//------------------------------//
// Spreading the Word 
// Story: Guardians of Light: A Shadow Forms 
// by Alphadude007 
//------------------------------//


Guardians of Light: A Shadow Forms

Chapter 23-Spreading the Word


-Canterlot Castle: 1,000 years before Nightmare Moon's return-

Luna hadn't said anything since they received their Elements and it made Celestia nervous. Luna never said anything after the Element-bearing ceremony, she never spoke at dinner, and she never said anything when she raised the moon. Something was going on in that little head of Luna's and Celestia wanted to know what it was.

I can't just come right out and ask "What has been happening with thee as of late?" Celestia thought as the two sisters began to walk towards each other's bedrooms. I can't just ignore her strange behavior either. How do I come about approaching this situation? She asked herself. Well, I guess I can try to ask her indirectly.

"Get some rest, Luna. We will be needing it for the trek to the Crystal Empire in the morrow." Celestia said, breaking the silence as the two sisters walked down the hallway that led to their bedchambers.

"I know, sister. I will make sure that I am well rested for the journey tomorrow. I just hope that we can get there quickly." Luna said in a determined tone.

Celestia looked down at her sister. "For Shooting Star's sake? I agree." She assumed.

Luna shook her head. "Nay, Celestia. It is not Shooting Star's predicament that troubles me."

This caused Celestia to give Luna a concerned look. "Then what is it that troubles thee, Luna?" She asked, seeing the hesitation on her sibling's face. "Thou can tell me. Whatever it may be, I can help you solve it."

"That's just it." Luna said, her expression turning to one of exasperation. "I have this… feeling. This feeling is saying that something bad is going to happen." Luna glanced at her sister, expecting a response. Celestia replied with an emotionless stare as she listened to Luna. "I don't mean I'm concerned with our chances of survival against Sombra, it's just something that I can't quite put my hoof on." She said, pushing her hoof on the ground to emphasize the metaphor.

Should I tell her that I have been having the same feeling as well? Celestia pondered. She too had been having strange feelings about the mission that they were about to embark on. Seeing Luna's reaction to when her Elements when they were placed on her didn't help Celestia's inclinations towards the mission ahead.

"I don't mean to trouble thee with my own concerns, Tia. I just have this off feeling I cannot get rid of." Luna finished, hanging her head.

Celestia put a hoof on her sister's shoulder. "It will be alright, Luna. I have my own doubts in regards to what happens tomorrow just as thee have thy own." She said, receiving a surprised look from her younger sister. "But don't worry. I'll be here for thee no matter what may happen."

Luna looked up at her sister and gave a weak smile. "Thanks, Tia." She said gratefully, nuzzling her sister with her muzzle.

Celestia returned the emotional gesture by hugging Luna's neck with her head. No matter what happens tomorrow, we'll get through it together. Celestia thought with a smile.

Little did Celestia know that it would be the last time they embraced like that for a thousand years.

-Carousel Boutique, Ponyville: Present Day-

"Ahh." Rarity sighed. "Nothing like some good old fashioned dress-making to take the mind off some things." She said with a smile as her automatic sewing machine stitched together two pieces of purple cloth onto a ball gown she was making for a client in Canterlot. At the mention of things to take her mind off of stuff, Rarity's mind began working against her.

I wonder how Twilight and the others are holding up from those nightmares we had. Rarity pondered as sewed the last thread onto the dress and took it off the machine. I mean mine was pretty terrible, but Spike was in that too. And Rainbow and Applejack had to watch the ponies she cared about… die. She thought, the concept of death making her queasy. Sure death existed in the world, but that didn't mean that they had to get used to it. Rarity sighed as she hung the newly made gown onto one of the mannequins in the corner of her shop.

Rarity looked up from her work and glanced at the room around her. She'd seen the inside of Carousel Boutique almost every day of her life, but never truly appreciated what she had. I have a very providing job, a roof over my head, some of the best friends in the world, and a caring and loving sister. Rarity thought as she went over what she had in this world. What if one day, it all just… vanished? She had seldom considered such a possibility, but recently her mind just could not keep off those subjects. Whatever's going on, I hope it's over quickly. She thought, letting out a sigh.

Rarity's ears perked at the sound of knocking at her shop's door. Who could that be? The unicorn fashionista thought as she looked up at a clock on the wall. Carousel Boutique doesn't open for another hour. Rarity's eyebrows furrowed as she began to approach the door. Standing on the tips of her hooves, Rarity looked through the peephole, smiling at the visitor she saw through the glass.

