Friendship is Forever: Redux

Chapter 4: The Herald

Out across the sprawling forests distant mountains, through a thin mist creeping in with the sunset, a speck of purest white began to shine, peeking over the horizon, glimpsed first and foremost by a pony standing atop a stone tower reaching out into the open air from the highest point of Castle Canterlot. The pony watched, unblinking, waves of silent but intense energy rippling out from her position and into the open air. Tense whispers shuddered through the air as sublime, cosmic chords echoed across the land.

Shimmering, iridescent ribbons of light issued from her horn, slithering away into the darkness like lustrous snakes as their reverberations traveled out into the atmosphere. All throughout the play of light, magic and sound, the distant white glimmer rose in increments of miles that appeared as fractions of inches. Soon it was above the mist, clearly visible as a bright pearl, framing vast stretches of long shadows with its pale light.

Luna squinted, withdrawing some her tendrils of magic from the night sky. As the moon approached its proper position, she thought she heard some distant, shrill cry. It grew steadily louder until an icy shudder of recognition passed through her, forcing her to release her grip on the moon completely. She knew what that sound was, but she couldn’t yet accept it.

The ancient and terrible ringing around her was soon joined by a dizzying roar from within her ears. She galloped and stumbled towards the edge of the balcony, flew and flounders in spirals to the ground, and made for a large and ornate door leading out of the courtyard she’d landed in.

Her dread intensified as she passed through the moonlit stone corridors and the sound grew louder. She wondered how it was that the hallways hadn’t flooded with a rush of screaming ponies, impelled by their deepest animal instincts to flee from the clarion call of the cruel and the unnatural. Or had they already escaped?

She rushed down a flight of stairs into the musty air of the forgotten passageways below the castle proper. As she left the reach of the moonlight, her horn became her only source of light, bobbing as she ran, sending her eyes flashes of dilapidated stone walls and dusty tapestries. The sound began to warble slightly, almost as if it were coughing on the ancient dust her hooves had stirred up.

The pounding in her ears served as a drumbeat to the ringing as she stepped from a hall into a vast, cylindrical room, spanned by a spiral stairway wrapped around a sturdy central pillar of stone which extended downwards some fifty yards into pitch darkness. Luna descended, trying to ignore the increasingly complex fluctuations in the ringing, the unsettling almost-words murmured by an unspeakable idea performing a crude imitation of a living animal. The sound continued to grow quieter yet more horrible until she reached the bottom of the stairs, where spidery whispers scuttled through her brain, tickling memories she thought she’d buried.

She stood still, save for her uncontrollable shaking. Before her, through a gap in the pillar, she saw something thin, metallic and black sliding slowly up the inside of the pillar, vibrating angrily. Luna felt colder than she’d ever thought possible, as though she were a hundred miles from the warmth of the surface. She’d been certain that there was more time—centuries, at the very least—yet here before her was an unmistakable sign that ponykind’s oldest and greatest debt was soon to be collected.
…
The sunlight fell, hot and angry, upon Twilight’s face. She blinked rapidly, grimaced, and lifted her sheets to cover her face. She’d been in the middle of something important, but couldn’t remember what. There had been someone she was supposed to talk to, something of great importance she was meant to understand.

She was dimly aware of Spike walking past her doorway. “I meant to tell you something,” she groaned, slurring her words and thumping a hoof against her bed.

“What?”

She slithered out of bed, shaking her head in attempt to rattle her brain into wakefulness. “Nevermind. It was just a dream.”

It was a new day, and there was no need to remember yesterday’s funeral. No sense of guilt over previous apathy crept into Twilight’s stomach as she brushed her teeth. No sick, sinking sensation at the idea of her own eventual death weighed down on her heart, formed a lump in her throat, or caused her to shiver and bristle as she retrieved oats from her cupboard and ate them while looking out the window. No monumental sense of despair slithered through her veins, no anguish over the cruel joke of countless lives being born into a fantastic, wonderful world, only for each to disappear from it after the cosmic blink of an eye. Why should she feel gloomy on such a nice, sunny day?

She looked out at the ponies shuffling through the streets. They all seemed to have regained their usual hustle, carrying on with energy and confidence, yesterday’s unpleasant inconvenience completely forgotten. The scene was a collage of bright eyes, smiles and sunshine.

