Symphony of Destruction

Chapters

Chapter 1: Some Unexpected Guests
Chapter 2: A Royal Emissary
Chapter 3: Infiltration
Chapter 4: The Device
Chapter 5: The Return of Destruction
Chapter 6: Last Dusk
Chapter 7: An Heir to Hope
Chapter 8: The Last Alicorn

Chapter 1: Some Unexpected Guests

Chapter 1: Some Unexpected Guests

“Please tell me that’s not what I think is. It can’t be… is that a…” Twilight Sparkle was interrupted by the sound of a shrieking pony.

“A DRAAGGOOONNN!” she cried at the top of her lungs, signaling for everypony around her to look to the sky, and run for their lives in terror.

“It is…” murmured spike.

The giant, dark green dragon flew overhead Ponyville with its maw agape and roaring loudly. With ponies shrilling and running out of the town square as fast as they could, the dragon began to lose altitude, coming down for a hard landing. As he lowered himself down, his rear claw knocked over the stone statue of Princess Celestia, and with a short uplift of his wings, he managed to crash quite a ways away, his head crashing through the door of the library. With his rather poor landing complete, he stood up on his legs, his head thrashing around in the library as he tried to free himself. His massive tail swung around in his furry, striking the houses next to him and tearing up the street.

Twilight Sparkle ran down the ruined road, her assistant running alongside her as she made her way down the ruined street. As she approached the dragon, she looked inside of her ruined library, and beheld a most unusual sight. The dragon was flicking his long snake-like tongue out, and was eating her books. This made her quite furious, “Hey, my books! Get out of here you brute!” she yelled, grasping onto his tail with her magic, and tugging him backwards, making his head pop out of the entryway.

The dragon turned around to glare at her with his sinister yellow eyes. With a roar, he opened his maw and spat fire down at her. In an instant, Twilight and Spike vanished, teleporting out of sight. In his frustration, the dragon swung his massive claw at the spot where she once stood, crashing into buildings next to him, sending them into ruin. Behind him, a bolt of magic struck the back of the dragons head, making him dizzy for a moment. He turned around in anger at the purple unicorn before him, and lunged down with his huge teeth agape, poised to devour Twilight Sparkle. She fired another massive magic bolt at him, which the dragon would have to settle for devouring instead. He shook his head and screeched in pain as the powerful magic burnt his mouth.

As he spread his wings, the dragon took flight high into the sky, and dove down, shooting streams of hot dragon’s fire down onto the road. Twilight managed to extinguish all of it, and shielded herself from the flames as they struck her. Before the dragon was able to fly back upwards, Twilight grasped his tail with her magic again, bringing the beast crashing down to the ground. Twilight Sparkle galloped right up to the monsters face, “Now beat it you big jerk!” she said angrily. She shot several more magic bolts at the dragon’s rear, making him squeal out as he hurried to his feet and began to fly away. The dragon turned to her, hissing angrily before he flew off into the distance.

Spike came running back to Twilight, huffing as he caught his breath, “Twilight! Are you ok?” he asked

Twilight Sparkle nodded to him, turning her head to where the dragon had flown off, “What in the name of Celestia was a full grown dragon doing in Equestria… and why was he attacking Ponyville… and why was he eating my books?!” she asked herself, quite upset at the loss of her reading material.

Twilight trotted back to her library to assess the damage. Being as organized as she was, she had cataloged every book in the library, “Doesn’t look like anything important was lost Twilight, not anything that we can’t get replaced” said Spike, looking over the logs, and missing books. As he looked over the damage Spike chuckled, “Maybe he was ‘hungry’ for knowledge?”

Twilight Glared at him, “Hungry enough to smash up Ponyville, and try and burn me alive?” she said sarcastically. She tapped her hoof to her chin curiously, “I should tell my friends about this, they’d want to know something like this happened, if they didn’t already hear it. Well, except Fluttershy. We’ll also need to send a letter to Princess Celestia as soon as possible.” The unicorn shook her head at the mess of broken rubble that made up her entry way, and her bookshelves, “See what you can do about this mess Spike, I’m going to go make sure nopony outside is hurt.”

Outside, most of the ponies were huddled inside their homes, a few of them peeking outside to check the skies. Twilight looked around, and saw no sign of the dragon, “It’s alright everypony! The dragon is gone and it’s safe to come out!” she yelled. Slowly but surely, the ponies began to come out of their homes. Shaken and scared, they began to gossip and chatter amongst themselves with all of their questions being about the mysterious attack that had just taken place. Twilight inspected the homes that had been damaged by the dragon’s furious blows, and was relieved to find that nopony had been hurt in them. She went straight to work repairing the minor damage to the houses with her magic, making sure that all the wooden planks and nails were securely in place. Before she left again, she turned to the crowed of frightened ponies, “Don’t worry everypony, I promise I’ll get to the bottom of this attack! Try to stay safe until then!” she cried out, before she ran back to her library.

Spike waving at Twilight from the entrance of the Library, he was pointing to a scroll he held in his claw, “Twilight! You got a letter from Princess Celestia! Maybe she already knows something about the dragon attack?” he asked inquisitively as he handed her the letter.

Twilight took the letter delicately, and read it aloud as she walked into the Library:

To my Most Faithful Student,

I have a very important job for you dear Twilight Sparkle. One of my oldest and closest friends, Silverlight Aardunkay, has come to visit me in Equestria after he has been away for a very long time. Unfortunately, I will be away on pressing business in Manehattan until the dawn of next day. I would ask that you welcome him to Equestria, and provide him escort until I can arrive myself to meet him on the following morning. This is a great task I appoint to you my student, for the Silverlight and I have not spoken in many years, and it is most important that he is made to feel welcome and respected after such a long stay away from our country. I have the utmost respect for the Silverlight, and I trust that you will show abject humility, and honor before my old friend. I believe that you and Mr. Aardunkay will have much to discuss, as he is well versed in the history of ancient Equestria. Silverlight Aardunkay will arrive at the northern edge of the Whitetail Wood at the fourth hour of the day. He has received a message from me, and is expecting my student to represent me in my absence. Please do this, and preserve the good name of Equestria, and of myself. Oh, and do not forget to bring your number one assistant, Spike!

Sincerely,
Your always loving teacher,
Princess Celestia

Twilight sparkle, although indeed honored to welcome such a guest to Equestria, was a bit perplexed at her situation. She had planned to send the princess a letter, but she didn’t want to bother her on her important business. And if she was to meet the princess’ friend in Whitetail Wood, there would be nopony left in town to protect them if a dragon should come back. An idea came to her, and she pulled out a blank scroll and began to jot down a quick note. She handed the letter to her assistant, “Spike, please send this letter to my brother, Shining Armor.”

Spike sent the letter on its way with his magic green fire, but he looked to Twilight a bit confused, “But, I thought we were going to send a letter to the princess?” he asked.

Twilight shook her head, “We shouldn’t bother the princess while she’s on royal duty, but we also can’t leave Ponyville undefended if we’re to meet the princess’ friend. So I wrote a letter to my brother, asking him to send a legion of Canterlot Soldiers to guard Ponyville in our place! They should be able to handle anything that comes while we’re away!” she said, feeling proud of her quick action, “Come on Spike let’s get the rest of this mess cleaned up while we wait for the soldiers to arrive, then we can make for Whitetail Wood.”

Only an hour later, a multitude of gold armored Pegasus soldiers showed up. The citizens of Ponyville looked quite relieved to see them. One of them, whom were dressed quite exquisitely, approached Twilight Sparkle, “Twilight Sparkle? Lieutenant Steele Hooves reports as ordered.” He gave her a salute, “Captain Armor has assigned the 2nd division royal Pegasus Guard to keep watch over Ponyville. Your brother sends his regards, and says that we are the finest fighting Pegasus soldiers in the legion!” he said with pride.

Twilight smiled to him, and returned his salute, “Thank you so much Lieutenant, you keeping Ponyville safe means the world to me.” She stepped outside with the Lieutenant, “I was ordered by the Princess to welcome an old friend of hers to Equestria, and cannot be here to defend the city myself.” She said with concern.

Outside, the Pegasus guards were taking up positions around Ponyville, keeping a close eye in the skies, and around every corner, and on every street, “If I might ask ma’am, is there any reason for this sudden demand in defense?” Steele Hooves asked curiously.

She looked a bit unwilling to tell him, but eventually she sighed and spoke, “I won’t lie to you Lieutenant, just before I received my orders from Princess Celestia, Ponyville was attacked by a dragon. He wasn’t the biggest, and certainly not the bravest dragon I’ve ever seen, I was able to send him flying away with just a few magic stings. But it was a dragon none the less, and I don’t want Ponyville undefended while I attend my duties.”

Steele Hooves was a bit taken back for a moment at this information, but his resolution did not falter. He held his head high, “The 2nd Division Guard will not let a single harm come to Ponyville Twilight Sparkle! I swear it on my life!” he said confidently.

Twilight Sparkle smiled and patted his golden breastplate with her hoof, “I know you will Lieutenant Hooves!” She bowed to him politely, before she returned to her library to prepare for her journey.

“Come along spike! We don’t want to be late for the Princess’s Guest!” she said, as she packed the last few items into her satchel. Spike prepared a small pack for himself as well, which mostly consisted of snacks. After another second of rummaging through his sweets, he jumped out of the kitchen, beaming with excitement as they two trotted out of the library, and made their way to Whitetail Wood.

In the past few years, the young dragon, Spike, had grown a few inches. Not from greed, or other draconic desires, but simply from the passage of time. While he would normally be sitting on the back of Twilight for such journeys, his legs now permitted him to carry perfectly fine by himself. He stood now at eye level with her, and his voice was perhaps just a few pitches deeper. None the less, the young dragon had retained his good and moral nature at his stay in Ponyville, and had remained ever faithful to Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Celestia. Twilight had grown as well, but not by much, as she was nearly a fully grown mare already. But she had grown more talented, and powerful with her use of magic, to such a degree that Princess Celestia began to entrust her with much more important missions. It was true, although the princess didn’t like putting her beloved student in harm’s way, she knew that she could not keep her safe forever, and she needed to be tested, if she were ever to improve herself.

The two would trot on and eventually reach the edge of Whitetail wood. The trees were particularly green this time of year, and it made for wonderful scenery for Twilight Sparkle as she walked along the path. Being as punctual as she was, the unicorn arrived at the clearing at the northernmost part of the wood at almost exactly four o’clock pm. She waited diligently for Silverlight to appear, but after ten minutes of nothing, she began to grow a bit impatient.

“This IS the right spot, isn’t it?” she asked herself, taking another glance at her surroundings.

Spike began to grow a bit bored, and let his mind wander, “I wonder what this Silverlight guy looks like anyway, and just how the princess knows him…” he asked to himself curiously.

“I’m a little curious about that too. But I’m a little excited to talk to him if he’s an expert on ancient Equestrian history! I just hope he shows up soon.” She said as she checked the position of the sun.

“He must be one of those royal types, you know, always likes to make others wait on them. Am I right?” he asked her grinning.

Twilight however, had her head turned towards the sky, with her jaw agape, “Oh no… not again…”

Spike looked confused, “What is it Twilight?” he asked. But as he too turned his head towards the sky, he would find out the cause of her concern, as a great shadow covered them, the size of the creature landing blotting out the sun. From the sky, an enormous dragon hovered swooped down into the clearing in front of him. The large dragon was a shimmering, dark silver color. He had fins atop of his head, and one that protruded out of his chin, making it look a bit like a beard. The large bright beast had a rather regal look to him. He landed softly in the grassy clearing, sitting onto his haunches, and folding his wings up neatly, before he gently turned his gaze to the small purple unicorn and dragon before him.

With a panicked look on her face, Twilight backed away into a patch of trees, trying to take at least some cover against the monster before her. She glared at him, and her horn sparked and flickered with magic as she prepared to defend herself. The dragon looked at her nonchalantly, blinking at her with his soft white slit eyes, “Do you speak for Celestia?” he asked, his voice, although loud, was not overly harsh or demanding.

Twilight Sparkle gingerly crept out from the trees, her horn still glowing with magic, “Y-yes… Who are you?” she asked wearily.

“I am Silverlight Aardunkay. I admit I am surprised. I was told you were to be expecting me, and here I am. But you do not look quite as welcoming as I was expecting myself.” He said, raising a scaled brow at her.

Twilight’s jaw dropped and she gasped. Her magic faded away from her horn, and she slowly crept out of her cover, “YOU are Princess Celestia’s guest?” She took a moment to recollect herself, “I’m sorry, I uh… I wasn’t exactly expecting a dragon… I had a rather unpleasant run in with one just earlier today.” As she approached him, she bowed politely, regaining her composure, “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I’m here to welcome you back to Equestria.” She said formally.

The Silverlight returned a bow to her, then laid down on his belly, his forearms draped out before him neatly, "A run in with another dragon, I will have to confer that with the princess when she arrives..." he shook his head and returned his attention back to Twilight, “Greeting’s Twilight Sparkle, it is an honor to meet you. Princess Celestia has spoken most highly of you.” Silverlight Aardunkay curled his head, looking at Spike, whom was still hiding behind the tree cover, “Young Carthanax is that you I see?” he asked looking to the little purple dragon.

Twilight turned to Spike for a moment, and tilted her head at Aardunkay, “Carthanax? Oh you mean Spike, he’s my faithful assistant.”

Aardunkay turned his head curious away from him, still keeping an eye on spike, “Oh is that what they have taken to calling you” he curled up his scaled lips in a slight grin, “Perhaps not such a fitting name for a dragon I think. Come here Carthanax, let me take a look at you.” He said, beckoning to spike gently with his regal silver claw.

Slowly Spike crept out from the trees and stood next to Twilight, “Uh… hello sir…” he said, still trembling slightly.

The Silver dragon bowed to him, “You need not fear me little Carthanax. I did not keep you safe as an egg only to lay harm to you now!” he said with a slight chuckle.

Spike’s eyes lit up at this, his fear disappearing, “As an egg… you know my parents? Are you, my father?” he asked slowly, with wonderment in his eyes.

“No, no dear spike. But I was charged with keeping you safe as an egg, and delivering you to Princess Celestia.” Silverlight saw the confusion in both Twilight and Spike’s eyes and he turned his head away some, “Ah, more mysteries from Celestia. Perhaps this is a subject that is best addressed to you by her. Now then, Twilight Sparkle, I will follow your lead until the morrow, when Princess Celestia arrives.” He said, raising his head slightly, and holding out a silver claw politely.

Twilight Sparkle was bewildered, at the idea of finally finding out the origins of her dearest assistant. But she had work to do for now, and she felt confident her questions would be answered when the princess arrived, “Well sir, I live just on the other side of this wood in a town called Ponyville. I’d very much like to show it to you, except…”

“Except that they may not be so used to seeing a very much full grown dragon there, much as you first were?” he asked slyly.

“Exactly…. Well… perhaps if I explain to them the situation they’ll understand. I mean, you are a royal guest, and I know if the princess can trust you, my friends will!” she said confidently, “But, I hope you won’t be offended if they may be a little, initially erm, shocked.” She said, putting on a grin, “And I did promise Princess Celestia that I would give you all the comforts and respects you deserved, and I will do just that, Ponyville’s caution be damned!” She kneeled again before the Silverlight, and motioned him to follow her along the path.

The Large dragon sat up, and walked slowly behind the unicorn, having to take quite slow and tedious steps. He spoke as he walked behind her, “Perhaps there is something I can do that would aid them in their adjusting to my presence?” he suggested.

Twilight turned to him, “Oh? And what might that be sir?”

The dragon stopped, and closed his eyes. He began to chant something under his breath, and a wave of wind began to swirl around him. Twilight could feel a presence emanating from him, a very magical one. As the earth creaked underneath him, Twilight could slowly see the dragon begin to change. His form stayed exactly as it always was, except for it was slowly growing smaller. With every passing moment he continued to shrink, more, and more, until he was about twice the size of a griffon. Twilight looked at him with surprise, “I… I didn’t know dragons could use magic!”

The now much smaller silver dragon nodded to her, “It is a skill we have very recently learned to use,” He said as he continued to trot along with twilight.

“That is just… amazing! If you don’t mind me saying Mr. Silverlight, ponies in Equestria know hardly anything about dragons! I hope you’ll forgive my excitement!” she said skipping along in her step, quite giddy to get to see the ability of such a dragon. Indeed, it was true most ponies of Equestria knew virtually nothing about dragons, save for the little purple dragon that waddled around in Ponyville from time to time, and of course the five hundred year dragon migration, a brief but spectacular occurrence. The exception to this was the princesses, whom knew more about dragons in fact, than most dragons knew.

After they walked a ways down the woods, Twilight turned to Silverlight, to ask him a question that had been gnawing at the back of her mind, “Mr. Silverlight? If I may ask, how do you know the princess?”

Aardunkay walked, turning his head to the sky as he though, “Hmm that was a very long time ago you see. I first met the princess fifteen hundred years ago, to the day I believe. Yes, met her then, as did all dragons of the time, but I believe I was the only dragon of that time whom would remember her,” he said as his memories brought him to the past.

“And why would you be the only one to remember her sir?” she asked again, her curiosity going wild.

The old dragon sighed, “I think because after I first met her, I would miss her,” he said with a hint of sorrow on his face, which he quickly shook off.

“Was she much like she is now?” Twilight asked.

“Oh yes. The princess has always been very caring of all things,” he smiled, “And very mysterious to reveal things to those she cares about! But, I suppose that’s because she would like those she cares about to learn things on their own, instead of relying on her so much,” he finished with a nod.

Twilight Sparkle smiled warmly at this and nodded, “She has been a wonderful teacher for me. I feel truly blessed to be her prodigy student. I don’t think I’d have learned half as much as I have without her!” she said with joy, remembering the caring teachings of her dearest mentor.

Just over the next hill, the town of Ponyville could be seen in the distance, “Oh, is that your town Twilight Sparkle? And it looks like some Pegasai are coming to greet us.” he said as he sat down, admiring the view of the little town.

Twilight Sparkle gasped as she saw the Pegasus approaching them “And… they’re coming to greet us quite rapidly. And they’re coming with spears… Oh dear, this might be a bit more difficult than I thought.”

Chapter 2: A Royal Emissary

“That’s it men! Circle him up! Spears at the ready! Hurry Twilight Sparkle, get away from him while you can!” shouted Lieutenant Steele Hooves. His Pegasus soldiers were aiming their spears at the silver dragon, trying to corner him.

Twilight Sparkle jumped in front of Steele Hooves, glaring at him angrily, “Lieutenant! Order your soldiers to back away at once!” she commanded.

