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                         The Fall                          
                       -by KobaloiJ-                       
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                    Prelude to Disaster                    
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Prelude to Disaster
The Fall
Chapter One: Prelude to Disaster
Twilight Sparkle slowly sat up, disturbing the puddle of tears forming around her. She was huddled in between two stone statues, created just under a month ago. One was of a baby dragon, whose life was lived both as her assistant and confidante. The other, of a pegasus: Twilight's only fillyhood friend, known worldwide for her action-packed adventures, a pegasus even more famous than the Wonderbolts themselves.
No, I won't cry any longer. She looked up at the two statues, wiping away tears. For them.
-----(Just under) one month ago-----
Twilight Sparkle sat on a bench, back hooves dangling over the edge, in an attempt to imitate the unicorn across from her. This is so uncomfortable! How does Lyra even sit like this?!?
"Well, that's new." Twilight looked quickly to the left to find a pony wearing a pitch-black, skintight outfit, much like Mare-Do-Well's, but without any purple.
"Oh, there you are." Twilight said to the black figure walking up to her. "So, did you find out anything?"
"Not much," replied the shady figure moving in to sit next to Twilight, "but whatever it is, it's connected to the Orbs."
Twilight adjusted her position, due to being both uncomfortable and agitated. "Well, at least you got something. Nothing in my library seems to cover it." Twilight sighed and got up off of the bench. "Oh well, I'll see you later. Same time, two weeks from now?"
The dark figure said nothing, simply removing herself from the bench and walking away. Twilight began to walk back to the library when a certain rainbow-maned pegasus flew over.
"Hey, Twilight."
Twilight said nothing, lost in her own thoughts. Thoughts of the mysterious pony, thoughts of the Orbs, thoughts of the-
"Twilight!"
"Huh?" was Twilight's response as she snapped back into reality. "Oh, hi, Rainbow. What are you-"
"Who was that at the bench?" Rainbow Dash cut her off midsentence, her own curiosity overcoming her (lack of) common courtesy.
Twilight was slightly annoyed by Rainbow, but didn't let it show in her features. "Oh, just an old friend from Canterlot. She-"
"So what were you two talking about?" asked Rainbow, interrupting her unicorn friend for the second time in 9 seconds flat.
Twilight wasn't going to let her annoyance known, knowing Rainbow would just get defensive and fly off in an instant. "Oh, just catching up on things," she replied.
A few minutes (and many 'you-didn't-have-any-friends-before-Ponyville' comments and ridiculous questions) later, the two arrived at the Ponyville library. The door was unlocked, so Twilight and her cyan friend walked in without the need to bother Spike. Twilight all but ignored Rainbow Dash, and walked over to her study table, a pile of books and a checklist of the books next to two open books and several scrolls covered in notes.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Rainbow decided to speak up. "So, uh, did you forget about th-"
"Wah!" screamed the unicorn, jumping back and hitting a nearby shelf, causing an assortment of books to fall down and conveniently hit her right on the head before hitting the floor.
Rainbow stifled her laughter and flew over to her friend. "You okay, Twi?"
It took a few seconds for the dazed unicorn to realise what had happened. "Rainbow? Oh, I thought you left."
That sentence was just too much for the pegasus, and she collapsed on the ground in a fit of laughter. "BA-HAHAHAHA!"
"Oh, haha. Very funny." Twilight got up and shot her friend a quitlaughingbeforeIthrowyouintoawall look, but her seriousness just caused her friend to start another laughing fit. "And no, I didn't forget. Here you go," she floated a book over and dropped it right onto Rainbow's head, "your very own Daring Do biography, brand new, as of last week."
At the mention of her long-awaited book, Rainbow Dash slowly ended her laughter with a few quiet coughs to play it off. "Haha, yeah, um," Rainbow plopped down in front of the book, opening it to a random page, "thanks, Twi."
A few hours of intense pictureless reading (and skipping pages that didn't involve her adventures) later, Rainbow reached a part of the last paragraph that were so interesting, she read it a whole two times.
"Daring Do was last spotted at the Equestria Libraria in Canterlot a week before the changeling incident, and..."
Twilight was precariously perched on a ladder, reaching for a book that was just far enough for her to not be able to reach it, but close enough for her to not feel the need to use magic. So close... If only I could-
"Hey, Twilight! I need a map of Canterlot!"
Hmmm, Twilight thought, Rainbow's so good at interrupting me, she can cut me off mid-thought. "Yeah, sure, here you go," she said as she floated a map over to the overly excited pegasus.
"OkayI'mgonnagonowthanksTwilightBYE!" Rainbow flew out through the library door, promptly slamming it shut as hard as she possibly could, giving Twilight the last push she needed to reach her book, and moments later, fall flat to the ground.
Rainbow was so caught up in reading her Daring Do book, she hadn't realised just how dark it was outside. Ugh, I can't even SEE Canterlot... she fumed silently, and flew back towards her cloud house. Moments after flinging herself into bed, her excitement aided her body into falling asleep as fast as it could, dreams of meeting one of her idols flooding her thoughts throughout the night.
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Rainbow woke up even more excited than she was the night before. Alright, time to fly out to Canterlot and... Her thought process trailed off as she noticed just how early she woke, the sunrise breathtaking from her high vantage point. The view would have been enough to stop any pony dead in their tracks to admire it, but then again, Rainbow Dash wasn't just any pony. The pegasus completely ignored the view and took off, headed straight for Canterlot.
Landing near the most noticeable landmark, a certain unmistakable castle, Rainbow easily drew a mental path to the Equestria Libraria after momentarily glancing at the map. With her path and mind set, she flew off towards her target.
Hmm, this can't be right... thought Rainbow as she landed in a patch of grass, the map says it should be RIGHT here. She flew around for a little while, hoping she could find the library. After a whole painstakingly boring half minute of searching, she decided to go back to where the map said the library was. Might as well look around this pile of junk.
The frustrated pegasus walked up and looked around before noticing 3 broken parts to a shattered wooden sign. After putting the three parts together, she read:
FC UESTRI/
I IBRARI-
Rainbow dropped the chunks of broken sign, backing up slowly, eyes wide in horror. No, this can't be it. It can't be. But despite herself, she found herself staring at the ruins of a once-great stone library, her only lead on the great adventurer.
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"UGH!" Rainbow yelled in frustration, sick and tired of searching for a hint as to Daring's whereabouts. "There's got to be a clue in here somewhere!"
"Did somepony say clue?"
"Wha- Oh, hey, Pinkie Pie." Rainbow said, more or less used to Pinkie appearing out of thin air. "When did you get here?"
"Well..." Pinkie started, "I was in Ponyville going over to Sugarcube Corner to make a carrot cake from carrots I got from Carrot Top's garden, and then I saw you flying really really fast out of Ponyville and I thought, 'Why's she flying away so fast? Did she get in a fight with somepony?' And the thought of you being angry at somepony made me so sad, so I followed you here to make sure nothing was wrong, and then-"
Rainbow cut her off with a hoof in the mouth. "Pinkie, I'm not mad at anypony, so you can go back to Ponyville now."
"Oh, but I can't go back now! You're looking for clues and so Detective Pinkie is here to help you!" and with that, Pinkie Pie donned her detective outfit that seemingly appeared out of thin air. "And then after we find a clue, we can go back to Ponyville and throw a super duper spectacularific party, and there'll be muffins and cupcakes and-"
Pinkie was once again cut off with a hoof shoved in her mouth. "You're not gonna leave until we find a clue, are you?" The pink menace nodded so fast, her hair smacked her in the face a few times, and Rainbow's hoof flew out of her mouth. The pegasus lowered her head and let out a long sigh of defeat. "Okay, fine. But if we don't find anything in ten minu-"
"Oooh, what's this?"
Rainbow turned around and saw Pinkie glaring at a wall, ready to pounce at any moment. She ignored Pinkie's Pinkie-ness and set out on her own, wishing to stay as far away from her as possible.
"Hey, Dashie! C'mere! I found something! Well, I dunno if it's something, but it's definitely something, y'know what I mean? Then again, it might not be..."
Dash had no choice but to succumb to the unholy terror that is an excited Pinkie Pie. "What is it, Pinkie?" Dash tried not to let her frustration known to the pink fluff next to her.
"something, but it's definitely not nothing, and if it's not nothing, then that means it's something, right? Or would that make it anythi-"
Pinkie was cut off as Dash's hoof once again entered her mouth. It tasted even worse than the other two times, kinda like oatmeal dipped in dirt and smeared in lots and lots of burnt potato skins.
"Pinkie, mind telling me what it IS you found?" Rainbow let her hoof out of Pinkie's mouth and walked over to the wall, examining it and finding nothing interesting.
