Ponyville had been home for as long as Twilight could remember since coming here. True, it was not as glamourous (or had big libraries, aside from her castle) as her former home of Canterlot, but it was home. It was where she made friends, faced powerful enemies, where she laughed, cried, and made memories of both good and bad. It was a place to call her own. These were the ponies she ruled with a just and fair hoof, without a thought of hurting the townsfolk.

Though, if that were possible, there were no townsfolk to hurt. They had simply vanished, without a word of warning.

And that confused Twilight more than anything.

Last she checked before she left Ponyville for Canterlot, everypony was occupying the streets and buildings, doing their usual merry business, going about their everday task.

Now, they were simply...gone. There were no stallions, mares, or even one giggling filly or colt playing tag through the street. Only the birds flying through the air was the only thing that was noise.

As she and Spike walked the deserted streets, Twilight ran through her head the myriad of possibilities that could explain everything. Had Tempest decided to practice magic without her ring and had a hole in space opened over Ponyville so that everyone had gotten sucked into? Did some kind of magical villian use magic to bring everypony to his dark castle for some purpose? Did -

Twilight mentally shook herself. All those possibilities were just plain ridiculous. Tempest wouldn't lose her ring if she knew how bad her magic could get, and there were no villians as of yet that would try to take Ponyville's ponies.

Not yet, anyway.

"Twilight?"

She looked doward toward Spike. "Yeah, Spike?"

"Where do you think everypony went?"

Twilight shrugged. "To be honest, I have no idea." She looked up to find that they had arrived at their destination: a large, towering structure, made to look like a castle standing in the branches of a large, blueish-white crystal tree. Standing atop the highest conical roof of the central tower was a starburst made of the same color crystal as the tree, to reflect it's main occupant.

Twilight exhaled. Home sweet home, at last.

She continued where she left off. "But I do know is that we need to look for them, and that mean I have to find a spell that could give us a helping hoof."

They climbed the front steps to the platform, pushing open the door to find...

...dark.

Twilght stepped into what was supposed to be the foyer, though it was a bit hard to tell where in the foyer. The dark was so thick that it looked like not even a flashlight could pierce it. Twilight felt more confused than ever now. She didn't remember drawing the curtains, though she never left on the lights while she was gone, so this level of dark was now entirely new.

She heard shuffling behind her, indicating that Spike had walked beside her.

"Don't remember it ever being this dark," he said, if a little critically. Twilight heard something scraping of the walls: Spike's claws. "Now where the heck is the li-"

"SURPRISE!"

Immediatly the darkness faded from all existence and both dragon and Alicorn lept backward in fright, eyes bugging out at the tremendous shout, like the roar of an almighty beast, that scared them out of their wits. Twilight had fallen on her back, but she was up instantly, charging her horn and ready to attack whatever had decided to reveal itself...

...only to be greet by her Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Starlight Glimmer, her entire family, and all of Ponyville. All were wearing party hats of many different kinds, and all were wearing big grins on their faces (Pinkie's was the biggest of all).

Twilight just stood, dumbfounded. Her horn had powered down till there was not even a sparkle on it, but still she remained motionless.

The group just stood there, feeling akward, and now their smiles began to vanish, ending with Pinkie, whose smile was still plastered on her face.

Twilight broke the silence. "Wha....?"

Pinkie giggled. "That's not what you say, silly. Whenever someone surprises you on your birthday party, you're supposed to be surprised as well.

Applejack cocked her head to one side, her party hat shifting slightly. "You alright, Twi? Ya seem a little...off."

Twilight shook herself, coming back to reality with a hard wumph. She was mortified to feel a silvery line of spit on her left face, a product of her open-mouthed shock.

"N-no, I'm fine," she said, a little shakily. "Did you say, 'birthday party'?"

"Yeah!" Pinkie chirped.

"But my birthday is on June 20th. Today's the 5th, only two weeks away."

Pinkie giggled again, eyes shining. "Yeah, but I reaaallly wanted to throw you a party anyway, and I was getting too excited, so "Happy 'Before-the-Actual' birthday party, Twi!"

She turned toward the other Ponyvillians behind her, and cried out to everyone, "Alright, everypony! LET"S GET THIS PARTY STARTED. Eeeee! Bring out the gem party bites for the Spikester!"

Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, annd the rest melded into the crowd. Spike had gotten over his shock the minute he heard that gems were on the menu, making a beeline for the buffet table as he vanished under a myriad of pony legs.

