Cobalt Rising.

Chapters

Chapter 1: Cobalt dawn.
Chapter 2: An Awkward Meeting
Chapter 3: An Accident, A Cold Shoulder and A Poem
Chapter 4: Origins
Chapter 5: Deep Secrets and old enemies.
Chapter 6: Betrayal

Chapter 1: Cobalt dawn.

Chapter 1
A Cobalt Dawn

I awoke on a bed of tall, light yellow grass in the middle of a small forest clearing, at the foot of a massive stone statue. The sun was just rising over a far range of mountains. I slowly got to my hooves and looked up at the statue. It was of a mare, of about 7 foot tall, wearing ornate armour and taking a pose with her right front leg raised in the air.

She had both a horn and wings. It had an inscription on the base, but it was covered in vines all I could read was
“ghtmare oon”

I Looked down at myself and saw that I had a dark purple coat, which matched my wings, which I flexed experimentally. I could feel my magic bubbling around my horn. Looking at the frightening statue somehow filled me with happy memories, and warmth. That confused me, but I realised I had bigger problems.

While I Was filled with feeling from looking at the statue, they had nowhere to go, because I couldn’t remember anything.
It wasn’t just like an “Oh I was drunk last night, how did I get here” moment, I couldn’t remember where I lived, how I had arrived where I was or even how old I was. Oh gods, how old am I? I Looked down at my hooves and patted my face, relieved to find that I couldn’t feel any wrinkles.

I strained to remember anything about my past, and was rewarded for my efforts. I remembered only four words. The first was Cobalt. It puzzled me for a time, before I felt my mane brush against my neck.
A quick look confirmed my thoughts. It was bright cobalt and seemed to flicker as if it was burning with blue flame. ‘Well I guess that’s what my name is’ I thought solemnly.

Of the other three words that I remembered one was obviously a town: Ponyville. It sounded familiar. The Final Two words were obviously a name. They also sounded like they belonged to someone important. They were simply: Twilight Sparkle.
I was ready and prepared to set out from the statue to find someone’s help. My only main (recent) problem was that I had no idea which direction to go in. As I wandered the clearing blindly, trying to find a clue to which direction to wander when I heard somepony approach through the bush.

I turned and saw two ponies walk around the statue and turn toward me. Neither seemed surprised to see me. The first seemed oddly familiar, he was pure beige, with a mane and tail that matched his coat and seemed to flow infinitely his cutie mark was an hour hand and a minute hand, like on a clock, but without any numbers. This reminded me, and I looked at my own flank and saw that it was blank. ‘No help There’ I thought and turned my attention back to the two newcomers.

The second pony wore a dark green cloak and had a black and white line pattern on her side. When she spoke, it was with a soothing deep tone. “Who is this newcomer?”

The beige pony spoke with a regal tone, as if he had seen a thousand years of life, and had a respect for it. “Now Zecora, That is something that he must learn for himself. You should best not tamper with destiny”.
I said to both of them “Wait, do you know me? Were you the ones who took my memories?”

“We had no part in your loss, Dark one” Zecora said.
I looked at them, and after seeing no hint of dishonesty in their eyes, decided to believe them “Can you help me? I need to get to a place called Ponyville?”
Zecora smiled “You are in luck Dark one, for we are near to the place you seek”.
I smiled in return “Can you take me?”
“I Can, Dark one”
“Why do you keep calling me Dark one?”

Zecora looked at me, as if she was looking into my soul. “My master would not enjoy me telling you the answer to that, as he said, It Is Wise to not tamper with destiny”.
“You mean him?” I said as I looked back toward the statue. The Beige pony was gone.
“Where did he...”I asked, confused.

“He works in mysterious ways, and doesn’t stay in one place for long”
I took this with a grain of salt, because, when I considered what was happening with me at the time this didn’t seem too weird.

I followed Zecora out of the clearing and into the jungle. We trekked for about 20 minutes before she froze at the edge of the forest. We were on a hill at the edge of a large valley with a road nearby. She said “I cannot go further, but the place you seek is not far”. She raised her hoof in the direction of the centre of the valley. “That is the way you must go.”
“Thank you” I replied

As I turned away and took a step, she put a hoof on my shoulder. “I cannot see the past, but I can see the future. Yours does not bode well, but promise me that when my master calls, you will answer, Even if it means falling away from all you love”.

This puzzled me even more than I already was. “Wait, can’t you just tell me what will happen to me?
She smiled kindly, like she was smiling at somepony who was a cancer patient. “Where’s the fun in that?” With that, she burst into a magical plume of smoke.
‘Well that was bloody useless’ I thought to myself and slowly walked down the road.

After about half an hour of stumbling along through the dust, I came across an orchard called Sweet Apple Acres. I looked over the fence and saw an orange Filly wearing a cowboy bucking a tree. It puzzled me, until I saw a bunch of apples fall from the tree into strategically placed buckets.
She turned toward me and waved her hat. I waved in reply and continued walking toward the town.

I didn’t get far before I heard a young voice shout “Hey Mister!” I was still passing the orchard on my right and left, so I had no idea where the voice came from. I looked up and down the road and, without seeing anyone, decided to keep walking. I immediately heard the voice again saying “Wait mister, up here!” I turned and looked up at the sound, seeing a tree hut built on the branches of a hundred year old apple tree.

There were three fillies sticking their heads out of a crudely made window. One with a bow on her hair said, “Are you Royal?”
Another, that was an orange Pegasus said to the first “No Apple bloom, There aren’t any dark royal ponies besides Luna”. The word Luna gave me a shiver, like something I should know, but didn’t.

