REAVER
Celestia stood proudly on the balcony of her castle, as she had for over a hundred years, eyeing the land around her. Discord had been long since been defeated, and his statue placed next to the intricate maze that both she and her sister, Luna, had created. She glanced over the barren planes that she thought needed a good town there, and then down to Canterlot. Canterlot, at that time, was little more than a mixed-pony settlement on the tallest mountain. Luna had built herself and her sister a castle in a fairly odd patch of ground, while Celestia was making plans for a castle here. She had time, she had the gift of 1000-year longevity, unlike the ponies who had a 200-year lifespan, and had used up only 212 years herself.
A set of hoof-steps moved up to her, and she turned to see her sister, looking joyful. "Sister, the castle hath been constructed without hassle."
Celestia grinned. "And thou didst without my help. But, why did thee choose that certain area to build our castle?"
Luna simply shrugged. "I felt a connection with the earth there. But, even still, when art thou going to let me have a full day of only night?"
"Luna." Celestia said in a knowledgeable tone. "If night lasted for that long, the crops of the ponies would wither and die, and cause famine. Doest thou want our subjects to starve?"
Luna merely looked disappointed. She looked up after a second. "Any word from thy student?"
"Not as yet, but methinks soon. And aren't thou meant to be in bed at this hour?"
"I am not tired." Luna protested, almost like a little filly. Luna, in comparison to Celestia, was only 197 years of age, being only seven when they defeated Discord with the artefacts they had called the Elements of Harmony, and her age was still reflected in her manner. "I cannot sleep."
Celestia giggled at how her sister, almost as old as a normal pony could ever get, was acting like a 10-year-old. "Have a glass of milk if that will make thee feel better."
Luna nodded, and glided away. Celestia resumed looking skyward, noting the unusual formation of clouds in the far distance.
"Master," The blue mare said, walking calmly. "Why are we doing this?"
"Because, Sparkle the Clever," The robed stallion replied, holding a map in front of his wispy beard. "I hath an order from Princess Celestia to explore the uncharted areas of Equestria, seeing at though I hath already spent most of my extended life researching magic."
Sparkle rolled her eyes. "Thou don’t need to brag about your age. Thou art over 200 years in life, a feat that most would consider impossible." She removed her hood, revealing a spiky white mane with violet and blue jags through it, and looked at her mentor with brilliant blue eyes. "My mother, Clover, would always say that thou wert the greatest magician to ever live, but do not let it get to your head, Starswirl."
He rolled the map up and slid it under his robes, a jingling sound following. "I do not let it get to my head, noble coz." He smirked. "I just know I am more powerful and more long-lived than any other mage in both Equestria and the Old Lands."
Sparkle paused, and her eyes slowly scanned up to the sky. "It the sky supposed to be like that, master?"
Starswirl stopped and looked up as well. Nearby clouds were slowly converging onto the same point in the sky, growing darker. Within an instant, a huge column of thundercloud struck down in front of them, swirling like a tornado but considerably more electric. A cloud of dust slowly formed at the base of the column, hiding a flash of blue lightning in the centre.
Almost as quickly as it had striked, the sky became as clear as a crystal. Starswirl noted the crouched figure right where the column had struck. The figure rose up to almost double his height, standing much like the Minotaurs that Starswirl had studied, but different. The ends of the limbs were metallic, the fingers on the 'arms', as he called them, sharp and broken. The rest of the figure was completely cast in shadow, despite summer sunlight hitting it directly. Two glowing circles and a jagged shape took a mockery of a muzzle on the head, though it more resembled a monkey's face. Despite having no pupils, Starswirl could tell it was looking at him, if not at his entire soul, which chilled him to no end.
"My name is Starswirl the Bearded." He said with an aura of confidence which belied his terror. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Sparkle was more terrified than he was, and she wasn't hiding it. "Who are you?"
A slow, soul-shaking rumble was felt through the fabric of reality. The creature's mouth opened in time with words that were being said from all directions. "Reaver... I must feed..."
Sparkle slowly backed away, trembling with fear. Starswirl simply stared at the creature. "What are you?"
'Reaver', as it had called itself, simply stared at his soul. "God of corruption... I must feed..."
Starswirl continued on holding his brave visage, his terror nullified by this. "Why are you here?"
"I must feed..."
Starswirl gestured to Sparkle to start leaving. "Reaver, I am sure our Princess Celestia-"
Reaver screamed, shaking the very core of reality. Sparkle yelped and ran off behind a nearby rock. "She is the reason!"
"What-"
Reaver took a massive step towards Starswirl. The grass beneath its foot withered and died, seeping a black mist. Two tendrils of dark energy burst from his back. "I must feed!"
Without warning, a tendril shot towards the mage, and wrapped around his back leg. Through searing pain he could feel his flesh corrupting and falling off. He instinctively cast a teleportation spell, and fell to his knees in front of the god.
Sparkle started to help him from behind the rock, but he wrapped her in a magic field. "Go and warn the Princess!" In a bright flash and a sickening jerk, Sparkle found herself in the royal castle, almost directly in front of Celestia.
The alicorn turned to the traumatised mare. "Sparkle? What art thou-"
Sparkle fainted, either from teleportation sickness or the events she had just witnessed.
Twilight cracked an eye open. For some reason, she had fallen on the floor in her sleep, which didn't make much sense. She grabbed the top of her bed and pulled herself up, lacking the energy to actually stand properly. She noticed that Spike had woken early, and was already cleaning a cobweb in the corner. Spike glanced down at the lavender mare. "Morning, Twilight."
She managed to stand up. "Morning, Spike." She rubbed her eyes, and started lifting her calendar towards herself. "You're up early."
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep properly." Spike jumped down from his precariously-placed ladder and managed not to break his tiny legs. "Sleep well yourself?"
Twilight rubbed the back of her head. "I think..." She looked at her blanket, which was sprawled on the floor in a seemingly comfortable manner. "Why did I end up on the floor?"
"You were tossing in your sleep and calling out Rainbow Dash's name, and then when you hit the floor you stopped all of a sudden."
Twilight didn't know whether to be relieved or annoyed that she couldn't remember her dream. At all. She glanced at her calendar. "Well, I have to have brunch with Pinkie Pie in an hour, and then I'll be doing some research on Equestria's history."
Spike groaned. "Do you have to study all weekend?"
"No, but nopony else has organised anything, so I might as well." She trotted to her wardrobe, and checked to see what was in there. "Besides, I have a test on it tomorrow, so I need to have a basic knowledge besides what's commonly known." The wardrobe yielded no items for her, save for the mirror showing a rustled mane.
Spike simply accepted this excuse.
"So, Twily-"
"Pinkie, only my brother can use that nickname."
"Aww, but it's such a cute name!" The pink pony protested, a cupcake resting on her head. "Like, my name's Pinkamena, but everyone calls me Pinkie because it's easier to remember than Pinkamena. So why don't ponies call you Twily and not Twilight? I mean, it's not that much different that the Pinkamena Pinkie thingy anyway, but-"
"Pinkie."
"-I like Pinkie more than Pinkamena, because I am a pink pony and it suits me. I wonder if I was called Pinkamena before or after I was born? And why are my sister's names are like they are anyway-"
"Pinkie."
"-I mean, Blinkie is short for Blinkamea and Inkie is short for Inkinua. What sorta name is Inkinua anyway? Or maybe I misheard it and Inkie's name is Inkanena? Actually that makes more sense. Why's my family name 'Pie' when my family worked on a rock farm, anywa-"
"Pinkie!" Twilight snapped. "I'm called Twilight by most ponies is because I introduce myself as Twilight and not by what my brother calls me. It makes his nickname more endearing."
"And what's his nickname?" Pinkie asked.
"No, his nickname. For me."
"Ah." Pinkie looked at Twilight in a most gleeful way. "So, whaddyawant for lunch?"
"Well, I'm thinking of going to the new cafe nearby, see what they're like."
"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said, and started bouncing along. Twilight took note of the cupcake's miraculous ability to stay on the head of the pink ball of energy.
