The moon and stars illuminated the sky as the lanterns in a kingdom slowly dimmed. A king stands at the edge of his balcony, his hands gripping the railing tight. His queen lay in bed, a book in hand, she called to her husband who turned and went back inside.

..............................

A man lay on a roof of stone, his cloak acting as a sheet in the cool night breeze. He stared into the moon, a smile on his face. He reached a hand out as if to grab the moon out of the sky, but to no avail, he was trapped on the ground, sort of. His eyes never left the moon as his ears picked up the sound of metal clinking together as a patrol drew near. He shouldn't be noticeable as this very same patrol had already gone past twice tonight,

"HEY YOU! IT'S PAST CURFEW, WHAT ARE-"

"Wait, wait, this isn't a normal violater," a patrolman with a spear said, he had a red armband around his armor, meaning he was the one in charge of the patrol. The guard looked at the man on the roof,

"SORRY ABOUT MY MEN, THEY ARE ROOKIES, NOW HOW ABOUT WE GET YOU A DRINK AS AN APOLOGY!" The guard said with grin. The man looked at them as he stood, his cloak hiding his identity. He jumped down and looked at the patrol,

"I'm not sure you want me as a friend," he said reaching his hand into his cloak and slowly pulled a shortsword from its sheathe, the sound catching the guards' attention. They readied themselves,

"Its him, The Spark," a guard said, drawing his own sword, the spearman looked at the cloaked man,

"Stand strong men, we've heard the stories, but we are better than those who fell," he charged at The Spark and thrust the spear forward. The Spark out of surprise jumped back, the spear grazing his leather armor underneath. He took this opportunity to fully draw his sword and danced away as a great sword swung past his waist.

"You're outnumbered Spark, surrender now, and your hanging will be quick,"

"No thanks, I like my life," the Spark replied and pointed his blade down and to his left as a sword came towards him. The blades collided for a split second leaving sparks and pushing both wielders' arms back, making them stumble,

"That was a lot of force," The Spark told himself as he stared at the small group of five.

He looked at them and took realization of the situation, he was dead either way, the only safe way was to run. He took two steps back and turned away from the armed guards, his escape route open. He sprinted towards an alley, the darkness was his only ally at this point and he needed it at the moment. He could hear the guards behind him as he turned the corner and jumped behind a sealed crate. The guards turned the same corner and looked around,

"Find him, he couldn't have gone far," the spearman said as the Spark let out a defeated sigh, they would find him and his only way out would be to fight an uneven battle. He waited for the right moment and put his leg out, tripping a guard. He then jumped the crate and found himself surrounded by the patrol, two behind him, three blocking the only exit. He looked around,

Damn it, come on. the Spark kept looking around as the guards stepped closer,

"Aww what's a matter, has the Spark gone out," the spearman mocked.

"No...just distracting," he replied as a figure appeared behind the three.

The Spark smirked,

"SIR! BEHIND-" they didn't get to finish as the figure raised a hand and pointed their own weapons against them, the blades at their chests,

"You're a coward Spark," the spearman growled,

"I'm not a coward, I stood my ground when I needed to, which is why you are not dead yet, you are brave and show promise, which is why I'm giving you a choice, join the rebellion against the king, or die a pawn in his army," the spearman glared at the man under the cloak.

"As if, the king already has another patrol on its way," he said with compassion.

"That's what you think, but you already know the crimes the king has committed, don't you, that's why you all joined his army...to do his bidding, that is why I am giving you a chance to-"

"Shut up," a guard told him,

"We will die honorably for the king," another replied,

"Is that the same for you two," the Spark asked the two beside the spearman,

"I...I..."

"We only joined because he threatened our families, but only if you promise the protection of our families will we join you," the spearman gasped.

"TRAITORS! YOU WILL DIE A-" his voice was cut off by a bloodied grunt as the spear went through him. His corpse collapsed pushing the weapon the rest of the way through.

The Spark looked at the two,

"We have a safe haven, but we need your trust and your faith," he told them.

The two looked at each other and nodded,

"We're in," their weapons turned away from them and fell. The Spark looked at the other two behind them,

"Final-"

"Do it," they both interrupted in unison.

With a flick of the figure's wrist the weapons slit their throats and fell to the ground. The Spark faced the figure,

"Thanks again," he said with a slight bow.

There was a flash of blue light and the figure was gone. The Spark held out both hands and smiled,

"Welcome to the Flames of Justice!"

He let them pick up their weapons before reaching into his cloak and pulling out two parchments,

"Head straight to the forest south of here with your families, hold these parchments up high and someone will be there for you, now hurry, I am sad to say our friend's light may have alerted another patrol, go quickly, I'll lead them away," the ex-guards left quickly almost running, but not quite.

