings, igniting the ground into blazing fires below it. Within moments, it seemed that everything was on fire, choked by ash and smoke. "Within months she had brought ponydom to its knees. The world was pleading for a savior. Conquest filled that role." War returned to the mountain, and with the other spirits had turned into simple wisps of magic that retracted into the alicorn's horn. Conquest beat its wings once, and all the fires were extinguished, leaving behind a tattered and burned planet.
"Legends of the time tell a common story. One day a great and beautiful white alicorn had appeared a top the mountain with the simple promise of saving them. Save them she did. The wars came to a halt. Lives were saved. And food had returned. The ponies fell into her allegiance. They were convinced that this was her magical powers that had brought harmony to them. Rather it was her telling her "Knights" as she called them, to cease. With this illusion of power she managed to gain real power." A gold crown appeared above the alicorn's head, slowly falling into place on top of it. "Her and her Knights were known as the Guardians. She managed to use her Knights to keep order. When power slipped too far one way, she'd use them to push it back into place. Usually within her control."
"So what happened?" Twilight finally asked. The rest of them, even Princess Luna had been too stunned to say anything.
Princess Celestia paused. "Not everypony fell into her ploy. As with most empires, bands of resistance rose to challenge it. All it takes to dethrone a god is to show the bleed the same as everypony else. A brave and powerful unicorn was destined to fill that role. He along with many other great spellmakers saw past Conquest's 'good intentions'. They realized that even though the world was in order, it was not in harmony. Together they enchanted a book and sought to trap Conquest and her Knights within it." The world disappeared and the ponies found themselves surrounded by darkness. They stood off to the side as Conquest stood atop a flight of marble stairs. Then appeared the apparition of a certain powerful unicorn that Twilight idolized most of her life and recognized immediately from his blue and gold starred outfit.
"Conquest learned of the plan from a pony loyal to her side. She sent her Knights to intercept them. But they managed to defend Starswirl long enough for him to get close enough to Conquest; even weakening her Knights. But at a cost. The other spellcasters were forced to sacrifice themselves to stop the Knights, and even then Starswirl was on the verge of death himself." The unicorn was seen crawling across the dark ground, pushing the book out in front of him with a hoof. Conquest rose from her throne and descended the steps, her laugh echoing through the blackness. She stopped before Starswirl and raised a hoof, preparing to step on him. It was then that he whispered something. A light poured out from the pages of the open book, sucking in the alicorn, along with the rest of the darkness.
Princess Celestia had ceased her projection spell and the ponies found themselves back in her throne room. After taking a moment to gather the breath and process what they had just witnessed, Twilight was the first to speak up.
"So Starswirl trapped her within that book?" she asked, pointing in the now closed book Princess Celestia still held in her magic. "That book?"
Celestia nodded. "You are correct."
"How did you get it, then, Princess?" Applejack wondered.
"When the Guardians fell, the world was plunged back into disarray. That's when Luna and I were born, and where you know the story of Hearth's Warming. Not long after Luna and I came to power I discovered the book. It had been passed down to me by Starswirl's family, along with its story. I knew what danger it posed if the so called 'Guardians' escaped, so I locked it away in a secret room in our old castle and put a spell on the room so nothing would get out."
"That thing sucked me into it!" Rainbow Dash kindly pointed out.
"My apologies, but that's exactly what I had intended it to do. Just not to you."
"Can we hear the story about how you brought harmony to Equestria?" Pinkie bounced with a big grin.
"Hmm," Celestia smiled, "that is a story for another time."
"Lemme get this straight," Applejack rubbed her head, "this alicorn and her friends took over the world, but were then defeated, and locked away, but now they're back?" Celestia nodded. "So what do they want?"
"I can only fear the worst for us all."
"What do you want us to do?" Twilight stepped forward.
"Kick their flanks!" Rainbow Dash shouted, her emotions causing her to hover in the air. "That's what!"
"Rainbow—"
"No, Twilight," Celestia interrupted Twilight's correcting of Rainbow Dash's behavior. "In layman's terms that's exactly what I want you to do. I want you to find them, and stop them before they can do any more harm to Equestria."
"Where might they be, your highness?" Rarity brought up a valid point.
"Do not worry, my little ponies, for they will find you." She took the book with her as she ascended the steps leading to her throne, Princess Luna at her side. "Though they already may have."
The six friends stepped off of the train as it arrived in Ponyville. On the trip over from Canterlot they had discussed what they had just witnessed. How indescribable everything they just learned was to them. In a matter of hours their lives had dramatically changed. Just that morning they were having breakfast and holding petty arguments. Now they were at the beginning of the end of the world.
Twilight had been trying to figure out how to stop them. But nothing came to mind. Other than Conquest, she doubted she would be able to tell what they looked like if they were standing in front of her. So how could she possibly defeat them? Something possessing a type of magic she had never heard of before? Her thoughts were distracted when the train started to pull into Ponyville. Something was off, but it hadn't quite sank in yet.
