Prologue 1
Arrival
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SCREE-CRACK! With a devestating noise, a building fell cleanly in half. A dragon scowled at the remains of the skyscraper, trying to find his foe among the dust and debris. A moment later, a spot of black shot up and landed on the dragon's snout. A boy who looked around 19, with brown hair, pale olive skin and crimson eyes, wearing a black trench coat with a purple shirt and blue jeans underneath, chuckled and wagged a finger at the dragon.
"Naughty boy," he said. "Didn't your mother ever teach you to respect others' property?" The dragon roared in response and flung the boy of his nose. The young man flipped once and landed gracefully in mid air, apparently standing on nothing.
"Well, I guess it's right down to business as usual. Ugh, boring." The young man's face grew serious and he pulled his right hand back behind him. It flashed orange, then blue, then purple and he threw his arm forward. A massive shadow hand appeared around the dragon, crushing it's wings and lifting it into the air. The boy raised his hand and the shadow mimiced his movements perfectly. He nodded, then threw the dragon high into the atmosphere. It took a good three seconds to right itself, but by then it was far too late. The boy drew a circle in the air with his finger, leaving a trail of black behind it. When the circle was completed, it shined a menacing red.
"Chaos Star, Light!" The young man shouted. With a roar like a powerful hurricane, a single beam of black light shot into the sky, cleaving the dragon in two. The giant lizard gave a weak roar and exploded into a shower of yellow energy. Sighing, the boy turned and flew back to the ground, where he was immediately rushed by a large group of people.
"Yeah, Trace!"
"WOOO! I LOVE YOU MAN!"
"That was so awesome! Daddy, get closer!"
A sea of joyful citizens swarmed around Trace as he tried to wade his way off the street. He waved happily, but began to scowl as he realized he had stopped moving. With a shrug, he went to snap his fingers. With a small ping, he began to teleport... and tripped on a bike that had been laying in the road. Distracted, Trace lost his focus and the spell went haywire.
'Oh boy,' thought Trace. 'Here we go.' The squishy, colorless ooze that filled the space between dimensions flowed past the boy as it had a thousand times before. After a moment, the colors parted and Trace was spit out of the portal at a ridiculous speed. With no time to prepare, he braced himself for the coming impact...
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"Delicious!" Declared a marshmallow white unicorn, who had just taken a sip of tea. "This is by far the most invigorating tea I've had, Princess!"
"I'm glad you think so, Miss Rarity," said a much taller alabaster Alicorn. "Sweet Leaf will be overjoyed to hear you like it." An equally tall and elegant dark blue Alicorn landed next to her sister. A lavender unicorn jumped off her back and sat down on the other side of the Princess of the Sun, looking a little windswept but otherwise happy.
"Thanks for inviting us here today, Princesses," she said breathlessly.
"It was our pleasure, Twilight Sparkle," Luna said. "I take you enjoyed the ride?" The unicorn nodded vigorously.
"I had never imagined that flying was that... exhilerating!" Twilight giggled.
"I'm so glad you are enjoying yourselves, girls. I'm still not sure how Pinkamenia found a way to squeeze so much free time out of our busy schedules to have this evening..." Celestia said thoughtfully. Said pink ball of energy appeared behind the Sun Princesses flowing mane.
"There's always time for a party, silly! I just had to ask my friends to give you the day off!" Pinkie said happily.
"Just how many ponies do y'all know 'round 'ere, sugarcube?" Applejack chimed in, joining the group on the hill. "How many friends does one pony need?" Pinkie trotted over and poked the orange farm pony on the nose.
"Haha, that's a good one Applejack!" She replied. "You can never have too many friends!"
"Speaking of friends, where are Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. She was greeted with a series of shrugs and shaking heads. She sighed and was about to set about looking for the pegasi when a rainbow blur dashed into the garden and screeched to a halt in front of the group.
"Ha! Ten seconds flat, just like I said!" The cyan pegasus celebrated, her normally wild rainbow mane even more unstyled than usual. A few moments later, a meek cream-yellow pegasus walked in through the gate.
"That was amazing Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy 'shouted', which came out as an elevated whisper. "I could just... yay!" the pegasus raised a hoof, then made her way over to the others, who had all begun to nibble on a platter of pastries.
When the winged ponies joined them in relaxing, Twilight let out a contented sigh.
"This has been the best day ever," she said confidently. She looked up Celestia with a smile, which slowly became a confused scowl.
"What's the matter, my little pony?" the Princess asked, looking up into the sky behind her head. Nothing seemed out of place...
"I can't identify that star," she said simply, pointing to a small purple light that pulsed slowly. "Did you just add that, Princess Luna?" The dark Alicorn shook her head and began to reply when a high pitched whine met their ears. The star pulsed faster and grew in size. After a moment, there was a shockwave that knocked all the ponies off their feet, followed by a heavy wind.
"Stay behind me, girls!" Celestia cried, quickly erecting a barrier in front of the six fillies, her sister and herself. The wind and noise intensified and a void appeared in the center of the pulsing star. Faster than Rainbow dash could say "20% cooler", something shot out of the mouth of the void. It streaked across the sky and smashed into the hill. Large cracks appeared in Princess Celestia's shield, but it held. As quickly as it had come, the void and the purple star were suddenly gone. The wind died down and the noise stopped. As the debris cleared away, the ponies beheld a strange sight: some sort of mutant diamond dog, wearing a long coat. As one, the group made their way forward. When the dust had completely cleared, the thing stood up, and the group jumped back, all except for Celestia.
