Chapter 1: A Harsh Welcome
From beyond that of Equestria above the sky and beyond the senses of ponies was a realm unexplored by ponykind. A large pedestal sat in the middle of this electrical swarm of thunder and lightning that was all around. Atop the pedestal was a powerful artifact filled to the limit with energy. It was known as the Neutrino Cube, it levitated on the pedestal untouched for millenia. A power so beyond that of anything Equestria could fathom for the cube was that of alien origin. It rotated for eons uninhibited by the laws of nature. It’s rotation was slow and visible to the pony eye. Never has it decayed and forever it sat since time immemorial.
The cube rotated even faster than before. Its rotation became so fast that the seeable size of the cube with its alien indentations became unseeable to the eye. The lightning became static and nominal to then become energy that shot out at light speeds. The energy crackled to the point of firing all over the realm.
Twilight slumbered in her study table that squeaked as she laid upon it. She snored as the page next to her lifted up from the book it sat on. Lightning cracked out into the night sky. It was such a loud noise that she jolted from her rested place. She gasped as the sharp shot of sound got her stirred up. Now awake, Twilight mumbled to herself some tired gibberish.
“Huh, what could that have been?” she said. “Spike, are you up?”.
Spike was nestled against Twilight’s hind leg. He stretched his body out while he gave a tired groan.
“Yea I’m up Twi, that was weird, shouldn’t the pegasi have handled this kind of storm?”.
Twilight stood and then walked her way towards the sight of lightning that flashed outside from the side of her window. Spike followed her and took to the part of the window where Twilight wasn’t watching from. It was a small part since Twilight was much bigger.
Lightning slammed down into the earth and blew up many buildings around Ponyville. Pegasi struggled to fly towards the black clouds that fired lightning all over the town. Rainbow Dash flew towards them, before being struck by a powerful blast of lightning. She flew uncontrollably until Derpy Hooves and Fluttershy took the brunt of her force and held her aloft from the ground.
Rainbow Dash twitched and coughed up some smoke. Pieces of buildings slid across the pavement as the storm continued.
Twilight lit up her magic and opened the door to which she exited and ran out. The winds were stronger than anything Twilight had ever seen. Her mane shook furiously to the side with the power of the winds going through her hair. She tried her best to stay still, but the winds were too strong. She lit her horn with magic and reentered Golden Oaks as the wind pulled her, she pushed away from it’s force and slammed the door.
Twilight shuddered as the lightning raged. Spike cowered behind a bookcase as the loud noises assaulted his ears. From behind Twilight, the door received heavy knocks from the other side. She opened the door to see who it might be to find that a guard pony from Canterlot stared at her with a desperate gaze.
“Twilight Sparkle, you are needed in the castle woah!” he said as the wind slided him a few inches away.
Twilight looked at Spike.
“Stay here Spike” she said.
Spike crawled out from behind the bookcase and rolled onto the floor.
“Whatever you say Twilight!” he said.
The guard pony motioned Twilight towards a carriage with bat ponies holstered to it. Twilight followed him to the carriage and within seconds they took off into the darkened sky. The lightning shot down in quick speeds, but the carriage effortlessly avoided the blasts. Though it did not get hit by the danger. Twilight still was feeling a sickening vibe from all the sharp turns the ponies carrying the carriage had done. Out from the thunderous roar of the crazed weather, there was light and the sight of Canterlot was before them.
Twilight always remembered the happiness she felt whenever Canterlot was near. To her, being with the Princesses was a enjoyable thing. As of now, her worries to what threat to Equestria could be possible stirred in her mind. Could it have been Discord with his dark schemes? Or maybe a unnatural phenomenon like the Windigos? All these questions went through Twilight’s head as they soared into the palace.
They entered the castle through the opening in the highest tower and effortlessly landed inside the throne room. The carriage skidded through the pristine floor and landed with a powerful slam. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were waiting before them as they landed. Both Princesses had dour expressions to what was ahead. Celestia stared at the carriage, it’s cargo giving her a scent of hope that they would have more time. Luna would watch her sister stare at the carriage desperately and shudder at the thought of what evil would spell for Equestria.
Twilight leaped out of the carriage and saw the way the two watched her. She figured that this whole mess was much more severe than she had thought.
“Twilight, this is a matter of importance the likes Equestria has ever seen” said Princess Celestia. “The more time we waste the less time we will have”.
“Yes, we need you now more than we ever had before” said Princess Luna.
Twilight watched them both with the solemn gaze they had, which reached out to the depths of darkness. Something truly despicable and horrendous was near. And the young unicorn just couldn’t make heads or tails of it. She could only attribute the strange weather phenomenon as something that would cause a lot of trouble.
“This is worse than last time sister” said Princess Luna.
