Chapters I´t was a normal day in Ponyville and everypony was enjoying their own personal activities, which was odd given the town they lived in.
Twilight was actually enjoying the peace and quiet that didn´t come too often since she moved to her new home. Just the other day she had to stop a time crisis from the pony that was now having a reading session with her. Best of all she didn´t have to worry about Discord causing trouble because after he played Celestia a heavy prank the princess used a spell to stop him from using magic for an entire week, which had allowed her to spend some time with Starlight Glimmer, which was good since she wanted Starlight to learn as much about friendship as possible since just like her Starlight ignored friendship for years (even though it was due to different reasons) so she wasn´t handling her new life so easily.
Both ponies were enjoying their respective books while the tune of Ravel´s Bolero played on the phonograph. As for Spike he was on his room reading his comics. Twi and Star had learned that they had quite some similar tastes when it came to literature so naturally, Starlight saw Twilight as her closest friend and always enjoyed their little reading sessions. She was indeed showing progress, just the other day she suggested that they invite other ponies so they could have a book club, however Twilight told her that she had already tried to make one but the only pony in town that was interested in the idea was Rainbow Dash after the pegasus became the number one fan of Daring Do.
Suddenly the sound of thunder came from outside the castle. Twilight said, "Seems like it´s going to rain. I better go pick up my order of cupcakes at Sugar-cube Corner before it does. Care to join me?"Power Ponies "
As they walked through Ponyville everypony was saying hello to their newest resident. It was amazing how quickly the residents of this town adapted to a new resident, after all, it had only been one month since Starlight was reformed and started living along with the princess on the castle. Probably due to the fact that they lived in the same town of the Princess of Friendship and the former wielders of the Elements of Harmony.
In any case the most stressful thing she had to do in this past month was meet the human version of herself, which had been in her opinion the weirdest and most awkward thing she had ever done, especially after hearing the story of what happened when they met that other Twilight. She had a hard time believing that story however she had experienced stuff way more unbelievable and she herself could not help but be reminded of the time she used an attraction spell on her Smarty Pants doll in order to hand in a friendship report. In fact, she would have tampered with dark magic if her teacher hadn´t shown her the consequences of doing so, and she was quite aware of that fact. In the end she and her counterpart weren´t so different.
When they arrived at Sugar-cube Corner they met up with Pinkie at the cash-register. "Hi girls, I´m guessing you came here to pick up the ruby cupcakes for Spiky-wikey."
Twilight paid for the cupcakes and she and Starlight were about to leave Sugar-cube Corner when the alicorn noticed the drops of water falling from the sky. "Ugh. I was hoping we could get to castle before it started raining."
Twilight looked up and sure enough all of what Starlight described was true. She could not help but think of Discord since the last time the clouds were made of cotton-candy and showering everypony with chocolate milk was the first time she and the girls faced him, and the clouds became spiky was when Discord´s plunderseeds grew and attacked the Tree of Harmony making the Everfree forest invade. But how could he; not only was he reformed but he was constantly been watched by her friends, not to mention his magic was currently nullified by Princess Celestia´s spell.
"Oh, no. Looks like vacation is over."
Author's Note
I´m looking for a good cover, if you have a suggestion or would like to make one please put the link on the comments
The two unicorns ran down the road as the pink earth pony skipped behind them drinking the treat that was falling from the sky.
Not before long, the three ponies reached the castle. Once inside the clearly heard an argument going on between the ponies they had already expected to be there. "Admit it, Discord. You're the one causing this," accused Rainbow Dash.
The three ponies Rainbow Dash was talking to all looked at each other. They did not agree with their friend and they weren't sure what to say. Getting impatient Rainbow asked "So?"
The blue pegasus didn't believe for one bit that the draconequues was innocent, when she saw the purple alicorn she headed towards her hoping one of her friends sided with her, "Come on Twilight, tell them I'm right, that t has to be Discord doing this to the sky."
Twilight took a look at Rainbow and her friends, hesitant to answer. She knew that Rainbow was right about Discord being the one behind the magic that caused the same sky alterations that were happening right now on former occasions. But as of late, she had many reasons to believe that Discord was innocent, "I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, but I think we should at least give him the benefit of the doubt."
