A Distant Light, A Close Calling

The Intrusion

            It was a beautiful day in Equestria. In fact it was much more beautiful than anypony could’ve imagined. The bunnies were frolicking through the forest, the bees and birds humming cheerfully as they fly about doing their duties for the day. As expected as much from a day like this, Twilight & her friends were walking up to an open field to enjoy an afternoon picnic.

“It’s such a beautiful day!” Rarity said.

“Why, it sure is sugarcube!” Applejack replied, with a smile on her face.

“Oh-This picnic is going to be fun, Fun, FUN!” Pinkie said with glee.

______________________________________________________________________________________

            Her heart was racing, all she could hear was her wings flapping and feel the wind rushing through her mane. She looked back, and widened as she saw her pursuers. She gazed forward again, don’t look back she thought. She pushed herself further, trying to out-fly them.

______________________________________________________________________________________

            As Pinkie and her friends were setting up the picnic, Twilight gazed out at the beautiful view, Canterlot in the distance.

“Twilight….we’re coming for you…”

Who…what was that? She thought. She shook her head, trying to clear whatever fantasies she may have been having.

“Twilight, we know who you are.” said another voice.

Who are you? Get-Get out of my head! She yelled in her conscience.

            She saw in her head, all of her friends before her eyes, she saw dark, ominous clouds in the horizon behind them. A foggy mist quickly surrounded the five ponies, followed by screams and shrieks. Then the screams stop suddenly, leaving nothing but a cold chill as the wind wisped slightly. Then everything faded to black. Afterwards, the darkness changed into the Elements of Harmony, all of them side-by-side, glowing brightly. A cobblestone room was added into the picture as the Elements glowed. As she saw them side-by-side, a piercing light shone, the colors of the elements cascading into each other, then a loud burst of sound echoed off the walls. She then saw a horrifying sight. The Elements all shattered apart; broken fragments littered an aged cobblestone floor before her. After that, she saw a pair of red glowing eyes on the reflections of the Element fragments, staring into hers like wildfire.

“You and your friends will perish…” a voice said.

Stop! STOP! What…what is happening...to me? She thought.

            “Twilight? Twilight snap out of it!”

            Twilight shook her head; she looked up and saw Rainbow Dash standing before her. She looks really confused and scared. Dash thought.

            Twilight looked around, she saw that Celestia’s sun was still shining bright; she turned her head, and saw all of her friends looking at her with concern.

______________________________________________________________________________________

            She continued to flee from her pursuers, she looked back. She only saw her mane and clouds as she passed by. Whew, they’re gone! What a relief! She thought. Then she looked forward again, and to her surprise. Her pursuers were on both sides of her. One of them hit her hard on the side, causing her to have a jagged breath. The other hit her wing, causing her to spin out of control.

            “Ready to say goodbye, Ms. Stargazer?”

            Then with a final blunt hit on her side again, she flew downwards in a spiral. Unable to control her flying, she braced herself for a cold, hard landing on the ground.

            “Well…that takes care of her boss!”

            “Yes…it does.” Said one of the pegasi.

            “Boss? You don’t think we should…make sure the job is done?” The other hesitated.

            “Hmm, perhaps you are right.”

______________________________________________________________________________________

            “Ya’ll okay there Sug’?” Applejack said with a grim face.

            “I-I don’t know. I am okay for now though, we’ll all talk about it later. For now, let’s go on with the picnic, okay girls?”

            “Well, whatever makes you feel better darling!” Rarity said reassuringly.

            Then, off in the distance. They heard a loud crash. Followed by some groans and coughing. They looked at each other, without taking a second to retrieve all of their things; they all nodded, and then galloped off to discover the incident.

            As they arrived at the crash-site, they saw a trail of dirt, followed by blood and feathers. They followed the trail, until they came to a severely injured Pegasus pony. She had a white coat, with a light blue and orange mane that made her shine in the daylight. Her cutie mark was two grey clouds, with a light blue and orange lightning bolt, connecting the two clouds together in a flash of blue and orange. She had many cuts and bruises; her right wing was severely cut and was a bluish-purple color.

