Twilight's challenge part 1: A sinking feeling

by Applecrash_fan_03

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Spike, Adventure
Length: 2136

A year after Twilight assumed the throne a strange but powerful individual issues a challenge full of danger, but one she can't refuse.

A year has passed since Twilight replaced Celestia as ruler of Equestria and the land is completely at peace. That is until a strange yet very powerful individual issues a challenge in the form of a strange artifact, bizarre visions, and a rapidly growing danger. A challenge full of danger that she'll need to complete quickly or put her kingdom in grave danger.

Her and her friends will embark on globetrotting (pun intended) journey to find a solution to the kingdoms newest threat, but a scary questing looms over the group. Who is the strange being that started this, and what do they want from Twilight.

Note: This story ignores the events of the final episode, minus the flashbacks to the coronation.

Also this story is the first of 5 parts

Published 2024-06-17 17:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2024-06-17 17:20:00 UTC

A strange challenge

Twilight has a lot on her plate, but that was too be expected. After all it had been almost a year since she took the throne and Canterlot was preparing to celebrate. She and Spike went from pony to pony making sure the planning was going smoothly, and they were both exhausted. Even with Pinkie's help they still had a lot to do.

Finally though they were able to collapse into their beds.

"Only 3 more days Spike, then we'll be able to enjoy a nice party."

"Yeah and go right back to work the day after." Spike replied bitterly.

Twilight wanted to argue that it wasn't that bad, but the truth was she was a little tired as well. Ruling Equestria had been a lot harder then she thought it would be, and the council of friendship hadn't been much help. Not that they others didn't show up, they did, but only visiting once a month meant they could only really help with decision making. Most of the work was still left to Twilight and Spike.

She was about to tell Spike he could take a vacation after the party but the dragon was already asleep so she made a mental note to tell him in the morning. She closed her eyes and drifted of to sleep.

*******

Twilight found herself in the caves below Canterlot, she knew was dreaming instantly because she was a unicorn again, something she dreamt about often. In front of her has a large cavern with a small pyramid structure in the center, a strange object floating above it.

She next found herself atop the pyramid, the artifact floating in front of her. It was a small gold and silver object, that looked almost like a it could fit on her hoof like a glove or gauntlet. She reached out to touch it and despite being asleep she could feel the cold metal touch her hoof as if it were real.

The moment she touched it a series of images flashed in front of her eyes. Mount Aris, a strange symbol, canterlot in ruins, and a bizarre structure in the deep ocean.

She woke with a start, Spike stood over her shaking her awake and saying something, but she couldn't her him. Instead a deep voice echoed in her mind.

"Come find me Twilight Sparkle, come find me in the deep."

"....What?" She asked groggily, not sure if she was talking to Spike or the voice.

Spike was the only one who answered.

"Are you ok?" He asked, his voice full of concern. "You were screaming and thrashing in your sleep."

Twilight took a moment to collect herself before she answered.

"I saw something in my dream, something under Canterlot in the old caves. I think we should check it out."

"What are you crazy." Spike asked, the concern fully removed from his voice. "We have a ton of stuff to do today. Besides it was probably just a nightmare."

"I don't think so Spike." Twilight replied, getting out of bed. "It didn't feel like a normal nightmare. It felt like something or someone was calling me."

"Are you sure we should do anything, those caves are a labyrinth, we could get lost pretty easily?"

Twilight thought about it, he was right. They could get lost pretty easily, but the images she saw especially the one of Canterlot, made her think it was something they needed to take care of quickly.

"Yes Spike. I'm sure we need to check it out. We'll make our morning runs and then we'll head down and check it out."

*******

Making their morning runs took well into the afternoon, the party was only 3 days away and there was still a ton to do. Finally though they were able to get enough done that they could sneak off to the caves for an hour or two.

Twilight easily teleported the herself and Spike into the caves and began making their way through. They came to a point where the tunnel split into two paths. She was debating which path they should follow when a voice called out in her head.

"Left."

It was the same voice she'd heard after waking up. Having no other option she decided to follow is instructions, and they took the left tunnel.

This continued for a while. They would reach some kind of crossroad and the voice would chime in with directions. Spike asked a couple times if she knew what she was doing, but she tuned him out.

Eventually they reached a large open cavern, the same one Twilight had seen in her dream, with the same artifact floating above a pyramid in the center. The ceiling of cave was massive, Twilight wasn't sure how far down they'd gone, but the cavern roof was at least 100 feet above them.

"Come find me."

The voice said, but instead off being in her head, it seemed to come from the artifact itself.

"What is that thing?" Spike asked as they stepped closer to the pyramid.

"I'm not sure."

"Twilight Sparkle." The voice resonated both from the artifact and deep in her mind.

"Come and find me. Come accept my challenge. Come be my champion."

Twilight began climbing the pyramid, the voice beckoning her forward, putting her in a trance. She couldn't hear Spike anymore, the wind blowing through the cavern, even the sounds of her own hoofs became muffled. All she could hear was the voice urging her forward.

It praised her magic, listed her achievements and every villain she'd ever bested. Each word brought her closer to the top of the structure, until she stood at its peak. The sliver hoof gauntlet, adorned with gold bands and patterns, floated in front of her. She reached out to touch, but before she could a sound was made that did snap her out of the trance.