When the seven ponies went to see what happened they saw Spike half carrying, half dragging a very injured and passed out Zecora. "She said she was attacked by the the creatures of the Everfree forest."
Rainbow Dash thought for a bit and said, "Well Cloudsdale was scheduled to pass over town in a few days so it shouldn't be far. Maybe we could ask for help."
Starlight was interrupted by two pegasi entering the castle. Rainbow Dash instantly recognized them as the two members of the Wonderbolts that she personally knew quite well. "Soarin! Spitfire! What are you doing here?"
After hearing this, Rainbow Dash insisted on Discord being the one responsible for all the chaos. "Come on. Tell me again I'm wrong. You can't right, because Discord is the only one powerful enough to pull this off."
Spitfire explained what she could. "All of the sky went crazy. Wonderbolt facilities, Flight Academy, even Cloudsdale. In all of Equestria the clouds changed and in Cloudsdale all the factories stopped working. An hour before this all started a serpentine figure of deep purple had been sighted on various locations."
"A serpentine creature. Come on, now you cant tell me it's not Discord." Rainbow Dash insisted once again.
"Ahem. Captain, I'd like you to gather your team here at the castle. We might need your help at solving this problem."
As Spitfire and Soarin were leaving Spike was returning along with a unicorn that had a cream caramel coat, caramel brown mane and tail, and an electrocardiograph monitor for a cutie mark. Twilight was relieved that the doctor had gotten here quickly, after all, Zecora needed help. "Doctor.Thank Celestia you're here"
About an hour later, when the doctor had already patched up Zecora and left, Twilight entered the room in which the zebra was resting. "Hi Zecora. How are you doing?"
When Twilight got back to the others they couldn't help but ask how Zecora was doing to which Twilight could only answer, "Well, her physical condition is fine, as for the situation on the forest is without a doubt bad from what she told me."
Everypony except Starlight was left with their mouths wide open. "What? What's so strange about that?"
Before anypony could say anything Spike let out a flame materializing a letter from Princess Celestia. "A letter from the princess. Must be about the weird weather."
With that said Twilight's eye just twitched and she fainted.
Twilight and her friends were on a train to Canterlot along with Zecora and the Wonderbolts. "Okay. Lets go over the situation one more time." Twilight was hysterical due to the chaos spreading through the land and reviewing the situation over and over which had started to annoy the others. "The entire sky is under chaos, the Everfree Forest has gone violent, and the Crystal Empire was evacuated due to the fact that Chrysalis and Sombra both returned."
"There's one thing I don't understand," said Rainbow Dash, "how come Cadence and Shining didn't stop them like last time using their love magic or the crystal heart."
Starlight thought for a bit at that statement. "Hey. Spitfire, was it, didn't you say that a they saw a creature of that same color back at Cloudsdale?"
When the group arrived on Canterlot there were six guards there at the station, two of each race, who escorted them to the palace. When the group got there it was no surprise that the three alicorn princesses and Shining Armor were there to greet them. "Guards. Thank you for escorting Princess Twilight and her companions." After dismissing the guards Celestia turned to the group. "Let's continue this conversation inside." After that they headed towards the throne room.
"The group you brought along is a bit bigger than what we expected Twilight."
Celestia was amazed at the fact that the situation was so bad. "Well..."
"Twilie, sis. Is that true. I mean, how much worse could the situation be?"
"Sister, it would seem that your former student has provided more information on the current situation."
After all the statements had been told Rarity spoke, "I'm truly sorry to interrupt princesses but please, do pray tell, what do you think could be causing all of this."
Rarity couldn't help but gasp at the frase. "Twilight how rude. Why would you ever say something like, that."
After that a loud thunder was heard in the room and a strong imposing voice that sounded very much, no exactly like Twilight's said "ME"
Everypony turned to see the one the voice belonged to and they all saw a being they couldn't recognize except for Twilight. It was of a species she had seen quite a few times and many of the race. It was a human. But it wasn't just any human, she recognized it for her own reflection from across the mirror, however the one present was without a doubt some form of demon.