Only Rarity held back to grab Twilight by the hoof, the young alicorn still reeling a little. Rarity voiced her concern. Are you alright, dear? You seem a little...odd."

Twilight looked at her, confusion defined on her face. "Before-the-Actual...?"

Rarity smiled, amused. "Believe me, Darling, I stopped asking."

Luckily, however, Twilight's confusion was quelled once the party was in full swing. More guests began to arrive as the day wore on, and there didn't seem to be an end to it all. Pinkie Pie definately made sure that there were enough guests to call it "The Greatest Party Ever." Never in history had so many ponys from all over Equestria been invited.

Aside from those in Ponyville, Spitfire and a few of her fellow Wonderbolts had managed to make it (which earned a bit of quiet fangirl squealing from Rainbow), and came promising an airshow for the birthday party. Bulk Biceps, the town's resident bodybuilder, had come blundering in, apologizing for being unable to find a birthday present, though Twilight had simply said "don't mention it," cheering him up before he went off to the banquet table. Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail, whom Twilight and Rainbow helped in the past, gave Twilight a pat on the sholder (compliments of Sky), and a nearly crushing hug (Vapor's compliment).

Starlight Glimmer, Twilight's graduated student and friend, personally invited a particular foursome from her old village: Night Glider, a moderate azure pegasus, Party Favor, a cyan gray unicorn, Double Diamond, a white earth pony, and Sugar Belle, a pale cerise unicorn. Each of them were happy to see the birthday mare who had aided them in the past (though Sugar had soon run off to find Big Mac, whom she hadn't seen in a while).

There were a few Canterlot ponies there as well, but given the fact that there were few who appriciated or acknowledged Ponyville and it's citizens, there is very little need for names.

Given the fact that all Ponyvillians were invited to the party, there were also a few fillies and colt running around. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow had brought their siblings, the Cutie Mark Crusaders - Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom - to the festivities, and they, in turn (despite the complaints of their elders), invited a whole host of school mates to come, with rather epic results.

Let's just say it was a lot harder to get to the buffet table than before.

And just when it seemed the arrivals had finally slowed down to a lull, a wave of out-of-town invites suddenly dropped by; old friends from other parts of Equestria where ponies were few and other species were well known. There was Gilda and Gabby from Griffinstone, the former coming to meet up with her old friend Dash, while the latter coming to see her fellow Crusaders, giving plenty of crushing bearhugs to everyone. There was King Thorax and Dragon Lord Ember, who came to wish the Princess well, while Prince Ruthford came in bellowing happy tidings to everyone, giving off quite a merry mood, though many made sure to give his impressive bulk a few inches of room.

All in all, it was truly a night to remember. So much space had been taken up inside the castle that they had to move much of the party outside.

Twilight had never felt so happy in her life. All of her friends, those both far and near, had all come to wish her happiness. She should've felt overwhelmed, prehaps a little, but the joy overrode any feelings of being crowded. She shook a hoof here, gave a "thanks for coming" there, and gave everyone an equal amount of chatter.

By now, the celebrations had dwindled well into the evening as Celestia's sun sank into the hills beyond Ponyville. Twilight and her friends were out on the castle's balcony, chewing on some grilled sugarcane and scoops of chocolate ice cream while the inside rang to amible chatter and talk. Most of the party outside was dancing to a jaunty, merry tune that the muscians played.

Twilight sighed happily, a big smile on her face as her head rested on the crystal railing. She had eaten, talked, and now she could have some alone time with her friends. To her right, Applejack was chatting with Rainbow Dash (something about how to properly buck a football to fly to greater heights) while they sipped mugs of Applejack's cider. Fluttershy and Rarity were to her left talking about the finer points of crochet, while she could hear Pinkie behind her, dancing a jig to the music.

Finally after a moment of silence, she spoke, her voice reflecting the relaxation she was feeling, a result from the stress of the past few weeks. "Ah, it feels good to not have to hear the hubub of foreign dignitaries..."

Her voice caught the attention of her friends, who stopped what they were doing to listen to Twilight's words.

"...or the constant, overwhelming verbal thank-you notes from the same."

The friends looked at each other as she spoke. Though Twilight had already made it obvious with her words, they could tell that she needed to get something off her chest.

"What's wrong, Twi?" Applejack inquired.