Trace stood and rubbed his head, which like many of his body parts was bleeding. He was woozy, losing blood fast and void-sick. He turned to see eight multicolored horses staring at him in surprise.
"Multicolored horses... who can manage to look surprised... and they have wings and horns... it's Indianna all over again." That said, the boy lost conciousness and fell over. The last thing he saw was a blurry lavender shape running towards him.
Prologue 2: Unexpected company
Prologue 2
Unexpected Company
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"Ugh... sweet mistress of the Land, what did I drink last night?" Trace moaned. It felt as if there was a small goblin jabbing his head with a large stick. After a few more annoying throbs of pain, the boy realized he was actually being poked in the forehead. Now that he focused on it, there was sound to go along with the feeling. How convenient!
"Helloooooo?" came a sing-song voice.
"Anypony in there?" it asked.
"No," said Trace with a huff, wrenching his covers over as he turned his face into the pillow. Wait, covers? Wait, pillow? What? What?!
"WHAT?!" Trace shouted as he flew into the air in shock. He stayed there for a moment, then crashed to the white tiled floor. After he scrambled free of the blanket, he took a deep breath and looked around, checking off his mental list.
All body parts accounted for? Check.
All body parts functioning? Check.
All clothes in tact? Not check.
Standing naked in a room full of colorful ponies, all of whom look incredibly embarassed? Check.
...
Emotions in tact, specifically embarassment? Big old CHECKEROO.
Trace's face flushed red as his mind finally realized that he had been stripped naked and was now clad only in his innocence in front of a crowd of what he assumed were a sentient species of miniature horses.
"Um..." he managed to stutter. "Where are my clothes?" A white pony with a red mane and a large needle tattooed on her butt stepped forward.
"We had to remove them to get at most of the more severe cuts, but every time we tried to get close we were shocked with electricity. After we took your clothes off the effect only got worse, so no one tried to put them back on." Trace nodded.
"That would be my little 'security system'. A personal creation of mine called the MagneSphere," he explained. "You're just lucky you hadn't charged at me. The faster you're going, the harder you are repelled." The pony shivered, but managed a smile.
"I'll just leave you to the Princesses then," she said very quickly. "Tata!" With a slight gust of wind, she was already out the door. At his confused look, the tallest pony in the room, an alabaster one with a multi-colored pastel mane as well as both wings and a horn stepped forward.
"You'll have to forgive Ms. Smile," she said, her voice kind and yet firm. It wasn't hard for Trace to see that she was a ruling class pony. "She isn't used to seeing... whatever you are." She gave a small smile. "But I've been remiss, I've forgotten to introduce us to our guest."
The Princess stepped back and began to point down the line of ponies assembled at the edge of the room.
"This is Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and my sister, Princess Luna. I am Princess Celestia, ruler of this land. Now, may I ask, who are you?" Trace, who up until now had been dutifully remembering names, jumped slightly as he was addressed. After a moment, he answered with a flourish.
"Who am I?" he replied. "Who am I? Why I'm just greatest Lord of Chaos ever! The name is Trace Legend, madam. Glad to be of service." He finished with a low bow, which conveniently prevented him from seeing the look of utter disbelief on Celestia's face.
"D-did you say... chaos?" she stuttered quietly. Trace shot upright and nodded vigorously.
"I take it that, despite your Princess titles, you two are the ruling pair here in... wherever we are?" Celestia nodded slowly, fear creeping into her eyes. The Lord of Chaos, in whatever form he may be, was only ever after one thing: ruling Equestria. She cringed slightly, waiting for him to challenge her for the throne as he had before, fearing the battle that surely lay ahead. She looked to Luna, who was now gazing fearfully at the creature as well. Noticing her gaze, she gave her sister a subtle nod, assurring her that she would stand by her side if she had to. She prepared to hear those fatal words as the thing leaned towards her, a mischievous smile on its face and... bowed again?
"Well then, I shall offer my services to you, Princesses Celestia and Luna." Celestia shot Luna a look of utter confusion that her sister returned.
"... Beg pardon?" she asked. The creature straightened itself again and gave a small smile.
"Well as the Lord of Chaos, I have a set of rules that I follow. I made them up, but that just means I should follow them even more, right? Anway, rule 23 states that, in the event I find myself in a strange land with no idea how I got here, I am to find the ruling species and offer myself in the defense of their kingdom to the designated ruler. In this case, you and your sister." Trace took a breath and continued. "I am to help with any altercations, battles or chess tournaments that I should find myself in the middle of and put a stop to them immediately, unless of course the chess tournament is on it's semi-finals. No point getting involved after that, am I right?" The room was utterly silent once again.
After a few moments too long of strained silence, Celestia moved. She lifted a hoof and said "Lulu, take Twilight and her friends to the train station, then wait for me in the throne room." Luna nodded slightly and the seven ponies shuffled out, still looking confused and bashful, as the creature called Trace had forgotten that he was entirely naked. When everypony had left, Celestia beckoned to Trace.
"You are going to come with me, Trace Legend. I have something to show you." Trace held up a hand.
