Chapter I: Just an Average Day
Chapter I: Just an Average Day
Ew... Sunlight...
Twilight Sparkle desperately fought the urge to roll away from the offending window and add to the few hours of sleep she had managed to get after yet another all-night study session. For a few moments it seemed that the urge was winning, until the unicorn's body was enveloped in a purple glow as she manually hoisted herself to a sitting position, her eyes still shut and a pout on her lips.
Her droopy morning mood quickly shifted when she suddenly found herself in the embrace of the most delicious smell she had ever known in all her life; it alone was enough to turn her pout into a small smile and convince her to roll out of bed and join the world of the living.
Mmm... Spike's cooking...
It was not until her roll had reached the point of no return that she was greeted by her aforementioned assistant's voice--oddly close to her projected landing spot.
"Mornin', Twilight! I was starting to think you'd never wake OOF!"
All at once Twilight felt half of herself collide with a thick, scaly head, while the other half splatted into what could only have been pancake syrup. After a moment of groaning she found her face drenched in the normally pleasant aroma of apples with a glass hanging upside-down on her horn. She continued to lie there a few moments longer before speaking, wondering how many more times her mood could change before she had been awake five minutes.
At last she managed to find her voice, raspy from being awoken so early and having been through so much trauma already. "Spike?"
"Yeah, Twi?" her assistant replied, still dazed beneath her.
"How many times does this make?"
"Sixteen, I think."
Twilight finally gathered the strength to roll off of the baby dragon. "Maybe you should stop trying to surprise me with breakfast in bed."
Spike grunted in wholehearted agreement as he began cleaning himself of pancake residue with his reptilian tongue.
Twilight managed a giggle. "And that's still gross."
Rainbow Dash paced about her cloud home. She couldn't quite place the source, but she had the strangest feeling of unease. She had at first attributed it to the fact that she had woken up four hours earlier than usual with none of the usual tired feeling, but it only grew as she went about her morning routine. Tank took full notice, and tried his best to have his eyes keep up with the agitated pegasus's pacing as she told him about it for the third time.
"-and I don't even feel like flying!" she practically screamed. Concern was evident in her voice, as it was in her tortoise's eyes. "I don't get it! I've never felt like this! Maybe... Maybe something's wrong with me... Maybe I've got some horrible mental disease that'll rip apart my MIND until it-" She suddenly took notice of how much more worried Tank's expression was in the process of becoming. She forced herself to slow down and think.
"Okay... Maybe I've just got too much built up energy. But then why don't I feel like flying?" She thought especially hard for a minute before her thoughts shifted to a more purple hue. "I know! I bet Twilight'll know what's wrong with me!" Before Tank had even processed what she had said she shot through the nearest window, leaving a rainbow trail headed in the direction of town.
Once Tank realized what had just happened, he simply shrugged and headed back into his shell for a nap.
"Remember to do your chores, Spike," Twilight reminded her favorite assistant as she opened the front door. After cleaning up from the breakfast fiasco, and considering how hard she had hit the books the previous night, she felt that the best thing for herself today would be a nice long walk.
Spike moaned indignantly from his ladder in front of the bookshelf. "I know, I know."
Twilight giggled quietly to herself. She would have to be sure to pick up a nice, big gemstone for her number one assistant while she was out.
The unicorn stepped out into the cool autumn air, taking a moment to inhale all the scents floating about. The crisp fragrance of her tree home's leaves mingled wonderfully with the aromas of produce and baked goods from the nearby market. With a contented sigh, she almost subconsciously set a course for said market, specifically Sweet Apple Acres' stall, with hopes of both seeing a certain one of her five best friends manning it, and picking up something delicious to make up for the breakfast she had flattened.
"What the hay is wrong with you guys today?" Rainbow rhetorically asked her wings. The flight from her own home to Twilight's had taken a strange turn about halfway through the trip, nearly tripling the pegasus's travel time. At first it had seemed like her wings wanted to go downward of their own volition, and ever since a moment after she had felt like they wanted to turn around. She couldn't think of any disease she had heard of, mental or physical, that could give pegasus wings a mind of their own.
Regardless, the polychromatic mare was able to keep them under control enough to make it to the door of Twilight's library, which she actually managed not to crash through for a change. She knocked hard on the door several times, and after a minute a curious looking Spike appeared.
"Oh, hey, Rainbow. Looking for Twilight?" Spike's friendly grin turned to a slightly nervous frown when he noticed the pegasus's somewhat worried expression.
Rainbow Dash nodded in reply. "Yeah, is she home? I think there's something wrong with me and she's smart about that kinda stuff."
Spike shook his head. "Nuh-uh, she left around half an hour ago for a walk. What's wrong? Are you sick?" The baby dragon's face had shifted toward concern as he spoke.
"I dunno," Rainbow replied. "I've never heard of this stuff happening to anypony from being sick." She looked away, then back at Spike. "I woke up way too early for me but I've had tons of energy all day. And on top of that my wings feel like they wanna go somewhere on their own." The mare flared out her wings in an attempt to quiet the itch to turn around and fly off.