In a short amount of time the two of them had arrived, ordered and sat down comfortably at the new cafe. The cafe was called Hornsworth's Cafe, and was run by a very charismatic and rather diminutive Minotaur called, unsurprisingly, Hornsworth.
"So, Twilight, got any plans for later?"
Twilight looked up from her lovely warm coffee. "I do, actually."
"Whaddya gonna do?"
"I have to study for a test on Equestria's History."
Pinkie's uber-joyful grin dropped slightly. "That's kinda boring."
"But unfortunately important." Twilight took a sip of her coffee. "And you, Pinkie?"
"I'm gonna help bake a copy of the MMMM..." Pinkie replied, emphasising the MMMM. "And hopefully avoid eating it this time."
"Yeah..." Twilight cast her mind back to the competition that the MMMM was made for, and how everyone was disappointed that Pinkie ate almost all of it. The only parts she hadn't eaten were what had been eaten on the train, and the small slice that Celestia had managed to get. "That didn't go well..."
"And I had a horrible stomach ache afterwards..."
Twilight almost recoiled. "You actually got a stomach ache?"
Pinkie rolled her eyes like that was common knowledge. "Well, duh."
Twilight dropped the subject, and glanced at a nearby clock, which was screaming at her that she was almost half-an-hour late for her study. "Darn, I'm late." She stood up, and grabbed her cup. "Sorry, I've gotta go."
Pinkie stopped smiling. "But we only just got here!"
"I need the rest of the day to study, Pinkie." She started to go. "I'm really sorry."
Pinkie rested her head on the table, saddened. "Okay... Next time, stay longer."
"I will."
Twilight was about half-way home when a streak of spectral light screamed past her eyes. Shortly after, the familiar wingbeat of Rainbow Dash was heard above her.
"Hey Twi!" She called out happily.
The unicorn looked up to see the cyan pegasus hovering. "Rainbow Dash."
"You don't sound very happy." She landed next to her and walked alongside. "You ok?"
"Well, other than the fact that I've been called by a shortened name by two ponies and I'm late for a study session, I'm fine."
Rainbow groaned. "You and your schedules. Hay, I'd even bet that you'd try and hook up with a pony with a schedule cutie mark."
Twilight didn't laugh like Rainbow was hoping she would. "Very likely, now I'd like to be left alone for a while."
"What?" The pegasus flew in front of Twilight and glared at her. "But why?"
"Because, Rainbow, I'm trying to study for a very important test and move out of the way or you'll-"
Before Twilight could finish, Rainbow hit the library door and her muzzle smashed into the unicorn's. It could almost be considered an accidental kiss were it not for the force and the fact that it was their noses that hit each other, not their lips. Rainbow fell to the ground out of shock, rubbing her nose and quietly ow-ing.
"-Hit the door." Twilight said, also rubbing her nose.
"Y'could've told me earlier, Twilight..."
"I couldn't see properly." Twilight said, in an annoyed tone.
Rainbow bounced up. "Hey, are you blaming me for that?"
"Only because you actually got in my way!"
"You shouldn't have been so rude!"
Twilight scoffed. "Me? Rude?" She glared at the pegasus who glared back with equal intensity. "If you hadn't been so nosy I would've been fine!"
"Oh, so you're blaming me again, are ya?" Rainbow started hovering. "It's not like you to be acting like a jerk, Twilight."
"And it's not like you to be invading other's privacy!" Twilight grabbed the pegasus with her strong magic. "Just leave me alone!"
With a great effort Twilight threw Rainbow skywards, the pegasus screaming like a filly. Twilight entered the library and shut the door just before Rainbow smashed into it in a fit of rage.
"Go jump off a cloud!" Dash yelled, and the high-pitched whine of her dashing off was barely heard over Twilight's rage.
"Some ponies..." She said, angrily, and pulled up a book or seventeen on Equestrian history. "Now let's get to work."
Twilight hadn't completely calmed down, even after five hours. Spike had wisely avoided even looking at Twilight over that time, and had decided to take a nap.
Something was amiss, however, on the timeline. There was a whole gap between after Discord's defeat and before Luna's banishment in the timeline, between a period of huge development and one of none. A whole three year gap.
She decided to write to Celestia about it.
"My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight started reading the reply.
"I appreciate your effort to research the three-year gap in the history of Equestria, but the reason there is none is that there was no history recorded between then. It's also not on the test, so it's not important.
Princess Celestia."
Twilight stared at the letter. "Huh? Why the hay wouldn't anyone write anything in that time?"
"Maybe there was a ban on writing history back then?" Spike replied, now confident enough that Twilight had calmed down to a sociable level.
"Why would Princess Celestia even implement that?" She protested, slightly panicky.
"Luna?"
"I don't think Luna would do so either." She added. "Not without a darn good reason. I'll bring the girls over so we can discuss this."
"Can we do it tomorrow? It's nearly midnight."
"What?" Twilight looked to the clock, slowly ticking away and indicating the time. "That took a while." She cracked her neck around. "Yeah, I think I'll get some sleep."
Sparkle woke up for the fifteenth time that night, drenched in sweat and panting. It was night. Princess Luna stood nearby, staring out the window.
"Awake again, Sparkle?" Luna asked, her voice burdened by sadness.
"Aye, your highness." Sparkle slowly sat up, her stomach clenching. "How art thou, if thou don't mind me asking?"
Luna sighed. "This will seem a dream to thee, but your master has been killed."
Sparkle froze. "Oh..." She started trembling. "How, may I ask?"
"Bypassing details, he was decomposed in a few seconds, but not before fighting to his last."
The blue mare would've grinned were it not for the fact that she could hardly move and was burdened by sadness. The fact that Starswirl had fought to the death with this god of corruption was so much like him, she thought. "Is that all?"
Luna turned. "Go back to sleep, Sparkle."
"But, your highnes-"
"Go back to sleep."
Sparkle gave up arguing with the princess, and flopped back down. In her mind swarm the image of Starswirl's leg being corrupted and decayed, and then his whole body. The creature, Reaver, became dominant, and kept her from achieving proper sleep with horrific images of friends and family being decayed to nothing.
She woke again, just after the same image of herself being corrupted which had woken her before the past sixteen times. This time, the sun poked its rays through the curtain and across her. Celestia, standing concerned, looked out the window as well.
"Your highness?" Sparkle asked, struggling to sit up.
"Morning, Sparkle." She replied, hardly turning. "I'm... sorry."
She just remembered the fact that Starswirl had perished. "It's alright. I'm glad he went down with a fight." She finally managed to smile, shortly before emptying her stomach on the floor next to her.
"Yes, it was a foolhardy thing, no less expected from him." Celestia sounded happier than Luna had. "Art thou able to-?"
Sparkle heaved once again, coughing. "Damnation, what did I eat?"
"Corruption sickness." Celestia said, turning to the unicorn. "Not the permanent kind, but enough to make thee sick for a few days."
"How long have I..." Another heave, this time there was hardly anything.
"About a week. But there's worse..."
The village of Trottwood.
A serene place, with a large forest that was used to build many new structures in Equestria. The town was itself small, but the forest spread for miles, and the trees grew taller than even the town hall.
Big enough to conceal the demon walking straight through it.
A farmer by the name of Chopper was the first Trottwoodian to see the creature. He was standing on the tallest tree, looking over the area, when he spotted a patch of dead trees.
"Damnation." He said, hefting his axe on his shoulder. "Another dead lot."
Then the spot grew. And grew. Out of the tip of the spearhead of the advance of dying trees was a set of two black snake-like things. When the tendrils touched a tree, the tree suddenly decayed, crashing down in a cloud of black mould. Chopper could also make out two metal cylinders, jutting out of the back of whatever was approaching. Curiosity got the better of Chopper, and he merely watched his orchard being killed off by some unnatural force.
Five seconds later, the demon was no more than a few metres away from his perch. Before he could react, a silver, clawed hand reached out to him, and even at half a metre he felt his body weakening. The metal fingers coiled around his entire form, and a searing pain tore through his body, just before his world turned black.
