Part 1: Prologue: Summer Sun’s Explosion! The Awakening of Disharmony!
Part 1: Prologue: Summer Sun’s Explosion! The Awakening of Disharmony!
“Did we practice the stunt more than once?”
“Yep.”
“Did I get my crown polished before lunch?”
“Yep.”
“Did we go over the list three times?”
“Twilight, relax. We’ve done just about everything on this list.”
Today was the day of the Summer Sun Celebration, and Princess Twilight Sparkle and her assistant dragon Spike, were busy going over the check list of things Twilight had to do for the celebration.
The other day, Princess Celestia had given Twilight the honour of performing a special flight routine to mark the occasion, to which she had confidence her faithful student could accomplish.
Twilight’s reaction, however, was one of shock, surprise, and worry. She immediately returned to her room in Canterlot and began writing a list of things she thought she would need to do before the event. The next morning, both she and Spike began going through the list; which involved getting her crown polished, going through the routine until she got it perfectly right, checking up on her friends and the other ponies to see if they were doing their job well and on time, and a few other things.
As far as the celebration was concerned, everyone was doing their job well; Applejack and her family were busy preparing the snacks and beverages for the celebration, Fluttershy was rehearsing with the birds for the music, Pinkie Pie was going berserk trying to get everything together for the after celebration party, Rarity was helping the other ponies with getting the halls to the castle and the outside looking ready for the celebration, and Rainbow Dash was making sure the skies were clear for the celebration with the other pegesi, as well as helping Twilight with her routine, although she became quite annoyed every time Twilight missed something important or crashed into the ground.
After checking on the preparations and making sure the other things were done, Twilight then left for her room with Spike to double check they didn’t miss anything on the list, as well as doing some last minute tidying up before the celebration.
Right now, the Princess of Magic and her dragon assistant had finished going through the list, and were now getting ready for the celebration; Twilight was looking in the mirror to make sure she looked nice for her part, while Spike was resting his aching claw from holding the quill and paper for so long.
Twilight brushed back a bit of mane which she missed, and checked the mirror to see how she looked. She sighed when she saw there wasn’t a flaw on her. Then a bit of her mane stood up, which caused her to squeal in shock and quickly licked her hoof and tried to brush it back down, quite frantically like she had a serious itch.
Spike took note of this and rolled his eyes and groaned in annoyance. Once again, Twilight was over worried than she should be which would get in trouble or hurt, again. So he decided it would be best to reassure her, so she could stop being so frantic.
“Twilight, no one’s going to be focused on your appearance. They’re only going to be more focused on your performance.”
“I can’t take chance, Spike.” Twilight said, without looking away from the mirror as she continued to brush down her mane. “Celestia gave me this very important task, on this very important day. If ended up failing or embarrassing myself…”
“Like tha’ll happen.”
Twilight and Spike turned towards the voice, which belonged to their friend Applejack, who walked in with Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. Twilight was more than happy to see her friends, as she left her post at the mirror and walked up to meet her friends, with Spike not that far behind.
“Girls! I’m glad you to see.” Twilight said, as she joined her friends. However, she was quite confused by their sudden appearance, shouldn’t they be tending to the celebration. Having this thought in mind, she decided to ask. “But shouldn’t all of you be helping with the celebration?”
“Well… we’re doing pretty well, and, um, thought we take a break to come see you.” Fluttershy said, do it was a little quiet so it was a little difficult to hear fully.
“Yeah, you looked so nervous during your little ‘inspection’, we figured you be fussing over the whole thing. Heck, by the way you flying and crashing during training, I’d say you were begging me to take your place in the celebration.” Rainbow Dash boasted, mostly out of good nature than mocking.
“We were quite worried about you, dear. So we thought it would be a good idea to wish you luck and give you a little confidence before your big performance.” Rarity said reassuringly.
“Yeah, after this, we’re back to the castle in Ponyville for a ‘Happy After Summer Sun Celebration’, with cakes, candy, balloons, ribbons, and the whole enchilada!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed while jumping around Twilight excitedly.
Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes at the typical Pinkie party attitude.
“Seriously though, yer goin’ b’ fine, sugacube.” Applejack said, resting a hoof over her friend’s shoulder, “Yer did good last year, an’ ah reckon yer goin’ t’ ‘wow’ em th’s year also.”
Twilight blushed in embarrassment at the praise. She had been praised before because of her talents with magic, but she still found it strange and embarrassing.
“Yeah, relax Twilight.” Rainbow Dash reassured, nudging her friend’s side with her front hoof. “Like AJ said, you’re going to ‘wow’ again this year like last time.”
“And will be there to support you, so you won’t have to worry if something goes wrong.” Rarity said.
“Yeah, but it’s very unlikely that you will because you’re so well organised, you hardly forget anything, and you practice, practice, practice more times than any pony in Ponyville, and it’s painfully obvious when you are stressed out about something because-” Before Pinkie could continue on with her rambling, Applejack stuck an apple she had been carrying in her mouth to keep her quiet.
“We get the idea, Pinkie.” Applejack simply said.
After giving Pinkie weird glances, Fluttershy looked back and Twilight. “Like Rarity said, Twilight, we’ll be there to cheer you up if you get stressed on anything, ok?”
Twilight smiled and nodded at her friends’ loyalty and trust. “Thanks girls, I needed this talk.”
The mares smiled and were happy that their friend was now reassured. Rarity turned to the clock on the wall and gasped as she noticed that it was almost time for the celebration to start.
“We better a move on, ladies. The celebration is going to start in short while.” Rarity said to the others.
They turned to the clock on the wall and also took notice of the time, realising that she was right.
“Well, we better get on down there, before they start the celebration wit’out us.” Applejack said. The other ponies nodded as they turned to leave; Rainbow flying out, while the others trotted out.
“Ghod lerk Twiflght.” Said Pinkie Pie, while munching on the apple still stuffed in her mouth before disappearing through the door.
Twilight was quite sad that her friends were gone, but she felt happy and reassured knowing that they would be watching and helping her from the crowd, and she wasn’t going to disappoint them.
Sensing Twilight’s confidence, Spike smiled and asked “Want to go over the routine one last time?”
Twilight turned to her assistant with a determined smile. “Let’s.”
The silence of the night was filled with whispers a mumbling as garden outside the palace was packed, as ponies from Canerlot, Ponyville, and all the other areas surrounding it were crammed into the open garden facing towards the platform ahead; on the left was a pole holding the symbol of the sun, and on the right was one holding the symbol of the moon, where Princess Luna would lower the moon and Princess Celestia would raise the sun. Everypony was looking forward to the spectacle that was said to be presented this year by Princess Twilight.
In the centre of the crowd, five mares and a baby dragon, who was sitting on the back of a yellow pegasus, were anxiously waiting for the event to start, the pink and marshmallow haired one jumping slightly in anticipation, much to the annoyance of the ponies behind her, who couldn’t see the stand because of the pink pony’s jumping form.
The white, purple mane and tailed unicorn saw this and tried to get her friend to relax. “Pinkie Pie, dear, we know you’re just as excited about the event as we are, but perhaps you should calm down a little.”
Pinkie continued to jump rapidly. “I can’t help it, Rarity. I know we’ve seen the celebration more than once, and the part with Luna lowering the moon, oh, and the time last year when Twilight did that super ‘VROOM’ and ‘FLASH’ thing, but the Princess said this year was going to be even more SPECTACULAR than the other years. I still don’t what ‘spectacular’ means, but I can tell it’s going to be even more super-duper cool this year too!”
Rainbow rolled her eyes at the typical hyper pony’s energetic mood and explanation, while Applejack giggled at her friend’s enthusiasm.
“We understand yer mood, sugarcube. But ah think it be best if ya simma down tad so the rest of the folks behind ya can see.” Applejack explained.
“Oh, ok.” Pinkie said, as she stopped her jumping, her eyes turning back to platform out in front.
Behind the stage, Twilight sneaked a quick peak at the crowd and sweated upon seeing the large number of eyes that were directed in the stages’ direction. All the nervousness and doubt she had a while ago had come back to her in the form of a lump in her throat, which she tried to swallow.
She ducked back down behind the stage, and quickly said to herself “Keepittogether, keepittogether, keepittogether,” over and over again, like a chant that would somehow help her out.
“Quite a crowd, isn’t it?”
Twilight’s eyes widened and she immediately stopped chanting as she turned to the voice that belonged to her former mentor, who was making her way to the stages with her sister, the Princess of the night, Luna beside her.
“Princess Celestia! And Luna!” Twilight quickly stood up and bowed slightly to the approaching Princesses.
“Come now, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said with a friendly amused smile on her face, “There is no need to act so formal around fellow Princesses.”
“Sorry.” Twilight quickly said as she got up and sat on her hunches, blushing slightly at how she forgot she was also a princess.
Celestia chuckled at her former student’s embarrassment. “It is always good to see you, Twilight Sparkle. I hope you are ready for your part in the celebration.”
Twilight was instantly reminded about the large crowd in front of the stages and the nervousness she previously had. She turned her head back to the crowd, and then her eyes to the ground.
“Well, I…I…” she just couldn’t bring herself to say it.
The Princesses could tell she was nervous and scared. Celestia then rested a hoof on her shoulder, bringing the young Princess’ gaze to the older one’s eyes.
“We can tell you are trouble, my young friend, and I know that the rumours that have been spread have not been of any help. But rest assured that I know you’ll do just fine.” Celestia said, imparting her reassuring words to her young friend.
Twilight was silent at first, taking in what the princess just said, before she was finally able to find her voice again. “You… you mean it?”
Celestia smiled at the young Princess. “Of course. You’ve done more than this before, and I know you can do it.”
Luna then walked up to the pair and gave her own words of encouragement. “You’ve certainly proven your skills as a princess on many occasions. I too, have no doubt in your abilities.”
Twilight looked at both princesses and could see that what both of them said were true. The nervousness and the lump in her throat seemed to shrink slightly at the words of encouragement.
Steeling herself and getting up off the floor, she took a deep breath and then exhaled. “Ok, I’m ready.”
The princesses nodded and smiled in compliance.
“That’s good to hear.” Celestia said, before she began to work to her place on the stage. “Now come, let us commence.”
Luna soon followed but stopped and turned back to Twilight. The young princess looked up at the older one in confusion. Luna then lowered her head to Twilight’s ear and whispered “Try to remember all the good times and dig deep, that might help.”
After giving the Princess of Friendship some friendly advice, she then made her way to her side of the stage.
Everyone became silent as the Princesses stood on the stage, in front of all their subjects. Turning their heads to face each other, they gave a nod as a sign that they were ready. Luna was the first as she gracefully floated up to the moon symbol, her hoofs raised and slowly lowering themselves; the moon in the high sky following her command as it began to slowly sink from its position in the night sky.
Back behind the stage, Twilight stretched out her wings and prepared herself for her part of the ceremony. She then closed her eyes and began to concentrate, as well as taking Luna’s advice.
