Equestria, In the Peaceful Town of Ponyville
Ponyville, perhaps the most peaceful town in all of Equestria, home to the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, including Princess Twilight herself. However as of lately, not all has been so peaceful, a curse of some kind has befallen the ponies of Equestria and the lands surrounding it, transforming every last filly, foal, mare, and stallion, into bipedal beings that princess Twilight knows as human beings. Twilight Sparkle and her friends try their best to find a way to break this curse, adapting to using her magic in this form in order to find a counter spell.
Inside Twilight's Castle
Voices filled Twilight's throne room, each one louder than the other, causing the very stressed princess to develop a strong headache. " Please, please, everypony, I need you all to calm down, we're trying to find a way to reverse this, but we can't do it without your support so please-," she was cut off by a sudden outburst by the former ponies who filled the room.
" Can you even refer to us as everpony anymore?!!," Shouted citizen
" Exactly, what are we supposed to call ourselves now that we're these, these things!!," shouted another.
" I just want my life back, I don't want to be one of these things anymore!!!,"another joined in with the shouting, followed by many others.
Twilight pinched the bridge of her nose, trying her best not to lose her composure, but the constant shouting was making this nearly impossible, " Please, everypony, everyone....,". Her voice was once again silenced by the sea of angry and distressed citizens of Ponyville.
Twilight's good friend Applejack stepped up from behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder before looking her in the eyes and giving her a reassuring smile. " ALRIGHT!!!! ALL OF YA!!!! HUSH UP!!!!!!," Applejack's sudden outburst was enough to quiet the room, leaving it completely silent. " Now Ya'll listen, princess Twilight is trying her hardest to fix all this nonsense, but she can't do it if ya'll are constantly breathin down her neck, now hush up, and let her work on fixin this, ya got it!!,".
The collected voices of the citizens gave a mumbled answer before exiting the throne room, leaving only Twilight, her friends, Spike, Twilight's assistant and adopted brother, and three fillies they all knew as the cutie mark crusaders. " Thank you Applejack, but please warn me before you shout again, my head feels like it could split open at any moment," Twilight said as she kept her hand over her forehead.
" Eheheh, sorry about that sugar cube, I just didn't know any other way to get em' to hush up, but it worked didn't it," Applejack replied.
" Yes," Twilight gave a slight nod, " But this has been going on for almost a week now, and we still don't know what has caused this,". To say that the princess of friendship was under the weather was an understatement, she had been under constant heckling from the citizens of Ponyville, and nobles from surrounding areas alike, sleep was one of the many things that had evaded her as she practiced using her magic in her human form, all while trying to calm down the populace. " I'd just like a little rest, but I know that I can't do that, not until I've found a way to fix everything," she rubbed her tired eyes before standing up and walking towards a stack of books that she had off to the side.
" I don't know about you, buuuuuuut, I kinda like being hoooman, I mean I could do all sorts of fun thing as a pony, but now i can do so many more fun things!!!," Pinkie Pie said as she jumped in place, she was always the voice of optimism, even in moments where optimism was nowhere near.
" Pinkie darling, Twilight has already corrected you several times, it's pronounced, human, we are, humans now, well except for my little Spikey wikey," Rarity picked up the little purple dragon, hugging him as if he were a stuffed animal.
Another sigh left Twilight's mouth, " That's another part of this mystery I'd like to solve, of all of us to remain normal, why is Spike the only one, is it because he's a dragon, or something else," Twilight grabbed her head, her headache worsening as she thought it over.
The Outskirts of Ponyville, near the Border of the Everfree Forest
A hooded figure atop a horse stared in the direction of the usually peaceful town, a strange pendant hanging around his neck in the shape of a large eye, " It would seem as though everything is going just as master said it would, and if that is the case, then the portal should be ready to enter, I only hope that those fools inside the town can accomplish their goal while I'm away,". With lash at the horses reigns, the figure was off into the Everfree Forest, followed by a bright flash coming from within the forest, and several screams coming from Ponyville.
The Kingdom of Valla, a World Apart from Equestria
The kingdom of Valla, a prosperous and peaceful kingdom, having only been recently freed from under the tyranny of a being known as the Silent Dragon, Anankos, and rightfully restored to it's former glory. Now under the rule of it's hero and his loving wife, the hero being a proud and brave prince named Axel who took the throne with his wife, Hinoka, both former nobles of the kingdom of Hoshido, now reside as the rulers of Valla, alongside them is their daughter, Kana, and several of their friends who aided them in saving Valla and the rest of the world from Anankos.