I butted in “Hello? Yeah, who are you, why would I be a royal pony and who is Luna?”
They looked at me like I was dumb. The third pony spoke. She had a white coat and a pink and purple mane. “I'm Sweetie Belle, That's Apple Bloom and that’s Scootaloo” she said while pointing to the respective ponies.

“You could have been a royal because you have a horn and wings, which nopony but the royals do. Princess Luna is the sister to Princess Celestia, Controller of the sun. Princess Luna controls the moon. Have you been living under a rock?!”
“Sortof. Can you point me to Ponyville?”
Scootaloo said “It’s that way” she said, pointing down the road.
I turned to walk off and Sweetie Belle said “Wait, You didn’t answer out question!”
“Which was?”
“Are You Royal?” They looked very keenly interested, leaning out the window to hear the answer sooner.
“No, or at least I don’t think so.”

“How can you not know” Scootaloo asked.
“I can’t remember anything about my past.”
Apple Bloom looked angry that I couldn’t give her an answer. “Then why are you going to Ponyville?”
“Because besides my name, all I can remember is the name of the town, and somepony else’s name”.
Scootaloo was now intrigued “Whose name?”
I looked at her directly and said “Twilight Sparkle”.

She Said “Oohoohoohoohooh I know her.”
“We do too”. Sweetie belle and Apple Bloom said in unison
I was elated that I didn’t have to search.” Can you take me there?”
“No, we’re too busy playing. She lives in the library.”
I thanked the three and continued down the path.

I walked into a town that seed dead. No one was on the streets, but thankfully, street signs didn’t need people to control them. I arrived at the door to the library promptly, and had a lavender pony open it with a yawn. “Yes?” she said tiredly.
“Twilight Sparkle?” I asked hopefully.
“Yes” She repeated.
“This may sound weird, but you may be the key to getting me back my life.”

Chapter 2: An Awkward Meeting

Chapter 2

An awkward meeting.

“What are you talking about?” Twilight said. She had opened her eyes fully now, surprised by the accusation.
“I’d rather not tell you my situation standing on your front porch” I said.
I had expected this to be difficult, but that came hand in hand with trying to convince someone that they are the key to your past. “Oh yes come in, come in. Spike!?”

There was no reply. Twilight shrugged and said “He must be out”. She motioned for me to follow her over to a couch in an alcove of a room full of books. ‘Well it is a library’ I thought. She sat, and motioned for me too as well. She looked at me blankly and said “Now what was it you were saying about your life?”

I then proceeded to explain my past, or what I remembered of it. She waited for a few seconds after I had finished, as if she was digesting what I had said. “That sure is odd. Did The Mystery colt give a name?”
“No” I replied.
“I’ll see what I can dig up from the library. You said his Cutie mark was a Clock face with only the hands right?” She said standing and walking toward a bookshelf.
“That I did”.

This Filly was amazing. Her voice was soothing and her coat was a beautiful colour. She started to magically pull books of the shelf and started leafing through them muttering “no” “wrong” and “That can’t be right...” There was a knock at the door. She looked up, frustrated, and said “Oh what now?!” I could tell she wanted to concentrate on searching so I said “I’ll get it, I'm not doing anything anyhow”.

I walked downstairs and opened the door with magic from about 5 foot away. I was pleased that I could still use magic, and that I still knew how to manipulate complex things, like tumblers in a door lock. Standing in the open doorway were two ponies.

The first was a cyan Pegasus with a rainbow mane and a spunky hairdo. The second was light pink, with a darker pink mane. She was smiling so widely that it almost scared me. The first pony however, was almost frowning, but she had a look in her eye that screamed ‘I know what I'm doing, leave me to it.’

The pink pony burst into the room and said “Hi what’s your name? Mines Pinkie Pie wana be friends? Wana? Wana? Wana? Wana? Wana?”
I stepped back as she jumped into the room, and started bouncing in a circle around me.
The other mare said quietly “Jeez Pinkie, calm down. Wait, who are you? Where are Twi and spike?”

Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped bouncing and said “Hey, yeah, what did you do to Twilight?” She stepped close to me, suddenly very serious. “N-Nothing, I haven’t done anything to them. Twilights helping me research something. She’s upstairs.”

I pointed up the staircase to where she could still be heard muttering, to reinforce my point. Pinkie Pie flipped her personality 180ᵒ again, casually bouncing up the staircase, even though she should have tripped a hundred times.

The rainbow maned pony only now entered the building and stuck out a hoof. I shook and said “My names Cobalt”. She glanced at my mane and said “I'm Rainbow Dash”. She looked at my wings and said “How well can you fly?”
I looked unsurely down at them and extended them fully.

They were each about a meter long, with the feathers fading to black at the tips. I hadn’t tried to fly since I lost my memory, and I had no idea if I had flown before. I responded uncertainly “I'm not sure how well, if at all.”
Rainbow looked confused. “How can you not know if you have flown before?”
I responded “Easy. I can’t remember anything past about 3 hours ago.”
Rainbow looked visibly shocked. “What?!? What happened?”
I tried to keep a straight face when I said “I don’t know what happened, that’s the point.”
Her expression softened, and she giggled, “Yeah, I guess I should have thought of that.”

From the top of the staircase I saw the shadow of twilight, and heard her say “Aaaargg. There’s nothing in this library on anypony with any markings that you described, or any mention of you, Cobalt”. She saw the disheartened look on my face and quickly said “But that doesn’t mean that all hope is lost, you were given my name for a reason after all. I know what to do. We’re going to see princess Celestia”.