‘Remember the good times and dig deep.’ She thought to herself, as she remembered meeting her friends, stopping Nightmare Moon, and all the other misadventures she’s had since then. Magic began to build up in her horn, which began to glow with a light purple aura.
Back on the stage, Celestia then floated to her sun symbol with her hoofs lowered and then began to slowly bring them up; just on the horizon, everypony could see the blazing brilliance of sun rising from the ground at the sun Princess’ command, filling the black, star covered sky with a yellow and orange glow.
‘Remember the good times and dig deep.’ Twilight repeated in her head, while gritting her teeth as she tried hard to recall all her good times; such as defeating Discord with her friends, reuniting with Candace, the Canterlot wedding, saving the Crystal Empire, and becoming a princess. She also strained herself in gathering more magic, as the aura around her horn began to expand and glow twice as fierce.
The sun and moon continued to rise and fall respectively, getting close to the midpoint of when they would cross each other’s paths. The ponies in the audience watched in awe at the raising of the sun and the falling of the moon, however, there were some who were quite disappointed by the display.
“Isn’t this the same thing that happens every year?” A lime green pony whispered in the crowd.
“Yeah, it is. Didn’t the rumours say that Princess Twilight was going to pull off something spectacular this year?” A light blue pegasus stallion replied quietly.
“Well, it’s not over yet. Let’s just wait and see what happens.” A dark brown unicorn stallion whispered.
The Mane 5 and Spike overheard the discussion and were beginning to worry if Twilight had gotten cold feet and fled.
Unknowing to everyone, on one of the castles towers, laid a familiar draconequus, who was watching the celebration with interest. Since there wasn’t much to do, and that he was bored, Discord decided to see what the Summer Sun Celebration was like, so he teleported over to Canterlot to see for himself. He decided not to cause anyone trouble or unease, so he seated himself on one of the castle towers to get a bird’s eye view of the event, but was quickly becoming bored by the lack of excitement.
‘Re…member…the…good…times…’ Twilight was beginning to struggle as the strain from remembering and the drawing of magic was beginning to feel like her brain was splitting in two. Nether the less, she continue to remember all the good times; saving the princesses from the plunder seeds, the Equestria Games, befriending Discord, defeating Tirek, and getting her own castle and becoming the Princess of Magic.
‘And… dig… DEEP!’
Upon digging deeper into herself, Twilight suddenly felt a massive and mysterious power overtake her mind. Her eyes opened to reveal a blank but glowing stare that held imaginable power.
Twilight then stretched her wings and sawed into the sky with such power and strength that a crater was left on where she once stood, and leaving a blurred glowing purple trail behind her.
The crowd’s eyes were stunned by the sudden appearance of a blazing trail of purple that appeared from behind the stage, but remained glued to the strange glowing figure as it flew towards the sun and moon, which were inches from crossing each other. The Mane 5 and Spike were equally surprised by the sudden appearance of the strange purple object, although they had a feeling it was Twilight, but what surprised them was the amount of power she had at the moment. Discord’s boredom quickly vanished as he felt the sudden disabling of magic in the area and witnessed the rising of the mysterious glowing object, which took him completely by surprise, and persuaded him to stay and see what happens next. Even Celestia and Luna were surprised by the sudden burst in magic, which seemed to easily surpass their own, causing the pair to take a glance up at the glowing projectile.
Twilight’s glowing form was inching closer to the sun and moon’s intersection, which was getting closer and closer. Once she reached the desired point, she stopped flying and with her eyes closed, she spread her wings to keep her afloat in the air as the sun and moon soon met with her form in the sky.
Then, once the sun and moon finally crossed, Twilight opened her eyes which then released a large flash of magic from her horn.
What came next was a complete surprise to everyone; as soon as the flash appeared, a powerful burst of rainbow coloured magic soon followed, which turned into a shockwave that blew everything in its path away; scattering the clouds and birds in the sky, knocking over stands, tress and statues, and knocking unexpecting ponies off their hoofs and sending them flying; even the princesses and the spirit of chaos weren’t expecting the massive burst of magic, as their eyes widened and their mouths agape, before being blown away by the wave of magic, Discord trying to hang on for dear life, but quickly lost his grip and was thrown straight from the palace grounds.
The Mane 5, as well as a few other ponies, weren’t expecting the large burst of magic either, but were trying in vain to stay on the ground as they dug their hooves into the ground, while Spike dug his sharp claws into Fluttershy’s back for support, causing a yelp of surprise and pain from the yellow pegasus. However, the power was becoming too much for them as one by one, they began to fly off into the air with a yelp and cry of surprise; first it was Fluttershy and Spike, next it was Rarity and Pinkie Pie, finally Applejack, whose hat was blown off from the sudden burst of wind, and Rainbow Dash, who had held up the longest and struggled to stay on the ground, were then thrown into the air with the others.
From where the burst had originated, the sun and the moon, despite their masters no longer controlling them, continued to rise and fall respectively, and from there intersection, held a large glowing purple, six pointed star shone in the sky, with five tiny sparkling starts surrounding it, and a purple glowing alicorn princess in the centre of the star, whose eyes were still blank and glowing and unaware of the events that took place around her.
The colourful burst of magic soon spread from its origin and began to travel and cover the whole sky of Equestria in its marvellous glow of multi-coloured magic. Ponies and creatures all over Equestria heard the ‘boom’ of the burst and looked to the sky, only to be dazzled and captivated by the majestic colours that began to fill the sky, as the sight began to reflect in their eyes.
As the sun rose higher into the sky and moon sank deeper behind the horizon, the glowing star began to slowly drift towards the ground with its occupant inside. As it reached the stage, it then vanished into the air, lowering the alicorn princess onto the ground, whose body began glow a pure white and emit white sparks of magic, which jumped from one part of her body to another, eyes still glowing and blank.
After a while, the glow and sparks soon died, followed shortly be the white glow in Twilight’s eyes, which regained its natural violet pupils, and the magic that had overcome Twilight began to fade as well, returning the mare’s mind to it senses. Upon regaining her state of mind, Twilight’s eyelids fell slight from the sudden lack of strength she now possessed, and felt an itchiness and strain in her eyes, making her rub them to help clear it away. Upon opening her right, with a hoof still trying to calm the aching left eye, both eyes immediately widened in shock and confusion and her mouth nearly dropped to the floor at the sight before her.
Right before her, trees where knocked over with their roots sticking out, statues had been knocked over and smashed, there were many scraps and large passes of grass missing from the ground, and many ponies, either startled by the by sudden burst of magic or knocked unconscious during the landing, where either laid out flat on their backs, stuck in hedges or trees that somehow managed to survive the ordeal, and others were lying on their sides.
Twilight’s main sights, however, where on the forms of Princess Celestia and Luna, who were knocked on their fronts and lying on the ground, their long manes covering their heads, and the forms of her friends; Rainbow Dash was stuck head first inside a tree with her flank and tail sticking out and hanging, Applejack was knocked into a hole in the same tree, her flank and tail also sticking out, but was upside down, Rarity was on her back, her eyes spinning from the whole ordeal, and her mane and tail were sticking out wildly and messy, Pinkie Pie was stuck with her back in a bush on the far side of the garden, her mane and tail even more fluffy and wild than usual, Fluttershy was stuck in a cherry bush with her head sticking out and her body hanging, and Spike was holding onto to the ground with his claws, with a wide eye and clenched teeth look on his face, showing that he was scared out of his mind.
Twilight continue to process on what she was seeing and how she could of caused all this, when the ponies and dragon began to regain their bearings and senses as they removed themselves from the blown positions; Twilight instantly began sweating up a storm.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so, so sorry. I was… I mean I was just…” twilight tried to find the right words to use, but she kept on drawing a blank as she didn’t know how to feel or react to this situation. When Princess Celestia and Luna finally got up, brushed back their manes and turned to Twilight with frowns on their faces, the young alicorn princess immediately got down on her legs and lowered her head to the ground.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She continued to repeat over and over again.
“Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia finally said in a calm yet serious voice. Twilight immediately braced herself for the disapproving and shamed words she was about to receive. “That display just now… was…”
“AWESOME!!”
Before Twilight could even react, she was hit by a blue blur of speed and tackled to the ground. She looked up to see the beaming face of Rainbow Dash, whose mane was messy from the burst, with bits of leaves and twigs from the tree, and covering parts of her face, but her big grinning smile could be seen from behind the hairs that were covering it. Twilight was completely confused by this sudden reaction.
“Man oh Man. And I thought the Sonic Rainboom was awesome, but that just now. That was total WICKED!” Rainbow said, the smile never leaving her face and the sparkle in her eyes never fading.
“It… it was?!” Twilight asked, slightly confused at what her friend was talking about.
“Whooo nelly! Ah knew you were good with magic, Twilight. But that right there… that was a whopper of show!” Came the voice of Applejack, who was walking up to Twilight, her own mane and tail messy and wild from the burst of wind, but was smiling all the same. “Ah didn’t even know that you could pull somethin’ like that. Whoa boy, is the family goin’ to believe this back home.”
“I must agree with Rainbow Dash and Applejack on this one, Twilight.” Twilight looked to see Rarity walking to her with a friendly smile on her face, despite her mane and her tail being messy. “I knew that your cutie mark meant you were good at magic, but never before have I seen magic of that spectacle before. Even… though it made a horrible mess of the royal garden and my mane.” She said after having a good look at the garden and her mane.
“WOW! That was sooooo COOL, Twilight! I mean they you all like ‘VROOM’ and the crowd was all like ‘GASP’ and then you were all like ‘SHOOM’, and then you went ‘BOOM’ with that magic glowing wind thingy, and the everything went ‘FROOO’! Rainbow Dash was right, that was AWESOME and FUN, FUN, FUN! Can you do it again? Canyoucanyoucanyoucanyou?” Pinkie Pie repeated excitedly as she began jumping around wildly, whose mane and tail were more puffy than usual, as well as having some twigs and leaves in them. Everyone was surprised to see her down from the hedge so quickly, but no asked how she got down, it was just Pinkie.
“W…wow, Twilight. The others are right, that was… amazing.” Came the timid yet happy voice of Fluttershy, who was walking up to the others, her mane and tail also wild and messy, with a few twigs, leave and berries in them. She then looked at the clear skies and at the devastation of the garden with a small frown. “But… oh, I hope the birds and the animals weren’t too startled by the noise and the wind.”
Twilight finally picked herself up and smiled at her friend’s kindness and thoughtfulness. “Not to worry, Fluttershy. I’m sure there fine.” She said, trying to reassure her friend’s worries, which seemed to bring a sigh of relief and a smile to her face.
“Wow, Twilight.” Twilight turned to see Spike walking up to her, a little shaky, but overall ok. “I’ve always known you were good at magic, and I’ve seen you pull off strong and advanced spells before, but that right now… that was amazing. I knew being a princess meant your magic would get stronger, but I didn’t know it get that strong.”
