“...Even in the darkest of times one can find the light if they search for it. When you only search for the darkness, that's all you will ever see...”

A gentle, cool breeze rustled the deep midnight blue mane of a young earth pony mare. The bright sunlight warmed her skin beneath her coat, and made the white fur glisten silkily. She was lying on a large wooden bench, a book held between her forelegs. It was a pleasant summer day. Birds were chirping. It wasn't too hot. Not too cold. The weather was perfect for relaxing with a good book. The particular book she was perusing was titled Equestrian Myths and Legends, By Silver Scroll. A favorite of hers since she was a filly.

Canterlot was beautiful this time of year. Well, its beautiful any time of year, but summer was always Destiny's favorite season. The city's residents always decorated according to season. Dignitaries, delegates and ambassadors flooded Canterlot this time of year, and the ponies were doing their best to impress. Large Equestrian banners (Depicting the princesses) hung from the taller buildings. The houses and shops were scrubbed clean, polished. And everypony in town groomed and dressed themselves for visitors. The city was positively posh. Even more than usual.

Many Canterlot ponies wore exquisite dresses and dapper suits. Usually Rarity originals. But some ponies still wore Prim Hemline, and a few bold ponies even wore Polomare. But Destiny was not one of these ponies. She never wore anything except her work uniform, (a simple yellow dress and hat) and while many ponies would do almost anything to work in the Royal Castle, near the Princesses, she found the job rather boring.

Princesses or no, a mare can only clean the same floors and walls so many times before it becomes tedious.

She sighed deeply, closed her book and stowed it in her saddlebags. Stretching leisurely she pulled herself off the bench and started the short trot to the castle. Destiny weaved her way through the pony filled stone streets of the Royal city. She was maybe halfway to the castle when a familiar sight caught her attention. Destiny walked the same path to work every day for nearly three years, and every single day she saw the same person. An old griffon, very old by the wrinkles and molting feathers, sat by the edge of a closed restaurant. He wore a faded and torn cloak. His fur and feathers were the same faded gray as the cloak he wore and his eyes were as well. A tattered square of cardboard was clutched in his talons. It read:

Griffonstone refugee. Please help.

Destiny tried her best to smile sweetly while trying to dig a few bits from her bags. The gold coins dropped from her teeth into a small tin cup with a tink tink! The griffon said nothing, (perhaps he was mute) but a small smile formed on his beak. It had become sort of a ritual for her. For the both of them really. He sat by the road, she gave him a coin or two. Her social life in a nutshell.

“Hang in there,” she told him, and again he smiled without a word. A few coins. A smile in return. They were practical best friends.

Destiny followed the marble streets of Canterlot to its heart. The Royal Castle. The castle stood high above every other building in the capital. Pure white interlaced with brilliant purples and gold filigree secured the castle's place as the most elegant structure in the city. The sight, in Destiny's opinion, was almost ruined by the presence of the Royal Guard. Ponies in armor and holding weapons made what was a very beautiful and welcoming sight rather intimidating.

Destiny wove her way through a large crowd of ponies herding together at the palace gate, and once she reached the Royal Guards at either side she produced a small piece of paper that served as her identification. The stallion nodded and used his horn to open the gate. “Why does she get to go in!?” a mare shouted from the crowd. The guard quickly ushered Destiny inside and whistled. Another half dozen Royal Guards rushed towards the gate and began to press against the crowd with their armored bodies. Several ponies cursed and threw food at the guards but their faces remained blank, even with the extremely vulgar taunting beginning to erupt from the crowd.

Destiny had seen ponies who were desperate to meet the Princesses, especially when Princess Twilight was in Canterlot, bur she'd never seen a crowd so angry. She didn't have long to think it over before she was rushed into the castle by another member of the staff. A servant like her named Proper Etiquette. He was a tall lavender buck with an unusually straight mustache, like he trimmed it with a slide rule. His gray mane was equally uniform. When he stood still, Destiny sometimes mistook him for a statue.

She never even saw him blink.

“This way Destiny. The Princesses are holding a special meeting with the brass so we'll be preparing the dinner,” he said in his quick, no room for debate voice. “I need you in the dining room preparing the dinnerware with Silver Platter and Lavender. The Princesses have just requested lunch in the meeting room so you have a good amount of time, but that doesn't mean you can slack off!” he said dangerously, pressing his face so close to Destiny's that his bushy mustache ticked her muzzle.

“Of c-course not Proper Etiquette, sir.”

He looked deeply into her eyes for a moment before nodding and saying firmly, though not unkindly, “Off with you!”

Destiny scrambled down the hall into the servants quarters, clambered into her freshly pressed uniform and trotted for the dining hall. Upon entering she was greeted by Lavender and Silver Platter. The former being a lavender mare with matching mane and tail while the latter was a solid gray buck with bright silvery hair done up in an complex curl that seemed to go on forever. Destiny immediately joined the two in scrubbing down every surface in the dining hall. It was a large, affluently decorated room with a single table that could seat maybe a dozen ponies, but today was different. The usual table was swapped for a larger one that could easily seat fifty, while the rest of the room was polished and scrubbed for every trace of dirt.