Twilight looked back at her cowpony friend, then sighed again, though with less happiness. Friends will be there through your problems no matter what, and it wasn't right to keep it from her best friends in the world.

Especially if that pony was the Element of Honesty, so a lie was almost impossible.

"Well," she started. "Since we defeated the Storm King, everypony has been giving me constant thanks about it, with no sign of stopping."

Rainbow and Rarity looked at each other before looking at Twilight. Rainbow spoke for the both of them. "What's so wrong with that?"

For the third time that evening, Twilight sighed, but this time with frustration. "Ugh, I just wish it would stop! Everywhere I go in Canterlot, 'Thanks for stopping 'ol Stormy.' In the library, always a thank you note of some sort. I mean, I can't even go to the bathroom without being bombarded without a bunch of crazy ponies trying say 'congratulations!'"

Breathing heavily, the wind almost knocked out of her, she looked towards her friends. They were leaning away form, looking at her like she was a bomb ready to explode.

She lowered her head, ears drooping. "Sorry. It's just....It's been a long few weeks."

The others looked at one another, unsure of what to do, for they had only faced the same problem only a few months ago when they had published their friendship journal. That had been one and only time when even Rarity and Rainbow Dash found popularity to be one thing they could live without. Of course, the incident had blown off a few weeks after that, but it left a rather strange mark on them. Sometimes, they learned, fame isn't everything.

Still, they stood there in akward silence, unsure of what to do, or what to say.

"Yer right, Twilight."

Everyone looked up. Applejack, the one who spoke, walked over to Twilight, who looked at her friend in surprise and confusion.

"W-what?" The alicorn stammered.

Applejack smiled a warm, friendly smile. "Ah said yer right, Twi. Yer as right as rain on cloudy day in April."

Twilight's ears drooped and she turned back to staring down off the balcony. Rarity whispered to Fluttershy, "Oh, I hope this isn't what I think it's going to be." Pinkie looked aghast at the cowgirl, and Rainbow said, in a tone of utter appalment, "Oh, come on , Applejack! I know you're the Element of Honesty, but that's a little harsh, even for me."

Applejack gave the others a glare before turning back to Twilight. "But what Ah was going to say was that if ponies and others are givin' ya a hard time about it, we're right behind ya. We've been through this before."

Then Applejack grinned sheepishly. "And to be honest, we've been gettin' the same sort of, er....treatment."

Rainbow Dash laughed. "Your telling me. I barely managed to get a few minutes of chillaxing yesterday before the mailpony dropped a sack of my fanmail on my head." Her smile dropped a little. "At least I don't have fans storming me while I'm going to to the bathroom, because that is so not cool."

"Well," Fluttershy said. "At least it's mail than ponies. I'm more comfortable with opening letters than, um...other ponies."

"I completely understand what you mean, darling," Rarity piped up. "At least we won't have to deal with fans who keep trying to say things that would smudge your good name. Remember when we published our friendship journal?"

There was an uncomfortable silence at the mention of that incident. They remembered too well. Even Pinkie had fallen silent at the memory of how everypony laughed at every word she said, Rarity clammed up at the thought of her "Stress-sowing," and Applejack bit her lip as she recalled the "Sweet Apple Acres Invasion." That was one time they did not want to recount again.

The silence didn't last, though. Pinkie was suddenly bouncing and cheerful again, and she hopped right onto Twilight smiling in her face and startling her. "But you've got us, so stop worrying! And just remember that we can handle it together."

Pinkie got off Twilight, and the Alicorn managed to compose herself. She smiled and said, "Thank, girls. I really appreciate that."

Pinkie let out a squee. "Group hug!"

The ponies all clambored together in one great embrace, nuzzling each other as they gripped each other in their hooves. Twilight let out a sigh of contentment, happy that today, after so many days of hardship and frustration, things were looking up, and that today was truly the best day ever.

The peaceful moment ended when Pinkie broke from the hug and cried as she skipped back to the door, calling behind her shoulder, "Now, let's get our cutie booties out of this glummy-glum business and get back inside! We have a party to celebrate!"

Laughing, the other five followed the excitable pink pony, happy to be together after so much trouble.

Miles away in the west, across the Great Luna Sea, far from the great rivers and flatlands, a single, solitary stone fortress, ruined beyond it's years, stood in the darkest part of a great woodland. It wasn't much, and didn't draw much attention to wanderers who traveled the forest paths, but there was an air of....unease that surrounded it.