***
Daisy had heard the trees crashing while she was attending her stall of flowers in the town square. The town was bustling as it usually was on a market day, but she alone seemed to hear the crashes.
And there's too many falling at once. It can't be Chopper...
Then she heard a scream, high enough in volume and pitch to hold every conversation, followed by a growing wave of panic that swept right past her. She frantically looked for the source of the terror, only to see a black, oddly-shaped figure rise from the forest, trees blackening and crashing as the thing pushed them aside. It took a massive step to the centre of town, ponies at its feet seeming to age at a terrifyingly noticeable pace. The crowd tried to gallop or fly away, only for the whole town to be surrounded by a wall of black fire. Daisy saw it rise to the height of one of the trees, arms extended, one hand dropping a blackened, smoking skeleton. Caps at the end of the spires jutting from its back twisted, and opened to reveal a bright blue light. A vision of what she could only describe as everything ever tore through her head in a second, seeing snippets of the inconceivable. Before her mind was obliterated from the onslaught, she could swear that she saw the creature bulging and stretching to an even greater height.
Celestia watched her beautiful sky, filled with a few, small clouds. The sun was descending, a smouldering orange glow against the darkening sky.
"Sister, I have heard that Trottwood has fallen." Luna said, slightly slurring her voice. She had woken up an hour prior, and earlier than she was used to.
"It's getting faster." She lifted a map. "This 'Reaver' must be eliminated before it reaches Canterlot and the Elements."
Luna walked to her sister's side. "We have mobilised our army already. They... couldn't destroy it."
Celestia lowered her head in respect. "I understand." She raised her head. "Any survivors?"
"One." She opened the hall's door with magic, and a terrified earth pony stood there. "Thou may enter."
The soldier stood forwards, and then bowed. "Sergeant Spearhoof reporting."
"At ease." Celestia watched Spearhoof slowly rise, and noticed he was avoiding looking at them. Understandable.
Luna cleared her voice loudly, making Spearhoof jump. "Sergeant, wouldst thou explain in detail what thee saw?"
"A-as you wish." He stood as straight as he could. "Our forces were attacked by a monster, this 'Reaver' of which you speak.' He closed his eyes, trying to recall the demon's features. "A creature of pure darkness and a most unusual shape." He motioned for a quill and paper, which was given to him telekinetically in a golden aura. He proceeded to sketch out what he remembered. "Its talons, similar to the griffons in appearance, were a cold steel, with veins of pure ice."
Celestia scanned over the picture, trying to decipher its true appearance. "Doth thou have a size?"
The stallion gulped. "I guess that it's as large as this mountain, though that may be an exaggeration."
The princess of the sun, eyes still locked on the sketch, nodded. "Thank you, Sergeant, that will be all."
As Spearhoof left, Luna followed. A few seconds later, she returned. "Sister, I hath a rough path it is taking."
Celestia shot an almost-panicked look at her sister. "Where is it going?"
Luna hovered over to a large map, hanging in the room. "Well, if we calculate the angle of its current path and assume it's heading in the same direction... It'll reach Canterlot in a few weeks." She turned to see Celestia's horrified look.
"My God..." She looked at the sketch, then out the window. "We have to stop it."
First to enter the library was the ever-energetic Pinkie, bouncing in like a madpony. Shortly after the pink ball of fun was Fluttershy, being nearly pushed in by Applejack. Rarity arrived a minute after, much to the annoyance of Twilight.
"Darling, it's called being fashionably late." Rarity replied, calmly.
"This is important, Rarity, being fashionable is a second priority."
"Wow." Pinkie jutted in. "I didn't know sleepovers were that important to you."
"This isn't a sleepover! It's 9 in the morning!"
"Hang on a sec, girls." Applejack quietened them. "Where's Rainbow?"
Twilight stiffened at the name. "I didn't invite her."
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?" Pinkie looked shocked.
"Ok, I did, but she said she was busy. Besides..." She looked thoughtful, before sighing heavily. "Never mind, it's not important."
A few minutes later, Twilight had set out a whole series of notes and maps and such on the library table. "Ok, so, while I was studying last night, I discovered that there's a three-year gap between 965 and 968. For the record, Luna was banished in 1000."
A knock on the door broke her concentration.
"Hang on a sec."
Twilight, opting not to use her legs, teleported to the door. She was greeted with an annoyed magenta glare, a cyan scowl and slightly-unkempt spectral mane.
"Wonderbolts cancelled their performance this morning, and I've got nothing else to do."
Twilight, although relieved that Rainbow was able to make it, was annoyed that Rainbow was able to make it. She made no attempt to hide her annoyance as she let her in.
"Now, as I was saying, There's a knowledge gap between 965 and 968. I asked Celestia as to why, but she hasn't given me an answer."
"Um... Maybe she didn't like that time?" Fluttershy asked quietly. "I-I mean, like something bad happened that she doesn't want anypony to know."
Twilight jotted a note down. "Actually, that's very likely. But what could've caused that?"
"A famine?" Applejack suggested, to Twilight's approval.
"Some big de-" Dash suggested.
"Nope, not possible." Twilight blurted out. "Rarity?"
"Well, maybe a drought? Not likely, knowing Equestria, but this was years ago."
"Or maybe Celestia didn't have any birthday parties those years?" Pinkie looked ridiculously serious. "I mean, I'd hate to miss out on a birthday party, even if it was my 200th or something."
Twilight nodded, and then turned to Fluttershy.
"There could've been a giant monster or demon or something that killed millions..."
Though partially shocked that her pegasus friend thought of that herself, she jotted it down anyway. "That's viable."
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "That was my idea!"
"I-It was? I'm sorry..." Fluttershy started curling herself into a ball.
"It's fine, 'Shy. But it's more the fact that-" She pointed a hoof accusingly at Twilight. "-She didn't accept mine while accepting Fluttershy's, and that she didn't even listen to mine!"
"That's because your ideas are always moronic." Twilight said, as calm as she could manage.
"But my idea was exactly the same! That means Fluttershy's is equally stupid!" She quickly turned to the yellow ball. "Which it's not." Then back to Twilight. "I call that one-sided-ness!"
"Bias. It's called bias, and I'm not biased. You're ideas are all stupid anyway."
"Are not! Wasn't it your idea to investigate the magic of sand?"
Twilight slammed her notes on the table. "That was an assignment given to me by Celestia herself!"
"But you went through with it! If that's not stupidity, I don't know what is!"
Twilight grabbed Rainbow in a field of magic and drew her close. "Of course you don't know what stupidity is! You're too stupid to know better!"
Rainbow took that insult like a bullet to the heart, but managed to keep her face. "And you're too concerned with pleasing Celestia to not question whether she's right or not!"
"And you're too concerned with joining your Wonderbolts when you clearly don't have any talent!"
Rainbow felt her shield of coolness break down, that insult smashing it to pieces with a nuclear rainbomb. Before she could scream her reply or choke the pony in front of her, Applejack smacked her and her target in their chests, pushing them away.
"Calm down!" Applejack exchanged glances of anger between the two.
Rainbow's adrenalin dropped down enough to see that Pinkie was clinging onto Rarity, mane straight as silk and coloured dulled, sobbing heavily. Fluttershy was on the other side of the room, curled up and crying quietly. Rarity looked... disappointed.
She pushed Applejack's forehooves off, and headed for the door. "I'm going. See you tomorrow."
"Sugarcube, wai-" Before she could finish, the pegasus had slammed the door. "Dang..."
She turned to the unicorn under her hoof, who had started crying. "I'm a useless friend..."
"No y' ain't, Twilight." Applejack pulled her close. "Ah'm sure RD doesn't hate ya." But she wasn't. After the Wonderbolts comment, Rainbow looked ready to kill Twilight. "Now, how about we go and finish this off?"
Rainbow slammed her hoof on the cloud again. If the surface were concrete, she would've broken her hoof by now. She screamed loudly into the cloud, which shortly trailed into loud, muffled sobs.
She heard a familiar wingbeat approaching. "You ok, Rainbow?"