"We aren't going anywhere yet," he said. Celestia's eyes grew wide again. Had he just tricked her into being alone so he could take her out?! "I'm still... well I want my clothes back." Celestia rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. She had been so focused on his face that she had forgotten... she allowed a single spark to escape her horn and the closet in the corner of the room opened gently. Inside were Trace's belongings. She walked outside as he squeaked with delight and began to put his clothes on. Only a moment later, he was outside and they began their trek down what was clearly a hospital corridor.
"So..." Trace began, "was that magic you used earlier?" The question caught Celestia slightly off guard.
"What of it?" she asked as neutrally as possible.
"Well, where I come from, there are very few who have access to magic anymore. It's an old concept, and has been almost entirely replaced by technology. Why, if it weren't for me and... well if it weren't for me, everyone would probably think it was a myth!" A note of sadness crept into his voice, but was banished as he laughed a moment later. The Sun Princess noticed this, but said nothing.
"In that case, yes magic is commonplace here. Each type of pony has their own unique brand: the unicorns with their ability to manipulate reality, the pegasi with their command of the weather, and the earth ponies, who's nature magic generates our crops each year." Trace nodded, taking it all in.
"But enough about us, what are you? And a better question would be, how did you get here?" At this Trace rolled his eyes.
"Well, I'm what's called a supernatural, but my species name is Human. There's a fancier word for it but most just say Human. And as to how I got here, well... it was entirely by accident. It's kinda embarassing to talk about, and I've been embarassed enough for one day." Celestia sighed inwardly, but allowed the human his privacy.
"So when will you be well enough to return to your homeland?" The Princess continued. They were out of the hospital now, walking through the busy streets of a city. A sign by the exit said 'Thank you for choosing Canterlot Hospital for your emergency needs. Stop by again, any time!' Ponies up and down the street were stopping to stare at the odd pair: a hairless Diamond Dog and Princess Celestia, apparently talking with civility.
"Never," came his short reply. The Alicorn stopped in her tracks, causing Trace to do the same.
"What do you mean, never?" she asked. The human shrugged. He continued as they began to walk again.
"I mean never, Princess. Gathering the energy necessary is no problem. In fact, I could probably pull off several more teleportations through to the next dimension before I really felt the energy drain." Celestia rolled her eyes at this. Clearly the human was exaggerating, nopony was that powerful. "The problem is that I don't know which direction my dimension is in, so I'd end up hopping from world to world with no destination. And even for something driven by chaos, that's a dangerous task." Despite herself, the Princess found that she believed everything Trace had said. Perhaps it was the honesty and bluntness in his words. Perhaps it was that slight hint of sadness that had snuck it's way into his eyes again. Either way, Celestia felt for the young being. He was so far from home, she was surprised he was taking it this well.
After a few minutes of walking in silence, they reached the gates of a large palace. It's gleaming white spires shot high into the clouds and cast a shadow on the mountain they were attached to. Everywhere Trace looked, ivory spires shined back at him in the morning light. Celestia stepped through the gates as she opened them with another spark from her horn.
"Welcome to Canterlot Castle, Trace Legend," smirking when she noted the shocked look on the human's face. He walked forward, still gawking at the towers. After a minute or two, his attention returned to the ground, where he noticed Celestia waiting for him, trying and failing to contain a snicker at his obvious love for the architecture.
"Well?" she asked.
"It's beautiful," he said simply. She smiled and led the awestruck Trace onward towards the front doors. Once inside, they made their way to the throne room. The Princess threw the doors open, greeted Luna with a smile when she saw her sister had already arrived, and sat on her throne. She was about to speak when a guard rushed into the room as though all of Tartarus was on his tail. He slid to a stop before the throne, tetering on one hoof before falling on his face. Standing, he looked to the throne with worry and shame in his eyes.
"Princesses!" he cried, bowing hastily. "There's a problem!" Celestia leaned forward, suddenly businesslike.
"What would that be, Lieutenant Wall?" she asked, her even voice concealing her growing dread.
"It's coming straight for us Your Majesty! It's taller than the city walls and even Shining Armor's shield couldn't hold it back!" A monstrous roar sounded close by. "There's a dragon in the castle gardens!"
Prologue 3
Revelations
A/N: WARNING: MASSIVE CHARACTER EXPOSITION. IF YOU PREFER TO NOT BE AWESOME AND KNOW THINGS ABOUT TRACE'S PAST, WALK AWAY NOW. On a side note, this is the final "introductory" chapter. After this, we get into the story proper and I can set up some freakin plot. Now, on to the story!
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"Did you say... dragon?" Celestia said slowly, her eye twitching almost imperceptibly. Lieutenant Iron Wall, normally a very stoic earth pony, quaked in his chain mail boots as he nodded in reply. Outside, there was another roar and a scream as the dragon thrashed around in the gardens below.
"Very well then. Evacuate the upper class housing and get every pony on duty in the gardens. We need to subdue the beast quickly if we wish to minimize casualties." Iron Wall saluted and, still shaking slightly, ran to give the guards their orders. The Sun Princess turned to her sister.
"Luna, please take Trace to your room and activate the safety measures. You still aren't strong enough after coming back from your punishment and I don't want you getting hurt." Luna nodded, then looked around, confused.
