Hello there everyone. This is my first My Little Pony story, and I'm very nervous about it. So...i'm just gonna keep writing and hope you guys like it.
I hope you enjoy.
I DON'T OWN MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC
CHAPTER 1
IMBALANCE
Several years earlier...
His eyes were wide, and his vision was blurry. His breaths were quick, ragged and panicky. His hearing wasn't any good either. His entire body trembled uncontrollably as pain unlike anything he'd ever felt coursed through it. Everything hurt, his head, his legs, his chest, his insides, his everything. Desperately, he cried out in pain hoping that someone would hear him.
"Stay with me!"
Someone did. He saw that someone appear before him, a silvery alicorn whose face was just as panicked as his was. "Don't worry! Y-You're going to be fine!"
The alicorn's horn glowed with a pale silver aura as he placed it over his body. Weakly, he raised his head slightly and couldn't believe his eyes. His entire body was covered in blood, more blood than he had ever seen on him in his life. The sight only caused him to panic even more. His mind a whirl, he tried to recall what happened, and the memory of it just caused more pain.
It was light, nothing but light. He had seen light before, experienced it, but this was different. It seemed to envelope him and caused him pain, burning pain. The warmth it usually made him feel seemed to have intensified a thousand fold, becoming a searing, unbearable blaze. He felt like his whole body was on fire, a raging inferno that threatened to consume him.
But there was no fire. There was only light.
"Damn it!" the alicorn shouted withdrawing his horn. His healing spell had failed. "Why...why is there so much blood?!"
Fearing for his life, he cried out in pain. The alicorn looked at him before walking away. A few seconds after, he heard a loud crash like something, a desk or a chair, being tossed aside. "Damn this!" he heard the alicorn shout. This was followed by another crash. "Can I not save even one of them!?"
There were others? He weakly raised his head; though his blurry vision, he could make out five other beds who were occupied by young colts just like him. He couldn't see or hear them properly, but the way they twitched and moaned in agony told him that they shared the were experiencing the same thing. It seemed that they, like him, were about to die.
He cried out from the overwhelming agony and fear he was feeling. The combined moans of pain from six young colts was just too much for the alicorn to take. He covered his ears, but he could still hear them pleading for their lives. He tried to ignore this as he mentally went through every spell he knew, hoping that he'd come across something, anything that would save them. Nothing came up.
One idea crossed his mind, a crazy idea. It was more of a risk actually. It had something to do with dark, forbidden magic he never thought he'd use some time, magic that dealt with the very forces of life and death itself. He didn't know if it would work and, if it did, what kind of side-effects it would have. But upon looking into six pained expressions, he threw aside his hesitations and ran off.
After seeing the alicorn run off, he felt the pain intensify. As he noticed his sight and hearing starting to fade, he realized that he was just a few moments away from death. He struggled some more and cried out wishing that somepony, anypony would save him.
He saw the alicorn appear once again, but his features were even more blurry. When he spoke, his voice seemed to echo as if he was at the end of a long tunnel.
"Don't worry...You're going to live..."
The alicorn used his magic and brought something up near his face. He couldn't see it properly, but it looked like a black sphere of some sorts. "You're going to live...It might not be the kind of life you expected...but I refuse to let you...or any of the others die...not now...not while you all still have your whole life ahead of you..."
Without warned, he used his magic and shoved the sphere into his chest.
It seemed to phase right through and enter his chest. A second after it did, his eyes widened as the pain intensified. This time, it was the same burning sensation he remembered. He felt like his body had been set on fire. Even though there really was no fire, he felt his flesh burn, his very bones blazing, his heart being roasted by unseen flames.
Unable to contained himself anymore, he screamed out in pain, feeling the invisible flames consume him entirely.
Present day...
The Everfree Forest...Just hearing that name would make anypony shudder. Nopony would ever dream of going in there unless it was absolutely urgent. The place was huge, easy to get lost in, and was teeming with creatures that would rip you to pieces in no time.
But this particular day, there was one pony who was brave enough to stay in the forest all by himself. It was a pegasus stallion, and almost everything about him was dark. Grey coat, short black mane, the only bright things on him were his cutie-mark, a white chess pawn, and his eyes which were golden. Almost fitting his dark appearance, his name was Ash.