"Oh, yeah!" The pony bounded over and sat next to Rainbow, "see this brick riiight here? It's bluer than the other ones! I mean, all of them are kinda blue, but this one's even bluer!" and at that, she made an almost ridiculously smug face.
Rainbow looked at it a little, and compared it to a few of the nearby bricks. Pinkie was right, it had just a LITTLE bit more blue-ness to it. Bringing forth her vast knowledge on bricks being different from other bricks, she raised one hoof and...
Poked it.
The bluer-than-the-others brick slid back into the wall and did absolutely nothing.
Rainbow looked at the decidedly stupid wall and said, "Well, that was a waste of ti-"
Just then, the floor underneath the two mares slid back and revealed a deep pit. Rainbow and Pinkie plummeted for an entire second or two, maybe three, Pinkie giggling the whole way, before hitting the ground below with simultaneous thumps.
"Ouch, mean ground!" Pinkie got up and looked at her detective outfit,noticing an itsy bitsy teeny weeny almost unnoticeable tear. "Awwww, my outfit! Bad ground, bad!" Pinkie tore off her completely ruined outfit and punched the ground as its punishment.
Looking around, Pinkie noticed they had fallen into a cave underneath Canterlot. Looking around even more, she found an entrance into a cave tunnel thingy. "C'mon Rainbow, let's go!" she bounced over towards the entrance before looking back at Rainbow.
She saw the pegasus crumpled next to a large, kinda pointy but not really pointy rock, one wing tucked up against her side, the other resting on the large, kinda pointy but not really pointy rock, bent sharply over the edge. Pinkie walked over to her cyan friend and nudged her a little bit. "Rainbow?" No response. "C'mon Dashie, wake up!" Pinkie was shaking the pegasus's shoulders frantically now, tears in her eyes from seeing her unconscious friend.
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"Uuuhhhh..." Rainbow groaned as she woke up on cold, hard ground. Slowly getting up, she looked around and found herself in a dark cave. Where am I? Something brushed up against her legs and she instantly spread her wings to fly away. When she did, however, she collapsed from a sharp pain in her right wing. "AAAHHHHH!" It took all her willpower to fight back tears, the pain worse than the time she nuked Applejack's barn. After regaining her composure, she looked at her wing, wrapped in colorful, dominantly pink, streamers that formed makeshift bandages.
"Dashie! You're awake!" was all she heard before being thrown to the ground in a massive tackle-hug. Thankfully, she didn't land on her wing, and no other part of her was hurt.
"Oh, when I saw you sleeping on the floor I was like, 'Why is Dashie sleeping on the floor? She's such a silly willy.' But then I went over and I saw your wing and I was like, 'Oh no! Her wing!'"
Rainbow was completely confused. First, her wing was broken. Second, she was in a cave. Third, Pinkie was being, well... Pinkie.
"So then I cried and cried and then I got my handy dandy party cannon and wrapped your wing in streamers so it wouldn't hurt but then you were still asleep so I fell asleep next to you 'cause it's kinda cold in here and you were pretty warm but then you were like 'AAAHHHHH!'"
Rainbow tuned Pinkie out at around 'handy dandy', choosing to look around instead of trying to make sense out of whatever it was she was talking about.
"And then I woke up and then I was so happy so I tackled you and now we're here and I'm so happy, well not happy that we're in here, but happy that you're awake again, 'cause I was so worried you wouldn't wake up again and that would've been so sad and I don't know what I would've done and-"
Rainbow's hoof tasted even worse than the third time. Now, it tasted like burnt banana peels sprinkled with deep-fried rocks and dipped in a giant bowl of mud and hair. How she knew what that tasted like, the world may never know.
"Pinkie, how about we go and look around in here?" Rainbow motioned over towards the entrance to the tunnel-thingy-whatever-it-was.
"Mmm hmm," was all Pinkie could 'say' before Rainbow withdrew her hoof, "and then when we get out, I'll throw us a big 'yay-we-got-out-of-the-dark-cold-spooky-cave' party!"
After a whole three minutes of walking, Rainbow was sick and tired of being sick and tired. She was sick and tired of Pinkie talking about who-knows-what, of not being able to fly, of the dull, aching pain in her wing, of being hungry, of-
"Oooh! A sandwich!" Pinkie bounced over to a sandwich wrapped in a shiny little bag, lying on the floor next to a wall of the cave.
"Umm, Pinkie, I don't think you should eat that," Rainbow walked up to Pinkie and looked at the sandwich, "I mean, a perfectly good sandwich in a cave like this IS kinda weird..."
"That's crazy talk. A sandwich is a sandwich!" and with her mind made up, Pinkie threw the entire thing into her mouth... And disappeared in a cloud of dull blue smoke.
"Pinkie?!?" Rainbow called, waving a hoof through the smoke, "PINKIE!!!"
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Twilight Sparkle was reading Trigonometry Tools for Totally Tubular Toads, which, despite having 'Trigonometry' in its name, was actually about the anatomy of toads, when a dull blue cloud appeared next to her. She waved a hoof through the cloud, and touched something wet and warm. "Ahh!" she yelled, more out of surprise than anything else, and retracted her hoof.
Pinkie swallowed half the sandwich and was licking her lips to get any crumbs when a violet hoof poked her tongue. It tasted like paper and strawberries, or strawberry paper... something like that. The hoof retreated as quickly as it appeared, and was accompanied by a surprised yell. She poked her head out of the blue smoky thingy she was in and yelled, "Oh, hi Twilight!" before tackling the unicorn and giving her a great big Pinkie Pie hug. "Your hoof tastes like paper strawberries."
Twilight looked up at Pinkie more confused than ever. Sure, Pinkie could be in two places at once, and float, and had Pinkie Sense, and could run faster than Rainbow Dash could fly, and could grow extra limbs and stretch them into ridiculous lengths, but she had never seen Pinkie teleport before.
"Um, Pinkie? How'd you get here?" Twilight struggled to get out of Pinkie's death hug, and fell to the floor once she was released.
"Wait, what?" Pinkie was looking around and found herself in Twilight's library. "I dunno, I just ate this sandwich and then there was this big blue smoky thingy around me and- Hey!"
Twilight 'stole' Pinkie's beloved sandwich, floating it over to a nearby table. "Okay, I'll have to look into this. Where'd you find it?"
"On the ground in a cave." Twilight facehoofed and went over to start her new research, finding a book entitled Magical Monstrosities Made of Mundane Meals.
Pinkie, however, was determined to make as many delicious treats as she could, scouring Twilight's kitchen and finding absolutely nothing she could use.
"Pinkie?" Twilight called out to her mischievous friend, not once looking up from her book.
Pinkie, of course, bounced over as happy as ever, but still kinda hungry. "Yes, Twilight?" she bounced around the unicorn, not bumping into anything despite her eyes being closed.
"Well... According to this book, that sandwich over there," Twilight nodded at the sandwich to her left, "slowly consumes your cutie mark and coat color... and then slowly eats away at you, from the inside out..." Normally, the thought of being eaten by food would've made the pink pony collapse in a giggle fit, but Pinkie slowly stopped bouncing as Twilight spoke, her smile fading and eyes losing their shine. "... and the only cure is a dragon's tooth crushed into a cauldron of pure gold."
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Rainbow Dash was huddled in a corner opposite the wall where Pinkie was just minutes ago, stroking her dirty tail in an attempt to calm herself. "Okay, Rainbow, everything's okay. You just need to get out of here and find Twilight, she'll know what to do," Rainbow started slowly calming down, "she'll know what to do."
"Hello, Rainbow Dash. I've been expecting you."
"AAAHHHHHH!" Rainbow screamed, spreading her wings and- "AAHHH!" collapsed on the floor in pain, before kicking out with her hindlegs and running as fast as she could.
"Rainbow, wait!" a voice called out to her, fading into nothing as Rainbow made her escape.
Moments later, Rainbow reached the end of the tunnel. A dark red glow emanated from the wall in front of her in three spots: two triangular holes near the top of the wall, and another jagged curve underneath. Rainbow, in her panic, saw it not as a few glowing holes, but as a demonic face, ready to consume her should she get any closer. She backed up slowly from the demon in front of her, only to bump into something behind her.
She yelped in surprise and looked back at a pitch-black figure in front of her, slightly illuminated by the glow of the demon behind them. Rainbow hung her head in defeat, no way to escape from both the shadowy figure AND the monstrosity behind her. "Okay, you got me..."
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Pinkie sat next to Twilight, deep in thought. "Well..." she started, "we can get a tooth from Spike, and we can melt some bits for the gold!"