            “Oh, sweet Celestia, you poor thing!” Cried Fluttershy as she rushed to the unconscious pegasus’s side.

            “We have ta’ help her, right Twi? “ Applejack said.

            “Well of course we have to Applejack, you should know these things!” Rarity responded.

            “Ooh-Ooh, we should take her to the hospital and throw her a surprise party!” Pinkie said as she bounced upwards at the thought of a party, but then retaliated as her smile turned to a saddened frown to see the Pegasus so torn up.

            “That won’t be necessary.” said a voice behind her.

            The six ponies turned to see two broad pegasi; they both had a grey coat. Their cutie marks were covered by a symbol of some sort.

            “Now, step aside, and leave the Pegasus to us.” He said in a low tone.

            “Oh yeah? What’s it to you buddy?” Rainbow Dash retaliated in a serious tone.

            “Heh, how brave of you, I guess I have no choice...” He said. Then suddenly, he bucked Dash right in the face like a blur. Then he jumped on top of her, beating her with his hooves.

            Reacting quickly, Applejack quickly grabbed her lasso, and then wrapped up the other pegasi that was getting ready to attack Rarity. He then got pulled into a tight knot. Applejack pulled him close, bucked him into the other pegasi that was on RD. They both fell over RD, unable to react quickly enough; Applejack jumped near them and started to tie them up.

            Pinkie helped Dash up, then with a snort said “Wow, those ponies weren’t nice at all!”

            Twilight then thought to herself I could teleport Spike here to write a letter to Princess Celestia about this. Then she poured all her concentration into her horn. Purple sparks and a resonating essence were shining around her horn. Then with a flash, Spike appeared out of nowhere.

            “What, where am I? Twilight, what’s going on?” Spike said with confusion.

            “I’ll explain some other time. For now, take a letter Spike.”

            He readied his parchment and quill he luckily had with him.

            “Okay, shoot.”

“Dear Princess Celestia, I am writing to inform you of some pegasi that tried to kill an innocent pony, they have some sort of symbol on their flank, covering their cutie marks. I would like an explanation if you have one. These pegasi are very troublesome, they may be tied into some operation.”

            From your faithful student,

            Twilight Sparkle.

            “Okay, sending it.” Spike said.

            Then, a sparkle and green flame was shot into the air, the parchment disappearing with it.

            “Now then, to wait for Celestia to reply.” Twilight said, turning to her friends.

*Five minutes later*

Breaking the silence, a popping noise sounded from where Spike was followed by a green burst of fire, along with sparkles and a trail of smoke, then, a letter appeared before them. Picking it up, he cleared his throat, he read:

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

"I do know of these symbols you mentioned, but I cannot remember why. I am sending a pair of royal guards to escort those pegasi to the palace. I will speak with you and your friends later, but for now, I have business I need to attend to."

From your mentor,

Princess Celestia

______________________________________________________________________________________

The six friends and injured pegasus all wandered into Rainbow’s home. Carrying the pegasus on her back, Applejack escorted her to Rainbow’s bed, and laid her down gently.

“Um…excuse me Applejack, but I need to tend to her…umm, if that’s okay with you.” Fluttershy said rather quickly.

“Sure thing, ‘Shy!” she replied with a smile.

As the five other friends sat around, chatting about what happened, Twilight happened to say: “Girls, you know how earlier I just stood there blankly and you all had to snap me out of it?”

"Yeah, what happened Twilight? Were you going crazy or something?” Pinkie said, waving her hoofs around and made a crazy face.

“Well, I had some sort of vision and…there were these voices, saying they know who I am and that they would…kill you, my…friends...” She said, a tear streaming slowly down her face.

“Dear, it mustn’t be true, but I do not know.” Rarity said, looking at the floor.

“I know, but it felt so real, I couldn’t control my thoughts, my movement, it was as if I froze up.”

            “Well, we’re in a bit of a predicament.” Dash said.

            “Oh…my, Twilight, can you use magic to help treat wounds?” Fluttershy asked, poking her head out around the corner.