**********************

It took less than half an hour for Rainbow to find spike and convince him to fill the massive, bright pink hot air balloon. He was originally hostile to the idea of me accompanying the group to canterlot (wherever that was), but he warmed to it when he realised that in my current state, I was no threat.

The balloon lifted off with a dull pop from the burner, and was swiftly taken by the wind. Rainbow, as I discovered, was a keen flyer and flew alongside the balloon, lazily performing loops and summersaults in mid air. She was constantly asking (or more accurately, begging) me to try to fly.
I looked over the side of the balloon and saw the clouds pass below us. “I don’t know Rainbow, that's pretty far”.
Rainbow smiled cockily “What’s wrong? Chicken? It’s not that far, only a few kilometres. I’ll try to catch you if you fall”. It was the ‘Try’ that had me worried.

“Do I have to?” I asked.
Rainbow was enjoying this. I could tell. “Well you could, or I could grab you and drop you off of the side”. I grimaced.

Twilight and Pinkie, who had previously been in a conversation with Spike on the other side of the basket, walked over. Twilight said “Well whatever you do Cobalt, Try not to die. This will have been an awful waste of time otherwise”. She laughed, to show she was joking.

I laughed sarcastically, before asking, almost to myself “What could possibly go wrong?” I put both front hooves on the side of the basket and prepared to jump. As I did so I heard Spike say “Famous last words”. I turned, smiled and propelled myself off the side of the balloon.

Flying wasn’t that hard, when you get over the falling part I mean. As it turns out, the falling part was what scared me the most. I was tumbling downward through the sky at an incredible speed when time seemed to slow. Not by much, but enough to see detail on the clouds before I passed through them, or to see detail on a passing bird. I heard a voice in my head, which I thought was Rainbow Dash. It simply said: "These might help".

And with that, a cluster of memories flooded back. Not anything important, just ones directly related to flying. A flash of colour, a starry sky, the sound of wings beating, those kinds of things. I expertly pulled out of the dive, and used the momentum to carry me upwards, leaving a following Rainbow maned mare in the cloud-dust.

I originally overshot the basket, barely missing the balloon. I landed on my second pass, nearly knocking Spike out the other side. Twilight turned to me and started to congratulate me on my flying, but I could tell she saw the wild look in my eyes. “What happened?” she asked. “I don’t know. I was just falling then a voice said something in my head, then I knew how to fly.”
She looked shocked. Pinkie was silent. “What do you mean, knew how to fly? Like old memories or something else?” Twilight asked, getting more alarmed by the second.

“Old memories”. I was pumping with adrenaline.
“Oh, well we’re on approach to canterlot now, so I can get a doctor to have a look at you soon”.

I wasn’t finished. “Twilight”. I spun her around to look at me.
“The voice... It was the mystery colt.”

Chapter 3: An Accident, A Cold Shoulder and A Poem

Chapter 3
An accident, A Cold Shoulder and a Poem.

I have to hand it to them, the Canterlot ground crew; they knew how to keep calm under pressure.
I was freaking out from the voice in my head and as a result couldn’t control my magic.
I absentmindedly fired a beam clean through a wall into a market, destroying several things in a crash. It was a miracle I didn’t blow the balloon up. Pinkie was surprisingly not freaking out; she was just standing still, looking at us like we were dumb.

Twilight and Spike on the other hand weren't calm. “CALM DOWN, COBALT!” she screamed as the balloon swiftly glided towards the ground. With Spike now cowering in a corner, and not at the tiller, it was near out of control. However, thanks to Rainbow Dash's efforts underneath the craft, we weren’t plummeting to our deaths. Yet.

The ground crew swiftly flew up to meet us and stated to grab the balloon to guide it to a cleared landing pad. But fate had other plans, sending a stray beam of magic straight through a corner rope holding up the bucket. This imbalance caused Rainbows upward force to push up this new area of structural weakness. Short version? We were dumped from Three meters up onto cold hard concrete.

I landed heavily, getting winded from the impact and getting whiplash from trying to not smack my head. I sat up and saw that the medical unicorns and earth ponies were taking care of rainbow and one of the flight crew. Rainbow had been in the unfortunate position of being under the basket when the remainder of the lines had snapped, pushing her down. From what I could see of her, she looked fine, and I could distinctly hear her voice saying: “Get me out from under here. It’s heavy”.
Pinkie had somehow land on her hooves, and had also somehow managed to catch Spike on her back.

I thought ‘There’s something odd with that pony...’. I noticed Twilight also seemed to be fine, but the medics were crowding around her back right hoof. I approached her carefully, not sure if she blamed me for the crash (Which I would have been fine with) or what. She was looking at the crowd with an angry look in her eyes, and when she turned toward me the anger was still there. It faded instantly, being replaced with a warm happy look. She said “I don’t blame you, don’t worry. It was an accident.”

Even though she had said that, I still felt horrible for doing what I had done. Pinkie walked over and let Spike drop from her back. He looked at me coldly and helped twilight to her hooves, shooing away the medics. She looked fine, and she could walk ok, even with the splint. She said “Let’s go, were going to be late”.

*************************

Twilight and Spike ushered me down a street so fast, I barely saw anything other than a few colts staring curiously at a massive scorched hole on the wall. Whoops. At the rate we were travelling, it took less than ten minutes to arrive at the castle gates.

We were met by a tall, white unicorn with a blue mane, darker than mine. He was wearing golden armour and helmet. I knew he must have been important from the way the gate guards looked at him.