"No, that won't work," the intelligent unicorn explained, "Bits are silver and just painted gold so everypony thinks they're worth more than they really are." Somewhere, deep in Canterlot, a royal giggle was heard by an unflinching guard.
"I heard my name," Twilight's dragon assistant entered the room, carrying a pile of books, "what are you two talking about?"
Twilight ran right up to Spike with a very creepy and expectant smile on her face, causing the baby dragon to jump back and drop his books. "Oh, nothing. Heeeyyyyy, Spike, doyouhaveanylooseteeth?"
Spike decided not to question the creepy unicorn, instead opening his mouth and pointing at one, very slightly, loose tooth. "Weh, thish wah is shorta loosh, uh noh rea- Ow!"
"Thanks, Spike!" the unicorn went from downright creepy to smug and happy as she placed the tooth into her saddlebags. "Pinkie and I are gonna go to... somewhere, make sure you clean up this mess." Twilight waved a hoof towards the books she caused Spike to drop.
Spike didn't have time to respond before the two ridiculous ponies were already outside. Mumbling incoherently, he shelved the books and went to sleep.
"Well, that was easy." Twilight was hopping alongside Pinkie, happy that they already had one of the ingredients they needed. "Now, where can we find some gold?"
"Oh oh oh! Pick me! Pick me! I bet Rarity has some!" the exuberant pony exclaimed, bounding off towards Carousel Boutique.
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The dark figure loomed over Rainbow Dash, who was now curled up in a ball, keeping her eyes shut tight in preparation for whatever was about to happen.
"... Rainbow." Rainbow Dash felt a hoof on her shoulder, and looked up to see the monster in front of her. Although, after actually eying the creature, she realised it was just a pony wearing a pitch-black outfit, and could tell by its form that it was a mare. Her mind suddenly flashed back to the previous day, when Twilight and the other pony were talking, though it didn't ease her mind to know the unicorn was friendly with the stranger. Twilight was nice to everypony, even Trixie.
"Y-yes?" was all Rainbow managed to squeeze out of herself.
Then, the black pony in front of her reached up to the back of her neck, and pulled back with a zip, the outfit loosening just a little bit. The mare then reached up to her head, and in one quick movement, removed the entire outfit to reveal the mustard-yellow pegasus within.
"D-D-D-" Rainbow stuttered as the other pegasus drew closer, revealing her spiky gray mane and compass rose cutie mark. "D-D-D- ahhhh..." The cyan pegasus passed out on the cave floor, a goofy grin plastered on her face.
"That went well," the pegasus muttered as she lifted Rainbow Dash onto her back, walking over to the 'demonic face' Rainbow was terrified of earlier. She pulled a strand of the lightest shade of gray hair she had, and placed it into the jagged curve that made up the 'mouth'. The 'mouth' then opened wide enough for her and Rainbow to just barely squeeze into, and shut itself promptly after the two were inside.
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Rainbow Dash woke up slowly, but after several minutes of staring up at nothing, she noticed a few things. For one thing, she didn't know whether or not she was staring 'up', for no matter where she looked, everything was white and gray. She was also incredibly comfortable and in pain at the same time. She got up slowly and spread her wings to fly out into the bright nothingness, and cried out as pain shot up her right wing. The mare decided right then and there that she was gonna get out of this ridiculously comfortable place... or thing, whatever. Steeling herself for whatever lay ahead, she pushed through the soft, white and gray thing, and immediately fell onto a cold, tiled floor, a surprised yelp escaping her mouth.
The confused pegasus looked around and found herself in an almost ridiculously large bedroom. A certain giant cloud she had fallen from served as the bed, though it was almost as large as the Cutie Mark Crusaders' entire clubhouse. Apart from some vending machines and a large black marble fountain adorned with a multitude of statues, the room was empty. She looked around for an exit and found a silver double door with designs etched in gold. Who the buck can AFFORD all this? she thought while walking over to the door.
Rainbow found herself gazing up at the elegant DOOR, and quickly shook her head to regain her composure. After all, the coolest pegasus in Equestria wasn't to be impressed by a simple DOOR. Hah! Just the thought made her laugh. And so, she walked up to open the door... and found it opening by itself.
The coolest, most amazing pegasus in ALL of Equestria let out a quiet squeak that put all of Fluttershy's to shame, and looked for a place to hide. The fact that the room was almost completely bare didn't help, and she had to just buck up and face the terrible, living door... without her wings... while she had NO energy... and didn't even know how to fight a DOOR...
"Rainbow? You up?" called a concerned voice. Rainbow couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but she could've sworn she heard that voice somewhere before... She thought about it for a few seconds, and all the memories from the previous day flooded through. Wait... So, if I woke up here, that means... she thought, just as a spiky-maned pegasus entered through the doorway.
Rainbow instantly let out a high-pitched squeal that she normally would've beat herself up over, but she was too busy tackle-hugging the other mare to care. "Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmiGOSH DARI-"
"Yeah, yeah. Okay, enough hugging," the (obviously annoyed) pegasus said, shooting Rainbow a heroic pose that caused the fangirl to squeal even louder and run over for another hug.
She was cut short, however, as her idol lifted a hoof, and came skidding to a halt to bounce around the pegasus, Pinkie Pie style.
"Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh!" Rainbow practically screamed, bouncing around as her previous day's target walked into another room, smaller and more furnished than the previous. She then realised how absolutely ridiculous she was, and tried to play it off with a few coughs and a flick of her mane. "Ahem, I mean, um..." Her voice trailed off as her stomach growled furiously, reminding her that she hadn't eaten for almost two days. She gave her new 'companion' a sheepish grin as she struggled for a way to talk. "S-so, um... You got any... uh... food? Yeah, food! That's it."
With an over-exaggerated roll of her eyes, the other mare pointed a hoof at a buffet table covered in all types of food: waffles, sandwiches, salads, fruits, pies, donuts, danishes, crepes, cakes, cupcakes, sarsaparilla, cider, and so, so much more. "Dig in," was all Rainbow needed to hear to run off towards the table and stuff her face full of so much food, she almost couldn't chew at all and some of it plopped right out of her mouth and onto the shiny linoleum floor below.
After stuffing her face for a solid twenty minutes, she hobbled over to her hostess, who was reading some scrolls or whatever, with a thick stone tablet next to her.
"So, uhm, Daring... What's, uh..." Rainbow desperately tried to strike up a conversation, looking around and focusing on the stone tablet. "What's that say?" she said, unable to lift a single hoof, her food coma settling in.
"Hmm? Oh, it says, 'She who creates dragon's gold, will bring about terror untold,'" Daring replied, not looking up from her scrolls.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I dunno."
Ranbow almost panicked; her conversation was falling apart way too soon. "So, um... What're you doing?"
"Waiting for you to digest the food you inhaled, then we're going to see Twilight."
Rainbow was freaking out now. Not only did her idol seem uninterested in talking to her, but she'd rather talk to Twilight, an egghead, instead of totally awesome and cool Rainbow Dash. So instead of thinking too much, she let her food coma take over and settled into a deep, dreamless sleep.
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"I'm terribly sorry girls, but I haven't had any gold to work with in weeks! I haven't been able to finish any of my dresses!" she cried, pointing a hoof towards several dresses, all devoid of gold lace or gold earrings or gold whatevers. "Oh, it's just the WORST. POSSI-"
"Yeah, I'm just gonna stop you right there, Rarity." Twilight frantically crushed Rarity's overly-dramatic act. "But do you know if anypony else has any gold?"
The living marshmallow named 'Rarity' thought for a second, then nodded and nonchalantly waved a hoof around. "Yes, I'm sure Applejack has some, what with all those rodeo trophies and-"
"Kthanksbye! C'monTwilightlet'sgo!" Pinkie practically threw Twilight out of the boutique and dragged her off to Sweet Apple Acres.
Many a moment later...
"Sorry Twilight, Ah sell all mah trophies to help fix up the farm." Applejack vaguely waved a hoof at some rusty equipment and cracked barrels piled up against a barn missing a door and part of a wall.
"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm sure we can find somepony who has some spare-"
"Okayc'monTwilightlet'sgo!" Pinkie launched herself at Twilight, grabbing one of her hooves and pulling her towards Ponyville.
Once the two reached their destination, Pinkie finally released Twilight from her death grip.
"What was that all about, Pinkie?" Twilight was rubbing her hoof to relieve the pain, even though it didn't really help at all.