“Yes, if only we could return, but I fear for our lives if we even would go…” said Princess Celestia.
Twilight reared her head.
“What do you mean?” said Twilight Sparkle.
A few guard ponies came forward while they lifted a huge mirror that was placed right before them. They grunted loudly as the mirror was hastily dropped to the ground. It had a expertly etched defined body with six gemstones that sat on the top.
“Twilight Sparkle, you must return to the forgotten land and restore the relic to its former power” said Princess Celestia.
Luna crept closer to the mirror.
“Twilight, this relic keeps our Equestria from becoming a violent uninhabitable landscape” she said. “We thought it would last longer, but it is malfunctioning once more and we have very little time”.
Princess Celestia raised her horn, it surrounded by boundless amounts of magic. The mirror became translucent and malleable. Twilight looked into the mirror and saw a black silhouette that waved with the mirror’s folds.
“But, Princesses, I have so many questions” she said.
A guard pony dropped a large bag to aid in her quest, on to her back haphazardly.
“There is no time, everything you will need is in the napsack, now go and return in one piece!” said Princess Celestia.
Twilight looked down and then back up to the massive mirror that was huge in comparison to her. It gave a shiver down her body from the sight of it. In one last moment, Twilight turned to those before her and watched their worried faces.
“Don’t worry everypony, I’ll keep the safety of Equestria in my own hooves!” she said valiantly. “Everything will be perfectly fine!”
Twilight went head first into the mirror and disappeared into it’s magical waves.
“Let us hope you return dear Twilight, let us hope…” said Princess Luna.
There was a scent of burnt metal that covered the air. Twilight laid on the foreign ground, unable to have processed where she was or what she had gone through. The only thing that she could fathom was that she had a quest to do. She rose from the earth and felt her body ache from the landing. She got a good look around herself and found the view before her absolutely astounding. Gigantic metal buildings that were derelict and rusted from far off. Twilight could see a piece of a building drop from its original place and crumble to the concrete floor. Whatever those tall buildings were, they must have been highly advanced by design by the complex spiral like motif they had.
It was nothing like she had seen ever in Equestria. And it raised even more questions to what this land could be all about. Suddenly, a large wooden spear slammed into the earth near Twilight Sparkle. She raised her hooves from getting speared and turned all around herself to find a group of Diamond Dogs staring at her. They had tribal masks on their faces made from broken pieces of metal debris from around the area.
Twilight released her magic in anticipation for a fight. She levitated the spear and aimed it at the dogs that would spell her doom. As they saw the magical energy around the wooden weapon, they paused and started muttering to each other. Then, they all bowed to her in all one swoop.
Twilight didn’t expect such a grandiose welcome from creatures that were about to stick her to death with spears. One of the dogs came forward and humbly kneeled on his leg.
“I am honored for your coming, Pony off the land”.
Twilight stepped back from his approach before she realized he just spoke to her in her language.
“What is all this about?” she asked.
The tribal diamond dog stood up and tried his best to bow to his best barbaric ability. Though not very dignified, a bow was a bow nonetheless.
“We knew someday a pony would return, the time has come for things to be restored”.
Twilight stood with a confused stare.
“Restored?”
The diamond dogs muttered amongst themselves once more.
“Didn’t your previous ones tell you?”
Twilight shook her head. There was just not enough time to figure things out with them two.
“I was in a hurry, I was told a relic was supposed to be fixed?”
Twilight turned to her napsack and opened the bag. Inside was nothing, but a picture of a cube on a old piece of leather. She took it out for all of them to see. They all gasped at the sight and altogether bowed once more.
“You are the one!” said the diamond dog. “We are sorry for attacking you, food is scarce ever since the fated change of climate, and we diamond dogs can eat pretty much anything”.
Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. The thought of becoming a group of diamond dog’s next quick meal was overtaken by the fact that they were bowing to her after.
“Please, you must be exhausted from your journey, come to our village and rest”.
Twilight scratched her snout before nodding at their request.
“I have so many questions” she said excitedly. “But, how come no pony here speaks my language but you?”
The tribal dog stood up as the rest of the dogs went onward back to their village.
“I have been the sole one too learn the olden words, long before the destruction from the old word”.
“Old world?”
“Yes, long before, there was a time when everypony was happy and content with metal, but then the great sundering came and we all became like this”.
They walked together onward to through the sunset.
“Before, ponies and dogs would be good friends and work together for prosperous life”.
“I see” said Twilight. Intrigued by the history of the land.
They continued onward, as they walked forward, a equine skull could be seen bleached white as the sun in the middle of the dirt. A diamond dog stepped onto the skull and crushed it into dust as it walked on. The dust then disappeared into the wind with what remained of the skull.
