The Legend of Equestria
Chapter 1:
All across Equestria ponies where getting themselves ready for a trip to Canterlot. The princess, Celestia had decreed that a banquet be held in honor of the six heroines who had bravely defended Equestria in its darkest hour. The ponies Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkypie, lead by Twilight Sparkle had defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, and played an instrumental role of the explosion of the changeling invasion. These six ponies are in fact the embodiments of the Elements of Harmony, without them to defend Equestria; Equestria would surely fall into darkness. There is one who knows the role these ponies play, and this one will stop at nothing to see that these six ponies are erased from existence. With this bit of information the story can begin.
“My dearest student Twilight Sparkle, I have some great news for you and your friends. In light of your recent heroic deeds I and all of the royal family invite you and your friends to Canterlot for a banquet in honor of you and your friends. You are heroes now, and rumors of what you and your friends have accomplished are sweeping across Equestria. This banquet will serve two purposes, it will of course honor you, but it will also be a way to educate everypony about the role you and your friends have played in defending Equestria. This will be a fun time though, and ponies from all over will flock to Canterlot just to see you, the heroes of Equestria. The banquet will be tomorrow… sorry for such short notice but it is for the best sense the staff that helped take care of the wedding will be able to aid in the banquet. I have arranged for a private trolley to pick you and your friends up from Ponyville and transport you to Canterlot, once you are at Canterlot you should make your way to the royal palace as soon as possible.” Twilight rolled the scroll up again, and glanced at her friends.
“Yah a party,” Pinkypie said. “Oh I wonder if they will have pin the tale on the pony… or maybe I should bring my own play set with me, oh and I can’t forget the party cannon.”
“Right so anyway,” Applejack began. “What do you make of all this Twilight?”
“Well it’s such short notice, and in the letter the princess doesn’t seem to be herself. I can’t explain why but I have a bad felling.” Twilight said.
“Oh please, she’s probably just stressed. She must be busy as a bee with the weeding at Canterlot just a week ago, and now this. She must have so much to keep track of, and then there’s also the task of running Equestria.” Rarity said.
“This just doesn’t seem right, why would Celstia want everypony to practically worship us for a day. It’s not like her, and it’s not like us. I don’t know about you all but I don’t fell comfortable having a banquet just in honor of us.” Twilight said.
“Oh please Twilight,” Rainbowdash said. “Who do your think you’re kidding… If it were up to me there would be a holiday for us. We don’t need to be humble about saving the world, after all everypony should at least know the names of who saved them.”
“We already know you aren’t humble about anything Rainbow, and while I do appreciate your opinion it seems the rest of us prefer to be humble.” Twilight said.
“Well I guess I won’t make a big deal about it sense you all don’t want to. But she did invite us, it would be rude not to show up… think about all the ponies we would let down.” Rainbowdash said.
“You do have a point there sugarcube.” Applejack said.
“I guess we can’t really say no. Girls go home and pack your bags, remember the trolley will pick us up tomorrow. We’ll see each other then.” Twilight said, and with that Twilight’s five friends strolled out of the library, muttering to each other their own excitements. Twilight felt uneasy however, she was not sure why but the writing in the letter did not seem like that of Celestia’s. Celestia always talked with a sense of pride and confidence, and it could even be read into the words she wrote, however this time that was not the case. Her writing just seemed strange, almost like she hadn’t written it. No matter how hard Twilight tried not to think about it, it nagged at the back of her mind. “Maybe I just need some sleep.” Twilight said to herself.
Twilight slowly trotted up the stairs to the second floor of the library, her bedroom. As she walked her hooves clicked against the wooden floor, and the stairs creaked as she ascended them. Before going to bed she walked over to the desk nearby the window overlooking all of Ponyville. It was dark out already, and Spike had light a candle on the desk. She found herself looking out the window starring at tree, for no real reason… until she saw something move. A figure was sticking out from behind the tree, it was why she was captivated by the tree, and when Twilight noticed what she was looking at it darted behind the tree. Twilight stared blankly at the tree, it was probably some filly playing a game… but this late at night it didn’t seem very likely. Then there was a loud knock at the door below.
