The Path to Decay

It was a beautiful, sunny day in Canterlot. The birds were chirping, ponies laughing, and the joyful playing of foals could be seen around. Princess Celestia had awoken from her slumber and was awaiting her breakfast in bed, she liked a nice glass of water, toast and one apple in the morning, and it gave her all the energy she needed for the day.

"Here you go, your highness..." said her servant Buxom Shine, as he handed the princess her breakfast.

"Thank you very much!" exclaimed Celestia, as she began to dine first on a piece of toast, she preferred it to be nicely toasted as to not burn it.

"Well, I better get going if I want to get something for myself to snack on, your highness.", he replied, as he moved over to the door to leave.

As her servant was walking out of the room, he had remembered something that was brought to his attention but one hour ago, which he did not alert her right away since she was sleeping.

"Uh, your highness once you're finished your breakfast we have something urgent to discuss...".

Celestia immediately stopped eating her toast and questioned what the pegasus had just said.

"No, tell me what the problem is. I must know of anything urgent ASAP..." she demanded.

Buxom just looked at the vibrant sun princess and was very nervous about telling her the problem, which normally for him is not a problem, but this was a matter of urgency.

"Well, I'm waiting?" replied Celestia, getting impatient with her servant not telling her of this urgent problem, tapping her hoof on the ground.

"Well, your highness we have discovered the return of the Mernallian Empire, which has been-" said Buxom before being cut off by Celestia finishing his sentence, "-locked away for three hundred years...".

Instantly, Buxom was surprised to know that Celestia had knowledge of this almost obscure empire that had been hidden away for three hundred years.

"Yes, I know all too well of the Mernallian Empire, it was ruled by an evil unicorn named King Slifer, who would beat his own citizens and even lock them in the dungeons for minor offenses such as asking for more to eat, he was pure evil...".

Buxom stopped to think, "Was, your highness? You mean, he's not around any more?" he asked the princess.

"Last I heard from the empire, a group of his slaves had escaped the dungeon and assassinated him, slashing his throat with a makeshift shiv they made from a piece of the steel bar from their prison cell..." replied Celestia.

"Sounds like a rough way to go.", Buxom said.

"It was, but all must not be well if the empire has returned. Last I remember, Slifer had a son who would take over the throne if something were to happen to him.".

"What was his name, your highness?"

She simply replied.

"Morior..."

It was surely a day to remember in Ponyville. Merchants and shopkeepers were doing great business, the schoolchildren out on their summer break time, and our favorite librarian was enjoying a nice bit of company around the library on a busy day. Twilight Sparkle had invited her friends over for a friendly chat about their week among other things. Twilight enjoyed the company of her friends and Spike a lot, and it's hard not to when she had known the greatest 5 ponies to ever enter her life.

"So, what have you been up to this week, girls?" asked Twilight, in her always cheery, and polite manner.

"I managed to smash my all-time speed record in the race yesterday against Thunderlane. Oh man, he couldn't keep up!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, the always confident rainbow-maned pegasus.

"Ah managed to get the whole south side of the fields by mahself, I sure showed Big Macintosh, heh..." replied Applejack. She took pride in her work with the family.

"I managed a great outfit for Blossomforth the other day, she was quite astonished with how it came out!" giggled Rarity, admiring her own craftsmanship.

"I baked the most scrum-diddly-umptious cake in the whole wide world of Equestria!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, in her always hyperactive tone.

"Was the cake for anyone in particular?" Twilight asked Pinkie simply.

"Well uh, no. But it was super sweet and delicious!" said Pinkie.

Twilight simply giggled at her friend's comment, knowing that she's just "being Pinkie Pie" and turned to Fluttershy.

"How about you Fluttershy? You've been awful quiet today, what did you do?" asked Twilight to the pink-maned pegasus.

"Well...uh..I sort of-" Fluttershy softly said before being cut off by Spike's gagging.

"What's the matter, Spikey-wikey?" said Rarity, calling Spike by the little name she had given him.