He looked at her hoof and said “Twilie! Are you ok? I heard about what happened”.
She walked up to him and hugged him. “I'm fine Shining Armour, really, it’s only a strain”.
He said
“All the same, you should be more careful”.
I took a step forwards and said “It was my fault really; I wasn’t in control of my magic”.
He looked at me and was obviously surprised. He seemed to struggle with words for a second, before he stormed at me, and I backed up. “I don’t care who you are, you don’t ever hurt my sister. Got it?”
I nodded.

He relaxed a little, and then said formally “State your name and business at the royal castle of Canterlot”.
I looked uneasily at twilight “Didn’t you have appointment?”
Shining Armour said smugly “She does, you don’t.”
Twilight spoke up. “Actually, the appointment was for five”.
“It didn’t include ‘Archroyals’”. He replies, getting annoyed that his sister was defending me.
I chimed in “What are ‘Archroyals’?”

Twilight, without taking her eyes off her brother and giving him a stern stare, said in reply “An ‘Archroyal’ is an Alicorn who is not aware if they are royalty. It is usually used for natural Alicorns, which are very rare, even with a unicorn and a Pegasus parent. That's because the cells usually take a side, unicorn or Pegasus, rather than both.”
Shining Armour returned his sisters gaze and gritted his teeth. He added “They are a security threat because they have more powerful magic than unicorns, but have less control of it than the princesses.”
Desperate not to cause a feud between them, I said quickly “If Twilight is with me and I get out of control again, then I can just get her to calm me down.”
I could tell Shining Armour sensed what I was trying to do. “Very well” he grumbled.
The guards opened the gates and we walked inside.

As we walked down the garden path Twilight pulled me aside and said quietly “I'm sorry for that”.
I smiled sincerely. “Its fine, he was just being protective, I would have expected it from anyone”.
Twilight still looked unsure “Are you sure? It didn’t bother you?”
I said simply “It bothered me, but I’ll deal with it. I have bigger problems anyway”. With that we walked along to the others, who had waited, and into the castle.

We walked slowly to a room with the far door barred by guards. The four of us waited as Twilight walked up to a guard and spoke quietly. When she returned she said “The princess will be a few minutes late unfortunately”. I had been absentmindedly staring at a massive stain glass window on the far wall. It had writing on it in the centre, but I couldn’t read it over the distance. Twilight saw me looking and started saying in a sing-song voice:

“When darkness wages war
The evening skies will soar
The day will retreat
Grovelling at the feet
Of the horrible nightmare moon”

“The sun will cease
The dawn will fail
The moon will rule the day
The stars will rise
The sun will stop
The moon will rule the day”

“The sun will fall
To doom the land
And the dark will control the sand”

{{Authors note. Yes I know its bad rhyming, no I don’t care. Asking me to rhyme is like asking a paraplegic to ride a unicycle.}}

I stare at her for a few seconds before looking around the room. Everypony was staring: Pinkie, Rainbow, Spike, The guards and even a large white pony with a billowing rainbow mane and a crown. “Sorry” Twilight said, “I must have read that a thousand times when I lived here”. She too looked around as the large white pony, who I had guessed must have been the princess Celestia, said “My faithful student, that was beautiful”.

She spoke with a calm and endearing voice. It sounded regal, yet caring, telling you your place in a nice way. Twilight jumped and ran to her. She hugged her and said “Princess, it’s so nice to see you”.
“It is nice to see you too, my faithful student. Now, who is this” she said, while motioning towards me.

I said timidly “My name is Cobalt, princess.”
“You don’t have to be so formal, Celestia is fine” The princess said kindly. Once Twilight had explained the circumstances of our visit, Princess Celestia said: “Follow me to the hall of knowledge, where I may be able to help.”

Chapter 4: Origins

Chapter 4.

Origins.

Princess Celestia led us down a long corridor full of ornate windows and paintings. Twilight was walking (or more accurately hobbling) alongside the princess and they were deep in conversation, so I thought that it would be best to leave them alone for now.

I pulled back slightly and instead walked alongside Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Spike. They spent a little while talking to me about what it was like not remembering my past. For obvious reasons I didn’t have much to tell them.

The conversation swung toward their childhoods, both of which I found very interesting. “So you’re telling me that you were born from an egg that Twilight hatched?” I asked questioningly.
Rainbow leaned in close “Don’t forget that she only had the power to do it because of my Sonic Rainboom”.

“Wow” I said, stroking my mane.
“What about you Rainbow?” I asked.
“Not much to tell. I grew up in Cloudsdale with my mother and father. My dad was a royal guard here, but got a position in the E.A.F a few years back, now he works in Cloudsdale”. I was intrigued, “The E.A.F??”
“It stands for the Equestrian Armed Forces. He’s a General, so he doesn’t get much time off”.
“But who would want to be Equestria’s Enemies?”
I was surprised at how much rainbow knew about the politics of the region.

“There’s the Zebrans to the south, which is quite a desert-y region, that mainly export raw materials like iron and stone. It occupies about a third of the continent”.

“Then you’ve got the Trojans to the east, which is a combination of snowy mountains and jungles. They primarily export food, textiles and such. There are also a group of countries across the western ocean that are where most of our colonies are”.

“The north is where the Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies originally came from. It’s basically abandoned now, part out of respect and part out of there are so many mountains that there isn’t enough flat and non-snow covered land to set up a town.”
Even Spike looked surprised at Rainbow’s knowledge.
“Why did the three groups leave?” I asked.
“Long story, maybe if you stay round long enough I’ll tell you”. She said with a wink.

The prospect of any further conversation was cut short when Princess Celestia stopped at a large ornate door, covered in signs saying “PRIVATE” and “OFF LIMITS WITHOUT ROYAL ESCORT”. It really wasn’t encouraging. The Princess turned toward me and spoke up: “You may have heard the prophecy that Twilight spoke. But what you didn’t hear the story of who spoke it.”
I asked “Who??”
“All in good time my dear, now follow me” Princess Celestia said.