"Buck off, Derpy." She didn't move from her position. "Can't you see I wanna be left alone?"
But Derpy did not leave her alone. "I can try and help, y'know."
Rainbow moved her head out of the cloud, eyes bloodshot, and looked at her googly-eyed friend. "Yeah. Like that time with the stormcloud."
Derpy hovered there. "C'mon, tell me what's got you down."
And so Rainbow explained. About the meeting, the argument, the insult. Everything.
Derpy nodded. "I'm sure Twilight doesn't hate you." She clapped her hooves together. "But, if you wanna talk about the demon thingy, a friend of mine knows quite a bit about something of the like."
Rainbow looked sceptical. "And who would this be?"
***
This is it, Dash thought to herself.
In front of her was an average Ponyville home. Painted on the letterbox outside was a gold horseshoe with some weird lines, and about three blue and yellow candies.
She knocked on the door and found that it was open. Curiosity got the better of her, and she stepped inside. It was no different from the standard Ponyville house setup, though the furniture was different. In the lounge area to her left stood a large screen, a bunch of wires trailing to the wall from its back. There were three couches: One was a small one, a rare kind. The next one was a one-pony couch, and the next one was a three-pony couch. To her right, a kitchen area she didn't pay much mind to. And in front of her, a stairway leading up.
"Hello?" She called out, only to find no others. She inched her way forwards, then up to the stairs. In front of her, when reaching the top, was a room with the same golden horseshoe, only with lines in the gap in an organised way. Next to that was a door with the wrapped candies, then at the end was a room marked 'bathroom'.
She knocked on the horseshoe door gently. "Hello? Anyone here?"
"W-who is it?"
"It's Rainbow Dash. Is this Lyra Heartstrings?"
"Yeah, it- *mmf* is." the noises that the pony behind the door was making were kinda... strange.
"Can I come in?" Dash, in order to speed things up, was hoping that she could aid Lyra.
"Nuh~ No, not yet, s-sorry! Just- Ahh! -Wait in the lounge, I'll be out in a few..."
Rainbow trotted down the stairs, and took a spot on the three-pony couch. The odd couch was beige, and the single-pony couch was mint-green, while the one she had taken was a plain blue.
After a few agitating minutes of silence and waiting, she heard a muffled scream. She was about to leap up and help, but stopped herself from barging into the mare's room. After another minute, the door swung open. First down the stairs was a beige pony with a pink-and-blue mane, looking very pleased with herself, followed by a mint-green unicorn with a lighter-coloured mane, who was kind of staggering.
The earth pony noticed Rainbow first. "Hello there."
Many-a-pony knew Rainbow Dash. She wasn't that hard to miss. Even so, she kept to what little formality she knew about. "Hey. I'm Rainbow Dash."
"I'm Bon Bon." She started trotting to the kitchen. "Do you want a drink?"
The mint green pony nodded in time with Rainbow. Bon Bon smiled and pecked the unicorn on the lips, before turning to the kitchen. The unicorn turned.
"I'm Lyra. Nice to meet you in person." She stuck out a hoof.
Rainbow grabbed it and shook it. "Hey."
Lyra took to the beige couch, sitting in a position that Rainbow could easily manage on a cloud. "So, how can I help you?"
"Derpy told me that you know something about a demon thingy."
A thud came from the kitchen, followed by a "not again..." from the earth pony. Lyra smiled.
"Amongst other things." She leapt up from the couch. "Wanna see my stuff?"
"Uh... sure." Rainbow stood up as well, and walked to the kitchen to grab her drink of water with a nod. Lyra levitated hers up and winked.
"Thanks honey." Lyra caught up with Rainbow Dash, who was heading upstairs. "So, why do you want to know about the Reaver?"
"The what?"
"The Reaver. The big demon human thing."
Rainbow nodded, before stopping. "Hew-mon?"
"I'll explain later."
***
The first thing that hit Rainbow Dash was the smell. It smelt like... intimacy. She now realised what just happened before they emerged. Her wings kicked themselves open.
"Keep the wings down, Dash." Lyra said playfully, knowing all too well. This only made Rainbow blush more and her wings refuse to collapse.
Lyra flicked open a cabinet in the room, lined with pictures of creatures standing on two legs, a series of lines running through some sketches of similar creatures, and a few dusty books.
"Where to start..." She picked up a photo of a minotaur, and levitated it over. "You know about these, right?"
Rainbow's wings folded. "Of course. What about it."
"I've spent much of my time that I haven't been playing the lyre, painting, spending time with Bons and such studying what I can on humanoids."
"Humanoids?"
"Bipedal creatures."
"Huh?"
"Stands on two legs."
Rainbow mouthed an "oh..." before looking over the photos. There were some pictures of Spike, a few of Iron Will, and many other minotaurs, plus a few things she hadn't seen before.
"I've been spending my time looking for the 'perfect' humanoid, which is known as a human. The closest are primates, or monkeys if you will."
"That's great, but what does that have to do with this Reaver?"
"I'll get to that. Now, as you are aware, bipedal species are rarer than quadrapedal ones. This is because in nature the magika network can't cope very well with a humanoid form."
"What about the Reaver?"
"Oh, fine, I'll leave out the science and get straight to the biscuits." She lifted a book. "The research into humanoids came after a three-year-gap in Equestrian history, and I was curious as to why they had done so." She opened the book and lifted out a yellow slip of worn parchment. "I found this one day, when looking through the Canterlot Archives."
Dash looked over it. A bipedal creature stood out, coloured black from head-to-ankles, the rest left uncoloured. The title was written in an archaic text and in handwriting similar to Celestia's, listed underneath it. It was also shown with Canterlot mountain to its side, likely for scale reasons.
"This isn't all. A while after I found a book with the same label, and I've slowly made my way through translating it. So far, most belief is that this Reaver is a god, much like our Princesses. But god of what?"
"Looking at it, I'd say it's a god of evil things."
"Close. It's been called a god of corruption. Not like the Discord corruption-" Lyra shuddered. "-but much worse. But if we use the basis that it's on par with the Princesses, then there's something else. If Celestia and Luna are the perfect equines, then the Reaver is the perfect humanoid. Therefore, the Reaver is-"
"A human."
"Which means humans are gods of corruption." Lyra sighed happily. "It's so glad to be able to share this with someone."
"Thanks, Lyra!" Dash turned to go. "This'll help a lot."
"Any time."
"Princess." A soldier dressed in gold-titanium-trimmed magickastone armour saluted. "I have some reports for thee."
Celestia lifted a stack of parchment over. "One division nearly wiped out." She flicked over to the next page. "And another." Flick. Flick Flickflickflick. "A whole damned legion reduced to a weakened division in total." She growled, throwing the sheets of parchment somewhere. "This is not good..." She turned to the Guard. "Thou may leave, Captain."
The Captain saluted, trotting off. A robed, blue unicorn walked past, and into the room.
"Good news, sister." Luna said, shifting through the documents she had caught. "This demon is following the exact path we have mapped."
Celestia growled. "But we lost over two thousand soldiers. What could we possibly use to defeat it?"
Sparkle cleared her throat. "Your majesties?"
"Yes, Sparkle?" Luna replied.
"I think I may have a plan." She pointed to the map. "Let us presume this thing is heading to Canterlot with the express purpose of eradicating thee. What we have to do is not send in soldiers or mages, but something far more potent in magical prowess."
Celestia rubbed her chin. "I see what you mean... We need a team of four ponies, though. Otherwise, this will not work."
"I volunteer." Sparkle shot her hoof up.
"Now, thinking back, we need to find the ponies who show the most connection. Sparkle, fortunately you embody one of those already."
Sparkle gave a little victory dance.
"Now, we need some others. I shall find them, you two figure out a proper plan." She pushed the window open and flew into the night sky.
"Forgive me, Sparkle, but," Luna looked at the map. "What is thy plan?"
"Easy." She clapped her hooves together. "We are going to use the Elements."
"Mum..." A young colt moaned. "I don't want to be a soldier."