She opened the door and greeted her familiar visitor with a smile. "Good morning, Twilight! And what may I do for you this fine morning?" She asked, studying Twilight's features. Dirty hooves and somewhat out of breath, she's been running. The somewhat worried look on her face is barely concealed. Was she in some sort of hurry to get here? Rarity analyzed while she kept her greeting demeanor.

"Good morning to you too, Rarity. Do you have a minute?" Twilight asked in a lighter tone than her current state conveyed.

"An hour is more like it." Rarity replied cheerfully. "Come in, come in." She said, waving her hoof as a gesture to come inside. Twilight walked through the shop's door and shot Rarity a smile.

"Thanks, Rarity. Sorry if this is so short-notice." Twilight apologized while Rarity closed the door behind her guest.

Rarity shook her head. "Nothing to apologize for, dear. Now can I get you anything? You look thirsty from all that running you did today."

Twilight spun around and gave Rarity a surprised look. "How did you know I was running?"

Rarity gave a light chuckle. "Oh Twilight. You'd think that after all my years as a fashionista that I'd be able to pick up seemingly unnoticeable details and their pertaining implications."

"Oh." Twilight said flatly. "Was it that obvious?"

Rarity shrugged and began pointing to parts of Twilight's body. "Well the dirty hooves could've meant anything. But you seemed to be breathing heavily and the look on your face told me that something serious had happened. So what's the trouble, Twilight?" She asked, cutting straight to the point.

Twilight swallowed before answering. "I had another vision." She said.

Rarity's eyes widened in surprise. Oh. That is serious. She thought. "Was it anything like the first one?"

Twilight shook her head. "Actually it wasn't so much bad as it was a warning of some kind."

While Rarity was relieved to hear her friend hadn't undergone another traumatic experience, her curiosity was aroused as to what kind of warning Twilight was talking about. "What do you mean… warning?"

Twilight's head dipped. "That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"Is that why you came to me?" Rarity asked as her eyebrow rose.

Twilight nodded. "I'm holding a meeting at the library tonight. As soon as Carousel Boutique closes, would you be able to come? I already have Fluttershy gathering some of the others to let them know."

Rarity gave her friend a determined look. "I'll be over tonight as soon as possible." She said confidently.

Twilight smiled. "Glad to hear it." She said, turning back towards the door.

As Rarity watched Twilight head towards the door, a certain feeling was nagging at the back of her mind. A feeling that something bad was going to happen. "Twilight!" She called, Twilight stopping in her tracks and turning to look at her friend. "No matter what happens, we're all here for each other, right?"

Twilight gave her unicorn friend a slight smile. "Always."

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as Rarity watched her alicorn friend walk out the door and back into Ponyville's streets.

-Sky above Ponyville, Ponyville-

"So what did that message mean?" Rainbow Dash thought aloud. She'd been tossing and turning on her bed for the entirety of the previous night, her mind not allowing her to sleep. Rainbow's brain had been repeating the warning that voice had left her before disappearing the other day. She had tried to forget it, but every time she did, the more futile the fight was.

From the mountains of the frozen north,

An ancient shadow shall come forth.

The sun will set on Canterlot,

A sacrifice that won't be for naught.

The six will become eight,

And this world's path they will dictate.

To herald a new dawn,

Or revive an evil once foregone.

The warning repeated itself over and over, taunting Dash with its cryptic message. The mountains of the frozen north. That has to mean the mountains near the Crystal Empire. Dash thought. However the next few lines were what concerned her. The sun will set on Canterlot, a sacrifice that won't be for naught. Something about those words made Dash feel uneasy. The sun goes down every day. What would be different about this one?And a sacrifice? She wondered, her mind going to what could be sacrificed. Death was not an issue that Dash tended to dwell on, but with this warning it was all she could think about. Who would die? And for what? The questions mounted up inside her head, making Rainbow clutch her head, trying to keep all the thoughts inside.

"What does it all mean?" She whispered to herself.

A soft knock at the door to her cloud house brought Dash back to reality as she lifted her head to look at the door. Dash sighed as a second knock made itself heard in the house. Dash stuffed her head into the covers of her bed, not wanting to talk to whoever it was at the door.

"Rainbow? Are you home?" A soft voice on the other side of the door asked.

Dash's head shot out of the covers. I know that voice. She thought, getting off the bed and trotting towards the door.

"Fluttershy? Is that you?" Rainbow called once she got to the door.