The corridor was short, but the stairs at the end of it weren’t. Like the corridor, there were bare white walls, and a deep red carpet. Unlike the first corridor however, there were no windows which made the place feel very cold. At the end of the long downward staircase was a room truly massive in size. It would have easily been long enough to house a train and high enough for faint wisps of cloud to form, which gave me a headache to stare at. Around the walls were 7 great stain glass murals, each depicting an Alicorn in a different pose. I could see one who was bucking apples, and another who was flying through a cloud.

There was another Mural in a corner, which looked almost ignored, depicting an animal that was more of a mix of everything, with the head of a dragon. It was standing on a pink cloud, which was pouring brown rain. It puzzled me, but no more than anything else in the room, so I didn’t pay it much attention. If only I had.

The princess turned to us and said “Alicorns are a very rare race, which makes Cobalt’s case all the more strange. Outside of my own family, there are less than fifteen alicorns alive, with none being anywhere near your age.”

Seeing that I was disheartened by this, she said “Maybe it would be better for me to explain how all types of ponies came to be. For a long time, there were only eight ponies in existence. They were the original gods, and are remembered today in these murals.” She beckoned to the walls around her.

“But there was always the force of chaos and evil pushing against the force of balance and order. That force was Discord. He was deceitful and cruel to the creatures that he created. As punishment for his evil, the seven remaining gods used all their power to split his being into five parts”.

“The first part, his strength, became the first Earth Ponies”. She said while motioning towards Pinkie Pie.

“The second part, his heart, became the first Pegasi”. She waved a hoof at Rainbow Dash.

“The third part, his magic, became the first unicorn”. She smiled at Twilight, who warmly returned it.

“What about the dragons?” Spike asked impatiently. “As I was saying; the fourth part, his greed and evil, became the first dragon”.

“But, as they couldn’t destroy him entirely, the fifth part became what he is now; an abomination. A mixture of all the animals he cruelly destroyed and tortured”.

“From that point on, it was declared that the gods would allow the newly created ponies to rule themselves, and the gods would retreat from the world. The Prophecy was the last thing that any pony heard from them, even to this date, over a thousand years later. When the three pony kingdoms and merged into one, after the great migration, myself and my sister were born. We were a gift from the gods, who saw how close we had been to destroying ourselves. We were chosen to lead Equestria into a golden age of peace.”.

“But alas, discord rose up again to try to regain his form buy destroying all ponies and regaining the three parts of his soul. He failed, and was cast back to oblivion, for a time. His final act was an act of vengeance. He awoke Raventek, the original dragon and his aspect of greed and evil, which set its sights on my sister. It infected her with jealousy and made her into the Evil Nightmare moon. And that is all I have to tell you, my children, for you know the rest”.

My head was swimming. I was certain that Nightmare Moon was what was written on the statue, just outside of town. I asked, almost afraid, “Princess, what is the name of your sister?”

She looked at me with a pained expression, like she knew that what she was about to say would affect me greatly. “My sister’s name, Cobalt, was Luna”.

**********************

The word ignited another flicker of memory within me, like the others had, except this one was much more powerful. It even came with words. I heard in my head a familiar female voice saying urgently: “Remember Cobalt, whatever you do, don’t let them return”.

I said to the princess knowingly: “That wasn’t all, was it? There was something else, something important”.
Celestia didn’t look surprised at my outburst, merely amused. “Yes Cobalt, there was something else. And yes it is important, but I believe that what is the point of doing the test if you know the answers?” And with that, she turned and walked back toward the staircase. As she reached the bottom step, she turned and said “I will however, give you a hint. There were many palaces in Equestria before this one”.

Rainbow looked like she had reached the end of her rope. “NO. I’ve had it. Today I’ve been crushed, dragged, confused and surprised and now you won’t even help us? What did we even come for!?”
The princess didn’t turn back.

I walked over to the biggest mural, on the far wall. It was of a beige pony, standing in a desert with a mountain range covered in snow in the background. His Cutie Mark was an Hour hand and a Minute hand, like you would find on a clock. I thought ‘One way or another, I'm getting answers from you’. I smiled on the inside, but tried to keep a poker face on the outside.

I glanced over at the group, and saw that Spike and Pinkie Pie were trying to stop Rainbow from walking to the princess and beating an answer out of her. I couldn’t see Twilight, and figured she had left until I heard somepony clearing their throat behind me.

I turned and saw she was standing less than a meter from me. ‘She’s quiet, I’ll give her that’ I thought. She looked up at the Mural and read from the golden inscription along the bottom. “Tempus... What’s so interesting about him?”

I thought hard for a few seconds before answering “Nothing. Nothing at all”.

She looked relieved “Good, because I have a few ideas about what Princess Celestia meant about palaces”.

Chapter 5: Deep Secrets and old enemies.

Chapter 5
Deep secrets and old enemies.

The train ride back to Ponyville dragged on long into the night. When we had left the Palace, sneaking past Shining Armour, we had gone back toward the airfield to catch a balloon ride to Ponyville.

The balloon pilots, however, had adamantly refused to let me near them, and I didn’t want to fly back with Rainbow Dash and abandon Twilight, Pinkie and Spike. As a Compromise, we settled for the tediously long train ride to Ponyville.