            “Well it is difficult, but it is possible.” She said with a sigh.

            After straining herself for treating the wounds, she sat by the unconscious Pegasus. Her thoughts took over her as she thought about the visions she had earlier. What could've those been about? Why would anypony want to do that? Oh, Sweet Celestia, if something is wrong with me, I hope it isn’t too bad. Twilight thought. She let out a depressing sigh, trying to take her mind off of it. As she was lost in her thoughts, she felt movement coming from the Pegasus. She turned to see the Pegasus finally coming to.

            “What? Where-Where am I? Are you…Twilight Sparkle?” The exhausted and confused Pegasus said.

            “Yes I am, hold on for a second.”

            She got up, and went out and motioned to her friends that the Pegasus was awake. They followed her into Rainbow’s room, where she was resting.

            “How are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked, comforting the still injured Pegasus.

            “I am doing okay, very sore though.” She replied.

            “Darling, it is so good to see that you are awake. Oh, where are my manners? I am Rarity, what is your name by any chance dear?” She asked.

            “My name is Sunspeed. Sunspeed Stargazer to be exact.” She said weakly.

            “You’re Sunspeed? I’ve heard about you in the Ponyville express newspaper!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

            “Have you? Well I am pleased to make your acquaintance.” She replied happily.

            “Why were ya’ in the newspaper, Sunspeed?” Applejack questioned.

            “Some problem in Trottingham was getting out of hand, so I lent a hoof. Turns out I helped out more than I thought.”

            “Interesting, so tell me, do you know why those pegasi were attacking you?” Twilight asked curiously, changing the subject.

            “I honestly have no idea, I encountered them back in Trottingham, and they have been pursuing me since then.”

            “Hmm, maybe Celestia will find out.” Twilight mumbled.

            “You were beat up bad! Luckily we taught those two ponies what for!” Dash said, clopping two hooves together.

            At that moment, a bright light filled the room. It was so bright; the seven ponies couldn’t shield their eyes from it. Then, with a resonating wave of ripples shooting out of the light, a vibrating and booming noise entered the home. Then it all disappeared as Princess Celestia appeared before them.

            Surprised and shocked, they all bowed almost immediately, all save for Sunspeed, who was still lying in bed.

“Princess, what brings you here?” Twilight said with a beat of happiness.

“I am here to inform you with some unfortunate and shocking news. Those pegasi you stopped Twilight were part of an organization: The SDEH, otherwise known as the Society of Deceiving Element Harmonics. You see, a couple decades before Luna was imprisoned on the moon for a thousand years, they tried to destroy the Elements, and almost succeeded, after their defeat, they were forgotten about almost immediately, I am afraid I was too blind to see that they recovered. They always try to cause havoc; I think they’re after the Elements of Harmony again, and Sunspeed. I know that this is big news, but you must find a safe place to live, Ponyville is no longer safe for you all.”

“What? Where will we go?” They all said in unison.

“Hoofsdale, a town in southern Equestria, it is blanketed with snow. I have a friend there who can help, her name is Starstride. She will provide you with a place to stay and such; I suggest you all prepare to leave in the early morning tomorrow. You have time today to gather your things and say your goodbyes.”

“Okay, we will Princess. Look after Spike for me, he is too young for this adventure.” Twilight said grimly.

“I will treat him like you always have done. Don’t worry my student, now if you’ll all excuse me, I have even more important duties to attend to.”

“Farewell, Princess.” Everypony said.

*Hours later*

“Okay everypony, Ah think it’s time ta’ hit the hay, G’night!” Applejack said with a yawn.

“I agree, we do have quite a day ahead of us.” Rarity replied, rubbing a hoof on her neck.

“Yeah, it’s best if we are prepared for tomorrow, goodnight everypony, sleep well.” Twilight said as she stood up.

After saying their goodnights, they all went to bed. All of them slept uneasily that night. Wondering why the organization wanted to destroy the Elements of Harmony. As they all cringed at the thought of someone trying to hunt them down, they all got comfortable and relaxed in their beds and prepared for the big day ahead.