It was not the crumbling ruin that drew this feeling, oh no; the structure wasn't built for the purpose of intimidation, but for protection. The feeling was coming more from the inside, festering silently like a parasite bound within the body, waiting silently for the body to make a fatal mistake that could put the victim in critical condition. The power that radiated from it would have the power to kill a whole land.

The pony or traveler who passed by would at least be reassured that this...thing was sleeping.

More specifically, it was awake, but resting. Even more specically than that, it was waiting. It was weak now, but it was waiting, waiting for...something. Something that could change it's fortune around so that it could gain the power it needed, so it could be active in the world once more.

Once, long ago, it had a name. Now, in it's weakened state, it could barely remember what it was. Time and time again it pondered, but came up with only half-images and jumbled recallings of another time. It was their fault, the Ones who imprisioned him. They stripped him of his memories and all his names from him so that he would not remember the full power of his strength.

Once again, it tried, straining against the confines of it memory and-

Nothing.

Just as well. When one is reduced in power, even the mind tends to get ravanged by the same magics. But it would wait. It's time would come. It was only a matter of time before those of the land outside and beyond made one fatal mistake that could change everything, and it was willing to be patient.

After all, it had no memories of having a bad temper.

Even further away, in a land long broken, something else was sleeping and waiting, dreaming dark dreams of death and suffering.

The party itself was good, but prehaps the best part of all was "present time."

Even in her younger years, before she joined the Storm King and ravenged lands by his side, Tempest Shadow (known then by the name "Fizzlepop Berrytwist," Which was not she really liked even in her youth) could not forget the joy and suspense of opening a present. She could remember the (tragically few) birthday parties and Hearthswarmings where she would jiggle around the boxes and try to guess what was inside.

That, in her opinion, was the true meaning of the present, not just the thought that counts. Guessing what was inside was like a mystery that no detective needed to solve.

For the moment, however, Tempest watched from the back as her friend got into the same spirit as she tore the wrappings open on a square-shaped present with her magic. She had already plowed through the pile, and was now on her second-to-last present now. She pulled off the lid, opening the box to find a -

"A wastebasket!" She cried.

Looking over the heads of the other party guests, Tempest could see that it was, indeed, a wastebasket, and the decorative design of it also looked familiar. The cylinder cup was twisted in some way that it seemed to resemble a segment of a large conical shell. The rim and bottom of the basket was decorated in smaller shells. Tempest couldn't help but smile, already hazarding a guess as to who it was from.

"Who's it from?" Fluttershy asked, though the smirk on her face told that she could guess too.

Twilight lifted the tag attached and read, " 'Something creative and beautiful to throw you're trash away in. With love, Skystar.' "

A few of the party guests laughed, including Twilight's friends. Capper's smile only widened greatly, and Tempest couldn't help but chuckle herself. It had been a year since the day the Six had gone to Mt. Aris and now that the seaponies/hippogriffs were making themselves known in the wide world, everybody in Equestria was trying to get to know them a lot better, including the energetic and peppy Princess Skystar.

Her shell projects were also becoming well known, too. She had a thing going now.

Twilight put the wastebasket next the pile of presents that now towered well above her. Most were books, as it was known that Equestria's youngest princess had a deep love of reading, but there was a good scattering of various other items from Twilight's "haul" (to quote Pinkie).

Applejack was certainly impressed by the size of it. "Hoowee! That lump of presents is larger than a pile of apples gathered after Applebuck season."

"Well," Twilight replied, smiling. "I don't care how many presents I've gotten. All the hard work you girls put into this party alone is enough to make me happy."

She wrapped her hooves around her friends and clasped them in a tight hug, a smiles on all their faces. Pinkie smile was perhaps the biggest of them all, definitely a sign that the party was a huge success.

Pinkie finally broke from the hug, the smile still plastered on her face, and she proceeded to hop up and down like a rubber ball on caffeine. "Now open that last presenteroo, birthday girl! Then it's our present from your's truly, and then it's Cake Tiiiiimme!"

Indeed, looking through and between the sea of heads, Tempest could see that there was one more present that Twilight hadn't opened: a small box the size of a brownie, wrapped in ebony paper and tied poorly with deep pink ribbon in front of Twilight's crossed back legs. A card was held down by the ribbon.

