Equestrian Warriors

The future, an expanding concept of alternate paths and possible outcomes. For some, deciding what would come of the future would be impossible, but for those that saw the world as a line, their paths were almost as simply planned out as a child when deciding their future career of being an astronaut or a fire-fighter.

But for some like Dusk Shine, the future just became a bit more, well, interesting. For Dusk, his future had always been so, as he planned, simple; he would work for the prince of Equestria as his right-hoof stallion, start a family with one foal, and continue to work for prince Artimace until the day he died. But, After an event involving his friends and their quirk-marks, the idea, the mere concept of death was nothing more than a fantasy for Dusk Shine, the New Pince of Friendship.

The day following his transformation, a small dinner with his sister, brother-in-law, the princes of Equestria, and his friends would take place. The festivities were nice, a little show and song-number were done by a local band they hired in the newly liberated Crystal Empire and a nice few talks between us here and there. After that, the dinner had ended, and with the wine and hard cider going to some of the guest heads, they decided to call it a night, Dusk Shine, being the stickler that he was, went to bed completely sober, but his mind was drunk with worries of what the future might hold not just for him, but for his assistant as well.

Lying in his bed, trying to sleep, the unicorn turned alicorn tossed and turned in bed with many thought going through his head, what was he to do? He had only recently become not just a prince, but by proxy, a ruler as well, what was he to do, what was he supposed to do.

As the young stallion was lost in thought, he was quickly brought out of it, by a light tapping on his side. Turning to his right, he saw his number one assistant, his adopted sister, his friend, Barbra, "You alright Dusk?" she asked in the same tone a mother would ask her child.

As much as Dusk wanted to just smile and tell her that everything would be alright, he couldn't really bring himself to do so, with how young Barbra was, it would be easy just to tell her that he was going to be fine, but in a situation like this, things were, different, "Honestly, Barb," he said, "I don't know; I mean, I don't know the first thing about being a prince, for as long as I've been Solaris' student, I never imagined this ever happening to me!"

"I'm sure you'll do fine," the dragoness tried to reassure him, but her caring words fell on deaf ears.

"Solaris knows what I'm gonna do now that I'm a prince, I'll have to go to meetings which will give me no time to study-"

"Dusk-"

"And I'll have to talk with Nobel ponies like Princess Blueblood, which I know is gonna end with her whining about something-"

Barb, slightly annoyed, raised her voice, "Dusk,"

"And not just Nobel ponies, but other ponies of royalty to, you know how bad I am at talking to ponies,"

"Dusk," Barbra growled

"Oh and don't get me started on talking about bearing an heir-"

"DUSK!" Barbra's booming voice brought the fretful stallion out of his trance, which caused him to look at the annoyed drake with a sheepish look,

"Was I rambling again?" he asked in an apologetic tone,

Barbra simply sighed, "Look, I understand this whole thing can be kind of nerve-wracking, but you just have to look at this with rose-tinted glasses, with how smart you are, and what not just you, but what the others have done, I know you'd make a good-ass prince, excuse my language,"

The recently crowned prince of friendship ignored that little part of the speech and took into consideration what the small drake had said, "You have a point Barb," the stallion admitted, "We've taken down ponies like Umbra, Eris, Lord Terik and Chrysalis, before, but," he paused to take a deep sigh, "I just...I don't know, all of this is os new to me,"

Barbra's expression of annoyance had soon turned into that of an almost motherly expression, "Oh Dusk," she proceeded to climb up of the concern prince, "It's gonna be okay, maybe a good night's sleep will make you feel better?"

I doubt it he thought to himself, "Maybe," puffing up his pillow, the stallion placed his head onto it. Just as he did that, Barbra did the same, and hopped down back to her small bed, readying for the next day.

As the two drifted off to sleep, the castle was quiet, not even a single sound of creaking from the castle itself could be heard as it settled. Today, was just another interesting day for Dusk and the gang.

However, a slow, taping of hoof-steps began to emit throughout the alabaster castle. Or more specifically, the sleeping hall, where Dusk Shine and the others slept.

The hooded pony passed through many doors as it made its way through the quadrant, its hooves stopped at one certain door; Dusk Shine's room. Without much hesitation, the pony walked in to see the prince, as well as his assistant sleeping soundly in their beds, this was almost too easy of a mission for the hooded figure, as he expecting a bit more of security in these quarters. But, he wasn't one to look a gifted horse in the mouth, so with hesitant steps, the figure walked over to the small table next to the prince, where a small crown sat, shimmering in the light of the night moon.