The Spark sighed and stepped into the open and waved his hands at the incoming patrol. They took notice and charged at him, they had recognized him instantly, something he took notice of as well. He ran towards the market place, which also counted as the plaza, it wasn't far from where they were at, so the Spark had little time to lose them. He turned a corner and used a few crates full of vegetables as an obstacle, throwing them on the ground. He still heard the guards behind him, but this next corner provided something that would help a lot. He turned and then jumped to the side, over a cart. He then rolled underneath it and pushed him self up through a small trap door, the cart was filled with old quilts and sheets and now he was underneath them. The old woman who owned the cart, and her husband were a part of the rebellion and were willing to let the Flames use their shop as a hideout. He sighed as his pursuers passed by, their muffled footsteps getting quieter by the second. Once they were gone he used his foot to open the door and he fell to the ground with a thud,

"Ok, now that I have done my job, time to lay low for the rest of the night," he whispered as he slid out from underneath the cart. He continued towards the plaza, staying in the shadows and listening carefully and after a few turns he was there. The plaza was a just a clearing, and in the middle was a statue of the king. He stood with one foot on a headless corpse, an evil smile on his face as his helmet covered his nose, the pointed horn had blood on it, in one hand he held a sword, in the other the head of the corpse. The Spark looked at the words engraved on the middle of the statue,

"Obey or die." Rather corny, but the sculpters were forced into the job of making such a monstrosity, so it made sense. The bottom of the statue was just a cubic pillar, tall enough for a person, but it was meant to be that way for one purpose. The Spark looked left and right, it was a straight path to the statue, but there was no place to hide in between so he had to chance it. He made a run for it and about halfway there, he could hear the footsteps of a patrol. He jumped for the closest cover, a stand that held fruit on it. He rolled and landed on his butt, but was hidden from the patrol, he held his breath as they passed and then looked ahead, nine feet in front of him was the statue. He let out the air he was holding and sprinted towards the statue and the moment he touched the stone he went through it. The man felt his body change and reshape itself into a four legged creature, a pony.

When he emerged he was in a castle, his cloak was gone and he was now covered in dark blue fur, his hair was now a short, white mane, with orange tips. He was covered with scars and had a permanent mark on his chest, a upside down crescent moon with flames licking the tips of it, it was silver so it stood out like a shining diamond. His flank was blank and his eyes were a deep blue hazel that would swoon many women back in his home.

He sighed as he realized it was night in Equestria as well, meaning nobody would be awake at this time. He looked at his surroundings, they were different, this wasn't Canterlot that was for sure. He noticed all shelves had books on them and when he looked at the mirror, it was hooked up to a machine of sorts,

"Strange, things have changed, hopefully no one goes through the portal at all," the Spark said before laying down, he wouldn't sleep but when the sun started to rise he would head back through. The only difference would be instead of leaving the portal alone, he would have to watch and make sure no one would come through, as the location would stay the same until a day had passed, then it would go back to the previous location, as it was apart of the original spell that the sorcerer had cast on the mirrior, unless the device now hooked to the mirror changed that. The Spark sighed and sat in wait for the morming.

................................................

The morning had come quick for Twilight Sparkle, her dreams were nice and let her brain relax from the previous day's activities. She stretched her wings and hooves and yawned, a tired smile formed on her lips as she got out of her bed, ready for the new day. She slowly and quietly passed Spike, who was still snoring quietly in his own bed and left her room, closing the door behind her. She wasn't really hungry at the moment and decided to go to her study, where she would check to see if Sunset Shimmer had written anything and then either help or just read the letter before moving on to other activities. She passed Starlight's room and after turning a corner, entered the doors to her study. She scanned the shelves and saw the journal, which was glowing and vibrating today. She lifted the book with her magic and lowered it down to the table in the middle of the room and opened it to the latest entry as she sat down on her chair. She read the entry rather quickly,

"Dear Twilight, today had nothing exciting today, which was rather relaxing,
no friendship issues or major villain to be stopped, now I can only hope that tomorrow is the same, as its my Birthday, hooray, can't wait to spend it with the girls and I hope to recieve a B-day message from you. "

"Birthday huh," suddenly an idea popped into the alicorn's head. She smiled,

"When was the last time I visited her, back when the Sirens were issue? That was ages ago, so the best gift would be to go tell her happy birthday in person," she clapped her hooves excitedly,

"Yes that would be..." She frowned,

"...bad, the other me is around, it could affect our universes negatively,"

She hopped down from her chair and started to pace,

"But I would only being going for a while, that shouldn't affect anything, right?" She put a hoof to her chin, and started to think of all the pros and cons. It felt like hours to her but it was only a few minutes until she had decided to go,

"I mean what's the worst that can happen, if anything I can treat this as an experiment to see if anything happens at all," she packed a few bags and left a note on the map table and another in front of Spike before heading to the room where the mirror sat. She stared at the mirror for a moment and took a deep breath,

"Here I go," she told herself before stepping into the mirror.