They hung brand new banners and tapestries on the walls. Replaced the flowers in all the various vases, and set up candles and dinnerware for nearly sixty ponies. One would think that three ponies cleaning a single room would be a fairly quick and easy task, but Destiny and the others were working down to the very last minute before Proper Etiquette burst into the hall, ordered them to groom themselves and change their uniforms, then return to serve the guests.

After a quick wash, and brushing Destiny returned to the hall with a half dozen other servants to begin serving food and drink. The Princesses sat in their usual places, at either end of the large table while dozens of ponies, mostly tall muscular stallions, filled the chairs between. Some wore Royal Guard standard gold armor but a few wore simple red and blue jackets adorned with symbols and pins that represented rank. The group was deep in conversation, and ignored the servants entirely unless asking for something.

“Commander I want your troops arrayed along the northeastern border of the Badlands to move to Appleloosa,” one old buck said to an armored mare. “We need the civilians protected if conflict arises.”

“General, if I may, we need our troops close to the border in case those...insects get anymore ideas.”

Destiny suppressed a shiver as she poured glasses of wine and placed them out to everypony. She remembered the Changeling invasion all too well. The sky filled with monsters raining down fire on the royal city.

“The Changelings are our allies,” The kind but still authoritative voice of Princess Celestia proclaimed from the head of the table. Her amethyst eyes narrowed at the two military ponies despite the gentle smile still fixed upon her muzzle. There was a strange power in the Princess' image, and once again Destiny had to fight the urge to shiver. The military ponies seemed to be fighting the urge themselves as they turned to their meals with chastised expressions.

The night felt infinite to Destiny. Seven courses, wine, and political talk doesn't mix very well. “We need a greater allocation of resources to the Royal Guard if we're going to achieve military readiness by this fall. Prince Shining Armor doubled the military budget in the Crystal Empire after the second changeling insurrection,” A stallion with an impressive amount of medals pinned to his chest told Princess Celestia.

“There is no more room in the budget for additional military spending at this time.” She replied before taking a sip of her wine. “Such an excellent brand. Destiny my dear, could I get a refill?” She rushed to the Princess' side and quickly filled her glass. “Thank you.” Destiny bowed and the Princess continued. “With the economic situation the way it is we need to continue devoting resources to aid programs for my subjects...” One of the military ponies used his magic to wave an empty glass towards Destiny. She quickly gripped the wine bottle in her teeth and started to pour when she felt her left foreleg catch on something.

The bottle shattered on the ground, splashing wine and broken glass all over the floor, table and the pony before her.

“Clumsy fool!” He nearly roared.

“Sorry!” she pulled herself off the floor and rushed to clean up the mess. The room was totally silent and every pair of eyes was on Destiny as she wiped up the wine. Her face an even deeper shade of red than the wine. Proper Etiquette used his magic to collect the glass and cleanse the military pony of the wine. The angry stare that the stallion was giving her didn't come close to matching the cold anger in Etiquette's expression. His face was blank, but Destiny had known him long enough to see past the mask he wore.

Her head hung low she apologized once again and carried the soiled rags to the kitchen. She quickly discarded them and preceded to clean the wine out of her coat. Right in front of the Princesses! Ugh! She thought angrily to herself. Stupid! The two alicorns simply watched while she cleaned the mess she made. Their expressions were strictly neutral. Neither angry or annoyed in any way. This made Destiny even more anxious. She had to stop herself from chewing her hoof. Alright. It'll be fine. It wasn't my fault. It was an accident. Etiquette will understand.

The door to the kitchen opened an hour later. Destiny had used her isolation from the other servants to clean the kitchen as best she could. And when the other servants came into the kitchen they said nothing but they did cast her worried glances. Lavender tried to smile but it looked more like a grimace. Now she knew why.

Destiny had never seen Proper Etiquette angry. The only time she had ever seen his face take on a different expression is when she watched ponies eat sloppily, and last year's Summer Sun Celebration when he got drunk and challenged the Captain of the Royal Guard to hoof fight. For the former he would look disgusted, the latter confident (and intoxicated) now his eyes burned like the sun itself. His fur was bristled, he was gritting his teeth and his face was solid red. When he spoke Destiny wanted to hide in a very, very deep hole and never come out.

“NEVER IN ALL MY LIFE HAVE I SEEN SUCH INCOMPETENCE! YOU MAKE A COMPLETE ASS OUT OF YOURSELF IN FRONT OF NOT ONLY THE PRINCESSES BUT ALSOEVERY MILITARY COMMANDER IN SOUTHERN EQUESTRIA! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” he roared. The other servants scurried out of the kitchen like rats fleeing a tomcat. Destiny cringed, her eyes on the verge of spilling out tears.

“I-i-it was an accident...I t-tripped,” she managed to mutter before he floated a small piece of pink paper in front of her. It read:

Notice of termination of employment.

