The Alicorn War

“MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!” Princess Celestia’s voice echoed through the Great Hall of Canterlot Castle. She had called an emergency meeting of the Royal Council, a group of high ranking ponies that hadn’t gathered in one place since the first great Changeling War. They had all been given the gift of immortality by and ancient wizard because judgment and thinking skills.

However, they didn’t really look like they were handling the current situation very well. Princess Celestia had started the meeting by introducing Silverbolt, which didn’t really go over well with the Council. Three of them had heart attacks, so now there was only nine of the original twelve. Celestia had explained The Darkness to Twilight and her friends before the council gathered.

“There are three Realms in our universe.” She had said. “When ponies die, they either go to the First Realm or the Second Realm. We live in the Third Realm. If you do good in your life, you go to the First Realm and become one of the Upper Beings. If you do evil in your life, you go to the Second Realm and join The Darkness. The Darkness consists of every evil earth pony, unicorn, pegasus, and alicorn that ever lived. Now that Silverbolt has the most powerful magic, the will stopped at nothing to pull him into the Second Realm. Short of killing him, of course, because then he would lose his magic. Our only hope is to cast a complex spell that was designed to protect the Third Realm from the Second. We must finish it before they break through the fabric of space, or it will fail.”

“YOU KNOW WHAT WE MUST DO!” said Celestia to the Council. “WE MUST CAST THE SPELL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE! EVERYPONY PLEASE GATHER ON THE BALCONY!”

The Council did as she said, and then all started to chant as one. Celestia, Luna, and Silverbolt all joined in, creating a hypnotic harmony of voices. As they neared the end of the spell, there was an echoing, earthshaking crack that resounded throughout Equestria. Then, a pure black chasm opened up in the sky, becoming larger by the second. The shadows seemed to pour from the crack, but then everypony realized that the shadows were actually pure black alicorns and pegasi soaring through the air, with unicorns and earth ponies streaking towards the ground, leaving obsidian craters in the ground.

“It’s too late.” murmured Luna. “They are here.”

“Wait!” interrupted Silverbolt, his horn glowing silver. “I can feel them! I can read their minds! I can tell who they are! Oh, uh-oh. There’s one up there that seems to bear a particular malice towards you and your friends, Twilight. That one, there.” He pointed to a shadowy figure whose only distinguishable feature was a blood red, talon-like horn. Twilight felt a chill run down her spine.

“Can you get his name?” she asked. “Ummm… I think it’s… King Sombra! That’s it! Does that mean anything to you?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” she replied.

“There’s no time to chat!” yelled Celestia “We have to take cov-!” she was interrupted by three dark alicorns swooping down. They had shadows curling from their fur like dark vapors. They each shot a ray of dark energy at Celestia, encasing her in a shadowy sphere.

“NO!” shouted Luna. “That spell was lost!”

“We… recovered it.” hissed one of The Darkness, in a voice that reflected nothing but pure rage and hatred. They shot the dark energy at Silverbolt next, but he put up a shield and counteracted it. No matter how hard the three dark alicorns tried, they could not break Silverbolt’s shield. While this battle of strength was going on, there was a commotion in the crack. A blue and tan blur shot from it and tumbled towards the balcony. The dark alicorns looked at it and began to glow with a horrible dark light.

“We are leaving… for now.” one hissed. “But we will return for him.” It pointed a hoof at Silverbolt. There was a zap of black lightning, and they disappeared.

“Noo!” howled Luna.

“What kind of spell was that!?” asked Twilight.

“That” said Silverbolt “was the eternal night spell. As long as Celestia is in the Second Realm, the sun will not rise. The Darkness is most powerful at night.”

“We’ve got to rescue her!” said Rainbow Dash valiantly, glancing at Silverbolt as if for his approval.

“I wish it were that simple.” said Silverbolt, not noticing Dash’s furtive glance.

“But the Second Realm is so chaotic, nopony can enter without going insane, at the least. They would have to be… I don’t know!”

“A spirit of chaos?” said Luna with a sly smile. There was a flash out on the balcony, and a familiar voice rang out. “You called?”

“Discord!” yelled Fluttershy happily. “Oh, I’m so happy to see you again!”

“Same here, my dear Fluttershy, although I wish it were not under these circumstances.”

“Um, what’s happening here?” asked a very confused Silverbolt.

“Fluttershy reformed Discord. He’s a good guy now!” said Pinkie. “Oh.”

Just then, the blue and tan blur hit the balcony. It stood up, revealing itself to be a tan pony with a dark blue mane and tail.

“Oooh, another one fell from the sky!” squealed Pinkie excitedly. ”What’s your name? Are you Princess Celestia’s other brother?”

“No.” he said with a little chuckle. “I’m not. And as for my name, nopony has used it for a very long time. But… I think I used to be called… the Prophet.” Twilight gasped as she remembered the message she had received from herself a week ago. Don’t trust the Prophet. “I had better not let him know that I'm onto him.” she thought. “He could be dangerous. I’ll leave it for now, but I'm going to keep a close eye on him.”

The Prophet began his story. “I was captured from my homeland a very long time ago. The Darkness wanted me because of my gift of foretelling the future. Unfortunately, they killed me to get me to the Second Realm. As you probably know by now, that caused me to lose my powers. They soon realized their mistake, and brought me back by using the life for a life spell. I still didn’t have my magic though. So they put me in a prison and left me to rot. However, when the crack opened up, I made a break for it and escaped. Now I'm here.”

“This is all very nice,” interrupted Discord “but we have bigger problems. I understand that I am to be our dear Princess Celestia’s knight in shining armor, as it were?”

“Yes, that’s correct.” replied Silverbolt.

“Then I will be off!” said Discord. He flapped his odd wings and took off towards the dark chasm, dodging the dark alicorns and pegasi skillfully as they tried to stop him.

“Well, what do we do now?” asked Rainbow Dash to nopony in particular.

“Now” replied Luna “we hold off these things until Discord returns with my sister.” She shot a bolt of midnight blue energy at a pure black unicorn, vaporizing it instantly. Two more immediately took its place. Beams of dark light flew through the air, turning Canterlot into a war zone. Fluttershy and Rarity were already on the ground floor of the castle, tending to the wounded. An agonized scream of a pony in pain rang out.

“This is definitely going to be a challenge.” said Luna. “And I’m not so sure we will be able to overcome it.”