Legends of Harmony Season 1: Chapter 10
By AlphaOmega
The sun shown brightly over the land of Equestria. The birds had awoken early to begin the hunt for food. The little creatures in the ground would continue to build their homes and search for resources.
Then everything changed.
The sun was completely shrouded by darkness, replaced by a hollow ball of infinite black. The sky opened a void that ripped through the sky curtain and from it, all monstrosities that had been banished flowed forth.
And in the center of all the madness, there was the one devil-creature that would lead it all to fruition:
Emperor of the Darkreims: Darlem.
The scene changed: the ponies and all the species in Equestria worked on a massive monument to the glory of the new Emperor. Both parent and child slept in overstuffed homes. Soldiers lined the streets, harassing and regulating trade. The elites of Equestria were thrown down from their high perch and forced on a deat hmarch across the lands. Darkness creeped in, threatening to swallow any who attempted to fight. The heads of each nation were lined up to lose their head. Soldiers executed the armies of the kingdoms in horrific fashion.
"You know, it didn't have to be this way."
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Celestia woke up, sweating bullets. She clawed for air and threw off her sheets. Her mane was completely disheveled and her tail had seem to lose it's flowing nature. Heavy sandbags hungs from her eyes and her breath made her nose turn away in revulsion.
It was just another dream and another night.
It had been getting worse from day to day. The nightmares increased. Luna did all she could, giving her older sister remedies and even going as far as to go into the dream and try to fight off the Darkreims. It was no use.
She knew why it was happening. The seal on the scroll had been broken. It was a blood seal, meant to hold a spirit for all eternity unless the convenant was broken. Celestia had created that scroll a millienia ago, but it should have still been powerful. She even had to use "that" to seal him away. It wasn't called a "Blood Seal" for nothing.
She bowed her head in shame. To think of what she had to do to fight that monster. To think she had to sacrifice so much to stop him.
To think she almost fell in love with him.
A sudden pain creeped into her mind. She had to make her own preparations. She would need to contact her strongest allies and prepare for the battle ahead. They still had time to prevent Darlem from rising. In his current form, he could manifest in brief ways and places. It was highly unlikely he had a physical form yet, meaning he could do no physical harm.
However, he had no doubt sent for his minions ahead of him. The Darkreim race was scientifically impossible. They literally came from hell. Born from darkness and raised in a competative land, only the best survive. A mother was a term they never knew. They killed and used each other until the very last backstab. On top, their strength was almost double that of a regular ponies'. They had the ability to use magic, but could not fly.
Her mind flashed to the elements of Harmony, and its' bearers. Twilight and her friends had no idea what they had accepted.
And she had let them try.
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Luna was in her chamber as usual. Her sleep was not as affected as her sister; she saw nightmares too but could control them. On this day, she awoke feeling rejuvenated. Unlike her sister, her mane and tail were in good condition and her eyes spoke of complete readiness to attack the day.
Yet all was not well in her heart. Her sister was in such pain. She could remember a time when SHE was the one who would inflict such trauma on her, but this was different. These machiniations of horror were beyond her abilities. Celestia had refused company despite her being able to go to meetings and hold councils every day.
With a flare of magic, she teleported to a nearby dresser, deciding to do her hair for the morning, despite that it was already in good condition. She picked up her brush and quickly fell into a trance. It happened every morning; her boredom became so great she would do things unconsciously.
Her mind was particularly worried about Darlem. On more than one occasion in the past, the future Emperor had often spoken to Luna, telling her of the wonderful world he could create. She knew Celestia and Darlem were currently "crushes" and pushing too far would anger her sister. In a world where it was only you and your sister that lived for centuries, one tried not to make an enemy of the other.
She pushed the thoughts out of her mind. Luna needed to focus on the world at large.
And she had a plan that would either prove to be the biggest failure and lose the world to darkness or a gamble that would give them a shot at defeating the coming Emperor.
No biggy.
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In other places across Equestria...
Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetiebelle had gathered for their meeting. They had decided to meet in Canterlot for a luncheon at the Fancy Pants Hotel. Normally, Scoots and Belle couldn't even get in, but Applebloom knew how to pull rank.
She went right up to the front of the line and looked the host in the eye. She took a card from her saddle and flashed it. The host (and a few of the patrons) gasped at the card and quickly showed them to their seats.
"That wasn't nice." Sweetie giggled.
Scootaloo objected. "Nah, we just have priority." She sat down at her seat. "I've performed at Wonderbolt shows, you are a renowned singer, and Applebloom has connections." She smiled at her red maned friend.