Tempest's smile from the wastebasket reveal fell, and her stomach did a plummeting flip-flop the minute she laid eyes of the small package, and immediately she wished she could shrink herself down to size despite her magic. Her ears drooped, her stomach felt like it was filled with butterflies, and her heart was hammering so hard it felt like it was going to rip through her jacket.

She knew what was coming, but she braced herself well.

Twilight untied the ribbon and read the card...then re-read it...the re-read it again, her face scrunched in confusion, which rapidly turned to surprise. Her friends noted this, their faces frowning in confusion.

Applejack was the first to speak up. "What is it, Twi? Somethin' wrong?"

Twilight shook her head from her reverie and said, in a somewhat dazed, out-of-it way, "...Huh? Oh, it's nothing wrong."

Rarity nudged her with a hoof. "Well, then, tell us who it's from then, darling."

"Yeah," Pinkie chimed. "Show us who this awesome gifty-giftster is!"

"Well, uh.."

"Oh, come on, egghead, tell us who it is!" Rainbow Dash shouted, impatient.

Twilight gave a glare at the rainbow - maned Pegasus before turning her attention to the card. She spoke the next few words hesitantly, unsure of the reaction they would bring, or the ponies around her would say, but she knew it had to be said.

"'...To best friend and mentor of friendship, Princess Twilight Sparkle.'"

The girls smiled at each other, then back to Twilight, relief clear on their faces."

"There, now, darling," Rarity piped up. "That wasn't that -"

"'From Tempest Shadow.'" Twilight finished.

Immediately, the smiles vanished, replaced by by looks that Twilight knew would most likely reflect what she was feeling. Everyone else in the room turned their heads in the direction of where a certain dark pink unicorn mare should be sitting.

But Tempest Shadow was no longer there.

"Well, that was...awkward." Rainbow Dash said hesitantly.

The evening had dwindled into nighttime, and outside the stars and dark skies of Luna's night was contrasted only by the lights of homes and streetlamps in Ponyville. The ponies and other creatures who attended the party had filed outside to see the stars after the gifts were unwrapped and the MMMadness cake was distributed out and eaten. Twilight had been glad. After the little fiasco at "present time," the reminder that Tempest Shadow was the same mare that (nearly) conquered Equestria, had enslaved or imprisoned every pony in the name of her master, the Storm King, and had nearly led to the destruction of Canterlot had left a bad taste in the mood.

After all, not everyone had accepted Tempest Shadow as one of them. Nor did many find that Tempest was living in the same castle with Ponyville's resident Princess of Friendship acceptable, though many agreed (with much grumbling). After all, no one was willing to stand up to the Princess.

Now, on the balcony of the Castle of Friendship, the six ponies were reflecting on that. There had been something of an awkward silence before Dash had broken it, and her words summed up everything that they had been thinking.

Applejack spoke up, albeit hesitantly, "That was...uh..."

"The absolutly worst possible thing EVER!" Pinkie piped up, a scandleous look etched in the features of her pink face.

Rarity grimaced. "It was pretty awful, wasn't it?"

Twilight, who had been resting her head on the balcony rail for the whole time, turned towards her friends. "I'm not too surprised."

They all turned toward their princess friend, their expressions ranging from surprise at her answer, to confusion and a need for clarification. Pinkie, who was one of the latter, cocked her head to one side and uttwered, "Huh?"

Twilight took a deep breath before answering, "I mean, given with what's happened last year, I'm just not terribly surprised that ponies are still regarding Tempest...that way." She paused. "The only thing that really surprised me is that it's been for this long."

They nodded and gave an "mmmm-hmm" of agreement. Twilight returned to looking down the balcony at the partying ponies, and the akward silece fell in again.

Rainbow Dash, who had been hovering over the group the whole time, was eager to change the subject. "Hey, we didn't give you our present yet! Hang tight, I'll be right back!" She sped off before Twilight could question further.

Twilight stared at the space where Rainbow had hovered only a few minutes ago, then shook her head, deciding not to question further. She turned to look at her friends again.

"Well, then," she said. "While we're waiting for her, why don't we go find Tempest? She may need our support."

The night air outside was mercifully cool after a long summer's day. The ponies who had come outside to escape the oppressive atmosphere of the castle found it a pleasant change, now that all their hard work was finished. Outside the ponies of Ponyville (along with a few others) had moved some of the banquet tables outside to finish eating the rest of the confections, while a few empty ones served the purpose of game table, where ponies had set up checkers, chess, Dragon Pit, and various other games. Others had taken fold-up chairs with them to look out at the glinting stars above.