The Lieutenant brushed her aside, aiming his spear at Aardunkay, his face looking ready for battle, “Stand aside Twilight, we’ve got this monster cornered!”

Twilight jumped in front of him again, putting her hoof over his spear, “Lieutenant, this is the princess’s royal guest! You WILL order your soldiers to stand down!” she said, her voice booming with authority.

Steele Hooves gasped at this, “HE, is the princess’s guest? But… he’s a…” stuttered the Pegasus.

"Yes, he’s a dragon. Now stand down Lieutenant, this is Princess Celestia’s oldest friend, and is to be treated with the utmost respect,” said twilight to the other Pegasus soldiers.

Aardunkay did not look in the least bit threatened by this; he simply sat there calmly, watching the situation as if it did not involve him at all. Lieutenant Steele Hooves raised his hoof to order the soldiers to move away, then he approached the dragon, “Please forgive me sir, in my haste I mistook you for the enemy.”

The Silverlight shook his head, and waved his claw at him peacefully, “It is alright master guard, you are right to take such caution against a dragon, they are not all so friendly as myself.”

Twilight Sparkle approached Steele Hooves and saluted him, “Thank you for your protection Lieutenant, but I have returned from my duty, and can now protect Ponyville myself should threat arise. You may relieve your ponies of duty, and return to Canterlot.”

Steele Hooves returned the Salute, “As you wish Twilight Sparkle” he turned to the dragon, “Farewell my lord, do again forgive me for my haste” he said before bowing, and ordering his Pegasus soldiers to fly off. They took off into the distance, landing at Ponyville, and rounding up the pony soldiers, before they all took off in unison to return to Canterlot.

“Well… that must be an interesting first impression of our fair town…” said Twilight with a blush and a grin on her face.

Aardunkay nodded to her, “Indeed, perhaps the rest of your friends will not be so hasty?” he asked with a smile.

The trio walked down the rest of the hill, and came to the edge of town. As they entered Ponyville, a couple of the ponies in town gasped at the mid-sized dragon walking down their streets. Judging by some of their chatter, the guards must have fore-warned them about the draconic guest that was about to enter. And so they did not flee, or cry out in terror, they simply kept a respectable distance from him, and would often stare at him. Being not as large or ferocious looking did help subside their fears, but all ponies seemed to have an inbred suspicion to dragon kind, no matter how safe or friendly they looked. The way the dragon carried himself helped his appearance too. He had very regal, almost royal walk to him, which was aided by the view of his shimmering, lustrous silver scales.

Twilight approached her library, “This is where I live Mr. Silverlight, the Ponyville library!” she said walking backwards, before she noticed her friends, Applejack, and Big Macintosh where at her entry way. Big Macintosh had his tool set, and appeared to be making repairs on her door.

“Well hey there Twi! I heard the dragon attack while I was out buckin’ apples on the farm, and came over as fast as I could. When I saw what that varmint done to your door, Big Mac ‘n me decided we’d come on over and fix ‘er up for ya!” said Applejack, waving over to Twilight as she took a break from her repairs. She spotted the silver dragon and smiled at him, “Hey there big fella, you a friend of Spike’s?” Applejack didn’t show any fear from the dragon. She figured Twilight had enough sense not to walk up alongside something into town that was going to rip ponies to shreds. And being a dragon, she just figured that he must have had some sort of relation to spike.

Twilight smiled to her friend, “Hello Applejack!” she cleared her throat, “This is the royal guest of Princess Celestia, Silverlight Aardunkay,” she said bowing before the dragon again.

Applejack walked up to him in a friendly manner and stuck out a hoof for him to shake. Aardunkay looked at it for a moment, not quite sure what to do. Eventually AJ grabbed his large claw and gave it a shake, “Good to meet ya Mr. Aardunkay! Name’s Applejack, but you can just call me AJ. I run the famous Apple Family Apple Orchard here in Ponyville!”

Aardunkay smiled at her, returning his claw back to himself, “It is good to meet you AJ. Dare I say that you are the first pony I have met in Ponyville that was not taken aback at the sight of a dragon.”

“Well shoot, seeing ya walk into town next to my good friend Twilight, I figured you two were friends. And any friend of Twi’s is a friend of mine, ain’t mattering how big or scaly! Will ya be staying long in Ponyville Aardunkay?” she asked.

The Silverlight shook his head, “I am afraid not dear AJ. I am only staying in Ponyville for the night, until Princess Celestia returns in the morrow.”

“Aw that’s too bad. Well me and Big Mac were just about to go on a lunch break, would you like to join is sir?” asked Applejack.

The dragon raised an eyebrow, and scratched his scaly chin for a moment, “Hmm, I am rather hungry from my journey… but my diet may not quite be the same as you pony folk. Being in the far lands for so long, my tongue has only acquired the taste of gems.”

Applejack thought to herself for a moment, before she came up with an idea, “Hey! My friend Rarity just got a whole bunch of gems from her last excavation, but then her latest order cancelled. I betchya she’d let ya have some of her gems, see’in as you’re a royal guest and all!”

Twilight jumped at the thought, “Applejack what a great idea! Mr. Silverlight, would you like to follow me to my friend Rarity so we can get you something to eat?”

“Thank you Twilight Sparkle, lead the way,” he turned to Applejack to lift a paw to wave to her, “Goodbye AJ, perhaps we will meet again,” and with that he turned tail around, to follow Twilight Sparkle, the orange earth pony waving away at them.

Twilight and Aardunkay came upon the tall, beautifully decorated, spired building that made up carrousel boutique. She knocked on the door once before entering; the Silverlight was just short enough to be able to make it through the door, albeit he had to duck his head a little. Inside, the unicorn Rarity was cleaning up her supplies, she was rather disappointed to have her large order canceled, but she beamed with joy as she saw her friend, “Twilight, darling how are you?” she said, before she laid eyes upon the luminously scaled Silverlight Aardunkay. She gasped, and her eyes went wide as she gazed at him, “And… who IS your friend?”

“Rarity, this is the Princess’s royal guest, Silverlight Aardunkay. He’s staying in Ponyville until the princess returns from her royal business in the morning” said Twilight.

Rarity knelt gracefully before him, “And what an honor it is to meet such an esteemed guest! Welcome Mr. Aardunkay to Carrousel Boutique, I am Lady Rarity.”

“The honor is mine Miss Rarity” said the silver dragon, placing his claw upon his chest as he bowed to her slightly.

“If you don’t mind me saying Mr. Aardunkay, what a wonderfully exquisite dragon you are!” she said as she walked around him, her eyes gazing at his shiny, well-kept scales, “Forgive my enthusiasm good sir, but I have quite a high taste for all things luminous and beautiful. And your scales certainly don’t fall short of that! Oh I’m surprised you aren’t royal yourself, such poise and dignity you carry yourself with!”

The dragon smiled and pulled his head down slightly, a bit taken back by all of the compliments, “Well thank you dear Rarity…” he could see Spike frowning jealously out of the corner of his eye.

Twilight interrupted her, “The Silverlight was feeling rather hungry after his long journey Rarity, and we were wondering if you might loan him some of your gems, if that’s alright with you of course” asked Twilight Sparkle.

Rarity gasped at this, “Oh but of course! It’s a privilege to have a royal guest over! Please, please, make yourself at home sir, let me just go get those gems for you. And let me make you some tea Twilight, I was just about to pour myself some” she said before running off. She returned later with an entire trunk full of variously colored gems, and carrying two tea cups, which she set on the table for herself and Twilight, “Help yourself Mr. Aardunkay…” she caught sight of Spike, “…oh and you too of course my little Spikey!”

Aardunkay laid himself down neatly next to the table, and began to take gems into his maw, one at a time, eating rather diligently.

“Now then, Good sir, why haven’t I seen such a luminous dragon around before? One would think it would be quite easy to spot such a lovely creature!” she said batting her eyes slightly at him.

Twilight nodded to him, “Yes, I’ve actually wondered about that, where do you come from Mr. Silverlight?”

“I come from a land east of Equestria. In our tongue it is known as Dracolas, or dragon lands. It is one of two lands on either side of Equestria that we dragons make roost,” said Aardunkay, slipping another gem into his mouth.

“To the east… I think I may have been there before, at least a little ways into it, it didn’t look too different from Equestria” said Twilight.

“Hmm you must hot have been far in at all then. Deep inside the east lay many mountains and volcanos. It is sometimes called the ash lands, very different from Equestria indeed I’d say,” said Aardunkay as he ate another ruby.

“Well, wherever you come from, I hope it’s filled with as many glamorous and polite dragons such as yourself!” exclaimed Rarity.

The silver dragon sighed and shook his head wearily, “No I’m afraid not miss Rarity. Most dragons are not as polite, or well-mannered as myself.”

Twilight Sparkle nodded in agreement, “That seems to be true for pretty much every case I’ve encountered dragons. The only exceptions I can think of are you, and Spike.” The unicorn had had many previous run-ins with dragons, all of them no so pleasant, and some of them deadly.

The four of them ate, and talked away about miniscule things the rest of the evening. Aardunkay continued to ask about how Equestria had been doing the last thousand years or so, and was particularly interested to hear the tale of how Twilight and her friends saved Canterlot from the changeling invasion. Twilight told him of her many adventures in Ponyville; about her confrontation with Nightmare Moon, about the parasprite swarm, about the red dragon, her assistant spike, and of course, about her brother and Princess Cadence’s wedding. Although he listened to her with intrigue, he had very vague, or no answers at all to Twilights many questions about the distant past of Equestria. He was also quite vague about the nature of the lands he lived in. From what Twilight could gather, she guessed they weren’t particularly pleasant places, as he didn’t seem too happy to discuss them.

The sun began to set on the horizon, and they all decided they had a long enough evening together, “It has truly been a pleasure to meet you Silverlight Aardunkay, I hope I have the fortune of meeting again!” she said with joy, the unicorn more or less sad simply because such an illustrious creature had to leave her presence.

“Of course lady Rarity, but before I go, perhaps I might offer you a gift for your collection of fine articles” the silver dragon reached down with his maw, biting off one of his gleaming silver scales. The moment he plucked it off, it grew back to its original size, before the dragon had shrunk himself. He bowed, and handed the now quite large scale to Rarity.

“For… for me? Oh thank you kind sir, thank you! I shall treasure it always!” she said, bedazzled at the large shimmering scale before her. She bowed again politely before the dragon, as he and Twilight made their way out.

“Will you be comfortable sleeping in the library tonight Aardunkay?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

“That will be fine Twilight, I am used to sleeping on much harder surface, the soft wood will be most comfortable,” said the dragon.

Twilight Sparkle went straight to work, cataloging all of her missing books, and getting her nightly chores done, before she hopped up onto her bed. Next to her, spike took sleep, the little dragon having graduated from his little sleeping bed to using Twilight’s guest bed. The Silverlight meanwhile simply laid himself on the middle of the floor, nestling up against himself as he prepared to sleep. Twilight’s mind would slowly wind down from the excitement of the day, and she would drift off to sleep. Her dreams would be full of questions, as to what more she would learn tomorrow, of her new mysterious friend. Silverlight Aardunkay slept lightly, for although he was indeed happy to be back in Equestria, he dreaded the news he knew he would eventually have to deliver to Princess Celestia.

As she usually did, Twilight Sparkle awoke at the very rising of the sun. She found Aardunkay standing majestically outside on her balcony to greet the sunrise. It was at this moment that she first saw a look of worry on his face, “Good morning sir” she said as she trotted next to him, sitting down to admire the view of the sun, “Is something on your mind?” she asked curiously.

Aardunkay sighed, “Oh it’s probably nothing Twilight, just a superstitious old dragon worrying too much,” he said giving her a little smile.

“I might know a thing or two about worrying too much…” said Twilight, returning his smile with a grin. She gently patted his arm with her hoof, and went inside to do her morning chores, wake spike, and prepare breakfast.

By the time Twilight Sparkle had finished her duties, the sun had rose a bit higher in the sky, sharing it’s brightness with the land beneath it, creating a beautiful glow off of the land. Then the sun seemed to shine even brighter in the sky for a moment. Then Twilight realized that the beautiful light was coming from Princess Celestia herself, as she lowered her luminous self towards Ponyville. The glorious sun princess lowered herself onto the balcony with Aardunkay. Both he and Twilight Sparkle knelt before her. The princess approached the silver dragon with a warm smile on her face, “My dearest friend, it has been far too long since I have seen you. It warms my heart that I was able to meet you again” she turned to her student, “And I thank you Twilight Sparkle for greeting my old friend and acting as his guide for his time in Equestria,” Twilight nodded to her teacher, and the princess turned back to the Silverlight, “How have you found the fair town of Ponyville my old friend?” she asked.

Aardunkay nodded, “It is a lovely hamlet, princess. I do not believe I have ever seen such kindness from creatures,” he looked away at the view of the town with a look of sadness, “I only wish that I could stay here longer. Twilight and her friends have shown me much welcome and warmth.”

“You will yet see it again my dear old friend. But for now I must extend an invitation to you, to join me in my castle in Canterlot, so that I may formally welcome you, and all of the Silverlight to Equestria.” She looked to Twilight, and Spike as he poked his head out of the corner, “And of course I would also invite my most faithful student, and her assistant to join me!” said the princess with a chuckle.

“I would be honored to join you Princess Celestia. Come Twilight Sparkle, and Carthanax, fly upon my back and I will take you with me,” said Aardunkay.

Twilight Sparkle climbed upon the back of the silver dragon, along with her assistant Spike, and they all flew off into the sunset, making their way towards Canterlot. As they arrived the sun was higher in the sky, and the guards welcomed back the princess with a royal precession. They landed outside of the main hall of the castle, and Princess Celestia led them inside. Twilight Sparkle and Spike hopped off, and stepped to the side, as the princess took her rightful place at the head of the stairs at the end of the long hallway. Silverlight walked along the red carpet below her, and knelt before the princess. Twilight had been in this room twice before. Once, to discover a way to defeat Discord with the elements of harmony, and a second time, during her brother’s wedding.

“Silverlight Aardunkay, fifteen thousand years ago to the day, I proclaimed that all the dragons of the land were barred entrance to Equestria” she paused her speech, looking more gentler at Aardunkay, “And I also said, that should there ever be a time when dragons could cleanse the darkness that was in their hearts, and live true and virtuous lives, I would readily accept them back into this fair country.” With a smile she approached Aardunkay, and she bowed her head, touching her horn onto his shoulders, “And you have done just that my good friend. It is with great joy, that I, Princess Celestia, decree that the Silverlight dragons and all virtuous dragons are hereby welcomed back to Equestria!”

Aardunkay bowed before her, lips curling up into a smile, and his eyes shimmering with affection for his new princess, “Thank you… thank you so much Princess Celestia. I am happy to return to this land my princess.”

Celestia turned to Spike, “And I would like you, my dear Spike, to correspond to the Silverlight Enclave and with permission from Aardunkay, I believe that you should join them.”

Spike slowly approached the princess, “Princess Celestia… Mr. Silverlight called be by a different name, Carthanax. And he said that you might know more about where I came from. And well… I was just wondering, where did come from your majesty?” he asked curiously, and with a deep wonderment in his eyes.

The Princess smiled and nodded as she approached Spike, “Yes spike, I think it is fair to you that you know the origins of your past. You see spike, several years ago, the great organization of dragons known as the Silverlight Enclave did not know how I would receive them. They did not know if they could fully trust pony-kind yet. So they delivered to me a small purple and green egg, in the hopes if I raised you to be true and good, they could return to me themselves, and one day invite you into the Silverlight Enclave, to act as a correspondent, and emissary to dragon-kind into Equestria” she put a look of concern on her face, and knelt down towards spike, putting a hoof gently on his head, “I apologize if I did not tell you this sooner dear spike, but you were such a young dragon, and I did not want to burden you with political concerns. Will you forgive me Spike?” she asked him.

“Of course your majesty, I’m just so happy, so happy to learn that I have such an important part in pony and dragon relations! I am… very honored that you think I’m ready to act as an emissary, princess” he said blushing a bit. Then a look of concern struck his face as he turned to look towards Twilight Sparkle, “But, your majesty, what about Twilight and…”

Celestia raised a hoof smiling, “Don’t worry my dear spike, you can conduct your emissary duties from the library in Ponyville. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on any lessons on friendship after all!” she said winking at him.

Spike smiled joyously, relieved that he wouldn’t have to be wrenched away from his most beloved care taker, Twilight Sparkle. He had never known a mother in his life, but if he was ever to call somepony his mother, Twilight would have been her, even though he would surely never admit this to her. The little dragon confidently approached Aardunkay, and knelt before him.

“Carthanax, Spike, do you pledge to never let darkness, greed, or tyranny take your heart? And do you pledge your allegiance to the Silver Enclave dragons, Princess Celestia? And do you pledge to defend the borders of this nation, Equestria, till death takes you?” said Aardunkay, his head risen and poised seriously now.

Spike looked up to the big silver dragon. He was quite honored to finally be taking a serious role. This would be his first big responsibility in his life, “I swear, till death takes me!” he said enthusiastically.

“Then I gladly accept you into our enclave Spike. But for now, I’m afraid I must discuss dire news with the princess…” he said with a heavy heart.

The princess was taken back a bit by this, but she listened carefully, “As you know Princess, most dragons simply revert back to a bestial nature, leaving themselves susceptible to greed, and other evil draconic desires. But among those dragons, myself and the Silverlight Enclave vowed to turn those desires away, and submit to a live of virtue. However, aside from those two groups of dragons, there is another group, whom fully embraces their evil nature, saying that it is the ‘truest form of draconic expression’. They dive deep into their dark natures, magnifying them. These are mostly younger, and more violent dragons and they hate all pony kind, and would harm them if they could” Aardunkay looked to the ground, with a look of dread on his face, “But what I believe most terrifying, is that they worship their forebear…”

Celestia gasped at this, her eyes widening with fear. Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, “I think perhaps they already have tried to attack us. Yesterday morning, a small green dragon attacked Ponyville. He crashed into my library and started eating my books!” she said, a look of anger coming across her face as she remembered her stolen books.

Aardunkay gasped, and turned to look at Twilight with fear on his face, “He was eating your books Twilight Sparkle? Are you absolutely sure of this?”

“Yes sir, why, do you think this is significant?” she asked curiously, never thinking too much about the incident from the dragon’s point of view. She always thought he was just trying to wreak havoc while he was stuck in the library’s entryway.