"When I was your age, Allstar, I was recruited into the Pegasus Army." The older pegasus leant back on her chair, looking at her black helmet which was resting on the wall. "It is not as bad as it seems."
"But that's when thou helped found Equestria." The colt buzzed up. "I heard that a whole legion was reduced to nothing overnight in Freestone."
"It is family tradition, son."
"But muuuuuuum~"
A stallion poked his head through the door. "Hurricane dear, there's somepony you need to see at the door."
She snapped her head back to the colt. "I will deal with you later."
She folded her fading-yellow wings as she walked through the hall. Her old suit of armour was hanging on display, and the rest of the cloud home was lined with trophies of beasts she had slain.
She pulled the door open. "Can I help thee?"
Celestia nodded. "May we speak with your son, Commander?"
"Princess, I told thee before, I am no longer Commander Hurricane of the Pegasus Army, nor Commander of the Equestrian Army. I am merely Hurricane now." She looked around. "But thou may speak with my son."
Celestia followed the old pegasus through the halls. "Thou sure are proud of you feats..."
"Aye, that I am." She cleared her throat. "Allstar! Get your lazy flank here! Somepony important wishes to speak to thee!"
Allstar walked into the hall, and bowed instinctively. Celestia asked him to rise.
"Allstar, may we speak in private?"
"Yes, your majesty."
***
Celestia sighed, watching the stars moving around. "Beautiful, is it not?"
"Are thou really here to talk about the night sky?" Allstar deadpanned.
The alicorn chuckled. "No, but I feel as if we need to be relaxed." She looked at the colt. "I see thou hast thy parent's colours."
Allstar looked at himself. His coat was a buttery-yellow and his mane an annoyingly feminine pink. "I guess I do."
"But in all seriousness, we need your help." Celestia spoke with a more serious tone.
Allstar grumbled. "For the love of... I do not want to enlist into the Army."
"It is not that." Celestia turned to the sky. "Allstar, we need you to wield one of the more powerful magic artefacts known to ponykind."
"The Elements?"
"The same." She lifted over a gem-encrusted breastplate with details of armour that was over 100 years old. "This is yours. Look after it. Meet me in Canterlot at noon tomorrow."
And without another word she took off into the night sky.
Twilight paced around in her library, chewing her lip. "This is bad... This is very bad..."
"Um..." Fluttershy mumbled. "What's bad?"
"Everything!" She moaned out. "My test is tomorrow, I've stuffed things up with Rainbow and now I have to worry about the possibility of a demon being under our hooves!"
Fluttershy looked under her hooves, checking for demons. "I'm sure that if there was a demon, it was driven off or destroyed."
"Don't forget Tartarus."
"Oh, of course, there's-" Fluttershy froze. "T-t-tartarus?"
"Exactly. And we're next to one of the gates, so Tartarus is probably directly under Ponyville."
"Technically," Fluttershy pointed out. "Tartarus is the underworld and covers the entirety of Equestria-"
"You know what I mean, Fluttershy!" Twilight screamed. "There has to be something there has to be something there has to be something there has to be something..."
Spike walked to Fluttershy's side. "She panicking about the test? Because I've actually seen it, and its stuff she already knows."
"Oh, no, it's just... She's worried she may have caused a rift between her and Rainbow."
"Oh, that?" Spike chuckled. "I'm absolutely sure it's fine."
"Thank goodness."
"Anything else?"
"Something about a demon in Tartarus."
"Ah, I see- A DEMON IN TARTARUS?!" Spike yelled. "When did this happen?"
"U-um, it's just a theory at this point... That I... may have suggested... please don't be mad at me..."
Spike wiped his brow. "Phew, for a second there I thought that you were being truthful about it."
The door burst open, smacking Fluttershy directly in the flank and sending her flying into Twilight. Spike was knocked into the bookshelf.
"Twilight!" An excited cyan pegasus yelled. "I think I found something!"
Twilight opened her eyes, and immediately they grew big and tearful. She dashed over (sending Fluttershy hurling into a bookshelf next to Spike's) and wrapped her in a wing-crushing hug.
"I'MSOSORRYRAINBOWDASHIWASBEINGREALLYMEANPLEASEFORGIVEMEEEeeee...!"
"You're forgiven..." Rainbow choked out.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Twilight pulled Rainbow tighter.
"Can't... breathe..."
Twilight immediately let go. Rainbow gasped loudly.
"Oh sweet air, how I missed you..." She glanced over at the lavender unicorn, who was looking at her with the sappiest smile ever. "Um... Also sorry about before."
Twilight immediately dashed to hug her, but was blocked by the pegasus's hooves. "No hugs, ok? I like oxygen."
The unicorn giggled. "So what did you find?"
"Turns out Lyra has a whole buncha stuff that explains the demon thing that 'Shy suggested."
"Lyra?" Twilight though. "I always thought she was a little weird..."
"She totally is, but that's not what's important." Rainbow stood up. "I'd go ask her about it."
"I will, thanks." Twilight replied, smiling sweetly.
"Oh, and one more thing." She pointed a hoof to Fluttershy and Spike. "Those two."
"And... There! Fully translated." Lyra looked at her journal, filled to the brim with translated text. "Now, all I have to do is find out what it means."
She turned to her door when she heard a knock. "Lyra, somepony wants to talk to you."
"Alright, be right down." She slipped her journal back into the cupboard and pushed the door open. She briefly muzzled Bon Bon before she reached the door.
She was greeted by a grinning unicorn. "Oh, hey Twilight."
"Lyra! Hi! Rainbow told me you have some stuff on a demon thing."
Bon Bon's groan could be heard from upstairs. "Um... That I do. Come on in, I'll show you."
The pair reached the door. Lyra gestured the unicorn in before her. She briefly turned to Bon Bon and shrugged.
"Dunno why they're suddenly interested."
She walked into the room, and opened the cupboard from a distance. She levitated out the journal, the original tome and the slip of parchment that came with it. "You can borrow these."
The aura shifted from bronze to lavender. "Thanks, Lyra. I'll bring them back as soon as possible."
Lyra smiled. "You're welcome. You should get going before Bon Bon gets mad with me."
"O-oh, ok. Bye then!" Twilight teleported, much to the mare's surprise.
"Lyra?" Bon Bon called. "What was that?"
"Just our guest leaving."
"What-"
"Teleportation."
Spike cleared up the last of the dust, with Fluttershy hovering next to him.
"I think you missed a spot." Fluttershy pointed.
"Fluttershy, I've been cleaning dust for my entire life. I think I know a clean floor when I see it."
"But, um, I can see something there."
Spike leaned down, sniffing. "Nope, absolutely no-"
Twilight appeared in a flash of light. The very stubborn piece of dust managed to be kicked up into Spike's face, causing the dragon to sneeze. A jet of fire narrowly missed Twilight's hooves.
"Eeek! Spike! Watch the fire!"
Fluttershy picked the dragon up. "Ok, Fluttershy, you win dat one..." Sneeze.
Twilight slammed the book on the table, flicking it open, followed by a similar opening of the translated journal. She lifted the drawing over to her side, barely glancing at it.
Fluttershy picked it up. "So this is what it looked like...?"
Spike grabbed it. "Wow. Tall."
"And... scary..." She glanced at Twilight. "Twilight, tell me we're not going to see this thing..."
"I'm working on it." She flicked through both books at equal speed.
"Oh, ok then..."
"He's standing on two legs." Spike noted.
"I thought it'd be more... pony-shaped. And how can you tell it's a he?"
"Well, I know from reading that female minotaurs have wider hips than male minotaurs, and less-wide shoulders. This thing's totally a guy."
"I wonder what a female demon looks like."
"Hang on, I'll sketch that out." Spike grabbed a random quill and scrap of parchment, and began sketching. After a moment he showed it to Fluttershy.
"Wow, that does look more feminine... Um, what are those?"
"Those are... Um..." The dragon blushed, and whispered something up to her ear. The pegasus blushed equally.
"They have those up there?"
"Apparently. I mean, if we follow minotaur biology, that is."