"Oh shucks, it ain't nuthin'." She responded. "Applejack just said to use the card if I ever wanted to treat you mares out. And since we just entered a pretty successful deal with the Cherry company, I thought we should celebrate."
They prepared their orders and the waiter took them. The relaxed as the began to talk about life.
"So Scoots." Sweetie Belle asked. "How is the academy?"
A smile quickly lit up her face. "It. Is. AWESOME!" She yelled. When a nearby table looked at her crazy, she blushed and lowered her voice. "I'm really trying hard. I even got to perform with the Wonderbolts!" Again, her voice squeaked to loud, earning her more glares.
"And you?"
Sweetie just stirred her lemonade. "Not really much. Voice lessons are good. Sapphire Shores is a good mentor, if a little flashy." She reflected on her time with the diva, molding her into a superstar. But she never forgot her way home.
"Seems like just yesterday we were hunting for our cutie marks." She looked down at hers. "I still can't believe I got mine from that incident..."
"HAHAHA! Oh my Celestia! That was funny!" Scoots laughed. Sweetiebelle joined in aswell.
They continued to chat as their appetizers came in. "How are things in Ponyville, Sweetie?" Scootaloo asked.
"Oh, the same." She said. "Dinky took over for Derpy for mail a few days ago and actually did an awesome job. I do miss Derpy, but apparently she had gone to Cloudsdale for a few days."
Sweetie scooped some more hayfries. "Snips and Snails visited me a few days ago. We hung out at the park."
"OOOOOOOOOH!" Both the other mares cooed.
"Puh-lease." Scoots chided. "It was nothing big. They just happened to be on duty there and no disaster had struck. Yet." They mares giggled at the thought.
They continued to chatter, completely unaware of the imminent chaos that was to ensue. But for now, let us return to more pressing matters...
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"Who are you?" Twilight asked the hooded figure. Fluttershy and Pinkie had untied Rainbow, still heavy with fatigue. The darkness, however, continued to creep into her soul. As they tried to lift her, the coldness of her body made them begin to lose hope that they could save their friend.
The stranger merely stared at them, not showing any sign of having heard the mare.
"Who are- ACH!" A sudden leash of darkness strapped itself to the unicorn's throat.
"Twilight!" Rarity yelled. She powered up her horn and with a loud battle cry (unbecoming of her) she yelled. "Let my friend go you...you..." She was at a loss for words. When the creature showed no sign of stopping, she fired a quick blast of magic energy into the figure.
"I got him!" She cried in victory. However, the dark one did not give up so easily. The parts of his body that had been hit began to reform, darkness creating a physical being.
"Oh." The unicorn exclaimed. Twilight then used her own magic to attempt a shot blast at the enemy, only to fail as her magic was cut off by the strangulation of the darkness.
"Oh no ya don't!" Applejack yelled, throwing a rock she had found. Once again, it passed through the enemy as the darkness reformed.
"Hahahaha. You are the mares of prophecy?" The figure spoke. "This must be a joke. The master would easily wipe the floor with all of you in a second. And to top it off, you are down one pony." He pointed at the rainbow-maned mare.
He turned his attention once more to Twilight. "I give you mercy now. I was only sent to gauge your powers. And I can tell you are nothing but a common herd of equines who will die a slow and painful death at the Rising."
He gave Twilight one final choke before dropping the mare.
"Twilight!" The group yelled. The unicorn fell to the ground as the figure disappeared.
"We...can't...let him get ....away." She said in between gasps for breath. Rarity lit up the room while Fluttershy attempted to tend to Twilight and Rainbow Dash.
"No," Twilight coughed out. "Take care of rainbow first." She looked to her friend who was clearly shivering not from the cold, but fear. "She needs it more that I ever will."
Fluttershy nodded. Applejack had meanwhile given chase to the mysterious individual, only to hit the end of the cave.
"How in the hay?" She wondered. No pony should be able to escape in the opposite direction from the entrance and have a dead end...
But was that an average pony?
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"My lord, I have returned." The General announced. The halls of the dark cave was a familiar place to the Darkreims. It was were their leader made his home.
"Good General. Did you instill fear?"
The General looked up proudly. "Yes, your majesty. The element of Loyalty and Magic have both been slightly traumatized."
The Darkness merely snarled. "Slightly traumatized?" The General could tell something was wrong with his master's voice.
"I WANT THEM TERRIFIED!" The master yelled. "I want them to feel the darkness seeping the life out of them!"
"I will deliver, my lord." The Darkreim leader promised.
"I will show them the depths of fear itself."