“That is most dreadful news indeed. You see Twilight Sparkle, much like your assistant Spike has the ability to send and receive parchments through means of magical fire, so do select other dragons. I believe that the attacker you met wasn’t eating your books for nourishment; I believe he was using his breath to transport them back to whatever cave the dark dragons come from, in order to use their knowledge for malicious purposes. Do you remember which books he took?” he asked urgently.

Twilight Sparkle thought for a moment, “Um, let me think… A few books were missing on mechanical properties, engineering, and magically powered devices. Nothing that couldn’t be replaced and no super rare books were stolen though”

“This is most concerning… whatever they plan to do with this knowledge, it cannot be good” Aardunkay thought for a moment, pacing in the long hallway, “We must discover what they intend to do…” he said with finality.

Celestia stepped forward, “I appreciate your willingness to help our nation so soon after being welcomed to it Aardunkay, but they will recognize you, and you will accomplish nothing by charging in their fool heartedly,” she said raising a hoof in protest.

“But my princess, we MUST discover the nature of these attacks, we must discover what they intend to do with this knowledge!” he said trying to change her mind.

Spike stepped forward, “I’ll do it,” everypony, and dragon in the room looked to him, surprised, “I will go,” he repeated, a determined look on his face.

“Spike…” Twilight Sparkle tried to interrupt.

“You said that it was mainly younger dragons right? Well… I can get in there, and make them think I’m one of them, and I’ll get the information that you want, without getting caught.” The little dragon was quite determined, and he did have a rather sound plan.

“Carthanax, you must realize what would happen to you if you ARE caught… you would…” the princess raised a hoof to interrupt Aardunkay.

She approached him slowly, and knelt down next to him, leaning in close, “Spike, are you sure that you can do this? Are you sure that you are ready?” she asked him, while looking deep into his eyes. The princess would surely know if the dragon’s resolution would falter. Spike nodded to her confidently, and the princess accepted his assurance, “Then come with me everyone, we must prepare to infiltrate, the lair of our enemy.”

Chapter 3: Infiltration

“As far as we have discovered spike, their lair is in the far eastern region of Dracolas. I can fly you there myself, but from where I can land, it’ll be a few hours walk to the entrance of their lair. I can’t risk having a watch dragon seeing you with me, that would blow your cover,” said Aardunkay, as the four of them walked down the long hallway of the castle, approaching the door, “Now you must remember Spike, to put on your most foulest face you can muster. These dragons are terribly violent, greedy, devious, and wicked. They will not take kindly to any acts of decency or friendliness that you might show to them. You must try to act your absolute nastiest!” he said with urgency in his tone.

The Royal guards opened the door to the courtyard, and they all stepped outside, Aardunkay still speaking with urgency, “Listen carefully Spike. We need you to gather any verbal information you can about what exactly they are planning, no small strikes or little raids. We need to know what their big plans are, what their goal is. Finding the green dragon that attacked Ponyville may help. You must lend a careful ear to anything important that you might hear.”

Twilight Sparkle spoke up, “And I will go with him…”

Aardunkay gasped, “Twilight please, you would surely be killed if you went with him! We cannot afford your loss!” he said with concern.

Twilight raised a hoof, “Don’t worry Silverlight, I will go there under an invisibility spell, so I can keep an eye on Spike, and help him gather information. Also, if things should get hairy, I can teleport him out of there and make a quick get-away.”

Princess Celestia nodded at her, “Good thinking Twilight Sparkle. But above all else, I would ask that both of you be careful. If you think this is too difficult for you, or too dangerous, get out of there. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing either of you,” she said as she knelt down to nuzzle each of them.

Spike looked up fearlessly at Celestia, “Don’t worry your majesty; we won’t fail you, or Equestria!”

Twilight’s eyes lit up as she had a sudden though, “You two get ready, I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes, I need to make a quick stop at the Canterlot book store!” she said, before she ran off into the city.

Back in the great courtyard, the dragon Aardunkay reverted back to his normal size. And spike was preparing to jump atop of his back, when Twilight arrived with some things in a package.

“Be careful my little ponies, and good luck.” The princess bid farewell to them, as the great dragon took off from Canterlot, making his way east.

The three of them flew off into the eastern forests. Twilight Sparkle had been there once before, when she followed Spike as he was tracking the destination of the great dragon migration. In truth, they hadn’t gotten very deep into the Dracolas country, for other than the volcano, it was still heavily forested. It would take a full day’s flight, simply for Aardunkay to get to the edge of those forested lands, where Spike would recognize the mountain where he met the teenage dragons, and the forest where he rescued the phoenix egg. For two more days they would fly, past more wooded areas, and more lone mountains. The plants here were strange, and reminiscence of the everfree forest. As they flew on, Twilight noticed that the amount of plant-life seemed to get lower and lower. It was replaced with jagged rocks, and dusty badlands. Soon, there would hardly be any trees, and the ground would be simply covered with dead grass, and short, sprawling weeds.

Aardunkay had taken them to the edge of Dracolas, to a mountain range that divided it from the country further to the east of it. The sky above them was covered in a slight haze, blurring the blue sky above it, bringing a sense of sadness. But beyond, lay a jagged and rocky path into the mountains, with only the occasional patch of dirt, and weeds to soften their steps.

“I shall wait here for you to return young ones. I will expect a hasty retreat, but I will be lying low, and out of the skies,” he pointed over to a pile of boulders, “There is where I will be hiding, and do not forget it my little spies. And remember what I told you Carthanax!” finished Aardunkay. In a surprising show of affection, Spike reached up to pat the elder dragon’s snout. The silver dragon snorted, and brushed him away, “Quickly now younglings, do not tarry!”

Twilight followed spike as he made is way up the rocky mountain, “When we get there spike, I’m going to give you these,” she revealed to him from her case some basic mathematic and mechanics books, “I picked these up before we left, I figured maybe you could use it as an offering to get in closer.”

Spike took a quick glance at them, “But Twilight, isn’t that just giving them more information they could use against us?” he wondered.

Twilight shook her head, “I don’t think so spike. These are much more basic books than the ones they stole. Besides, I think if we can figure out what they’re planning, it’s worth the sacrifice.”

The two walked in relative silence along the way, with spike walking ahead of her, to make sure any of the bad dragons would spot him first, and not Twilight. As they made their way up the rugged path, a loud roaring was heard overhead, and a large, dark colored blur swooshed overhead them. They didn’t appear spotted, but Spike and Twilight knew they must be getting close.

“I’ll be close Spike… stay safe…” was all Twilight said, before she activated her invisibility spell, and a shroud of air came over her like a blanket, before it matched the surroundings behind it, rendering her completely undetectable.

Now Spike felt very much alone. He knew Twilight was behind him, but all around, he could see nothing but the earth colored, uninviting landscape. For a brief moment, he regretted volunteering himself for this job, but any sensible pony, or dragon would probably feel the same, if they were met with such a country. Spike took a deep breath, and continued to put one foot in front of the other, maybe his way closer and closer to the base of the volcano. Above him, more and more dragons began to fly overhead, and accompany their coming with ferocious roars. Spike stepped quickly and diligently as the path began to widen before him. He was closing fast to the spot he believed the large dragons where landing. Over the next ridge, he spotted a massive cave entrance that was outstretched from the mountain like the maw of a fearsome beast. Below, in a ravine that went under the mountain, many dragons where coming and going busily. Spike gulped, as he saw his destination. As he made his way down into the ravine, a large red dragon landed next to him, the ground quaking as he did. The great red dragon didn’t so much as pay him a glance, and walked right past him.

Dragons continued to walk past him, most without so much as noticing him, or if they did, they didn’t pay him much attention. At this moment, Spike became a bit concerned. Each of these dragons, no matter how big or small they were, were all terribly scared, and covered with dirt, and grime. This was quite in contrast to Spike’s perfectly clean purple hide. In an attempt to better blend in, he jumped behind a lone rock, and dove into the dirt, rubbing dirt and soil all over body, and especially into his face. The illusion was complete, now he not only looked like a much more rough-and-tumble dragon, but it gave the appearance that his scales were a slightly darker color than they really were.

“Good thinking,” Twilight whispered to him.

Spike drew closer to the mouth of the cave. A smaller dragon, although still considerably larger than himself, bumped into him. This made the other night-colored dragon turn to face him and hissed angrily. Spike’s inherent nature was to apologize, but he quickly caught himself. Instead he defiantly faced the big dragon, and let out a little roar. His practice had paid off, as is roar sounded much more draconic, perhaps something like an angry lizard more like, but still much more intimidating than his poor attempts when he was a baby. The older dragon snorted at him, and turned tail, apparently having more important things to do than teach an ornery hatchling a lesson. Spike grinned at his success, and he kept making his way forward.

Up ahead, spike saw a tall, adolescent blue dragon at the mouth of the cave. He was carefully looking at each dragon that entered personally. Spike thought that perhaps he could slip in with the adults unnoticed, but he would be proven wrong, “Hey! What do you think you’re doing whelp? This is a member’s only club, get outa here!” barked the young dragon in a hoarse and demeaning tone. The blue dragon grabbed spike by his tail and tossed him a few feet away from the entrance.

Spike grimaced at the adolescent, “Hey, I’m old enough to join you guys!” he said in protest.

This made the blue dragon chuckle, “Yeah right, we don’t need some hatchling slowing us down, now beat it!” he said sneering at the little dragon.

Spike thought quickly, he pulled out one of the books Twilight had given him, “Oh yeah? Well… how come I was able to steal these?”

The older dragon was taken aback by this for a moment, and he looked surprised, “How did YOU get those?” he asked curiously.

“Well uh, I stole them of course!” Spike said, trying to put some extra rasp into his voice, giving it an older and much more sinister sound.

“You stole books? Huh, maybe we could use someone like you after all…” the blue dragon thought for a moment, he pointed away from the cave, to a larger red dragon, “That’s Sergeant Blood Claw, go see him. He’ll decide if you’re good enough to let in or not.”

Spike wasted no time, and scurried away from the entrance, rather nervously walking up to the even larger dragon. This other dragon had sharp and devilish looking scales. What frightened him most was the occasional splatters of a red liquid on him, as well a red scar-marking over his eye. Now that spike approached Sergeant Blood Claw, he could tell that he was appropriately named, for the dried splatters along his body would prove to be blood, Spike could smell it. He would very much not like to have known where it came from as well, but around the encampment where Blood Claw sat, were bones, and bunches of fur that clung to the soil, and the bones. The truth of what happened here was beyond spikes wildest nightmares.

Most of the dragons, whom where evil like these, or good like Aardunkay, fed themselves on a steady diet of gems, and precious metals. They were not out to be overly good, or overly evil, they were simply content to eat, sleep, and be left alone. The dragons of the Silverlight Enclave also fed on a diet of gems; it was a natural thing for such a creature to eat. But deep inside dragons of the world, there was a fearsome predator, a creature that not only wanted to eat, but to kill. Dragons were susceptible to greed, sloth, and tyranny. They had a deep desire to dominate the smaller life forms they soared over. The dragons of the far eastern Dracolas had expressed their dominance over life by taking it from others. Long ago they had abandoned their old tastes for gems, and had instead taken a liking to eating meat. There were no smaller herbivores in the lands just below the mountains. They had all fled out of fear into the deep jungles further west. The great dragons had since drove them out, but would always hunt and torment them. Their life blood would sustain the terrible dragons, and give them power. But in their violence, it would bring them further and further into madness; drive them ever into a more primal, bestial nature.

The red dragon, Blood Claw turned to face the little hatchling that was before him, “Why do you bother me hatchling?!” he cried out angrily to spike, leaning his head down to peer ominously at him with his yellow eyes.

Spike trembled for a moment, and fought to regain his composure, “I um, I want to join… the cause! You see I stole these books, uh, Sergeant!” he said, shaking, and holding up one of the books to Blood Claw.

The Sergeant reached a claw down and snatched up the book, looking over it quickly, he peered back down suspiciously a spike, “And just how did you acquire this, little snatcher?”

Spike was already thinking of a story ever since Twilight told him about the books, “Well ah, you see… I snuck into a pony town, and convinced them I was good. And right when I gained their trust, I swiped these books from them!” said Spike, trying to throw in an evil little cackle at the end.

Blood Claw grinned at this, “You? You infiltrated the pony lands, and swindled them? How wonderfully devious of you! I must say, I don’t come across many hatchlings that are as delightfully wicked as yourself,” he scratched his chin some as he thought, “We don’t usually let in whelps, but, I think you’ve more than proved your loyalty. I’ll take those, Snatcher, there’s a moot going on in the cave, go ahead and join them,” he said as he plucked the books from spikes claws. As he was about to turn away he remembered something, “Oh right, here…” he dabbed his claw-tip into a cauldron, and traced it over Spike’s eye, giving him the same blood-red eye mark that the other dragons possessed.

Spike chuckled manically, “Heh, thanks boss, can’t wait to have another chance to mess with those goody-four-hoof ponies!” he said rubbing his claws together sinisterly.

“Oh you’ll get your chance Snatcher, just get on in,” said Blood Claw, before he flew off with the books.

Spike hobbled along now back to the mouth of the cave. The blue guard dragon that had stopped him before now simply gave him a nod, before letting him pass. The further along Spike went down into the large entry way, the darker it became. More blood dotted the walls and floor of the cave, to his relief, Spike wouldn’t come across the creatures that it belonged too. Spike followed along with the marching adult dragons, down a straight path into the mountain. There were several other smaller, diverging paths, but they looked fairly unoccupied, and they looked much more dark and lonesome. Up ahead, Spike could finally see evidence of light. There was an orange lit, large room that the dragons were gathering into. They all perched themselves around a circle, of which in the center, there was a circle of fire, and an enormous, mirror-like crystal. Spike looked around curiously, the room was lit brightly by the dancing flames, and the dragons were all roaring and grunting at each other noisily.

Twilight Sparkle leaned close to Spikes ear, “Wait here… I’ll be right back…” was all she said. Spike gave an inconspicuous nod, to acknowledge her.

A large, ghastly looking dark purple dragon walked into the center, by the fires, and the crystal. He raised his claws high above his head, and the other dragons around him began to grow quiet, and turn their attention to him, “All hail the forebear!” he yelled out, his words echoing throughout the cave. All of the dragons repeated him, Spike as well. The purple dragon walked slowly around the crystal, looking into the eyes of every dragon in the room, “Fifteen thousand years ago, our great forebear fell to pony-kind, through trickery!” he hissed, the room filled with shallow hissing and rumbles of anger, “Fifteen thousand years ago, the strongest race of the land was banished out of fear. For they feared what they knew to be true, that we are stronger than they, and the rightful owners of the world! Our great forefather promised these lands to us, his children, that we might take them, and paint them with the color of his breath, that we might fill it with fire! My brothers, our time is finally at hand…” he said ominously.

The dragons began to roar and cheer for him, raising their claws and wings in approval, “Soon, our father, our great leader will rise again, and will lead us into a new age of dragon rule! His fire will purify the lands, and make way for the reign of dragon-kind! My brothers, loyal followers of the true nature of the forebear… as I speak, we have discovered the site of our great fathers return. As I speak, his return is imminent!” he raised his claws up, speaking with such great enthusiasm, bringing the room in an uproar. He beckoned them to calm down. The mirror crystal began to glow, and the purple dragon bowed before it, the other dragons in the room following in his lead.

“Sons of the forebear, the hour of our destiny is upon us. Go now to your commanders! Revel in your true draconic natures! Eat the flesh of the lesser creatures, hunt, kill, and dominate all those who are not worthy!” echoed a mystical, and terrifying voice from the crystal. All of the dragons roared out in unison, celebrating their wicked natures.

The invisible pony crept around the halls of one of the narrower corridors. It was also the corridor in which the walls were the most blood soaked. She could hear voices coming down the hall, and she could make out the faint glow of another mirror crystal. The smell was overwhelming to her, making her want to turn away, and run as far as she could. The voices grew louder the closer she crept. There were strange symbols, all of them in blood along the lines of the walls; she had a feeling, a very bad one, that these dragons were far more important than the one’s in the great assembly area.

Over the noise of the other roaring dragons, she finally was able to make out some of the words, “It’s still working, after all these years it’s still on?” asked one voice.

“Yes, but it still needs to be activated,” said a different voice, it sounded more artificial, and echoing, perhaps like it was coming from a magical source.

“Can we do that, can we activate it?” asked the first voice.

“Perhaps, but I believe the activation console was damaged, it will need to be rebuilt. But if we can do that, we can activate the device…” said the second voice.

“Great destroyer… and then he’ll be able to come back? We are so close now… how much longer?” asked the first voice in an excited tone.

“Not long now… The protection of the device is of the utmost importance. Send everyone here,” said the second voice, before a loud buzz was heard, and then no more voices were heard.

With haste, Twilight Sparkle made her way back into the great room, and found Spike, trying not to look terrified among the roaring and growling adult dragons.

“Spike… we need to leave now…” just as he heard her speak to him, the dragons began to storm out of the room, some of them flying, but most of them just bulldozing their way out of the rocky hallway. With Spike out of the eye level of all of the bustling dragons, Twilight set her hooves on his shoulders, and in a dim flash of light, they both disappeared out of the horrid lair of the beast.

Both Twilight and Spike now appeared, very visible, at the end of the trail that led to the dark dragon’s lair. After taking a moment to gather their bearings from the dizzying spell, they both spotted the boulder of which Aardunkay had spoken of, and made off towards it.

For the three day flight neither of them spoke. They were far too busy with the images that they had seen ringing in their minds. Aardunkay knew the reason for their silence, and he did not press them. Aardunkay had, since he was just a young dragon himself; witness the atrocities that the dark dragons could commit. He also knew that whatever it is Twilight and Spike had seen, their information was of the greatest importance. And so he flew as swiftly as he was able back to Equestria, and to Princess Celestia.

They all arrived two days later, in the night, on the great porch in Celestia’s castle. She was waiting for them, but as they rushed to spill all the information they had to her, the princess raised a hoof. She beckoned them into her quarters, and let them rest the night on her couch. She allowed Aardunkay too, to rest his weary wings in her castle.

They awoke rested the next morning, “Now then, my dear subjects, it is with great relief that I see you have both made it back safely,” she said sighing. Her friendly smile disappeared, “What it is you have learned?”

Spike stepped forward nervously. He didn’t particularly want to remember that place, but he would do so as his duty, “Well… your majesty, they talked about trying to take over Equestria. That had mentioned that ‘their time of reckoning was at hand’. It was a horrible place princess…” Spike shook his eyes as he remembered bloodied cavern, “It’s alright Spike, you won’t ever have to go back there again,” she put her hoof on him for comfort, “Please tell me, did you learn anything else?”

