Episode 1: Breaking the First
"There are many secrets hidden among Equestria’s past. Secrets that could cause the very foundation of this kingdom to topple. The 45 Seals of Equestria are but one of these many mysteries and have been kept hidden away from the citizens of Equestria since it’s creation. The seals were used for one single purpose: To imprison an ancient demon known to exist long before Equestria was even founded. Luckily, these seals can only be destroyed by the one who created them and as such, have protected Equestria for millennia. However, should anypony discover the whereabouts of these seals, it would truly cause chaos for the realm...and signal the end of times if the evil locked away were to be set free."
Twilight woke up with a shock. Before she even moved, the events of the previous day raced through her mind as the blinding sun shone through the window of the castle, catching Twilight's eye. Piles and piles of paperwork, school curriculums and royal duties took over her mind as she slowly realised that she had forgotten the most important duty for today.
"Spike, was there something important on the list for today's schedule or.....oh no. SPIKE'S BIRTHDAY!" Twilight said lazily as she quickly darted out of the castle upon realizing that Spike was not there.
This was not the first time that Twilight had forgotten about Spike's birthday, however, it was the first time he had gone missing which was a problem for Twilight. As Twilight darted past everypony, not even stopping for a moment to say hello, she thought long and hard about where Spike could be. Worried for his safety, Twilight raced all across Ponyville making sure to check every corner possible from Rarity's Boutique to Sweet Apple Acres and even the Friendship School. After a good hour of searching, Twilight thought of the one other place he might head to on a day like this. Sugarcube Corner. She quickly raced to the front of the shop and, without warning, burst inside.
"Spike, there you are! I've been looking all over Ponyville for you! ...What are you doing?" Twilight asked as she looked up and came upon a rather unusual sight.
Spike was floating on the ceiling of Sugarcube Corner, held up by five pink balloons that seemed lighter than cotton candy. Twilight questioned how this was even possible before realising which pony these balloons probably belonged to which gave her the answer. "It's kind of complicated. You should probably ask Pinkie Pie," Spike told Twilight, pointing down at Pinkie and unable to remove the balloons from his body.
Twilight turned to Pinkie Pie, who was also looking up at Spike in awe. "Pinkie. Can you just get him down from there? The amount of preparations I have to do for tonight are quite large and you have a lot to do for Spike's party tonight as well if I recall."
From Twilight's expression, it was clear that she was not in the mood to be dealing with any inconveniences today. "I know that, Twilight! It's just...I have no idea how to get him down and it's not as if I can just fly up there!" Pinkie told Twilight with the same overly excited voice she usually had.
"Ugh! Let's just go, Spike," Twilight replied as she used her magic to carry Spike out of Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie looked as clueless as ever, watching as they left, before continuing with her day, as if none of that ever happened.
As Twilight began to make her way back to the castle, popping the balloons holding Spike up in the process, Spike noticed that something was up with Twilight. "Um, Twilight? Are you doing okay? You seemed a bit...off there," Spike said as he began walking alongside Twilight.
"I'm sorry, Spike. It's just with the school and now this party tonight, things are getting to be a little bit too much for me," Twilight said, feeling regret over what just happened at Sugarcube Corner.
"If it makes things easier for you, don't even bother with the party! After all, it was Pinkie's idea to throw it in the first place," Spike pointed out.
Twilight thought for a moment before coming to a decision. "No, I could use the distraction from princess duties and schoolwork for a day. Besides, when was the last time you got an actual party for your birthday?"
"I think it was the time you forgot it even was my birthday," Spike said sarcastically, causing Twilight to look back at him in amusement.
"Okay, smart one. Let's just get back to the castle so that I can finish the preparations for tonight. Hopefully, Rainbow was able to get the Wonderbolts to perform," Twilight replied, as they both raced off to the castle with Spike trailing behind as usual.
