Equilibrium, Book 1: The First Human.

October 31, 1000, C.E.
Canterlot Castle.
8:17 P.M.

"Come on." Dash looked at the clock hanging above the ballroom, her Darring Do costume not really faring too well as she ruffled her wings ever few minutes. She continued to pace at the main door while the other's all mingled about chatting with other's and having fun. Every once in awhile Rarity dressed as a rich noble from the pre-unification era, would gaze over and smirk as Dash finally got tired of pacing and sat down at the table nearest the ballroom door. She let out a giggle as she excused herself from her conversation with Fancy Pants and Fleur De Liz.

"I'm terribly sorry for this but I must go and consol one of my dear friend's." She said as Fancy tipped his hat to her. He gave her a soft smile as he let her go.

"Not at all my dear." He looked over to his wife. "We actually really must be going." He gave Rarity a wink.

"Duty call's and waits for no mare or stallion." He said as they bid her goodnight and trotted off out the ballroom. With her newfound freedom Rarity grabbed two drinks from a nearby waiter and trotted over to Dash who glanced over at the door from time to time.

"Well, well Dash what seems to have caught your attention so thoroughly?" She asked as Dash gave her a smile.

"Hey, Rarity." She glanced over to the door and sighed.

"Not much is going on but John still hasn't arrived yet." She looked around the ballroom.

"I'm not normally worried but he said he'd bee here by now." She looked at the clock. Rarity muffled her giggle with a hoof.

"Now now dear don't fret over one little detail." She looked around smiling.

"Beside's while you were here scoping out your stallion-" Dash through her a glare. Rarity laughed as she continued, "- There were quite a few stallions looking your way." She nodded to a group of them standing at a nearby table. Dash glanced their direction to see one dressed as clown notice and throw her a wave. She through on a fake smile and waved back. Then she glared over at Rarity who had a smug grin on her face.

"One he's not my stallion." She then let out a breath.

"Two as I said. I'm just worried is all." She looked around once more. Not seeing him she went back to Rarity. She gave her a look of satisfaction as Rarity just rolled her eye's and kept her smug grin up.

"Oh, sure darling that's all that's got you so hot and bothered tonight." She glanced over at a mare a few table lengths away. She smiled as she saw the spitting image of her chromatically maned friend chatting it up with some fans of Darring Do.

"Well, it looks like your sister is having the time of her life." Dash looked over and smiled as her sister looked her way and gave her a wink.

"Yeah well, it's the one night a year that she can really come out without getting swarmed by fans so I say let her live it up." She smiled as she looked at the rest of her friend's. Her smile faltered when she thought of John but she soon shook her head.

"Hey did you know her next book is almost done?" Rarity's eyes went wide.

"Really?" She looked over at Darring. "My that was fast." She thought about it.

"Has she really been on another adventure already?" Dash laughed and nodded. Rarity suddenly went rigid as the air around the two dropped a few degrees. Then her eyes darted around as she caught sight of a small distortion shimmer in and out over Dash's back.

"Yup. She just got back from-" Her sentence was cut off as the light's in the ballroom went out.

"What the?" Rarity's sentence died down as she heard the sound of a window being smashed open. There were scream's coming from all over and just as suddenly the light's were back on. Guard's came rushing into the room and everypony stopped and looked at a tall imposing figure stood in the frame of the broken window.

"Halt!" One guard shouted as another lit its horn up. The figure there but with a swift flick of its long appendages it through something at the oncoming guards. They both stopped and the unicorn erected a shield around them. The small sphere shaped objects bounced off of the shield and rolled around on the floor. The duo looked at the little balls with confusion.

"What are th-" The guard was started as the small sphere's exploded in a bright flash of light. The whole hall was stunned as a few more tiny booms filled the hall. When they could all see again the whole hall was shrouded in a soft grey haze. With everyone's hearing impaired the whole room began to panic slightly. Someone, however, began to laugh.

"Th-t-this has got to be a joke." Another agreed. "Yeah, it's a fright from the princess's themselves." Soon the whole hall began to murmur as there hearing began to return. The smoke however remained. Dash looked over to the busted up window to see that the figure had vanished.

"Weird." She muttered as she looked around her vision might have been good but this smoke was really throwing her for a loop. Suddenly her ear's caught the sound of something whipping in the wind. A breeze zipped by overhead causing her to look up. Here eye's shrank as she saw the strange creature from before only now it looked to her like a giant wings monstrosity.