Twilight Sparkle stepped forward, “While spike was in the main assembly of dragons, I went off into a side corridor. I didn’t see who was talking, but I heard some dragons saying something about a ‘device’. They mentioned something about it bringing someone back.”

Spike looked up to her, “I bet it was this ‘forebear’ they kept talking about. They said he was the fore-father of all dragons and that he would be returning soon to lead them into taking over Equestria…” said spike with a look of fear in his eye.

The look of fear soon came to the princess as well, and to Aardunkay, “Numinex…” she uttered under her breath. Princess Celestia looked down with anguish, as Twilight and Spike looked to her.

“Your majesty, do you know who they were talking about?” Twilight asked.

Celestia took a deep breath, she had hopped this moment would never come, but now the worst nightmare her ponies could ever face was a threat to them all. If anything, her beloved student of all ponies deserved to know the truth.

“A very long time ago, during the first years of the founding of Equestria, the spirit of the earth resided here, in this very mountain. He took the form of an earth dragon, and was very dear to me. In the early years of Equestria, when Discord first shed his chaos onto our lands, he destroyed the earth dragon, and used his bones to build a construct for a horrible purpose. This construct was to be used as a vessel,” she looked down with sadness, and with a hint of fear, “This vessel took the form of a monster, a terrible black dragon. And inside of this body would reside the spirit of death, the element of destruction, Numinex,” the princess looked out into the morning sky as she recalled the form of the abominable dragon, “The black dragon Numinex claimed dominion over Equestria, and threatened to destroy the world. But his reign was short lived. You see, because Numinex was bound to a mortal body, he had limits, and his power was bound. Numinex was destroyed by one of the greatest heroes of the time, Starswirl the Bearded. But when Numinex died, his life force was expelled from him violently, and would become all the dragons of the world. This is why dragons have an inborn nature for wickedness, even though it is not their fault. Although they are each of them, their own individuals, different from their father, he still sometimes tries to influence them, and push them to do evil,” with a smile she turned to look at Spike, and Aardunkay, “But as I’m sure you can see, a dragon is perfectly capable of rejection his evil whispers, and leading a life of good.”

“And It appears that these wicked dragons, whom have decided to follow in Numinex’s footsteps, are now trying to bring him back…” said Aardunkay direly.

“But… but Starswirl the Bearded defeated him once, and that was before we had you and Princess Luna, we defeated him once, can’t you stop him if he comes back again?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

Princess Celestia sighed heavily, “No Twilight. When he came to the world the first time, he was only in a shell, a vessel for himself. If he comes back the way the wicked dragons intend to, his spirit will be in its purest form,” she looked to her pupil with dread, “As Luna and I are also bound to mortal vessels, we would not be able to stop him.”

Twilight Sparkle was at a loss for words. Princess Celestia was the most powerful, the most magical pony she had ever known in all her life. What manner of being could be more powerful than she? And what did she mean by ‘mortal vessels’? This was all news to Twilight, and it was difficult to sort through in her mind. Then a sudden thought came to her, “Princess Celestia, you once said that the elements of harmony are the most powerful magic known to pony-kind. What about them? Could we use the elements of harmony to stop him?” she asked desperately.

Celestia sighed again. For the first time in her long life, the goddess of the sun did not have answers. Her all-knowing eyes could not see beyond the sunset, and see what lied ahead in the future of her subjects, “I do not know Twilight Sparkle…” she said with worry in her voice. Her head arose again, making the sun outside too, rise higher in the sky, “But that is why we must stop him from returning! We must stop them from activating the device!” said the sun princess.

To be continued with, Chapter 4: The Device

Chapter 4: The Device

Chapter 4: The Device

Princess Luna flew in next to her sister, perched in the main courtyard, while Shining Armor galloped in behind her. He knelt down beside Celestia, “Your majesty, what is your command?” asked the loyal unicorn.

“I’m glad you have come my good friend. I must ask you to draw all your forces at the base of the mountain, save for watch teams, that you must send to the eastern borders of Equestria, and receive hourly reports from them,” she turned to face her sister, “My dear sister, I am leaving you in charge of Equestria in my stead,” said the sun princess to her sister.

Princess Luna looked concerned at her big sister, “Princess Celestia… you are going to try and stop ‘him’ aren’t you? Please my sister, let me come with, we will be stronger fighting him together!” she protested.

Celestia looked down at her younger sister with a comforting smile, “Do not worry dear Luna, I will have the most magical unicorn in the land at my side! And besides, I need you to keep things in order here in Equestria.” Luna looked to the ground, she was still not comforted.

Aardunkay interrupted, “Spike, I will leave you to contact the other dragons of the Silver Enclave, please tell them to meet Celestia and myself in the forgotten lands, as soon as they can. I am entrusting you Carthanax to lead the Enclave should things go astray on our mission,” he said to Spike.

“Yes sir, I’ll head for the study tower right now and get the message to them!” said spike confidently, before taking off to the tall tower where he and Twilight used to live.

Twilight, Aardunkay, and Princess Celestia made their way to the Canterlot main entrance, as they prepared to take off, Princess Luna flew in to follow them.

Princess Celestia turned to Aardunkay, “You two go on ahead, I’ll catch up with you in a moment, off you go!” she said to them, and Twilight hopped on Aardunkay’s back, and they took off into the morning sky.

Princess Luna stepped close to her sister, and looked at her. Her eyes were beginning to well up with a tear, “Sister… Tia… please, you don’t have to go…” said the princess of the night. To the mare that had lived a thousand years, it felt like she had only just gotten her big sister back. She, along with all the ponies of Equestria looked up to her for leadership, and for love. Even inside of her heart, the aspect of magic, and an immortal being of the world, Luna felt that her sister brought life inside her. She felt her love like a shining beacon for good.

Celestia pushed herself forward against Luna, wrapping her hoof around her in a tight hug, “Be strong for me my dearest sister. For Equestria will also need you to be strong for her.”

Luna pulled away from her sister, the tears threatening to overflow. “But sister, why couldn’t you have left Twilight in charge and take me instead?” Luna winced as she realized how childish her voice sounded, but she couldn’t stop now. “She is perfectly able to run a kingdom; she has read books on Equestrian law. I would wager that she knows even the most obscure of Equestria’s laws, laws that you have probably forgotten existed sister.” Luna turned away, with her tears finally overcoming her and cascading down her face to fall onto the paving stones.

“Luna,” Celestia whispered in her ear, “You know that I must do this. It is the only chance that we have to defeat him and save Equestria. You know that.” Celestia nuzzled into Luna’s mane, whispering softer. “I’m sorry that I must leave you here, but I must. There’s nopony else that I would trust with ruling Equestria while I’m gone more than you Luna.” Celestia hugged her closer with her soft wings.

Luna looked up to her sister, a tear falling as she sniffled, “But Tia… I’ve never been in charge; you’ve always been the leader. Everypony looks up to you! I… I don’t know if I can do it by myself…”

Celestia lifted Luna’s chin with her hoof, and wiped her tears away, “Of course you can dear Luna! You have the same strength that I do. You have the same love for the ponies of Equestria that I do. You are strong and capable just as I am, my sister. If the worst should come to pass, you will make a fine ruler of Equestria. Be strong for me Luna…” said Princess Celestia, as she hugged her little sister a final time, before she began to back away into the morning sky.

“I love you Tia…” Luna called out to her, trying to hold back her tears.

“I love you too Luna…” said Celestia, before she took off, flying off into the beautiful sunrise.

Luna watched as her sister flew off to join the other two in the sky. Tears began to fall from her face again, and onto the rough paving stones below. Turning, Luna headed back to the Sun Court to start her new task. I will not let you down sister.

In a flash of light, Princess Celestia caught up with Aardunkay, and landed on his massive back alongside Twilight Sparkle. She looked to her teacher, “Princess Celestia, what exactly is ‘the device’?” she asked curiously.

Princess Celestia hung her head in dismay, but she had told Twilight this much, so she might as well tell her the rest, “Ponies first came to the world four thousand years ago, Twilight Sparkle. They lived together in peace and happiness, in a faraway land, on the other side of the world. Somehow, darkness had crept its way into the hearts of the ponies. They began to hate each other, and through their hatred, two separate nations of ponies were formed. These two nations went into a massive war against each other that lasted for centuries. They had built great machinations and marvels of technology, but they were all of them designed to destroy their rival nation. One day, one of the nation’s built a terrible weapon, a perversion of nature that they would use to destroy to destroy the other nation, and end the war once and for all. It did indeed end the war, but it destroyed both nations, and leveled the land, leaving nopony behind to ever be seen again,” Princess Celestia let a single tear fall from her eye at the thought of such a horrid memory.

Twilight looked up at her teacher with sadness, “But if everything was leveled, then how are the evil dragons able to use the device, and how will it bring back Numinex?”

“Once the device was activated, and it destroyed everything around it, it opened up a gate through the very fabric of space itself. It was through this gate that discord was able to enter into our world. I had turned myself away from the sight of the horrible warring ponies, and I thought that upon the device’s activation, it too would be destroy. But I was wrong.” Princess Celestia again hung her head with disappointment in herself.

Twilight Sparkle patted the princess’s shoulder with her hoof gently, “I can’t imagine what that war must have been like, princess. But we won’t let the evil dragons activate the device again!” she said with determination.

This brought a smile to Celestia’s face, “That’s the spirit my young student, never give up hope!” she said, giving her favorite pupil a little hug.

Over the next two days, they flew over the jungle, and volcanic areas of Dracolas. Far off in the distance, Twilight could see the mountain that she and Spike had infiltrated earlier.

“What are those lands like Princess? I think Mr. Aardunkay called them, ‘the forgotten lands’?” asked Twilight Sparkle, as she tried to squint, and get a glimpse of the far off land.

“It is a forsaken place Twilight. It was the first time that I had ever in my life lost hope. When I saw the great war that the ponies had waged, and all the bloodshed, I did not think there could possibly be hope for any good in in the world. Luna and myself had sworn never again to raise the sun or moon in that place, and it has remained in darkness ever since. Even in its emptiness, my sister and I had always had felt pain and suffering coming from that place. I see now that it was because the device once stood, like a monument to the bloodshed, death, and hatred that the ponies of old had filled themselves with.” Celestia sighed, and turned her brows in anger as she thought of the device.

Another question was brought to Twilight’s mind as they soared through the humid air, “Princess Celestia how is it that the ponies of old could build such a device? How is it that they could build something so… primeval, something so advanced?”

It was a legitimate question, and the answer of which Celestia hardly had an answer, “In honestly, I do not know, Twilight. But I do know that the device is cursed. It is an abomination of the land. It was built with such hatred and malcontent, that it can never be used for good,” she looked to her pupil sternly, “We must destroy it Twilight Sparkle.”

Aardunkay finally flew over the jagged volcano, and there were no signs of other dragons. Twilight assumed that they had all already left to guard the device, however, she spoke too soon, as off to their side, they could see a copper colored dragon flying towards them. Twilight recoiled, expecting him to attack, but to her surprised, Aardunkay looked to him, and gently neared the other dragon.

As they came closer, the other dragon came into full view. He was a rustic, copper looking dragon that had whiskers along his muzzle. He was perhaps half the size of Aardunkay, and he did not look like he was looking for a fight, “Aardunkay, master, we come to your aid!” cried out the smaller dragon.

“Silverlight Malkendov, it is good to see you! I see Carthanax has been busy coordinating the Enclave well enough,” Aardunkay said to his younger dragon friend.

“We would not so idly leave you to your fate master Aardunkay. I am but the first to arrive, there should be more to come as we near our destination,” Malkendov his head to look at Celestia and Twilight and bowed his head, “It is good to meet you Princess of Equestria, and you as well Twilight Sparkle, we shall be at your aid if the need should arise”

Celestia returned the bow, “Thank you Sir Malkendov, your help is greatly appreciated.”

With the company of new dragons that arrived, Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia at last came over the great grey volcano, and into a far more desolate country. They had entered a place long deserted by light, and life, the forgotten lands. It looked although it was night, but the sky was covered with a constant dreary, dark-grey sheet of clouds that did not allow so much as a star or a single glimmer of light to be shone upon the land. The air was cool, but not from a pleasant breeze, there was no wind after all. It felt as if the desolation and nothingness of the land was trying to pull the warmth straight out of your soul. Far beneath them, the earth was rocky, and barren without a single trace of foliage. It was a dry, coarse dessert. There was no life to be had in its soil, not which had been there for thousands of years. In this land, there was such a vast amount of nothingness that it was like a great and terrible spirit in and of itself. The past sins and darkness that had occurred here had formed their own aurora of regret, and hatred that was constantly staring at Twilight, Celestia, and Aardunkay. It stared at them scornfully as they disturbed their restful nothingness, disturbed its endless loathing and wallowing. It felt like going backwards in time, into a far more sinister period, the further they traveled into the forgotten lands. The longer they would travel into this desolate place, the easier it would be for them to understand, how such a place could drive even the greater elements to madness.

They would travel through the land of painful memories for two full days. They would not know day from night however, as the sky, and the lack of light would never change. Every moment they drew closer to their destination, the device. By now, several dragons had joined them, and flew alongside the silver dragon, Aardunkay. Twilight Sparkle hadn’t a doubt in her mind, that there would be a great confrontation between them, and the evil dragons. She was honored to be a part of such an endeavor, of course, beyond all her fear, and most honored to be next to her beloved teacher when it occurred. But her worries suddenly came back to her friend.

It would seem that Celestia would sense her student’s worries, she put a hoof around her shoulder, “What is on your mind my dearest student?” she asked.

“I’m worried about my friends, Princess. I… I wish they were here with me,” she said, but as she looked out into the land before her, she amended her statement, “But... I suppose I’m glad that they don’t have to see such a place. I’d rather them not be in this kind of danger.”

“But you feel that your friends give you strength Twilight Sparkle? That is good, and they still can give you strength and courage my dear student, even if they are not with you,” she draped her wing over her student, “Know that we fight here to protect them Twilight. And never lose hope that we shall see them again, hope is what sustains us all, hope and courage.”

Twilight Sparkle looked out into the distance. With the land so flat and barren, she could see for miles. And at the princess’s words, she could see their destination far, far into the distance. She could not see the device, but she could see a great multitude of dragons, and she knew that they would be close guarding it. It could be miles, but she knew that confrontation was inevitable, and they would have to prepare themselves for a fight.

Aardunkay too would spot the dragons in the far off, “Prepare yourselves ponies, we approach our enemy,” the other Silverlight dragons flew in close to him, readying themselves to do battle.

From that moment, Twilight would have to endure the worst thing in battle, the miserable waiting. For a full hour, her body was tense, waiting for something loud, and dramatic to happen. But in that hour, nothing happened, and it was quiet, save for the gentle whooshing sound of the dragons’ wings. Each second ticked by like a life age. The anticipation was killing Twilight; she almost wished the blasted dragons would just strike at them already, so they could get the bloody battle started. But she would have to wait for each unbearably long second, as they flew closer, and closer to the stage of their battle.

The dark red dragon, Blood Talon, approached Aardunkay, hovering in the air, with several of his henchmen at his side. Blood Talon hissed loudly at the silver dragon, turning his cruel maw up into a grin, “Ah, Aardunkay, have you come to abandon your foolish ways of weakness and mortality, to give in to the true nature of dragons?” he said taunting Aardunkay.

Aardunkay, and the other dragons were all hovering close to him in the air, hissing, and doing their best to look ferocious at the opposition that out-numbered them, “I have come to put an end to the evilness that dragons have been cursed with, young drake,” Aardunkay said to Blood Talon.

The bloody dragon spread his wings wide in defiance, “What you would call a curse, is our gift, grey scale!” he looked upon the two ponies on his back, and grinned, “Look at this weakness you have taken upon yourself! Cast off those lesser creatures, embrace your darkness, let it give you strength!” said Blood Talon as he tried to inspire Aardunkay.

Princess Celestia hopped off of the silver dragon’s back, flying a few feet closer to Blood Talon; she looked at him sternly, but spoke fairly, “Dragon Blood Talon, I see that you carry pain, and suffering deep within you. The nature of your great father may have been that of darkness, but it is not the nature of life. And you my child are your own life, your own being. Look what the Silverlight have done, they carried evil in their hearts, just as you do know and where able to cast it out, and live pure lives. Please, good dragons, I implore that you try, just try to look past the shade that has been cast over your eyes. You can live a different life my friends! You can let love into your heart.”

For a moment, a look of shock came across Blood Talon’s face. He looked as if he was about to say something compassionate, but then his faced turned into a wicked sneer, and laughter, “Ah ha! Is this how you face all your enemies, pony-lord? With ‘love’?” the dragon took a moment to revel in his laughter, “Why in the great wide world would I ever abandon true power to the fallacies of pony-kind and weakness? Love is an invention that you lesser races have invented to delude yourselves from knowing true strength in the world! It stands before dragon-kin like a tribute to your worthlessness. And with the coming of our lord, that statue will fall, and the power of dragons will reign supreme over the land!” said Blood Talon, making his entire clan roar in a rally around him.

Celestia’s stare did not waver as the bloody dragon taunted her. Her head dropped slightly, “Then you leave me no choice. I will protect my kingdom, and all of my subjects in it. Your device threatens my dearest subjects, and so I will destroy it. And if you stand in my way, I will remove you from my path!” and with a look of anger, her head arose, and her powerful solar magic shone from her horn. A beam of bright yellow magic energy shot from her horn, and struck Blood Talon painfully in the chest, making him fall to the ground, with a dismayed look on his face.

In the moment that their shock wore off, the evil dragons roared, and charged towards their opposition. Twilight hung on for dear life as Aardunkay sped forward with rapid beating of his wings. As he closed on in a dark dragon, he opened up his maw, a flash of white coming from his breath, spraying the on-coming dragon with white hot flames. The other dragon squealed out in pain, before it fell to the ground. Aardunkay spiraled directly through the group of evil dragons, as he did, three smaller dragons flew in on his blind spot, threatening to swoop down and attack Twilight Sparkle. As she clung on to the scales of Aardunkay, she aimed her horn at the swooping little dragons, shooting them with her bright purple magic bolts. Two of them broke off their attack, diving away to attack the other Silverlight dragons. One landed itself upon Aardunkay’s back, and poised his teeth to dig into the purple unicorn. A blinding light flashed in front of Twilight, and Princess Celestia appeared, bucking the small blue dragon hard, making him fly off into the air, and plummet towards the ground.

