//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Going The Distance // by Squidly //------------------------------// Pale moonlight stretched across the halls of Canterlot castle. Guards paced down the hallways, walled in stained glass. With Luna's moon at its highest point, light streamed down through the windows. The light glinted off the armor of a lone guard, with a coat as silvery white as snowflakes, parallel to a set of giant double wooden doors. The Unicorn guard kept the light of his horn trained at the doors at the end of the hallway, watching them with eyes as cold as a blizzard. The guard glanced back to the hallway behind him. Through the archway he could see another jet black guard walking past. Once out of eyesight, the guard set his spear on the ground. His eyes started to flicker from cerulean to a sickly green hue. His whole body started to shrivel and crack, holes appeared all over him. The brilliant white coat formed into skin like charcoal, shiny, rough, and covered in chips. His once radiant horn, was now a crooked and cracked mess. The armor slipped off him and dropped to the floor. He yawned, showing off rows of fanged teeth. the creature looked towards the window and turned towards the heavens. A subtle green mist was wafting down from the clouds. Hurriedly, the creature pushed open the windows as the green mist flowed into the open corridor. The mist started swirling up in a cyclone, the creature stood back and watched as a tall, black, and fearsome creature appeared in its wake. Long, blue, silk like hair flowed down its head in messy tumbles. its tall and hole filled legs made it tower above the smaller one. It unfolded its filmy, blue, almost bat like wings revealing them to be tattered at worn. Above its almost infectious green eyes, lay a crooked horn, emitting green light. Licking its lips the creature walked over to the smaller one and spoke. "You have done a great service for the changelings today, your efforts will not be discredited," she spoke in a serpent like tone. "Oh, thank you Queen Chrysalis!" the small changeling replied. "My Loyalty to you is everlasting!" Queen Chrysalis turned to the archway leading to the other hall. With a quick blast of magic she formed a green barrier in the arch. "We cant have poor Celestia be woken up by us," she said in a condescending voice. "Surely that would be rude." With a snicker and a swish of her tail, she turned back to the other changling. "You, report back to the hive, this is a task best suited for one." With a flash of green light, the changling vanished, leaving the queen in the silent halls. Turning towards the Large wooden doors, Queen Chrysalis walked up the the door and touched the lock with her horn. "Your not the only one with secrets Celestia, don't you know its rude to keep things from friends." With a soft click the doors slowly opened to a rounded room with shelves of books and scrolls Pushing off from the center, like the suns rays. At the center of the room was a levitating statue of Starswirl the bearded surrounded by water pouring down from the ceiling like a waterfall. Surrounding the fountain was a circular desk adorned with quills, ink wells, and dusty tomes. Only a select few were allowed to enter Starswirl the bearded's archives. Queen Chrysalis trotted down the isle of Starswirls unfinished works. She scanned the titles of each work with care. After the defeat at the wedding of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. She had sworn revenge against the acursed pony folk who had make a mockery of her. She had to decided to strike them in their home, the Crystal Empire. Miles away from the help of Celestia, Luna, and the elements of harmony. It would not be as simple as how she had in filtrated Canterlot castle. She would need a strong army to hold back all who opposed her during the attack. To be blunt, her changelings simply weren't cutting it, with that she had snuck into the starswirl the bearded archives to find the means to her end. She knew as simple summoning spell should do, but she didnt know any thing in Equestria that was a strong enough warrior. As she flipped through the pages of the summoning book, she checked things off in her mind. " A minotaur or griffon surely wont do, but those are the strongest beings in equestria besides the alicorns in Equestria. Wait, in Equestria." She flipped to the table of contents and spotted a chapter on trans dimesional summoning. "Imagine the strength of a creature never before seen in Equestria! If I can summon the most powerful warrior from similar dimesions like this book says! No pony will know how to combat it!" She giggled to herself with glee as she flipped to the page containing the spells. With the moons light falling onto the pages of the book, she powered up her horn and read aloud. I summon from far and wide A creature that will turn the tide A warrior to smite my foes A hero to end my woes From other worlds I sommon thee I bring you here to fight for me! Wind started to roar and around the room. Loose parchment and quills were flying around her. Queen Chrysalis tilted her head up and fired a beam of magic into the sky, through the ceiling. as the spell concluded the wind died down and Queen Chrysalis returned to her normal state. Walking out, she locked the door behind her and disengaged the magic barrier. as she slipped out the window, she wispered to herself. "Celestia thinks she knows everything, but I'd like to see Discord beat this ultimate warrior." She flew up into the cover of the clouds, blissfully unaware of the results of her actions.