"Oh, yeah!" Pinkie nodded her head towards her flank, "my cutie mark is kinda almost not there anymore so we really need to hurry before I lose my color 'cause I don't wanna be gray I mean I was already gray once before but that was differe-"
"Well in that case, maybe we should go find some gold." Spending almost the whole day with Pinkie was a very... taxing experience, and Twilight was about to snap. Although, most of the annoyance she had turned to concern when she had to squint and look really closely to see Pinkie's cutie mark.
"Oh yeah I forgot about that, let's go!" and with that, Pinkie bounced over to a jewelry store she somehow knew was open and sold gold necklaces.
A few moments later...
"What do you mean, 'not real gold'?!?" Twilight turned all her concern and annoyance into pure anger at the jewelry store owner.
"Well, they DO look like pure gold, and cost 50% less than REAL gold. Like killing two birds with one stone, as I always say."
Twilight was sick and tired of their search for gold. Mostly tired, though. So tired that all her anger made her more tired and she gave up on finding any gold. Hanging her head, she turned to her slightly-less-pink-than-normal friend. "Come on Pinkie, let's go."
"Awww, but it's not even dark out and I'm so hungry and- oh is that why we're going? Where are we gonna go? I kinda feel like eating a- Hi Zecora!" the pink party pony pranced up to the zebra.
"Oh, hello, Pinkie Pie. Hello, Twilight."
Twilight just sat there, staring at Zecora as if she were some kind of ancient magic book.
"Twilight, what is the reason why you stare? I thought you were used to my striped hair."
Just then, Twilight grinned the grinniest of grins. A grin so grinny, it rivaled even Pinkie's grinny grins. "Heeeyyyyyy, Zecooorrrraaaaa... CanIhaveoneofthoseringsonyourneck?!?"
Zecora looked at her neck, then to Twilight, then to her neck again. "Ahh, a golden ring is what you seek. But, all these rings are mine to keep."
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"Wonder where she could be..." Daring pondered. Laying relaxedly, doodling on a Daring Do and the Mysterious Artifact book, she seemed to be in no hurry at all.
Rainbow, on the other hand, was the epitome of impatient. She was flying around in circles, grunting progressively louder every few seconds, as if making sure Daring knew how annoyed she was was more important than even napping.
Maybe fixing up her wing wasn't the BEST idea... Daring mulled. Now that Rainbow was free to fly, she seemed to make it a point to bump into absolutely everything that could possibly fall, be it a book or a cup or even an entire shelf.
Daring was sick of the flying menace, and with a simple "Hey," Rainbow stopped flying and rushed over to Daring, a hopeful shine in her eye.
"Umm, maybe you should... I dunno, look for her?"
Rainbow really wanted to stay with the second-most amazing pony in Equestria- right behind her, of course- "But-"
"I can't go wandering around, ponies will recognize me and I'd never get anywhere." When Rainbow hesitated, Daring felt her vast stores of patience running low. "Now go and ask around, somepony's bound to know where she is."
"Ugh, fine..." the overly-energetic pegasus hung her head, but decided to buck up and take one for the team.
Approximately one hour, twenty-seven minutes, fifty-six seconds, and one stereotypical crash into a bookshelf later...
"Sorry Daring, couldn't find her." Now was Rainbow's chance to actually talk to Daring! Nothing stood in her way. Daring looked ridiculously bored, and was even flying around looking for something to do. "So, anyways. You wanna-"
"Shh!" Daring spun around, listening intently. "Did you hear that?"
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"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE ALL YOURS!" Twilight yelled, finally breaking into full-on rage mode, "WE NEED ONE TO-" the purple unicorn cut herself off, looking at Zecora's hut. When did we get here? I don't remember coming over here... She then realised how she'd been acting and smiled sheepishly at the zebra, suddenly interested in the dirt beneath her hoof. "Oh, um... sorry about that."
Zecora simply chuckled and let the two (strange) ponies in. "Here is a ring for Pinkie's potion, but what has set these events in motion?"
Twilight blinked a few times after hearing that. Have I really been yelling the SAME THING all this time? Twilight shrunk back a little, now interested in a little speck of dirt on the floor of the hut.
"Oh, I know!" Pinkie proudly stated, head held high. "I was in a cave and saw this SUPER-delicious-looking sandwich, and I was sooo hungry, so I ate it and then I was at Twilight's and then she rea-" Pinkie was suddenly really confused. Did Rainbow Dash and Twilight want her to eat their hooves or something? And Twilight's hooves didn't taste like strawberry paper anymore, but more like... dirt and juniper berries, or something.
Zecora couldn't help but chuckle a little and shake her head a few times. "Haha! Eating off the floor, silly you, is something that you should not do."
"Yeah, well, anyways..." Twilight lost interest in the floor now, stepping forward a little bit. "Do you mind making this? I really don't wanna mess anything up..."
With a nod, Zecora took Twilight's Magical Monstrosities Made of Mundane Meals book and opened it to the bookmarked page. She then melted one of her pure gold rings in the cauldron and went over to a mortar and pestle to crush Spike's tooth. After the tooth was a nice, white, cocaine-like sugar-like powder, she poured it into the gold, stirred clockwise 4 times, counter-clockwise thrice, and spit into it.
The cauldron glew a faint beige, quickly spreading outwards from the dragon's gold inside. As the beige sphere spread outwards, everything left in its wake was turned gray, lifeless, and still. Time slowed to a halt within the ever-increasing confines of the sphere, leaving Zecora, Twilight, and a floating Pinkie Pie lifeless and still.
(>     )> (>     <) <(     <) <(     )> (>     )> (>     <) <(     <) <(     )> (>     )> (>     <) <(     <) <(     )>
"Sorry Daring, couldn't find her." Now was Rainbow's chance to actually talk to Daring! Nothing stood in her way. Daring looked ridiculously bored, and was even flying around looking for something to do. "So, anyways. You wanna-"
"Shh!" Daring spun around, listening intently. "Did you hear that?" She noticed, outside the window, a beige ball growing from somewhere in the Everfree Forest. She knew what she had to do, but first she had to save Rainbow Dash.
"No, I didn't he-" Rainbow flew back as Daring tackled her to the ground and shoved a bright red ball into her mouth.
"Quick, you need to-" and then Daring was encompassed by a wall of energy that passed right through Dash, leaving her stranded underneath one of her idols. At first, Rainbow thought Daring was just being weird, but realised that she had gone cold, eyes unblinking, and no matter what the pegasus did, wouldn't move an inch.
"Daring?!?" the lone mare gazed into the white, empty eyes of her new acquaintance. "DAAARRRRRIIIIIINNNNG!"

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                   Beginning of the End                    
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Beginning of the End
The Fall
Chapter Two: Beginning of the End
Daring Do woke with a start. Brown and gray wisps seeped from her ears and nose for a few moments before disintegrating completely into the air above her. Slowly rising from her place on a rough hill, she looked towards a small, wooden temple. Deciding she had no idea where she was and had nowhere else to go, she flew over and tentatively opened a small, rotting door.
Twilight and her friends, excluding Rainbow Dash, were gathered in a loose circle near a copper fountain oozing liquid chocolate. Pinkie, of course, had her face shoved in the delicious fluid, not a care in the world. Rarity and Applejack were trying to comfort a weeping Fluttershy,  while Twilight was watching a gray-maned pegasus, who was cautiously approaching the small group.
"Hey, Twilight," Daring greeted her old friend. "Do you-"
Pinkie, hearing a new voice, tackled the pegasus, somehow shaking any excess chocolate out of her mane in the process. "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie! Who are you!"
"I'm Da-" was all she managed before Pinkie started talking again.
"Hi Da, you look really familiar! You kinda remind of my friend, Rainbow Dash! She isn't here, though, but I- mmph!" Twilight shoved a hoof in Pinkie's mouth before she could continue with whatever it was she was going to say.
"What did you say your name was?" Rarity questioned, stepping forward just a bit.
"Oh, I'm Daring," she scanned the area, noticing some tall shelves and a few benches. "So, anypony know where we are?"
Twilight stepped forward and looked straight at the newcomer. "I'm not sure, but we should split up and look for a way out," she glanced to her left and flicked her head towards one of the shelves.
Before letting anypony respond, she turned and walked away, looking around nonchalantly. The other ponies dispersed, each going in a random direction. Twilight found she couldn't use even the simplest magic, and Daring was grounded as she couldn't fly.
"So, Twilight..." Daring said, inching closer to the unicorn. "Any ideas?"
Twilight hung her head and sighed. "No, I can't even use magic! And where's Rainbow Dash, anyways?"
"Oh, she's safe," Daring explained, "I saved her before the-"
"Wait, you saved her?"
She nodded.
"Couldn't you have saved yourself, too?"
