A flash of light lit up the center of the throne room in Canterlot Castle. Princess Celestia's teleportation spell had brought the ponies there, along with the book which was now hovering in the air by the alicorn's magic. They stood in a ring around her.
"Princess," Twilight said, "what's going on? What was all of that? What's in this book?"
Princess Celestia sighed. "All will be explained, my student..." This time a blueish aura surrounded Celestia's horn. A bolt shot from the tip and struck the book levitating in front of her. The aura that surrounded it turned from pink to blue. Spirals of magic rose up from the blank pages into a helix of white, green, blue, and red. They combined several feet above it before spreading back out to the ground in four different directions separated by their own colors. As the magical energy connected with the ground the rose up as pockets of colored mist that formed the vague shapes of ponies. The white was shaped to that of an alicorn about the size of Princess Celestia while the other's were of Luna's size; red being a pegasus, green an earth pony, and blue an earth pony.
"Mind you," Celestia warned, "this is no filly's bed time story." Another pulse of magic and the ponies found themselves standing in mid air above Equestria. So far in fact they could see from coast to coast, and from the Crystal Mountains all the way to the Badlands. They could see roads and paths as if they were marked on a map, as well as cities, towns, and the names of major terrain features and locations.
She took a breath. "Long before Equestria was what you know today, long before the formation of Equestria itself, there were different powers that controlled the world." As she spoke, lines faded, cities disappeared, mountains moved and changed sizes, lakes disappeared and reformed elsewhere. All of the land had changed before their eyes. "Harmony of a different sort ruled. Factions rose among the ponies," lines of various colors crisscrossed the landscape, showing the appropriate borders, "and they clashed." The lines began pushing and tugging at one another, with a few snapping under the pressure and melted into the ones that took them over.
"The world was in chaos. Until one of the first recorded alicorns emerged. Her name? Conquest." From the center of the land, out of the short mountain that once held Canterlot, or would rather come to hold Canterlot, the white colored mist rose and formed an alicorn with it's wings spread. The spirit looked down, it's head scanning across the restless world. "She sought to bring about Harmony to these chaotic times, but for her own selfish reasons. Conquest wanted absolute control of the world. To do so, she summoned three ponies to bid her."
Three tendrils of magic extended from the white spirit. The red formed a pegasus, "War." The green turned into an earth pony, "Famine." While the blue was summoned into a unicorn, "and Death."
"Using these incarnations, she set her sights on the world. First she used Famine, to weaken the population." The green spirit left its position near the mountain and galloped above the earth. As it did a sickly green colored swarm followed it that emitted a slight buzzing. What ever vegetation came within reach of the swarm was consumed, turning to a brown. Fields of crops, forests of trees, everything. Whenever the green spirit passed, the plants shriveled up. "With no food, the ponies began to starve. They became desperate, turning towards what ever sustenance they could find. But there was none. Slowly, organization began to collapse." The green spirit returned to its place beside Conquest atop the mountain.
"Next she reigned Death upon the land." The blue spirit followed along the roads, trialed by a blue mist. As it approached a settlement, it used its magic to move the mist forward and cover the town. After a few seconds, Death moved on to another settlement, leaving behind it a darkened hole. "Wiping out sometimes entire settlements. Unable to see Conquest's influencing hoof, the factions began to blame one another for the famine and deaths.
"Conquest took this opportunity to use War." As the unicorn returned to the mountain, the pegasus took to its wings. As it flew over areas of the continent, embers fell from its wings, igniting the ground into blazing fires below it. Within moments, it seemed that everything was on fire, choked by ash and smoke. "Within months she had brought ponydom to its knees. The world was pleading for a savior. Conquest filled that role." War returned to the mountain, and with the other spirits had turned into simple wisps of magic that retracted into the alicorn's horn. Conquest beat its wings once, and all the fires were extinguished, leaving behind a tattered and burned planet.
"Legends of the time tell a common story. One day a great and beautiful white alicorn had appeared a top the mountain with the simple promise of saving them. Save them she did. The wars came to a halt. Lives were saved. And food had returned. The ponies fell into her allegiance. They were convinced that this was her magical powers that had brought harmony to them. Rather it was her telling her "Knights" as she called them, to cease. With this illusion of power she managed to gain real power." A gold crown appeared above the alicorn's head, slowly falling into place on top of it. "Her and her Knights were known as the Guardians. She managed to use her Knights to keep order. When power slipped too far one way, she'd use them to push it back into place. Usually within her control."