Twilight began to blush at all the praise she was getting. In truth, the whole thing was an accident, and she didn’t know how she did; in fact she had a feeling that she wasn’t the one who did it, but that’s a mystery she would deal with later.
“I must agree.” Everypony turned to Princess Luna, who had a smile on her face. “In all my years, never have I come across something that… spectacular.” The princess then walked up to the young princess and bowed slightly. “It appears my sister was right, young Twilight, your skills in magic are that which has never been witnessed before.”
“Ahem.” A Clearing of the throat brought everyone’s attention back to the princess of the sun, who still had a frown on her face and was quite annoyed of being interrupted. Everypony, but Twilight, stepped away to give the princess some room to speak. Twilight then lowered her head as she awaited the princess’ words disappointment; said princess had walked up to the young princess.
“As I was saying, Twilight Sparkle, that display just now was…”
“Astounding.”
Twilight’s and everypony’s eyes widen in shock and confusion, and turned to the see a smile on the princess’ face.
“A…astounding?” Twilight asked, slightly confused. Wasn’t Celestia mad at her?
“Yes. I knew I had faith that you would succeed in your task, but as always you have succeeded in passing my expectations.” Celestia explained, making Twilight smile. Celestia then turned back to the damage done and continued. “I admit I was not expecting the sudden burst of magic, and I’m quite shocked that such a power could do this much damage.” Twilight slumped back down in embarrassment. “But it is nothing a little magic can’t fix, and I say you did a good job at astounding not just me.”
Twilight looked back at Celestia, who motion her to look at the other ponies that were picking themselves up and dusting themselves off, with smiles on their muzzles.
“Did you see that just now?!” A pink pegasus mare asked.
“Oh yeah. That was a blast, literally!” A grey stallion said.
“I thought Rainbow Dash’s Sonic Rainboom was amazing, but that just now… that doesn’t even come close!” A pale brown unicorn mare said.
“Man, I sure hope Princess Twilight does that again next year! I want to see that again!” A young yellow unicorn colt said.
Everywhere Twilight looked, she heard the astounded and happy comments of the ponies, and the exciting cheers, as well as happy looks on their face.
“I’m proud of you, Twilight Sparkle. You can win the hearts of everypony even when you don’t mean too.” Celestia said with a proud smile, looking down on her former student with pride.
Twilight smiled up at her mentor and then turned back to the ponies and their families and friends. She didn’t know why, but Twilight felt a warm feeling in her chest, maybe of pride or happiness, she didn’t know, but she knew that she was happy it was there.
“Yeah, Twilight. That big ‘BOOM’ thing might not have been what you were looking for, but everypony seems to be happy about it.” Pinkie said, getting close to her friend’s face.
“Speaking of that, how exactly did you do that?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah, how exactly did you pull that thing off?” Rainbow asked, hovering in the air with her front hoofs crossed, before leaning down to look in Twilight’s eye. “You haven’t been spying on me and copying my Rainboom stunt have ya?”
Twilight’s mind went right back to what happened earlier, but even she didn’t know what happened.
“In all honesty, I don’t know what happened.” Twilight said, deciding to tell everypony what happened. “All I remember is taking Princess Luna’s advice in remembering the good times and digging deep for my magic, and then something… something… something I’ve never felt before just seemed to takeover. I didn’t even know where that magic came from.”
“I was just as surprised as you are now, my dear.”
Everypony turned to the voice, which belonged to the spirit of chaos, Discord, who was walking through a make-shift door in the hedge and brushing off some dust and pebbles on his coat. He had a few bruises and scrapes, but overall, he looked fine.
“Discord?” Fluttershy said, surprised by the sudden appearance and the injuries he possessed.
“What in tarnation happened to ya?” Applejack asked, also confused by the chaotic creatures appearance.
“Well, I was bored earlier on, so I decided to come and watch the Summer Sun Celebration and see what this so called ‘rumour of Princess Twilight’s performance’ was.” Discord explained, still dusting some of the dirt and rocks off, this time with a feather duster he brought out of thin air.
“Oh really.” Rainbow Dash said with her hoofs crossed. Even though Discord had been reformed she was still weary around him. “Well, if you were here, how come we didn’t see you with the crowd?”
“Well, considering that I was only ‘just’ reformed, I figured some ponies wouldn’t be very comfortable with me around… well, that and the fact I don’t well in crowds.” He explained as he used a small vacuum to clear up some of the rocks and stones that stuck to him. “So I decided to watch the spectacle from on top of one of the castle towers, that way I got a bird’s eye view of the whole show and I didn’t have to worry anypony about my presence. Then, just as Celestia and Luna were doing their part, boringly slow might I add,” Luna rolled her eyes at the spirit’s comment, “I sensed a very powerful magical disturbance from the stage below, then I noticed that it came from where young Twilight was, but before I could investigate any further, well… you can probably guess what happened next.”
“But that doesn’t explain what happened to you, Discord.” Celestia said who was more concerned about the spirit’s injuries.
“Oh, it’s nothing, Celestia. That magical burst just took me by surprise same as you, only difference was, since I was on a higher standing point, I ended being flung from the palace grounds and into the mountain side.” Discord then rubbed his back with his lion claw. “And might I add that rocks are not the softest pillows to break a fall.”
The ponies and dragon listened to the spirit’s explanation, but Twilight was more interested in what she just did, and if Discord could sense magical disturbances…
“Discord,” the lavender alicorn said, getting the spirit’s attention, as well as everyone else’s, “What I did just now, what was it? I mean… how did I do that?”
Discord placed his eagle claw underneath his chin a scratched in with a thinking look on his face. “I have no idea. I mean, after you used that magic to defeat Tirek, I thought it would take a couple of hundred years before you could use it again.”
This caused all eyes, widen from shock and confusion at the revelation, to turn to the spirit of chaos, who stopped scratching his chin once all eyes were on him.
“EXPLAIN THY SELF, DISCORD!” Princess Luna demanded with her royal Canterlot voice, scarring the Mane 6, Spike, her sister and the spirit of chaos, as well as startling any nearby ponies in the area, annoyed and angered by the fact that Discord did not reveal this piece of information with them earlier.
Discord held up his hands in defence from the booming voice and in case Luna attacked him, but then began to explain once he was sure that she wouldn’t try anything else. “Well, during the whole Tirek incident, I was able to get a good feel of the power that Twilight and the others used to defeat him, and once the castle was made, I thought the power faded away.” He then appeared beside Twilight and wrapped his eagle arm around her waist, with a smile on his face. “But of course, since Twilight here is the Princess of Magic, her body was able to keep a hold of some of that power and keep it locked away in her body until she was ready and able to use it herself properly, until now that is.”
The ponies just stared at Discord for a few moments, taking in what he just said. Fluttershy placed a hoof on her chin as she remembered that when the burst hit her, she did feel something familiar about it, but couldn’t place her hoof on it.
“That would explain why that magic felt strange.” She said out loud to herself.
“Now that Fluttershy mentions it, that magic did seem familiar, but I was so focused on trying not to get blown away that I didn’t actual try to remember where I felt it before.” Rarity said, thinking back to the time they used that magic to defeat Tirek and the warmth that came with it.
“Well Twilight is really good with magic.” Applejack said. “Ah ain’t too surprised by that, but ah never would’ve thought that she still have a bit of that stuff in her.”
“Oh, oh, oh, those that mean we still have some of that magic stuff in us too?” Pinkie Pie asked excitedly.
“I don’t think so, Pinkie Pie.” Celestia said, drawing a frown on the pink mare’s face, before continuing her explanation. “While all of you may have been able to defeat Tirek using that same magic, Twilight’s special talent is magic, meaning that she has more capabilities with magic than the rest of us.”
“Well pooh.” Pinkie pouted, before her eyes lit up and she gasped in realization, before bouncing around in excitement and happiness. “But you know what this means?!”
The others gave the party happy mare a confused/strange look.
“This means that were going to have to throw a ‘Well-done-on-the-Summer-Sun-Celebration’ PARTY!” She yelled the last part, before dashing off to who knows where, leaving a dust cloud after image and trail.
“Oh for the love of… Pinkie! Not now!” Rainbow Dash yelled before chasing after her in incredible speed.
The others watched the two mares disappear, getting a chuckle from Celestia who found the scene quite cute, before she turned back to the others.
“Well, I don’t know if a party should be involved, but I do believe you deserve some praise after that little performance.” Celestia said, mostly to Twilight, who blushed in embarrassment, before turning back to the damage done to the garden. “But I think we should get the garden back into shape before doing so.”
“Were on it, your highness!” Applejack said, before turning back to her friends. “C’mon y’all, let’s get this trash pack cleaned up!” She then ran off to get started.
“Absolutely!” Rarity said, chasing after her country friend. “I’ll help with the statues and the trimming!”
“Oh… uh… I should probably help with the animals and their homes.” Fluttershy said, before she chased after her friends.
“I suppose we’ll be assisting with the repairs as well, sister.” Luna said to Celestia with a smile on her face.
“Indeed we shall.” Celestia said to her little sister, a gentle and sure smile on her face.
A sudden poof caught their attention and saw Discord in a maids outfit with the feather duster he had before. “I suppose I should help also, seeing is that I have nothing better to do.” He then walked off in the direction towards the mess, with Luna and Celestia following close behind.
“I suppose we should help too, huh Spike?” Twilight said to her young assistant.
Spike was about to reply, until he noticed the exhausted and worn out look on her face. Feeling worried that Twilight was about to collapse, he decided to ask if she should. “Uh Twilight, are you sure you want to help? You look exhausted.”
“I’m… fine, Spike. I can… handle it….” Twilight struggled to say, as she was beginning to breath heavily as she felt her strength fade from her, as she began to walk towards the mess in the garden.
Celestia, Luna and Discord looked back at the young princess and noticed the state she was in. The three gave each other a look before came to a silent agreement.
They then turned to Twilight and Celestia spoke. “Actually Twilight, we believe you have done enough today, you should rest for now in your room to gather your strength.”
Twilight weakly looked up to her former mentor with half closed eye lids and spoke with a weak and breathless voice. “But… princess…”
“Sorry Twilight, but that little stunt used up all your magic, and you just had enough to last this long, but it would be better if rest for now.” Discord explained.
“But…” Twilight tried to protest, but was cut off by Princess Luna.
“No Twilight, we’ve made our decision: thou are to go to her room and rest while we clean up.” She explained.
Twilight was about to protest further, but she didn’t have the strength to do so. She then turned to her assistant’s face and saw Spike’s concerned and scared eyes. She then turned to the two princesses and the spirit of chaos and saw the same concern in their eyes. She then sighed in defeat as she realized that they weren’t going to let her help, and she had to face facts; with the way she is now, she doubt she could be much help anyway.
“Fine…” She just got out, as she weakly turned to the door that led inside the castle to her room.
She struggled a little and nearly fell over, but Spike quickly caught her and decided to help her on her long and struggling journey to her room.
After Twilight and Spike had vanished from sight, Celestia, Luna and Discord resumed with their task to help with cleaning up the garden, feeling reassured that the young princess was now going to get some rest.