"Look out!" Her shout wasn't fast enough as the creature leaped from the ceiling and descended upon the crowd. The guards were back in action but this smoke was reaching havick on their sight. The unicorn lit up his horn but it soon sputtered out as something clamped down in it.

"Huh?" The guard was shocked momentarily but he let out a scream as something wrapped around his barrel and hauled him up to the ceiling. His screamed were silenced and the whole ballroom once more stood silent as they looked around for the missing guard. Dash looked up but couldn't see a thing through all the smoke. It began to clear up but that just forced it all up to the ceiling.

"What in the hell is happening?" She shouted as she looked around for her friend's. They were all huddled up in a corner off to the side of the door. Dash jumped into the air intent on taking off after them but as soon as she lifted off she felt the air around her distort.

"What?" She shouted as her wings suddenly snapped shut. She felt the cold embrace of metal as she fell to the floor.

"Rainbow!" She hit the floor on her hooves and took off after her friends. They were a table length away when Dash felt it again. The air above her began to distort as something zipped past her. She came to an abrupt halt as the towering bat monster came gliding down from the ceiling. It landed just in front of her friends stopping Rainbow in her tracks.

"What are you!?" She screamed at it as she frantically looked around for a way to her friends. The creature cocked it's head to the side and let out a ghastly laugh.

"I, my little pony and Batman!" It said as it through its arm's open flaring its cape behind it. Dash did a double take.

"No, no way!" Her brain screamed as she recognized the voice. Suddenly it all cliched as she ran up to the creature and punched it in the crotch. John doubled over in both pain and laughter as the rest of the group all stood there trying to hold in their laughter. Dash looked around as the smoke began to clear out. She saw the rest of the guest's all looking around as the light's began to flicker. John meanwhile had gotten himself up off the floor and leaned against a table for support. The guards came over and apologized to the ballroom while Dash stood there fuming.

"You mean to say that you two were in on this little stunt?" She asked as they both just laughed.

"Of course we were." He looked over to John.

"He set this all up with the princess's a few weeks in advance. We were debriefed about it this mourning and told to make sure things didn't get too far out of hoof with the guest's." The other guard trotted over to John and gave him a hoofbump. John accepted it with one of his own as the ballroom soon relaxed and went back to normal.

8:34 P.M.

John got his helmet and cape off and sat down at a table with his six friends. For the most part, they were all impressed with his little stunt. He smiled as he looked at each of them.

"Really I have you all to thank for this." He pointed to his suit.

"Rarity made the suit as a test run for another idea meanwhile I went to Fluttershy and Twilight for the spell's and lastly Spike and Shining armor help me out with the gadget's." He said as they all laughed. All except for Dash. She'd remained silent all throughout the conversation, a fact that no one had dismissed. John rubbed the back of his neck.

"Hey dash you ok?" He asked causing Dash to shoot him a scathing glare. He shrank back at this as she shook her head.

"No genius I'm not ok." She said as she stood up and stormed off leaving the group stunned. Across the ballroom, Soarin stood at a punch table smiling.

"Well, this is Fortunatus indeed." He said as he downed his drink, wincing at the burning sensation making it's way down his throat.

"Whoo. Damn, they don't skimp on anything here in Canterlot." He set his glass down on the table and sauntered off after Dash. Meanwhile, John sat there wondering just what he'd done wrong.

"I figured if anyone would want a thrill it's her." He stood up as he saw Dash's tail disappear out the door.

"I'll be right back." He said as he took off after her. Rarity just smiled as she rolled her eye's.

"And ponies call me a drama queen." She smirked as she went back to her drink. Applejack and the rest of the girl's all looked off at the door. She couldn't really understand it but something felt off tonight. AJ stood up and so did Fluttershy.

"Got to go to the little filly's room y'all." She said as the group gave the two a nod.

8:40 P.M.

"Hey Dash wait up!" John called out as Dash ignored him and continued to trot down the hall. He saw her tail disappear around another corner and ran to catch up. However as he did so he came face to muzzle with Soarin.

"Damn dude watch where you're going." He said as he held his muzzle. Looking at his hoof he didn't see any blood so he just settled for glaring at John with contempt. John spared a glance in his direction but soon his eyes shot down the hall to see where Dash had gone.

"Crud." He muttered under his breath as he gave Soarin a look of concern.

"hey you ok?" He asked as Soarin just gave him a nod. He let out a sigh as he looked off to where Dash had gone. He shook his head.

"Dude trust me just give her some space." He said as John just starred off after Dash. He looked down to see Soarin giving him a stern look. John just sighed as he glanced down the hall.