"One problem, sister," the Night Princess replied. "Trace left the moment he heard the word dragon." Celestia's eyes flew wide and she spun around, taking in the throne room. Trace was indeed nowhere to be found. She shook with fear. He would be killed! The dragon outside sounded positively ancient, and a dragon's strength only grew with age. Surely he didn't think that his short life-span had given him the knowledge required to outwit such a foe?
"Find him!" she cried. "I will not have anypony or anybody die on my watch, in my castle!" She spun, fury pouring off her in the form of heavenly fire. She galloped down the hall, and out onto the balcony at the end of the throne room. Snapping her wings open, she took to the sky in a graceful arc that put her eye level with the mountain of scales terrorizing the guards. Luna, quivering from seeing the rage in her sister's eyes, tore off deeper into the castle in search of the human.
Celestia took in the dragon with surprise. Its body reached nearly halfway up the castle walls, its neck arched so that it could take in the group of guards that was attacking it. Spears and magical barrages bounced harmlessly off his scales and he chuckled, a deep rumbling that shook the gardens. Switching to the Royal Canterlot voice, Celestia addressed the dragon.
"DRAGON, I AM CELESTIA, THE WELLSPRING OF THE LIGHT WORLD, SERPENT BANE, QUEEN WHO WOULD BE PRINCESS, M'SUL-KET-OM, AND OATHTAKER OF THE SEVENTH HOLD. ON WHAT GROUNDS TO YOU APPROACH MY CASTLE AND HARASS MY GUARDS?" The dragon turned to her calmly, one heavy lidded eye focusing on her intently.
"CELESTIA, THE WELLSPRING OF THE LIGHT WORLD, SERPENT BANE, QUEEN WHO WOULD BE PRINCESS, M'SUL-KET-OM, AND OATHTAKER OF THE SEVENTH HOLD, I GREET YOU," the lizard began. His voice being naturally powerful, he nearly outshouted the Princess by merely speaking. "I, SOKKUN THE EVERLASTING, SOOTHSAYER OF THE ANCIENTS, MASTER WYRM OF THE HIGH COUNCIL AND THIRD CHILD OF THE DARK WORLD, COME SEEKING AUDIENCE WITH THE ANCIENT. I HAVE BEEN STIRRED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN CENTURIES BY ITS POWER, AND WISH TO RECEIVE MY OLD ALLY INTO THIS WORLD." Celestia's eyebrows lowered. Who was this Ancient he spoke of?
"SOKKUN THE EVERLASTING, SOOTHSAYER OF THE ANCIENTS, MASTER WYRM OF THE HIGH COUNCIL AND THIRD CHILD OF THE DARK WORLD, I GREET YOU. NOW, YOU SAY YOU ARE HERE TO VISIT THIS ANCIENT. WHO ARE THEY, AND WHY DO YOU NOT SPEAK THEIR HONORIFICS? SURELY YOUR SLUMBER HAS NOT LEFT YOU BEREFT OF MANNERS?" Sokkun snorted angrily, blowing several guards off their feet.
"YOU WOULD BE CAREFUL TO WORD YOUR QUESTIONS MORE CAREFULLY, SERPENT BANE. I SPEAK NOT HIS HONORIFICS FOR THEY ARE NUMEROUS AND IT WOULD BE REDUNDANT TO SPEAK THEM. HIS IS THE TITLE DEATH'S BANE, THE TRUE IMMORTAL, STARGLORY AND STARFURY, ANCIENT OF THE DARK, AND FIRST CHILD OF THE DARK WORLD. HIS HONOR WOULD BE MARRED IF I SPOKE THOSE TRULY, WHICH STAND TO NUMBER AS MERELY A FRACTION OF HIS TRUE NAME." Celestia's eyebrows soared back into her mane. Who was this ancient power that commanded so many titles that the most long-winded of species, the dragons, found it tiresome to speak his honors? Her surprise turned to fear when she heard a polite cough from below. Trace stood at Sokkun's feet, his arms folded patiently and the Lunar Princess dangling helplessly from his neck. After pulling on him once more, she gave up and flew to her sister, apologizing profusely.
"Tia, we are so sorry! The human has much hidden strength!" Celestia stopped her with a hoof, instead focusing on Trace.
"Trace Legend!" she cried. "Run away! This is Sokkun, one of the first dragons ever born! He would crush you beneath him, do not try to fight!" Trace didn't even turn to her as Sokkun lowered himself to the puny human. She began to rush forward as the dragon opened his mouth, boulder sized canines flashing in the sun, and... laughed?
"GWAHAHAHAHA!" Sokkun barked. "ANCIENT, IS THAT TRULY YOU?" he asked incredulously. Luna and Celestia's jaws dropped so low they appeared to have become dislocated. Trace turned to her, looking up with pity on the poor confused Princesses.
"I'm sorry Princesses, I would have explained earlier, but I feared the reprecussions of revealing myself so soon after arriving in your care. I wasn't aware that this was the Light World. Now, if you would be so kind as to back up a bit?" Still utterly lost, the rulers of Equestria flew backwards a few feet. Trace closed his eyes for a moment, then they snapped open, flowing with purple energy. There was a rush of wind, and suddenly storm clouds formed above the gardens. A whirwild spiraled down and struck Trace, causing a resounding boom that shook the castle itself. The vortex crackled with energy and a large shape loomed within it. Just as suddenly as it arrived, the storm dissipated, leaving the most massive dragon Celestia had ever seen sitting in its midst.
