//-------------------------------------------------------// The Great Battle for Equestria -by Magiaice- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter One: First Friends //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter One: First Friends The first day started as I awoke to hear a flute. It sounded magnificent. I looked down to see it was a unicorn playing the instrument. The sound was so beautiful, it sounded as if it wasn’t even real. After stretching, I flew down to greet her. “Hey, I’m-“ She jumped before I could finish. “Oh… hi, sorry, you kind of scared me. My name’s Zephyra, and what’s yours?” She said with a welcoming smile. “My name’s Fireblast, people usually just call me ‘Blast’ for short though. I’m one of the best flyers in all of Equestria! Or… so I think,” She laughed at that last part. “Well, Blast, want to come into town with me and grab some lunch? It’s about time.” “Wow, I slept that long… Eh, it’s good for the wings,” She laughed at my joke again. We lived in a town to the far north of Equestria, the snowstorms get bad here, but aside from that it’s really beautiful, especially with the snow on the ground and not getting in our faces. We started walking to the local café, when I saw a curious-looking pegasus. “Hey, you lost? Need help finding something…?” But she didn’t reply. “Oh, where did I put it? Damnit!” She appeared to be looking for something in the clouds… She seemed like a strange filly. I flew up to one of the clouds and found a… marble? Probably what she was looking for. “Hey! Green pony with the raindrops cutie mark, is this what you were looking for?” She quickly flew to me and took it from my hoof. “Yes! The marble my grandmother gave me! And my name’s Rain, you jerk,” She replied. “Well want to come to the café down the road with us? It’ll be on me,” I said with a smile. “Sure, I’m pretty hungry,” and with that she bolted off. She was definitely different… Very odd. When we arrived at the Hungry Pony café, Rain sat down and ordered about five different things. “Rain, calm down, I’m not made of money,” I said with a fake grin. “Ok, sorryyyy…” Instead, she ordered three things, which is better for me at least. Zephyra only ordered a sandwich and me a shake. We talked for some time and just sat there. It was a nice day to hang out with friends. The sky was beautiful, barely any clouds in sight and Celestia’s sun shined down upon us, making us feel welcome. "Hey, Rain... Do you live around here? I don't think I've ever seen you," I asked her. "Neither have I," said Zephyra. "Well, I recently moved here, I used to live in Canterlot, it was great and all, but I just didn't like that lifestyle all the much. So I moved here to lead a calm, nice life as a weather pony," She said with a smile. In about an hour after talking, we all said our goodbyes and went home to do what we needed. Zephyra had to take care of her little sister, Rain had to work and I had to practice racing for the Equestria 500. When I got home, Neon was all ready for our practice race. "Hey, Neon, looking colorful as usual," I said snickering. "Hey! I'm gonna beat you today and I'll be the one laughing!" We both bursted into tears laughing. "Alright, you ready?" "Yeah, ready when you are." And we were off. I was ahead of her by a good distance, then suddenly she shot straight forward and got ahead of me. I wasn't about to be beat by her for once... That won't do. I just gave it a little more... and with some more power I was ahead of her! Her neon colors eating my dust. By the time I got to the finish line she was only half-way there. "Hey, you alright Neon? Thought you were going to beat me." I taunted her and laughed. "Real funny, Blast. You're way too fast for me... Y'know, I think you'll win this year! But there IS Rainbow Dash... and she's pretty fast. But I think you have it this year, I really do," Neon said smiling at me. "Thanks, I think I have it. Last year was so close... This year I KNOW I have it," and with that we said our goodbyes and she left. "Time to sleep... it's getting late." I flew to my bed and slept... I didn't dream that night, although if I did it was definitely me winning that race. I woke up the following morning with one thing in mind; practice. All day, all night for the next three days all I did was practice. Three days later Zephyra came by to see how I was doing. "You alright, Blast? Don't push yourself too much, you're already a great flyer," She yelled to me. "Thanks, but I want a definite win! I need to work harder," I yelled back. And that day was also spent training. Then the following few days I just relaxed, Zephyra was right, I was fine, but I wanted to secure my chances of winning. I flew over to my favourite cloud to watch the sunset. Surprisingly, there was a brown earthpony climbing up the cliff under me... What could he be doing there? "Hey! You there! You alright?" I yelled. "Could never be better, just rock-climbing! It's good for the legs," He yelled back to me. This pony was a lot more peculiar than Rain, I could tell when I heard those words. As soon as he climbed to the top I flew down and talked to him. "So what's your name?" I asked him. "Cliff, I do professional rock-climbing. It's a fun sport, but really difficult on the legs. Takes a lot out of ya," He said breathing heavily. "And what's your name?" "My name is Fireblast, but everyone calls me Blast for short. I'm one of the fastest flyers in Equestria and I WILL win the Equestria 500 this year," I said in reply. "Well, Blast I think you have a good chance at that, you flew down here pretty fast, before I could even blink. So good luck to you," He smiled at me. "You too with the