Chapter One: The Runaway
There are some things we cannot understand why they happen at the precise moment they happen.
In the Frozen North of Equestria, the beautiful lights of the aurora borealis once lit up the sky, all credited to the equally beautiful queen of the North, who ruled beside her loving husband with a gentle hoof. The two loved all their subjects, and were loved in return. They were kind, fair and gentle rulers who eventually gave birth to a beautiful daughter. But, after the daughter's birth, the Queen became very ill, life-threatening ill actually. The King found the best doctors of Equestria and ordered them to heal the Queen, to release her from her sickened stupor. However, even with the best attempts of the doctors, the Queen never recovered from her illness. She soon died, and the King secretly became insane.
First, it just started with the normal mourning process, then he began to hear her voice, see her in abandoned rooms, think he would "feel" her touch. Then his depression slowly began to work its way into insanity; and with his insanity, he became cruel, heartless, ruthless. He had no love for his kingdom, only hatred, and most of his hatred was directed towards his daughter. He blamed the Princess for her mother's death, and he intended to seek revenge for his fallen wife; rather that be murdering his daughter or destroying his kingdom, he would have his revenge, no matter the cost.
"Princess," a silver maned unicorn called to the young mare as she trembled in the darkest corner of her bedchambers. The mare had called for her servant out of fear, fear for what her father may do.
After bursting into the room, the ruby eyes of the colt scanned the room until his eyes finally rested upon the princess. "Your Highness, we must flee the castle, your life and the legacy of the throne depends on it." A snow white alicorn mare with an ice blue mane that shimmered like new fallen snow emerged from the shadows.
"Prism Chaser, what about my father?" the mare asked, tears sparkling in her sky blue eyes as she stood before her most trusted and loyal servant.
A lump formed in the colt's throat as he was forced to ask a question he was more than willing to avoid. "He's ill your Majesty, very ill. It appears that your father has been consumed by some sort of darkness, and it also appears that he won't get better, not for a long time," he spoke in barely a whisper, forcing the words to escape his lips.
This did not help the tears forming in the mare's eyes, and a few stray tears began to streak her cheeks. Prism Chaser, with an alarmed expression, drew a tissue to the princess's cheek tenderly, levitating the object with magic that streamed from a ruby glow engulfing his horn. "Please Princess, don't cry," he cooed to the young mare, wiping her tears away gently.
The mare sniffled quietly as her tears dried. "Thank you, Prism," she spoke softly with a gentle smile, one that was lovingly returned by her servant.
"You are quite welcome your Highness," he said, then he paused for a moment as his ears perked up from a commotion happening out in the hall. He shushed the Princess as he quietly trotted over to the door, his horn aglow with magic. He opened the door a creak and peered out into the darkness of the hallway. There didn't seem to be anypony in the hall, all that consumed the hallway was an ominous fog. "Princess, we need to get you away from the castle, immediately," he whispered as he glanced towards the now trembling Princess.
He took a hooded cloak from his packed saddlebag and draped it over her shoulders. "No one will recognize you, we can slip you out of the castle undetected," he explained with a smile.
"But where will we go, Prism?" she sniffled, tears threatening the ducts of her eyes once more.
The colt drew a hoof to the Princess's eyes and wiped away her escaping tears. "To a place where legends live, Princess, to find such legends: the 'Elements of Harmony'," he told her, then slowly opened the door to her bed chambers and urged her down the hall.
"What are these objects, these 'Elements of Harmony'?" the Princess asked as the pair galloped down the halls as fast as their legs could carry them.
"Not objects your Majesty," Prism began to explain, his focus on the mare, "The Elements of Harmony are mares, just like yourself. They wield such amazing power that they have vanquished evil in Equestria, including Nightmare Moon and Discord."
The Princess just looked at him with a shocked expression, but her thoughts and burning questions were interrupted with the echoing of a booming voice that almost seemed to shake the foundation of the ice castle.
"Daughter!"
The voice belonged to none other than the King of the Frozen North, a once kind and gentle soul that seemed to have been taken over by a heartless and power hungry tyrant.
The color drained from Prism Chaser's face as she skid to a halt. "Go Princess, I'll hold them off as long as I can," he commanded, his magic shifting his saddlebag from his back and onto the petite frame of the Princess.
"But what about you?" the Princess choked out as for a third time, tears pooled in her eyes.
"I'll be fine, don't worry about me!" he exclaimed as he dodged skillfully aimed spells produced by the attacking guard ponies.
The Princess fought back her tears and she turned from her beloved servant and ran, she ran as fast as she could. She nearly screamed as a spell attack whizzed past her ears, the ringing from the closeness of the attack still echoed in her ear drums. She mentally pictured the map that Prism had spend painstaking hours having her memorize in her Equestrian history lessons, and she spread her wings for flight. Just as she began to ascend, her right wing was struck by an attack, and she fell to the ground with a painful thud.
Her wing throbbed in pain and began to bleed, it felt as though she had broken one of her hind legs, but the adrenaline and fear had begun to kick in as the guards closed in, and it seems as though her pain didn't matter. That drive to get away from her home, away from her father, fueled her strength, banished her pain and fear. She ran as fast and hard as he legs could carry her. She ran night and day, endlessly without sleep, until she knew she was safe from her father's icy clutches. As she approached a friendly sign that said "Welcome to Ponyville," her insomnia finally caught up with her, and as the draining weakness began to set in, she fell to the ground in a sleep induced coma, barely five steps away from the threshold known as Ponyville.
