Prologue: How I Failed Them...
“Help!”
Twilight was galloping as fast as she could.
“Twilight!”
She had to reach them.
“Help!”
She was getting closer.
“Help us!”
She could hear the screams.
“Get away!”
She could hear the song.
“NO!”
She could hear THEM!
“HELP!!”
She saw her. Far ahead of her and running straight towards her through the fog. Her pleading arms outstretched and begging for help. “Sunset!”
“Save us Twilight!”
Twilight galloped even harder now. She was so close, and yet she felt so far away. She gasped as she saw something dark and sinister rise from behind Sunset, chasing her with glowing red eyes and its maw wide open. “Sunset! Look out!”
Twilight leaped into the air, spread her wings out and soared fast towards Sunset in an effort to reach her.
“Twilight...” Sunset wept as a shadow covered her. “Why?”No further words were spoken as the maw finally caught up with her and gobbled her up in one bite.
“NOM!”
“NO!!! SPIT HER OUT!” Twilight dove towards the creature to attack it. Instead she flew right through, hitting nothing but air. Undeterred, it swallowed Sunset and mocked Twilight with a loud cackle before drawing its attention to something else below them.
“NO!”
Twilight's ears then twitched as more familiar voice were heard.
“No! Stay away!”
She looked down and gasped as she saw her human friends from CHS, running for their lives as the dark creature, along with two others, chased and toyed with them.
The creatures were nothing but large shadows, but Twilight knew exactly who and what they were.
“GIRLS!”
Applejack looked up and noticed her. “TWILIGHT?! PLEASE TWILIGHT! SAVE US!”
“TWILIGHT!!” Before Twilight could do anything, she found herself watching helplessly as Rarity was intercepted by one of the shadows. “TWILI-” Her cries were silenced as the shadow ate her and swallowed her whole.
It all happened so fast. Unable to do or say anything, Twilight just stood by and watched as her all her CHS friends were picked off and eaten one by one, leaving Applejack the only one remaining.
Overwhelmed with grief, Twilight descended back to the ground and collapsed on her haunches. “My friends... I failed you... Forgive me-”
“Why?” Twilight looked up and saw Applejack standing there before her. “Why didn't you save us, Twilight?” she cried. “Why did you let this happen?”
“I... I didn't mean... Applejack I-”
“GLOMF!”
“APPLEJACK!!” Twilight cried in sorrow as the same shadow that took Sunset snatched up Applejack and gulped her down with delight. Twilight now found herself surrounded by all three shadows, their eyes and chests glowing bright red as they silently glared down at her.
Brimming with tears, Twilight narrowed her eyes at the one figure in front of her with a mixture of fear and anger.
“You...”
The shadow then sported a toothy grin, opened its drooling maw and dove towards her.
Twilight looked away and braced herself for the inevitable. “NO!”
“TWILIGHT!!”
“NO!” Twilight screamed as she sprung up from her bed, panting heavily with her fur drenched in sweat. She was back in her room, safe in the peaceful sanctum of her crystal tree castle in Ponyville. “Wha-?”
“Twilight!”
“Spike?”
“Are you alright, Twilight?” Spike asked with concern in his voice. “You were crying in your sleep and I was worried. Did you have a nightmare?” He then saw the sad look in her eyes and quickly realized what troubled her. “You were dreaming about them, weren't you?”
Twilight said nothing. She glanced out the window into the night sky and sighed.
“Twilight?”
She gently pushed Spike aside as she suddenly got up from bed. “Twilight?” She silently trotted out of her room with Spike following close behind her. Worried, he followed her down the corridor towards the library. He watched her enter and quietly peered inside through the door after her.
He spotted her standing before the mirror. The mirror that once served as the portal leading to the Human World. Next to it was the console they used to open it. It had been repaired to working order, but the portal remained closed and unresponsive. He watched as Twilight touched the mirror, looking solemnly at her reflection in the glass. Spike however knew that it wasn't her reflection she was looking at. It was them.
Their friends from CHS.
Their alternate friends from the Human World.
A world that to which fate was currently unknown.
More tears were shed as the memories resurfaced and the realization hit her. “I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...”
Two weeks have passed ever since Twilight and Spike escaped back to Equestria following their disastrous defeat. They had partaken in an effort to help Sunset and their CHS friends deal with a trio of mysterious girls who had arrived at their school.
Girls who turned out to be ancient sirens from Equestria.
Many centuries ago, the sirens; Adagio, Aria and Sonata, plagued the lands of Equestria with their enchanting songs. They dazzled the minds of ponies everywhere, causing them to not only adore them, but turning pony against pony in order to feed off their negativity and strengthen their hold.
They nearly turned Equestria into a powder-keg of disharmony and strife, until the great wizard; Starswirl the Bearded, confronted the sirens and banished them to a realm of no magic. A world where they could do no harm.