She regretted turning the lights of in the downstairs room, but how was she to know she would have a visitor. “I’m coming, just one second. It’s awfully dark and I don’t want to hurt myself.” Twilight said in the hopes her visitor could hear her. With a slight buzz, an aura of purple light radiated from her horn lighting up the staircase leading downwards. Being so tired the light she produced was extremely dim, she was just barely able to make out the shape of the stairs in the inky blackness. Only able to see a few steps at a time, she slowly descended down the steps. There was a loud creak when she stepped on a step that was relatively close to the end of the flight. Another loud knock came from door. “I’m coming, just please be patient.” Twilight once again said. Whoever it was had no sympathy for the pony that was still half asleep plodding along in the dim light of her horn. Finally Twilight made it to the door, she reached a hoof out towards the handle but another loud knock startled her. She let out a slight yelp and said “I’m right here, seash,” as she opened the door.
Twilight saw nothing but darkness, no one was at the door. No one was at the door, yet someone had knocked at the door. “It must be the wind,” Twilight thought to herself. She slammed the door shut, and made her way back to the stairs. As she set her hooves on the first stair in the set there was a loud knock from the door. This time Twilight ran to the door and once again swung the door open and once again no one was there. “This isn’t funny, whoever you are knock it off! This better just be a prank, and if it is you’ve already had your fun,” Twilight screamed into the darkness. She closed and locked the door, ran upstairs, blew out the candle, and curled up in her bed. Then it happened. She heard a knock from the door again, and then a long drown out silence. The silence was interrupted by another knock from the door, and a knock that came from above, and knocks that came from all round. There must have been at least twenty ponies out there knocking on every outside surface of her house. Twilight buried her head in her pillow and squeezed her ears, but she could hear it. The noise was too loud; whatever was out there was violent. Then it stopped.
Twilight raised her head out from under the pillow and looked all around her, she could see nothing. There was an extremely loud crash from downstairs. Twilight reasoned that the recent events must have been an earthquake and that a bookshelf had fallen over. Using the little bit of magic she had left from being up so late, she light a candle on the bed stand adjacent to the bed and held it in her hoof. She descended the stairs down to the first floor and the sight she saw filled her with dread. The door was open. “Nothing to be afraid of… just an earthquake that shook my house and the door just happened to be forced open. No big deal, and that noise from down here was Spike. Come to think of it, wouldn't the earthquake wake up Spike? “Spike! Spike! Where are you Spike!” Twilight screamed. Something strange was going on, Spike would never pull a prank on Twilight, and if there was a disaster like an earthquake he would help Twilight no matter what. “Maybe he’s outside,” Twilight thought. She walked to the door, “Spike if your out here say something.” There was only silence. Twilight stood in the doorway not believing what was going on, there was creak from the wooden floor upstairs. That’s when Twilight realized, she wasn't alone.
“Hello… whoever you are please just leave now… I um I won’t ask any questions and won’t tell anyone. Please just leave.” Twilight said. There was no reply. “Who am I kidding; I’m just going crazy there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“You should be afraid,” a loud bombing voice bellowed from the darkness. “Should be afraid for your life Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight dropped the candle, and panicked. She looked all around trying to figure out where the voice had come from. Her eyes darted back and forth trying to discern somepony in the darkness, something hot was below her. It was a fire, she had stupidly dropped the candle and just stood there. Twilight ran. She slammed the door to the library shut and sprinted out into the darkness, not knowing where her hooves were taking her. A quick glance behind her revealed that the library was up in flames.
She found herself in the Everfree forest, a great place to hide. “I’ll just sneak through here and get to Fluttershy’s it’ll be safe there. Twilight entered the forest and walked a short distance before choosing to hide in a small ditch behind a tree. She waited until she was confident nothing was following her, and continued on her way. Fluttershy’s cottage wasn't far away, Twilight thought it would be just ahead. She came to a clearing, the moonlight shone down into it illumination the area. In the center of the clearing she saw something horrible. It was Spike, but he was dead. Laying on the ground was Spike’s corpse his face contorted in a scream, in a pile of blood his lower half below his waste was severed from the rest of his body and organs spilled out onto the ground.