It was the size of a small mountain. The dragon's scales were a deep, almost soothing lavender with stripes of black extending from its tail to its shoulder blades, where a truly massive set of wings sat delicately furled against its back. Deep crimson eyes stared lazily out from its snout as it appraised Sokkun. The black dragon unfurled his wings and placed them on the ground before Trace with his claws turned up, a sign of subservience to a greater dragon. Celestia couldn't take it anymore. Her wings simply stopped moving and she sat down on thin air, her surprise tangible. Luna was in a similar situation, her eyes darting between the two behemoths. Finally, the dragon that was Trace spoke, its voice so deep that it was felt more than heard.
"SOKKUN THE EVERLASTING, SOOTHSAYER OF THE ANCIENTS, MASTER WYRM OF THE HIGH COUNCIL AND THIRD CHILD OF THE DARK WORLD, I GREET YOU. I HEARD THAT YOU HAVE COME SEEKING ME?" Sokkun nodded eagerly, like a colt who had been asked if he wanted a piece of cotton candy. Trace's muzzle lifted into a smile.
"WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" he asked. "GIVE YOUR GRANDFATHER A HUG!" Sokkun rushed forward and embraced Trace. Celestia and Luna, as well as the guards and the garden staff fainted dead away, the sight of two ancient dragons hugging being the final straw.
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When Celestia finally came to, it was night. She shook her head, then stood to find herself alone in the throne room. Almost.
"I'm sorry for the surprise, Princess," Trace said as he appeared from behind a pillar, back in human form. "As I said before, I would have explained earlier, but I wasn't aware that I was... well, home."
"And what exactly does that mean, Trace Legend?" The Sun Princess said, quite calm despite the previous situation. "I dare not call you human anymore. What are you, Ancient?" Trace sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"It would be easier if I explained this to everypony at once. Would you mind terribly if I asked you to fetch your sister, as well as those mares who saw me? Clearly they were important or they wouldn't have garnered your attention, so I'd like them to know as well." Every bone in Celestia's ancient body wanted to deny his request and send him away. He had proven himself untrustworthy and had practically lied about who he was! However, the Princess couldn't help but be curious. It's not every day that you see a creature of unknown origin transform into the mightiest dragon the two Worlds had ever seen.
"As you wish, Ancient." She bowed her head and summoned a spark of magic, which teleported a set of scrolls in front of her. Setting about with a quill she called up with a second spark, she began writing a brief summary of the events of the day and a summons to her faithful student.
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"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER LIBRARY ORGANIZERS! YAY!" cried the three familiar fillies.
Twilight Sparkle sighed deeply, burying her head deeper in her book, Starswirl's "A brief guide to eleventh plane magical fluctuations, volume 6." When Rarity and Rainbow Dash had said they wanted to spend the night, she had assumed they had another sleepover planned. However, Scootaloo had crashed while practicing flying with the rainbow maned pegasus and Dash of course felt terrible, deciding to make it up to her by bringing her along. Then Applejack had stopped by with Apple Bloom, who after seeing Scootaloo was injured, demanded she be allowed to stay the night to care for her fellow crusader. After some bribery by the Element of Honesty, Apple Bloom was allowed to stay and Twilight was three apple ciders richer.
That was when Rarity and Fluttershy had shown up with Sweetie Belle, who had been dropped off at the spa to tag along with her older sister as their parents took a cruise up to the Griffin Territories. Rarity, though she loathed having to bring her sister, had settled in quite nicely, acting as though she had told Twilight that the CMC would be coming the whole time. Fluttershy of course sat meekly in the corner, apologizing meekly and trying to stop the crusaders from destroying absolutely everything. Somewhere along the line, Pinkie Pie had shown up, claiming that it just wasn't a party without her, after which she promptly blasted Twilight with her party cannon. Spike had laughed.
So now, sitting in the midst of a sea of multicolored streamers, torn book pages and snapped quills, Celestia's prized pupil took little notice of the six identical letters that appeared with a belch from the baby dragon in the entry hall until one addressed to her landed on her head. As she read, her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. Without a word, she looked up from her letter to see similar looks on all her friends faces, save for Pinkie, who was giggling for some reason.
Still unable to speak, the 6 mares gathered in the center of the room, followed by the three curious fillies and Spike. After a moment, there was a brilliant flash of pale sunlight, and the 9 ponies and baby dragon vanished into thin air, leaving only the wind to rustle the torn pages on the library floor.
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Celestia raised her head again after the spell was completed. Sitting in a circle before the throne room were nine ponies and a dragon. A minute or so later, the Princess of the Night walked in, still a little unsteady on her feet after fainting.
"I'm sorry to have called you all here so late," The Sun Princess began. "However, as you read in the letters I sent you, our friend Trace here has some explaining to do." She looked to the being standing beside her. "If you would be so kind?" He nodded solemnly, then took a few steps forward and away from the throne.