The pegasus paused for a second and facehoofed, maybe just a little too hard. "Oh, DUH! I didn't even think about that!" She started to walk off and looked around, "Oh well, I'm sure we can-"
Daring was cut off as she was enveloped in a blinding blue light. Twilight backed up and lifted a hoof to her eyes, squinting to see what was happening. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the light vanished, taking Daring with it.
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Rainbow struggled to free herself from underneath Daring, but no matter how hard she tried, the gray pegasus wouldn't budge. Time for Plan B, Rainbow thought, moving on to desperate measures: moving herself instead of Daring.
Plan B was surprisingly easy, as Rainbow only needed to twist a little bit and scoot away from the stone statue. No, not stone... she realised after giving it a tentative nudge. Just, not moving... and gray. She looked around to find a similar theme all around the library. Gray walls, gray books, gray furniture, even Rainbow's saddlebags were gray. She glided over to her bags, determined to eat some of the snacks she snuck out from Daring's place. Upon reaching them, however, she found that her bags would not open.
The pegasus, now frustrated that she couldn't eat an apple fritter or two, walked up to Daring, eying her saddlebags. Just as she was about to reach them, Owloysius flew over and opened the bags, flying off without a word. Shrugging ever so slightly, she looked into the first bag and saw some scrolls and boring whatevers that weren't interesting at all. She flew over to Daring's other side and checked the bag. In it were four colourful balls amidst the grayness: one blue, one green, one yellow, and one purple.
Using her amazing memory, she deduced they must be some kind of cure or something-or-other against being gray and lifeless. And so, her mind made up, the pegasus shoved the blue ball deep into her compadre's mouth, immediately dissolving and releasing a bright blue light that dissipated throughout her entire body.
Daring then walked off, her bags floating still in the air behind her. "...figure out a..." her voice faded off as she noticed just where she was. Huh, she thought. Guess Dash isn't as dense as Twilight says. "Alright Rainbo-"
Rainbow tackle-hugged Daring, choking the adventurer with her own shirt. "Thank Celestia you're oka-" she then realised just how completely uncool she was acting and got up, chuckling nervously and rubbing the back of her head. "Heh, I mean, um... You're welcome! For saving you, I mean. Heh..."
Daring simply rolled her eyes and turned around to reach into her bags. "So, Rainbow," she paused for a moment as she pulled out the three colourful Orbs in her bags. "How'd you-"
"Well, you gave me one and I didn't turn into a boring gray blo-"
Daring put a hoof over Dash's mouth to stop her incessant babbling. "No, how'd you open my bags?"
Silence took over for just a moment before Daring removed her hoof.
"Oh, I didn't. Owloysius flew over and opened them for me, even though I could've done it by myse-"
"So where's Owloysius now?"
"I dunno, he kinda flew off after he-"
"Alright, let's go find Twilight." And with that, Daring turned towards the door and walked off.
Rude, was Rainbow's only thought as she followed the other pony out of the library, and into the streets of Ponyville.
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A lone owl flew out of Ponyville, soaring gracefully above the still sea of gray known as Equestria, but far below the motionless clouds above. Descending slowly into a nearby cave, the owl landed on a sharp outcropping in the rock walls around him. He gazed into the darkness of the cave, as if waiting for something to appear in front of him.
The wait would not be in vain, for a pair of glowing white eyes shot out from the blackness around them, but the owl merely stared back, unwavering and unafraid.
"They have taken the bait, master," the owl stated clearly to the unblinking eyes.
"Very good..." came the reply, in a soothing and calm voice that echoed faintly through the cave.
With his report made, the owl turned and prepared for flight.
"Wait."
The owl settled back into his perch and faced the eyes once more. "Yes, master?"
"Do not allow them to revive the dragon."
Owloysius closed his eyes and lowered his head slightly, a plan to ensure his master's wishes entering his mind, sent directly from the owner of the unflinching eyes. With his course of action set, the owl faced the darkness of the cave once more, before turning slowly and preparing himself for what was to come.
"Yes, master."
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An orange earth pony was staring at a conspicuous red button in the strange wooden temple. Huh, wonder what this does... The mare reached for the button, only to retract her hoof an instant later. She wasn't sure why she did, it wasn't like things could've gotten any worse. She mulled it over for a few moments before making up her mind, reaching up and pressing against the button with a click.
A few moments later, she scratched her chin and wondered if anything happened. Looking around and noticing nothing different than a few seconds ago, she looked up and pressed the button again, with more force than last time. The button clicked once more, before disintegrating and blowing away in a nonexistant wind.
Huh, thought Applejack, guess it di-
The shelves sprung out of their places, knocking the air out of the five ponies in the temple, just as the floor underneath their hooves withdrew into the walls. The mares couldn't even scream as they fell into the black abyss that had been the temple ground, unable to breathe until moments before impact at the bottom of the neverending hole.
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Fluttershy awoke from a dreamless sleep in an empty, white room. She wasn't even sure how she had gotten there, much less how she survived the fall. She had a throbbing headache, so prevalent in her mind that she didn't even think about her friends' well-being. Slowly bringing a hoof to her forehead and wincing as the dull pain subsided, she looked around the room. White floor, white walls, white ceiling... and a curious gray button on a cream-coloured pedestal.
She walked up to the button and noticed a little note taped on top that read 'Push Me'. Knowing better than to press the thing, she decided that her friends would come to save her. So she curled up around the pedestal and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
And after what seemed like hours, the timid pegasus stood up, stretched, and glared at the little button taunting her in her little prison. Alright, you win... she thought to herself. What else could go wrong? With all caution thrown aside, she raised a hoof and pressed the button.
She barely had time to squeeze out an "Eep" as a metal harness clutched at her sides, and a metal mask covered her face, trapping and silencing the pony. Her eyes were unable to shut, as they were held open by little prongs on the inside of the mask. She couldn't see, hear, or do anything as two metal rods protruded from the pedestal and twisted into a pair of sockets on the outside of the mask. Small needles protruded from the rods and painlessly penetrated the corneas of the pegasus' eyes, advancing further back until the tips of the needles were dead-centered in the eyes.
After injecting a thick, black substance into her eyes, the needles and rods receded back into the pedestal. A few moments later, the harness around the pony's body was released and withdrawn into the ceiling, and a metal claw reached over to pull the mask from the mare. The mask came off with a faint hiss to reveal a pair of pitch-black eyes, unmoving, watching a black figure appear from the wall ahead.
"Fluttershy, are you ready?" the soothing, relaxed voice questioned.
A few moments of silence passed, before Fluttershy's eyes flashed momentarily flashed and returned to normal, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Yes, master."
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Applejack was struggling against the harness that pressed against her body, bucking wildly and rocking side to side. She succeeded in breaking into a sweat, but the harness was still pressed firmly into her back. Several metal ropes shot out from the floor, stretching the cowpony's legs and suspending her in midair. The mask on her face disabled her from seeing anything or crying out for help. She tried bucking even harder, but the ropes holding her legs tightened, cutting off blood flow and bringing a slight, numbing pain to her hooves. Two metal rods shot out from the pedestal below her, settling into the crevices of the mask. Just as the twin needles started to protrude from the ends of the rods, the earth pony was engulfed in a bright purple light and reappeared in Sweet Apple Acres, screaming and bucking wildly, nearly hitting Rainbow Dash several times.
"Woah, woah, calm down now..." Daring took a tentative step away from the psychopathic pony and lightly tapped a green ball against a gray apple. The apple glowed green for a moment, then fell slightly before being caught by the pegasus. She tossed the apple towards the farmer, who caught it absentmindedly and gave it a little nibble.
"Now wait just a darn minute," Applejack said after regaining her bearings. "How the hoof did I get back here, and why is everything so gray?" She swung a hoof around to emphasize the grayness of everything.
Rainbow took a moment to swallow the apple she'd been chewing before addressing her orange friend. "I dunno, but we gotta go find Twilight."
Applejack knew better than to argue over stuff she didn't know anything about, so shrugged. "Well alrighty then, let's get goin'."
Several minutes of idle chit-chat later...
"So wait, why did she head off to Zecora's again?"
Applejack sighed and turned to Rainbow. "For the third time, she needed some gold for somethin'."
"But how'd you know she-"
"There she is!" Daring exclaimed as she flew into Zecora's house and shoved the yellow Orb down her throat. Yellow light flickered across Twilight's body for a second before she fell to the ground.
Twilight slowly got up and looked rather confused, a small black something obscuring her vision. She tilted her head up and to the right in order to see Daring looking right back, eyes wide, unblinking. She started to shake her head in an attempt to get rid of the black blob she was seeing, but then just cast a quick little spell to get rid of it.
Her vision restored, she wasted no time to get a hold of the situation. "Daring, how many Orbs are left?"