"Well, I guess it'd look wrong for that to have them down there..." She blinked. "Why are they that... big, though?"
"Only a guess. I mean, the original is well-built, and I read that minotaurs like big ones. So it only makes sense."
"How did you get so good at drawing, anyway...?"
"Oh, Celestia taught me."
Twilight gasped loudly.
"What? I told you before-"
"It's not that, Spike!" She grabbed the translated note. "It says that 'the bonds that hold this beast weaken every two centuries'. I did some calculations, based off the dates of near-release, and found that the metaphorical chains will be at their weakest in two days. And I also found that the chains get weaker every bi-century."
"Well buck me sideways..." Spike muttered. "What are we gonna do?"
"Uh, panic?" Fluttershy asked, hiding in her mane.
"No, panicking is probably the worst we could do." Twilight slammed the tome back on the table. "We have to let the Princesses know."
Celestia smiled. The next two ponies were in the same town. This made it easier.
What was happening, though, was that the two ponies were arguing over the price of some apples.
"All I am saying is that I should get a discount." A white-coated mare with beautiful green hair sternly told the farmer in front of her.
"Y'ain't given me a reason for me t' give thee one, Sapphirica." The red-coated mare with a blonde mane replied.
"I am the daughter of Princess Platinum, Apple."
"Look, Ah know thou art descended from royalty, but there's just so much Ah can do."
"And, pray tell, is the reason thee cannot give me a discount?"
"Ah need the money t' feed mah family. Simple as that."
"That explains the extra prices." Celestia replied, landing gently next to them.
The two ponies bowed, then rose. "Princess Celestia, how can we help you?"
Celestia drifted over a small sum of bits to the counter and grabbed an apple. "I need your help."
She heard scraping of metal on wood. Apple had shifted some of the bits back, much to Sapphirica's flustered annoyance. Celestia pushed them back.
"Ah'm sorry Princess, but Ah'm giving thee a discount."
"What?" Sapphirica roared. "But- She's- What?"
"It is not necessary, Apple."
The bits were shoved back towards her. "No, Ah insist."
Celestia pushed the bits back to Apple. "I cannot take a discount while your family is under such economic stress."
"But-"
"Unless you're willing to give Sapphirica a discount too."
"B-but-"
Celestia pushed the bits back and let her magic go, biting into the apple. "Mmm... These are good, well done."
"Thank ya kindly, your highness."
Celestia quickly finished the apple. "Anyway, Apple, Sapphirica, I need your help."
"If you wish me to make thee something-" Sapphirica started, before being cut off by the Princess
"I am sure that thou hast heard of the recent battle in Redtail Wood, against and unknown enemy. An entire legion was nearly wiped out."
The two ponies gasped.
"I have a way to stop this beast, but I require your assistance." She pulled out two pieces of gem-encrusted armour. One was a set of four boots that seemed to sparkle when next to Sapphirica, and the other a large shield that slightly hummed near Apple.
"These are the Elements of Generosity and Kindness, respectively." Celestia flapped her huge wings to gain some air. "Meet me in Canterlot at noon today."
"How the hay are we supposed t' get to Canterlot?" Apple replied, still looking at the shield.
Celestia hovered. "I didn't think of that..." She smiled. "I'll get my student to bring you here. Just make sure you're packed by exactly noon."
"I'm your WHAT?!" Sparkle cried.
"With Starswirl's passing, thou art now my personal student, Sparkle." Celestia replied.
"But- What- Agh!" Sparkle started pacing nervously. "I'm nowhere near as powerful as Starswirl, how would I ever keep up with his record?"
"Sparkle, rela-"
"What if I fail?" She continued pacing. "I might be banished, or thrown in a dungeon, or banished and then thrown into a dungeon where I was banished too..."
"Sparkle."
"Or worse, I might be some other unicorn's master, and they'll not really listen because-"
"SPARKLE!" Celestia used her Canterlot voice. "Calm down, I would do no such thing."
"But-"
"No." She leaned closer with every word. "Such. Thing." She returned to normal. "But yes, thou art my student and it won't be easy, but I won't punish thee like that."
"Not even a colt who stares at my behind instead of studying?"
Celestia let a little snicker slide from her mouth. "If I ever give you your own student, it will be one who is dedicated to magic."
Sparkle sighed. "So, what did thee want me to do?"
The Princesses and the newly-appointed protégé of Celestia stood in a circle. A butter-coated stallion glided in beside them, and bowed.
"Your highnesses."
Celestia nodded her head. Sparkle leaned close to Celestia.
"He's kind of cute."
"Focus, Sparkle. You don't want to be too distracted when casting."
"Fine..." She grumbled, still looking at Allstar. Allstar looked everywhere except Sparkle.
Celestia's horn started glowing brightly, followed by Luna's, and eventually Sparkle's (which seemed to waver slightly, particularly when she glanced at the pegasus's direction).
Two multi-coloured blobs started appearing in the middle of the three magic-using ponies, shifting between gold, blue and violet.
A bright flash stunned them all, and when their vision returned two ponies were in the middle. The white unicorn and the red earth pony looked stunned.
"Sparkle, Luna, Allstar, let me introduce you to Apple and Sapphirica." She waved a hoof at them. Apple raised a hoof. "Yes, Apple?"
"Is there a bathroom nearby?"
"Why-?"
Apple covered her mouth. "Ah might be feeling a might si-" She lost her lunch on the marble floor, all except Celestia flinching. "Much better..."
The regal alicorn walked through the empty halls. Bright yet dimming sunlight told her that she was up way too early.
Just as she turned down another section of the hallway a lavender unicorn burst in. "Princess Luna!"
"Greetings, Twilight Spa-"
"There's no time for greetings, I have something important to tell you and Princess Celestia!"
"But-"
"Where is she?"
"She's in the throne room, what-?"
"Come on!" Twilight galloped down the hall. Luna looked on in confusion.
"I know, she's a bit panicky." A purple and green dragon walked in. "You get used to it."
"She reminds me so much of Sparkle..."
"Um... That's her surname."
Luna rolled her eyes. "Of course you would not know her great-times-100-grandmother."
The two continued walking along, following the still-visible dust cloud that was Twilight's wake. A pegasus maidpony was starting to clean when she spotted the Princess and bowed.
"Hey Dusty." Spike greeted the mare as he passed her.
Eventually the two reached the large doors, which were looking only slightly out of shape and wide open. Twilight was tapping her hoof impatiently.
"You took your time." She growled at the dragon, not daring to use the same tone on the Princess beside him. She shook her head. "But that's not important."
The two Princesses turned to Twilight. "How can we help?"
"Luna, there's no need to-"
"No, I was meaning we as in both of us."
Celestia facehoofed. "Of course, my bad."
Twilight slammed down the translated tome, filled with diagrams, sketches and a whole lot of notes. "Do you know anything about the Reaver?"
Celestia froze. "How did you find out-"
"That's not important. What is important is that the bonds that are holding it in place are about to weaken, and I predict that they're going to snap."
She lifted up the picture of the Reaver to the Princesses. "How powerful is this thing?"
"It took the Elements just to seal it away." Celestia grabbed the picture. "I remember when this was drawn."
Luna noticed another drawing nearby. She picked it up. "What's this?"
"Oh, uh..." Spike stammered. "Just an artistic impression of what the Reaver would look like as a mare."
Celestia glanced over. "Why are they so big?"
"Don't you know they like them big?" Luna chuckled. "You should remember."
"Oh." She pressed a hoof to her head. "Of course, how could I forget?"
"Princess!" Twilight yelled. "This is no laughing matter!"
Celestia shook her head. "Oh right." She looked at the original sketch. "I remember I was 212 years old when this was drawn."
"212?" Twilight paused. "How old are you now?"
"1879."
"And I am 1871 years of age." Luna added.
"I know, I don't look a day above 21." Celestia chuckled, before returning to a serious expression. "But if you're right about Reaver leaving Tartarus..."
"He is not going to be happy." Luna muttered. "I mean, we are starving him."
"Starving him?" Twilight tilted her head.