Although, what they didn’t know was that the magical wave that Twilight released was still going, spreading far and wide from the city of Canterlot; spreading to the ends of the Everfree forest, to the open plains of Appleloosa, to the high skies of Cloudsdale, to the vast body of water of the ocean.
And beneath the waves, deep down in the dark waters of the trenches were even the sun can’t reach, stood a dark and tall mountain of coral and stone, that stretched far into the high waters, trying desperately to reach the light of the sun.
At the base of the of mountain, embedded on the stone and coral wall, stood a giant circle of moss covered stone, with ancient Equastrian hieroglyphs carved into it, with six empty holes of different shapes circling the centre, with a large keyhole decorating the centre of the structure, standing there for all the dark waters to behold.
However, this silent tomb would remain silent no longer, as the wave of magic soon broke through the darkness of the trenches, spreading past the dark and spiked rocks and coral, past the long and snake like kelp, and finally past the mysterious stone object.
A few moments after the wave past, the six empty holes in the stone structure began to glow different colours; red, blue, dark indigo, orange, yellow and light lavender, then the strange light began to travel across the hieroglyphs, which began to glow a rainbow colour, before finally disappearing into the keyhole, before the last ounce of light vanished with the darkness of the strange hole.
Silence once again haunted the dark waters, until a rumbling of the ground occurred, shaking the mountain and trench, even scaring the fish that swam far above the darkness of the waters. The shaking continued, as the large stone structure seemed to unhinge itself and began to slowly push forward and open up to the left like a large door. The rumbling and the movement of the door continued, until the large stone door stopped as the pitch black hole it covered was bare to the open world, the rumbling stopping shortly after.
Everything remain silent once again, but the darkness of the deep trenches began to turn darker as a dark black substance began to ooze its way out of the open cave, as a dark shadow and shrivelled shadow moved within the darkness of the cave, coming closer and closer to the opening, pushing the dark substance further out into the waters.
The shadow soon stood at the edge of the cave, surrounded by the dark black mist, with only its dark orange glowing eyes shining through the darkness of the black blanket.
The figure stood at the opening of the cave for a few silent seconds, taking in on what it was seeing and if it was truly real, until its cold, sinister and rippled voice broke the silence.
“At…lasssst… I… returrrrrn… And…now…I shall… take back…what should have been…miiiine…”
Soon after an equally weak yet dark and sinister chuckle echoed throughout the dark waters of the trench.
Next time: Chapter 1: Twilight’s Precognition of Despair! The Monster known as Undern!
“Princess Celestia? Princess Luna? Discord? Anypony?”
Twilight frantically tried to search and call out to the darkness for a reply, but all she heard was silence and saw only black.
Celestia turned pale as she took in what she was just told.
“No… It can’t be…” Her frightened and equally paled voice seemed to scare everypony more than Twilight’s nightmare.
“He… He can’t be free!” Luna yelled in fear and shock.
“DISCORD!” Everyone yelled in shock, surprise and fear, though his still form remained still and continued to bleed.
“I have returned… and now you, and all of Equastria shall know me power.”
“His name was and still is Undern Slate.”
Part 1: Chapter 1: Twilight’s Precognition of Despair! The Monster known as Undern!
Part 1: Chapter 1: Twilight’s Precognition of Despair! The Monster known as Undern!
Twilight awoke to the sounds of the chirping birds and the warmth and light of the blazing sun. She sat up, her bed covers falling slightly, she looked outside to see two blue canaries sitting and nuzzling each over on a branch that was connected to the window.
Twilight smiled at the sweet sight. Two birds in love nuzzling each other on a branch by her window… wait, what?
Twilight remembered that her room was atop the tallest tower in the castle, and she knew that no tree, at least around Canterlot, could grow that tall or that close to the castle. So how was she able to see this?
Taking a closer look at the outside she noticed that most of her view was blocked by tree branches and leaves, which added to more confusion to her mind, until she took a look at her bed and the rest of the room.
Her bed, as well as the rest of the environment and furniture, was made from a light brown shaded oak. She took a look around the room to see very familiar objects and books, categorised and shelved in oak wood book shelves, and she looked up to notice that her room was incredibly tall, and wide. What was going on? Where was she?
She then got out of bed to get a closer look out the window. Her hoofs made a thumb noise as they touched the wooden floor. She swore she heard that sound before, back she lived in…
Her eyes widened in shock and confusion, as she began to remember why everything looked so strange, yet so familiar. She quickly ran to the window and opened it, she then stuck her head out and took a better look at the outside, which made her mouth drop in shock; she was in Ponyville.
She didn’t know how she got there, since she clearly remembered taking a nap in her room in Canterlot, or why she was here, but there was no mistaking that this was Ponyville. The sky was clear and bright blue, the streets were littered with ponies of all genders, and she could see many of the buildings that resembled those in Ponyville. She then remembered where she woke up and took a look at the building she was sleeping in, and her mouth seemed to drop even more than before because what she saw completely lost her.
She was in the Golden Oak Library.
After living in it for so long, she could instantly remember it, not just because it was the only tree home in Ponyville, but because she could easily recognise the balcony where she enjoyed to read outside, the small platform at the top where she would use her telescope to get a good look at the stars and constellations, and she had seen the Golden Oak Library sign so many times, that it was impossible to forget.
“But… how… that’s… I mean, how…” Twilight tried to find the words to describe her reaction, but her mind was just as confused and messed up as the words that left her mouth. She just couldn’t understand it; she saw it, she saw the Library being completely destroyed by Tirek when he came for her magic. So how in the name of Celestia ‘Sorry Celestia’ was it here?
Any other questions Twilight had died down when a voice snapped her out of it.
“Hey Twilight.”
Twilight looked down to see Spike smiling waving at her, with her friends standing behind him; Rainbow Dash was hovering in the air with her wings, Fluttershy was holding a picnic basket in her mouth, Rarity wearing a sun hat and a pair of sun glasses, Pinkie Pie jumping up and down on the spot with a large grin on her face, and Applejack was carrying a cheeked picnic blanket on her back.
“Spike?” Twilight said, confused by her assistant’s smiling form. The Golden Oak Library, their home in Ponyville, was ok, and he was just standing there with a smile on his and waving at her. “What’s going on here?”
The group gave Twilight a confused look.
“Don’tcha remembers, Sugarcube?” Applejack said, “We’re havin’ a picnic today. And it certainly wouldn’t be a picnic without our friend with us.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Picnic?”
“Yeah,” Rainbow said, flying close to the window and Twilight’s face, “we agreed that we come to get you and Spike last after you two finished cleaning all the books or something like that.”
Twilight was getting more confused by the minute. ‘Cleaning books?’
“Don’t worry, Twilight.” Her eyes turned back to her assistant’s voice, “I handled all the cleaning and dusting while you were asleep, so you don’t have to worry too much about it.”
Before she could say anything, despite her mind still trying to process on what was going on, a calm and gentle voice spoke up.
“Well, she is a princess. Maybe all those royal duties are just making her exhausted.” Fluttershy said who had placed the basket on the floor so she could speak.
Twilight was getting more confused by the events by the minute. Was she dreaming?
“Oh yeah, I tend to forget things when I’m busy at work, or making parties, or just having too much time. Like this one time I was busy helping the Cakes at Sugercube Corner, and I was so busy getting the orders and checking the pastries in the oven, I then remembered that I totally forgot that I had promised Ditzy Do to through a whole week without disasters party, but then when I went to help I forgot that Zecora had-” Pinkie blabbered on, until she stopped as she seemed to remember something. She then gasped loudly and her body leapt in the air. “Oh my gosh, I totally forgot that if we don’t hurry, we’ll lose our special spot in the park.”
The others’ eyes, except Twilight who was still confused on what was happening, widened in shock as they knew Pinkie was right.
“Oh horse apples, we better get a move on y’all!” Applejack said as she ran off towards the direction of the park.
The others soon followed, but Rarity slowed down and looked back over at Twilight. “Oh, don’t worry, darling. You can come join us when you’re ready, ok?” She called back, before looking back in the others’ direction and chased after them, leaving a confused Twilight behind.
Twilight looked in the direction her friends had run in with a confused look. She still didn’t know what was going on, why the Golden Oak Library was rebuilt, or why she couldn’t remember anything about a picnic. Her mind still tried to come up with many different conclusions, but she was drawing a blank in every possible direction.
“But… what if… no, that’s not it. How about… no, that won’t work either.” She continued to whisper to herself until she came up with only one outcome; if she was going to find out what was going on, she had to ask her friends.
She brought her head back inside before speeding off down the stairs, trying not to lose her stepping and fall mind you, and then she ran down the other flight of stairs, to the main library hall.
She stopped at the top of the stairs and looked around at all the books, stories, dictionaries and encyclopaedias in their respective shelves as well as the other items she kept down here during her stay. She then remembered all the good times she had since she lived her; finding and adopting Owlowiscious, her many meetings with her friends, and all the information the books had provided in their misadventures.
She quickly shook her head to get rid the thoughts out of her head, yes it was nice to remember them, but she reminded herself of her mission, this was no time to be reminiscing. She then walked down the stairs and to the door. She took a deep breath as she prepared herself to go and confront her friends. She then pushed the door open and walked right out, before she turned around and closed the door behind her.
She then turned back to face Ponyville with her eyes closed, and when she opened them again… well, let’s say what she saw made her mind pray that she didn’t.
Twilight’s eyes and mouth widened and fell at the sight before her; the sky had somehow turned a dark blood red, a few pitch black clouds appeared in the sky, houses had either become old and crumbled, or they had fire emerging from the windows or on the roofs. The street had become cracked and dead, the plant life in the area had withered and died, and all the ponies were lying on the floor; grey and seemingly lifeless.
Twilight was horrified at what she was seeing, her heart seemed to break at the sight and her stomach turned. She instinctively turned to get back inside the Library, run upstairs, hide under the covers and pray it was all a bad dream. However, when she turned around, she found the door gone; in fact the whole library was missing. Instead, were it stood, was a large deep crater.
She looked up to see if the library was floating or taken by the sky, but something else caught her attention; in the distance she could see Canterlot, or what looked like it, hanging of the side of the mountain by a thread; literally, the whole city had seemed to have slide down the mountain was brutally damaged and falling apart; even the castle was missing its tall and graceful towers.
Horrified, scared, and confused, she quickly turned back to the streets of Ponyville and ran up to one of the fallen pony to see if he or she was alive and had answers. She quickly ran up to grey unicorn stallion and lifted his head of the ground.
“Hey!” She yelled and shook him slightly in hopes of waking him up, “Hey! Do you know what happened here?” No answer. “What Happened?!” Still no reply.
Twilight looked over the stallion’s body to see what was wrong. When she couldn’t find anything she figured he must be low on magic and lowered her head and her horn glowed to cast a magic healing spell.
Her eyes widened and she gasped slightly when she discovered something; this stallion wasn’t just low on magic, he had no magic; in fact, he had no pulse!