The pegasus pulled out a little yellow ball. "Just this one, I used the others to-"
"Alright, I'll just make some more really fast." The unicorn then took the Orb and, concentrating on it, split it in two. Both halves then grew into full balls, and Twilight split both of those into two pieces. Soon, the four ponies had filled both Daring's and Rainbow's saddlebags with a plethora of colourful little spheres, and huddled together to put together a plan.
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A lone owl flew towards a rather large tree in Ponyville. Flying through the window and landing on a nearby desk, he gazed upon a rather gray baby dragon, with a note from none other than Twilight Sparkle stuck to his scales. The owl leapt down from the desk and raised a dark, twisted dagger in one wing.
But here, the owl hesitated.
Cocking his head to the side, he heard the faint sound of hoofsteps converging on his location. His mind made up, Owloysius buried the bladed edge between two of the dragon's scales, shooting forth blood-red lights that circled the dragon and converged on the knife. The knife willingly accepted the lights into itself, and upon removal from the scaly creature, pulsed faintly in a vein-like pattern, leaving naught but a stone husk in its wake.
The hoofsteps growing louder, the owl tucked the dagger away and flew stealthily out the window with a smirk plastered on his face.
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"So tell me, Fluttershy, how do you feel about leading your own personal army?"
"It sounds good," Fluttershy replied to the calming voice, "I mean, if you think it will, of course..."
The black figure watched Fluttershy out of the corner of her eye. "Very good. Now then, I know you're eager to meet your troops."
The pegasus shrank back a tad, her eyes flicking between her mane and the metal floor of the 'elevator' beneath her hooves. "Uhm... y-yes, master."
Fluttershy felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked up to see her companion staring straight ahead into the empty nothingness surrounding them.
"Don't be so nervous, Fluttershy," the mysterious pony said. Fluttershy couldn't help but relax a little just from hearing such a gentle, compassionate voice. "I'm sure they are just as nervous to meet you as you are." The hoof left Fluttershy's shoulder and rose to its owner's mouth, holding back a laugh.
The metal platform the two were standing on continued rising ever so slowly before reaching the top of the vast nothingness. A metal board seemed to stretch on forever in all directions, but the lack of light made it hard for the pegasus to see anything.
"Hit the lights, Pinkie!" said the pony beside her.
Fluttershy looked up to a smaller metal platform, floating a few feet in the air. Pinkie Pie gave a little salute and giggled before pulling a large lever on the floor next to her. All of a sudden, an endless line of lights sprung up in front of Fluttershy, revealing row upon row of ponies, all sitting down, heads hung low to the ground, looking up nervously at their new commander.
All of the ponies in front of her had many things in common: nervous looks, their empty white eyes. But none of those things mattered to Fluttershy, for her mind could only grasp one gnawing similarity between all of the ponies.
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"But I don't get it," Twilight was frantically searching through her books, searching for... something. "Pinkie was right there with me. Right. There!" She smacked her hoof on the ground for extra emphasis.
"Well, maybe she..."
"And Fluttershy, and Rarity... Where could they be?!?" Twilight groaned in frustration and tossed a few books away. "Spike!"
No answer.
"Spiiiike!" Twilight called again, before realising something and promptly smashing her forehead against her hoof. "Oh yeah, he's still frozen..." she mumbled, heading upstairs with an Orb floating next to her head.
Rainbow chose to seize the moment, grabbing a few books and flying over to Daring. "Soooo.... Daaarrring..."
Daring sighed, set her sandwich down, and grabbed a pen in her mouth. "Okay, gimme 'em..." she said, somehow speaking perfectly normal. Rainbow's eyes twinkled as she set her books down and watched the other pegasus sign them, a smile never leaving her face.
Applejack shook her head and decided it was a perfect time for a nap, and gathered a few pillows into a corner. Just after she passed out on the makeshift bed, Twilight ran down, wild-eyed and hyperventilating.
"Guys, Spike's..." she took a moment to calm down a little bit before trying again. "Spike's gone!"
Rainbow waved a hoof impassively in the air. "So? Maybe he went out to-"
"No!" Twilight ran over, her face inches away from Rainbow's. "I gave him one of these and he just disappeared! We have to find him!"
Rainbow backed up a little to avoid Twilight's spit flying everywhere. "Can't we just, oh, I dunno, fix him up if we bump into him in town?"
"No, I agree with Twilight."
Both mares turned to look at Daring, signing a Daring Do and the Made-Up Adventure book. "So, Rainbow." She turned to look at the confused pegasus. "How about you go find Spike, while Twilight and I go and-"
"But why do I have to find him? Can't-"
"No."
"But I-"
"No."
"Bu- ugh, fine..." and with of sigh of defeat and a flap of her wings, Rainbow Dash was up in the air. "I'll bring him back here when I find him..."
Daring nodded, spit out her pen, and walked towards the kitchen. "If we're not here when you get back, just wait: I'll check in every hour or so."
Rainbow gave a mock salute and flew out an open window, heading off to Sugarcube Corner for some snacks before starting her search.
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"Fluttershy, before you can command your troops, I need you to a little... task for me." The voice paused, and when no reply came, continued with her speech. "It seems your friend, Rarity, doesn't want to press my little button in her cell..." the voice paused again as a 50-carat Argyle pink diamond floated towards the yellow pegasus. "And it would be so helpful if you could convince her to give it a little press."
Fluttershy grabbed the sparkling gem and looked straight into the glowing eyes next to her. Without a single word, she headed off to a purple portion of a wall and walked through it, finding herself in a small white room. The room was empty, save for a pedestal and a white unicorn, huddled in the corner, staring at the intruder.
"Oh, thank heavens!" Rarity hopped up and ran over to Fluttershy, the latter losing her confidence and shrinking back at the sudden noise. "Fluttershy," the unicorn rested her hooves on her friend, looking her straight in the eyes. "We have to find a way out of here! How'd you even get in here? I didn't see a door, or a hole, or anything!"
The pegasus broke free from Rarity and tried to hide herself behind her mane. "Umm, maybe you should... press the button..." she took a quick glance at a now-confused Rarity. "I-I mean, if that's okay..."
Rarity took a step back, seemingly appalled at the suggestion. "But Fluttershy, it's obviously a trap! Only a- what's that?"
"Y-You can have this if you press it..." her hoof was now slightly extended, showing Rarity her pink diamond.
The unicorn put on her biggest smile and walked slowly towards Fluttershy. "But, can't you give it to me now?" She said, raising her voice a bit and pouting, head tilted down and looking at Fluttershy with great big slightly-watery eyes.
Fluttershy look back and forth between Rarity and the diamond, trying to come up with an excuse. "N-No! You can't!" she blurted out, still thinking. "Cause it's, it's... stuck to my hoof! An-and the button releases it!" She risked a glance at the unicorn, who was running full-speed to the pedestal, all caution thrown to the wind to free the precious diamond.
Just as she pressed the button, she turned and ran straight back to Fluttershy, only to be caught by two metal whips that slammed her into the ground. She let out a high-pitched yelp and looked up to Fluttershy with a look of confusion and surprise, but mostly surprise. A metal harness and mask clamped on to Rarity before she could say anything, though, and Fluttershy watched as the metal rods pierced through Rarity's eyes. She couldn't see anything else, though, but knew there was a dark liquid being ejected into her friend's eyes.
Moments later, Fluttershy led her black-eyed friend through an opening in a wall, and left her alone on a small, floating platform.
"Well done, Fluttershy. You may leave to organize your army now," came a voice. It was a melodious and soothing voice, and Rarity couldn't help but relax a bit.
As Rarity's eyes flashed and returned to normal, a shadowed figure sat next to her and the platform began to float upwards. "And as for you, Rarity, it's time for you to meet your new troops."
"Yes, master."
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Twilight and Daring watched as Rainbow flew towards Sugarcube Corner in silence. A silence that was soon ruined as a voice came from the main room of the library.
"Show now wha-er we gonna do?"
The two looked back and saw Applejack chewing on an apple, walking towards them. She hadn't really gotten much sleep, what with all the noise the other three were making earlier.
"Well, I was thinking we should head over to Canterlot."
Twilight looked at her two companions, who both stared back in confusion. She merely rolled her eyes and explained, "The Princesses should know what's going on," and the two nodded in understanding.
"Well then," Daring went over to the door and turned her head back, "You two go to the Princesses. I'll be at my house." Before giving them a chance to respond, she spread her wings and took off, headed for Canterlot.
"Well, now how're we s'posed to get there?"