Midnight just looked down on Twilight and gave a short laugh before answering, "I may have been defeated but my magical energy remained. However I couldn't create a physical body so I just absorbed all the residual magic left in that school, as well as some magic that belonged to three girls, but they couldn't use it and it didn't affect them so no harm to them." Twilight knew those three girls must have been the sirens but she didn't say anything, she just keep listening. "However, even with all that magic I still couldn't create a physical body for me. And then the portal to equestrian that had been closed reopened when you went through it. And so I traveled to this land and just by coming through the portal my magic increased and I was able to create a physical body and that body connected to you princess Twilight so my magic increased even more."
Rainbow Dash flew decided she had herd enough talk so she flew up to her and told her, "So? We have four alicorns on our side and the power of the elements of harmony so you can't beat us. No matter what you're trying to do!"
Midnight just grabbed Rainbow with her magic and tossed her aside. "It's rude to interrupt someone when they're talking. And before you say anything else you Wonderbolt wanna be, I know all that perfectly. When I created my physical body it based itself on your friend, so everything she knows I know. Besides, you didn't think I came here unprepared did you?" After that she pulled out a gold staff with three upside down crystal triangles making a larger crystal triangle.
"Do you think we shall let you do as you please you fiendish being." Luna stepped to the front of the group, "You can not win no matter the artifacts you hold, you may as well stop all this and give up."
Luna attacked using her magic but Midnight jus put up a shield and deflected the shot.
The princess of the night stood in awe as she saw her spell had been deflected. "H-how...? No one should be able to deflect alicorn magic without effort, yet you treated it like it was child's play."
Celestia knew this enemy was strong but she could probably be overpowered if they all stood together, how ever there was more she wasn't telling them. "Enough of your taunting. How are you behind the attacks on the Crystal Empire and Cloudsdale?"
"You're a monster"
Starlight was terrified at the situation. Had the princess, her new mentor, really faced all of this. She now fully understood why her friendship was so important to Equestria. "Why are you doing this?"
Everypony just stood in awe until Cadence broke the silence, "How are we ever going to beat such a powerful foe?"
Author's Note
Sorry for taking so long to put a new chapter but my old house burnt down and I had to move and then exam season came at my school. I'll do my best to put out some new chapters. Thanks for waiting.
Here's something for you to get an idea of how the modified antagonists looked like
The princes of the sun maintained a stern look to Midnight's revelation. "She is right, we can not stop her with any of the methods we have used to stop threats so far. And with that staff she will be extremely hard to defeat."
Of course the fact that Celestia pointed out the staff meant there was more to that item than they knew. "Excuse me princess," asked Rarity, "but why is that staff so important."
Everypony except Zecora gasped. The zebra did not know what the princess referred to. "If I may be so bold to inquire, what kind of item has our foe acquired?"
"I see so that's why that staff is so important. But what happened to Faust? Surely she knew the location of the staff."
With the story concluded Celestia spoke. "Now, we must find a solution to this crisis before it gets any worse."
Everypony tried to come up with a solution but nopony seemed to be able to come up with one until Twilight had an idea. "There might be a way for us to stop Midnight Sparkle. I remember reading about something that might be helpful."
HUMAN WORLD A FEW MINUTES LATER
Sunset was at a café with the human counterparts of the mane 6 relaxing and discussing academic aspects.
Sunset just gave a light smile and comforted the poor girl. "Don't worry Twilight, we all have different study methods. I once organized a group study session and it was a mess."
Sunset reached for her bag. The book to contact Equestria was indicating somepony had wrote to her. "Must be the princess. I wonder what she has to say this time?"
Sunset opened the book only to find that there was an emergency back home and they needed her help.
Sunset I'm sorry to interrupt whatever you're doing but Midnight Sparkle has somehow appeared here in Equestria and we need your help.
She just stared at the book hoping this was some sort of prank but nothing.
While Twilight was heading towards her castle the rest of the group went to her old tower in Canterlot. Once there Spike knocked on the door.