"So what happened?" Twilight finally asked. The rest of them, even Princess Luna had been too stunned to say anything.
Princess Celestia paused. "Not everypony fell into her ploy. As with most empires, bands of resistance rose to challenge it. All it takes to dethrone a god is to show the bleed the same as everypony else. A brave and powerful unicorn was destined to fill that role. He along with many other great spellmakers saw past Conquest's 'good intentions'. They realized that even though the world was in order, it was not in harmony. Together they enchanted a book and sought to trap Conquest and her Knights within it." The world disappeared and the ponies found themselves surrounded by darkness. They stood off to the side as Conquest stood atop a flight of marble stairs. Then appeared the apparition of a certain powerful unicorn that Twilight idolized most of her life and recognized immediately from his blue and gold starred outfit.
"Conquest learned of the plan from a pony loyal to her side. She sent her Knights to intercept them. But they managed to defend Starswirl long enough for him to get close enough to Conquest; even weakening her Knights. But at a cost. The other spellcasters were forced to sacrifice themselves to stop the Knights, and even then Starswirl was on the verge of death himself." The unicorn was seen crawling across the dark ground, pushing the book out in front of him with a hoof. Conquest rose from her throne and descended the steps, her laugh echoing through the blackness. She stopped before Starswirl and raised a hoof, preparing to step on him. It was then that he whispered something. A light poured out from the pages of the open book, sucking in the alicorn, along with the rest of the darkness.
Princess Celestia had ceased her projection spell and the ponies found themselves back in her throne room. After taking a moment to gather the breath and process what they had just witnessed, Twilight was the first to speak up.
"So Starswirl trapped her within that book?" she asked, pointing in the now closed book Princess Celestia still held in her magic. "That book?"
Celestia nodded. "You are correct."
"How did you get it, then, Princess?" Applejack wondered.
"When the Guardians fell, the world was plunged back into disarray. That's when Luna and I were born, and where you know the story of Hearth's Warming. Not long after Luna and I came to power I discovered the book. It had been passed down to me by Starswirl's family, along with its story. I knew what danger it posed if the so called 'Guardians' escaped, so I locked it away in a secret room in our old castle and put a spell on the room so nothing would get out."
"That thing sucked me into it!" Rainbow Dash kindly pointed out.
"My apologies, but that's exactly what I had intended it to do. Just not to you."
"Can we hear the story about how you brought harmony to Equestria?" Pinkie bounced with a big grin.
"Hmm," Celestia smiled, "that is a story for another time."
"Lemme get this straight," Applejack rubbed her head, "this alicorn and her friends took over the world, but were then defeated, and locked away, but now they're back?" Celestia nodded. "So what do they want?"
"I can only fear the worst for us all."
"What do you want us to do?" Twilight stepped forward.
"Kick their flanks!" Rainbow Dash shouted, her emotions causing her to hover in the air. "That's what!"
"Rainbow—"
"No, Twilight," Celestia interrupted Twilight's correcting of Rainbow Dash's behavior. "In layman's terms that's exactly what I want you to do. I want you to find them, and stop them before they can do any more harm to Equestria."
"Where might they be, your highness?" Rarity brought up a valid point.
"Do not worry, my little ponies, for they will find you." She took the book with her as she ascended the steps leading to her throne, Princess Luna at her side. "Though they already may have."
The six friends stepped off of the train as it arrived in Ponyville. On the trip over from Canterlot they had discussed what they had just witnessed. How indescribable everything they just learned was to them. In a matter of hours their lives had dramatically changed. Just that morning they were having breakfast and holding petty arguments. Now they were at the beginning of the end of the world.
Twilight had been trying to figure out how to stop them. But nothing came to mind. Other than Conquest, she doubted she would be able to tell what they looked like if they were standing in front of her. So how could she possibly defeat them? Something possessing a type of magic she had never heard of before? Her thoughts were distracted when the train started to pull into Ponyville. Something was off, but it hadn't quite sank in yet.
"Oh my," Rarity held a hoof to her mouth as they disembarked from the train.
It looked as though fall had come a arrived in and around Ponyville. Problem was, the running of the leaves wasn't scheduled for another few weeks still. The pegasi were still waiting on approval to begin to slowly drop the temperatures and organize more overcast days.
"What could have done this?" Fluttershy asked. "It looks like Ponyville's under a drought!"
"Probably 'cause somepony didn't bring in the right weather like they were suppose' to!" Applejack remarked, subtly looking in Rainbow Dash's direction.
"I'm telling you," the pegasus said, "it's not the rain."