"Oh, don't worry, Applejack." Twilight's head was held high as she walked over to her bemused friend. "I know a long-distance teleportation spell that I conveniently learned a few minutes ago!" She smiled smugly and raised her head higher as Applejack just stared in confusion.
A few unimportant moments later, in Canterlot...
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight ran up to her mentor, floating a hot-pink orb into her mouth. Nothing happened. "Princess?"
Twilight plopped down onto the ground, rubbing her chin as she thought. "I don't get it..." she mumbled. "Why don't these work?"
A few seconds of thinking yielded no results, so Twilight stood up and looked around. Where's Princess Luna? she thought, trotting away into the palace corridors. Applejack followed without asking questions, knowing Twilight would go off for forever about Celestia-knows-what just to explain some simple little thing. The pair searched the palace, from Luna's private chambers to the kitchen, all the way out to the garden, and back into the palace to search each and every passageway.
The two passed through what would normally be awe-inspiring rooms, were they not gray and lifeless. Gold-encrusted silver banisters, imported rugs from all corners of Equestria, and lots of other stuff that would make good imagery, all reduced to gray, pitiful junk.
Finally, in a small room shut off from the rest of the castle, devoid of lifeless guards and dull decorations, the two spotted Princess Luna, motionless and staring out an open window. Twilight trotted up to the princess, floating an Orb nearby.
"Well, here goes nothing..."
Twilight force-fed the Princess, who was engulfed momentarily in bright green lights before collapsing on the floor, gasping for breath.
"Princess!" Twilight ran up and helped Luna onto her hooves, the latter coughing and gasping for breath. "Are you alright?"
A few coughs and a hoof held up were the reply she got, as Luna sat down to catch her breath. The coughing subsided moments later, and Luna looked around at her gray surroundings.
"Wh-Where am I?" she said at last, looking up at Twilight, whose face was full of concern.
"You're in Canterlot. Do..." she paused, biting her lower lip as she gathered her thoughts. "Do you know what's going on?"
Luna hesitated, glancing between the unicorn in front of her and Applejack a few feet away. They saved you, Luna. You owe it to them.
No! I can't.
Yes, you can. If they don't know what's going on, they can't-
I know, I know! But what if they think that I... that I...
They won't. They were there, remember?
...Yes, I know that, but...
Then what's stopping you?
I... I don't kno-
"Princess?"
Twilight's voice snapped the Princess out of her reverie. "Hmm? Oh, sorry." With another sigh, she looked up at Twilight and cast a projection onto a wall.
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Flash back, to 617 years earlier...
Nightmare Moon, looking up at Equestria with unabated rage, in a dark cell in the moon. Her mane flows freely in all directions, no longer affected by gravity or the solar winds. Nightmare's horn glows faintly, her lips moving slightly as though she were whispering, a faint, indiscernible sound coming from her mouth. A small star shimmers slightly, and a projection of a strange bipedal, thorny creature hovers faintly in front of her.
"Wait, so there are other-"
"Yes, Twilight. I control the moon and stars, though a few of the stars contain intelligent life. Most, like the Everfree Forest, only house wild animals. Others, however, are like Equestria, only with creatures that aren't ponies."
"Now, if I may continue..."
"Of course, Princess."
The projection looks up and thinks for a moment, and shaking its head, waves a clawed appendage into the air and dissipates. Nightmare lays down on the cold, stone ground, staring up at the blank ceiling in deep thought.
11 years earlier...
Nightmare Moon, hooves outstretched, focuses the magic in her horn and lets loose a small ball of energy. Collapsing on the ground, panting and sweating, she looks up as the black ball expands outward. First, morphing into a slightly curved cylinder, and then forming four more that reach downwards into the ground. As the form smooths itself out, another chunk shoots out, expanding, growing into the head of a pony. The tall, thin pony looks down at her creator and smiles. Not a heartwarming smile, but one of pure malice, wishing for nothing but to destroy.
The exhausted mare pushes herself up and, horn glowing, surrounds the creature in a purple haze. The haze seeps into the black figure and forms itself into a helmet and blue regalia. Waves of darkness spring out from the back of her head and the end of her croup, spreading outwards and twinkling with stars.
Nightmare and her creation stare at each other for a few moments, and her creation's horn glows, calling forth a projection of a bipedal, thorny creature. The creature looks down at the twin alicorns and nods his head before disappearing altogether.
3 years earlier...
The two Nightmare Moons corner Princess Celestia in Ponyville's town hall, unseen by the ponies gathered there to watch her raise the sun. Celestia focuses her magic, only to be blasted into a wall by Nightmare. She looks up, seeing one of them nod and transform into a cream-coloured earth pony before running off and joining the crowd. She watches as Nightmare suspends herself above the curtains as a purple haze, before drifting into unconsciousness.
"So wait, what does this have to do with anything?"
Princess Luna sighed and her memory's projection wavered. "Here, I'll skip ahead."
"We were meant to rule together, little sister."
"Sister?" Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy said together.
"Will you accept my friendship?" Celestia said, rising above her sister.
The Spirits of the Elements of Harmony leaned forward in anticipation, and Laughter fell forward with a surprised yelp. Princess Luna looked down at the ground for a moment.
Then, she sprang forward to embrace her sister. "I'm so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister."
At that, an earth pony hiding behind a destroyed pillar jumped back in shock. What about all of our plans? Our hard work? she thought, leaping out a window and disappearing in a flash of black-and-blue light.
"So what happened to her?"
"I don't know. But if you'd let me finish, you'd see what this is all about."
"Oh! Yes, Princess."
Seven minutes earlier
Princess Luna sat on the ground, grimacing at the cream-coloured pedestal in front of her before giving it a quick buck, smashing it to pieces. A section of the wall opened and Nightmare Moon walked out, glaring at her warm-hearted creator.
"Nightmare!" Luna jumped forward. "I should've known this was your doing!"
"Ahhh, little Luna... Soo nice to see you again," she said in a relaxing voice. "Come, settle down now. You can't lead your little army right if you're so flustered!" Nightmare gave a teasing grin and giggle, pushing Luna over the edge.
The Princess knew she couldn't use her magic or fly, so she ran full-speed to tackle the monster in front of her. Nightmare just flicked her against a wall, shaking her head and frowning at her.
"That isn't vewwy nice, wittle Woona," she teased in a baby-talk voice. "You coulda hurt your wittle hoofsies."
Luna kicked off the wall, headed straight for Luna, and disappeared in a bright green flash.
"And here we are," Princess Luna finished her narrating and her wall projection disappeared.
"Wait, an army?"
"That's what she said." Luna gave a forlorn look out the window, hanging her head. "If I had just told Tia, this could've all been avoided."
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Rainbow Dash was flying through the sky, looking for a good cloud to nap on before starting her search for Spike.  Lucky for her, the clouds were stiff and bumpy when they couldn't move. Sighing, she looked for a good tree to nap in. You can always count on The Dash to have a Plan B, she snickered as she flew over to a rather nice-looking tree atop a hill.
As she was nearing the tree, she noticed a little pink dot at its base. Wait... Is that... She stopped in midair and squinted to get a better look at the pink blob, which was now jumping up and down and waving little nubby appendages. It is! She flew over and landed next to the pink thing, smiling at it.
"Hey, Pinkie Pie!" Then she remembered a nagging little detail and eyed her pink friend suspiciously. "Wait... what are you doing out here?"
Pinkie just giggled and tugged on Dash's hoof. "C'mon Dashie, I wanna show you something!"
"Oh? What is it, Pinkie?" She got up and cautiously followed the bouncy mare to the tree. "Uhh... that's just a tree."
"Nuh-uh!" Pinkie shook her head and bounced towards the tree. "It's a MAGIC tree!" She giggled and jumped face-first into the tree, only to be absorbed by it and disappearing within its depths.
"Pinkie?" she called, taking a step forward. Swallowing a lump in her throat, she trotted up to the tree and extended her hoof, giving it a little touch. Her hoof slipped right into the tree, and she found herself getting pulled in by some impossibly powerful thing on the other side.
She collapsed in a heap on the other side and rolled over onto her back, only to meet a pink face staring right at her.
"Gah!" she cried, backing up and away from the pink monster before realising it was her exuberant pink friend. "Oh, Pinkie Pie, it's you. Phew..." she sighed, falling flat on the floor again, looking around them and seeing nothing but blackness all around.
After waiting a moment to catch her breath from her almost heart attack, she sat up and stared at her strange, non-bubbly friend. "What is this place?" she asked at last, waving a hoof at all the nothing around them.
No response came from the pink pony, so Rainbow got up and took a step towards her, not noticing how the platform they were on began to creep slowly upwards. "Pinkie? Are you alri-mmmph!"