It was late in the morning. Ash was lying in the middle of a clearing at the edge of the Everfree Forest far away from his home. He sighed and yanked out a leaf from a nearby bush with his mouth. At that moment, a gust of wind blew, and he let go if the leaf.
He watched the leaf flutter around in the wind for a while before doing it, his special trick, a strange power nopony else had. He had it ever since that fateful day so many years ago.
He knew how to do it; as his gaze intensified, his eyes suddenly went from gold to scarlet. The next second, the leaf became engulfed in flames and was eventually reduced to ash that blew away in the wind. Ash sighed and yanked out the another leaf and repeated the process.
He always chose to be alone if the opportunity came up. He just wanted to get away from every from everypony else.
You know what would happen if they got close to you...
He growled and shook his head to stop himself from thinking such things as all it did was cause him pain. He instead concentrated on burning more leaves from the bush. His powers could do more than that, but he only wanted to burn one leaf at a time. The activity took his mind of his problems.
A small noise caught his attention. After reverting his eyes back to golden, Ash looked in front of him seeing a small white rabbit staring at him. Ash usually avoided animals just as much as he did other ponies in order to protect them.
Thinking of hurting small animals? Harming innocent, kind creatures who haven't done anything wrong?
Another growl escaped his throat as those thoughts crossed his head. He had to drive the rabbit away and knew just what to do. He faced forward and looked right into the rabbit's eyes. Immediately, the latter's eyes widened in terror. After maintaining eye contact for a while, the rabbit turned and hopped off as fast as he could. Ash sighed, glad he was alone again.
But a few moments later, he heard another shuffling as if something much larger was approaching. Ash then heard a voice, a soft, kind voice that caught his attention. "Now Angel, what's gotten into you? Why'd you bring me-"
Ash saw a pegasus mare enter the clearing along with the same rabbit. She had a yellow coat, pink mane and cyan eyes. She stopped mid-sentence when she spotted Ash and took in his presence. Fluttershy had never seen this pony before in town before. She wondered why he decided to stay so close to the forest.
"Um...excuse me." she said shyly. Ash raised and eyebrow as she slowly approached him. "I-I'm sorry to bother you but uh...Angel here told me about somepony frightening him and um..."
Before she could finish, Angle hopped up to him, crossed arm and tapped his foot as if he was expecting an apology of some sorts. Ash scoffed and looked away. That only irritated Angel, and he bounded forward and swatted the side of Ash's head.
Fluttershy gasped. "Angel!" she reprimanded. "I'm so sorry; he's-"
But she was silenced as Ash poked Angel hard in the chest. Before the rabbit could do anything else, he once again locked eyes with Ash. Immediately, pure terror enveloped the rabbit causing him to turn and run off as fast as he could.
"A-Angel!" Fluttershy cried out as her pet fled. Ash turned his head to do the same to her, but was met by a surprising sight. Fluttershy was staring at him wide-eyed, a stern and intimidating expression on her face. He was surprised that someone so timid could make such a face.
"Now that wasn't very nice wasn't it?" she told him sternly giving him the full power of her Stare. "You should be ashamed of yourself, frightening Angel like that when he wasn't doing anything to you. Now I'm going to get Angel back, and when he gets here, you're going to apologize. Understand?"
The initial shock of hearing such a bold tone from her eventually wore off. She continued to stare at Ask without even blinking. Ash in turn blinked twice and opened his mouth. "Is that all?"
Fluttershy's eyes widened and stepped back. This had never happened before; her Stare was supposed to work on anything, but this stranger wasn't even phased by it. Ash spoke once more. "You call that a gaze? This is a gaze."
He got up on all fours and brought his golden eyes up to her cyan ones. She recoiled a bit but retained eye contact. After several moments...nothing happened to Fluttershy. Surprised, Ash intensified his gaze, hoping that she would feel its power.
After several more uneventful moments, Ash finally backed off and stared at Fluttershy wide-eyed with shock. The latter didn't know what the big deal was. She tried to say something, but at that moment, he turned around, spread his wings and took off towards the forest.