"Technically I should be 879 years dead," She looked at her student. "But I had to use some drastic measures to stop the Reaver."
Twilight stammered. "You're... supposed to be dead?!"
"What I am about to tell you is a secret that only we know about." She leaned closer. "And this will scare you."
Reaver.
"Bigger than I thought it was." Luna muttered to herself, looking at her ancient-looking sword. She was one of the only ones there who weren't practically soiling themselves.
"How the buck are we supposed to kill that?!" Allstar yelled.
"With love?" Sparkle replied, being not-too-subtle about her feelings. It completely missed Allstar.
"That's what the Elements are for." Sapphirica added, shifting in her boots. "So, Celestia, when do we start?"
Celestia scanned the huge beast in front of them. Due to its size, it was walking at a pace slower than anything she had ever seen, but also due to its size it was still making good progress. Six metal cylinders jutted out its back, lightning sparking between them constantly. Each footstep broke the ground, and the plantlife around it withered and died. Two soulless eyes stared back with a piercing white light, a mockery of a mouth grinning. It held its path, staring directly at Celestia.
"You came to me. How foolish." It spoke in a deep, resounding voice, accompanied by a rumbling in the minds of the ponies nearby. A couple tendrils snaked out from behind its back.
"I assume thou art this Reaver we've heard about?" Celestia inquired.
"That is correct." It knelt down to get closer. "Do you know why I am here?"
"Not exactly."
Reaver blinked. "I was not expecting that." It cleared its throat. "I am here for revenge."
"Revenge for what?"
"You destroyed my kind, and when I tried to feed on your pitiful species-"
"Hey!" Apple cried out, completely ignored.
"-You keep them alive and starve me."
"First, I did not destroy your kind, they destroyed themselves." She ignored the confused looks from her student. "And second I was only looking out for my kind."
Reaver grabbed Celestia by the neck with one of the tendrils. "You and your mother could have looked out for my kind as well!"
Celestia's horn started glowing. "Don't pin the blame on somepony else for your own faults, Reaver."
Reaver roared, the ends of the cylinders opening up and sparking electricity all over the area. Several lightning bolts shot towards the group...
And hit an invisible barrier.
"What?" Reaver boomed.
"What?" Celestia choked.
"What?" Sparkle looked at a slowly emerging spectral shield. "Are the Elements...?"
"They're working!" Allstar cheered, noticing his purple-gemmed breastplate glowing and lifting him up. He glanced at Sparkle, whose orange-gemmed leg armour was doing much the same.
Luna noticed her sword glowing bright blue, raising into the air and bringing her with it. Apple's green shield did much the same, as did Sapphirica's red boots.
Celestia broke free of Reaver's grip, her purple-gemmed helmet keeping her aloft.
"No..." Reaver took a cautious step back. "No, no no!"
Six beams of bright light shot skywards, arching down slowly. Reaver's glowing eyes widened as he was struck by a brilliant rainbow.
A crack opened in the ground, one of his legs falling into it. "Crap!" His back arched and he let out a soul-rumbling scream as a cloud of sickly-green, yellow and black pulled itself out of its chest. Reaver slipped, falling further into the crevice, cursing in a language none had heard before, and eventually he was completely submerged. The ground closed up, leaving an odd sense of calm.
The ponies cheered in victory. Sparkle pecked Allstar on the lips with her own, his wings bursting out and stiffening.
All except Celestia. Luna was the first to notice.
"Sister, art thou alright?"
"I am." Celestia replied. "But there's something we need to do."
Celestia closed the black tome, which felt cold to her mind.
"Sister, art thou sure you want to do this?" Luna asked with concern. "We do not have to do this..."
"I'm afraid we have to, Luna." She closed her eyes. "If we allow Reaver to feed, he will return his strength and break free." She placed the tome down. "If we do this, we will delay his return by centuries, or even more."
"But what about us?" Luna rose to her hooves. "We cannot have our souls blackened by this, it is not right."
"I know." Celestia opened her eyes. "There is a reason why dark magic is called dark magic. It corrupts the ponies that use them, and if it fails the cost is too great." She turned to face her sister. "But my soul is already darker than most know. I can endure just a little more."
"Very well." Luna smiled weakly. "And I will join you, sister, whatever happens."
"Besides," Celestia smiled. "We'll be able to see Allstar and Sparkle's grandchildren's weddings."
Luna chuckled. "But, seriously sister, this is not a good idea."
"It's our only option."
Both of their horns started glowing brightly, taking on not a gold or blue colour, but instead a pulsing green.
"I always thought dark magic would be red..."
"I thought it'd be black myself."
A slowly-forming rune etched itself beneath their hooves, bathing them in a green glow. They stood like this for what felt like a whole day, and eventually the glowing ended with a flash of black energy.
Celestia opened her eyes, looking at her hooves. "I'm not growing anything bad..." She flapped her wings. "Wings are good."
"Likewise." Luna folded her wings up. "We are ok."
Suddenly they were both struck in the head with an invisible sledgehammer.
"Ow!" Celestia cried, nursing her head. "What was that?"
"I think we just absorbed some life-force..."
"The curse is working?" She grabbed the tome, scanning the entry of their spell. "It says that headaches will persist for a few years before going away, and may return in the case of mass death." She looked at the entry with confusion. "That seems awfully formal for a book on dark magic..."
"Maybe the writer- ow... - wanted to give a different impression?"
"Perhaps." Celestia slid the tome into a rune-covered safe and locked it. "This will be the last black magic I do ever."
"What exactly did that spell do?" Twilight looked at the Princesses with confusion.
"Oh, I forgot to mention that. The curse basically gave us immortality at the price of us absorbing life-force-"
Spike took a step back.
"-From those who have died. Their souls still pass on, fortunately. We managed to get that right."
"And you did that to starve Reaver, right?"
"Naturally." Luna shuddered. "In fact, that same spell ended up creating Nightmare Moon. The Elements of Harmony actually made my soul pure again."
"Which is a luxury I can never have." Celestia smiled. "It's funny, the pony who has the brightest coat in Equestria has a darker soul than her dark-blue-coated sister."
"Sister, that's not very funny." Luna frowned.
"I know, I know..." Celestia sighed. "If you want to stop Reaver, you need the Elements and you need to meet him in Ponyville."
"Him?"
"He's totally a guy." Spike replied.
"Oh." Twilight turned back to the Princesses. "Don't worry, you can count on me!"
"I know I can."
The train ride was faster than normal train rides.
But it was too slow for Twilight.
It took a good hour for them to reach Ponyville (on a normal hour-and-a-half ride), and as soon as the door on her carriage opened she leapt out. Spike trudged behind, dragging a large crate with several magical padlocks securing it.
A ten-minute walk and they had arrived back at the library. Fluttershy was currently sleeping on the couch, snoring extremely quietly. She didn't move when they entered.
Twilight grabbed the crate and flipped open the padlocks with her magic. The crate unfolded and the Elements stood on a rack.
"Excellent." Twilight mumbled. She picked her own Element in her hooves, already feeling a slight surge of power.
Fluttershy stirred, mumbling something.
"Hello Fluttershy."
The pegasus mumbled something, eyes slowly opening. When she caught the sight of Twilight she practically shot up. "Twilight, you're back!"
"Yep, and I brought the Elements." She gestured to the rack of necklaces.
"Why?"
"Because we're going to fight Reaver!"
Fluttershy gasped loudly. "What?"
"It's quite simple, really." Twilight started. "We take the Elements to town square, wait for the big demon to appear, and then we use the Elements on it. Any questions?"
Pinkie flailed her hoof.
"Yes, Pinkie?"
"Can we bring snacks?"
"Um... Sure, why not?"
Rainbow stuck her hoof in the air. "Hey Twi, are you sure that this Reaver will appear today?"
"I am very much certain. I ran some calculations, and found out that 1:36 PM is the most likely time he will appear, with a 5% chance."
Rainbow blinked. "That doesn't sound very likely."