Spike held a claw to his chin in thought. "Hmm... Well, did you try following them? Couldn't hurt, right?"
Rainbow glanced back at her wings anxiously before speaking again. "I... guess it couldn't. Guess I'll give it a shot. Thanks, Spike," she said as she turned around to take off, the itch in her wings sated but another rising in the back of her mind.
Author's Notes
Well, there's the boring first chapter out of the way. Next episode: a trip to the hospital!
I must admit I hate how short it is, especially considering that it is, after all, the first chapter. That said, I plan for future installments to be at LEAST double this in length, if not more.
Comments, concerns, criticism, suggestions, etc. are welcome. This being my first fic in a long while, I'm sure it could use some improvement, so don't hesitate to point anything out!
Prologue: Lessons of the Past
“Why?!”
The monster scoffed through his grin. “Why? My dear, the real question is, ‘Why not?’”
Celestia’s calm nature had long escaped her. Between seeing her friend and teacher turned into a force of chaos and being one of the two with the power to stop him, she had simply lost any hold on her normally miniscule temper, her anger and sadness consuming her vision and forcing rivers of tears down her cheeks.
“That’s not what I meant! Why did you turn into this… THING?!” She regarded the twisted, mismatched form before her in the only way she could, as the monster it had become.
The King’s face slowly became solemn within the barrier, his eyes shifting from red and yellow to the brown and white they once had been. He spoke evenly and calmly for the first time Celestia had heard since that horrible night.
“Listen to me, Celestia. You too, Luna,” he turned as best he could to cast a glance at his other former student; the Pegasus returned his look of sorrow with one of disbelieving anger. “The power contained within these relics is not meant for our kind. Harmony is not meant to be forced; to attempt it can only bring chaos!” His eyes again shone yellow for a moment before he collected himself with a shake of his head. “I see now the folly of generations past… To control that which is itself the controller—it can never truly be done! I use now the last of my power to warn you: Once you destroy me, lock away the Elements of Harmony! They must never be used except in the most dire of circumstances, lest the controllers of Control succumb to madness at the hooves of the creature contained within!”
“Do not listen, Sister!” While Luna had long since steeled her mind against the ramblings of who had become a creature of pure madness, Celestia found herself considering his words. As her tears continued to flow, something in her began to scream at her to stop. She had been right all along; her teacher was still within this monster… Perhaps he could be saved after all!
But he knew of her thoughts, and laid them to rest with a sad shake of his head, turning his eyes toward the ground. “I cannot be saved, Celestia. This is my final moment before falling entirely into the void of madness. I must be destroyed, and nopony must ever use the Elements again, lest the Nightmare they imprison be released through them!”
Celestia’s hope finally faded, and she succumbed to despair, her face contorting into a face of pure sorrow. “But… I… I don’t understand!” she screamed. “ What do you mean about, ‘controlling control’? What is the Nightmare?!”
The creature imprisoned in the barrier of light before he closed his eyes for a moment. Celestia watched in horror as the half-fanged mouth contorted into a twisted grin and the eyes shot open once again, revealing the yellow and red she had grown all too accustomed too. “Why, my little pony… I am the nightmare!” The now-complete Discord cackled maniacally, crushing the white Unicorn’s heart as the final injustice took hold.
Luna decided they had waited long enough. “Sister! We must do it now!”
Celestia hung her head in defeat, and her horn was enveloped in a pool of the pink, blue, and lavender of the Elements of Kindness, Laughter, and Magic, while her sister’s wings simultaneously glowed red, orange, and purple, reflecting her own three. The gems holding the barrier glowed in sync, and began to spin around the imprisoned chimera, who could do nothing but flail and cackle madly. As the final moment came, he stopped suddenly and regarded Celestia with a single brown-eyed glance. “Farewell, my little ponies. See you both on the other side.”
That did it. Celestia was certain now that she could not do this; she was simply unable to believe he was beyond salvation. In the final moment, she shifted the command she had given to the Elements; rather than oblivion, this once-pony would receive only imprisonment for his crimes. She knew that in time, she could find a cure for his madness and bring her teacher back. Celestia set her focus, and the barrier erupted with all the glory of the sun she had learned to control. She was bathed in the warmth of pure Harmony, the absolute purest—
Wait. There was a dark spot. In the instant that the light engulfed her, she could feel a lone, dark presence watching her. It seemed to move from the center of the blast in a straight line toward the encircling Elements, where it skimmed across them before disappearing upon reaching that of Loyalty; one of those controlled by her sister.
She sensed it so quickly, she was unsure it had even happened at all. As quickly as the blast of light erupted, it died down to the faintest of embers. In exhaustion, the fillies dropped the Elements from their magical grasps and collapsed to the ground. Celestia managed to crack her eyes open, and saw that where her beloved teacher’s grotesque form had just stood was a statue in its likeness, posed as if in victory. Her head finally fell to the newly restored grass, and sorrow and exhaustion dragged her into the realm of sleep, her beloved teacher’s final words echoing in her dreams:
“Nopony must ever use the Elements again, lest the Nightmare they imprison be released!”