Outside in the Castle's Courtyard
It was a beautiful day in Valla, Axel's family from Hoshido was visiting, when they first found out that their brother and sister had fallen in love and married, they were confused and unsure, but soon came to support them, especially after learning that Axel wasn't their blood brother. Axel and Hinoka always enjoyed when their siblings came to visit, being happy to get any time they could with them, what with their elder brother, Ryoma, being Hoshido's newest king, and their other two siblings being busy with other royal affairs.
The five of them sat in the castles courtyard, laughing over a nice meal that had been prepared just for the occasion. They were indulging into a humorous story being told by Axel's younger brother, Takumi, about one of his recent hunts, and how it resulted with a birds nest falling on his head on a manner that made it seem like a hat. " Well brother, I've never seen you as much of an egghead, but now it's hard to not see you like that," Axel joked towards his brother, whose face was turning a deep shade of red.
" Brother please, not in front of the children, the last thing I need is Kiragi telling his mother that I'm an egghead," Takumi replied to his brothers joke, his face still very red.
A loud hearty chuckle left their older brother, " Now now Takumi, Axel was only joking around, besides, I don't think it's right to refer to them as children, they've all fought harder than most soldiers that I've seen in combat," Ryoma stated.
While the five siblings spoke, their children were not too far off, enjoying the sights of the courtyard, Axels daughter Kana played tag with her cousin Kiragi, all while being supervised by Ryoma's son, and their elder cousin Shiro. " Would you two calm down a little, you're both acting like a bunch of little monsters," Shiro said as head held his hand to his forehead, watching his cousins was much harder work than he had anticipated.
However his request for them to calm down fell on deaf ears, as the two chased each other even harder, tagging each other back and forth repeatedly. " Cmon Kiragi, you gotta try harder than that before you can tag a dragon!!," Kana giggled as she ran further into the courtyard in an attempt to evade her cousin.
" Hey Kana that's not fair, we're supposed to stay near our parents!!," Kiraga cried out as he followed her, all while catching Shiro's attention.
" H..heay wait a minute you two!!," Shiro also cried out as he chased after the two, " This isn't funny you two!!,".
Kana kept giggling as she ran away from her cousin, unaware that someone was in front of her, causing her to bump into the tall figure standing before her causing her to fall. " Oww, sorry about that mister I was just-," Kana was cut off by the large hooded figure reaching down and grabbing her.
Shiro managed to catch up and grab Kiragi, and finally catch up with Kana, only to hear her scream and see her being carried off, " Hey!!!," he shouted as he made chased after the figure carrying her. " Put her down right now or you're gonna regret it!!," he shouted as he charged towards the hooded person.
" Actually, it is you who will regret this," the hooded figure held in his other hand an unknown tome, reading out and causing a pillar of fire to shoot up below Shiro's foot, knocking the young prince onto the ground, and allowing the figure to ride back towards the castle.
Axel and his siblings continued to enjoy their afternoon, all of them under the watchful eye of Axel's two close friends, Shura, an ex-criminal and expert marksman, and Silas, Axels childhood friend, and most trusted knight. However, the king of Valla grew silent as he saw both Shiro and Kiragi running towards them in a panic.
" Shiro, what's the matter, and what happened to your clothes, their all burnt up," his father asked him.
" Some creep just took Kana!!!, I tried to stop him but he attacked me with a tome!!," Shiro said in a clear panic.
Hinoka stood up quickly, she was about to rush to grab her pegasus and her naginata, only to be beat to the punch by her husband, " Axel?! where are you going?!,".
" To get the Yato and get our daughter back!!, Shura!! come with me!!," Axel and Shura rushed off to the throne room, where Axel's sacred blade rested. Upon reaching it, Axel's eyes laid on the hooded figure who was holding his daughter, " Kana!!," Axel shouted, he grabbed his blade, and ran towards the figure, " Release my daughter or die fiend!!!!,".
" Papa!!! help me!!," Kana shouted as she flailed in her captors grip, but her attempts at escape were in vain as her kidnapper held her in an iron grip.
