Ember's Endeavors: Apocalypse

The Ender: PART 1
~Inferno Agner~

“For millenia, we have protected the Omniverse from the monster lurking within Riftspace. Now, after so many lost realms, we must do all that we can to preserve that which we know. It is now time, my son. Go, enter the magical realm of Equestria. Monitor it. This is your ultimate goal: whatever the cost, maintain peace all throughout, do not let it’s fate be so much like so many others.”

I woke with a start. Around me, all curtains were closed. It was absolutely dark, yet it looked like the walls were under a lamp.

“Discord, Chrysalis! Are you there?“ I shouted through the wall.

“We are, what’s the matter?” Chrysalis replied.

“I had a dream. My father was talking to me, before I came here. He told me about something dangerous, but I don’t know what he meant. I think it might be why I’m here in the first place. You can come in, you two.”

The door slid open, revealing the worried faces of a serpentine chimaera and a changeling.

“I’m fine, honest.”

“You don’t look like you are, come on, let’s get you some nutrition,” Discord replied, blinking as if to make a point.

I climbed out of bed, flipping a corner out of my way. My tail automatically flicked back, expertly pressing the blanket back into it’s normal configuration, then retracted and settled. I began slowly making my way to the door’s entrance.

“Are you really okay? You’re sweating,” Chrysalis asked again.

“I told you, I’m fi-” My voice cut out as every muscle in my body locked up, and I hit the ground. Dark thoughts began to enter my head. Thoughts filled with disaster: smoking ruins, wilted orchards, fractured shorelines, all being consumed by a blackness deeper than the darkest shadow. My breath came out in short, raspy bursts. My lungs began to burn.

“It... it’s...” Was all I was able to gasp out before I passed out.

Inside my unconscious mind, I could feel a large blob of nothing floating inches from my beak.

“Hunger...” It hissed, blowing a faint stream of energy at my mind. It stank of rotting flesh and burning greenery. It swirled itself around my true form, enclosing me in a tight shroud. “I have found you... and I am coming...”

I began to squirm, flailing my arms as fast as I could, but to no avail. My arms passed through the black mist, even while it compressed my very being. The only thing I could see, a pit ontop of black, became fuzzy. It was an unstoppable force, a wall I could overcome. I was losing.

Suddenly, a fierce blast of pure red tore through the shadowy cocoon. It ripped through, leaving gaping holes. I took the opportunity and flapped my wings, pushing myself through the energy-bound world into a glowing orb.

“Ah, my son, there you are. As I cannot destroy it now, I will hold it off for as long as I can, make your escape to your conscious existence. Tell them,” a beautiful voice chimed. I felt a hand on my head. It rubbed back and forth, tousling my crest. I smiled.

A force of incredible power sucked my body into a rift I hadn’t seen before.

“...not joking around, we need to take him to the Hospital, Discord!” Queen Chrysalis’ voice slowly focused in my mind.

I groaned. “Ugh... Pick me up, I still can’t move my legs,” I cut in. “I have to tell you something, but it’ll be in Canterlot, with the Princesses.”

They gasped simultaneously.

“We thought you were dying, Ember.”

“I was, but you can’t expect me to...” Fear began to encircle my mind again. “No...no no no. Come on, we have to get to the Princess.”

“Okay, but hold on,” Discord said while grabbing me, flinging me over his shoulder like a sack of flour, and walked down the staircase and out into the sunlight. He snapped his fingers, letting his power flow. In a split second, he, Chrysalis and I were before the regal forms of Celestia and Luna.

“What are you doing here?” they both asked.

“We’re here on business. The kind that might just stop the apocalypse,” Discord replied for me, shifting me about.

They looked surprised, so I looked into their eyes. Instantly, our minds were connected.

“The world you know is in grave danger. In aproximately three months, a monstrous entity will consume your entire realm, destroying everything and empowering it at the same time. It’s a blob of sentient shadows we call the Ender. It feeds off of the energies of universes, and actively seeking them. Only our reigning deities can stop it, but they control and protect other worlds, leaving all others vulnerable. An attack of sufficient power can severely damage it, but only one thing can destroy it entirely; holy fire. Unfortunately, I’m too weak. Even at full power, I can do little more than annoy it. Nothing I can do will slow it, much less stop it,” I empathized.

“You tell us of an impending apocalypse that can be stopped, and you have the gall to tell us we’re doomed?”

“Yes, I am sorry.”

“Ember Matriax, you are the most powerful of us all, and you have protected us many times. We have seen you perform the impossible, and now you do nothing? Unthinkable. Even though you will not be able to stop the destruction of our world alone, we will do anything and everything we can to stop this... thing from destroying our only home.”

“How? None of my bretheren have done what you intend, we’re all doomed!” Fear welled in my mind for the third time, while tears appeared, unbeknownst to me.

“We may be doomed, but we will go out fighting,” Luna finally said. Her words strummed at me like a musician to a lyre.

“Fine, you’ll find some way to annoy it more while we wait.” I blinked, breaking the link.

Discord set me down after he felt the pulse from the Empathy-link breaking and said; “Ember, what if we gather as much energy as we can from every unicorn, and you use it to attack that thing. We may win if we do it.”

“You heard? How?“ I asked, surprised at the creature who belonged with so many and none at all.

“I figured out the names and talents of each of the Mane 6 by reading their minds, and I did roughly the same thing here.“

I stared at him in wonder for well over a minute, until Chrysalis broke in.

“If it’ll help any, I’ll send my subjects out to get energy from the earth ponies and pegasus ponies.”

“I... I didn’t think of that. My fear was blinding me,” I replied to her sheepishly.

“It’s nothing, just give that bulemic world-swallower something to chew on.”

She smiled, we all laughed. Little did they know it would be one of the last times they would laugh in a long while....