"Where to begin but at the beginning?" he said. "I remember my birth. Not to say it was a conventional birth mind you, I was created out of the Chaos of the Dark World around the same time Harmony was being created here in the Light World. In those days, I was in dragon form all the time. I didn't want to break it to you like this, but this form is actually an illusion. That is beside the point however. Harmony and I met one day as I was exploring the Dark World. Mind you, at the time the Dark World consisted of blackened flat planes and volcanoes, while the Light World was lush grass and mountains." Trace was interrupted when Twilight Sparkle's hoof shot up.
"Um, Princesses?" she began. "Not to be rude but... what is the Dark World?" Trace looked at her in confusion, then his eyes settled on the sisters.
"You have not taught your citizens of my home?" he asked, irritation creeping into his voice. "I put a lot of work into that place, Celestia." Luna, Twilight and the others scowled at such informality towards the Princess of the Sun, but she seemed to brush it off well enough.
"Of course I never mentioned the Dark World, Ancient," she replied. "Save for you, myself and Luna, Discord, Sokkun and the Council, no one knows where the World Gate is any more." The ancient human's eyebrows raised in surprise.
"How can the World Gate be lost?" he asked incredulously. "It's a four hundred foot tall purple glowing obelisk!"
"Equestria has shifted away from the Lands of Change over time, Ancient. We are actually in what you called Harmony's Teeth, the original mountains of the Light World." Trace looked thoughtful for a moment.
"That would explain why I couldn't seem to find any Mimics." Twilight looked as though she was about to explode.
"What is your question, my little pony?" the Princess asked. Twilight's eyes lit up.
"What is the World Gate? Why do you keep calling him Ancient? What are the Lands of Change? What is a Mimic? How-" Luna held up a hoof.
"Hold for a moment, Twilight Sparkle, lest we forget what thy questions are." Twilight stopped, looking sheepish but incredibly curious. Celestia looked to Trace, who shrugged.
"Alright, but we're getting off track here. I'll answer those questions, but then we're getting back to the story. First off, the World Gate. It has been there as long as the two Worlds that inhabit this dimension have existed. You see, Equestria is only one of the places that exist here. And while your nation overflows with life and greenery, the other side does not. It is a blackened land of fire and lava. The sky is blotted out by the endless streams of smoke pouring from the volcanoes and the snouts of various sleeping dragons. There is little to no vegetation, save for on the outskirts of the land, and around the area where the World Gate resides. There is no proper way to explain what it looks like, but the mechanism itself is an ancient stone tower, carved and covered in runes. The Grand Door that is created where the Gate is activated can take you to the other side of the coin, so to speak. That is the original land of the dragons, the Dark World." Spike stepped up and tugged on Trace's pant legs. When he saw the baby dragon, his eyes lit up so brightly they nearly shined with their own light.
"A hatchling!" he cried happily. "What can I do for you, little Skrllblekr?" Spike raised an eyebrow.
"That hatchling was raised here, Ancient," Luna quipped. "He doesn't know any Draconic."
"Oh..." Trace said in realization. He turned back to Spike. "Skrllblekr is our races name for children. It means 'one who is learning.'"
"Okay," Spike said indifferently. "But what I want to know is, how do you know all these things about dragons. I don't see any scales on you, and you definitely couldn't breathe fire with that mouth." Trace looked over to the Princesses. They shrugged simultaneously and urged him on. Sighing, Trace began to head for the door.
"Come with me everypony," he said waving behind him. "We need to go to the gardens."
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EPIC TRANSITIONS
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"Is everyone settled?" Trace asked. There was a murmur of affirmatives as the ponies sat down on the opposite side of the stretch of flattened plant life.
"Good. Now, Twilight this will also technically explain why your Princess calls me Ancient. Remain calm, and know that I will do none of you any harm." The ponies, save for the royal sisters, looked at each other in confusion. Before he could second guess himself, Trace transformed and stood before them in all his scaly wonder. Ten jaws hit the ground. Spike was the first one to react.
"Cool..." he said breathlessly.
"I'll say!" Rainbow Dash cried. "This is totally super awesome! I mean look at him, he's huge!" Trace grinned, which looked extremely disturbing in the half light of the moon.
"I AM THE ORIGINAL DRAGON, GIVEN NO NAME EXCEPT THAT WHICH I WAS BORN FROM, CHAOS." Trace shrunk back down to human form.
"My children, the other dragons, call me Ancient because that's what I am: just a really old member of the family." Spike still had stars in his eyes.
"How did you get so big?" he asked simply.
"I was born that way," was Trace's reply. "I can shrink myself to fit through doors and such, but no dragon ever grows naturally except when consumed by greed." Spike's face fell.
"So I'm going to be stuck this small for the rest of my life?!" he cried angrily.
"Not so much," Trace said.
"What do you mean?" wept the tiny dragon. "You just said we don't grow naturally..."
"Indeed we don't, Skrllblekr. You need to be given your growth by an elder dragon when you have been deemed worthy." Spike wiped his eyes.
"Really? How do I prove I'm worthy?"
"By performing a feat that could be considered extraordinary for a dragon of your size." Twilight's eyes sparkled mischievously.
"Would that include, say, standing up to a group of much older dragons in order to save a baby phoenix?" she asked nonchalantly.
"Oh absolutely!" Trace replied. "Are you telling me that this hatchling stood off against his elders and survived?" The mare nodded happily and Spike silently thanked her with all his heart.