"Well somethin's causin' it! Obviously it's not just my farm!" In a wave a realization, Applejack gasped. "My farm!" A trail of dust was left behind as she galloped down the path away from the station.
"Applejack, wait!" Twilight tried to call out but the earth pony was already out of ear shot.
"I got her!" Rainbow Dash called, taking to her wings. Giving a powerful push she took off after her friend.
"Girls! Wait!" Twilight's call disappeared in the wind. "Ugh," she sighed to herself. "Why can't anypony listen to me?!"
"Um, we listen to you," Fluttershy said softly as she approached the alicorn's side.
"I don't!" sand Pinkie Pie as she bounced past the remaining ponies, following along the dirt path after her two other friends.
Twilight stood and walked down the road with Fluttershy and Rarity at her side. "I'm amazed we can have breakfast sometimes, let alone stop the impending disaster."
Several hundred yards up the road the began to discover a trench had been dug in the road. Ahead of them Rainbow Dash had clamped down on Applejack's tail with her teeth, digging her hooves into the dirt in a vain attempt to slow the farm pony down. Even flaring her wings out to create drag. But the the mare's legs were used to pulling behind her much larger objects through even tougher dirt than what made up the road, and had no problem dragging the pegasus a long with her.
Giving up, Rainbow Dash released her hold on the earth pony and hovered beside her as they continued down the path. It was apparent she wasn't stopping her.
They crested the hill and came to a stop. Applejack looked out across the disaster that was her farm. The leaves on the trees had turned as brown as the apples that had now fallen from them, bursting on impact with the ground. So wasn't all the other crops. Everything was brown. Granted the corn was supposed to be that color, but they weren't supposed to be breaking at the stalks and falling over. Gusts of wind that once moved the wheat fields like golden oceans now picked up the dead plants and scattered them.
Soon after Twilight and the other's arrived, standing beside Applejack and Rainbow Dash to stare out at the devastated farm.
"Oh, is there anything we can do?" Rarity inquired.
"Pray for a miracle," Applejack said solemnly. "We just lost the entire harvest. Let's just hope that there's still some in the silos. She made her way down the to the farm. Granny Smith, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom were sitting on the porch lamenting over the outcome of their crops. All of their hard work, their entire lively hood for that year had been lost. They'd have to break into their savings in order to support themselves and the farm.
She opened the door to the silo and ducked as low to the ground as she could. From inside a swarm of bugs flew out over her head, spreading across the orchards and fields.
"Locusts!" Applejack gasped. In her temperament she threw her stetson hat on the ground, stopping on it vigorously. "Twilight, can ya stop 'em?"
The alicorn nodded, recalling a spell she attempted on the parasprites. Except this time it should definitely work. She cast her spell: a purple sphere expanding out from her horn to consume everything around her and her friends. As it past the Locusts hovered in the air, seemingly frozen in time except for their wings.
"It worked!" Twilight cheered. Just as her friends were about to join in with her, the tiny insects exploded into puffs of brown and green smoke, dissipating into the air. Twilight's ears fell back on her head as her expression blanked. "Great..."
"Whelp," Rainbow Dash flew up beside the alicorn and landed, "that's one way to take care of them!"
"Too bad they already got most of the food in Ponyville..." Applejack lamented, poking her head inside of the silo in the hopes of finding even a single seed left. Though even that was of no hope to her. "Those pests destroyed everything!"
"I wonder where they came from," Fluttershy carefully examined the pockets of air once occupied by the insects.
"So long as they're gone, Ah don't care. Twi, ya wouldn't happen to have a spell to make a lot of food grow very quickly?"
Twilight thought for a moment. "I could try. I'm not very familiar with the spell, though. There's no telling what'll happen in large quantities. I'm not even sure it would work in the first place..."
"Well we gotta try something!"
"Okay, okay. Can you find me a seed?" The earth pony nodded and set about into the devastated fields. "Rainbow Dash, could you find me a rain cloud please?"
"On it!" the pegasus saluted before bolting away in a rainbow trail.
Within moments, both ponies returned. Applejack with an apple tree seed, and Rainbow Dash with a small, dark thunder cloud; likely one that she took from her own personal stash of pranking supplies. Applejack quickly dug a hole to put the seed inside of, filling it back up before Rainbow Dash bucked the cloud, causing it to rain over the now covered hole. Twilight focused her magical energy into a spell, directing it on where the seed now laid. After a quick purple burst, the ponies eagerly waited, gathering around the hole.