Tempest didn't take part in any of it.

Not that they wanted her anyway. Whenever she approached a crowded table, maybe to voice a friendly greeting or something, silence reigned and the ponies would give her various looks ranging from a little fearful to anger and silent hatred.

Tempest didn't mind it. She did, she reflected on an unused chair away from the crowd, invade Canterlot, enslave an city full of ponies, helped the Storm King steal the magic of the princesses, atop many other things, all for the one thing she selfishly wanted so much: her horn.

A horn, she learned, that would never be restored.

She sighed, rubbing the broken appendage with it's horn ring, and felt a pang of guilt wash over her again. She lowered her hoof and looked up again at the sky, admiring the tapestry of the night's princess, an inky lake of dark blue, dotted only with constellations of pale stars.

"Enjoying yourself?"

So focused on the sky was Tempest that she did not notice the presence of Twilight and her friends behind, and she jumped a little, startled so much that her horn actually sparked a little, tanging the air with the slight smell of magical ozone. She calmed, however, when she who it was, and her horn died with a hiss.

"Huh?" Tempest uttered.

The six of them relaxed. Satisfied that Tempest's "dampener" ring had done it's job, Twilight approached again. "I said, are you enjoying the party?"

Tempest nodded, her face solemn, betraying her emotions.

"I'm...fine."

Twilight frowned skeptically. "No, you aren't. I've spent a lot of time around my friends to know that look, and as Princess of Friendship, it's my job to understand ponies in order to make or save friendships. That face tells me that your in bad mood about something."

The princess stepped forward and placed a hoof on the shoulder of her former enemy, and Tempest stiffened a little at the touch. Friendship, along with all it's facets that made it comforting, was something she was still getting used to.

"So, I need to know..."

Tempest got out of the chair and turned around to face Twilight, and looked into her eyes, Tempest's opal meeting the warm amethyst of the Princess.

"....What's wrong?"

"Yeah!" Pinkie shoved past Twilight and got uncomfortably close to Tempest's face, nearly making the dark orchid unicorn fall over. "Brighten up, Fizzy! Whatever's making that frown stay down, we'll find a way to turn it around to a smile!" She stopped, eyes widening, then grabbed the pony of her attention by the cheeks, bringing her eye-to-eye, and said in a low, dangerous voice, "It's not the party, is it?"

Tempest managed to wriggle out of the Earth Pony's grip and stutter out, "N-No, Pinkie, the party's fine. And please, just Tempest will do."

Satisfied, the upbeat smile returned to Pinkie's face, and she leapt back with her friends.

Relieved that the party pony was out of her face, Tempest sighed in a way that was both moody and sad at the same time. There was no way to hide all of it from them, and it would be good to get the weight off her shoulders. She opened her mouth to speak, to tell her friend and landlady everything-

"Hey, lookie up there!"

-when Pinkie Pie's voice cut right through it, and every pony looked up, even Tempest. Forgetting what she had meant to tell Twilight, Tempest saw why every pony's attention was turned toward the ink-blue heavens: A set of six smoking streaks flying over the Friendship Castle and the heads of every pony below. As they zipped by, She gained a slight glimpse of sky blue uniforms with jagged, pale yellow streaks across the chest. Tempest had seen them only a few times, but she knew well who they were.

The Wonderbolts. Equestria's greatest sky stunt team, and sometimes air force. And flying point was a Pegasus with a mane of unruly multicolored hair.

Tempest smiled, though it faded briefly with a glance toward Twilight, who was watching the Wonderbolts with the same awe and wonder that was probably on the face of every other creature. She thought, for a brief moment, interrupting Twilight's attention, to pick up where their conversation had left off, maybe tell her how she felt...

Oh, what the hay.

Tempest inwardly shook her head, and with a smile, returned her gaze to the heavens where the Wonderbolts were starting their show.

Some things are worth putting on hold.

Rainbow Dash was in heaven. The crowds down below were cheering as she flew through the air, the wind whipping her mane and whistling in her ears. She was flying point as Spitfire and Soarin flew on either side of her, making her the absolute center of attention as she performed the many aerial stunts that she had planned to display for her best friend's birthday.

It was awesome.