This crown was no ordinary crown mind you, but rather, it was Dusk Shine's element; that being most evident by the quirk-mark that was embedded in it

The figure, being of unicorn decent, used his magic to lift up a small saddle bag that he had, and pulled out a replica of the crown. He levitated the original crown, and with much care, proceded to switch out the two golden objects. And Once he placed the fake crown on to the nightstand, he put the real crown into his bag and made his way over to the door. As he was just about to exit, a stray gem that laid on the floor just a few inches away from the door, at that moment the hooded figure accidental stepped on it, which emitted an unusually loud cracking sound.

Dammit the Unicorn though to himself before he heard the rustling of sheets behind him,

"Wha," was all that Dusk could say before getting a good look at the hooded figure walking off, with a sudden rush of fear and adrenaline coursing through his body, the soon-to-be prince let out a loud yell, loud enough for the others to hear, "Theif!" He cried, which caused the figure to dash out of the room with great hast.

As he ran, the door to the other rooms opened, as Dusk's friends looked around in confusion, but that confusion was soon answered when the other elements of harmony saw the hooded pony make a mad dash through the hall,

"What the hell!" Rainbow Blitz shouted in anger, "Come on, let's get 'em" without much hesitation, the group of five, along with a few guards which included Dusk's sister, Gleaming Shield chased after the stallion.

Running as fast as his legs could carry him, he dashed passed doors that were opening to reveal guards ponies or more of Dusk's friends. They couldn’t stop her now. The room he needed to go was just ahead, and not even Dusk's sister, the captain of the guard, could hope to mobilize her soldiers fast enough to capture the thief.

The pony burst through the doors with much force, but the figure was forced to stop in his tracks when he noticed a familiar face, “Evening Glint,” Prince Solaris sternly said, standing right between the hooded pony and the artifact. “It’s been too long. Five years?”

That exchange was all the time it took for the Element Bearers to rush into the room behind her. A lesser pony would be shaking in their boots right about now. Evening Glint only smiled. Behind him, Dusk shouted, “I don’t know who the hell you are, but I think I'd be best for you to give me my crown back.”

Evening ignored him, staring right into his old master’s eyes. “No hard feelings, Sir, but you’re about to find out just how much more capable I am.”

Brows of Solaris' eyes furrowed “I don’t want to hurt you,” Prince Solaris said. “There is an anti-teleportation spell surrounding this castle, and you have nowhere to run. Empty your bags now, or face the—”

Evening's body flashed, and just like that, he had done just what the tall prince had said couldn’t be done. An anti-teleportation field was, after all, only a series of spells design to cancel out conventional spells by ‘changing’ the average magic flow of the caster and their surrounding, and Evening Glint was far from average.

The hooded figure took one more look at the group, "Looks like the students become the master, huh Solaris?" He then jumped into the mirror, back to the world that, for the past five years, he had called home.

Once Glint was gone, the room was quiet, as everypony merely stared at the mirror in shock and confusion. However, that quiet would not last, as Pinkie would be the first to speak, "What the hay was that about!" Rather than answer the shocked mare, Solaris walked up to the mirror and place his horn on it, and using his magic, did something that would shock almost everyone in the room; the reflective surface was at once replaced by a backdrop of a dark vortex, in which glowing orbs were floating about. Getting a better look at the mirror, a realization had hit Dusk Is that...the mirror that Starswirhad discovered?

The room remained silent for almost half a minute, all eyes on the display, waiting for an explanation. “Okay.” Solaris lifted his head, and the mirror surface reverted to glass “I think we're all clear,"

Just as he said that the Prince's younger, reformed sister, walked over to her sibling with concerned eyes, “Brother,” Luna said. “Was that her?” Solaris nodded. “So the reports of her being spotted in Canterlot…?”

“A diversion, no doubt,” her brother replied. “So we wouldn’t suspect he would be coming back for it.”

“You can quit playing the pronoun game anytime now,” Rainbow Blitz remarked. “Whoever that bastard was, he just stole Dusk Element. So it's probably for the best we try to stop him.”

The fatherly prince sighed deeply, "My little ponies," he said, "I have some that I must tell you, I can no longer keep this secret to myself,"

"Brother, are you sure," Luna asked with a concerned expression but was met with a nod by her brother.