Twilight clung onto Aardunkay tightly. They were flying every which direction, and she could hardly tell up from down. All around her, white, blue, and red flames spouted from the maws of angry dragons. Twilight shot out her magic bolts rapidly, hitting a dark dragon whenever she caught one in her sights. It was easy to tell the two dragon clans apart, as the Silverlight dragons usually were clean, and had smoother scales, and the dark dragon had ragged, torn scales, that were usually coated with blood, or other tribal designs. The dark dragons also tended to be smaller, on average. Despite their size, and their skill advantage, the Silverlight dragons were greatly outnumbered, and were having trouble just keeping a multitude of the young dark dragons from overwhelming them, and staying alive.

Up from the ground, a very angry Blood Talon flew back into the fight, “That’s it brothers, keep them occupied!” he roared out, jumping onto a Silverlight dragon, and digging his teeth into its neck. Celestia was flashing around the battlefield as fast as she could, blinking in front of any righteous dragons in need, and sometimes creating a huge burst of energy, that would send the little drakes falling to the ground. Blood Talon proved to be a ruthless and effective warrior. He did not bother using his fire breath to fell his enemies. He would often let them try to strike him with their flame breath, dodging in until he got in close, and bulldozed into them, tearing into their flesh with his fearsome teeth. Many a great Silverlight dragons would fall to his ferocious maw.

Celestia flew in a relatively clear zone, firing her powerful magic beans at the dark dragons she spotted. Blood Talon rose up above her, and curved his wings downward, making him torpedo through the air silently behind her. His claws arose, and his maw opened, poised to devour the sun goddess. Just before he crashed into her, Malkendov arose up, tackling Blood Talon and causing him to be pushed upward.

“Push them back! Get to the device!” roared out Malkendov.

Aardunkay, Twilight and Celestia heard his cry. Aardunkay, with Twilight on his back sped further into the forgotten lands, into the thickest part of the dark dragons. In the distance, they could see a faint glowing on the ground. This glowing was surely from the device, and so Aardunkay sped towards it, dodging his way through hoards of dragon as quickly as he could. Celestia made her way slowly towards them, keeping an eye on the fighting Silverlight dragons, and blasting their foes off of them when she could. Slowly but surely, they were making their way forward in battle, and were pushing the wicked drakes back.

Malkendov smiled slightly as he saw the progress, but as he looked away, a great red claw gashed across his face. The claw of Blood Talon had struck him, and would have done so again, would Malkendov not have dodged in time. Blood Talon roared ferociously at him. The blood red dragon was still slightly bigger than him yet, and used his size to intimidate him. Malkendov shot fourth liquid hot metal from his breath, but the red dragon soared up into the air, dodging the blast of heat. Malkendov tried to counter. Instead of waiting for an attack, he followed the bloodied dragon, and struck him in his side with his spiked tail. Blood Talon cried out in pain, and suddenly changed trajectory. His claws sunk into Malkendov, and he began to dive towards the ground. With his claws ahold of Malkendov, Blood Talon slammed the copper dragon into the ground. Then he dug his teeth into his neck, rending the life from him, and finishing him off.

The blood dragon looked up; he could see Aardunkay and Celestia nearing the device. He flew into the air, and sped past the battle, charging for them as fast as she could. With his eyes wide with bloodlust, and anticipation, he cried out, “DO IT! DO IT NOW!”

The Silverlight dragons where nearly atop of the device. The battled raged on above it, and the tides had turned. Now the dark dragons were fighting to simply stop the Silverlight from advancing forward, using any and all tactics necessary, no matter how dangerous.

Suddenly, something happened that made all the dragons, and ponies stop in their tracks. A heavy pulse was felt, coming from the device below. Another pulse resonated. A look of panic struck into Aardunkay’s eyes. Without waiting for the other dragons to react, he reached onto his back, taking Twilight Sparkle in his claw gently. Then, like lightning he sped through the air, and took Celestia as well into his other claw. He had already gotten past the battle, when the other dragons realized what was happening, but it was too late for them. A circle of light came from the device. The light, was raw destruction, raw power, that was slowly growing, and enveloping everything that it touched. Both Silverlight, and dark dragons where swallowed up inside the blast, and lost forever. The blast wave was coming out at a tremendous speed, and it was catching up to Aardunkay. He knew that it would overtake him, but he would not die, without knowing he did everything he could to save his two greatest comrades. In a last ditch effort to save them, Aardunkay threw the two ponies forward, with all of his might, using the power of his own momentum, his throw, and Celestia’s frantic wing power to speed them forward. Twilight was shaking, hardly knowing what was going on at all, as her teacher grasped her firmly in her hooves, and flapped her wings has hard as she could, to escape the blast from the device. Celestia would fly nearly a mile from the ring of devastation, before she finally lowered herself to the ground, and turned around. What she beheld even shocked the spirit of the sun. It was a large dome of pure energy that had radiated from the device. It swallowed up earth, air, and flesh alike, destroying everything. This is what had happened to the ponies long ago, this is what they created. No Silverlight dragons had survived the blast. Although he had saved the princess, and Twilight Sparkle, Aardunkay would too, be incinerated to dust by the device.

“No… Aardunkay…” a tear came to Twilight’s eye as she beheld the loss of her friend, “He sacrificed himself to save us.” Twilight Sparkle had another horrible realization, “Princess… we failed. What’s going to happen now…” she asked amidst her sorrow.

The Princess was battle worn, and looked towards the dome of destruction, that was only just now beginning to recede, “Now, you must return to Equestria Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight suddenly realized that the princess had said ‘you’ and not ‘we’, “Princess I don’t understand.”

The princess looked down to her pupil for a moment, and then back up at the receding energy, “I must stay here Twilight Sparkle. I must stay here, and face the Lord of Destruction.”

To be continued with, Chapter 5: The Return of Destruction

Chapter 5: The Return of Destruction

It awoke, and it crawled out of the vortex of eternity. It had left the world in pain, and with pain it had returned. The blackness poured out of the gate, and tainted the already sorrowful ground before it. Out of oblivion, he stepped, and his form took its shape, much as it did the last time he was here. But it was not the same as it had been before. When he had first arrived to the world, he was a shell, with only the spirit of destruction. Now, as the monster unfurled its wings, it was witness to its own perfection, its own immortality. He raised his claw to his view, and clenched it, as if to crush the world. His scales were black as the void and flawless. Dark red embers and fire escaped sporadically from his body, forming an aurora of the spirit of destruction that escaped his perfect body, as if it was seething with fury. Every moment that he was still, his spirit churned restlessly within his form, trying to sprawl out onto the world, and consume it with fire. The lord of destruction had returned to the living world. His all-seeing eyes looked upon the whole of the world, and saw every living thing, and all of the constructs of living things before him. He looked to the sky and roared angrily at it, the life on this planet mocked him, and he hated it. The darkest element, Numinex would unmake the world, and paint it with the color of fire.

He arose from the ground, into the sky and found himself surprised. The air did no resist him, or his wings, he was its master, and it bended to his will, as did the earth itself. Not even the earth could content with the will of the dark monster. With such a being that had come into the world, he felt that it was surely his destiny to destroy it. He turned his face to the west, and recognized the land of Equestria. This was where the most life seethed. This was where it spread out into the land like a cancer, in Numinex’s eyes. He remembered very much the land of Equestria, and the ponies that inhabited it. In his past life, he had looked at them with anger, and wraith. But now, in his most perfect form, he looked at them with pity. He pitied such shallow mortal creatures that were doomed to walk upon the ground with such insignificance. Out of his pity, he would relieve them of their weak mortal bodies, and relieve the earth of the life that made its surface ache.

“But Princess… you said you couldn’t stop him by yourself?” asked Twilight Sparkle, looked up to her teacher with panic in her eyes.

“That remains true Twilight Sparkle. But I can delay him enough so that you may escape, and prepare Equestria for his arrival,” said the princess as she kept her gaze on the remains of the blast.

“Princess that means…” she looked up in fear, “What will happen to you Princess?!” Twilight asked desperately.

Celestia sighed, and looked down to her pupil, “It means that you must be off Twilight Sparkle, for every moment you delay brings Numinex Closer to Equestria!” she said firmly to her student.

“No Princess Celestia, I won’t leave you here alone! What if… what he hurts you…” she asked, tears starting to form in her eyes.

“My most beloved student, you would go to the ends of the world and back if I asked you too, but now I must ask that you return,” said Celestia, trying to comfort Twilight with a warm smile, “But I must do my duties as Equestria’s protector, and you must do your duties as my most trusted student…” she said with a look of sympathy in her eye.

A dreadful thought came into Twilight’s mind as she looked upon her teacher, “Princess… what if… what if I never see you again,” she said shakily.

Princess Celestia leaned down, and wrapped Twilight Sparkle in a loving hug, “Twilight Sparkle, I will always be there for you. If you ever feel in need my dearest student, just look up into the sky.”

Princess Celestia planted a gentle kiss on Twilight Sparkle’s head. The unicorn gasped, still with tears in her eyes, as she felt the alicorn’s magic course through her body. Wings made of light sprouted from her back, and without her control, they lifted Twilight up, and sped her off back to Equestria. Twilight could only watch with sadness, as she turned to see her princess slowly fading away into the distance.

“Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle,” uttered the princess sadly.

The great beast of destruction flapped his terrible wings. They blazed with each wing-beat, tormenting the air as he flew slowly and ominously towards the little alicorn before him. As he came before Celestia, Numinex withdrew for a moment. He recognized the spirit of his sister, and in the past, he had forever feared her scorn. But now, he was the greater element, he was the greatest power in the world.

“Elder, the world is breaking…” uttered the terrible dragon. The very earth cracked beneath them at the sound of his voice, “Ever have you sat by idly, and watch it decay. Numinex will cleanse it for you, as he did long ago. We must cover the earth in fire,” he said with conviction.

Celestia looked to him confidently, although her voice sounded so meek in comparison, “The world is still beautiful, little brother. It should not be destroyed,” she said defiantly.

“We WILL cover the land in fire, we will unmake the world!” said the great dragon with fury, the resonation of his voice like a thunderclap, “You no longer possess the strength to stop me. You have become weak, and senile, from the influence of the mortals you walk among. Everything must be undone. The weak must be removed; the whole of life must burn,” he said with solemn conviction.

“Life is still beautiful in this world little brother! I will not let you harm my subjects!” said Celestia angrily, stomping her hoof down in front of her.

Numinex was not impressed, “Arrogance, sister. If you wish I should part you from your mortal vessel, then I shall grant you your wish. Only know that I will spare you no lesser pain, and that you will suffer greatly. Such is the first of suffering that will come to all of pony-kind. Let it begin with you.” As he spread his wings, the clouds above him immolated, “I will show no remorse in tearing you apart, Celestia…”

“Neither will I.” Princess Celestia rose up into the sky, and went to meet the lord of destruction.

Across the sky, Twilight Sparkle flew impossibly fast as her magic wings sped her through the air. In a journey that would have taken days, she flew across the forgotten lands, Dracolas, and into Equestria in a matter of hours. Her wings slowed her down gradually, before they landed her at the great gate to Canterlot, before the disappeared from her body, fading away. Out from the gate, Shining Armor, and Princess Luna rushed to her side. Her brother helped her up, as she was both physically and emotionally worn from her endeavor. She would not greet her favorite brother with a smile though. Her face bore despair, as she looked up to Princess Luna.

“Twilight Sparkle, what happened, where is Princess Celestia?!” asked Luna with haste, looking to Twilight with worry in her face.

Twilight Sparkle looked to the ground shamefully, as if she had abandoned her beloved teacher, “She stayed back… to fight him,” she said weakly.

“He has returned?” Luna said with a look of dread on her face. For a moment, a tear came to her eye, and she looked angrily at Twilight, “And you left my sister alone to face that monster?!” she turned her face away quickly, knowing that it was not Twilight Sparkle’s fault.

A serious look came across Luna’s face, as she remembered what she had last said to her sister, “Shining Armor, bring all of your battalions to the ready. Pull back every soldier and guard to Canterlot. And send word to the eastern cities and villages to evacuate, and make refuge closer to Canterlot,” said the Princess, as she made her way back inside Canterlot.

Shining Armor saluted her, “Yes your majesty!”

“Fortify our outer defenses, man the catapults and crossbows, have scouts watching the horizon at all hours!” commanded Luna.

She started to fly off, before Twilight Sparkle stopped her, “Princess wait, what will happen to Celestia? Isn’t there anything we can do to…” she was interrupted.

“My sister stayed behind so that we could prepare Twilight Sparkle, and I shall honor her wish. Princess Celestia is strong, and she will not fall easily to that bloody beast,” said Luna. She picked up Twilight Sparkle with her magic, and brought her along, as she flew through Canterlot, and back to her castle.

“What can I do to help princess?” asked Twilight Sparkle, trying to show more confidence, and push the thought of her teacher’s grave situation out of her mind.

“You can return to Ponyville, and help make necessary preparations. As Ponyville is a western city, I cannot afford to spare any guards to defend it, but in the event that Numinex reaches it, they need to be thoroughly ready. I will first…” she hesitated, and said to herself quietly, “…no, not yet. Retrieve Spike from the study in Canterlot dear Twilight, I believe he has news for you.”

Twilight Sparkle made her way out of the princess’s castle, but spike would meet her before she got to the study. Accompanying him, were five dragons, all of them about fifteen feet tall. Spike held a look of sadness on his face as he approached Twilight, “They’re all that’s left of the Silver Enclave…”

An iron colored dragon stepped forward, his head was drooping slightly, “Aardunkay told us that… we were too young to fight Twilight Sparkle, we just heard the news,” said the dragon, wearing a terribly unfitting look of sadness for a dragon.

Another dragon, of gold coloring stepped forward, “Is there anything we can do to help Twilight Sparkle?” he asked, trying to sound more hopeful.

“Do you think you could help me back in Ponyville? Our town isn’t very well protected, and we need to make ready, should the worst come,” Twilight asked them. They all nodded readily to her, the young dragons relieved to be put to work, and to have something that would distract them from the loss of their comrades. Twilight, and Spike hopped on the back of one of them, and they followed Twilight’s directions back to Ponyville. The moon was still high in the night sky, and it would not be a good hour to wake all of the ponies of her town, especially with such dire news. She decided to keep herself worrying instead. She believed her friends deserved, at least one good night’s sleep, as she knew with these current times, it could very well be their last.

Spike had at least a few hours of sleep, before he was awoken by a letter from Princess Luna. He was up the rest of the morning, conveying messages to and from outposts across Equestria. And soon Twilight Sparkle would awake, and make her way to the capitol building, to deliver her news to Madam Mayor, and to all the ponies of Ponyville.

After a while of bustling around, all of the ponies had finally gathered into the town hall, and quieted down, curious to know what the purple unicorn had to say, “Ponies of Ponyville, a terrible monster is coming to Equestria,” her statement was met with gasps, “The entire royal army has been called to Canterlot, to defend our fair nation from attack. We believe that the enemy will be coming from the east, and so Ponyville will be out line from a direct assault. But in the event that the royal army falls, the Princess has ordered that we make ourselves ready for attack! All townsfolk should go to work fortifying their homes, stockpiling food stores, and building a wall around our city. I have enlisted the aid of these dragons for assistance. I will also be there for any citizen that requires help. If we work together, I believe we can ensure that Ponyville will remain safe. Everypony work hard, work together, and stay safe!”

Celestia’s horn shone with bright solar magic, as she charged head on into Numinex. With a violent crash, she struck him in his chest, causing a huge burst of light. The dark dragon growled lowly, as his wound was slowly enveloped by the darkness of his being. He stared at her with his black lifeless eyes, and shot an enormous ball of fire at her. The raging ball hurled at her at blinding speeds, but she raised a force field, just before impact. Numinex furled his wings, and he descended to the ground, crashing onto his feet. He reared up on his hind legs, and bolstered his black, firey chest towards the sun princess. Just as Celestia too came to land, Numinex smashed his fore claws in the ground, sending out a massive seismic wave towards her. The earth buckled and broke upwards violently from the quake, and eventually the torn earth met Celestia and struck her, sending her flying upwards into the sky. She quickly recovered from her blow, and came streaking downwards, a mere blur of an object as she once again struck Numinex’s body.

The great dragon belatedly swiped a giant claw at her. As he growled in furry, he began to blow a steady stream of fire out of his maw. The stream of fire began to circle, faster and faster, and rose up into the clouds. The dragons flame became a large tornado firestorm, and it slowly made its way towards the princess. Celestia used her powerful wings to try and dodge the swirling, burning vortex, but it continued to test even her limits, as the massive wind power constantly tried to pull her into its grip. As the firestorm ever neared her, she lifted her regal front hooves up, and slammed them on the ground; the princess had created her own massive tornado. The two vortexes’s clashed with each other, and the flames of Numinex’s firestorm dispersed.

Celestia jumped into her own tornado, and used its momentum to speed up, and dive down into Numinex with the magic of her horn emitting waves of energy. Numinex had timed his strike better though, and as Celestia dove into him, he swiped his claw, smacking her away, and sending her tumbling across the ground.

He looked at her without emotion, or distress, “Why do you resist the inevitable Celestia?” he taunted at her.

She looked at him scornfully before she jumped back to her hooves, and eyes began to glow ferociously. With her magic, she lifted a huge chuck of earth from the ground, and hurled it at Numinex. The rock was blasted to bits, as the dragon simply shot back at it with his direct fire. The dark dragon’s eyes began to glow with his dark red passion of destruction. He stared with his dark eyes at Celestia, and in a flash of light, the earth below her suddenly disappeared, being replaced with a large crater. She started to fall for a moment, before she started to fly, but Numinex had used this opportunity to lung at her, and whip her with his powerful tail. The princess once again was knocked downward, plummeting to the center of the crater. She created her own crater, within the crater with the force of her body smashing into the earth.

Numinex descended down to where Celestia laid the dragon about to crush her with the force of his massive body. As he descended, Celestia flung herself up from the ground, and aimed her horn at the dragon. A white, solar light emitted from her horn. The light of the sun burned Numinex’s eyes as he shut them and turned away. He began to back away from his fall, and Celestia used this opportunity to fly upwards with all her might. She struck the dragon in the chest, causing his whole body to be lifted upwards. Then the princess flew above him, and struck him again from above, this time causing his body to fall to the ground. Numinex crashed into the ground, the force of such a colossal impact on the ground causing a small earthquake.

Celestia would not let up her attack for a moment, so she sped towards the downed dragon to strike him again. As she did, the dragon opened his maw, and let out a sea of flames, that curved around Celestia, engulfing the area around her, and blocking any escape. The dragon kept his maw open, and kept his huge flow of flames spouting. Soon, the sea of fire stuck the regal mare. The fires would continuously stream over her, until every inch of the terrible fire had brushed over her form. She was getting burned, and without escape, she had to stop the onslaught of flames. Instead of flying away, she flew towards the dragon, and met his flames. She met his maw, and bucked his face hard with her hind hooves, causing him to stop his fire breath.