Meanwhile, across Equestria at the city of Canterlot, the morning sun shone majestically across the city as ponies began bustling all around, creating an incredibly busy environment for its residents. In the centre of Canterlot lies Canterlot Castle, the residence of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the all-powerful rulers of the realm. While Princess Celestia began her duties during the day, Princess Luna began to take her rest from the night before. However, before they could even contemplate what was going on, the doors of the castle suddenly flew open without a moment of hesitation as Starswirl the Bearded darted in unannounced, catching both Celestia and Luna off-guard.
"Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! ...A moment of your time, if you don't mind," Starswirl tells them, as he approaches them with a look of worry and urgency on his face.
Celestia and Luna looked at each other with slight confusion. "Starswirl? It's good to see you again. What seems to be the problem?" Celestia asks as Starswirl walks past them.
Starswirl checked to make sure no-pony was in the vicinity before turning around to look at them, this time with a look of grave importance. "I'm afraid this isn't something I can speak of here. This must be spoken of in complete secrecy, away from any prying eyes. Please, meet me in my private sanctum if you will," Starswirl mentioned as he darted off towards his destination.
Celestia bowed her head with understanding. However, Luna looked at Celestia with utter confusion. "He has his own private room in the castle!?" Luna asked her sister with no consideration for who might hear her. As Celestia began to rush off to find Starswirl, Luna followed her with haste, leaving behind any duties they may have had.
Upon reaching the library of the castle, Starswirl noticed a specific bookshelf out of view of any other ponies and headed towards it, followed shortly by Celestia and Luna. Starswirl then recited a spell that even Celestia and Luna didn't recognise. As Starswirl recited the spell, the bookshelf slowly disappeared, turning into dust as it began to fade out of existence. Once the path was opened to the three ponies, even Celestia looked at Starswirl with confusion on her face. "What was that? That was a language not even I have heard before," Celestia said as Starswirl walked ahead.
Starswirl grabbed a torch along the pathway before turning around to give Celestia an answer to her question. "Princess, there are things in Equestria that not even you know of. That language was one of them. An ancient dialect spoken long before Old Ponish," Starswirl told them in a rather aggressive tone before saying nothing else for the rest of the journey. Eventually, after a long and tiresome winding corridor, they reached an empty room save for a lone round table in the centre.
As they each took a place at the table, Celestia was growing weary of this journey. "Starswirl, I would appreciate it if you would explain to us what it is you are doing here," Celestia asked.
Starswirl took a deep breath before answering. "Princesses, have you heard of The 45 Seals of Equestria?" Starswirl said in his usual grave tone.
"I can't say that I have," Celestia replied, as she looked towards Luna.
"Neither have I. What exactly is this all about?" Luna said. Starswirl used his magic to create an image of a symbol that neither Celestia nor Luna could recognise.
"I'm not surprised. To put it simply as I am afraid we do not have much time here, The 45 Seals of Equestria are a prison that I created millennia ago to imprison the ancient demon Azakon from bringing ruin unto Equestria." Starswirl told them, leaving nothing but silence hanging in the air.
Celestia and Luna contemplated Starswirl's words for a while trying to understand the reality of what was going on. "I see. How is it that we have no knowledge of this prison's existence and why, may I ask, do you bring it up now?" Celestia asked, concerned about Starswirl's reasons for mentioning this.
"I understand your concern, Princess, but this happened long before you ruled here and until now, everything was under my protection," Starswirl said, alarming both Celestia and Luna with his words.
"You said...until now?" Luna asked, questioning what Starswirl meant. In response, Starswirl used his magic to transform the circular symbol into the form of a distorted, twisted humanoid figure cloaked in black, with eyes so devoid of life that this figure felt neither alive or dead.
"Yes. What you see here is the demon Azakon, or at least a description of him. Nopony has ever seen his true form, not even me, and unfortunately for all of us, somepony has managed to break one of these seals." Starswirl's expression changes from one of worry to one of deep concern. "I'm afraid that there is somepony in this world who wishes to release Azakon from his prison and unleash a fate far worse than death upon Equestria itself."
As preparations for Spike's birthday neared completion, Twilight felt some relief after the events earlier that morning. As she began to sit down, with nothing more to do than wait until the time came to begin, Starlight walked through the doors of the castle to Twilight's surprise.