Employee Name: Destiny.

As of this moment your service in the Royal Castle of Canterlot is no longer required. You are to collect your possessions from your personal storage area and vacate the premises within twenty four hours or face detention by the Royal Guard.

Have a wonderful day.

Ink Pot. Secretary to Head of Castle Staff: Proper Etiquette.

“I'm...fired..?” Destiny asked. Etiquette nodded coldly and pointed a hoof to the door.

“But...” she began only for Etiquette's cold stare silenced her.

“Out!”

“But it was an accident! Please I need this job!” Destiny pleaded, hot tears pouring from her eyes.

“I have made my decision. Now begone!” He declared, his mustache bristling. His words were absolute and his expression allowed no argument. Closing her muzzle, Destiny turned from Etiquette's stern gaze and sauntered out of the kitchen.

Destiny dragged her hooves with every step she took. One mistake. It was just one mistake! She couldn't believe it. She'd never be able to get a job at the castle again, and once ponies found out about it nopony else in the whole Kingdom of Canterlot would hire her. Destiny felt her ears droop. I should have saved those bits. She kept herself from openly crying as she gathered her few possessions from her locker in the servants quarters. She could have stayed the night at the castle but she couldn't stand it. Destiny trotted through the now very empty streets of Canterlot. Her destination the only place she truly enjoyed. The park.

She passed by the restaurant, half hoping to see the old griffon there but he was nowhere to be found. She sighed, curling up on the very same park bench she sat on that morning. Destiny looked towards the night sky; the full moon glowing brightly above and a beautiful tapestry of stars surrounding it. She briefly wondered if Princess Luna could see her, but she quickly dismissed the idea. Nopony was that powerful...or was she? Destiny heard that some ponies in Equestria worshiped the princesses as goddesses. A practice that Destiny heard the Princesses themselves despised. But if Luna could move the moon and travel through ponies dreams, maybe she could hear a prayer?

“I...I don't know if you can hear me. But I'm sorry about what happened,” she began sheepishly. “I didn't mean to embarrass you. Or your sister. I tried telling Etiquette but he wouldn't listen. Please...please forgive me...” she looked up at the moon, tears pouring from her eyes. She waited. And waited. But there was no response. Destiny covered her face with her forelegs and wept quietly. Shutting out the world entirely. She had no where to go. Her parents died years ago, and Canterlot wasn't exactly known for charity. At the very least she would have to leave the city. Maybe Ponyville or Dodge Junction.

Crack!! Destiny's head shot upward. She wiped the tears from her eyes and looked for the source of the noise. It sounded like somepony stepping on a twig. She looked around but saw nothing. She assumed it was an animal, maybe a squirrel. Crack! Crack! Destiny sat up and looked behind her. She gasped, her eyes widening and her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. Out of the bushes a mass of small black bones rolled toward her. Cracking and snapping the pile of bones grew larger and larger, as if hundreds of small rodents died and fused together into the rough outline of a pony.

She tried to scream, but she couldn't even breathe.

The creature stood up on four mismatched legs and leered down at her. Its eyes glowed like spilled ink in candlelight. Jagged teeth formed from splintered leg bones filled its maw. “Come...” it said. The creature's voice was deep and it echoed with every word. Tendrils of shadow seemed to leak from the gaps in the bones. Billowing around like smoke from a fire. “Come with me...” it said again, stepping toward her. Each step leaving a black smudge on the grass beneath its hooves and claws.

Destiny tried to pull herself from the bench and gallop as fast as she could, but the creature's presence had completely paralyzed her. It walked right up to her. Its face just inches from her own. The creature breath smelled of death. Destiny could see inside its maw, where a seemingly endless black void stared back at her. “Let go. Let go your earthly tether...” its maw opened wide, wide enough to swallow her head. “and become one with Tenebris...”

Destiny finally screamed and dived off the bench. The creature lunged and raked the ground with its clawed forelegs/ leaving deep gouges in the earth that bled acrid smoke into the air. The stars and moon seemed to be blacked out as shadow and smoke surrounded Destiny and the creature. Destiny backpedaled until her tail smacked into a wall. She was trapped. The creature split apart before her eyes, forming into three of the horrid creatures. “Come with us, come with us, come with us,” they chanted as one. Destiny felt her hind-legs give out from under her, her flank dropping to the sidewalk.

“Please! Just go away!” she cringed against the wall, desperately trying to get away, but there was nowhere to go. The creatures lifted their heads and opened their maws, revealing the dark void that hid inside. Destiny cried and curled against the ground, praying that she was just dreaming. The dinner went fine, she's sleeping her room in the servant's quarters. It was just a bad dream. Suddenly, the creatures screeched horridly. Like hooves on a chalk board. Destiny reluctantly looked up and gasped. An orb made of pure golden light floated a few inches in front of her. The creatures backed away, screeching, hissing and cursing vulgarly at the orb. She heard the clopping of hooves coming from her left.

“Come with me."

Author's Note

Hope you guys enjoyed!