When we arrived back, after a near silent ride, I realised that we had another dilemma; I had nowhere to sleep. “You could stay with me...” Rainbow Said as we stepped onto the platform. “I wouldn’t want to be a bother” I replied. “No no, it’s no trouble at all” she said with a wink.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about Rainbow Dash. We were similar, and she was energetic, but that couldn’t overpower the feeling I got when I was around Twilight. It was like we were the only people on earth. “Its fine Cobalt, I’ll do some study and get back to you tomorrow, you should get some sleep”. Twilight said, with genuine concern in her voice.

I would have protested, and asked to help, but I realised that I was tired. I said with a yawn “Okay Twilight, I’ll see you in the morning”. As we started to walk off toward Rainbow Dash’s house, I turned and walked back to Twilight.

I said nervously, “Oh, and Twilight? Thank you for helping me. Most would have just slammed their doors. I can’t remember anything, but even if I could, I doubt I would have known anyone as nice as you”. She blushed and said “Thank you, Cobalt, what can I say, you seem... Different. Special. Plus, I like a challenge”. With that, I spread my wings and took off toward the waiting Cyan mare.

I woke slowly, and took a few moments to remember where I was. I looked around the cloudy room and noticed the little details that made it feel homely: A potted plant on the windowsill, a framed photograph on the dresser. I got out of bed and fixed the sheets, then walked to the window and opened it wide.

I breathed in the fresh morning air and saw from the position of the sun in the sky that it was about 10 o’clock in the morning. I walked through the door and descended the staircase. When I neared the bottom I called out “Rainbow? Hello?” to no answer. I surveyed the room and saw that somepony had been here, there was a mug of drink on the table and a magazine about some group called the “Wonderbolts”.

I walked toward the door, still drowsy from sleep, but blinked the dust out of my eyes. A note was on the cabinet by the door. I levitated it to my face and recognised Rainbow Dash’s writing: “Went to Sugarcube Corner. Come when you wake up”.

After freshening up, and spending 20 minutes walking around, searching, a nearby sign post pointed me to the door of Sugarcube corner. Even though it was late morning, the Establishment was nearly empty, except for a booth at the back and the counter, which had a short brown pony behind it. I approached hesitantly, not knowing if they were the right group.

I grew more confident when I saw the rainbow mane of the Pegasus who had let me stay. I walked up and saw that there were six ponies and a dragon sitting in the circular booth. From the left, they were: Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, A white Unicorn with a purple mane whom I didn’t know, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, A light yellow Pegasus mare with a pink mane, and a vaguely familiar light orange earth pony with a Cowcolt hat. Rainbow looked up at me from the table, which seemed to be dominated by plates stacked in front of Spike.

“Hey, I was wondering when you’d show up” She said with a grin. “Some directions might have sped me up” I replied jokingly. Twilight seemed happy to see me. “Hi Cobalt, how was your sleep?” she said while grinning at Rainbow. I knew that they must have been talking about me, but it didn’t surprise me really. Not much seemed to happen around here.

Twilight motioned at the pony on her left. “This is Rarity” The white unicorn said “Charmed” in a posh voice. “And that's Fluttershy”, to which the Yellow mare replied “Oh...um....H-Hi” in a voice so soft I barely heard it. I said “Hi” while she slinked into her seat. I looked to Twilight unsure if I had scared her. Twilight said “She does that to everypony who’s new” which relieved me.

The beige pony In front of me said “Ah’m Applejack. Nice ta meet yah Mr. Cobalt” In a heavy country accent. I remembered why she looked so familiar. “Wait, you were at the farm Sweet Apple Acres yesterday, weren’t you?”
“Ma’h Family owns tha place. Wait-a-minute, Ah remember you. You walked past yesterday morning didn’t yah?”
“Yes I did. Apple Bloom’s your sister isn’t she?” I asked, seeing a family resemblance.
“Yessiree she is, Mr Cobalt”.
“Cobalt is fine, Applejack” I replied, Finding the formality unsettling.
“Ok Cobalt” She replied.

Twilight broke in, pointing at a map on the table. “I’ve found quite a few Places that castles have been in Equestria, but there are a few problems”.
I leaned toward the table expectantly “Which are?”
“The only castles inhabited in Equestria are Canterlot castle and The Star haven, which is Princess Luna’s private domain”.
“Can’t we go there?”

The sighed and looked down at her notes. “It’s not that simple unfortunately. Nopony knows how, outside of the princesses, and I don’t think Celestia will be much help”.
“What’s the other problem?” I asked, dreading what I was about to hear.
“Cobalt... I don’t know how to tell you this, but... You might be a little bit older than you look.”

I raised my eyebrows, wanting to know what she was about to say. “There hasn’t been a missing pony report filed about an alicorn in hundreds of years.... If you are as old as you look, No one has missed you.......”

Twilight looked like just saying the sentence had hurt. She had no idea how much it hurt me. I realised that the warm feelings I had had about the mysterious statue outside of town may be irrelevant now. The person the statue was modelled after may be long dead. I realised I still hadn’t asked who it was.

“There’s a statue outside of town: Big, stone monolith. Who’s it modelled off of?”
Twilight and the other Ponies around the table looked at me with open mouths. Rarity looked sideways at Twilight and said “He Is actually telling the truth. I take it back”.
Twilight glanced at Rarity angrily, and then looked to me. “Cobalt, That statue is of Nightmare Moon. Remember the one Princess Luna talked about?” I did remember, It was only yesterday.
“Where was her castle? Did she have one?”