Or so he thought...
While the sirens had lost much of their Equestrian magic and power, they still obtained their ability to feed of negativity and disharmony of others. No one knows how long the sirens spent their time in the Human World, but somehow they survived undisturbed and unaging...
..Until that fateful night during the Fall Formal, when Twilight and her friends defeated Sunset and reclaimed the Element of Magic. The night when the existence of Equestrian magic became known to them.
They had enrolled at the school in an attempt to tap into and claim the magic for their own. To do so, they used the magic of their pendants to easily gain admittance and admiration around the school, while at the same time weakening the minds of the teachers and students, turning them against one another.
In order to reclaim their lost power, they formed a group called The Dazzlings and orchestrated a Battle of the Bands, a music competition to gain more attention, as well as strengthening their hold over CHS.
Twilight, Sunset and their CHS friends formed their own band, The Rainbooms, and, after a long and difficult journey, managed to confront the Dazzlings in the finals...
They failed...
And the prize for their failure ended not only with the Dazzlings regaining their power, as well as their true siren forms. They devoured the Rainbooms, along with Sunset Shimmer. It was only with the help of CHS Pinkie Pie that Twilight and Spike were able to avoid sharing their fate. It's was a bitter triumph as Pinkie sacrificed herself to ensure their escape.
Once back in Ponyville, Twilight immediately set about trying to find a way to fix the siren problem, only for the portal to suddenly malfunction and close, leaving her and Spike trapped in Equestria with no hope of returning back to CHS.
For the next two weeks, Twilight spent countless hours trying to fix the portal, all the while suffering through the guilt of having failed her human friends. Her pony friends tried everything they could to cheer her up. But no matter what they did, Twilight remained inconsolable.
Not even Pinkie Pie, the Party Pony herself, was able to bring a smile to her face.
Having silently watched Twilight stand there by the mirror, Spike calmly entered the library and walked up beside her. “Twilight...”
Twilight glanced down at the reflection of her assistant in the mirror. “I could've saved them Spike...” she cried. “I could've saved them...”
“There was nothing you could've done. What happened wasn't your fault...”
“How can you say that, Spike?” Twilight sobbed, drying the tears from her eyes. “You know it's my fault!”
“Twilight...”
“Every day I think about what happened that night. And every night I see their faces. How I failed them...”
“Twilight, no...”
“It's already been TWO WEEKS, Spike! Who knows what's happened since we left?! Who knows what damage those sirens have done during that time?” She leaned her forehead hard against the glass, sobbingly gritting her teeth as more tears formed and dripped on the floor.
“Every day I fool myself. Trying to pretend that everything is fine. But in my heart I know it's not! My friends have all tried to comfort me, telling me it's going to be alright. Even Pinkie Pie, bless her heart, has gone through so much just to cheer me up.” she sniffed as Spike now silently listened.
“Even Celestia herself has tried to help me. She keeps telling me that I did my best and that I shouldn't lose hope. But it's hard, Spike! It's really hard to have hope, after everything that has happened! After everything I saw!”
“I know Twilight...” Spike chocked. “I know... I was there.” He placed a claw on her shoulder. “Not a day goes by when I don't think about what happened to our friends...” Tears began to leak from his eyes. “...What happened to...”
“Oh Spike...” Twilight turned away from the mirror quickly embraced him.
“You think you're the only one who's hurting? They were my friends too!” he sobbed. “I would give all my gems, if only to see them again! To go back there and set things right!”
“And we will Spike...” Twilight gently stroke the quills on his head, sporting a faint smile. Probably the first one in two weeks. “...I'm sorry for worrying you so much.”
“I just want you to be happy again!”
“And I will, Spike...” She glanced back at the mirror, now with a determined look in her eyes. “I will, when I get that portal re-opened. And when I do, we'll get there. We'll get there and we'll set thing right!” She hugged him tight.
“We'll get there, Spike!” She narrowed her eyes. “For them!”
Meanwhile, in the Human World...
All was quiet outside the coastal city of Harborville. And many had hoped it would remain as such...
An evacuation was taking place. Civilians hurried along to reach the safety of the hills and soundproof bunkers, while army personnel and mobile tank divisions kept the illusion of control as best they could.
A fleet of battleships surrounded the coast, all ports aimed out at sea with their cannons at the ready.
They were waiting...
The knew that at any moment they would come...
So far, no one had been able to stop them. Not since the country fell into chaos nearly two weeks ago, leaving only a few unaffected territories to fend for themselves.
All eyes were on the radar screens, watching closely for any signs of activity...
BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP!
Three large objects were suddenly spotted approaching from the sea.
Submerged... Heading fast towards the city...
Author's Note
And so we begin with a prologue to, what I hope, will be an epic adventure.
Much is still in the works, so don't expect any fast updates. I'll try and upload as many new chapters as I can.
But for now, savour this opening.