" I'll choose the third option, the one where you die," by simply raising the tome upwards, he caused more pillars of fire to rise below Axel's feet, to which the king of Valla swiftly evaded, drawing closer with each dodge. " Grrr, pesky insect, I've played around long enough, I have what I want, and some pretend king will not stop my goal," placing the tome in his cloak, the figure picked the reigns to his steed up, giving a powerful lash causing the horse to take off swiftly.
" KANA!!!!!!!!," Axel shouted as he made chase after the kidnapper, " STOP!!!!!!!!,". His eyes widened as he watched the kidnapper open a portal with his tome, he saw this as the figures means of escape, " NOOOO!!!!!!, " his pleas were cut off as his eyes fell upon his friend Shura making chase from above, " SHURA!!!!! TAKE THE SHOT!!!,".
" Don't worry!!, I got him in my sight," pulling the arrow back in the bow, the aged marksman lined up his shot, " It's you're time to die," and fired, striking the captors right shoulder, causing him to drop the tome. " Damn I missed!!," He jumped down to meet Axel and continuing to chase the hooded figure.
The hooded person looked back in shock to see his tome on the ground behind him as his steed was riding towards the portal he had opened, " Damn them!!,". Unable to go back for it, he rode straight into the portal, which slowly began to close behind him.
" KANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!," Axel shouted even louder as he ran towards the closing portal, Shura by his side as they closed in on it, his eyes falling on the tome on the ground, before turning back and seeing his wife riding towards them on her pegasus, " Hinoka!!!, grab that tome!!, we're going after Kana!!!!,".
" Axel wait!!," She cried out to her husband, only to watch him and Shura run into the same portal as her daughters kidnapper. She stopped at the tome, watching as the portal shut as she picked the book up, " Please be safe...and please, bring our Kana home,".
On the Edge of the Everfree Forest
The two men landed in a heavily forested area, both slightly shaken from the sudden travel they had just made. Axel managed to stand up, he looked down and sighed with relief as he still had his Yato with him, " Shura, Shura! are you there!,".
A loud grunt came from a bush nearby, followed by the aged marksman's voice, " I'm here milord, just a bit, hazy from that, whatever it was that just happened,".
Axel grabbed Shura's hand, helping his friend up, " Where are we, I've never seen trees like these, not even in Norh,".
" I'm not sure, perhaps we're in a deeprealm of some sort," Shura replied, just as curious as his lord and friend.
" I highly doubt that, deeprealms have a different feel to them, lets look for answers, and then find Kana," Axel said as the two men began walking towards the mouth of the forest.
" Yes lord Axel, say, that looks like one of my arrows over there," the archer walked towards a blood covered arrow, laying next to a set of horse tracks. " He definitely came this way, hes injured so maybe there's a chance we can still catch him," Shura stated as he looked at the tracks.
A small smile took place on Axel's face as his friends optimism shone, " You're right Shura, let's hurry,". With a nod the two men hurried out of the forest, and the first thing that caught their attention was a rather colorful town, something that neither had seen in Norh, Hoshido, or even Valla.
" I don't think we're in Valla anymore milord," Shura simply stated.
" I think you're right Shura," Axel agreed, but before he could make a comment of his own, the sound of a scream could be heard coming from the town before them. " Talk can come later, someones in danger," Axel took off towards the town, leaving his friend behind.
" Lord Axel wait!!, why does he always do this," Shura groaned under his breath as he followed his friend towards the sound of distress.
Ponyville, Inside Twilight's Castle, Mere Moments Before Trouble Appeared
Twilight Sparkle had nearly fallen asleep in her throne, not long after Applejack had managed to quell the shouts and cries of the "people" of Ponyville, exhaustion had finally hit the princess after all of her hard work. " I...I just got to stay awake, I have to find a solution...," Twilight mumbled as she fought to stay awake, she kept a tight grasp on the book in her hand, a strange one that she had happened to come across in a book store on her last trip to Manehatton, filled with writings and legends that she had never heard of before. She had been reading the book several times over for the past few nights, hoping that something from it could shine a light on the current predicament. " There has to be a solution....," she mumbled again as she rubbed her eyes in an attempt to keep herself awake.
" Listen Twi," her friend Rainbow Dash started, " You've been at this since this whole thing started, you know more about being a..human, than all of us, why not just take a break, heck, who knows, we might be able to get use to these, bodies or whatever we have now,".