"Yes it's me. Do you have a minute or is this a bad time?" Fluttershy asked from the other side of the door.

Dash opened the door to see her pegasus friend. "Nah. It's alright. C'mon in." the rainbow-maned pegasus gestured for Fluttershy to come inside. Fluttershy obliged and flew through the doorway and into the cloud house's atrium.

Fluttershy looked over her host. Bags under her eyes, tussled mane, tired expression. It must be a bad time. "I'm sorry if I came at a bad time. You tired? You look like you haven't had a wink of sleep in days." Fluttershy said.

Dash smirked and rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah I don't look too good right now, do I?" She asked in a slightly joking tone. Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh well. So what's up?"

"Well I was taking care of some critters in my house earlier this morning when Twilight came by." Fluttershy said, describing the situation.

"Huh. What'd she come over for?" Rainbow asked. Usually Twilight wasn't over at Fluttershy's cottage unless explicitly asked to or wanted to help.

Fluttershy rubbed her arm with a hoof as she resumed. "Well she came by saying that something had happened."

Rainbow was instantly alert at hearing something had happened to her friend. "What? She's not in any trouble, is she?" She asked.

"Not exactly." Fluttershy said, receiving a confused look from Rainbow. "She said that she'd received some sort of warning."

This furthered Rainbow's confusion. "A warning? About what?"

Fluttershy shrugged. "I'm not sure. I don't think that even she knew what it was about either." She said.

Hearing this concerned Rainbow. Normally Twilight was the smart one when it came to things that needed to be figured out, so why couldn't she figure this one out?

"So what does this have to do with me?" Rainbow asked, putting a hoof on her chest to emphasis her question.

Fluttershy scrunched her face in thought. "I think Twilight only knew that the warning she got had something to do with the Elements. She wanted me to let you know that we'll be having a meeting to discuss Twilight's warning at the library tonight."

Even though she couldn't make heads or tails of what Twilight's predicament was, Rainbow put on a determined look. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to be there."

Fluttershy smiled at her friend's boldness. "Okay then. Well I've got some critters to attend to back home. I'll see you at the meeting." Fluttershy said, turning around and opening the door to see herself out.

"See ya tonight." Rainbow said, waving goodbye to her departing friend. She didn't stop waving until the door had been shut and Fluttershy was on her way back home.

Twilight didn't know what the warning meant? The multi-colored pegasus thought as she put her back to the wall next to the door and slunk to the floor in defeat. Why do these things have to be so cryptic?

"What do all these warnings mean? I can't figure them out and neither can Twilight." Rainbow murmured to herself, her words reverberating off the cloud walls of the now empty house. Rainbow rested her head against the wall behind her and tried to figure out what to do. Letting out a groan, Rainbow came to the conclusion that she didn't know what to do. Normally she was the first to act in any given situation, but these riddles had her stumped. A mixture of feelings welled up inside her. She felt frustration, anger, despondence, and pensive. Letting out a defeated sigh, Rainbow leaned forward and held her legs with her hooves.

Whatever it is that these things are talking about, I hope it's over soon.

-Ponyville Market, Ponyville-

Silver Star strode down the dirt road that divided the various good-selling carts and entrepreneurs from their potential customers. So much love in one place. If I could have a single nibble… He thought, his stomach growling a bit at the thought of food. No! I can't feed yet. I know I hate it, but I can't. The still focused side of his mind slapped him back into reality.

In the past couple days, Chassis had gained an understanding for what Chrysalis had to go through when she was undercover in Canterlot. He looked at all the ponies to feed off of, each of them unsuspecting of the danger that was walking through their very streets. Such naiveté. Chassis thought as he passed an orange salespony in a stetson hat arguing with a customer for the price of a bushel of apples. They carry on with their daily lives as if nothing is ever going to change. Chassis's mind went back to how living was in the hive. Constantly on the alert for hungry changelings, almost no love sources to feed off of, having to deal with the creatures of the forest surrounding the hive, the incompetence of their leader… the list went on and on in his mind. True this place was infinitely better than the changeling hive, but these ponies were almost too naïve and happy for his tastes. Nothing a drastic change in authority can't fix. He thought with a grin. Once this job is done, I'm requesting that this place be the first to be attacked.

Silver Star continued walking down the street with his thoughts when a sharp cry pierced his ears.

