Chosen of the Storm
Prologue
Luna has a secret, a terrible secret; one that would upset the time of peace in Equestria. She knows that one day, she will have to reveal this secret, or it would reveal itself. . . She is also aware that she will have to face judgement for the results brought on by this... secret. She was about to speak up and explain everything, but after the swift reign of discord, she had thought it better to let the time of peace last. But as for her hidden words, let’s just say, turning the world of Equestria into a land of eternal darkness was not her only goal when she was the sinister Nightmare Moon. The hate and envy that had tainted her caused her to curse Equestria with a future of destruction and death. This curse is set to unfold its horrible reality within a few moons. Luna has a secret . . . and it’s time to expose the truth.
Chapter 1
It’s dark, but the ominous shadows brought on by the torch light did not sway her. Luna, who had just started to understand and memorize the castle’s layout, slowly made her way to her sister’s room. She had a look of concentration upon her face as she came to a fork, but quickly remembered which way to go via the pictures on the wall. Luna’s coat, mane and tail glimmer in the darkness, just as other things only shine in the light. Her beauty is absolute and known throughout the land of Equestria, and she is all the more glorious with the darkness surrounding her. It is in-between guard shifts now, so the only sound that can be heard is the sound of her hoofsteps echoing silently down each corridor.
Luna has surely adapted to some parts of her new life more than others, after being imprisoned for one thousand years. After having been shown the mercy and kindness of her sister, she often wishes that she would have never become overcome with the terrible feelings and thoughts that had first transformed her into Nightmare Moon. Although she took to the royal life quite well, she had had some trouble recognizing her place and role in relation to the subjects of Equestria. If it not had been for the persistent Twilight Sparkle, Luna may of never of found her place. Luna is now aware of the “fun” that comes from Nightmare Night, and how getting scared can be fun once and a while. Luna has since then realized why Celestia took Twilight as her own personal pupil. But other than the misunderstanding during Nightmare Night, Luna has fared quite well in fitting in.
Suddenly, Luna walkedpassed a window and caught a glimpse of something wonderful. So she halts to revel in the magnificence that is her moon. The window is old, older than she. The inheritance of Canterlot castle dates back to before Celestia and Luna’s time, its value is undeniable. While viewing its glory, Luna realizes that the moon is at its half life, which means the full moon is mere nights away. Remembering the urgent cause of visiting her sister, Luna backs away from the window and continues on her way to her sister’s room.
She barely took three steps before something forcefully knocked her in the flank. This collision caused her to lose her balance. She takes a few steps sideways, aiming for the wall to help keep her standing. With the help of her magic she quickly prevents anything valuable that was hanging from the walls from becoming damaged, afterward she turns around to confront whoever bumped into her, accidentally or otherwise.
“Please excuse me I . . . Oh, Princess?!” the figure exclaimed. “Please forgive me, I’m late to getting to my shift and wasn’t paying full attention to where I was going.”
Luna made the figure out to be one of Celestia’s night guards, his golden armor signified such. She felt pity, for Celestia and her guards aren’t blessed with the ability to see clearly in the darkness alike to her guards, as well as herself. She swishes her tail and replies. “Fear not, thy apology has been accepted.”
The guard straightens up at the sound of her reassuring words. “Oh, thank you Princess, I should be on my way now.”
“Not so fast, do not think thou can just collide with me and walk off, I think a proper introduction is in order. What is thine name?”
The guard pauses a moment as if he had forgotten his own name. When really he was uncertain to reveal his real name in the fear that Luna would tell Celestia, which in turn would leave him some punishment, he decided that lying to his Princess would bring upon deeper consequences. “My name is Frederick, m’lady, Guard Frederick.”
“Well, Frederick, I think a just punishment for your mistake would be for you to accompany me to my sister’s room, dost thou think?” she grins slightly. The smile heightens her complexion and makes her beauty even more irresistible.
The guard, realizing how reasonable Luna can be, lets out a sigh or relief and agrees. “Yes Princess, that sounds reasonable.”
“Call me Luna,” Luna states as she turns towards her destination and motions him to follow by her side. Frederick hastily moves into place and walks by her side, although it is difficult for him to keep up with her immortal strides. The body of an immortal pony is much larger than that of any average stallion; therefore Luna legs exceed those of Frederick’s in length, making it so Frederick must take three steps to keep up with every two of Luna’s.
They walk in silence until Luna decides to break it. “So, Frederick, are you aware of my history?” Luna was referring to the story of how she was imprisoned in the moon for one thousand years, and then defeated by the Elements of Harmony.
“Oh, yes Princess . . . err, Luna. I am quite familiar with the tale, as I am sure everypony is," he replies.
“Well mighty Frederick of the Guard, a day may come soon when you will take part in that history.”
“What do you mean Prin-, Luna?” Frederick slightly blushes in the shadows from his inability to remember to call her by her name. Luna doesn’t notice. Instead she is thinking carefully of how she should phrase her words.