The show had gone on for a whole of 48 minutes, during which Rainbow had run through her head the various stunts that she herself had personally planned out just for the party (with Spitfire's help, of course), all the while keeping tabs on how the crowd reacted to each. That was what Rainbow had always done it during an air show, though mostly it was to remind herself how awesome she was. Applejack, though, had always stated that the Pegasus only did it to "add more stretch marks to her ego."

They had finished up their second-to-last part of their display, which involved using a rainbow-colored smoke to write in fancy-schmancy writing:

Happy Birthday, Twilight!

Rainbow made mental note to herself to thank Rarity for teaching her how to write in that "calagriffic" or whatever it was called. It had been her idea to write it like that.

Rainbow hovered in the air to survey her handiwork, listening to the loud cheer of friends and fellow ponies alike. With a huge grin, she began flapping her wings and shot towards the sky.

Now, for the finishing touch!

She sped upward, quickly reaching her goal as the crowd, predicting the Pegasus's next move, began chanting in one collective voice that could even be heard even above the wind.

"Rainboom, Rainboom, Rainboom!"

Rainbow's confidence and joy swelled as she climbed higher and the chant kept on, her heart beating rapidly in time with the chant as she climbed higher, higher, higher, until she reached her desired altitude, and, after sparing a moment to admire the height, she sped downward, gathering speed as the air began to funnel around her, charging with electricity and filling the air around the Pegasus with the tang of ozone.

Faster, faster, faster....

There was a sense of....deadness.

The frigid cave air, the quiet stillness, the stench of a corpse that was rotting: everywhere there was the sense of the tomb. The perfect feel for such a place that held something unsettling and unnatural.

Just as it was supposed to be.

It was no more than a cave, craggy and with a curved ceiling, long and dark as a demon’s eyes. And it certainly wasn’t a singlular, long tunnel, but was a network of them, branching and digging into the earth like the trails left behind by worms or coiling roots, and they led into many chambers that served many different goals and purposes. But only one was the absolute center of attention for this place, a large circular chamber connected by only three arching tunnels at triangular points.

It wasn’t much of a looker for a chamber, to anyone who did catch a glimpse of it. It was just smooth, curving walls with little else to decorate it, with each side a circumference of 25 yards, (roughly) and a ceiling of a 27 yard height. Though that didn’t mean it was completely bare, though: on each side of the doorways were rusty torch sconces, long devoid of their torches, taken by unknown hands. The wall had been carved with strange runes that looked like they were from a language long extinct. And in the center of the room was what appeared to be some kind of circle, strangely decorative, with smaller circles at cardinal points on the edge.

But what was in the center of those circles was the most interesting feature.

The world held it’s breath, waiting. Outside the places of civilization, far from ponykind, in the forests, mountains, and caves, all was strangely quiet, as if everything knew what exactly was coming.

Then, in certain somewhere, there was loud boom of a noise, a flash of light, and then a spreading wave of rainbow and white light spread across the sky, bringing with it a rush of wind that sent birds tumbling from trees, windmills spinning thrice normal speed, and leaves ripped from their green and verdant youth on their allotted trees. The wave spread a cross the air, bathing the world in an aura of multicolored glory.

It didn't stop there, though. It kept going, never dissipating, reaching other lands beyond, waking sleepy villages and great cities in a flurry of light and noise, only falling asleep when they were sure it wasn't an attack.

They were eggs, of sorts.

Within the four circles were four pine-cone like shapes, made of a hard substance that had an uncanny resemblance to obsidian and covered in spines composed of the same stuff. Though, to be honest, when one saw them, they would’ve said they all the more resembled stones then eggs.

But eggs they were, for if one pressed their ear against the cold surface without cutting themselves, they would’ve heard a sound that would’ve made them break out in shivers. An audible thumping sound like the beat of a drum.

It was the sound of a heartbeat, steady and slow, but a sign of life.

And when the rumble came, a rumble unlike any other, the way it seemed to reach into the very core of planet and throw it out of balance, the beat increased in rapidity, shaking whatever was in those black eggs into wakefulness.

Then cracks, thin but shining with white light, began spreading across the surfaces like the glowing webs of spiders, giving off a rather faint humming sound. Their light grew more and more intense as it spread, the noise increasing volume as well...

Then there was a loud crack, a flash-flood of light, a scream so primal that it could only have come from the abyss itself...

Then, silence. Total, absolute silence.

Author's Note

In all honesty, I have to say that the scene listing the guests that came is perhaps the one I am most proud of.