"LOOK OUT!" A filly's voice shouted to his right. Silver Star turned his head just in time to see an orange pegasus filly on a scooter pulling a wagon with two other fillies in it. It was all he could make out before having to hit the deck. Silver dove to the ground as the scooter and the wagon barely sailed over his head. Hearing a loud clonk, he figured the fillies had landed on the ground. He got up and turned to see the fillies in the wagon with shell-shocked expressions on their faces and the filly on the scooter's face was one of elation. Bucking adrenaline junky. Silver thought as a frown developed on his face.

"That. Was. Awesome!" The orange pegasus filly with a wind-blown purple mane and tail exclaimed, jumping from her scooter and landing on the ground.

"Awesome? You call that awesome? That was terrifying!" A white unicorn filly with two-toned purple mane and tail shouted.

"Ah'll say." A yellow earth pony filly with a bushy red mane and tail with a pink bow in her mane grumbled.

"Oh come on, guys! At least nopony got hurt, right?" The pegasus replied to her friends' lack of enthusiasm.

"Yeah, but Ah think may stomach needs to catch up with me." The earth pony said in a country accent before holding a hoof to her mouth to hold back a wave of nausea that suddenly overcame her.

"Oh don't be so dramatic, Applebloom." The pegasus said. "You don't see Sweetie Belle saying stuff like that." She said, gesturing to the white unicorn filly only to see that she was sprawled on the ground face down, groans coming from her face in the dirt. The pegasus put a hoof to her face and sighed in disappointment at her friends' reactions to her stunts.

The filly that Silver had noted was 'Applebloom' spoke up. "Well what're we gonna do now?"

Silver Star glared at the three fillies as they recovered from the stunt. "Maybe you could take your stuff and find less dangerous ways to have fun with it." He muttered under his breath.

"What was that, mister?" the white unicorn filly named Sweetie Belle asked.

Silver caught his breath. They heard that? Oh nuts. He thought. "Oh, nothing. Carry on with whatever you were doing." He said dismissively.

"I could have sworn I heard you say something about doing something less dangerous." Sweetie said.

Applebloom turned and looked at the large black earth pony in front of her. "Oh. Were y'all the pony that Scootaloo yelled at to duck before we hit ya?"

Jeez. These fillies don't let up do they? Silver thought, trying to force a smile. "Yeah that was me. Thanks for the warning."

"Sorry 'bout that. Scootaloo can be a bit of a daredevil on her scooter and I guess she almost hit ya." Applebloom said, glancing at her orange pegasus friend.

"Yeah. Sorry about that." The orange pegasus, Scootaloo, apologized.

Silver gave the fillies a slight smile in return. "No problem. Just don't do it again."

"Hey mister! Y'all alright?" A southern-accented voice shouted to the left of him. Silver turned his head to see the orange apple-selling pony he saw earlier galloping towards him.

"Yeah. I'm fine, no thanks to these three." He said, casting a glare at the mischievous fillies next to him.

"Hey!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "We said we were sorry."

By now the orange pony had arrived where Silver and the fillies were. "That doesn't excuse y'all from actin' recklessly. Have y'all apologized to this poor stallion?" She asked in a harsh tone.

"But Applejack, we already did." Applebloom responded in a pleading tone.

"I want to hear ya say it." Applejack rebuked.

Scootaloo let out an irritated sigh before the three fillies spoke. "We're sorry." They said in unison.

The orange pony named Applejack let up on the harsh look she was giving the fillies. "That's better. Now get along before something else happens." She said, gesturing for the fillies to leave.

Scootaloo got back onto her scooter while Applebloom and Sweetie Belle climbed back into the wagon, albeit with slight hesitation. With a quick vrm vrm, the three fillies were driving off out of the market.

Applejack turned to Silver. "Ah'm sorry about that. Applebloom and her friends mean well but they can be a bit careless every now and again."

Silver huffed. "As long as I don't get in danger of being run over again, I think we're good." He said, turning to leave.

"Um, if y'all don't have any place to get to in a hurry, wanna buy an apple?" Applejack asked, trying to hold a smile while pointing to her apple cart that lay down the market street.

"I'm good. Thanks for the offer, though." Silver said, trying to get along with his business.

"Are ya sure? We're havin' a sale. Five apples for the price of three." Applejack said, still trying to sell her product.

Silver gritted his teeth. "I'm fine." He said in a low tone. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get on with my day." With that, Silver stormed off, leaving a disappointed and surprised Applejack behind him. Sheesh. Can't these ponies let anypony be for five seconds before trying to intrude on their business? He thought as a disheartened Applejack trudged back to her apple cart.