Applejack looked at her formerly cyan colored friend, the expression on her face was a confused one, " Ya know Rainbow, of all the ponies, er I mean, people, I'm surprised you're taken this so lightly, I mean ya can't even fly anymore with yer wings, they just sit there on yer back,".
" That is not true, I can do anything, that includes learning how to fly like this," Rainbow said confidently.
A gentle hand placed itself on Twilight's shoulder, belonging to none other than Fluttershy, possibly the kindest of Twilight's friends, " It's going to be OK Twilight, we could um, try to find a way to help while you rest," her voice as gentle as her touch, and her smile even gentler.
A small smile formed on Twilight's tired face as she gave her soft spoken friend a nod, " Alright Fluttershy, thank you," she stood up out of her throne, gave her friend a hug and went to leave the room. " Can you all do me a favor while I rest, " she started off, catching the attention of everyone in the room, " Please don't push yourself too hard, alright,".
" Ya can count on us sugar cube, now go and catch some Z's, we'll be fine," Applejack replied, followed by a nod from everyone else in the room.
" OK, thank you all," Twilight was just about to leave the room, when suddenly the sounds of screams coming from outside her castle caught her attention, instantly waking her from her tired state, and causing her to run outside to the sound of the distress. " Girls come on somepony, i mean, someone, somebody is in trouble!!," her friends swiftly followed her, them too being concerned by the origins of the screams. Upon getting outside, Twilight was shocked to see the citizens of Ponyville rushing towards her castle in a panic, fear was in their eyes as they fled from what Twilight could only describe as a horde of monsters dawning horrific metal mask, " Oh my Celestia...what are those things!?,".
Twilight's friends joined in on her shock, their eyes as wide as Twilight's, " I have no earthly idea darling...but..but..," Rarity couldn't quite spit out the rest of her sentence due to fear.
" But they have blood on them!," Fluttershy screamed, finishing her friends sentence unknowingly before fainting.
The five members of the mane six who still had consciousness, began to slowly back into the castle, " Twilight, ya gotta help all of em' create a magic barrier, do somethin, we can't just let those things tear them apart," Applejack said in a panic while keeping her sister and her friends from harm.
" I..I'll try to, but I haven't tried making such a large scale barrier in this body," Twilight had hesitance in her voice, not only had she not practiced it, but she doubted that she had enough energy to even hold it up for more than a few minutes. She shook her head quickly, regaining her composure before giving a somewhat confident nod, " Alright, I'll try, here goes nothing!!!," holding her hands out, Twilight began to focus what magic she could into her palms in place of her horn, resulting in her hands glowing slightly with her magical aura. " I need everyone to hurry to the castle!!!!, you'll all be safe there!!!!!," she shouted out to the scared citizens, who had no second thought of taking safety in the castle.
" Are..are you sure you can do this darling, I can help if you would like," Rarity asked her still tired friend, the concern was obvious in her voice.
Replying to her friends request with a small nod, Twilight grabbed Rarity's hand while still keeping her own held forward to channel magic, " Thank you Rarity, maybe our magic combined will be enough to hold this barrier up,". The both of them began focusing greatly, the strain on the both of them was showing easily as they used whatever magic they could to slowly, but sure, build up a barrier around Twilight's castle.
Just Outside of Ponyville
Axel, the noble and brave king of Valla, rushed towards the sound of danger, his blade, the Yato, drawn and in his hand, " Hurry up Shura!!, the screams are getting louder!!,".
" I'm right behind you!," his faithful friend said trailing his lord from not too far behind. " Lord Axel, are you sure we should be doing this, we don't even know where we are!," he asked the king that he had sworn to serve.
" I don't care!!!," Axel replied, " If there's someone in trouble, I'll be there to help them!!!," going from simply running to a full sprint, Axel closed in on the source of the sounds.
" I've never figured it out, how the hell does he run so fast barefooted," Shura mumbled to himself as he followed Axel into the town.
Upon reaching the town, Axel took in the destruction around him, seeing ravaged buildings, bodies here and there, and a sight ahead of him he was all to familiar with. His eyes widened as they laid upon the large green beast who had mask for face, " Faceless?!? Here?! but how!?,". Not thinking twice about the dangers ahead of him, Axel rushed towards the horde of faceless, his blade ready to end each and every one of them, " Begone monsters!!!!," with a mighty yell and a single wide swing, he Yato cut through the masked monsters with ease, easily cutting a path through them like shears to a hedge.