The entire group entered the tower and inside there were also two other unicorns, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts who were just as surprised as Moon Dancer about the group that had just arrived.
After that there was a knock on the door, with the situation at hoof Moon Dancer hurried to open the door and outside was her friend Twilight and an amber colored unicorn. "Come in."
The two soon joined the rest of the group, but the one that was most glad about their arrival was Celestia. She had not seen Sunset Shimmer in a very long time. Once her two former students entered the room the monarch crossed looks with the pony that once left through the mirror. "It has been far too long Sunset Shimmer."
"Moon Dancer, have you reorganized the books since I gave you the key to the tower?"
Discord just laughed at that final statement. "Now, come on Sparkle, if those things were real and had that kind of power some would have already used them to solve one of the many crisis that have taken over."
"Nothing is random about them not even the color and the way to unlock their magic basically the same as with the elements, embodying the characteristic each of them represent. To find them we must travel to the locations the riddles give and find a carving of the shape of the emblem. We will know its the emblem because, even if they can be put in ink, any carving of them will instantly disappear." She then demonstrated that face by carving one of the emblems into the floor and just like she said it disappeared, it was like she had never carved it. "The Emblems of Peace are the following:
The first one to answer was Sunset. "OK... but how are going to find them."
With that they now had the location of all of the eleven emblems and understood what Twilight meant when she said Midnight might know of the emblems and their location. Now one question remained and Sunset was the one to ask it. "How are we ever going to be able to get the emblems?"
Author's Note
Longest chapter yet. Thank you all of you who read this story. And remember.
This is only the beginning
"We have to split up!" All eyes turned to Twilight who was the one to bring up the idea. "You all herd me; we have to split up in order to get the emblems."
The group just exchanged looks and then Celestia answered Twilight's question, "I think, I speak for all of us when I say that we are all up for the task. Just tell us were we should each head and we will go."
The speech her friends had given made Twilight release a tear of happiness and a little sigh after. "OK guys, but remember, this will be dangerous." Her friends answered with a nod of determination. "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and the Wonderbolts will search the sky for the emblem of Friendship. Princess Celestia you must find a way to enter the land of the breezies and get the three emblems in there. Spike, Discord you go to the Dragonlands and find the emblem of Love. Cadence and Shining since you know the Crystal Empire better than any pony here, you should take care of the emblem of Knowledge. As for Moon Dancer, Starlight, Sunset and me, we will head to the frozen north and get the emblem of Honesty. Applejack, Pinkie, I want you take the fire swamps, if you take your families you are sure to find the emblem of Courage. And finally Luna, Rarity, Zecora, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts, you guys head to the Everfree forest and get the one of Purity/Innocence.
The group had already split up and they were all getting ready to retrieve their respective emblems. Rainbow's group set off immediately to search the skies. Princess Celestia was in the Royal Canterlot Library searching for spells to complete her task. Discord used his magic to teleport Spike and himself to the dragon lands. Applejack and Pinkie Pie had each gone in different directions; Pinkie had taken a train so she could go and get help from her family while Applejack took another train with Luna's group so she could get to Ponyville and get help from hers. Finally Twilight's group had taken the crystal train along with Cadence and Shining Armor and were on their way to the Crystal empire, that way Twilight's group would be closer to the frozen north; Twilight had brought some books from the tower so they could find some spells to defend against their enemies dark magic.
All groups were trying to find the emblems, but just like Twilight said, Midnight was already aware of their existence. She was at the Crystal Empire's library when the groups that had set out to obtain the emblems of Knowledge and Honesty and just like that she became aware of their intensions. "So, you ponies think I can be stopped. Well, it wont be so easy to get your emblems." She then used her magic making her staff glow. "My allies, the ponies that intend to stop us are after something called the Emblems of Peace, I shall send you the images of both the emblems and the ponies. Stop them from getting them, AT ANY COST!" She then used her magic to teleport. She didn't need to stay, she had gotten all the knowledge she could have gotten from the empire. Now with her enhanced magic she didn't have to be in the place to absorb information, she teleported to a place where she could stay put and do the process with the entire land.
One thing was for certain; time was running out.