Twilight looked down at her notes, in between what were once a stack of pancakes and a plate of crusts. “Yes, she did actually: In the Everfree forest, just north of the lake”. I was bouncing up and down like an excited puppy. “Can we go? Can we? Can we?”
Applejack said “Ah have some chores ta do, but I'm sure ah could do ‘em later”
I looked hopefully at the others. Rainbow said “I'm free today” and the others begrudgingly agreed to tag along. Twilight sent a letter to her brother in Canterlot asking for a few guards in case anything went wrong, and we set out.

************************

The Everfree forest spread out in front of us was darker and more hostile than the name suggested. The trees covered the path to form a tunnel, which hardly any natural light passed through. Twilight looked down at her map, which she hovered in front of her. “This is definitely the way... Unfortunately”.

“R-Really? A-Are you sure?” Fluttershy asked from the back of the group.
“Come on then, let’s go!!” Rainbow Dash shouted from above us, doing aerial tricks.
“Ah’m Sure we’ll be fine, isn’t that right Twilight?” Applejack asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“Applejack’s right Fluttershy, nothing in this forest is dumb enough to attack such a large group, plus an alicorn”. To prove her point, I used my magic to fire a newly discovered bolt of energy through a tree. “We are going to be fine. Let’s get going.” I said calmly.

The forest was cold and dark, even during the height of day. It felt eerie and sad, but strangely familiar. It was the familiarity that put me on edge. I pulled back to the rear of the group where rainbow, forced to land or get lost above the forest, tagged along. I said to her out of the corner of my mouth “What would you say if I said this forest makes me feel sad?”

She looked at me, then back to the undulating path. “I wouldn’t blame you, this place is freaky”.
I nodded. After a few minutes of silence I asked quietly “And what would you say if I said this place felt familiar?”

She stopped, turned, and looked at me with a surprised expression on her face. “Cobalt, I realise you can’t remember anything and I can’t blame you, but this is an evil place. Nothing in this forest with the exception of Zecora is kind to anypony but them. We don’t know anything about your past; you could have been one of the types of people that thrived in a place like this”.

I interrupted “It doesn’t matter who I was, It matters who I am, and I haven’t tried to kill you yet”.
She looked at her hooves and sighed. “Let’s just drop it. Just don’t mention it to anypony else, Ok?”
I nodded, and the rest of the journey was in silence.

************************

The Greying Castle walls rose out of the forest suddenly, twenty meters high, stopping us in our tracks. Spike, who had become tired and who was sat on Twilight’s back got down and walked up to the wall. He hit it with a powerful fist and the ancient marble wavered but did not yield. He looked back and said “No getting through that without an army”.
I nodded and said “Just as it was designed”.

Twilight looked at me and said “Cobalt, if we both try to move the base stone over there, it might collapse the wall enough to allow us through”. I nodded and created a blue aura around the biggest stone a few meters in front of me. Twilight’s Magical aura combined with mine, to create a dark purple cloud, which followed the stone as it slid from the bottom of the wall. I small avalanche of stone flowed through the now open base, creating a hole just big enough to fit through.

We all squeezed through, save for Rainbow, who flew over. On the inside of the perimeter wall, the grass was overgrown but there were no large trees. The castle was massive, stretching along the central axis of the now clearly circular wall. A tall grey tower stretched upwards, covered in vines. We made our way along a dilapidated path to the main doors, one of which had rotted off of its hinges. I flew above it with Rainbow Dash as the others climbed over the rubble.

The room had a large mezzanine overlooking the remains of the door, with an arched roof. The walls were covered in what I could only guess would have been paintings, which were now little more than streaks of colour. I lowered myself to the floor, which was cold to the touch. I looked back at the group, who were standing around the door. Twilight caught my eye and said “Is this place familiar at all?” I glanced at Rainbow, who was flying above the door. She gave me an evil look, and I put on my best poker face, which was hard because I didn’t know if I had any obvious tells when I lied. “No, not at all, Twilight. Maybe we should have a better look”.

I climbed one of the staircases with the rest of the group in a single file line behind me. The corridor at the end of the staircase was filled with the remains of furniture and paintings, with broken or mouldy windows in between. At the end of the corridor there was a large hall, with windows down one side and a large circle carved in the floor. In the centre of the circle was a large glass-like disk, about two meters wide. I walked toward it, led by a faint memory. As I put my hoof over the stone circle, a deep sense of dread flowed through me. I said “No, no this is wrong”, but no one responded. I turned and saw that everypony and Spike in the room besides myself had frozen. They were surrounded in an aura of dark grey smoke. They weren’t even breathing.

A high-pitch cackle erupted from the now smoking glass disk. The smoke began to form into the shape of a leg, with light blue boots that went to the knee and ended in a spike. It was followed by three more. The smoke built up, forming the solid shape of a dark body, with pure black wings, and a necklace that led into a chest plate with a crescent moon in the centre. A cutie mark of a crescent moon formed on a lighter blue patch of the creatures flank. The smoke built up to form a head, then a horn. The eye opened, as the flowing light blue mane dotted with star like objects grew.

The eyes were glowing teal, and immediately focused on me. The now clearly alicorn opened its mouth and spoke loudly in a female voice “Ah, my traitorous youngling, It pleases me to see that you have returned to my side”. I shrunk down as much as I could and said “I-I'm sorry, You must be mistaken... Who are you?” She looked into my eyes and seemed surprised by what she saw. She regained her composure and said “I am Nightmare Moon, Queen of darkness and Rightful ruler of Equestria, but surely you remember your own mother?”

Chapter 6: Betrayal

Chapter 6
Betrayal

“W-What?!?” I asked. The room felt ten degrees colder in an instant. She seemed surprised at my reluctance to acknowledge her claim. “You do not remember? The conquests at Ashphodel? Your betrayal of my legions, and your double cross of Fendrix the great?”