............................................

Twilight groaned and opened her eyes. She was human, but something was off. The people here were dressed in different clothes and there were actual guards walking around, the school wasn't present either, she stood and walked over to a person trying to sell fruit. Her skin was a light green and her hair was long and orange, she wore a worn down brown shirt and had dirt on her arms,

"ANYBODY WANT AN APPLE, ONE COIN FOR ONE APPLE," she called out, almost in a begging tone. Twilight tapped her shoulder, causing the woman to turn around. Her mouth dropped and her skin became pale, as if she had seen a ghost,

"Ummm...do you know where I am," Twilight asked, looking around. The girl just stared in awe before dropping the apple in her hand, screaming in terror and running away. Twilight watched her run and raised an eyebrow as people turned and looked at her, their gazes matching the screaming woman. They all started whispering to each other and started to crowd around her. Twilight just looked around, still confused about everything.

..........................................

When Twilight came through the portal, the Spark almost completely panicked,

"Out of all the ponies in that universe it had to be her," he whispered to himself as he started to push his way through the crowd. He wasn't wearing his cloak, he didn't need to, no body knew he was the Spark, they all just knew him as Crossblade, the son of a retired guard and a dress creator. His name was the best of both his parent's worlds, Cross as in Cross stitch and blade as in a sword, it suited him well though. He pushed past another person, he was closer to the statue now, but he couldn't see over anyone. He took notice of a few guards that had took notice of the commotion and were yelling and pushing through the crowd as well. He kept at his own pace, not wanting to draw attention to himself, he would beat them there. When he finally made it to the front, his face turned white, no one was there. He looked around for a moment seeing if she had hopefully gone through the portal again, but there was one sign that she hadn't, her footprints. There were two pairs of them, which meant someone had taken her, he followed the prints with his eyes and looked in the direction where they went, there was no other sign.

He noticed the guards were still pushing through and realized who had taken the Princess. He decided to help them, not wanting them to get caught, he moved closer to the guards and waited for them to get close. When they did, he tripped the one in front and watched him fall on the prints, the others followed and dirt and dust was thrown into the air, covering the prints. Crossblade sighed and walked away, knowing he would have to report this later on.

................................................

Twilight was still confused when a hand reached out and grabbed her arm,

"Hey! What're you-"

"Shhh be quiet and follow me," the owner of the arm whispered to her. She couldn't make out who it was as they were hidden behind a cloak and mask, but the voice was feminine. She had no other choice but to follow when she noticed the guards coming towards her. They went through the crowd and about half way through the person she was following gave her a brown cloak to put on,

"Quickly now, we don't want to be caught by them, now do we?" The girl told her as they got out of the crowd. She let go of her arm and beckoned to Twilight,

"Follow me...and whatever you do, don't take the cloak off, its what is keeping us from being seen," Twilight nodded and followed her.

She was wary of the girl, but had no choice but to trust her, as she didn't know what was going on. She followed her into an alley and stopped, it was dead end,

"Ummm, unless there is a secret passage we are kind of stuck," Twilight said, looking around. The girl turned to a wall on the right and pushed in four different bricks. There was a quiet cracking noise and the wall split, a dimmly lit staircase was inside the hidden door. The girl went in and Twilight followed, the door closing behind them,

"So, where are we exactly?" She asked the stranger, who started down the stairs,

"Every thing will be explained once we meet up with the others,"

"Others?" The girl smirked behind her mask,

"You'll see it soon enough,"

They walked down the staircase in complete silence after a few minutes of Twilight asking questions that all remained unanswered. Finally they reached the bottom where another door sat, it was wooden with a steel handle. The stranger opened the door and waved a hand,

"You first," Twilight crossed her arms,

"What? I'm not going to rob you dear, now go on before I have to shove you in," the girl said. Twilight sighed and stepped inside.

This room had a lot more light, and was mainly empty, except a table that had several chairs, all were filled with a person in a cloak, but one person stood out. His hair was white and messy, he had a goatee and his left eye was red while the right was purple and one arm was covered in scales. His grin was one that Twilight recognized instantly,

"Welcome, Twilight Sparkle, to the Masks of Chaos!" Discord said excitedly.

Author's Note

And that was the prologue, I'm hoping that I will have the cover art up soon, but until then I hope you enjoyed the prologue to my new story.