"Oh my," Rarity held a hoof to her mouth as they disembarked from the train.
It looked as though fall had come a arrived in and around Ponyville. Problem was, the running of the leaves wasn't scheduled for another few weeks still. The pegasi were still waiting on approval to begin to slowly drop the temperatures and organize more overcast days.
"What could have done this?" Fluttershy asked. "It looks like Ponyville's under a drought!"
"Probably 'cause somepony didn't bring in the right weather like they were suppose' to!" Applejack remarked, subtly looking in Rainbow Dash's direction.
"I'm telling you," the pegasus said, "it's not the rain."
"Well somethin's causin' it! Obviously it's not just my farm!" In a wave a realization, Applejack gasped. "My farm!" A trail of dust was left behind as she galloped down the path away from the station.
"Applejack, wait!" Twilight tried to call out but the earth pony was already out of ear shot.
"I got her!" Rainbow Dash called, taking to her wings. Giving a powerful push she took off after her friend.
"Girls! Wait!" Twilight's call disappeared in the wind. "Ugh," she sighed to herself. "Why can't anypony listen to me?!"
"Um, we listen to you," Fluttershy said softly as she approached the alicorn's side.
"I don't!" sand Pinkie Pie as she bounced past the remaining ponies, following along the dirt path after her two other friends.
Twilight stood and walked down the road with Fluttershy and Rarity at her side. "I'm amazed we can have breakfast sometimes, let alone stop the impending disaster."
Several hundred yards up the road the began to discover a trench had been dug in the road. Ahead of them Rainbow Dash had clamped down on Applejack's tail with her teeth, digging her hooves into the dirt in a vain attempt to slow the farm pony down. Even flaring her wings out to create drag. But the the mare's legs were used to pulling behind her much larger objects through even tougher dirt than what made up the road, and had no problem dragging the pegasus a long with her.
Giving up, Rainbow Dash released her hold on the earth pony and hovered beside her as they continued down the path. It was apparent she wasn't stopping her.
They crested the hill and came to a stop. Applejack looked out across the disaster that was her farm. The leaves on the trees had turned as brown as the apples that had now fallen from them, bursting on impact with the ground. So wasn't all the other crops. Everything was brown. Granted the corn was supposed to be that color, but they weren't supposed to be breaking at the stalks and falling over. Gusts of wind that once moved the wheat fields like golden oceans now picked up the dead plants and scattered them.
Soon after Twilight and the other's arrived, standing beside Applejack and Rainbow Dash to stare out at the devastated farm.
"Oh, is there anything we can do?" Rarity inquired.
"Pray for a miracle," Applejack said solemnly. "We just lost the entire harvest. Let's just hope that there's still some in the silos. She made her way down the to the farm. Granny Smith, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom were sitting on the porch lamenting over the outcome of their crops. All of their hard work, their entire lively hood for that year had been lost. They'd have to break into their savings in order to support themselves and the farm.
She opened the door to the silo and ducked as low to the ground as she could. From inside a swarm of bugs flew out over her head, spreading across the orchards and fields.
"Locusts!" Applejack gasped. In her temperament she threw her stetson hat on the ground, stopping on it vigorously. "Twilight, can ya stop 'em?"
The alicorn nodded, recalling a spell she attempted on the parasprites. Except this time it should definitely work. She cast her spell: a purple sphere expanding out from her horn to consume everything around her and her friends. As it past the Locusts hovered in the air, seemingly frozen in time except for their wings.
"It worked!" Twilight cheered. Just as her friends were about to join in with her, the tiny insects exploded into puffs of brown and green smoke, dissipating into the air. Twilight's ears fell back on her head as her expression blanked. "Great..."
"Whelp," Rainbow Dash flew up beside the alicorn and landed, "that's one way to take care of them!"
"Too bad they already got most of the food in Ponyville..." Applejack lamented, poking her head inside of the silo in the hopes of finding even a single seed left. Though even that was of no hope to her. "Those pests destroyed everything!"
"I wonder where they came from," Fluttershy carefully examined the pockets of air once occupied by the insects.
"So long as they're gone, Ah don't care. Twi, ya wouldn't happen to have a spell to make a lot of food grow very quickly?"
Twilight thought for a moment. "I could try. I'm not very familiar with the spell, though. There's no telling what'll happen in large quantities. I'm not even sure it would work in the first place..."
"Well we gotta try something!"
"Okay, okay. Can you find me a seed?" The earth pony nodded and set about into the devastated fields. "Rainbow Dash, could you find me a rain cloud please?"
"On it!" the pegasus saluted before bolting away in a rainbow trail.