rock-climbing. Oh, that reminds me. If you want, you can come with me and some friends to that café at the edge of town tomorrow around twelve. We usually hang out there for a bit." "Sure, why not? You can never have enough friends!" And with that, the first week flew by pretty quickly. Author's Note A quick intro as the first chapter, this is the first time I've done an MLP fanfic, so please give me tips or anything to make it better. Thanks and enjoy the story! //-------------------------------------------------------// The Road Ahead //-------------------------------------------------------// The Road Ahead The following morning - that Tuesday, we left for the swamp Vellium spoke of yesterday. After about an hour's walk we stopped to rest at a large rock. "So what exactly are we going to this swamp for again?" I asked Vellium curiously. "A magical stone that can bend time and space, that can control the almighty heavens and even make the impossible possible. I forgot to tell you two, this is the last mission Celestia gave me before I departed to live here. She made it clear this was the last task I was to do before retiring and settling down," Vellium sighed after explaining. "Well, we should start moving again, it's not even nightfall and we've been here for at least ten minutes." "Right, let's go," Zephyra said eagerly. Another ten, twenty... Fifty minutes later we arrived at the swamp. We got camp ready for the night, and before we knew it, time flew by. We gathered around the campfire that night to discuss what we'll be doing the next morning. "So, I want you two to know exactly what we're going to be doing tomorrow. And before I start; we got here pretty damn fast. I didn't expect us to get here so fast, I was expecting at least a week.But you younger ponies sure know how to travel. Now then. Tomorrow we will be entering a temple not that far east of here. This temple is old and decrepit, who knows what's inside there. We will also be traveling together, normally we'd each be alone, but seeing as this might be extremely dangerous I don't want to take any chances. You two understand?" "Yes," Zephyra and I answered simultaneously. I crawled into the tent and was the first asleep, followed by the others. For sleeping in a tent, it was actually quite comfortable for a tent. I fell asleep very quickly and was soon face-to-face with the sun. "Good morning you two, how'd you guys sleep? I slept great!" I asked them. "Fine, fine, but I don't like sleeping in a tent. It's so uncomfortable," You could hear a slight whine in Zephyra's voice. "I'm used to sleeping in tents, it really doesn't bother me much anymore," answered Vellium. Vellium yawned and took out a case he's been carrying. Inside the case were gadgets and rope for exploring, the most interesting being a grappling hook and night-vision goggles. "So we're going to be there soon?" I asked Vellium after three hours of walking. "Yes, we're almost there," answering me for the fifth time in ten minutes. "We should just take an hour's rest before we explore, don't want you collapsing in the middle of a booby-trapped tunnel and dying because of exhaustion," chuckled Vellium. "Haha, very funny," I sarcastically replied. Zephyra seemed to think it was pretty funny too. Oh well. I wish I knew what I was getting into before I stepped into that temple. //-------------------------------------------------------// A Brand New Day //-------------------------------------------------------// A Brand New Day I woke up Monday morning with an awful headache, much like the ones you get when your younger brother wakes you up early by jumping on your bed and yelling "WAKE UP!" in your ears. This morning was like any other Monday. Boring, despised, hated, dreadful, beginning of the week, awful and terrible. All those words come to mind when I think of the word "Monday". I looked out the window of my home and noticed the sky was completely clear, not a cloud in sight over this area or the town. I drank some water and left my house; ready for a brand new day. When I walked outside, everything seemed so calm. "A fresh morning like always," I said to myself whilst yawning. I slid down the hill behind my house and to my surprise, she was sitting there. Playing her flute. Such a beautiful tune. She walked over to me and I didn't notice while I was dazed by the beautiful music. "Blast? Didn't expect to see you up and about so early," Zephyra said smiling at me. "You alright?" "Hu- Oh, yeah. I'm fine, sorry. Just kinda tired," I replied. "That's fine, just don't scare me like that alright?" I nodded back to her in reply. Me and Zephyra walked down to the lake, where to my amazement, we saw another pony. "Hey there!" I shouted to the other pony. He was blue with a dark blue mane. He turned around to face me. "Oh, hello there. Just taking a look at this lovely lake. I know it's a bit early, but I had just moved here and heard it was one of the best attractions around the area," He said with a smile. "Yeah, I will give it that much. This lake is pretty nice. I'm glad I got the house closest to it when I moved up here, can't believe no one else wanted such a great view," I said. "I don't either, but I was born here so it really wouldn't matter," Zephyra said with a grin. "Well, will you two come with me for a little week's trip? It'd just be one small favour," Said the blue pony. "Oh yes, and my name is Vellium." "Alright, I'll come along, got nothing better to do and the Equestria 500 is in two weeks," I said happily. "Count me in too! Not gonna let Blast go without me, he'll break a wing or something," and Zephyra giggled. "That was just mean..." All three of us laughed together.