She couldn't see anything, but based on the way her hooves were dangling uselessly beneath her, she could tell she was in the air, held by some unknown force. She felt a pair of sticks press against whatever was covering her head, and a sharp, yet unpainful, pricking sensation was felt in her eyes. The pricking gave way to more of a numbing peacefulness, and she felt the floor beneath her hooves as the facemask she wore came off. She opened her eyes slowly, before seeing a bright flash and turning away.
When she brought herself to open her eyes again, she gasped as row upon row of ponies filled her vision. Ponies, she noticed, which all shared one thing in common.
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Nightmare Moon flew out of her tree and into a small, well-hidden cave. At the back end of her little hideaway, she found an extremely patient owl waiting for her.
"Tell me, Owloysius. How are the little ponies doing?"
"Daring Do has returned to her cave-home," he said, barely above a whisper. "Twilight Sparkle and Applejack have revived Princess Luna, and are on their way to meet up with Daring Do."
"And the dragon?"
Owloysius donned a slight smile as he pulled a twisted dagger from underneath his wing, pulsing blood-red light from its many veins. He tossed it on the ground in front of his master, who lifted it up and spirited it away in a flash of light. "Taken care of."
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A mustard-yellow pegasus was scanning through a book of potions, searching for anything involving a dragon's tooth. She flipped through the pages, barely paying attention to the words. Wait! she flipped back two pages. Aha! There we go! Let's see...
Caelestis Accersi:
- One (1) crushed dragon's tooth, size variable
-6oz (850ct) melted aurum
-.14oz (4g) latherin
Instructions:
Hmmm... Daring pulled out a different book and scrolled through. Caelestis Accersi, Caelestis Accersi... Ah! There it is! Caelestis Accersia... Celestial Summon? Daring looked up, confused, and instantly thought of Princess Celestia. With that thought, came thoughts of Twilight and Applejack, and then of Rainbow Dash. Oh yeah! I forgot about Rainbow! she cursed herself mentally for forgetting and flew out to Ponyville.
Many a second later...
Daring Do looked around the empty gray library, searching for blue blobs and rainbows. Eh, might as well wait a few minutes... she thought, propping herself up onto Applejack's precious pillow-bed and promptly falling asleep, oblivious to the shadow watching from the windowsill.
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The owl tracking Daring from the windowsill hopped over and looked at her pray. She was passed out from exhaustion and likely wouldn't wake even if a bookshelf fell next to her.
The perfect opportunity.
Owloysius wasted no time like he did earlier. He didn't hesitate, didn't take time to look around or listen for hoofsteps, and didn't even bother sneaking up to his target. His knife was raised, and ready to strike. And so it did.
He half-expected Daring to wake up, screaming in pain from being stabbed and having her soul sucked into a knife in the form of navy-blue lights, and was even sort of disappointed that she hadn't. Stealing souls just wasn't as fun if the target didn't fight just a little bit.
Knowing the other ponies wouldn't arrive soon enough to send her off, Owloysius flew upstairs to where Twilight had dropped the Orb she used on Spike. He picked it up in his talons and flung it into Daring's mouth, who promptly disappeared in a cloud of blue.
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A lonely little purple-and-green dragon sighed wistfully as he looked up at Equestria from his lonely little cell, somewhere on the moon or wherever. He didn't remember much about what happened: just that he woke up in a desert, stumbled over to an oasis surrounded by Ponyville's residents, idly chatted with Bon-Bon about his favorite treats, and popped up in a little gray box in space.
Just as he was reminiscing about Bon-Bon's semi-promise to maybe make some sapphire-encrusted lollipops, a blue light erupted near him and he clung desperately to the wall. A second later, a pegasus plopped down in front of him. One that he recognized from all those years back in Canterlot.
"Huh? What happened? Where am I?" Daring said, whipping her head around in every direction.
"You're in the moon."
Daring snapped her head around and rested her eyes on Spike. "What."
"You're o-"
"Yeah, I heard you the first time." She walked over to a little barred hole in the wall and looked first towards all the gray hills and gray rocks around her, then to the stars and Equestria. Huh, guess I am.
"So, Spike. How'd I get here?"
"I dunno," he shrugged his shoulders as coolly as he could. "I was gonna ask you the same thing."
Okay, so I'm on the moon, in a cell, with Spike. She looked around and her eyes suddenly shot open as that statement dawned on her. I'm ON THE MOON?!? No, no no no. This isn't real. It's a dream! It's aaaall a dream! Yeah! A drea-
"Hey, snap out of it!"
And then a clawed hand slapping her on her cheek made her realise it wasn't a dream. Because in dreams, you wake up before you get hit by stuff.
"We have to find a way out!" she screamed, smashing her eyes against the walls, looking for cracks or holes or anything that could help.
"There isn't one, I already looked everywhere."
Daring turned and shot straight at the little monster. "But Nightmare Moon got out before!"
Spike's little knees quivered at Daring's meltdown. "Y-Yeah... but she is a goddess and it took her a thousand years to get out!"
"Yes, well, if she got out, she must've left something behind in case she ended up here again!" And with her flawless logic set, she scoured the room for anything that might help.
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"So you can't revive her?" Luna sat, staring at her frozen sister, rubbing her chin in thought.
"Nope, I've already tried..." Twilight sat down with a quiet thump. She suppressed a few sobs and sat there, silent, thinking about how useless she was to not be able to help her Princess.
Several moments passed in silence, until Luna walked over to Twilight and rested a hoof on her shoulder. "Well then, let's go check on Daring."
"But, what abou-"
"Oh, we'll get back to her once we figure out why it didn't work." Luna pulled Twilight up off her rump and gave her a gentle push towards Applejack. "Now c'mon, let's hurry."
Many seconds later...
"Daring!" Twilight called from just inside the adventurer's cave-home. She went in and looked through the rooms, calling "Daring?" upon entering each one.
Applejack trotted up to the unicorn as they entered Daring's study. "She ain't here, Twilight," she turned to leave for the buffet table, "Ah bet she's just checkin' up on Rainbow."
Whether or not Twilight heard her, Applejack wasn't sure. She didn't answer for quite a while, instead walking up to her desk and resting her eyes on two open books. "Well, it looks like she found something helpful," she muttered, looking over them. Let's see here... the 'Caelestis Accersi'?
After a few moments of reading, Twilight walked over to find Princess Luna walking in from Daring's guest bedroom. "Princess, do you know about the Caelestis Accersi?"
"Yes, I do..." Luna sighed and walked over, sitting down gently next to Twilight. "Long story short, it transports all inhabitants of a world into another realm, while the old world decays into empty space." She paused for a moment, "I was going to use it if I ever got bored of the whole night eternal thing."
Twilight blinked a few times, absorbing what she'd just heard. "So how do we-"
"The only way to stop it is by destroying the realm," she turned to face Twilight, who was staring back idly. "But that's something even the Elements of Harmony cannot do."
"So, how do we destroy it?"
"Well..." Luna sat down next to the unicorn, thinking for a moment. "We'll have to find a way in, first."
It was then that Applejack decided to trot in, balancing an apple pie on her back. "What're y'all two whisperin' about? We gotta go find Daring and Rainbow!"
Twilight stood up, nodding, and went with Applejack back to the entrance. She turned back to see if the Princess was following her, only to see her still sitting down, thinking. "Princess?"
"Hmm?" She looked over to Twilight, face concerned and curious, and waved a hoof. "You two go on ahead, I'll catch up," and she watched as the unicorn trotted off to catch up with Applejack.
She waited a few seconds to ensure the two had left, before getting up and walking back into the guest bedroom of the house. Luna walked over to a pair of vending machines, and with a few quick, precise clicks of buttons, the machines slid open to reveal the white wall behind them.
Luna allowed herself a small smile as she walked into the wall, her horn glowing as she stepped out onto a small metal platform on the other side. Her body grew outwards and donned a blue helmet and matching regalia, her 'mane' grew outwards, and her pupils narrowed into slits. The feathered wings on her back were replaced by leathery, pointed wings, and she eased into a practiced relaxedness.
Nightmare looked down upon the assembled ponies: Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. Rainbow Dash was wearing diamond-encrusted silver armour she found somewhere, and Pinkie Pie had mini party cannons strapped to her back.
"The time has come, my little ponies: Ready your armies!"
Bright lights sprung forth behind her four commanders, row upon row of armoured pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns, walking in formation towards their masters. The four mares turned back to look to their troops, each wearing a wide grin, watching as their assembled clones marched onwards to await their every command.
Nightmare Moon herself had allowed her relaxed demeanour to slip temporarily, donning a rather toothy smile.
"Show time."