The Princess stood before him, panting, with her fine white coat now showing burn marks. The sharp spines along the black dragon’s back began to grow, “I WILL make you feel pain Celestia…” the dragon proclaimed. Suddenly, the black spines along his back and tail shot out towards the princess like swords. Celestia dodged most of them, and used her tail to whip away the rest. Her horn began to glow with a bright yellow. She began to launch a furry of sizzling magic bolts at Numinex in retaliation. The dragon simply raised his wings over his body, and the bolts of magic bounced off of them harmlessly.

Numinex struck the ground with his tail, and another shockwave was sent towards the princess, sending her off balance, and causing her to lose her balance. Numinex lunged forward, snapping his fanged jaw to devour the mare. She only just jumped away in time, bucking the dragons face firmly before she flew to a safer distance. The dragon did not let her escape so easily. He pursued her, and managed to smash his wicked claw into her again, making her tumble through the sky. While she tumbled he struck her again with the edge of his wing, making her fall to the ground. Celestia tumbled, and managed to only just land on her feet in time.

The black dragon landed gently on his hind legs, and furled his wings. Not a single scale on his perfect body had been harmed, and yet here the princess stood before him, bruised, burnt, and weary. Deep in his heart, he knew that Celestia was far more powerful than he could ever hope to be. And this is precisely what upset him. He could think of no greater perversion than to see such a powerful immortal being, in the body of such a weak mortal. Numinex would do her the favor, of relieving her from her weakened state. But it was why she resisted this, is what confused the black harbinger of doom, “Your fondness of the mortals has clouded your judgment Celestia. The coming of destruction is necessary.”

Celestia looked at him angrily. She flew up into the air, and prepared her magic. A bright, white solar glow emitted from her horn, as she prepared to attack Numinex again. A powerful beam of concentrated magic shot out from her horn, and direct at the dark dragon below her. Numinex countered her magic, and fired a torrent of powerful flames at the beam. The two forces collided with each other and held still, locked in a battle for power. Celestia neared Numinex, and she cringed as she used more and more of her power into the force of her solar beam. The dragon’s flames were starting to be blown back, and the beam was nearing Numinex. He stood his ground, and soon, his stream of flames tightened, becoming more and more concentrated. The dragon’s fire became its own beam of destructive energy, and it pushed Celestia’s back.

Numinex’s dark energy collided with Celestia’s horn, and created a massive explosion that shook the ground. The princess was blown back, and slammed into the ground. Now, she had to fight to stand up. With her mortal body in pain, she was forced to cry out in agony. Her limbs were shaking, barely able to take the stress of her own weight as she stood. The dragon flew towards her slowly, and ominously. She tried to weakly lite her magic to defend herself, but Numinex swatted her effortlessly, causing her bruised body to tumble across the ground. Again, she cried out in pain as he breaking body protested, but somehow managed to lift herself up once more.

Each time Princess Celestia got up, the dragon would follow her, and swat her around. He was toying with her, like a cat toys with a mouse. She had been beaten, and it took all of her strength just to stand up once more, but he continued to play with her. The lord of destruction found entertainment in seeing his once more powerful sister so weak and helpless, “Does this hurt you sister?” he taunted.

She cried, and moaned in her agony. The final time she was struck down, she could not get up. The dragon poised himself high, to crush her. As his fists came down upon her body, he found resistance. The princess had raised her fore hooves up, and was holding the dragon’s claws back, even as they trembled, the princess grimacing as she used up every ounce of courage she could muster, ever bit of her divine strength to hold the dragon’s massive claw back from crushing her to pieces. The dragon recoiled his fist, and looked at her. His deathly black stared at her, and his cruel mind began to work up a more fitting end for her. He knew she would not live long.

“No, not yet, sister. Your suffering will be prolonged, and you will have a final use before you are disposed of,” Celestia heard the dragon say, before she saw his claw coming down towards her. After that, the vision of the princess faded, and everything went dark.

To be continued with, Chapter 6: Last Dusk

Chapter 6: Last Dusk

Chapter 6: Last Dusk

On the second day she had returned, Ponyville was still as busy as ever. All of the houses, and major buildings had been fortified. The town hall had been converted into a command center, and its spire-like top had been removed, to reduce structural weaknesses. Most houses without cellars had them built in, and stocked up with food and supplies. The apple family had been busy pickling and preserving apples in jars, and passing them out to the town ponies. Twilight Sparkle had been hard at work keeping everypony organized. Under her management, Ponyville was slowly but surely working up to become much more defensible, should the need ever arrive. They had even begun construction on a wall, something that Ponyville had never needed in its entire history. The yellow Pegasus Fluttershy had even recruited the help of many of her animal friends to help with the construction, as surely they too would be in danger, if Numinex should ever come as far as Ponyville. The five remaining Silverlight dragons were a tremendous help, due to their ability to lift heavy materials, and could do twice as much work as a handful of strong earth ponies.

The constant working and organizing helped Twilight keep her mind off of more dire thoughts. Always she had wondered what had become of her beloved teacher. She wondered how Princess Luna was taking it as well. After initially hearing the news, the princess of the night hadn’t showed much emotion, and was herself consumed with organization and preparation. Twilight had known Princess Celestia all of her short life, but Princess Luna had been with her for over a thousand years. They had been through so much together, been torn apart, and been reunited. She couldn’t even imagine what Luna must be going through. As strong as she knew the great princess was, she knew that she had shared a deep bond of sisterhood with Celestia. She couldn’t think on it for long, for it nearly brought a tear to her eye, just to think of how Luna must be feeling inside.

As Twilight Sparkle looked over progress charts, and maps scattered about the town hall, a little purple dragon came rushing to her side, “Twilight, come outside quick!” he said with an anxious smile on his face. She was curious to know just what had him so excited.

She gingerly trotted outside, and her jaw dropped as she gazed up into the air. The whole sky was filled with what must have been thousands of birds flying overhead, or at least what she thought were birds. As she squinted her eyes to get a closer look, she noticed that they were not birds at all. They were griffons.

“Princess Luna has had be on correspondence between the griffon nation for the past few days. The griffon leaders have come to our support! These one’s are just from Talon Grove, more are coming from other griffon cities, can you believe it Twilight?”

She smiled as she saw the brave griffon soldiers fly overhead, “Wow, it must mean a lot to Luna and to every pony to have the aid of our good friends in our time of need. I’m glad we won’t be in this fight alone,” she said, sighing out happily at the sign of good news. The sight of such a union between nations brought hope to her heart, for the first time in days.

Princess Celestia had always had positive relations with the griffon nation. Once they had heard about the great threat to Equestria, they immediately sent almost the whole griffon army to lend aid. It was not only to protect their good friend and ally, but because they knew that a threat such as Numinex would surely affect all nations and creatures of the world. It was truly in the best interest of all living things, to stand up against the fury of the dark dragon.

Down from the sky flew a few handfuls of griffon. They were all very regal, and sharp looking birds, with ornate uniforms dawned across their busts. One such griffon bore a particularly ornate uniform that had two gold bars displayed on a sash that came across his chest. The griffon landed, and approached Twilight, and saluted her, “Twilight Sparkle I assume? My name is Captain Stormwing, 23rd Support Wing, Griffon Detachment Bravo of the Grande Griffon Air Force. We’ve been sent from our detachment to lend any aid we could to Ponyville,” said the professional sounding griffon soldier.

Twilight Sparkle bowed before the Captain, “It’s good to have you here Captain Stormwing, we’re happy to have any assistance you can give,” she lead the captain into the town hall, and displayed a few charts before him, “Our foremost objective is currently building a defensible wall around Ponyville. However, we are running short on brick and mortar supplies in town from making fortifications to the houses and structures. Do you think your unit could fly to the quarry a few clicks south of us, and bring us some suitable supplies?” asked Twilight.

The griffon Captain nodded to her, and saluted, “Yes ma’am, we will make for Ghastly Gorge immediately, and return with your requested supplies. Celestia be with you Twilight Sparkle!” he said as he saluted her again, and quickly went to work. Twilight looked down with a look of sadness at the reminder of the words, “Celestia”.

That night, Twilight Sparkle’s dreams would be plagued with nightmares. As she tossed and turned in her sleep, images of a Celestia in pain would flash before her. The thought of it was too much to bear. Eventually, as she heard the cries of her teacher in agony, she was jostled awake. There was a storm outside. Deep from within the internal uncertainty of Luna, the clouds had covered the sunrise, and rain and thunder echoed out, from her frustration and sorrow. Twilight Sparkle would not return to sleep again that night.

She would spend the rest of the day helping with the construction of the wall. The griffon soldiers had made a few trips to Ghastly Gorge, and now they had plenty of stone and mortar to work with. The unicorn had a tremendous impact on the construction of the wall. With her magic, she could fill an entire section with stones and mortar, and have it sealed within moments. This greatly increased the speed of construction. Within the day, they had almost completely circumnavigated Ponyville with the wall. With the majority of preparations complete, Twilight decided she would go and check to see if Princess Luna needed any help in Canterlot.

She hopped on the back of the young Silverlight dragon, which she had since learned his name was “Jericho”, a steel colored dragon, which seemed to have wisdom beyond his years. She felt for Jericho’s pain, as he was still in mourning for the loss of his great mentor. Ever since she had first seen the glorious silver dragon, she never once felt darkness, or malcontent from him. She couldn’t imagine what it was like, being inborn with a desire for wickedness in one’s heart. But Aardunkay was the first dragon to overcome evil, not from without, but from within. Aardunkay had shown true virtuousness at his ability to conquer darkness from his heart, and to lead a life of righteousness. She knew now why he was so dear to Princess Celestia. He was truly a noble example for all dragon-kind, and even though she had only known him for a short time, she would miss him dearly.

Twilight found Canterlot to be in an uproar of activity. A good portion of the high society ponies had chosen to leave amidst the chaos. Most of them found refuge in the western city of Baltimare. The streets were now filled with soldiers, and workers, all of them busy trying to prepare Canterlot for what would surely be the worst of the attack. The outer walls of the city had been double fortified with stone, and mortar. Each of the spire towers were now all lined with siege crossbows, and trebuchets. She even noticed a few guards raising their spears to the dragon, simply out of their nerves, before they realized it was a Silverlight dragon, and Twilight Sparkle. She made her way through the great gate, and into the busy city. Guards were everywhere around castle Canterlot, and she had to snake her way around them, to find a clear path inside. In the outer halls, she smiled at the sight of a familiar pony.

“Princess Cadence!” cried out Twilight Sparkle. They each made their way through the guards, and embraced each other in a warm hug.

The pink alicorn had a worried and nervous look on her face, but she brightened up at bit at the sight of her beloved sister-in-law, “Twilight Sparkle! It’s so good to see you… things have been crazy around Canterlot for the past few days. I’m glad to see a familiar face,” she said with a smile.

Twilight Sparkle let go of her, and they found a calmer spot in the outer all to gather around, “How have you been holding up, Cadence?” she asked sympathetically.

The young alicorn dropped her head slightly as she sighed, “I’m a little scared Twilight Sparkle, and I won’t lie. Luna and Shining Armor have been working around the clock to fortify the city, I have hardly had a chance to see him,” she said with disappointment.

Twilight sparkle Set her hoof on her shoulder to comfort her, “We’re all a little scared Cadence, but we have to do everything we can, and work together,” she said trying to uplift her spirits, “I bet you’ve been pretty busy yourself.”

Cadence shook her head, “Oh no, I’ve just been trying to stay out of the way. I don’t have a whole lot of special powers like my aunts…” she said as she looked to the ground.

“Maybe there is something you can do to help. My friend outside, he’s one of the last Silverlight dragons, and he just lost someone who was very dear to him. Do you think you could try to cheer him up?” she asked with a smile. She knew that not having anything to occupy herself with, Cadence’s mind must have been a fury of what-ifs and terrible thoughts.

She nodded to her, “That poor dragon… I will certainly do what I can Twilight Sparkle,” she said firmly.

“Thank you Cadence. It was good to see you,” they hugged again, “Do you know where Luna is actually?” asked Twilight.

Cadence nodded, and pointed to the inner most room of the castle, “They’re right in there Twilight, good luck. I hope to see you again soon dear sister…” she asked, as she gave her a final hug, and made her way through the maze of guards to get outside.

Inside the innermost room, there were surprisingly few guards, as Luna and Shining Armor were quite busy planning, and looking over charts and maps. Inside, she would find her brother, dawned in his royal uniform, and Princess Luna, in such armor as she had never seen before. The princess was adorned in her battle armor, which nopony had ever seen a princess wear in over a thousand years. The shimmering, dark blue armor covered her bust, and back, and fore hooves. As well as a spectacular blue helmet. It was a stunning piece, and commanded respect among all of the guard ponies. Next to her was another griffon, which had a scar over his eye, and looked like quite a grizzled old fellow. However, his age certainly did not take away from his stature. He was an experienced old griffon, and was perhaps the beefiest one she had ever seen.

Luna first noticed Twilight, and turned to speak to her, “Twilight Sparkle, welcome, this is General Hammer Claw, of the 1st griffon Air Force,” she said, giving the general a little bow.

The general turned to Twilight with a grimace on his face. Or perhaps that’s how is face looked naturally, Twilight couldn’t quite tell, “So this is the most magical unicorn in all Equestria? Doesn’t look so tough to me…” he said with a grunt.

Twilight forgave his rudeness as she bowed before them, “It’s a pleasure to meet you sir, thank you for sending a squadron of your soldiers to help us with defenses in Ponyville,” she said politely. The general simply grunted at her again in response. She looked to Princess Luna now, “Princess, we’ve nearly finished preparing Ponyville as best as we can, so I’ve come here to see if there’s anything I can do to help!” she said confidently.

“Thank you Twilight Sparkle. We could use you’re help carving out escape passages in the edge of the mountain. If the worst should come, we want to make sure that the civilians of Canterlot have an escape route,” said Princess Luna. She had not shown as much as a glimmer of sadness, or despair in her voice, or in her body language. If she was harboring uncertainty, or sorrow, she was hiding it rather well.

Before Twilight had a chance to reply, a great amount of rustling and complaining of guards was heard outside their door, and somepony was shouting something, loudly, but indistinguishably through the room doors. Through the door, a Pegasus scout burst in, crashing into the room, and tumbling through the maps and charts, making papers and scrolls fly everywhere. He quick got up on his feet, but he was quite clearly out of breath. Everypony looked at him rather confused, and Shining Armor tried to help the scout up, “Soldier! What’s the meaning of this, have you news?” he asked impatiently.

The Pegasus tried to catch his breath, before he looked at them with dread on his face, “He’s… coming…” he took another moment, and his voice steadied, “I saw him far off into the east, a colossal black dragon. He will be here within a few hours…” said the Pegasus Scout meekly.

Luna’s eyes went wide, “All soldiers at their posts, be at the ready! I will meet him before he reaches Canterlot,” she said commandingly.

Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath, before she stepped forward, “I’m coming with you Princess Luna.”

“Twilight Sparkle… this is not something…” she was interrupted.

“So am I. You little ponies aren’t going to have all the fun for yourselves!” General Hammer cried out. He was the first one to burst out of the door, “Sergeant Eagle Eye, my weapon!” he cried out to a smaller looking griffon. This was apparently where the general got his name, as his weapon brought to him was a massive, steel hammer. It was a wonder how he was able to fly with it at all.

Luna began to trot quickly down the hall of the castle, the guards parting for her, and making for their posts, “Listen, all of you, I really appreciate your support but…” she looked forward, as she saw two dark colored, bat winged Pegasus guards fly in, and kneel before the princess.

“Your majesty, we shall accompany you to your battle,” one of them said dutifully.

Luna shook her head angrily and walked past, “No, that is where I’m putting my hoof down! You are to stay here and guard Canterlot with the rest of the soldiers that is an order!” she said firmly.

The Pegasus night guards slowly followed after her, their constitution not wavering, “I’m sorry your majesty, but that is an order we must disobey. The night guards have been your personal protection since your inception as princess. Even during your dreadful banishment, our order waited for one thousand years for your return, so that we might be at your side once more. We will be by your side Princess Luna, to whatever end,” they said before bowing once more in respect.

The princess looked at them with frustration, but she had to admire their undying loyalty. She wouldn’t be able to keep them away, unless she did so by force. And although she regretted it, she knew that deep down; they were fully devoted to her, and would like nothing more than to stay by her side. The Princess scoffed at them, as she turned around, and continued on her flight. Along with General Hammer, and Twilight Sparkle being carried by her Night Guards, Princess Luna flew low over Canterlot, and to the main gate, taking a look to make sure every pony and griffon was in place. Over one of the watch towers, she noticed a particular Pegasus soldier. He was shaking in his armor, and looked terrified onto the horizon. It is likely that this soldier and most of these soldiers had never seen real combat. He was also quite young for a Pegasus soldier. Luna flew down to him, and gingerly put a hoof on his shoulder, “Be brave my good soldier… be brave for all of Equestria…” she smiled to him, easing his tension. At this, she recalled once more, what her dear sister had said to her, and she too put on her bravest face. She knew that this would be the greatest foe any of them would have ever faced, and it was very likely that they were all flying to their dooms.

On the eastern edge of Equestria, no more than two hours flight from Canterlot, they all waited. They could feel the tension in the air. Everything was eerily silent. What sort of monster was coming over the next hill? What sort of catastrophe would the world be faced with? These questions ran constantly through the minds of the five beings that stood on the high plains. This was the deep breath before the plunge. The sun was slowly going down in the sky, and a red hue began to color the distant clouds. Out from the jungles of the east, they saw it.

His wings dawned over the horizon like fire. Above him, the clouds would burst into flames as he passed below them. The trees would bend away from him, and the animals would flee from the woods, trying to escape the shadow of the dragon. Every beat of his wings taunted life, and spread fear to all things. Even in the hearts of Princess Luna, General Hammer, the Night Guards, and Twilight Sparkle they felt fear welling up inside them. Death had at long last approached the doorstep of Equestria, and it came ever closer to him. The massive beast continued to fly, purposefully slow towards them. The closer he came, the larger he looked, until it looked like the whole of him would be able to crush Equestria with a single of his massive claws. The black monster landed itself on a high hill, only a few hundred feet away from them. If Twilight Sparkle didn’t know better, she would think that his terrible gruesome and frightful maw was upturned into a little grin. The dragon stood there in his abominable magnificence, displaying his full evil splendor to the Equestrian defenders that met him. They looked closer, and saw that his right claw was up, and held something inside it, although they could not tell what.