Twilight looked back at all the grey and lifeless bodies and realised that it had happened to all of them. It was as if their very souls were stripped from them, leaving the cold, dead shells behind.
Twilight knew that she wasn’t going to get anything out of anyone, seeing as that they all had the symptoms, but she still didn’t understand how it was possible; to pull a soul out of somepony or any living creature would require a dark spell of incredible power, who in the whole of Equastria could pull off something so evil? She lowered the stallion gently to the floor, and stood up to look at else had fallen.
She felt hot tears coming to her eyes as she saw many of the ponies she knew; Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, the Cakes, who were holding the grey and lifeless bodies of their children, the Mayor, Ditzy Do, Zecroa, the Cutiemark Crusaders; Applebloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo, and many others.
Her eyes then widen and her pupils diluted as she remembered that her friends had gone to the park. She felt a familiar feeling in her chest at the thought of her friends and Spike falling to this catastrophe, fear.
Her body seemed to be running on auto-piolet today, as she took to the dark red sky and quickly zoomed towards the park, where her friends were hopefully ok.
While in the air she looked and nearly lost balance in the air and throw up whatever food she recently had for below her was the same scene from where she was; houses burning or crumbling, the street dead and cracked, and countless of grey and lifeless bodies littering the floor. Tears began to fall from her eyes as she felt a wave of worthlessness come over her; she could of done something to save them, but it was already too late. She just hoped, no prayed, that her friends were alright.
When she was finally over the park, she gently but quickly lowered herself until she landed on the grassy ground, just outside the entrance. Twilight looked around the area and could see many grey pony bodies littering the ground, which nearly made her throw up again, but she ignored the feeling and focused on finding and saving her friends.
She then began to run through the park towards their ‘special spot’, which was basically an area under a tree not too far from the entrance. As she ran she past many bodies of pony bodies; unicorns, pegasi and earth pony, all lifeless and grey. She felt the fear in her stomach come back as she feared that the next lifeless bodies she finds would be those of her friends and Spike.
She shook her head a couple of times to get the thoughts and images out of her head. They weren’t gone yet, she was sure of it, they were alive and well. There was Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who were the toughest fighters she’s known, they had Rarity who was capable of using magic, and Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie, she can be completely unpredictable. Plus Fluttershy could always send a letter to Celestia through Spike if things got hairy. Yes, she had faith, faith in their abilities, faith in their friendship, faith in-
Whatever faith or words of hope Twilight had left vanished in an instant, her gallop slowing down step by step, and her fear and despair grew as she approached the site of the ‘special spot’; where 5 grey and lifeless figures lay motionless.
Cold tears of sadness and despair filled her eyes as she stared at the sight before; Rarity was laid up against a tree with scrapes and brushes decorating her now dark grey body. Pinkie Pie was lying in a small crater in the ground on the picnic blanket, just as grey and lifeless with an equal amount of bruises and cuts. Applejack’s beaten body was also grey and motionless a few yards away from Pinkie Pie, however tears began to fall from Twilight’s eyes as she realized that there was a dark crimson liquid falling from the side of her mouth and her front hoof was twisted to 45 degree angle. Rainbow Dash was lying on her side at the base of a broken tree trunk; the rest of the tree was rest by it like it was snapped like a twig, her body also beaten, grey and lifeless, with twisted wings and a deep gash in her side. Twilight’s eyes then turned to Fluttershy, and the dam of tears she was holding began to crack as she saw the frightened yet lifeless look on her grey face, her eyes were scrunched shut, with dried up tears rolling down her face, and her hoofs were laying quite close to her face, which probably meant she had tried to cover her eyes in fear, and her body had the least scrapes and bruises than the others, meaning that she probably didn’t do much of the fighting, lying on her side.
Twilight, whose eyes were still raining with tears, slowly walked towards her friends to see if what she was seeing was all a hallucination. As she got close to her first target, being Rarity, she soon realized that it wasn’t a hallucination and it confirmed her worst fears, she wasn’t breathing.
“Rarity?” Twilight asked weakly in a desperate voice, while she pocked her lightly with her hoof, hoping to get some form of reaction out of her. Rarity didn’t budge.
“Rarity?” Twilight said, a little louder than last time and used more force with her shove; still no answer.
Twilight breathing began to become shallow and increased in speed, as her eyes began to leak more tears and her fear began to double. She quickly turned to the next pony close to her, which happened to be Pinkie Pie. She then dashed over to her direction, and then began to shove her shoulder a little.
“Pinkie Pie?” Twilight asked franticly, as she shook the grey, motionless party pony, hoping she would jump up and surprise her like always. She didn’t. She didn’t even budge.
Twilight shook her head slightly as she tried to deny what was in front of her. She then turned to Applejack and galloped towards the apple farmer in desperate speed.
“Applejack?” Twilight said loudly as she reached her friend and shook quite harder than she did with the other two. She didn’t mean too, but right now, her mind was too indulged in fear to realize it. Applejack gave no reaction, as her breathless and lifeless grey body lay still.
“No…” Was all Twilight was able to get out, as she again shook her head, trying hard to deny what was happening. Her fear filled eyes then turned to the once blue and rainbow coloured mane of Rainbow Dash, before her body charged in her direction.
Twilight then stopped, dropped to her knees and began to shake her grey friend’s body just as hard as Applejack’s.
“Rainbow…” No reaction. “Rainbow Dash…” Still no reaction. “Come on, Rainbow… this is no time for a nap…” Once again, no reaction, not even a snort or a snore to show she was sleeping.
Twilight’s tears began to fall even more now, the dam in her eyes close to bursting. She then turned to the last friend she had yet to check; Fluttershy. With what little hope she had left, Twilight dashed towards the now grey pegasus, and galloped to her as quick as she could.
Despite her mind filled with fear, when Twilight dropped and used both her front hoofs to lift Fluttershy’s frail body off the ground, she only shook her body lightly, so not to harm of startle her.
“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, while a few of her tears landed on the motionless pegasus, hoping that her friend was still alive. However, Fluttershy gave no reaction; no breathing, no groan, not even a whimper of fear.
“Fluttershy, wake up!” Twilight shook her friend’s body even more roughly in hopes of waking her up. Yet the lifeless still gave no reaction.
Twilight’s tears fell even more as she embraced her friends grey and cold motionless body, the reality of what was happening around her sunk in, everyone was dead and lifeless and there was nothing she could do to save them. Not the mayor, not her friends, not even-
Twilight’s eyes widened in shock and fear as she remembered that was one other she had not seen yet.
“Spike…” She whispered slightly to herself. She saw Spike walk off with the others, yet she hadn’t seen his body among the others, meaning that he could have survived… what ever happened here. A slight ray of hope shined in her heart as she believed that there was one left she could save.
And she would, she swore her life on it.
She lowered Fluttershy’s body gently to the ground, as she stood up and began to scan the area for any signs or clues to her dragon’s whereabouts.
“Spike.” She yelled, hoping that her voice might reach the young dragon’s ears, if he was close by.
Silence followed the shout. She then quickly darting to corner to corner of the area, hoping to find some trace of her dragon.
“Spike!” She screamed, her mind becoming frantic and her ray of hope shrinking quickly. She had to find him, she kept telling herself. He had to be ok, he just had-
Time seemed to stop for her, as her eyes stopped and narrowed in on a small shadowy figure on top of the park hill. She couldn’t make out the whole figure, as it was too far, dark and small to get a clear image, but she could clearly see the spines that seemed to be on the figure’s back. And she knew only one small figure in Ponyville that had spines on his back.
“SPIKE!” Twilight screamed, in either happiness or relief, she didn’t care. Her body and legs immediately charged in the direction of the small dragon figure.
She pushed her way past the bushes, twigs, leaves, anything that got in her way, ignoring the pain of the scratches and scrapes that were given to her by the obstacles. She didn’t care how much pain she was in, or how bad her body was, all she knew was that she had to get to Spike, no matter what.
As Twilight got closer, her desperate smile appeared on her face as she was happy that Spike may be still alive. A few warm tears of happiness soon fell back behind her. She had lost so much; she just couldn’t bear to loss her last friend.
As she began to gallop up the hill, Twilight’s mind began to relay on what she would do once she got to Spike.
‘First I as Spike what happened, afterwards we search all of Equestria to find any survivors, then we-’
Whatever Twilight was thinking vanished, along with her smile and her warm tears, as a look of despair, fear and pain crossed her face, with shrunken pupils and agape mouth, and the cold tears of hopelessness ran down her face once again. Right before, atop the hill, lay Spike’s body; grey and lifeless.
Twilight just stared at the small frame in front of her. Her mind had crashed, her heart had shattered and whatever hope she had left vanished in the dark.
Her body began to move slowly and weakly, like her joints had many cramps slowing her movements, as she inched closer to the small lifeless baby dragon.
“Spike…?” Twilight said weakly as she got closer to small still frame.
She then dropped to her knees and slowly used her front hooves to lift the young dragon up from the ground and close to her. Like the others, he was cold, no breath left his lips and his whole body didn’t make the slightest reaction. On his face, his eyes were closed and his mouth was opened slightly.
Spike?” Twilight asked weakly as the tears in her eyes began to fall, hoping that he was just sleeping like always and that he would wake up any minute now. He didn’t, after a few seconds passed.
Twilight was going to call again, but her mind knew the truth; everyone, even her young dragon was gone, as she couldn’t save any of them. Twilight held Spike’s body close to her own, as the urge to hold him close like a child was too great.
Her grief, pain and fear finally got hold of her, as she let out an ear-piercing scream to the sky, which seemed to echo across the world of Equestria. Tears raining down her eyes like waterfalls as she held Spike’s body close, not wanting to part with it. Spike was her closest friend, her top assistant, he was like a son to her, and now he was gone, and he couldn’t save him. This was no longer Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship and magic, this was simply a poor, broken alicorn that had lost everything she held dear.
As Twilight cried and screamed her heart out, darkness began to creep across the land, covering everything in a pitch black blanket, leaving only Twilight and Spike’s grey lifeless body the only things in the sea of darkness.
Through her grief, Twilight could see the darkness cover the sky, and jolted her head back down to the world around her to the see that all of Equestria was gone, replaced by darkness that rivalled the night.
She looked all around her, in hopes of finding some form of light or trace of Equestria, but everywhere she looked, the dark blanket was there, shredding her hopes of escape.
“Princess Celestia? Princess Luna? Discord? Anypony?”
Twilight frantically tried to search and call out to the darkness for a reply, but all she heard was silence and saw only black.
For a while she sat in the darkness, until a bubbling sound snapped her head in the direction of the source, which happened to be dark bubbles rising and popping from the darkness, like it was on a body of water. Twilight, still clutching the baby dragon’s lifeless body, crept away as the bubbles began to increase in number and size, and sped up in rising and popping.
The bubbles continued to rising and pop, before a large bugle began to emerge and rise from the darkness.