"Well then, we can perform the ceremony right away!" Trace transformed again, only this time he remained the same height as his human form.
"Ah, this is more like it. Being scaly and still being able to look ponies in the eye has it's advantages." He looked down at the baby dragon before him. "Rise Spike, Honorless One." Spike raised an eyebrow, but walked up to the Ancient.
"By the Chaos that birthed me, the fire that tested me and by your deeds, you have been deemed worthy of greglsr. I bestow upon you the next of your bodies, and two Honors." Inhaling deeply, Trace breathed a storm of grey fire onto the baby dragon. Twilight began to run forward but was stopped by Celestia.
"This is what is supposed to happen, Twilight," she said calmly. The mare looked over the Princess' hoof, worry still plastered on her face. After a few agonizing seconds, Trace let up on the colorless flame. From the charred grass rose the body of a teenage dragon with purple scales. He was now as tall as Trace, his tail was a good four feet long and his green spikes had sharpened considerably. On his back, a pair of fully functioning wings sat furled up.
"Now is gone from us Spike the Honorless. In the grey fires of gregslr, you were stripped of life, and given it again. Now today is born Spike the Young, Third Blessed of the Ancient, Child of Two Worlds. I greet you." Spike looked at his new body in utter disbelief, which was slowly replaced with joy when he noticed he now had wings. He extended them, testing their dexterity and finding that they were more flexible than they looked. He let out a whoop of joy and jumped into the sky. He flapped once, twice, three times, then dropped back to the garden, making a small crater as he landed with a bang.
"This is so awesome!" he cried, still looking at all his new features.
"It is indeed, young one," Trace replied. "And being blessed by me, the father of all dragons, has some extra 'perks'." Spike looked up, surprise once again written in his features.
"You are now much stronger and faster than other dragons your size. You can also speak to me at any time with your mind, shrink back to any other size you prefer, and use Chaos magic on demand." Spike let out another whoop and danced on the spot. Trace watched him, a fatherly smile on his face, then turned back to the mares.
"You've witnessed something amazing today, little ones," the Ancient said. "Only Harmony and your Princesses have ever seen a dragon's rebirth ceremony."
"As interesting as that all was," Luna piped up again. "Perhaps you could return to your previous story?" Trace nodded.
"Yes I did get a little side tracked didn't I?" he said simply. "Alright, continuing from where I left off... right, the Lands of Change are next. That is the place where the World Gate resides, and also the first place I met Harmony. You see, I had discovered the World Gate long before she had, but I didn't know how to activate it yet. It was surrounded by greenery all the time, and despite my best efforts to burn or at least singe away some of the flora present there, my strongest fire would have no effect. Meanwhile, on this side of the Gate, Harmony was perplexed by the perpetual desert that surrounded her version of the Gate. It turned out that, due to the nature of the World Gate, whatever I tried to do to my side effected hers and vice versa. It was through these occurrences that we discovered how to travel between the two sides. We gave the lands the name Change not long after, simply because it seemed appropriate at the time." Trace took a breath before continuing.
"As for your last question, Mimics were the beings who inhabited the Changelands. They could take the form of any creature or plant, and fed off of the emotions that were directed towards them." Twilight's eyes widened, and Rarity swayed on her feet, looking faint.
"Changelings existed back then too?" she asked the royal sisters. Celestia nodded.
"They weren't always so evil though, my little pony. I think their recent 'attack' was an act of desperation. They are a dying race, Twilight Sparkle." Suddenly Twilight felt terrible for hurting all those changelings.
"As I was saying, the Mimics of the Changelands were led by my and Harmony's firstborn, a Mimic Queen by the name of Chrysalis." Everyone stopped, their jaws hanging open again. A dragon and a pony? Having kids?! That wasn't possible! Seeing the looks he received, he decided to elaborate.
"Oh, she wasn't truly our child. We created her as Harmony had created the ponies and I the dragons, except that Chrysalis and her brood were made of both Chaos and Harmony." A collective sigh went out in the garden.
"So what does the Dark World look like?" Fluttershy asked, prompting raised eyebrows from everyone. "Um, if you don't mind me asking..." Trace smiled kindly at the shy pegasus.
"Why don't I show you?" he replied, snapping his fingers. A small black cloud appeared in front of him, flashing with purple and red hues. Lightning occasionally arced around the edges, though it never escaped. Twilight was fascinated. She walked towards the cloud, examining it from every angle.
"What is that?" she asked.
"A viewing portal," Trace replied. He closed his eyes and focused. An image slowly flickered onto the clouds face, and the curious mare inched closer. Her nose was nearly touching the picture.
"How are you doing that?"
"This particular portal acts as a screen for my memories and... hey don't get that close!" Trace said. Startled, Twilight jumped, and for the briefest of moments, her horn scraped the surface of the cloud. Trace dove away as the cloud started to lose it's shape and expand. After a moment, it shrunk back down and vanished with a small -poit-.
"Huh," said the Ancient. "You know usually, unprotected interaction between Chaos and Harmony magic has some pretty disastrous results. I wonder if-" the rest of his sentence was cut off as an explosion blew the group to the ground. Before anypony or dragon had time to react, a black hole opened behind them and they were sucked in. A moment later, the hole closed up, and nothing was left to show they had been there save for the imprint on the grass.