Although rage and violence seethed out into an aurora around the dragon, his body itself did not look prepared to attack. In fact he stood rather calmly, if not, terrible ominously before them. Eventually he raised his great claw, and spoke, causing waves of fear to shock the bodies of the ponies before him, “Mortals of Equestria, I bid thee a greeting…” he spoke slowly, as to amplify their fear, “I come to offer thee… a tribute. Behold a symbol of the futility of the mortal shell. Behold the first and greatest fall of all pony kind. I leave you now to wallow with this mortals, for in two days time I shall return, and complete the final song of destruction upon your lands,” he raised his arm up, and with hardly any effort, he flung what he carried in his claw. A white blur streaked across the ground, and landed with a hard thud before the ponies.

Words could express the sadness that terror that had filled Twilight Sparkle. She instantly forgot about the presence of Numinex, and she ran forward to the body of Princess Celestia. Her once great and regal teacher now lay broken. Her body was bruised, and burnt in many places. Her majestic crown had been removed, and her beautiful horn had been broken. The lovely, pale, multi-colored mane and tail that Twilight remembered flowing and sparkling stunningly, was now ragged, and unkempt. Her body was once so regal, so beautiful. But now here she lay, torn asunder, beaten, and tossed around like a ragdoll. Twilight Sparkle could not bear the travesty; she could not bear the blasphemy of seeing the royal Celestia in such a state. The tears welled up from her eyes, and began to stream down her face. She couldn’t breathe; she was choking on her own emotions, trying to tell her eyes that they had to be lying to her.

There was a sound of a painful, quiet groaning. The princess was still alive. She tried to move her head, struggling to look out of her bruised, magenta eyes to look at her pupil, “T-twilight Sparkle…” she said, her voice weak and hoarse.

“Princess? Princess Celestia, you’re ok!” she laughed weakly, leaning in closely to her teacher’s side, “Princess… you’re ok… I knew you’d be ok… you’re going to be ok Princess… you’re going to be ok!” The tears were still flowing from her eyes, and she was interrupted by her crying. She knew the state of the princess, but she couldn’t bring herself to face the horrid reality before her.

The beaten princess tried to turn her head to look at her most faithful student. She gave her a loving look, and tried weakly to put a hoof around her, “Twilight Sparkle… I, I have one more lesson to teach you… my most faithful… student…” she said quietly.

Twilight nuzzled up to the broken body of her teacher, pressing herself up against her, and underneath her loving hoof. She sniffled and cried as she held herself against Celestia, “No, no, don’t talk Princess. You’re going to be ok, we’re going to get you help, and you’ll be ok!” she said through her cries.

The princess looked sorrowfully at her student. Through all of the pains that coursed through her body, nothing hurt her more than having to see the unicorn she loved the most, in such despair, “Twilight Sparkle… Sometimes… a pony has to…” she let out a gasp of pain, “…has to leave her teacher…” Princess Celestia shed a tear as she looked into the eyes of her student, “N-nopony can be around forever Twilight Sparkle… but it is what they do, and who they spend, with the time that they are given that matters… I am glad that I spent this time with you… Twilight Sparkle…” She was unable to keep her head up anymore. Her body began to shake underneath Twilight, “I have to go now… Twilight, It’s time for you… to learn your final lesson…” she groaned out in pain.

Twilight Sparkle reached down, and hugged Celestia tightly, refusing to let her go, “No Princess… No… you can’t leave me… I… I need you. Please Princess Celestia… don’t leave me!” she cried out, bawling mournfully, with her head buried underneath the wing of her great teacher, mentor, and protector.

The Princess cradled her favorite student with her wing as best as she could. She would leave the world now, nothing would stop that, “Twilight Sparkle… I will always be here for you…” she looked deep into her eyes, nuzzling her with the last of her strength, as if she was her own daughter, “If you are ever alone Twilight Sparkle… Just look up to the sun… I will always be with you…”

Her body began to shake, and her breathing became erratic. Twilight held onto the princess, looking at her helplessly. With sorrowful tears in her eyes, she took a final look into her mentor’s eyes, “Celestia… I… I love you…”
“I love you too… Twilight… Sparkle…” said the princess. And with her final farewell, Princess Celestia took her last breath, and she died.

The sun in the sky had finally fallen below the horizon. It was the darkest sunset Equestria had ever witnessed.

To be continued with, Chapter 7: An Heir to Hope

Chapter 7: An Heir to Hope

Chapter 7: An Heir to Hope

They carried her across into the gates, and across the streets of Canterlot. Every soldier and every pony in the city turned to look at her with horror, and despair. It was such an assault on their eyes to see their regal and beautiful ruler in such a state. All of the ponies had gathered to watch her being carried. The two night guards held her up, on a large royal carrying cart. A sorrowful silence had taken over the normally busy Canterlot Street. The only sound that was heard was the light crying of nearly everypony that beheld the sight of her.

A little filly looked up at her, her eyes watering. Her young mind could not comprehend what sort of horrible event was taking place. She hugged her mother closely, “Mommy, what’s happening? Where are they taking Princess Tia? What’s wrong with her?” she asked between sniffles.

The ponies could not contain their tears. The greatest ruler they had ever known, the most regal, powerful, wisest, and most kind mare to ever walk the lands was gone. They had always looked up to her, as a savor, almost a goddess. She had never done any pony any wrong and only lived to help, and serve her subjects, but now she was gone. The fairest mare, the kindest mare, the most regal, and beautiful creature anypony had ever laid eyes on, was gone. She was the bright sun that arose each day. The very sight of her brought joy and happiness to everyone. She was the brightest star, which had lit the way through darkness in everypony’s lives. And now, their bright star, their brilliant sun had set, making way for the terror, and the uncertainty of the night.

With the gloomiest of looks in their eyes, the night guards gingerly carried her to the Canterlot mausoleum. It was a grand hall, full beautiful white stone columns. Now those columns seemed to be a little darker, as they brought in the body of the beautiful princess, and set her on the stone table, at the center of the grand room. Next to the table, Princess Luna, Shining Armor, and Twilight Sparkle all stood, each of them with their heads hanging low, and tears still flowing from their eyes, save for Princess Luna, whom stood there with a blank, and cold look on her face. Everypony and griffon lined up before the stone table. One by one, each of the ponies came and left a flower before the body of their beloved ruler. As the line moved along sorrowfully, Twilight Sparkle saw Princess Luna storm off out of the mausoleum. She sadly left the tomb, and went off to follow the princess.

Twilight followed Luna all the way back to their castle, through the now empty Canterlot streets. She went up the spiral staircase, all the way up to the top of the tallest tower, in Luna’s personal quarters. There she would see a sight that would bring her to tears again. The once stone faced princess Luna was now curled up on her bed, crying loudly, with her head buried in her pillow. She couldn’t ever blame her for her sorrow. She was rather impressed at her ability to hold in her tears up until this point. Luna laid there in her tears, and for the first time, Twilight Sparkle saw her not as an ancient, royal princess, but as a little girl, who had just lost her closest, and most dearest sister. The princess of the night looked up, with such a look of sadness in her eyes, that it would melt the hearts of the toughest dragon.

“Leave me be Twilight Sparkle…” she said in her pity, trying to hide herself from the world.

Twilight climbed atop of the bed, and looked into Princess Luna’s eyes. Luna knew that Twilight Sparkle had felt the same hurt that she felt. Both of their hearts ached immensely. As the princess cried, Twilight took Luna in her arms, and held her tightly. For the next hour, the princess would shed the last of her tears with Twilight Sparkle. She would let out all of her emotions, all of her hurt onto Twilight. That very night, all of her pain and sorrow would spill out through her tears, like blood being let from a wound.

“I loved her so much, Twilight,” Luna said as she began to choke back her emotions, “I’ve had to face all of my friends dying before me. I’ve had to see millions of ponies die. But I never thought I would ever have to face the death of my sister,” as her tears began to subside, she looked to the ground with despair, “How can we ever hope to fight against such devastation? How can there be peace in the world of Equestria, with such a darkness that encompasses it? I have never seen a being hold so little regard for life, and have so much power. What can stand up to that?” She had asked these things to herself. They were questions that Twilight Sparkle also held, and also did not know the answers to.

Outside, Princess Luna would wander the streets of Canterlot. There were few soldiers that remained at their posts. Most of them looked towards the ground, with their armor strewn about. Their eyes were cold and lifeless, devoid of hope. They had just lost their inspiration, their shining beacon of reason in the world. Princess Celestia had fallen, and there was surely nothing else that could stand up to her slayer. There was surely now, nothing in Equestria worth fighting for, if there could not be their beloved princess. The civilian ponies came back from leaving their respects to their princess, wandering down, and drowning in their sorrow. They too had lost hope, and could not see anything but a bleak future for the nation.

In that one night, the city had lost its splendor. It had lost its life, and become as quiet as the dead. The silence was only broken by Princess Cadence, whom still shed tears for her dearly beloved aunt. But even she, in her sorrow would retreat to her quarters, with Shining armor, lost in sadness. She had always felt meek in comparison to her great aunts, but now, with a beast that could lay waste to Celestia, she felt that her demise, and the demise of all Equestria. The world before them would burn, and there was nothing anypony could do about it.

The sun arising the next day would not awaken the ponies of Canterlot out of their depression and melancholy. A grey mist of misery covered the land; in sadness that light could not break. It would not speak to them with joy as it had in the past. On this day, it would speak to just one pony. Curiously enough, the light of day would only speak to the princess of the night. And it would not say much to her. It would echo to her what she had heard before, “Be strong for me my dearest sister. For Equestria will also need you to be strong for her.” And then she would hear it echo her own voice, “I will not let you down sister.”

In this room, the elements of harmony were kept. Twilight trotted in lazily, trying to find Luna in the doldrums of the sorrowful day. There the blue princess stood, over the jeweled gold necklaces that once made up the elements. The once bright artifacts, that emitted an air of joy and hope, were now dull, grey, and lifeless. They emitted no power.

Twilight was curious about this, but not as shocked as she would normally be. The weight of far greater sorrows still clouded her mind, “What’s wrong with them princess?” she asked quietly.

“It would appear that the elements of harmony no longer hold power than they once did. I do not know why.” Princess Luna turned around and stared at the depressed unicorn. Luna herself no longer bid a look of sadness, but now a look of determination. She was resolute, “Come with me Twilight Sparkle, there is something I want to show you.”

With a gloomy disposition, Twilight followed Princess Luna. She led her to the Canterlot vaults, deep below the castle. Twilight had been here a few times before, to study the ancient knowledge from ponies of old. As they traveled through the vault, they came to a section that Twilight had never seen. Before her was a wall, which portrayed the symbol of Celestia, and Luna, with the sun and the moon in the center. Princess Luna’s horn glowed with magic. A large dropping noise was heard, and magic began to split the wall in two, and it would slowly slide apart, making a passage for a secret room. Twilight lifted her head with wonderment, as she beheld the walls of this room. Painted across the walls were depictions of Starswirl the Bearded, and his adventures across Equestria. She saw one of his first climb to mount Canterlot. She also saw pictures of his first meeting with the princesses, and of his defeating of discord. Then she saw a mural that she hadn’t seen before, it was a picture of discord, high on mount Canterlot, battling a fearsome black dragon that did not look unlike the terrible monster, Numinex. This must have been when he first fought him, in his mortal form.

In the middle of the room, there were four pillars that surrounded a raised patch of earth, sitting in a stone basin. In this patch of soil, several rare and beautiful flowers were in full bloom. And in the middle of the patch of soil lay a gleamingly white and beautiful staff. Princess Luna picked the staff up gently with her magic, and brought it to Twilight Sparkle, setting it in her hooves. Twilight took the staff, and felt something shift deep within her soul. Her eyes widened as she looked closely, noticing that it almost looked as if the staff was made of bone, of some great creature. She looked up with awe in her eyes at Princess Luna.

“This staff was gifted to Starswirl the Bearded, by the great dragon of the earth bones. Before he left Mount Canterlot for a final time, the great dragon of the earth told him that a pony would one day have need of this staff. Starswirl the Bearded was old, and he could no longer perform his great feats of magic, and he would die from the passage of time. But this staff would remain in Equestria. I think he would want you, Twilight Sparkle, his heir to have it,” said Luna as she stood before the stone basin.

Twilight Sparkle looked at the great staff, and beheld the story with amazement. Starswirl the Bearded, the greatest unicorn that had ever lived was her ancestor?

“Princess… I am honored to hold his staff,” her ears drooped as her thoughts were brought back to reality, “But I don’t think that even this great magical power can stop Numinex…”

Luna came close to Twilight, and set a hoof on her shoulder, “Twilight, it was long ago that Starswirl the Bearded brought hope not only to the ponies of Equestria, but even to myself, and Princess Celestia. Starswirl too, faced something that nopony alone could stop. I give this staff to you, not with the hope that you can use it to defeat your enemy, but with the hope that it will remind you that there are other forces at work in the world, other than the forces of evil,” she gave the unicorn a hopeful smile as she leaned down to hug her.

Tears would once again well up into the eyes of Twilight, “Princess I don’t understand… I just don’t understand what I am meant to do… I don’t understand what I can do…” she said with despair.

Princess Luna lifted Twilight’s chin with her hoof, “But I have hope young Twilight, most faithful student of Celestia, that you will understand soon…”

Twilight Sparkle put the precious white staff on her back, and followed Princess Luna back up to her quarters. Here, Princess Luna once again dawned herself with her royal blue armor. Twilight looked at her, confused, “Princess Luna… what are you going to do?”

“I am going to fulfill my destiny Twilight Sparkle,” she placed her helmet upon her head, “And join my sister…” she said quietly.

Twilight’s eyes went wide as she rushed to the Princess’s side, looking up her, “Wait, no princess you can’t! We can’t lose you too; please… we’ve already lost so much. Don’t throw your life away for Celestia… she would want you to stay here… please Princess!” she begged.

Luna looked down sympathetically towards the little unicorn. She pet over her shoulder, “Its ok Twilight. This is something that I must do, to ensure Equestria’s safety. I go to my destiny Twilight Sparkle, and you must stay here, and discover yours,” she hugged Twilight again, before she made her way to the castle.

Twilight looked at her again in protest, “But princess…”

Luna cut her off, and looked at her sternly, she was already making her way out of the castle, “Twilight Sparkle, bring Princess Cadence to me, I must speak with her before I leave,” she said ignoring her pleas.

As the armored blue mare made her way through the city streets, she caught the attention of the gloomy, hopeless guards, and citizens. Seeing her adorned in her armor, they figured she was off to fight the terrible beast that had killed Celestia. They realized, that whatever sort of monster could slay Celestia, could also surely slay Princess Luna, and this did not bring them great hope. Their sorrow was magnified. They felt sad for their princess, whom was going to avenge her sister, even though she surely knew it was to her own death. A few of the soldiers stopped her in her path, trying to reason with her, trying to convince her to stay, but she simply pushed them out of her way, and continued to make her way for the gate. With despair in their eyes, many of the guards went to see her off, wanting to get at least one last glimpse of one of their greater, beloved princesses.

Princess Cadence was a sorry sight to behold. Her tears and makeup had stained her eyes. She looked miserable, and tired, as she had been crying ever since she learned of the death of her dear aunty Tia. Now that she was about to face the departure of her other favorite aunt, she hardly had any liquid in her body left for tears. Luna approached Cadence confidently, holding her head high as she looked into the young pink mare, “Princess Cadence, in my absence, I hereby leave you to be ruler of Equestria in my stead…” she said firmly.

Cadence’s eyes went wide, as she brought a hoof to her mouth, and began to shake her head nervously, “Oh no…. no no no… no… Auntie Luna…” she was at a loss for words for a while, “Luna, you can’t leave ME in charge of Equestria. I’ve never led anypony in my life, I don’t know anything about being a ruler!” she protested.

Luna did not shift her gaze, “You are a princess, Cadence. You more fit to rule Equestria as any,” she said firmly.

Cadence fell to her knees, reaching up for mercy at Princess Luna, “No wait… Luna I can’t do this! I’m not strong like you and Auntie Tia!” she began to find more tears to shed, “I can’t face that monster… I don’t know what to do Auntie… I don’t have any powers or strong magic like you do… please Luna… don’t leave me too… please don’t leave me…” she repeated in her hysteria, “If you go Auntie Luna… I’ll be all alone…”

Princess Luna softened her gaze, and she reached down to gently hug the young mare, “No you won’t be Cadence. You will have Twilight Sparkle, and you’ll have Shining Armor, and you’ll have every pony in Equestria,” she pulled back and gave her a loving smile, “And you aren’t as strong as me or Tia, you have an even greater strength! You have the power of love, Princess Cadence! You have something that the ponies of Equestria need, now more than ever,” she looked right into her eyes.

Cadence pulled back, and looked at Luna with watery eyes, “Luna… I’m… I’m scared…”

Princess Luna hugged her again, “I know Cadence, and I’m scared too. But you have courage inside you, just as I do. And I know when the time comes, it will show itself,” Princess Luna leaned down, and kissed Cadence on her forehead.

With tears in her eyes, Princess Cadence looked, as Luna stepped off into the sun, and left her. She had known her two loving aunts her entire life, and now, they were both gone. She was just a young mare, but now an entire kingdom would depend on her strength. She looked deep inside her soul, and all she could find was loneliness, and despair. What was she meant to do against such a catastrophe? Next to her, Twilight Sparkle wondered the same things. They were kin, in their confusion, and their melancholy.

“What should we do Princess Cadence?” asked the guards, as they approached the pink mare, confused, and lost without their princesses.

Princess Cadence sniffled. She tried to clear away her tears, and look as strong as she could for the ponies, “We must be strong, good sir. We must be strong for all of Equestria….”

It was in that moment, that Twilight Sparkle looked to the white bone staff of Starswirl the Bearded, and heard a whisper. In her hour of need, and the hour of need of ponies everywhere, for the first time in fifteen hundred years, the great dragon of the earth would speak again.

To be continued with, Chapter 8: The Last Alicorn

Chapter 8: The Last Alicorn

Chapter 8: The Last Alicorn

To the northeast lay the easternmost city in Equestria, Manehattan. It was here that Numinex made his way. This would be the first city that the lord of destruction would begin to dismember Equestria. Nopony would be safe from his wrath, and currently, nopony knew of his imminent arrival. Numinex, in all of his fury, and excitement still did not know the limits of his own powers. Upon the populous city, he would seek to discover them. Fire boiled in his veins, ever seeking to escape his body, and be unleashed upon the living things of the world. His plan was in motion, and his success was ensured. Upon seeing the defeat of their supposed all-powerful princess, the ponies had lost hope, and in their depression, the one true threat to him, the Elements of Harmony, had been destroyed. Now there was nothing that could stand in his way of reclaiming Equestria as his own, and annihilating it. The world was already his; he had only to remove those unsightly life forms which occupied it.