Twilight stared as the bulge soon became a ginormous pointy, arrow headed object, which rose higher and higher into the air, with sharp long curved spikes emerging from behind the head, three on each side, like a terrible and frightening crown. A lumpy yet hard looking mid-section followed after, which soon turned into long snake-like appendages forming underneath, tangled and twisted in different ways but soon flared out.
Twilight just stared at the pitch black creature in fear and awe. Never before had she seen anything like it; it made even the largest of dragons look like foal toys, but with has already happened she no longer had the courage or strength to stand up to… whatever this thing was.
Soon a pair of dark orange glowing eyes snapped open from the centre of the rocky mid-section, staring straight through the young alicorn, piercing her soul and shattering whatever bravery she had left, leaving her shaking, small, and shrinking form present before the behemoth.
The creature stared at the young alicorn and she stared right back at it, a silence stuck between the two. Soon a deep, dark and equally terrifying chuckle boomed from the colossus creature, before it finally spoke.
“Is it friend or is it foe, the young pony wonders.”
Twilight shrunk and cowered even more at the power yet wise words of the voice. With that, along with its giant size, it truly made Twilight seem small and insignificant.
“After witnessing what I had done to your precious home and your friends, I think we can both conclude that I am no friend to your kind.” The voice boomed again.
Twilight’s fear filled eyes widened at the statement, her mind flashing with images of what she had seen; the sky a deep red, the ruined and destroyed houses, the lifeless grey corpses of the ponies she saw and her friends. Her eyes took a quick downward glance at Spike’s grey form.
“It… was you?” Twilight weakly said. She wanted to be angry, heck, she wanted to be downright furious, but after seeing what she just saw, and with all the grief, pain and sadness she had, she just couldn’t; not to mention the giant creature had shattered whatever strength or bravery she had left to fight.
“Yes,” The creature simply said. “For one to conquer, examples must be made to show those who would defy a higher power the consequences for their actions.”
Twilight held Spike closer to her as she felt a small spark of rage come and go at the declaration.
“I have heard you call to your princesses and those whom you may believe that could help you,” the creature said, “yet you shall find no help from those that have already fallen to my power.”
Twilight’s eyes widened even further. This creature had defeated both princesses and Discord, without the elements of Harmony?! How was that even possible?
As Twilight pondered on how someone could defeat the two sisters and the spirit of chaos, six dark yet shining lights appeared on the creatures arrow shaped head, causing Twilight to look up at the shining lights to see them originating from six different gems embedded in the creature’s head; three down on one side: dark blue, blood red, and dark green, and three on the other: dark yellow, venom green, and pitch black.
“I have returned, and now,” the creature boomed, “you, and all of Equestria, shall know my power!”
“The power of Undern Slate!”
A sudden burst of dark magic erupted from the shining lights, unleashing a dark rainbow beam, which shot down towards the young princess. Twilight was too scared, shocked and powerless to move of dodge the beam, and only held Spike closer to her as the beam struck them both.
Twilight screamed as the searing pain of the beam consumed her, yet she refused to let Spike go. Despite the pain that was flowing through her, she felt a numb stiffness in her rear hoofs, which then began to travel up her legs.
She looked down and, despite the flashing dark colours that surrounded her, her eyes widened in shock as she saw the reason for the stiffness; she was turning to stone. She also heard the dark and deep laugh of the creature in the background, which seemed to take pleasure in the alicorn’s fear.
“No.” She yelled, as the stone began to creep up her legs, completely trapping them, before traveling up the rest of her body and her wings.
“No!” She yelled a second time, before her body and wings were encased in stone. She then felt the stone slither up her neck and down her front hooves as it began to encase the last of her.
She tried to block it all out; the images of her home and friends destroyed and dead, the laughter of the creature in the back ground, the searing pain of the stone encasing her, and the pain in her heart at having everything taken away from her. She felt the stone finally encase her front hooves and her head and horn, leaving only her muzzle and eyes left.
“NO!” she screamed with all her might, as the last thing she saw was Spike’s lifeless form laying in her stone hooves, before her eyes became encased in cold, hard darkness.
“NO!” Twilight screamed as she threw off her bed covers and shot straight up.
Twilight took very deep breathes, her heart still pounding in her chest from the fear and torment she had endured.
“Twilight?!”
Twilight looked up to the other end of her bed to see Spike standing there on one leg, while the other was in the air, looking like he was getting ready to kick something, while he held a silver hair brush in one hand, and a knitting needle in the other in a defence/fighting stance.
Twilight saw the look of worry, concern and surprise on his face. It took Twilight a while to figure out that she must have startled him out of his sleep due to her scream. By the looks of it, he also must have thought she was in trouble and grabbed the nearest things he could find to use as weapons. She then looked around to see she was back in her room in Canterlot, and by the look out the window, Celestia had lowered the sun slightly to make way for night time, as an orange and yellow glow filled the sky.
Twilight took a few more deep breathes, before her mind was finally able to make sense of the whole ordeal she had just experienced; it was all a dream, or more accurately, a nightmare.
Twilight smiled to herself and a few tears of happiness feel from her eyes. ‘Thank Celestia it was all a dream.’
“Twilight?” Spike asked, lowering his ‘weapons’ and placing his other foot on the bed stand as he was confused by Twilight’s sudden scream and her tears.
Twilight quickly wiped her tears away, so not to worry Spike any further. She then looked up at her assistant and steadied her breathing.
“It’s ok Spike.” Twilight reassured, “It was just a nightmare.”
Spike stared at Twilight for a second, letting what she just said.
“Oh.” He just said, as he got down from the bed stand, slightly embarrassed by the way he acted, before walking back to the stand where he got the needle and brush and putting them down.
He then looked back at Twilight and took a closer look at her; her eyes wet and blood shot from crying, and her body covered in sweat, probably in fear, and a normal ‘nightmare’ did that to her.
“Wellllll… that… must have been one hay of a nightmare.” Spike finally said, breaking the silence that had filled the room for a while. “When you screamed, I practically jumped out of my scales; I thought you were in trouble.”
Twilight gave a sweet smile to her young dragon assistant, happy that he took great concern for her as always.
“That’s very thoughtful and sweet of you Spike. Thank you.” Twilight said, as said dragon walked up to her.
“Well, that’s why I’m here Twilight; to look out for you.” Spike said with a smile and a feeling some pride in his chest.
Then his face turned to a quite concerned and serious one as he looked at Twilight.
“Seriously though Twilight, you really had me worried. I mean normal nightmares don’t do that to a regular pony; let alone a princess. What exactly was your nightmare about?” Spike asked. He knew that twilight probably wouldn’t want to talk about it, but he was worried that she may have more of these nightmares and that would bring problems for both of them. He figured it would be best to tackle now than later.
Twilight’s face fell as he asked that question. She knew it was going to come sooner or later, but she really wished it didn’t, she didn’t want to worry anypony with her problems, but she knew that Spike was going to keep pestering her until she told somepony about it. Spike had been there for her when she needed help the most, and that nightmare showed her just how much she cared for him as a friend, no, as a son. She knew he was right; a princess shouldn’t be afraid to speak her mind or concerns with her closest friends.
Taking a deep breath before exhaling, Twilight ready herself to recall all the fear and pain she felt just moments ago.
“Well Spike,” She said, choosing to start from the beginning. “I dreamt that-”
Before she could continue, the whole tower began to shake as a loud stream of hooves and whizzing of wind came from outside Twilight’s room. Before Spike or Twilight could wonder what was going on, the doors to the room were flown open as a rainbow streak came crashing into the floor, followed the forms of many familiar figures.
“Twilight?!”
Twilight and Spike were startled by the sudden door burst, but were more surprised to see her friends, the princesses and Discord making their way into the room, with concerned and worried looks on their faces. The blur had revealed to be Rainbow Dash, who picked herself off the ground with a dazed look on her face, one eye in the sky the other focused on her, before she shook her head and eyes back into place and turning back to Twilight.
“Twilight?!” Rainbow said, before she tackled Twilight, who yelled in surprise buy the sudden attack, back down on the bed. “Are you ok? Are you hurt? Did someone try to hurt you? Where’s the slime ball? I’ll pulverize him.”
Before Rainbow could say any more, she was yanked off the bed by the tail by Applejack, who had the pegasus’ tail in her mouth, with an annoyed look on her face. “Now Rainbow, stop harassin’ Twilight and let ‘er speak.”
Rarity walked past the apple farmer and speedster and looked at Twilight with concern. “Oh Twilight, are you ok? We were busy repairing the garden with everypony-”
“Then we heard a loud “NO!” coming from your room in the tippy top of the tower, and we were all like “’GASP’ Twilight sounds like she’s in trouble! Is ok? Did she hurt herself? Is somepony trying to kidnap her? What’s going on?” Pinkie Pie cut in, waving her hoofs in the air to exaggerate the point.
Fluttershy then stepped forward to talk. “We were really worried about you, so we put what we were doing on hold and came up as quickly as we could.”
“You certainly gave everyone a fright, Twilight.” Discord said, floating beside young alicorn in a doctor’s costume, complete with clipboard and magnifying glass, as he began to examine the young alicorn’s eyes, ears, and the rest of her body. He then placed a finger under his chin with a thankful hum, before poofing a pen out of nowhere and writing down a few things on it. “And by my observation… you seemed to have had quite of bit of a fright yourself.”
He then poofed his pen away and showed everypony what he wrote on his clipboard. What was on it was instead a drawing of Twilight in bed with a scrunched face look, with a thought bubble overhead with many freighting images in it (well frightening to Fluttershy anyway).
The ponies stared at the picture for a few seconds with confused/disturbed looks.
“And… what are we supposed to be looking at?” Rainbow Dash, who had flown up into the air, asked, not getting what Discord was getting at, much to his annoyance.
“I think what Discord is trying to say is that Twilight may have had a nightmare during her period of rest, and what we heard was her reaction to it.” Princess Celestia explained.
“Thank you Celestia, for clearing that up.” Discord said, as he snapped his fingers, sending his doctor’s costume and clipboard away in a poof.
“But ah thought Princess Luna was supposed to be preventin’ nightmares from gettin’ to folks. How can Twilight have a nightmare and Princess Luna didn’t know a thin’ ‘bout it?” Applejack asked, quite confused about the whole thing.
“That’s quite true.” Celestia said as she turned to her sister for answers.
“Well… I’m, uh… I… am sorry sister, but I was busy helping all of you with the repairing of the Canterlot gardens, so… I couldn’t stop with my task and…” Luna began with an uneasy look, but noticed that the others and her sister weren’t, as the kids of this age say ‘buying it’. Sighing in defeat, she decided to tell the truth. “I’m sorry sister, but I couldn’t help Twilight with her nightmare because… I didn’t know she was having one.”
This caused everyone to raise their eyebrows in confusion at the Princess of the Night.
“You didn’t know that Twilight was having a nightmare?” Fluttershy said, voicing everyone’s thoughts.