Shura reached the town shortly after his lord did, his bow drawn as he spotted the faceless in front of him, " I guess we're closer to home than we thought," using some of the rubble around, he made his way onto the rooftops of the buildings, gaining an easy vantage point to keep an eye on Axel, and take out any faceless in his sight.
The fearless king made short work of any faceless in his sight, pushing through monstrous horde, nearing what he could only describe as a castle, just as colorful as any other building in this town. " That, must be where the survivors are held up at, if I can just get through them, I should be able to put a stop to these faceless ," the thought raced through his mind as he grew ever so closer to the castle.
He was so focused on reaching the castle however, that he hadn't noticed the large faceless preparing to strike from behind, " Not today," Shura shot two arrows off, both aimed directly at the faceless attempting to strike Axel from behind.
Axel quickly turned around, coming face to face with one of the masked brutes, readying to strike, only to watch it fall as two arrows hit it in the back of the head, " Thank you Shura, that's another one I owe you,". Continuing on through the horde, both Axel and Shura took down as many faceless as they could, always staying on the move to prevent being caught off guard again.
Just Outside of Twilight's Castle
Both Twilight and Rarity were doing their hardest to keep the barrier up, not only was using magic in this form new to both of them, but Twilight didn't have enough strength to keep going for long. " Please darling, you need rest, let me keep these, fiends at bay," Rarity pleaded with his exhausted friend.
" No!!," Twilight exclaimed, " Rarity you and I both know that you can't do this alone, these things are relentless....you wouldn't last a second out here, neither of us would," Rarity could only silently agree with her statement. Sweat ran down Twilight's forehead in beads, she felt as if her body could give out at any moment, " Rarity....just..just get inside the castle with the others, I'll be fine,".
" I won't just leave you here Twilight Sparkle!!," the bearer of the element of generosity refused to leave her friend, even if it meant her life.
" Rarity....," Twilight cringed as the strain became to much, " Please Rarity..I can't, I can't keep up much longer!!!,". But before Rarity could give her response, they were both silenced the sound of a raising voice, and not a scream of fear, the voice was almost like a roar, a fierce cry of battle, "..What..what was that...," Twilight's body gave out right then, dropping to the ground, still barely conscious.
" Twilight!!," Rarity too dropped her focus, tending to her fallen friend before turning her head to the sound of the yell, her eyes widened as the source of the cry came into view, " Sweet Celestia...,".
" Haaaaaa!!!!!!," Axel cried out with ferocity as he cut down several more faceless, and any that he missed while going through, were easily picked off by Shura on the rooftops. " Shura we're here, just one more push!!!," with another mighty cry, Axel began swinging his blade faster, his usual determination had filled him entirely.
Twilight opened her eyes slightly to see the dark haired young man cutting through the horde of beast, " Who.....who is that...,".
" I'm not sure darling, but whoever he is he-," Rarity cut herself off upon seeing one of the monsters rushing right for her and Twilight, " No!!, I won't let you hurt Twilight!!," Rarity hugged her friend close, acting as a human shield, screaming right as it's massive fist came down on top of her, but such a thing never happened. She opened her eyes to see the beast on the ground, an arrow sticking out of it's mask, then laying her eyes on the one responsible for shooting the arrow, an aged man with black and white hair, " My word,".
Axel's movements with the Yato were as graceful as they were skillful, the barefooted warrior rushed back and forth, making sure not a single faceless even got close to the two girls. " What are the two of you waiting for, get to safety already!!," but before the two could reply, the faceless began to retreat.
A dumbfounded look was on Shura's face as he watched the masked brutes leave the town, " What, their just giving up?".
" This is strange, I've never seen them act like this before," Axel replied to his archer friend. He put his Yato away before turning to the two women on the ground before him, to which he held his hand out to them, " It's alright, take my hand,".
Rarity hesitantly took the strangers hand, using it to help both her and Twilight off the ground, " Th..th..thank you, bu..but, who are you..?," her voice still shaky from ordeal she had just experienced.
The young man looked at both of them, the crown atop Twilight's head caught his attention, but rather than give a question of his own, Axel decided to answer theirs, being as kind as ever while speaking, " Hello there, I am Axel, king of Valla," he said, giving a slight bow to go along with his words.