“Nothing for you to worry about . . . yet, dear Frederick. But," she giggles to herself, “I advise you visit the training grounds soon.” The comment is clearly mocking Frederick’s skimpiness. Luna has assumed to herself, that the not so built form of Frederick, as well as his slightly misguided sense of direction of the castle, that he is a rookie.
Frederick’s cheeks get redder as he agrees, “Of course, Luna.”
They finally reach their destination, and Luna commences the good-byes. “Alright Frederick, I must speakest with my sister alone, and I am sure you must be getting to your post.”
“Yes, indeed Luna, thank you, have a good night," his tail flails as he turns. His quick hoofsteps fade into the night as Luna is left alone.
Luna chuckles, “I always do," she confirms to herself. After taking a moment to think about which words to use while confronting Celestia, she uses her magic to fix any ailments about her that may have been caused from the crash earlier. She ruffles her wings and finally turns to the door. The door, surely replaced time and time again over the years, clearly signifies the importance of this room, verifying that Luna is at the right place. She slowly raises her hoof as if to give her time to rethink if she should actually talk to Celestia about this. But, her mind was made up quite a while ago, this must be done. She swiftly knocks on her sister’s door and waits for a response.
Celestia’s infamous voice is heard from behind the door. “Come in.”
Luna slowly, magically opens the door and enters. As she enters, the door makes no sound. Light meets Luna’s eyes as she quickly investigates what her sister is up to. It seems Celestia has just received word from her subjects from Ponyville and is deep in concentration reading it. “Celestia?” began Luna, the expression on her face quickly changing from cheerful to serious.
Celestia looked up from the scroll she was reading. Her room, being well lit, exceptionally displayed the beautiful luminosity of the Sun Princess. Her mane and tail lay comfortably as the assortments of colors which make them up glow. There is no doubt the news she had just received was good. It’s unfortunate that Luna doesn’t have good news to share.
It is obvious that Celestia is happy to see her sister; she gets up, strides over and affectionately nuzzles her sister. “Ahh, Luna, my beloved sister. How can I help you this fine evening?”
The look of seriousness on Luna’s face then turned grim. “I have . . . something to tell you, sister.”
___________________
“Twilight, c’mon, we’re going to be late . . . again.” urged the purple and green dragon Spike. He and Twilight Sparkle, an intelligent witty unicorn, were supposed to have left for Sugarcube Corner a half an hour ago to help Pinkie Pie with some big orders.
“Don’t worry Spike,” Twilight reassured him, “there’s plenty of daylight left and I’ve almost perfected this spell.” Just as she spoke these words she successfully used her magic to transform an ordinary cupcake into an apple.
Spike sighed, “Great, I can’t wait to tell Pinkie Pie the reason we were late to help her make cupcakes is because we were busy turning cupcakes into other foods!”
“There no reason she needs to know why we’re a bit tardy, and in fact, of all people, I’m sure Pinkie Pie would be more than happy to know that I am able to conjure a new spell, no matter what it does.” Says Twilight as she shelves the book she was using.
“Perhaps, she is quite the optimistic pony.” Agreed Spike, “But still we said we would be there. . . Now! Can we please get a move on?
“Yes, yes alright, let me just tidy myself up a bit," says Twilight as she heads to her room. The dragon, having being ready an hour before hand waited ever so patiently for Twilight to finally join him.
As a gesture to show how impatient he is, he leans to his right and uses a root of the library to hold himself up. Just then, to Spike’s surprise, the root collapses underneath his weight. A secret compartment becomes ajar above him and a book falls out on top of him.
“Ouch!” Spike exclaims as he gets up and looks around for what hit him. He spots the book and picks it up. Its light, about a centimeter think, and it looks to be hundreds of years old. He rotates his find, looking for a name, title, symbol, anything that could verify the meaning of this book. He finds none so he opens it, quickly turning his head as he sneezes from the large amount of dust that intrudes upon his nose. He’s made sure never to accidentally reduce a book to ashes again. Inside he finds the first page with a faded image of a lightning bolt and the word he assumes is the title ‘Curse’.
“Hmm”, Spike marvels to himself as he quickly flips through the book’s pages. It is indeed a quick read. Most of the pages look like steps to a sequence or diary entries, with many elaborate pictures of odd shapes. He looks, but finds no author. His curiosity just starts to take hold of him when Twilight appears behind him.
“Well well, now look who’s in the middle of something and not ready to go.”
Spike glares at the comment and then attempts to redeem himself. “No, you see Twilight, I was leaning on this root," Spike points to the root that collapsed under him. “And it just gave out on me, and then out of the blue, this book knocks me in the head.”
“Hmm, ‘Curse’,” Twilight reads, “sounds interesting, but as you said we’re late enough as it is, you can read your new book when we get back."
“Aww, you know I’m not into books as much as you are Twilight, I’ll just set it aside for you to read later on, I’m sure you’ll find something that would interest you a lot more than I.”
Twilight smiles, “Good idea Spike. Alright, let’s get going.”
Spike shuffles over to the nearest table and places the ancient book upon it. Then he runs back, jumps on Twilight’s back and they set off for Sugarcube corner.