Within moments, both ponies returned. Applejack with an apple tree seed, and Rainbow Dash with a small, dark thunder cloud; likely one that she took from her own personal stash of pranking supplies. Applejack quickly dug a hole to put the seed inside of, filling it back up before Rainbow Dash bucked the cloud, causing it to rain over the now covered hole. Twilight focused her magical energy into a spell, directing it on where the seed now laid. After a quick purple burst, the ponies eagerly waited, gathering around the hole.
The loose dirt began to vibrate causing small bits to roll off of the top and down the sides of the small mound. A small leafed branch stuck up through the top. Slowly it began to grow. The ponies stepped back as the tree grew larger and larger. But before reaching it's full potential, it slowed to a halt. Its leaves browned and its bark began to flake off. The tree had died in front of them. Along with just about any hope they had left of finding a quick solution to their food problems.
"So... what now?" Rainbow Dash asked, poking the side of the tree. The force of her hoof in the brittle bark was enough to snap it, and the tree fell to its side. "Whoops."
Twilight sighed. "We talk to Madame Mayor. See if she can declare a state of emergency for Ponyville. Maybe she or one of the princess can have food imported here until we can solve what ever is causing all of this."
In her office in the town hall, the Mayor of Ponyville sat with her hooves holding her head. Her desk was already overflowing with complains and reports of food shortages through the area. She figured the only reason there weren't any protests by now was because there wasn't enough food to give them the energy to. Through the crack underneath her door she saw a series of shadows move.
"Come in," she said before the ponies on the other side had the chance to knock.
The knob was illuminated on both sides by a purple magic that turned it, releasing it from the door frame and allowing it to swing open. Twilight Sparkle and her five friends walked in, almost filling up the remaining space of the mayor's office.
"Let me guess," Madame Mayor sighed, "there's no food?" She quirked an eyebrow.
"Yes," Twilight affirmed. "We were wondering if there was some way we would be able to ask neighboring towns for supplies if they had any to spare."
The earth pony behind the desk set her glasses down atop it. "If it were that easy I would have done that first thing. Problem is, Princess Twilight, this isn't a localized problem. Every town and village in the region is having the same problem. All of the food is rotting and dying away."
"We found locusts eatin' up mah farm," Applejack spoke up.
"Unfortunately the ponies aren't blaming it entirely on locusts. A couple of the towns are saying that the pegasi aren't doing their jobs on purpose in order to weaken them..." Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash briefly glanced at one another. "They've basically kicked out all of the pegasi in their villages, causing an outcry from Cloudsdale."
"But the pegasi aren't responsible for this!" Rainbow Dash threw her arms up in protest. "We have no reason too! If the towns stop producing food, then Cloudsdale will starve just like every other town! There isn't exactly any dirt in those clouds, ya know."
"Yes but masses driven to desperation are blind. They're looking for something to blame."
"What can we do about all of this?" Rarity stepped forward.
"We need to keep everypony calm. And we need to find food, quickly. Bad things will start to happen if we can resolve this situation quickly. The princesses are already touring the villages in an attempt to keep the peace. It'd be best if your six found out what was causing this famine so the citizens would have something to put their focus on other than the pegasi, and we'd have something to fix..."
"You can count on us!" Pinkie smiled.
"I know. But be quick. Time is running out."
The six ponies exited the mayor's office, make their way out of the town hall. Once outside they formed a half circle around Twilight as they waited to hear her plans. The alicorn looked around at Ponyville's state of decay.
For the most part the streets were abandoned. Ponies were tending to stay indoors and not do much in the hopes of conserving their own energy. Without food, the small town had grinded to a halt. The locusts even devastated most of the vegetation. The plants were browned and spotted with holes from where the creatures had attempted to consume them.
She heard a buzzing sound as something touched her back. She craned her head around to find a locust had managed to land on her. Curious, she tried her spell on it again. The results were the same. The insect turned into a sickly colored vapor and faded into the air.
"I've got it..." Twilight realized.
"Pray tell," Rarity ushered her on.
"Do you girls remember what Celestia showed us about the four horses?"
"It's kind of hard to forget something like that..." Fluttershy nodded along with the others.
"Famine. The first one that was sent was followed by a swarm of locusts. That's how it caused the famine. These locusts here," she indicated to the spot the insect used to be on her back, "aren't real. My spell wouldn't make a living creature just... explode like that. They're a spell in of themselves. Mine was just overpowering it."
"So," Applejack began, "you're saying that this here famine is caused by... well, Famine, the horse?"
"It makes sense based off of what we know. What else could be causing it? Certainly not the pegasi withholding rains."
"How do we find her," Rainbow asked, aggressive taking to her wings, "or, him, or what ever it is! I wanna kick it's flank. I missed lunch!"
Twilight looked to the sky above them. Overhead what seemed like a long trail of dark clouds slowly moved across an azure back ground. Thought it became apparent that it was a giant swarm of locusts, not a thunder cloud. It seemed to pulsate, expanding and contracting, twisting and turning, one giant living breathing organism.
"We follow them."