“I’m sorry, but you must be confused. I don’t know you, not someone as evil as you”. She stared at me and tried to walk toward me, but she could not step off of the glass pane. She sighed, looking sad. “I can feel it on you, the power of Tempus. He has swayed you, taken you to the side of light. I am truly sorry my son, for you do not know who you are. But you are still the third most powerful being in existence, and for that, you must die”.

I looked around, panicked, and noticed to my horror that black smoke was appearing around me as well. I could still move however, and stepped out of a perfect (If wispy) mold of myself. The mold of me turned toward the others, who suddenly continued moving as if nothing had happened. She looked right past me, to my ghost self. It seemed that they could not see me, or Nightmare Moon, only the copy. “Cobalt? What’s wrong?”.

I said “Twilight? That's not me!” but I was ignored by everypony. I noticed Pinkie Pie seemed to be looking at me, but she turned to The Alter-Cobalt and said “You should sit down and eat a cupcake”.

The Ghostly versions horn glowed, and it shot forth a beam of light, which was so searing hot it scorched the tiles. The beam was heading straight toward my friends. Twilight, either by some insane level of skill, or by some blessing from above, managed to conjure a wall of energy, stopping the destructive beam. She looked like she was straining to keep it up, and I could see cracks appearing in the sides.

What happened next is still a blur; all I remember is seeing a new silhouette appear in the window, a brighter light, and flying back into the wall. I remember Twilight saying before I blacked out “Oh Cobalt, how could you...”

I woke many hours later, with the sky black, and the only light being from the moon. All that was left in the room to commemorate my ill-fated visit was a massive cracked glass dick with a piece missing, a massive black scorch mark in the tile, and a broken piece of marble where my head hit it.

I looked out one of the broken windows, the same one that had the silhouette in it. There was a new shadow across the ground, but no one else was here. It spoke, saying “You will rise over this Obstacle Cobalt, You must for us all”. I recognised the voice as the voice of Tempus, who spoke to me in the balloon. “You must hurry, for time is short. I will guide you, but you must re-convince your friends on your own. I will do what I can to ease your problems, and clear the path, but the powers of darkness are far too strong for me in my current state. Now go. Hurry, I can only hope you will not be too late”. My vision blurred, and then cleared, with a bright yellow trail of mist floating in the air. I knew it dictated my path, and I jumped off the massive height of the window and flew toward my goal.

It was a short path, at least to its first stop, which was Twilight’s house. The library. I wanted to fly down to the front door and beg for forgiveness for something I didn't do, but The path led to a high up window. I flew over, and found it unlocked, I smiled up at the sky, then slowly and quietly lowered myself down, being careful not to knock a bookshelf. I floated further downward, noticing that I seemed to be in her and Spike’s bedroom.

The cloud got thinner and more precise till it landed on a single book, Castle Polaris, and I quietly levitated it upwards into a satchel, which I carefully put on. Once I had the satchel on, the cloud changed direction to the window again, and went back towards the mountains. Just as I was about to fly back out the window the door flew open and Spike walked in. There was a moment of silence when we stared at each other. I could hear Twilight crying down the hall, which made me both sad and angry, and her friends consoling her.

Spike simply looked at me for a few more seconds, nodded at me, then went to a bookshelf and began filing books. He said quietly out of the corner of his mouth, not to be heard by the others, “It’s ok Cobalt, I know you didn’t do it. Dragons have great intuition. You aren’t the kind of person that would do something like what they were saying. Good luck.” With that, he turned to the door and left without another glance. I was grateful to have someone other than a shadow and myself who believed me. I turned and flew out the window and down the street as fast as I could, not wanting to tempt my fate or overstay my welcome.

The mountains were cold and the snow crunched under my hooves as I stood outside the dark cave. It was on a ledge high above the castle of canterlot, near the peak, and the cloud pointed inside. I hesitantly followed. However, just inside the entrance the old stone and snow turned into a corridor with windows, nearly intact stone tiles and paintings still hanging on the walls. I knew this was the castle of my mother, due to the amount of statues and busts of her. There was also a massive statue of a Unicorn stallion, standing over a defeated demon, sword in hoof. He looked familiar, like I should know him but I didn't.

I continued through the main hall till I reached another massive stone ring on the floor. I carefully observed it, noticing that a pattern of circles and squares was partly out of shape. Putting a hesitant hoof over the line with no bad results, I stepped to the pattern and saw that it could rotate. I turned it and looked up to very different surroundings.

The walls had regained their creme color, the windows had repaired themselves and there were brilliantly red curtains covering their sides. The paintings looked freshly painted and vivid, and the now colored marble busts were adorned with jewellery. Most threateningly, there were two Black pegasi standing over me, spears held at the ready, fully clad in armour that seemed to be made of darkness itself.

The one on the right, who seemed to be a higher rank, if the crest on his helm was anything to go by, said “Put your hooves where I can see th- wait, Cobalt?” He seemed shocked, and lowered his spear, but the other guard was either not familiar with me like this one was or was just too professional to show it. My question was answered when the one with the crest smacked the other ones spear downward. “Put your spear down idiot, do you know who this is? How important he is? I thought not. Now wait here and make sure no one else comes through the portal”.

The one with the crest offered me a hoof up, and I took it. As he pulled me up, he said “Where have you been? It’s been so long, even longer for the other side”. I gave him a blank look and said “Where are we?” He said with a puzzled expression “It’s your home, don’t you remember it?”
I sighed and replied “For what feels like the hundredth time in a few days, no”.

He seemed to think for a few seconds, before saying “I know who can help. Let’s go see your mother”.