“But… you’re the princess of the night and dreams! Surely you could tell if Twilight was having a nightmare if she was asleep.” Rarity asked, quite surprised as everyone else.
“Normally yes, even when I am occupied with another matter, I can still sense any nightmare regardless of who has them or where they are.” Luna said, before continuing with her explanation, “However, I was completely oblivious to Twilight Sparkles’ nightmare, I do not know why.”
Celestia and the other were slightly unnerved by this information, mostly Twilight as she feared that she may suffer the same nightmare again. Celestia then turned to her former pupil and decided to ask on what had happened.
“Before we investigate further into these matters, we must first focus on the current problem.” Celestia then walked up to Twilight’s bed and stopped just by the stand. “Twilight Sparkle, can you remember what happened in your dream?”
Twilight’s ears fell and she shrunk down into her covers. Telling Spike or one pony was one thing, but she was hoping she wouldn’t have to explain it to the others; she didn’t know if they could handle it. She looked at everypony’s faces and saw that they were all ears and that they weren’t planning on letting her lie or walk her way out of it.
Twilight sighed in defeat and decided to start from the beginning.
“Well, it started with me waking up in the Golden Oak Library.”
Twilight spent the next half hour or so explaining her dream; how she woke up in the library and her friends going on a picnic to which Pinkie and Fluttershy didn’t mind, what she saw when she left the library and the number of lifeless pony corpses which disturbed just about everyone, even Discord, how she ran to their ‘special spot’ and nearly had a mental breakdown upon seeing her friends lifeless and cold, scaring all of them including Applejack and Rainbow Dash when Twilight mentioned their twisted limbs, how she found Spike’s grey body atop the hill which caused her to snap, scaring and saddening Spike upon hearing how devastated he made her feel.
“-and then when I felt that everypony was gone, the world began to be covered in darkness, leaving only me and Spike’s grey body left.” Twilight explained, nearly breaking into tears at remembering it.
“Stop! Stop! I don’t think I can take it anymore!” Fluttershy cried, as she fell to the floor and cover her ears, with tears in her eyes.
“I must agree with Fluttershy, dear.” Rarity said, as her own eyes were about to break out in tears. “I don’t believe I can handle any more of the horror and tragedy you had to suffer. I think I’m very close to fainting.”
“Now, now, simmer down y’all.” Applejack said, trying to reassure the scared ponies, “If this darkness covered the whole dream, than that means that it’s over, right?” Applejack gave Twilight a smile that said ‘please let it be it’. Truthfully, she couldn’t handle it any more than the others and was about to wrap a rope around Twilight’s mouth to stop her, but refrained from doing so.
“I wish it was, AJ, but there’s more.” Twilight said, sad that she had to do this, but she had already done most of it, might as well finish it as she was nearing the end.
Pinkie Pie was cowering on the floor like Fluttershy, with her hooves covering her eyes. She found the beginning not too bad and thought it was going to be a silly nightmare like they forgot to bring the cupcakes, but when Twilight got to the really scary parts, her humour and happiness began to die down until it hit the zero when Twilight mention their beaten and lifeless bodies.
Rainbow Dash had tried to cover her ears with her hooves while her wings covered her eyes as she couldn’t handle the nightmare, swearing that she was going to have something similar if Twilight continued. She began to get freaked out and scared when Twilight mention the sky being blood red and everypony’s lifeless bodies, and finally had enough when she mention their bodies and her twisted wings.
While Spike tried to be brave by Twilight’s side, he was beginning to sweat, shake and regret asking Twilight about her nightmare; he felt like this story was going to keep him up all night.
Only Celestia, Luna and Discord seemed calm, but inside they were surprised to hear such a nightmare and pitied that Twilight had to suffer it alone. Luna was the worst of the three, as she cursed herself for not knowing of Twilight’s nightmare and doing nothing about it. Discord was sitting on the windowsill with a cup of tea in his eagle claw, enjoying/scared of the tale that Twilight was telling; he enjoyed the drama and the tragedy in it, but was becoming more disturbed as she continued. Celestia had mixed feelings; she was interested by the way Twilight’s nightmare was structured, but was also equally disturbed by what was going on in it.
Steadying her breathing and readying herself, Twilight continued. “As we sat alone in the darkness, I called out to Celestia, Luna, Discord or any pony that could hear me, but there was only silence. Then I heard a bubbling noise from behind me and noticed that a part of the darkness was beginning to bubble and rise, like something was lurking underneath it. I didn’t know what to expect so I backed away from it. Then something began to emerge.”
“Was it a dragon?” Fluttershy asked, fearfully.
“No.” Twilight answered.
“Was it a swarm of vampire fruit bats?” Applejack asked shakenly, as she pulled her hat over her eyes to brace for the worst.
“No.” Twilight said, starting to shake a little as she remembered the power and fear that the creature possessed.
“Was it a vampire dragon?!” Pinkie Pie asked quite loudly.
Everyone turned to the party pony with raised eyebrows of confusion, while Rainbow and Rarity glared at her with annoyed looks.
Pinkie just gave everypony confused looks.
“What? They’re real.” Pinkie said in defence.
“No,” Twilight simply said, as she continued with her explanation, the fear of her encounter coming back to her. “It first came out as a large arrow headed creature, before I began to rise out of the darkness further, revealing a sort of rocky mid-section and giant snake like tentacles that looked like it could snap a stone tower in two like a twig.”
By this time, everypony was beginning to shake and quiver in fear, even Celestia, Luna and Discord began to sweat and turn slightly pale as the description of the creature unsurfaced some old memories.
“Then it opened its eyes.” Twilight shivered in fear as she still felt the piercing gaze of those eyes. “Those eyes… They felt like he was staring straight through me and my soul, shattering whatever resistance to fear I had left. He spoke in a deep, dark and booming voice that seemed to echo across the whole void. He seemed to know what I was thinking as he claimed to be an enemy to ponies.”
The mane 5 and Spike swallowed a lump in their throats at the description and cowered even more. Celestia, Luna and Discord also felt a lump in their throats, but steadied themselves, not wanting to cause alarm. After all, it was probably just a coincidence; there’s no way this creature of been… him.
“He then said that he was one responsible for what I saw, and that it was a demonstration as to what he would do to anyone who defied him.” Twilight paused for a while, swallowing the large lump that had been in her throat during the whole retelling of the nightmare. “Then there were these six lights glowing on top of his head. As they shone brighter and brighter he said that he had returned and that all of Equestria would know of his power…”
“The power of Undern Slate…”
SMASH
The young ponies and dragon were snapped out of there scared thoughts at the sound of the smashing of a tea cup and turned to the only one who had a hold of one during the whole story, but became more surprised and shocked by the look on his face; a look they didn’t think they see on the spirit’s face.
Discord was still sitting on the windowsill, but his eyes were wide, his pupils were diluted, his mouth was agape slightly, and the entire colour on his face was drained to a pale look. He didn’t move or speak a word; he just stared at Twilight like she was a demon.
The ponies looked at each other in confusion, before looking back at the spirit in confusion.
“Hey, Discord.” Rainbow dash said, getting a close look at the spirit’s face. “You ok there? You look like somepony just went and said you were going to hit the bucket early.”
Discord didn’t reach to the comment, but a one word did leave his still agape mouth. “Celestia…”
The others were confused by this and turned to said sun princess and Princess Luna, but were startled to what they saw.
Like Discord, the two sisters had their eyes were wide open, their pupils had shrunk and narrowed, their mouths were agape slightly, and all the colour on their faces had fled leaving behind a pale yet terrified look.
“Celestia?” Twilight asked, terrified about the princess’ sudden reaction. Had she said something she wasn’t supposed to?
“No… It can’t be…” Her frightened and equally paled voice seemed to scare everypony more than Twilight’s nightmare.
The three remained frozen in fear, until Celestia took a deep breath, forced a serious face on her muzzle, and said “Luna, Discord, Come!”
She then turned to the door and trotted towards it, just as Discord and Luna snapped out of their paralyzed trances and turned to the princess of the sun.
Discord snapped himself to Celestia’s side, a still fearful look on his face. “Celestia! You don’t suppose Twilight’s nightmare was actually…”
The fear in the draconequus’ voice and the seriousness on Celestia’s face seemed to scare and confuse everypony even more. What were they talking about, and what did this have to with Twilight’s nightmare?
“We won’t know for certain until we’ve seen for ourselves.” Celestia said seriously, without turning attention to the spirit that floated beside her.
Luna looked back at Celestia as she was nearing the door.
“He… He can’t be free!” Luna yelled in fear and shock.
Celestia stooped just outside the door, looked back at her sister and calmly said “Hopefully, the seal is still intact and Twilight’s nightmare was just that; a nightmare, nothing more, nothing less.”
Luna just nodded and trotted over to the other side of her sister.
The two sisters looked at each other with a serious and knowing look and nodded in some silent understanding, before Celestia turned to face Discord, who had the same serious and knowing look on his face, and both nodded in the same silent understanding.
Celestia then faced forward and said “Twilight, you, Spike and your friends are to stay in your room until further notice, understood?”
This confused and surprised Twilight and the others as the princess gave them the order.
“What?” Rainbow Dash yelled in shock and confusion. “Why the hay should we?”
“Because I order it.” Celestia stated calmly yet seriously, making Rainbow flinch and lower herself to the floor.
“Whoa nelly.” Applejack said to herself. Sure, she seen the princess get angry and serious, but she’s never seen her this serious before, and by the sound of her voice, she sounded… scared. She didn’t know why, but it appeared that Twilight’s nightmare wasn’t just a regular old nightmare.
“But princess, what is this about?” Twilight asked, as she got off her bed and walked up to the princess, completely confused by the princesses and spirit’s sudden change in behaviour. “Does my nightmare mean something?”
Celestia tensed up and remained silent for a second, before answering. “We’re not sure yet. But until we do, you and your friends will remain confined to your room until further notice.”
“But why? Why can’t I help?” Twilight asked. She wasn’t angry, just confused. What did they know that she didn’t?
“Because we do not need you at the minute...” Celestia was trying hard to keep her calm voice in check, but it was obvious that she was beginning to lose her composure.
“But me and my friends have help Equestria many times before, why can’t we help-” Twilight was also beginning to lose her patience for an explanation for her nightmare, but before she could ask why-
“Because I have said so, and you shall follow that command is THAT UNDERSTOOD, TWILIGHT SPARKLE?!” Celestia yelled in the royal Canterlot voice as she loomed over her former pupil, anger and impatience in her eyes, startling and scaring Twilight and the other ponies.
Twilight was terrified at the minute, perhaps she had taken her princess persona too far or she was too pushy in her curiosity. She shrank back down until her belly was touching the floor, her terrified eyes never leaving the princess’.
“Y… yes… princess…” Twilight whimpered, as she slowly back away from the sun princess, whose eyes followed her until she bumped into the end of the bed rest.
Celestia then turned back to the door and walked out of it before saying one last thing to the ponies and her former pupil. “I’m sorry Twilight, but this is something we have to confirm for ourselves first.”