Several things happened quickly after that. First Twilight turned, her hoof still reaching towards the gauntlet, to see the the cave they'd used to enter the chamber collapse. A moment later she felt something cold and metallic envelop her outstretched hoof.

She turned to find the gauntlet had latched itself onto her right forehoof. Twilight was certain she hadn't touched it but there it was on her hoof. Before she could process that however the ground beneath her began to buckle. She barely registered the pyramid was collapsing when leapt forward, flapping her wings to get to solid ground, but they didn't work.

She fell towards the ground as the pyramid fell away beneath her into a bottomless pit. Twilight caught the edge of the chasm and tried to pull herself up, only to find something was pulling her down. Not gravity, but something stronger was trying to pull her down into it. It even affected the ceiling 100 feet above her, huge chucks of rock began falling from the cavern roof into the pit.

In a moment Spike was there trying to help pull her up, it took all of the pairs strength, but finally they were able to pull her out off the pit and away from the force trying to drag her in.

Luckily it seemed like it could only pull things from directly above it, so the two were able to lay in the ground only a few feet away and catch their breath.

"Are you ok?" Spike asked after a few minutes.

"Yeah I think so. Are you?"

"I'm good. What is that thing? Is it hurting you at all?" Spike's voice was full of concern again.

Twilight had almost forgotten about the gauntlet, she stood up and took a close look at it. It didn't seem to be causing any pain, and while she'd initially felt the cold metal around her hoof easily, now she couldn't even register it was there. If she couldn't see it she might have completely forgotten it existed. She tried casting a spell on it to remove it, but whatever it was her magic had no effect on it.

"I'm not entirely sure, but it's not hurting me, though it's definitely stuck."

Spike opened his mouth to respond but he was cut off by more rocks being torn from the roof and pulled into the pit.

That made Twilight worry. How powerful was this pit, she wondered, could it keep pulling the roof down until it swallowed the entire mountain, Canterlot included. She didn't know how far down the pit went, or how far down whatever five was pulling things was at. It could easily be a few miles underground, and pull all of Equestria down with it.

Twilight knew she was probably over thinking things, but she was still really worried, and she had no idea how to stop this. Then a memory flashed in her mind, more specifically the images from her dream.

A structure somewhere under water, Mount Aris home of the hippogriffs, and a strange symbol. A large black orb, with gold wings, and a pure white spike in top, almost like a unicorn horn.

Twilight realized that since the voice she'd heard led her to the gauntlet, and therefore the pit, following the images from her dream may also be the key to stopping whatever this was.

"Let's get out of here Spike." She said before summoning all of her magic to teleport them put of the caves.

*******

The two appeared in the throne room to find Pinkie Pie pacing in circles, a worried look on her face. Her face didn't light up much when she saw them, but she still tackled the pair in a hug.

"Are you two ok? Where have you been, and what's on your hoof Twilight?" Pinkie asked.

Twilight explained what happened, when she was done Pinkie only seemed to be more worried.

"So should we evacuate Canterlot?"

"Not yet." Twilight replied "I don't want to raise the alarm."

"Hate to break it to you Twilight, but the alarm is already raised. There's a huge crowd outside the castle, all of them wanting to know why the entire mountain started shaking earlier."

That got Twilight's attention.

"The whole mountain was shaking? Is anyone hurt? Is there damage?"

"Oh no don't worry, everypony's fine and the city's in great shape." Pinkie assured her, a big grin on her face.

After a bit more discussing the three came up with a plan. Spike sent Celestia a letter asking her and Luna to come take over for a couple days while they investigate this, and also send a letter to Discord asking for his assistance. Twilight and Spike would head too Ponyvile too grab the others and make their way to Mount Aris, and find someone there who might recognize either the symbol or the structure.

Pinkie meanwhile would stay in Canterlot and keep ponies focused on the party to keep spirits up while Celestia, Luna and Discord tried to hold the pit at bay. If the pit managed to begin pulling to surface of the mountain down they would evacuate the capital immediately. Since Canterlot was built along the side of the mountain they should have plenty of time to get everypony out, assuming the pit was directly under the center of the mountain. Even if it wasn't they should have time.

Soon after the letters were sent they made their way outside to address the crowd. After giving a brief explanation, and promising they had it under control, the trio made their way to the train station.

"You sure you don't me to come with Twilight?" Pinkie asked

"I'm sure. You need to keep spirits up here so the citizens don't panic, the last thing we need is a mass panic situation when we don't need to. Not yet at least." Twilight said, though a part of her thought they should evacuate to be safe. The rest of her mind won out though. Canterlot want in any immediate danger, so she didn't want to cause unnecessary panic.

"Well alright then." Pinkie replied with a huge grin on her face.

She hugged both of them and they boarded the train to Ponyvile.

Twilight watched the scenery pass by them as their train moved along the track, and as they reached the bottom off the mountain the voice rang in her mind again.

"Come and find me Twilight Sparkle."

Author's Note

This is the first of 6 chapters in part 1 of the story. The story as a whole will be 5 parts. I'm not sure when chapter 2 will come out but it shouldn't be more then a few days.

The second chapter will be a bit more character focused, and set up the two main emotional conflicts of the story.

Until then have a great day everyone.