Prologue - The Darkness that Lurks in the Past
The boy couldn't believe his eyes. The two that stood before him seemed to tower over him like the gods themselves. Not the heavy rain, nor the howling wind, nor the thunderclaps could break this vision. The almighty twins stared each other down with nothing but hate and determination.
The one left of the boy's hiding place was the hero of the dragons; He slew the masked beast that possessed their king and saved their country. The man smiled as if he owned the world and everything on it. That smile reflected off of the blood-red sword that he held in both hands, raised next to his head and pointed at his enemy. The one to the boy's right was a masked enigma: the man that saved his life and trained him, but who also threatened to kill all that the boy loved in the world. The masked man had a thick, black-bladed long sword drawn and at the ready.
"There was a time," the hero spoke, "where I respected your kind. You were fearless, noble, and wise." He chuckled. "But... that's just it! Your fatal flaw was the very intelligence and foresight you possessed! You simply saw too much, and it lead to your destruction."
"I don't care about the past," the masked one said with rage. "The only thing that matters right now is your existence! You took something from me that I will never be able to get back! And now..." The masked warrior walked with purpose towards the hero, "...you give me back everything I once had, and more!"
The two suddenly ran towards each other. The boy could only watch in awe as the gods clashed, creating a blinding lightning strike that soon shook the world apart.
Jack shot upright as he awoke from the nightmare, causing a yelp to arise from beside his bed. He looked over to the source with anxiety, adrenaline still coursing through his body. There sat Spike, a young, purple and green dragon, rubbing the butt he just fell on. "Jeez, Jack," Spike groaned, "I was just trying to wake you up! There's no need to scare the scales off my back!"
"S-sorry," Jack replied in his neutral British accent, "you startled me. Speaking of which, why do I need to get up? It's Sunday."
Spike stood and glared at the human. "Did you already forget?! It's also Twilight's birthday today, and you said that you'd help me out with the gift!" Spike angrily, but quietly said. Jack's hand shot to his head in disbelief. How could he have forgotten?! He barely slept at the thought!
The young man threw the covers off of himself and leaped out of bed, hurrying to clothe himself for the day ahead! It took only a few minutes to change out of his PJ's and into his signature green and white flannel shirt, and a pair of dark brown trousers, both of which the lovely Rarity had made for him upon his arrival in Equestria. He slipped on his worn, brown work boots that AJ gave to him when he started to work on her farm, and ran for the door with Spike in tow.
Running out into the hallway, the duo made their way out of the crystal palace that they both called home. Luckily for them both, it seemed the princess was busy with her work at the moment. They made their way to the only place that they could focus and considerate on the task at hand.
"So," Jack wondered out loud as they walked into Sugar Cube Corner, "what to get...? What to get...?"
"Well, I want the usual: Pinkie's dragon special!" he announced. "Who's think that a chocolate cupcake with overly-pale tanzanite would be so~ good!"
Jack rolled his eyes and placed the correct amount of bits on the front counter. "No, I meant for Twilight, Spike," he explained as Pinkie Pie instantly placed their order in front of them. Jack briefly considered wondering how Pinkie knew his order before hand, but then quickly thought against it. After all, he was thinking about the mare that had once tried to ask him on a date by dressing up in a schoolgirl uniform and called him a "baka" and... you know.
"Oh," Spike said, embarrassed as they walked over to an empty table. "Well it should be something that she'd use every day."
"A book," they both said in unison. Both thought it was rather odd to give her anything else after the the thought.
"But what kind of book? What hasn't she read about already!" Jack exclaimed.
The young dragon shrugged. "I dunno... I heard her talking about humans with princess Luna a couple of weeks ago. Maybe we could snag the collector's addition of a book on human history?" he suggested.
The human snorted. "Yea, like she doesn't have all of them already..." Jack groaned. It quickly donned on the both off them that this would be no simple task. The legendary librarian Princess simply had all of the books that she could ever want or need. "We need something not open to the public... something rare! Spike, I know where to look!"
The room was dark, but not cold. It was comfortable for the inhabitant of the room: a faceless figure, hooded by a gray cloak. on the bar in front of him sat a glass of milk, as well as the substitute face of the figure. The mask was a necessity for it, since it's face was stolen three years ago. The figure took the glass and took a sip. The milk was warm and rich with magic, a rarity in the world that the figure had been living in.
"Couldn't sleep, huh?" a female voice whispered from the other end of the room. The figure instinctively reached for it's face, but did not retrieve it. There was no need to hide, she'd seen it faceless before. An emerald dragoness soon joined the figure at the bar, sitting directly to it's left. "Neither could I... had the dream about her," she explained.