As she moved towards the door, a strained, muffled cough issued from behind her. She turned in time to see Spike double over before exhaling a puff of green smoke which materialized into a scroll. With her magic, she caught it in midair and unrolled it while stepping forward to read:
My dearest student Twilight,
Something urgent has come up. I must request that you and your friends meet me in Canterlot as soon as possible.
--Princess Celestia

Twilight blinked. Why wasn’t there more information? What business could be so urgent that it prevented the princess from writing more than a couple sentences?

“Spike, the princess needs our help in Canterlot. You stay here while I go find out what’s going on.” She galloped out the door, and into the sunlight, her mind racing with a hundred possible things that might have gone wrong.
…

Within minutes, she had all five of her pony friends following behind her. “All the princess said was that something urgent was happening,” she explained as they charged down the road towards Canterlot. In the distance, the castle dipped in and out of view as they navigated the contours of the land, rounding the grassy foothills of the sheer cliff-side into which the castle was built.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened. “I bet it was Discord! He must’ve escaped his stone prison and started spreading chaos again!”

Twilight glanced over at the serene countryside sweeping out around the mountain, the castle standing high and proud, the crystalline waters that fell in trickles and cascades down from the rocky heights above. “I don’t see any chaos.”

“Maybe was Queen Chrysalis!” shouted Pinkie Pie. “She must’ve snuck her spies into the castle, and now Celestia’s trying to figure out where they’re hiding!”

As she spoke, they all quickened their pace. “I sure hope not,” said Twilight, “but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
…

As they rounded the final curve of the road and the castle came into view, Twilight began scanning the parapets for some sign anything amiss. She glanced at her friends, shrugged, and began leading the way up over the drawbridge and through the gold-framed aperture that served as the main entrance.

They entered the throne room to see Celestia gazing out one of the windows. When she noticed them, she strode towards them, her regal gait reminding all but Twilight to bow.

“I’m glad you’re all here,” she said, though there was an edge of uncertainty to her voice. “I have very grave news: an ancient force, locked away for millennia, will soon make itself known in Equestria, wreaking destruction and attempting to subjugate all of ponykind.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed. “Discord.”

Celestia shook her head. “I’m afraid this is a foe even more insidious than he was. Right now, our enemy is already somewhere in Equestria, with an appearance no different from any other pony.”

“Chrysalis!” exclaimed Pinkie, stomping her hoof. Again, Celestia shook her head.

“I don’t mean that this is a pony who can shape-shift at will. He has come to Equestria twice before, with a different appearance each time.” She strode over to the window, looking down the sheer cliff-side towards the warm, green vale that nestled Ponyville. “I’ve sent agents out to every neighboring city to monitor for unusual activity, but I’m afraid it may not be enough. That’s why I need your help.”

“You can count on us, Princess,” said Twilight. “We’ll use the Elements of Harmony to defeat him as soon as he makes himself known.”

“Actually, I’m hoping it won’t come to that. In order to be fully resurrected, this pony needs to gather three things he left behind the last time I defeated him. Even one or two could make him incredibly dangerous. However, because of their nature, I couldn’t store them in the castle, and I can’t abandon my post to retrieve them now.”

“We understand, Princess,” said Twilight. “We’ll do whatever it takes to bring back the artifacts.”

“I should warn you, all three are infused with dangerous and unpredictable magic. You should be ready for anything.”

Rainbow Dash saluted. “We’re prepared for danger, Princess. Just tell us where we need to go.”

Celestia nodded. “Follow me.”

She led them down a side hallway to a study filled with rows of bookcases on one side and a wide, oaken desk on the other. From amidst the dizzying collage of scrolls, cartographic instruments, yellowing tomes, and quills that covered the top of the desk, Celestia lifted up a large, heavily stylized map of Equestria.

“I’ve marked the last known locations of the artifacts on here,” she said as she magically rolled up the scroll and passed it to Twilight, who briefly examined it before tucking it into her saddlebag. “I’m not sure how much time we have left, but it would be best if you began preparing for your journey as soon as possible.”

Twilight nodded. “We won’t let you down.” Her friends chimed in their assent.

“Excellent. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish reviewing the records of the last… visitation.”

As they were on their way out, something struck Twilight—something about Celestia’s explanation had seemed rushed and incomplete. As she turned back towards the princess, her friends halted to watch her. “Princess!” she called.

Celestia peered out from within the study. “Yes, Twilight?”

“This ancient, evil being that’s going to attack Equestria… what is his name?”

“First of all, I’m not sure I would call him evil—just extremely dangerous. As for his name…” She hesitated, almost as though she needed a moment to remember—but why would that be? After a moment, she replied:

“Thunder Dasher.”

Twilight blinked. What kind of a name was that?