"It is, when you consider that's 5% out of 100% for the entire three-day timespan, and all the others are from 3% to 0.0000024%"
"Short answer?"
"It's more likely than it looks."
Rainbow nodded in approval.
"Now, has anypony else have any questions?"
Fluttershy meekly raised a hoof.
"Yes, Fluttershy?"
"Um... Do we have to fight Reaver?"
"Good question!" Twilight pressed her hooves together happily. "Yes, we absolutely must."
"O-oh..." Fluttershy started shaking. Actually, the whole tree started shaking.
A crack resounded from outside, followed by a shriek and then the standard mad panic of the citizens.
"Girls, grab your Element, let's go!" Twilight shot up.
Rainbow handed the Elements to the owner's pony. "You heard the mare, let's move it! The fate of Equestria is in our hooves again!"
Fluttershy was the last to get her Element, having not leapt up to grab it but instead had cowered in the corner. Rainbow practically dragged her and her Element outside.
Outside, a massive crack had torn through Ponyville. The only ponies not running around were Derpy (who was trying to balance her muffin), Dinky (who was trying to help), The Doctor (who was standing calmly) and Colgate (wearing a weird saddle and hiding behind The Doctor). A clawed, metal hand shot out and gripped the edge of the crevice. Crushing the muffin that had fallen into its path. The same muffin Derpy had failed trying to balance on her head.
"Hey!" Derpy complained. "I just bought that."
The creature pulled itself up. It stood at only double the height of a pony. It looked at its muffin-coated hand, the remains of such rapidly decaying. It flicked it aside, and lowered his gaze to the mare in front of it.
Derpy tried staring down the creature. Now, with funny eyes, staring down a demon without pupils is not the easiest thing to do. As such, Reaver didn't even flinch, but instead took a step.
"Don't hurt mummy!" Dinky bounced in front of Derpy, much to the panic of the brown-coated stallion.
Reaver chuckled menacingly and took another step. The pair of ponies took an equal step back.
Reaver lunged at the filly, grabbing her by the tail and holding her up. For some unknown reason Dinky's tail didn't completely decay. The filly flailed in fear, trying to escape the grasp of the demon.
"Don't hurt my little Dinky!" Derpy roared as menacingly as possible (which wasn't much to Reaver) and charged. A blast of black magic knocked her aside, but she took to the air and charged again. Another blast of dark energy knocked her into a cloud, which to a pegasus is like hitting a pillow at a ridiculous speed. Derpy slammed on the ground, knocked out cold.
Dinky screamed, and tried to attack the creature. Reaver brought her close to its head and smiled.
"Perfect..." Its mouth opened wide, a white void in place of what mouths usually consisted of. A blast of lavender magic struck its hand, causing it to release the filly. It turned to the source, a lavender unicorn whose horn was glowing brightly. "The Elements?"
"The only!" Rainbow boasted. "And you're dead meat!"
"Um, do we have to kill this thing?" Fluttershy squeaked out. "I-I mean, it is bad, but-"
"It's the only option." Twilight spoke.
"I'm afraid I agree with Twilight on this one." Rarity raised her hoof. "We do not want this beast being turned loose next millennium, do we?"
"Can't we throw it a par-?"
"Pinkie," Applejack started. "That is the single most ridiculous thing I've ever heard and WATCH OUT!"
The six ponies ducked as a blast of black magic narrowly missed them. The beam singed Rarity's tail, and struck a wall behind them, which instantly turned to old dust. A purple pony behind it dropped her drink and ran behind the remains.
"That..." Rarity looked at the ends of her tail, which were rotting and falling off. "That MONSTER!"
"Oh my." Fluttershy murmured.
"I'll destroy it!" Rarity's Element started glowing brightly, but erratically.
"Rarity, calm down!" Twilight yelled at the white unicorn, grabbing her by the shoulders. "The Elements won't work if you don't relax!"
"But-"
"Calm. Down." Applejack placed a hoof on Rarity's back. Generosity started returning to a normal state. "There ya go."
"Thank you girls." Rarity turned to Reaver, who was condescendingly smiling. "Now we can do this together."
Reaver chuckled. "After that display I doubt you'd be able to do anything. Particularly that pegasus." It pointed to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy hid behind her mane.
"She's always pulled through before!" Rainbow yelled back. "Don't doubt the quiet ones!"
"She doesn't want to kill me, but you five do. It won't work like that."
A bird flew around nearby and landed on Reaver's head. Reaver looked up at the creature, confused. It snapped it in its grasp, watching it struggle to move out of its hand.
Fluttershy gasped. "Don't hurt her!"
Reaver turned to the pegasus. "What, this thing?" A blast of black energy surrounded the bird, pieces of rotten bones falling out of the cloud. "Oops."
Fluttershy's Element started glowing. A blast of magic from Twilight's horn started the others.
"You heartless..." Fluttershy started. "You heartless, soulless monster!"
"I contain the souls of 7 billion creatures, while you contain only one. Your argument is invalid."
The elements started shining brightly, lifting the ponies into the air. Reaver only smiled, flicking the remains of bird off its hands.
"Come at me, bro."
Six beams of light struck it directly, knocking it back a considerable distance. It struggled to stand under the weight of the energy.
"Damn... They're good..."
It raised its metal hands in their direction, and fired a beam of black energy. The energy broke apart a few feet away from its hands, scattering into the spectral beam. One of its arms turned to ash.
"Crap."
And another.
"Crap!"
One of its legs was blown off, knocking it off-balance and back into the force of the beam. As it flew skyward its other leg turned to dust, followed by a slow disintegration of its body.
Eventually only its head remained, suspended at cloud-level. It screamed and blew apart in a huge explosion of spectral light and black energy. Only the very top of the town hall was hit by the blast, merely snapping off the spike at the top.
The Elements landed softly.
"We did it." Twilight let out a single laugh. "We actually did it."
"Go team Elements!" Rainbow cheered, followed by cheers from the other ponies except Fluttershy.
Fluttershy walked to the scattered remains of the bird, tears forming in her eyes. She fell to her knees, sobbing quietly. Twilight was the first to notice.
"Fluttershy, are you alright?"
The pegasus kept her head low. Twilight walked up slowly, and rested of hoof on her back.
Both stopped when they heard a crackle of electricity and saw a bright flash. They turned to see Princess Celestia and Luna, the latter with fading sparks running around her.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight ran up. "We defeated the Reaver!"
Celestia smiled. "I knew you would."
"You did?" Luna questioned.
"It was just a hunch." Celestia whispered before returning to the grinning unicorn. "It's a shame he had to go like this."
She approached Fluttershy. "He did this?"
Fluttershy nodded weakly. Celestia bowed her head.
"Such an act of cruelty. It may be for the better that he is gone."
"Princess?" Twilight asked. "Now that he's gone, are you going to remove that curse?"
Celestia chuckled. "This curse is permanent. I couldn't remove it if I wanted to."
"Do you?"
"Yes and no." Celestia pondered. "Yes, because immortality is a dark curse and I can never love another. No, because I have enjoyed seeing how Equestria and our kind has grown."
Twilight nodded, and then looked at the closing crack in the ground. She noticed that Derpy had just started waking up when Dinky tackle-hugged her. "Well, at least we don't have to worry about Reaver anymore."
The alicorn smiled. "That's true."
As the ponies departed for the library, they failed to notice something. Something extremely important.
Above their heads a sparse black mist lingered. It pulled itself together, creating something akin to a jet-black cloud.
It drifted slowly towards a blue box, where a brown stallion was waiting for his toothpaste-coated maned companion.
"Hurry up, or you won't find out what the future's like."
"You've already shown me some of it, Doctor." Colgate grumbled, unaware that a thin black mist was shifting itself into her chronoharness's cooling vent.
"That was only ten years. Wanna see what 60 years looks like?"
Colgate trotted up, smiling. "Well, in that case, let's go."
The Doctor opened the TARDIS's door. "Ladies first."
Colgate smirked and pushed him in.
"No fair!"
Colgate chuckled, closing the door. The TARDIS phased itself out of the current point in time.
THE END... for now.