"Wait! Don't-" She tried to warn him about the danger of the forest, but he had already left for its depths. Ash flew as fast as he could through trees avoiding their branches to get away from the clearing. After about a minute, he slowed down and came to a stop. Panting a bit, he leaned against a tree and wondered.
M...My Glare...Why didn't it work?
As he pondered that, he some rustling coming form the trees to the side. Thinking that it might be a Timberwolf or some other carnivore, Ash stood his ground, his eyes turning scarlet. That all changed when he heard a familiar voice call out.
"Ash!...Ash!...Oh, there you are."
A colt appeared from the woods. He had a thin, maroon body and a wild and bushy mane; it started off as light grey and became white as it neared the end. His dark rose-colored eyes had a strange look to them; they wide and suggested that he just had too much sugar or that he was crazy. His cutie-mark was strange; it was an eyeball that resembled his own imposed upon an image of a pony's brain.
Ash sighed as his eyes went back to their natural color. "Psych..." he said.
The latter smiled as he approached him. "Wait." Psych stared at Ash intently for a second. "What happened to you? You're all tense."
"I...Nothing happened." Ash said looking away.
Psych sighed and shook his head. "Ash, you know you can't lie to me and get away with it; no one can. D'you wanna talk about it?"
"No."
"OK. Look, lunch is up, so we should get going." Psych said before turning and walking deeper into the forest. Ash looked over his shoulder one last time thinking about that strange mare before following suit.
Ash and Psych didn't speak as they made their way through the forest. Nothing in the forest frightened Psych as well. Eventually, the two of them came across a large stone castle in the middle of a clearing, their home. Psych led the way and opened the door allowing the two of them to enter.
The headed for the dining room nearby which had only one occupant, a silver alicorn with sapphire eyes and a long, silvery mane wearing a deep purple coat. His cutie-mark was a circle the lower half of which was a sun while the upper half was a crescent moon surrounded by stars. He smiled at the two of them as they entered. "Ash, Psych, there you are. I was just about to-"
But he two colts just walked right past him as if they didn't see him at all and sat down. The alicorn, Equinox, sighed and rose from his seat. Still being ignored by the two of them, he left to get their meals ready. As the door closed, they head hoof steps heading towards the room. A few moments later, a door burst open and three stallions entered.
The first one in was an earth pony. He was tall and had a muscular build. He had a brown coat, short, a dark brown mane and light hazel eyes which were currently showing his eagerness to eat. His cutie-mark was a gold medal wearing a red cape.
"Psych, Ash, I can't believe you two beat us here." he said smiling at the two. Psych simply pouted while Ash turned his head away.
"Maybe that's cause you slowed us down Ironhead." the second stallion, a pegasus, said playfully hitting the first one in the head. He had a bright red coat, a wild, dark red mane and orange eyes. His cutie-mark was an outstretched wing that resembled his own.
"Hey! You calling me slow huh bro?" Ironhead asked getting into a small tussle with his pegasus brother.
"Ironhead, Scar, please don't make me split you two up." the third stallion, a unicorn, said sternly. His coat was beige, and his long, wavy mane was navy blue with light blue streaks. Strangely, his eyes were milky white. His cutie-mark was a saxophone shaped like a musical note.
"Alright, alright. Jeez, no need to do that Blues." Ironhead said heading for his seat. His two brothers did the same and took their places at the table. "Hey dad, how lunch coming?!"
At that moment, Equinox entered the room with six dishes carried by his magic. As he distributed, he looked around the table noticing something. As he put down the last of the plates, he went to the door and called out. "Solstice, it's time for lunch son!"
"Just a minute father! I'm almost done with my experiment!" another voice called back.
Equinox opened his mouth again, but at that moment, there as a flash of light and a unicorn appeared in their midst. He had a teal blue coat, a short, grey mane that parted in the middle, and blue green eyes behind a pair of silver-rimmed glasses. His cutie-mark consisted of three books stacked up. A fourth book with a cover covered in magic symbols leaned against it.
"Done and done. I've perfected yet another spell father." Solstice said proudly.
"I'll examine it later, but for now, it's mealtime; you've kept your brothers waiting." Solstice nodded and took his seat. Soon afterwards, their meal began.