The loose dirt began to vibrate causing small bits to roll off of the top and down the sides of the small mound. A small leafed branch stuck up through the top. Slowly it began to grow. The ponies stepped back as the tree grew larger and larger. But before reaching it's full potential, it slowed to a halt. Its leaves browned and its bark began to flake off. The tree had died in front of them. Along with just about any hope they had left of finding a quick solution to their food problems.
"So... what now?" Rainbow Dash asked, poking the side of the tree. The force of her hoof in the brittle bark was enough to snap it, and the tree fell to its side. "Whoops."
Twilight sighed. "We talk to Madame Mayor. See if she can declare a state of emergency for Ponyville. Maybe she or one of the princess can have food imported here until we can solve what ever is causing all of this."
In her office in the town hall, the Mayor of Ponyville sat with her hooves holding her head. Her desk was already overflowing with complains and reports of food shortages through the area. She figured the only reason there weren't any protests by now was because there wasn't enough food to give them the energy to. Through the crack underneath her door she saw a series of shadows move.
"Come in," she said before the ponies on the other side had the chance to knock.
The knob was illuminated on both sides by a purple magic that turned it, releasing it from the door frame and allowing it to swing open. Twilight Sparkle and her five friends walked in, almost filling up the remaining space of the mayor's office.
"Let me guess," Madame Mayor sighed, "there's no food?" She quirked an eyebrow.
"Yes," Twilight affirmed. "We were wondering if there was some way we would be able to ask neighboring towns for supplies if they had any to spare."
The earth pony behind the desk set her glasses down atop it. "If it were that easy I would have done that first thing. Problem is, Princess Twilight, this isn't a localized problem. Every town and village in the region is having the same problem. All of the food is rotting and dying away."
"We found locusts eatin' up mah farm," Applejack spoke up.
"Unfortunately the ponies aren't blaming it entirely on locusts. A couple of the towns are saying that the pegasi aren't doing their jobs on purpose in order to weaken them..." Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash briefly glanced at one another. "They've basically kicked out all of the pegasi in their villages, causing an outcry from Cloudsdale."
"But the pegasi aren't responsible for this!" Rainbow Dash threw her arms up in protest. "We have no reason too! If the towns stop producing food, then Cloudsdale will starve just like every other town! There isn't exactly any dirt in those clouds, ya know."
"Yes but masses driven to desperation are blind. They're looking for something to blame."
"What can we do about all of this?" Rarity stepped forward.
"We need to keep everypony calm. And we need to find food, quickly. Bad things will start to happen if we can resolve this situation quickly. The princesses are already touring the villages in an attempt to keep the peace. It'd be best if your six found out what was causing this famine so the citizens would have something to put their focus on other than the pegasi, and we'd have something to fix..."
"You can count on us!" Pinkie smiled.
"I know. But be quick. Time is running out."
The six ponies exited the mayor's office, make their way out of the town hall. Once outside they formed a half circle around Twilight as they waited to hear her plans. The alicorn looked around at Ponyville's state of decay.
For the most part the streets were abandoned. Ponies were tending to stay indoors and not do much in the hopes of conserving their own energy. Without food, the small town had grinded to a halt. The locusts even devastated most of the vegetation. The plants were browned and spotted with holes from where the creatures had attempted to consume them.
She heard a buzzing sound as something touched her back. She craned her head around to find a locust had managed to land on her. Curious, she tried her spell on it again. The results were the same. The insect turned into a sickly colored vapor and faded into the air.
"I've got it..." Twilight realized.
"Pray tell," Rarity ushered her on.
"Do you girls remember what Celestia showed us about the four horses?"
"It's kind of hard to forget something like that..." Fluttershy nodded along with the others.
"Famine. The first one that was sent was followed by a swarm of locusts. That's how it caused the famine. These locusts here," she indicated to the spot the insect used to be on her back, "aren't real. My spell wouldn't make a living creature just... explode like that. They're a spell in of themselves. Mine was just overpowering it."
"So," Applejack began, "you're saying that this here famine is caused by... well, Famine, the horse?"
"It makes sense based off of what we know. What else could be causing it? Certainly not the pegasi withholding rains."
"How do we find her," Rainbow asked, aggressive taking to her wings, "or, him, or what ever it is! I wanna kick it's flank. I missed lunch!"
Twilight looked to the sky above them. Overhead what seemed like a long trail of dark clouds slowly moved across an azure back ground. Thought it became apparent that it was a giant swarm of locusts, not a thunder cloud. It seemed to pulsate, expanding and contracting, twisting and turning, one giant living breathing organism.
"We follow them."