The figure understood her plight: it has had similar dreams, but that was not why it was awake at this hour. The dragoness poured herself a glass of magic milk and finished her first glass quickly. "You're unusually quiet tonight," she pointed out while pouring another glass. After a moment of silence, she let out a small sigh. "If you're going to be adamant about staying silent, then let's play a little game."
The figure looked slightly in it's friend's direction. "If I'm right, you nod. If I'm wrong, then you shake. Sound good?" The figure shrugged. It had nothing to hide. With a smile, the dragoness continued. "Okay then.... hmm," she pondered. "You are... scared?" The figure nodded immediately. "About tomorrow?" The figure nodded again. "Well, that was the easy part, but what are you afraid of?"
After pondering the thought, the dragoness sighed. "I don't know. We've taken almost everything into account." With a huff, she began to stare at the ceiling. "That just leaves the little secret you told me, doesn't it?" The figure gripped it's glass harder. "Judging by that reaction, it does." After a second of silence, the figure nodded.
The dragoness took a sip of the milk and sighed. "You're... scare of them killing you?" The figure shook it's head. She was wrong, they wouldn't be able to kill the figure. "Then what about vice versa?" Again, it shook it's head. It had it's powers under control, it could defeat them without killing. The dragoness have a huff of frustration. She finished her glass before guessing again. "Then, you are afraid of..." she said to herself mostly.
"...them not believing," the figure finished. "It's been three years since they've seen me." The dragoness looked over to the figure. His tone was sad and quiet. "Once the primary threat to them has been eliminated, I'll have to explain everything."
"So?"
"She's her mother, who's been dead for a long time now," he explained. "If I told you that your dead mother was —"
"Okay," she said, raising her claw to stop him. Said claw moved to hug her close friend. "Everything will be fine, Boss."
The boss sighed and prayed that she was right. If he failed to kill the threat, then all he would have to go on was his word, which was nothing compared to the web of lies his enemy had woven.
Books. Books as far as the eye can see. Jack smiled at the sight, Dalton wasn't exaggerating when he said the library in the castle he and the princess had stayed in was filled with books. They lined the walls and would fill the room completely if not for the tables and chairs scattered throughout the space. Jack took a deep breath, letting the familiar scent of old tomes fill his lungs, just like he had done when Dalton had first showed Jack the castle.
The duo wasted no time rummaging through the vast amounts of literature for something to give to Twilight. There were so many books that it took quite a while. After about half an hour of searching by himself in a corner of the library, Jack found quite the curious book. "The Four Masks of Soul: Mask number one - The Dragon... Interesting."
A hand suddenly wrapped around Jack's mouth from behind, silencing him as another held him still. "You need to leave, kid," whispered a familiar voice. "Be as silent as possible. If you hear moving, close your eyes and wait for the sound to leave. Do. Not. Look. It. In. The. Eyes."
The hands moved away from Jack, letting him turn slowly to find a cloaked figure. The yellow fox mask gave him away immediately. "Keaton..." Jack whispered as he saw Spike unconscious in the figure's arms. Keaton grabbed the book from the "kid's" hand and placed it on the floor quietly. He grabbed a random book from the shelf and handed it to Jack, along with a letter from inside his cloak. "Keaton, I have to ask —"
"No, you don't." He looked carefully at the door, as if hiding from something that wasn't there. "Follow." His command was quiet, but stern enough to show that he wasn't fucking around. The humans made their way to the door, and Keaton carefully opened it, peaking around the doorway.
They hugged the wall as they made their way to the entrance of the castle. Before they rounded the corner, Keaton stopped, as so to did Jack. It didn't take long for Jack to notice why.
The clacking of what sounded like scales, or something like scales hitting the stone of the floor. Keaton quickly handed Jack the small drake and peered around the corner. He instantly moved back against the wall.
"I can smell you, tribesman!" A garbled, distorted voice called out.
Jack looked to Keaton fiddling with something on his wrist. When he was done, Keaton motioned for jack to keep his eyes down as they walked.
The two rounded the corner, the clacking getting louder with each step they took. Jack pressed Spike's head into his chest in fear of what was right in front of him.
There was the sudden swish of something being flung through the air.
*BANG*
The sound echoed through the halls of the castle only for a second, before a shriek filled Jack's heart with horror. He felt something pulling him forwards. "Stairs," Keaton's voice whispered. They descended the front steps of the castle and ran past the gate.
They didn't stop until they were at the edge of Ponyville. "The train to Canterlot leaves in thirty minutes. Here," he said before thrusting a pair of tickets into Jack's already full hands. "The party's been moved to Canterlot on orders of Princess Celestia, or so he'd like you to think." With that, Keaton turned and began to walk into the forest.
"Wait!" Jack yelled, panicked. "I have so many questions! Who is Elizabeth?! Who are you?!"
But it was already too late. The man had vanished into the darkness of the forest.