____________________________
Twilight arrives at Sugarcube Corner without any interruptions along the way; this was good because they were late enough as it is. As they approached the door Spike jumped off Twilight’s back. They look at each other, and sigh together as Twilight raises her hoof to knock on the door. Before Twilight even comes into contact what the door it springs open. Both Twilight and Spike jump back from the utter surprise.
“Hi!” greeted Pinkie Pie with the most cheerful of smiles. “I knew you guys would show up, come on in; there’s someone I want you to meet.”
Pinkie nudged the door open as Twilight and Spike tentatively walked inside as to be prepared for anymore “Pinkie” outbursts.
“Umm, hi Pinkie, sorry we’re late, I got caught up with another spell and I...” Twilight’s words trailed off as she looked over to see one of the most fine-looking mares she’s ever seen. Spike’s mouth was also agape.
“Twilight, Spike, I want you to meet Electra, she’s new to Ponyville and I just had to invite her over so she could meet you, everypony deserves the chance to make new friends!”
The new pony looked up from staring at the floor. She was quite a sight; her mane looked well groomed, so much so, you wouldn’t believe it was natural. Her tail’s colors of black and yellow were mystically illuminated. Her mane, the same colors as her tail, covered one of her majestic golden eyes, as if she had something to hide. Her shiny dark azure coat looked astounding. “Hi,” she said simply.
Twilight, recomposing herself replied with the most friendly of grins, “Hi there Electra, welcome to Ponyville. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is my good friend Spike.” Twilight looked down to see Spike still mesmerized. Twilight quickly nudged him; he quickly realized what he was doing and put his head down apologetically. “We run the library here in town. If you ever need help finding a book, come see us!”
“Thanks, I’ll remember that.” Electra replied. She takes a quick look at Spike, and then returns her gaze to Twilight.
“Quite the short spoken pony, don’t you think Twi?” Spike whispered in Twilight’s ear.
Twilight suddenly frowned and replied, “Spike, what a rude thing to say! Everyone can be shy to meet new people, it’s completely normal.” Twilight then returns to Electra, “So, where are you from?”
Before she could say anything, Pinkie Pie jumps in and answers the question for her. “She’s from Cloudsdale, mhmm, just like Rainbow Dash. I’m sure you and her will have lots of fun things to talk about!”
Electra smiled slightly at the comment. She’s never been used to receiving so much attention. She returned her gaze to the floor as if looking for something. She then turns to her side and Twilight gasps.
“OH, Ele, you’re a Pegasus, how wonderful. Your wings are very beautiful.” At that comment the blue mare slightly blushes, and shows them off by giving them a quick flap. As she does this some sparks fly out of her wings. Realizing this, she immediately closes her wings and proceeds to blush while looking at the floor.
“Umm, why thank you Twilight. No pony has every given me such a complement before.” Electra Storm's cutie mark is also clearly visible. It can be made out to be a trio of three lightning bolts, all golden in color. Spike sees this and thinks that there is a slight resemblance between her cutie mark and the image he saw in the book he found, or rather the book that found him. But he quickly dismissed the idea due to the fact that the book was over hundreds of years old.
Pinkie Pie starts jumping around in circles. “Ok silly heads, before we all start hugging each other how about we bake some cupcakes? That’s what we’re all here for after all!” After walking half way to the kitchen Pinkie Pie perks up and turns around. “Oh, Twilight, Electra here has offered to help us today, so we’ll be able to finish sooner than ever, isn’t that great?!”
“It sure is Pinkie," she agrees as she follows her into the kitchen. “We appreciate your help Ele.”
“Anytime, I have nothing better to do anyway. Just have to make sure I find somewhere to stay by the end of the day.”
“I know!” Spike blurted out suddenly, “Why don’t you stay at the library with me and Twilight? I’m sure we both would enjoy your company.”
Twilight smile turns into a scowl. “Well Spike, thanks for talking it over with me first before you offered.” She then turns to Electra and smiles kindly. “But yes, you are more than welcome to stay with us at the library; it’s been a while since we’ve had any sort of company.” Twilight then turns and disappears into the kitchen.
Spike reassures Electra, “Aww, don’t mind her, she’s just a bit cranky today. I’m sure you’ll get to know and love Twilight as much as I do.”
She looks up at the dragon, “Thank you umm, Spike is it?” Spike nods. She giggles, “I look forward to receiving a tour of this library of yours.”
“Not to worry, I’ll be sure to give you one right after today’s job.”
“Spike," Twilight’s voice is heard from the kitchen, “Stop lollygagging and come help us!”
“Okay, okay, we’re on our way.” The dragon called back. “C’mon Electra," he then smirks to himself as he starts towards the kitchen door. “I hope you don’t mind getting messy, Pinkie is infamous for creating all sorts of messy situations.”
Electra Storm slowly follows him. “I don’t think it’ll be a problem," she reassured him. Her tail faintly wags back and forth as they both disappear into the kitchen. Just as they enter, a crash is heard.
“Oppsies!” says Pinkie Pie as she giggles. “Sorry!”
Spike’s low grunt like voice is heard. “Told you…”