"Yes," he replied simply before turned back to face the others, "You see before Dusk became my student, that stallion you just say run through that portal was a former student of mine," collective gasps and shocked expressions went around the room, "So many years ago, I took Evening in like a son, I taught him everything as I have with other students before, with high hopes that he too would benefit our country in the continued spreading of our message of harmony-" The sadden prince looked down at the ground with dejected eyes, "but, it seemed that even those under my teachings are still able to sub come to greed. "

The Prince looked back up at the group "It was only so many years ago that Evening made this," he pointed over to the swirling mirror, "This is a portal, connected to a whole other world, created entirely by magic. One of many worlds brought into existence by a lost spell of Sunwhirl the mystic."

"A spell by Sunwhirl herself!?" Dusk exclaimed with shock

Solaris simply nodded, "Exactly," he said, "For the longest time, this artifact was withheld from the public, as the Arch council felt that, unless properly contained, could become unstable quickly. When he made the mirror, Glint was still but a colt and did not yet realize the danger. What he did five years later, however, he did it knowing the dangers that would come of it.

"He would return to Canterlot in an attempt to continue his illegal research; I was able to stop him, but, that’s when things became heated between us. Glint felt that I had betrayed him, that I was holding him back from reaching his potential, and he swore that he would return to overpower me one day. And after that, he left through that mirror never to be seen again,"

Once he was finished, he cast his eyes once more to the ground and his sister went over to console him, "Oh brother," she cooed, "Please do not blame yourself, you had to do what was right,"

"I know," he sighed, "But nonetheless, I am partly responsible for what has happened; thus, it is my duty to set things right,” he cast a look at the mirror, "I don’t know what my former student is planning, but I do know that were I to face him now, I might struggle to keep my head clear-" Solaris turned his expression over to his other former student, "it falls upon you Dusk Shine, in order to save not just Equestria, but all of this world, you must stop Evening Glint before it's too late, are you prepared to do that?"

There was a short silence that fell upon the room when Solaris said that Dusk was already worried about what was to come with this new form of his, but not only going after a dangerous terrorist but saving the world as well..."Sir, I don't-" Before he could even finish, Dusk as suddenly hit behind his back, "Ah!" he turned to see that it was AppleJack who had done it, "What the hell AJ!"

"Look here partner," he began sternly, "I know bein' a prince an everything's kind gotta all jittery, but now's not the time to be shaking in yer horseshoes,"

"Yeah come one man." Blitz Joined in, "It's not like anything's different, we'll still be with ya most of the way,"

"Actually," Solaris began, "This is going to be a solo mission," a resounding 'what' echoed through the room, "I'm sorry, but your presence in that would only disturb it much more, I cannot risk that happening," Once again, a sense of worry washed over the purple alicorn at those words, how was somepony like him going to do this on his own?

Before he could even speak again, another hoof, this time just wrapping around the stallion gently, began to pat the back of his head. Turning to his right, Dusk saw that Butterscotch was comforting him, "It'll be fine Dusk," he reassured, "I know it's gonna pretty weird without us, but you're capable of doing this,"

"As much as it sucks to just be stuck here, Scotch's got a point," Rainbow Blitz said, "You saved out flanks after that whole quirk-mark mix-up, I know you can do this!"

By this point, the other elements began to cheer for Dusk, even Luna was cheering for him too. I'm still not sure about this Dusk though to himself, but, for the fate of Equestria- he turned back to the others with a determined expression, "You can count on me Prince Solaris!" Dusk turned back to the mirror with a renewed vigor and began walking towards it.

Dusk's eyes lined up with the swirls, his heart was beating out of his chest, they say you can't really choose what happens in your future, but I guess that's why they call it destiny, right? The stallion looked back at his friends one more time, before he walked through, his body being enveloped by the whirls.

As he walked, the other stared back at him his smile of determination and concern, but a certain drake looked on his absolute fear, she had always been worried about Dusk whenever these sorts of world ending events happened, but going to another world to stop it, was out of the question for Barb. She couldn't simply stand by and let Dusk do it alone.

Without a second's though Barbra ran after the stallion, much to the cries of the others, she bumped into Dusk causing the both of them to enter the portal.

The very second they entered, everything went white, and then, they were unconscious.