Then, Spike belched and had revealed a scroll that had been sent to Twilight, by none other than Princess Celestia judging by the fact that only Celestia sends her letters through Spike. Twilight examined the letter, and she suddenly had a worried expression on her face.

"What's the matter, sugarcube? What does the letter say?" questioned Applejack.

"I just got a letter from Princess Celestia, she wants to see all of us, including Spike, at the front of the Palace Labyrinth right away".

Her friends immediately looked worried as to what Celestia wants to see them about so suddenly. The last time they had gotten a letter like this was when Discord had become free from his stone prison, so Twilight, Spike and her friends immediately left the library and set their sights for Canterlot, as there was most likely no time to lose.

After some time later, Twilight and the gang arrived in Canterlot and started to head to the Canterlot Castle, unsure of what could possibly be awaiting her and her friends. Twilight wasn't always one to jump to conclusions awful quickly, but she has had her episodes of being quick to judge, so naturally she was a little on edge, unsure if it was something she did about her studies or if it was something different.

Twilight and her friends made it to the entrance of the Palace Labyrinth, only to see both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna awaiting their presence for quite some time, they too had unnerving looks on their faces, which frightened Twilight a little more.

"It's good to see you in this time of crisis, Twilight Sparkle", said Luna.

"What is this all about, Princess?" asked Rainbow Dash, confused as to why they were called to Canterlot.

Princess Celestia simply took a deep breath and began to explain.

"I've called you all here for a matter of great urgency." said Celestia.

"It seems a long-lost empire has returned from it's three hundred year slumber. It appears that the Mernallian Empire has returned."

"The Mernallian Empire, Princess?" asked Fluttershy in her soft little voice.

"Yes, the Mernallian Empire. It was a long-forgotten kingdom that had been enslaved by the evil unicorn king, King Slifer, for a thousand years. I thought it was lost forever after the assassination of King Slifer, but as it seems his son has taken over the kingdom and has enslaved the poor citizens."

"So you want us to go to this "Mernallian Empire" and kick this king guy's butt?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Not quite how you put it, but you must put an end to the slavery in the empire, go to the Mernallian Empire, and go defeat Prince Morior...or as I guess he is now...King Morior. I'm counting on you girls to not let me down, you have never let me down before, and I have great confidence that you can free the people and remove King Morior of his power. Now go!" proclaimed Celestia, as if she had just given the biggest speech of her life.

As Celestia conveyed this information, a single bead of sweat drizzed down her snowy white fur, due to her evident nervousness.

"But Princess, where is this "Mernallian Empire" located?" asked Twilight.

"About two hundred miles from Dodge Junction, on the outskirts." replied Celestia.

"When will we know we've arrived at the kingdom?" responded Twilight, asking more questions than most, as she's known to do.

"The kingdom's landmark is a giant statue of a blood-red diamond, which if still not there, also should be the visible palace that stands out among the majority of structures in the kingdom." Luna retorted.

Celestia coughed, and looked at her sister, impressed that Luna remembered the details about this kingdom she had told her about.

"Heh, I'm quite happy you remembered that, little sister."

"Well big sister, when an empire is under the rule of an evil tyrant and you want them rid of, you tend to learn as much as you can about it" Luna responded.

"Well girls, are you up to the challenge? Are you ready to defeat King Morior?" stated Celestia.

"Princess Celestia, you can count on us!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"We will not let you down, princess!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Until we meet again girls, be safe" said Celestia.

"Do it for us, Twilight Sparkle. Do it for all things good." told Luna to Twilight.

Now, the girls had their mission and knew what they had to do; Overthrow King Morior and free the citizens of the Mernallian Empire before it was too late.

As they left, Celestia heard something she had not heard in a long time; The evil laughter of King Slifer haunted her for the moment to be, cackling like a hyena.

"I have a very bad feeling about this, my sister." explained Luna

"As do I, little sister."

"As do I."