She then closed the room’s doors behind her and her sister and Discord, leaving the six mares and the young dragon locked in a room of silence.
Nopony said anything for a while, still trying to take in what had been heard and said, until Applejack tried to lighten the mood, seeing as they going anywhere anytime soon.
“So… Twilight?” the orange earth pony asked her lavender alicorn friend, who had gotten up from the floor just stared at the door her mentor just left out of. “How exactly did that nightmare of yours end?”
Twilight said nothing for a few minutes, as she was too ashamed at the way she acted and scared the way Celestia was a moment ago, before deciding to answer her friend’s question.
“I was turned to stone.”
“Have any 3s?” Pinkie Pie asked, holding a set of cards in her hooves.
“Nope, go graze.” Spike replied as he held his own set of cards in his claws.
It had been a few hours since Princess Celestia had left with Luna and Discord and ordered Twilight and her friends to stay in her room until they got back, as evidenced by the moon high in the sky and the dark night covering it in a blanket of stars, and the group had decided to occupy themselves for the time being.
Rarity was sitting by the nearby table with a pen in her mouth and some paper in front of her with new fashion ideas, Rainbow and Applejack were both struggling and turning red in the face as they tried to force the others hoof down their side, having a hoof-wrestling competition to see who was the strongest, and so far it 9-8 to Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike were having a game of ‘go graze’, with Pinkie wining the first three rounds, leaving Twilight looking through many of the books in her room.
Ever since the Princesses and Discord had a change of attitude when she mentioned her nightmare and the creature, who she deduced as this ‘Undern Slate’ character, she began to wonder who exactly Undern Slate was, so she dived into her books, hoping to find some information or at least a clue as to who or what he was and why his name seemed to scare Celestia witless. Unfortunately, all her searches proved fruitless as the stacks of books beside reach quite high up to the celling and at least 2 to 3 books remained on the books shelf.
Applejack and Rainbow had finally dropped from the lack of energy or strength to continue their match and turned to see the mountain of books Twilight had just through. They then saw Twilight groan and toss another useless book onto the pile, before using her magic to levitate another book with a blue cover to her face.
Sharing a glance with each, Rainbow Dash and Applejack silently agreed to find some way to get Twilight to stop her reading before she hurt her eyes. They both looked back at the alicorn princess with worried looks.
“Ya know Twilight; you could try giving those books a break and do something more… I don’t, fun.” Rainbow Dash said, deciding to speak first.
“Well, this is my idea of fun; studying.” Twilight simply said, without turning to look back at the two athletic ponies.
“Twi, we know that yer pretty upset with the way you acted, and we understand that you were just curious as always, but maybe ya should listen to Rainbow and give yer eyes a rest.” Applejack said with concern in her voice. She also had a feeling that there was something else to that nightmare and the Princesses and spirit weren’t telling them the whole story, but after seeing Celestia blow her lid with Twilight, she was more concerned as to how Twilight was dealing with it.
“I thank you for concern, Applejack.” Twilight said, her eyes still glued to the book she was reading. “But I know that my nightmare wasn’t just a nightmare and Celestia is hiding something from us. If I can find out something about this ‘Undern Slate’ I can get a better understanding as to what’s going on, or what’s about to happen.”
“Trust us darling, we all feel the same, but if Celestia has told us to stay out of the way, then it means that this is something that we just aren’t ready for.” Rarity said, overhearing the whole conversation and turned to look at them, the pen she was using was floating by her head with her magic.
Twilight then stood up, dropping the book she was reading turned to face the others, and began to walk towards Rarity with an unhappy look.
“But I’m the one who got the nightmare!” She said loudly with annoyance. “I’m the one who saw that thing and what he had done! If Celestia doesn’t want me to help or get involved with whatever’s happening, how come I’m the one who got the nightmare?” Rarity leaned back, her hoofs rested on the table behind her and supporting her, as Twilight got really close to her face, their horns touching each other.
“Well, maybe… I, uh…” Rarity tried to say, quite scared by the look Twilight was giving her and the invasion of personal space.
Before she could think of something to calm her friend down or before Twilight could argue again, the lavender alicorn was yanked away from the designer by the tail, which was pulled by Applejack.
“Now hold on their Twilight.” Applejack said through grit teeth, before spitting out Twilight’s tail, with an irritated look on her face. “Listen, we all know you’re upset and confused by what’s happened recently, heck, even ah’m confused by what’s goin’ on and annoyed that nopony’s tellin’ us what’s happenin’. But it doesn’t mean ya can just go and take ya frustration on ya friends; it means you should try and listen to ya friends who are just tryin’ to help ya.”
A sad looked appeared on Twilight’s face as she took in what her country friend was saying. She then looked at the others and saw Rainbow’s, Pinkie’s and Spike’s worried looks and Rarity’s and Fluttershy’s scared looks. She then looked at the floor with a shamed look as she realized that Applejack was right; she may be annoyed about not knowing what was going on, but that didn’t mean she had to take it out on her friends.
She stood up from the floor, although her eyes stayed lowered at it, and then turned to Applejack before addressing to her friends.
“You’re right Applejack.” Twilight said, her eyes and head still pointed towards the floor. “I’m sorry everypony, I let my emotions and worries get the best of me. I shouldn’t have taken that frustration out on all of you. I’m sorry.”
The other ponies smiled at their friend’s honesty, happy that she decided to tell them what had been bugging her. Applejack placed her hoof under her friend’s chin and lifted it up so their eyes met, before the farmer wrapped her arms around the lavender alicorn in a warm and friendly hug.
Twilight smiled at her friend’s forgiveness and kindness and returned the hug by wrapping her hoofs around the farmer.
“GROUP HUG!” Yelled Pinkie, as she wrapped her own hooves around Twilight and Applejack, before the others walked over and wrapped their own hoofs/claws around the others, before they were all part of one big group hug.
“Princess Twilight and friends.” A male voice from the direction of the door.
The group opened and turned their eyes towards the door to see two royal stallion guards in their gold armour standing in the opened doorway; one was a dark greyish-brown pegasus, while the other was a caramel brown unicorn, with serious looks on their faces.
After the awkward moment and when the group broke apart, the unicorn stallion cleared his throat before speaking.
“The Princess would like to see you in the throne room, now.”
The large golden doors to the throne room in Canterlot opened to the Mane 6 and Spike, revealing Princess Celestia sitting on her throne facing the door with a serious look on her face, with Luna sitting next to her with the same expression.
Twilight swallowed a lump that had been in her throat on the way down to the throne room, as she and her friends slowly made their way in with their heads and eyes downcast. Twilight began to fear that the way she behaved had made Celestia deem her unworthy of being her presence and was summoning her to the throne room to banish her from Equestria.
The others were not as dramatic or as worried as that, but they were scared that Celestia was still mad at Twilight for speaking out against her and brought her down to punish her. They agreed that if things were as bad, or worse, as they thought, they would step in to defend their friend if they needed to.
As the 6 mares and baby dragon passed by the glass stained windows of past event, the most recent being related to them, they stopped at the base of the throne and bowed to the Princesses, who looked down at them with their stern eyes.
After a brief silence, Twilight decided to see if she could still make amends by apologizing for her actions.
“P...Princess, about what I said before… I’m-”
“I’m sorry.”
Twilight’s eyes widened in confusion and looked up at Celestia to see sad look on her face. The others were also confused by the look on the sun princess’ face, while Luna had an understanding look on her face as she glanced at her sister.
“Ex…cuse me?” Twilight asked, puzzled as to what the princess was apologising for. Hadn’t she been the one that spoke out against her?
“I’m sorry for getting angry with you a while back Twilight.” Celestia said. She had already discussed this with Luna a while ago; Twilight was already wrapped up in this, might as well tell her everything. Taking in a breath, she calmed her nerves and kept her mood as cool as possible. “After hearing of your nightmare and the creature you encountered, it brought back terrible and sad memories from a time long ago. I was scared and feared that your nightmare was only just a nightmare.”
“Only ‘just’ a nightmare?” Rainbow asked, confused as to what the princess was sating. After what Twilight had told them, how can it be anything but a nightmare? “I don’t see how something like what Twilight had could be anything else but a bad dream.”
“A very bad dream.” Rarity added. She also didn’t see how Twilight’s nightmare could be special; apart from the fact that Princess Luna couldn’t sense and that just from being told of it will leave her having similar nightmares for weeks.
Celestia and Luna exchanged a look and nodded in agreement, deciding that Luna should explain what they knew.
“As you all know, now that Twilight Sparkle has become a princess, she has been given a lot of duties and abilities that come from it.” Luna said.
“Like getting wings.” Applejack said.
“Being able to fly.” Rainbow Dash said.
“Having to attend royal meetings.” Fluttershy added.
“Getting her very own castle.” Rarity said.
“Getting to eat as many treats as she wants.” Said Pinkie Pie, with a goofy smile. Her smile fell when she noticed that everypony was giving her weird looks. “What? She’s allowed to, isn’t she?”
“Anyway…” Luna said, deciding to get back on topic before they fell off track. “One of the many gifts that Twilight is granted is the ability to receive visions of future events; be they ones of prosperity and good, or those of catastrophe and darkness.”
“And y’all think that that nightmare Twilight was one of those visions?” Applejack said, starting to get on where the princesses were going with this.
“Yes, although we hoped her first vision would be less dire than the one she just witnessed.” Luna explained, wearing a face of sadness and uncomforting.
“But… but I don’t get it?” Twilight said, still not understanding what her nightmare meant or why the princesses were so scared of it. “What does it mean? Is Equestria in trouble? Does that creature have something to do with it?”
Celestia stayed silent, as did her sister, for brief second to gather the words needed to explain what she was going to discuss with them.
“If your nightmare turns out to be true, then yes; I fear all of Equestria may be in grave danger.” Celestia said, unnerving the young ponies and dragon. She then looked down at Twilight. “You remember the creature you encountered, yes?”
Twilight nodded, taking in what Celestia was saying and preparing herself for what she was going to say.
“His name was and still is Undern Slate.” Celestia said.
Next Time: Chapter 2: Unden, the Monster of Disharmony! Discord’s futile Struggle!
“Out of all the threats to Equestria, Undern is by far the greatest threat in existence.” Celestia said, her face turning dark as she remembered the strength and power he had possessed in the days of old.
“DISCORD!” Everyone yelled in shock, surprise and fear, his still form remained still and continued to bleed.
“What form of trickery is this?” Roared Tirek, pointing to the creatures before, demanding an answer.
“You forget…boy. I taught you… how to master your magic… as I did with Celestia… Luna… Starswirl… and many others in the days of old…” The cloaked figure weakly breathed out, the cold air turning his breath into a steamy mist.
“Still… as strong as… ever I see.” Discord groaned as he struggled to get up on his feet, as the pain in his chest grew with every struggle.
“What… WHAT THE HAY WAS THAT THING?” Rainbow said, as he brain struggled to register what she had just witnessed.