"Sorry bud don't think I can do that." He said as he skirted around Soarin to continue following Dash. He was stopped however as a wing sht open from Soarin's side. John stopped and gared at Soarin who gave him a smug grin.

"Trust me bud you are the last person she wants to see right now." John just glared.

"And i suppose you would know exactly who she'd like to see." He said as his voice got quite. Despite what some ponies may have thought he wasn't an idiot. Ever since the wind incident with Soarin he began to notice just how aggressive the pegasus stallion was being towards him. Granted he still didn't know what he'd done to piss him off but he wasn't about to throw a blind eye to one of his best friends in need. Soarin just smirked as he thought of the turmoil t come.

"Do you really think she'd ever love something like you?" John stood there looking at Soarin like he'd just grown a second head.

"What are you taking abo-" Pain lanced through his gut as Soarin drove his hoof into the human. John was thrown back and landed on the cold hard stone floor with a wheezing groan as he tried to catch his breath. Soarin trotted over to his prone form and knelt down to John's ear.

"If I ever see you near her again you're going to wake up on the hospital with more than a bruised rib." John laid there thinking about what Soarin had said. Soon he felt hot tear's make there way down his face as thought about it.

"What in the hell are you talking about?" He finally gasped as he sat up. His costume had taken the brunt of the hit but hta still didn't stop a sizable bruise from forming on his stomach. He heard the unmistakable sound of hooves on stone echoing throughout the halls. Struggling to his feet he slowly began to hobble his way back down the hall. He gave the hall behind him one last look as he shook his head and gritted his teeth as he pushed through the pain.

8:45 P.M.

"So you felt it to huh?" AJ asked as Fluttershy lead the way. She gave her a nod as the two trotted down another hallway. Aj was about to say something but a grown cut her off. Fluttershy bolted down the hallway and let out a shrill scream as she used her magic to gently sit John on the ground.

"What happened!?" Fluttershy asked as she frantically looked John over and paled at the sight of the huge bruise that had appeared over a rather large area of his chest. John just laughed.

"Oh that. It happened while I was pulling of my amazing intro back there." He pointed in the vague direction of the dinning hall. AJ snorted.

"Don't lie to us brother." she went and held a hand of his to her snout as she gave him a soft nuzzle.

"Please just tell us the truth." She asked as John clammed up. His starred off as his mind replayed the last few minutes of conversation in his head. Fluttershy saw the confrontation and her eyes went red.

"I'll kill that little shit!" She tried to race off down the hall but was stopped when she felt a hand grasp her back hoof. She turned around to see John shaking his head.

"It won't do anyone any good mom." He said ash he slumped down onto the floor.

"Beside's he's right." he let out a sad chuckle.

"With all of the stallion's out there why would she ever pick me?" He said as he curled up trying to hide from both the physical and mental anguish he was going through right now. Fluttershy went over and curled up next to her son, while Aj did the same, trying to be some small comfort to her brother.

8:50 P.M.

Dash let out a huff as she stood at one of the many balconies that dotted the castle grounds. Staring off into the night sky she soon lost herself in her thoughts.

"Stupid idiot." She grumbled as she thought about John's theatrics.

"He could've gotten hurt or worse." She said as her anger flared up.

"What the hell were you thinking!?" She shouted as let out a breath. Suddenly she shook her head.

"Wait what's wrong with me?" She thought about the night harder. "Normally I'd be all over a good prank." She thought about it even more.

"Why am I so angry?" The door opening behind her brought her out of her thought's. She looked back to see no one. She let out a sigh as she shook her head.

"Stupid haunted castle." She scowled as she jumped off the balcony and soared through the air. Maybe a good flight would help her clear her head.

9:00 P.M.

Soarin glared as he looked upon the visage of Chancellor Neighsay glared right back.

"You do realize that you nearly jeopardized our whole plan?" Neighsay scowled as Soarin simply stood there not bothering to answer him. Neighsay scowled as his horn flared to life. He hurled Soarin against a nearby wall pinning him there.

"I will not let this plan go to waist because you can't keep your libido in check!" Soarin glared at Neighsay who let a smile cross his muzzle.

"Otherwise I'll have to hand you over to our dear employer." Saorin just let out a huff as he fell to the floor in a heap of feathers and sweat.

"You saw what he did to Rainbow didn't you?" He asked as Soarin just scoffed.

"He showed her the truth." He looked out a nearby window as he saw Dash streak off into the night. Neighsay shook his head.

"Yes and if he can do that just think of what he could do to us." Soarin shook his head.

"What do we do now?" He asked as Chancellor Neighsay just smiled.

"We Wait."