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"Ugh... my head," Trace moaned. A similar moan beside him revealed a small lavender mare holding her head. After a moment, she shouldered the pain and stood up, wobbling slightly.
"Where are we?" she asked. The land was cast in a perpetual night, though there was no sky for the moon to hang in. The ground was black rocks and shale, with no vegetation in sight. Everything was lit by a nearby river of lava and the glow of hundreds of volcanoes in the distance.
"We are in the Dark World... but not really," Trace said. "This is the Dark World from my time... we're in my memories."
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Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to get done everyone! I swear I'll be faster with the next one! Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 1
Waking Dream
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"We're what?" Twilight groaned, still wobbly from the blast.
"Thanks to the reaction of your Harmony magic with my Chaos magic, we were thrown into my mind... I think," Trace said. "This place is definitely the Dark World of my time, but something seems off. I just can't put my claw on it." He paced for a few moments, then realization spread across his face.
"Miss Sparkle, what does the ground feel like to you?" The lavender unicorn blinked, then scuffed her hoof across the shale and lava rock, chipping a few brittle pieces off.
"It feels like volcanic rock," she replied, still unsure of what Trace was asking. "Why, what should it feel like?"
"It shouldn't feel like anything if we were just in my memories. It would have the consistency of air, or a cloud." The purple dragon bent over and gripped the black rock. With a heave, he ripped up a large section of ground. Beneath it, gems shined and glimmered from every crack and crevice. Twilight's eyes lit up.
"Wow..." she breathed. "Is all of your world covered in gems?" Trace nodded and grabbed a few. He tossed a ruby into his mouth and chewed it thoroughly, his expression grim.
"How does it taste?" Twilight asked.
"Like a ruby should. A mix between cherry and raspberry." The ancient dragon looked to the horizon. "And that's a big problem." He started walking, motioning for the unicorn to follow. They walked in silence for a minute or two, before Twilight could take it no longer.
"Why does a ruby tasting normal constitue a problem?" Trace looked at her for a moment before trudging on.
"You see, it's like the ground feeling normal. In a memory, you cannot experience any of the senses save for sight and hearing. It's something to do with the way past events get relayed through the mind. If you and I have all five of our senses in tact, it means that we aren't in my head." Twilight breathed a sigh of relief.
"So we can find our way to the World Gate and get home?" Trace shook his head.
"We're still in my memories," he replied slowly. "But somehow, our combined magic gave the memories a body of their own. We effectively created an alternate timeline." Twilight stopped, her jaw hanging loose.
"S-so... what does that mean?" She feared the answer, but had to know.
"It means we, along with your friends and the princesses, are trapped here. Possibly forever." Twilight fell on her rump, tears welling up in her eyes. Trace walked over to her and ran a claw through her mane, whispering words of encouragement. Some time later, she managed to stand again and wiped the wetness off her face.
"So what do we do now?" she asked, clearly still on the verge of tears.
"We move," Trace said simply. "I have to find out why our magic reacted the way it did, and I know exactly how and where to find out." Twilight perked up slightly.
"You do?" Trace nodded and the unicorn smiled, finally recovering from her breakdown. "Well, where are we going then?" Trace turned and pointed to the horizon behind the mare. Her face fell again when she couldn't make out where he was pointing through the gloom and smog.
"It's called the Mount of Beginning. It's where I was born, and at it's foot is the World Gate. It is about two weeks travel from here by air."
"TWO WEEKS?!" Twilight screamed. "What about my friends?! What about the Princesses?" Tears shown on her cheeks again. Trace picked her up and hugged her. Twilight stopped crying and blushed from the contact. Trace's scales were tougher than Spike's, but they radiated a soothing warmth that slowly but surely calmed her down.
"Easy, easy there..." he whispered. "Everything will be okay..." The dragon held her for a moment longer, his eyes closed, before he realized that Twilight had already calmed down. He replaced her on the ground, the slightest hint of pink showing on his face.
"Um well... now then, uh..." Trace stuttered, looking everywhere except at Twilight. "Oh right! The answers all lie at the Mount. From there we can find your friends, and figure out a way out of here, if there is one."
"Well that solves all our problems except one," Twilight said.
"Oh?" Trace raised an eyebrow. "And which would that be?"
"You said 'two weeks by air' earlier. Well I hate to break it to you, but I don't have wings. How would I fly there?" Trace's eyes gleamed mischievously.
"Oh, I thought of that," he said. Before Twilight could begin to back away, the dragon snapped his fingers. With a small puff of purple smoke, the mare found herself on his back. Twilight's eyes widened in fear.
"Wait, no!" she cried. "NonononoNOOOOOOOOOOO!" Her voice was lost as Trace heaved mightily and shot into the sky. Two wing beats and the dragon pulled even with the cloud of soot, soaring just under it.
"HANG ON!" he shouted to the unicorn clutching to his scales for dear life. The dragon leaned forward slightly, then shot off, leaving a twisting trail of purple and black smoke behind him, as well as the fading wails of a distraught Twilight.
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Author's note: WHAT?! THE CHAPTER GOT OUT ON TIME? DESPITE ME BEING IN FLORIDA? WHAT? Yeah, it's a bit shorter than I wanted, but then again it is just a transition chapter. Tune in next time for Chapter 2: The Bright Side of the Dark Side.