There was a lot of talk among the brothers as they ate. Well, except for Ash and Psych which mainly kept to themselves. Equinox sighed; for years, the two of them never wanted to have anything to do with him or the rest of the family. Equinox tried everything, but his two sons refused to change. He sighed and decided to just concentrate on his meal.
*tink
That was when he heard it, a small sound like a pebble hitting glass. It was almost quiet, easily missed and probably nothing, but upon hearing it, Equinox froze. The glass he had been levitating with his magic fell and shattered against the floor.
The crash silenced the room and caused the six other boys to look at him. They were pretty surprised to see the look of shock and horror on his face. Finally, Scar broke the silence. "Uh...dad? What's going-"
Equinox suddenly rose from his seat and teleported out of the room. "Father wait!" Solstice shouted, but his father had already left. He had an idea to where he was and left his seat. He ran out of the room and headed up the stairs, his brother following him (Ash and Psych mostly out of curiosity rather than concern).
Led by Solstice, the brothers raced up the stairs of their home. Solstice led them to their father's study whose door was ajar. As they approached it they heard their father's voice inside.
"No...not again..."
The brothers halted in front of the door. Nervously Solstice pushed the door opened giving him and the rest of them a view of the study. It was a wide room lined with book cases and shelved on which rested a number of strange mechanical objects.
Equinox was in the middle of the room staring wide-eyed with terror at his desk. Aside from a few books and lose papers lying on it, there was what looked like a small set of scales. A small black pebble was on its left end while an identical white pebble sat on the right end. Currently, the scale was tilted to the right.
"Father, what's wrong?" Blues asked worriedly.
Equinox turned towards his sons and gulped. "I...This is hard to imagine but...I'm afraid...it is happening again. I'm not sure how it will manifest, but...I doubt it would be good..."
Judging by the way he said the word "it", the six of them knew exactly what he meant. For a brief moment, the memories of that incident flooded their heads. The ground shuddering, the screams of anguish, the light that seemed to be everywhere...The idea of it happening again was just unbearable.
"W-We gotta do something!" Ironhead exclaimed. "If it's really gonna happen again, there's gotta be something we can do! I'm in dad; I wanna stop this before it happens again."
"Count me in as well father." Blues said taking a step forward. "We all suffered enough from that incident. I refuse to let others feel the same."
"I'll assist you father in any way I can." Solstice said.
"Same goes for me." Scar added. "If we all do this, we can stop it before it happens right?
The sight of their eagerness to help gave Equinox hope. He turned to last two who hadn't said anything at all. "Ash, Psych, you two suffered from that incident as well. We can't do this without you two."
"Pfft." Psych scoffed. "If it's really just like all those years ago, then what's gonna happen is their fault." He turned. "Whoever they are, I say let them suffer, let them feel our pain." He bowed his head and spoke softly. "They deserve it...for what they did to me..."
On that note, Psych left the room. Shocked his what he said, Equinox turned to Ash. "I'm not supposed to care." he said coldly.
"Don't say that Ash." Equinox told him.
"What do you know? You know what I am, so you know that I...I can't care." Ash said in a raised voice. He then spoke with a shaky voice. "L-let them die...I...I don't care if they do...I shouldn't care..." He added before quickly storming out of the room. Equinox sighed and looked down. He then felt a hoof on his shoulder and looked up to see Solstice.
"They'll come around father. One day, they will." the latter said. He had said that to his dad many times in the past. "We just...have to keep showing them that they are still part of the family. For now, we need to concentrate. Can you identify where it will happen?"
Equinox stood up and summoned a bunch of books and scrolls with his magic. Solstice and the rest stepped back as he worked. Solstice usually helped his father in case some complex spell work was needed, but there were times when Equinox said that he needed to do this on his own. Solstice understood this as one of those times.
Equinox quickly consulted several books before opening one of the scrolls revealing a map of Equestria. Afterward, he closed his eyes, and the glow around his horn intensified as he began a scan. After several tense moments, he opened his eyes and gently laid everything down around him.
"Have you identified it father?" Blues asked. Equinox nodded. "Where?"
Equinox pointed his hoof somewhere on the map of Equestria, a place not that far from their castle, a place just beyond the Everfree Forest, a place that, unless they did something, would suffer as they did.
Ponyville.