"I thought you weren't going to be able to make it to Spike's party. Did you change your mind? I'm not sure we are going to have room," Twilight asked, starting to feel a little more stressed .
"Don't worry. I just came to make sure everything's going smoothly. I still promised Trixie I would help out with her show in Manehatten tomorrow and we should get going in a few minutes if we want to make it," Starlight replied.
Twilight began to feel a little better, not wanting to make it seem that she didn't want Starlight there in the first place. "Sorry. It's been an awkward day. I forgot it was Spike's birthday today, Celestia won't respond to any of my messages for whatever reason and nopony wants to do their job today," Twilight responded in frustration.
"Think of it this way, Twilight. For once, there's no friendship problem that needs solving and there's no magical evil threatening Equestria. Just take one day to relax and forget about your duties to the school and as princess," Starlight reassured her.
"Thanks. I guess I have been a bit busy recently with the Friendship School. I could use a break," Twilight said with a heavy sigh.
Starlight got up and began to walk towards the exit of the castle. "If anything comes up, let me know. I'm sure Trixie won't mind me leaving for an emergency," Starlight said with haste.
"It's fine. It's just a birthday party, what could possibly go wrong?" Twilight replied.
"Famous last words there, Twilight. See ya!" Starlight shouted as she ran out of the castle to head for Trixie.
As the doors to the castle closed on Twilight, she laid down to relax as she waited for the party to begin and for the castle to be flooded with ponies. However, as Twilight failed to notice, the air around her began to fill with a feeling of malice and darkness.
Back in Canterlot, in a deep, underground room with naught but a lone table for company, Celestia, Luna and Starswirl sat down to decide what to do about their cataclysmic problem. The air felt heavy as all three ponies sat in silence for an extended duration of time.
"We need to track down this pony and stop them from opening any more of these seals as you call them," Luna called out in order to break the silence.
"Unfortunately, that is not an option. A seal has already been unlocked. At this point, there are pieces of Azakon's spirit that are free to roam Equestria causing as much chaos as they can. The only option now would be to close off the seals that have already been opened as well as stopping this malicious pony from releasing any more of his presence into the world," Starswirl replied, causing the room to fall silent once more.
"And how exactly do you intend for us to close off this seal? I'm assuming this pony won't do it for us and this magic seems older than me or Luna can handle," Celestia asked.
"I've already explained that I created this prison. I can close the seals so long as you can drive Azakon's spirit to it's location." Starswirl replied.
"And it's location is where?" Luna asked.
"Not in Equestria, I'm afraid. This particular seal was placed inside the very first piece of land that was ever discovered in this world far beyond what you know in Equestria. I know it only as The First Pillar and it is a far more dangerous journey than anything you have ever experienced. We must set off immediately," Satrswirl said as he began to prepare for the journey.
Celestia and Luna sat there a little while longer contemplating the situation. "Should I contact Twilight and the others? They may be ale to help in this situation." Celestia asked.
Starswirl looked back before shaking his head. "Most certainly not. Azakon was born from nothing but the pure essence of malice. The Power of Friendship may have worked on the Pony of Shadows but Azakon is not of this world. They would not win. They would just be a burden. Come along, we must go now." Starswirl quickly said before heading off.
Celestia and Luna still felt rather reluctant but followed along anyway, hoping that Starswirl knew what he was talking about and that they could prevent this issue from spreading before any casualties could befall Equestria.
However, back in Ponyville, in the Castle of Friendship, Twilight laid alone in the castle to relax with only a couple of hours remaining until Spike's party. Unbeknownst to her though, the air in the castle began to feel dark and the bright, cheery atmosphere that was prepared for the party slowly began to turn to that of a cold, heartless atmosphere reminiscent of death. Faintly, as she was half asleep, Twilight heard a voice that she had never heard before call out to her. A voice that made her immediately shoot awake with paralyzing fear.
"Equestria..."
Next Time - Episode 2: Voice of Malice