Ever did he listen to the dark whispers inside his head. Ever did they slowly encroach upon his mind. For over four thousand years, wickedness has been poisoning his mind with cruel thoughts and premonitions. He had mostly become the madness which had originally met. Very long ago, he once scorned the forces of hatred and darkness, but in a cruel twist of irony, that very same hatred now seethed in his mind, corrupting him, and turning him into an instrument of destruction. Deep within the recesses of his being, miniscule fragments of his conscious had fought the dark temptations. But these fragments had long since lost control over his actions, and very slowly, they too would disappear. Numinex himself could not possibly comprehend the power of the thing that had crept it way into his mind, and had been relentlessly feeding him dark thoughts for thousands of years. The Great Spirit that was Nu’run, as he was in the beginning, was long gone. The dragon that threatened Equestria now resembled the soul of the very darkness itself. It was no longer a being of benevolence. He had a mind of metal, and gears, and sought only to unmake the world. He had become the spirit of destruction, and destruction is what he would havoc, all of this, at the will of the whispers of darkness.

The mayor met her at the edge of town. Princess Luna trotted in, nearly short of breath from how fast she had flown.

“Your highness, we have made all the preparations we could on such short notice… but we still have a bit of work to do…” began the mayor.

Luna interrupted him, “There will be no more time for fortification’s sir, and you must evacuate the city!”

The mayor looked shocked at this. Manehattan was an important industrial center of Equestria. That point aside, it was also the most populous city in Equestria, and evacuating it would be no easy task, “Your highness, surely there must be another option, I don’t know if we have time to…” he began.

Luna interrupted him again, “Mayor! If you do not begin evacuating immediately, everyone in this city is going to die!” she glared at him.

The sudden direness of the situation struck the mayor. He knelt before her, and took off running into town. Less than an hour later, evacuations would begin, and a line of ponies pouring out of the city would start. The emptying of the city would be slow and tedious, and this worried Luna. She constantly kept her eyes on the east for the monster that would meet them at any hour. She grunted in frustration, and flew down to help move the citizens along, hurrying them as best as she could. The princess could only hope that there would be enough time for them all to escape before Numinex reared his ugly head.

“This is too much for us to handle Princess Cadence. We must look after our own borders,” said the once proud General Hammer Claw to the princess.

Cadence was having a difficult time reasoning with him. The old griffon that once bolstered a look of fearlessness, and resolve was now shaking constantly with fear, “Please General, we need you, we need the griffons here should the worst come!” she begged.

General Hammer glared at her, “IF the worst could come… princess… then it will make no difference whether we are here or not. The only difference will be is that we will die here, instead of defending our borders in our own country.”

Cadence couldn’t argue with his logic. She had seen the terrible results of Numinex’s powers. If the griffons stayed, they would surely be killed too. Despite this, she couldn’t help but feeling he was making a mistake by leaving. Wasn’t it better for them to stick together, rather than be apart?

“Please sir, I beg you to reconsider, perhaps there is something we can do, with our forces combined?” she said trying to reason with him.

The General was making his way towards the balcony; several of his platoons had already left Canterlot. He turned his head towards her hesitantly, “I don’t know your majesty. If you think of something, then you are free to messages us. We will return if we feel that something can be done. But for now we must look after our own roost,” he said, this time with a more heavy heart. He took one last look at her before he took off, “Goodbye, princess…” was all he said before flying away.

Twilight Sparkle was waiting inside the Canterlot Gardens when Princess Cadence came and found her, “The griffons are leaving us…” she said sadly.

“I really can’t say I blame them, princess. I don’t see any way out of this,” she said, as she voiced her confusion to the princess.

Cadence set her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder for a moment, trying to comfort her, “I have to go try and get the soldiers back to their posts, Twilight. If you need anything, please come and see me,” she gave her a weak smile before she left, to fulfill her duties as ruler of Equestria as best as she could.

Inside of the white staff, she heard the whisper again. Twilight looked deeply into the fine white bone of the staff, wondering if she was perhaps going mad. She lay down, resting her head against the ground as she tried to calm herself, the reverberating echoes where starting to hurt her head.

“It has been a long, long time since any pony was in such need, that they put their years to the ground, and listened to me for advice,” said a voice that resonated through the very soul of the purple unicorn. Her head shot up, had she drifted off in a dream? She looked around, but found no pony around her.

Twilight backed away little bit, “Wh-who’s there?” she asked cautiously.

The voice resonated inside her again, “Do not be afraid, young friend. I have spoken with your ancestor, many, many years ago, on this very spot, when he needed my help,” said the voice.

Twilight still tried to find someone, or something to look at for the voice. But it didn’t sound like it was coming from any particular direction, it sounded almost like it was coming from within her. Perhaps she really was going mad, but she would at least humor this voice for now. It did not sound like a very threatening being, quite the opposite in fact, “Who are you, stranger?” she asked meekly.

“I am the Dragon of the Earth Bones, and I am no stranger, not to you, or Equestria,” said the Dragon of the Earth bones, and he would continue, “Very long ago, a young pony that went by the name, Starswirl the Bearded was in dire need. He faced an enemy that nopony along could ever hope to defeat. With my guidance, I brought him to the elements of harmony, the most powerful magic in all the land.”

Twilight’s vision began to fade. She fell down onto the ground, as the spirit over took her body. Inside of her dream-like state, she say flashes of Equestria, as it was long ago pass before her eyes. This was not like dreaming to her. She had had dreams, but not only did this feel real, but it almost felt more than real. Colors became distorted, the visions before here were so clear, she could hardly make them out. It was, in a sense, “too” real.

Before her, she saw an ancient Equestrian town with the castle of the royal sisters at its heart. She beheld Discord, much more monstrous and cruel looking than when she had faced him. Here she saw the draconequus distorting the beautiful town, and bringing ponies into misery. The ponies tried to escape the chaos, but as they did, they realized that they had no choice but to bow to the dominion of Discord. There was just one pony who defied him. Before here, she witnessed her first real image of Starswirl the Bearded. She had always seen pictures of him, but they were very old drawings and renditions, and did not do the real thing justice. He was a glorious figure, and used such powerful magic against the element of chaos; Twilight thought that he would surely be victorious. But against the immortal Discord, there could be no victory, and the dragon tossed up far outside of the town, damaging his body, and breaking the bearded pony’s magic staff.

Now, time moved faster, and she was sped across the sky, and she beheld Starswirl again. The old pony was beaten badly, and looked weak, but still he toiled against the ancient Mount Canterlot. Without rest, he climbed to the top of the mountain. There, Twilight beheld the Princesses, Celestia and Luna, coming down to the mountain, before Starswirl.

The voice of the Dragon of the Earth bones spoke to her, “Here, Starswirl the Bearded fought against all odds against an immortal being. He fought against hopelessness, and discovered the greatest magic in the world.”

Twilight Sparkle was sped away from the mountain, far up into the sky, until the vision of the past began to fade from her. With a jolt, she awoke, her head lifting up and looking around. She saw that she was back to the present, in the Canterlot Gardens. As she gathered herself from the wondrous experience, her head sank again as she realized something, “But the Elements of Harmony aren’t active anymore… they don’t contain the same magic they did long ago,” she said with despair.

“Oh Twilight Sparkle… To think that something like the Elements of Harmony could be contained in jewelry…” said the earth dragon, and with what appeared to be a slight chuckle in his voice.

She looked upwards now, thinking she surely looked like she was talking to herself, “I don’t understand sir. Without the elements, how can anyone hope to stop Numinex? Even back then… we had the Princesses to help us…” she said with her ears drooping.

“Hmm yes, you had my sisters to help you long ago. But I’m afraid the power of the elements was not within Celestia and Luna. They were offered to use the elements of harmony by the unicorn who called upon them,” said the earth dragon. Twilight did not answer however; she was still too confused, “The power to bring my sisters fourth, and to stop Discord, lied within Starswirl the Bearded. He did not know it at the time, and he needed my sisters to help him understand. But I tell you now, Twilight Sparkle, because you must understand. The power of the elements of harmony does not lie within one pony, but every pony in Equestria. The power of harmony, the magic of friendship, and of love is all one with this element. And it is this magic that resided within the elements of harmony. It is this magic that is the most powerful magic in the world. No one, no matter how power, no matter how immortal, can stand up to the might of your friendship, to your determination, and your togetherness! You know in your heart that you must face him, Twilight Sparkle. You must face the dark creature, and this will be the last song of the world. Will it be the song of life and harmony? Or will it be the song of destruction? Face him Twilight Sparkle, and determine the last song of the world!”

A tear slowly came from Twilight’s eye. How could she have been so foolish as to fall into depression? She would not let Equestria fall into darkness, not while she still drew breath, and she now had an idea of what needed to be done. Before she did though, she spoke to the earth dragon, “Thank you, for lending me your wisdom, Great Dragon of the Earth Bones. I hope that I will do Starswirl the Bearded’s name justice,” she said, with the first bit of determination and confidence that had come from her voice in days.

The clouds above Manehattan turned into fire. A wave of heat passed over Luna as she looked to the east, and saw the blackness approaching. Slowly, and ominously, Numinex flapped his colossal wings. Here he came to undo Equestria, one city at a time, starting here. The only thing that stood in his way was the Princess of the Night. And she would be fallen so easily to the lord of destruction. She looked in his direction, once with a look of despair, and fear. Now she only held anger and wraith in her eyes. The ponies in the city below as the clouds burned, they were still flooding out of the city, although at this sight, their pace quickened. They would still need some time to escape, and Luna would give them that time.

The dragon landed on the ground with a quake as he looked down at the small alicorn before him, “The weaker sister comes to meet her doom. Or does she come to beg for her life, and hope that I will show mercy?” taunted the dragon, as his dark voice echoed throughout the land.

Luna did not look shaken though; she still held the same firey glare at the dragon. For the first time since his arrival, a pony’s resolution did not falter at the sound of his voice. Her own voice started out quiet, “Your shadow has loomed over Equestria. You threaten my people, and show no value for the sanctity of life. You killed my sister…” she raised herself up with her wings, looking at Numinex from eye level now and using her own booming Canterlot voice, “And now I am going to destroy you!”

Numinex puffed a bellow of smoke at this, “What victory can you possibly hope for, weaker sister? Two of the most powerful creatures in the world will fall before me, what then stands in the way of my conquest?” he said, not in the least bit threatened by her posing.

Luna calmed her rage down for a moment, “The ponies of Equestria have a power far greater than you, my misguided little brother…” she said taunting him.

The black dragon appeared to think on this for a moment. Then he raised himself up, spreading his terrible wings out, “The mortals of this land had but one power that could threaten me, and it has been undone!” he boasted, “The tendrils that held them together have been shredded. Now they are in despair, as they rightfully should be as weaker mortals. But they should not worry, for soon I will bring about their end, and cleanse the land with fire…” he said with fire erupting from his nose, “Your only hope to find relief is to surrender to the destruction.”

Great storm clouds began to circle around Luna, “As long as one pony in this land still draws breath, they will never surrender to you,” the winds began to pick up, encircling the night princess, “And neither will I…”

The serenity of the dragon of destruction ceased, and he quickly opened up his maw, and bellowed out a huge torrent of flames towards Princess Luna. But the flames would not penetrate Luna’s circle of wind, they would only be manipulated around her. She used the wind to spin the flames around, and launch them back out towards Numinex. He was no affected by his own fires, but he was certainly irritated. Luna made the cyclone of wind grow, to an area that encompassed both herself, and the dragon. With the constant barrage of wind, the dragon was having trouble keeping his balance, and he flew erratically. Tired of wasting time, the dragon sped towards Luna, trying to drive straight into her. As he did though, his path was blocked by a barrage of lightning strikes. Above him, the clouds shot out a multitude of lightning, striking one after another, all of them threatening to strike Numinex. He halted his charge, but soon found that the enormous thunderhead followed overhead him. The rapidly striking lightening would occasionally strike his backside, the hot bolts lighting up his black scales for a moment. He flew around rapidly for a while trying to avoid the thunderhead, but then grew upset. He lifted his head towards the sky, and shot out a massive fireball towards the cloud. The thundercloud immolated, and the barrage of lightening finally ceased.

Numinex dropped his head towards Luna. He hurled out another massive fireball from his maw, shooting out towards Luna. She shot towards the ground in time for it to miss her, but to her surprise, just as she was dodging it, the ball of fire exploded, striking her with burning fragments, causing her to wince in pain. The dragon spread his wings wide before her, “Sister, you are more fragile than you realize,” he taunted.

Luna looked towards him with anger, her eyes were glowing white, and electricity began to spark and crackle around her form. She bowed her head some, and aimed her horn at the dragon. A gigantic burst of thunder struck Numinex’s draconic nose. He shook his head in surprise, shaking off the charred scales. His body of perfection would soon mold over the wound, covering it in fire, and destruction as was natural for him. As he regained himself, he saw a flash of blue in the sky. Luna came down right on top of him, and struck him with her hooves, which was followed by another blast of electricity and static that she emitted from her own body. In his anger, the dragon snapped his maw up at her, but she had already flow away, and was preparing for her next attack.

The dragon was a bit confused for a moment, as he looked up into the cloud overcast, he couldn’t see Luna. Then he noticed spots in the clouds that began to spiral. From each of these spirals, massive, and powerful tornadoes would form, and would spiral their way towards Numinex, throwing him off balance. He saw a ball of swirling wind emitting from the sky, parting the cloud cover and coming towards him. Now in combination with the swirling tornadoes, lightening continued to strike randomly, hitting the dragon in various places, making him turn, and roar out in anger as he tried to regain his balance. Amidst his fury, the dragon appeared to calm down for a moment. He glared with his dark red firey eyes at Luna, and with a strong beat of his wings, a shockwave emanated from him, blowing away the tornadoes, and even the thunderclouds above him.

Luna gasped at his display of power, she had used much of her strength to conjure up that storm, and he dispersed of it so easily. She tried to quickly counter him, rushing at him with her hooves charged with lightening and ready to buck. But she was halted in her tracks, as she saw a storm of fire coming from the dragon’s maw, threatening to engulf her. She turned around and fled the fire, escaping, with the flames managing to nip at her sides. The dragon did not give up his onslaught this time, he charged himself towards Luna. Instead of turning away this time, Luna’s whole body began to glow. She turned into a white hot lightning bolt, and struck Numinex right in his chest, causing him to roar out in anger. He did not lose his composure though, and right after Luna struck him, the dragon swung his claw, knocking the blue princess through the air.

Her body ached from the painful blow, and her vision started to become clouded. Numinex landed on the earth with a loud quake, “You are weaker than your sister, Luna. You only delay the inevitable,” taunted the black dragon. His voice frightened her more this time. More lightening shot out of her horn, to strike at Numinex, but it was a futile effort. The wicked dragon had dodged the bolt of magic, and sped towards her in the blink of an eye. He spun around, and smashed his tail into her, causing her to hurl towards the earth, and crash against it violently.

Luna struggled to get up again, and her legs wobbled painfully as she did so. She dashed up into the air, trying to prepare for another attack, but as she did, a concentrated beam of energy game from the dragon’s maw, and struck her. She cried out in terrible pain, her whole body lit up and burned from the searing hot essence of destruction. Every fiber of her being stung with agony, as the dragon tormented her, holding his beam on her for just a few moments. After he stopped, Luna fell to the ground, nearly lifeless, striking the earth once more. Darkness would come over her eyes, and for at least a brief moment, she would escape the world of pain.

Numinex approached the burnt and broken body of Princess Luna. She was not dead, at least not yet. He blew smoke onto her, making her cough, and awake with a startle, bringing her back to the pain that wracked her body, “Wake up sister, bear witness to the power of destruction…” He turned his head away from her, and looked towards the city of Manehattan. Luna had at least done her job. The ponies of the city had enough time to escape whatever havoc Numinex was about to wreak. The ground beneath him shook. Echoes of his power reverberated back and forth throughout the earth. Slowly, the black dragon opened his maw, and a terrible screeching sound was heard, which made Luna writhe even more in her pain. A ball of pure energy formed within the maw of Numinex, which slowly grew, and grew. The sphere of energy hissed, and screeched with its horrible intent. Eventually, the dragon hurled the sphere violently towards the center of Manehattan. The ground shook even more so, as the ball hit its target. The sphere of power grew, and grew, and grew, encompassing the whole of the city in a ball of light, vaporizing everything it touched, creating a deafening noise. When the sphere of energy dissipated, nothing was left in its wake, nothing except a humongous crater, where the proud city of Manehattan once stood.

With his dark deed complete, Numinex looked again towards Luna. He crashed his claw down over her, and wrenched her up from the ground, bringing her close to his face, “Look now, what mortal device can possibly hope to defy me? What can possibly stand against the lord of destruction!” he said proudly, standing up and spreading his wings before her. He enjoyed the feeling of power it gave him, to have the body of his once greater sister, her very life, in his grips.

Weakly, Luna lifted her head to him. She was either not intimidated by him, or was simply too weak to show her fear, “There is always hope… little brother…” she coughed, “Where there is life, there is always hope. And that, my poor little brother is why you will fail,” she said, looking at him with a weak grin.

Numinex was frustrated that his attempts to strike fear into her had failed. But he showed his own grin in return, “Oh, my dear sister, you look so weak in your mortal form,” he began to squeeze his claw around her, “Here, let me relieve you of it...”

“With my death, the ponies will learn to stand together. They will learn to sacrifice… ah no!” she cried out in pain as he slowly crushed her, eventually she did not have air in her lungs to speak.

The dragon stopped for a moment. He looked at her angrily, and cruelly. He grabbed the princess’s regal, magical horn, and broke it from her head. She cried out in pain again, fear of death finally striking her for the first time. Numinex looked at her, with his lifeless, firey eyes, “There is no hope foolish one! There never was hope for pony kind; it must be purified with fire! And if you would dare to stand in my way, then you shall meet their same fate!” He tossed the broken body of Luna on the ground, and under his foot, her crushed her.

The dragon roared out terribly, angry that the destruction of his sister did not bring him satisfaction. No, his only satisfaction would be from destroying the cursed cancerous land that laid before him. He would go to Canterlot, and unmake their ruling once and for all. He was the bringer of the last song of the world, the song of destruction.

To be concluded with, Chapter 9: Final Song of The World