"What the hay was that?" Applejack asked.
"It sounded like Lyra! C'mon everypony!" Twilight replied, galloping out the door. The six of us began following Twilight to the house of the pony named Lyra. It didn't even take us a minute to reach the center of town and encounter a bunch of helpless ponies surrounded by small black creatures. They had round yellow eyes and two pointy antennae atop their heads. A turquoise pony had three small cuts on her shoulder and tears streaming down her face.
"Somepony help us!" She screamed. It took one glance at the yellow eyes of a creature for a painful ringing to echo throughout my head. I groaned in pain and fell to the ground, clutching my head.
"Firebolt! Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked. The other ponies ran off to stop the attackers.
"It's-" I groaned again. "...Nothing." The pain dissolved almost as suddenly as it appeared. I got back to my feet, remembering more of my past. An idea popped into my head. Wait, I'm a unicorn! I focused my mind into the horn until it glowed a shimmering red. Suddenly, a ball of flames emerged at the tip and launched itself towards one of the shadowy figures. It dispersed into a ball of black smoke.
"Firebolt! Fluttershy!" A familiar voice yelled. Rainbow Dash sped towards them and landed on top of two of the creatures, turning them to smoke. "These monsters are appearing all over Ponyville!" Hearing this, I shot my head up and looked into Rainbow's eyes.
"Dash, you and Fluttershy fly overhead and get the residents inside." Rainbow nodded and flew into the air, Fluttershy following behind. I spotted Applejack and Pinkie Pie jumping around and smashing the creatures with their hooves. I ran over, eliminating a couple along the way. "Applejack, Pinkie, you two try and round up as many of these things as you can."
Applejack shook her head. "I don't understand. Why round them up? You got a plan?"
I nodded. "Yes, and by the way, they're called the heartless, beings made of the darkness within our hearts."
There was an awkward silence that was soon broken by Pinkie. "C'mon AJ!" That duo ran off, attracting as many as they could. I began searching around town for the two Unicorns that I needed for the final step. An explosion stopped my search and I turned towards the sound. Twilight and Rarity were galloping as fast as they could towards me.
"Ruuuun!" Rarity shouted.
"What's going on?!" I asked.
"Big guy! Really big guy!" Twilight answered. I peered down the pathway that the two unicorns recently left. A large floating suit of armor emerged from the right. It was purple, had no limbs, and bore a large red crossed out heart on its chest. It jumped into the air and smashed into the ground a few feet away from me. Twilight wasn't lying, this guy was huge.
"Rarity! Distract him for me!" I yelled.
"What?!" She yelled back. "Are you crazy?!"
"Just do it!" I began running away from the giant as the white unicorn begun firing spells at it. "Twilight! Do you have a spell that can shine some kind of bright light?"
"Yes, but-"
"It has to be really bright!" I interrupted.
"If I focus enough power into it, I could blind somepony!" Twilight stated.
"Anytime now, you two!" Rarity yelled, trying to continue dodging the giants' attacks. Twilight looked at me, giving me the 'Are you sure?' face.
I nodded. "Trust me." Twilight nodded back and closed her eyes. I was able I sense a powerful spell beginning to be preformed. I spotted Applejack and Pinkie running as fast as they could towards us as a horde of the heartless was following behind them.
"Get in!" I shouted, opening the door to a nearby house. The four of us, aside from Twilight, jumped in the house.
"What the buck?!" Rainbow yelled as she appeared atop the house with Fluttershy.
Twilight looked up. "Dash! Fluttershy! Cover your eyes!" Rainbow gasped and grabbed the yellow Pegasus, dragging her behind the house. A bright light enveloped Twilight and shined throughout the town. Minutes passed, it felt like I passed out, but I quickly opened my eyes and slowly stood up. Peeking out the ajar door, I noticed that there wasn't a single heartless in sight.
"Twilight?" I said, scanning the town. A strange fog covered most of the houses, creating large grey shadows to loom over me.
"Firebolt." A female voice echoed in my head. It startled me and made me jump.
"Who's there?!" I shouted into the fog.
"You were betrayed."
"Betrayed? What are you talking about?!"
"Your leader, he betrayed you, all of you."
"I don't understand..."
"I should have figured as much."
"Who are you?"
"I'm nobody important..." A figure emerged from the fog. It was wearing a white cloak with a hood covering its face. It stood on two legs and on it back sprouted two large white wings. "...But I am somebody you knew in the past."
I stared at the figure, it looked exactly like an angel. "I'm I... Dead?"
The angel girl chuckled. "No, I am an illusion created by your memories."
I shook my head and looked around. "But where's Twilight? And the Heartless?"
"They're fine, you passed out during the blast of light." She replied. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the ponies were safe.
I scratched my hair and looked at the angel. "What did you mean? Betrayed?"
The girl in white shook her head. "I cannot reveal your past too greatly, but you were once a member in a powerful group called 'The Organization'. Once the group achieved its goal, the master's greed lead him to dispose of his subjects."
"What about me? I don't feel dead." I asked.
"You have me to thank for that." She replied. I couldn't see her face, but somehow I knew she was smiling.
I took another look around. "So what do I do now?"
"Right now, protect the residents of Ponyville. You will discover more about your past along the way." The fog began to creep closer and the angel started to glow brightly.
"Wait!" I yelled. "What's your name?!"
"Call me... Poppet."
A flash of light caused me to suddenly sit up, taking small, quick breaths. I looked around and realized that I was back in the room that I woke up in before. Poppet... I thought. What a strange name. I turned my body and sat on the edge of the bed. Rubbing my eyes, I stood up and trotted to a nearby mirror. I noticed that I've never actually seen my own face yet. I had bright green eyes and a small purple line underneath each one. The door to the left opened and a yellow Pegasus entered.
"Oh, you're awake..." Fluttershy said softly. "Are you feeling alright?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a dream."
Fluttershy looked at the ground. "I get nightmares sometimes too."
I shrugged. "Well, it wasn't really a nightmare." I turned and looked back into the mirror as the Pegasus took a seat on the bed. "It was about my past."
"Oh," Fluttershy's ears perked up. "Do you remember?"
I shook my head. "Not really, but apparently I wasn't the nicest... Pony in the past." I paused and looked at the ground. "It's complicated." Fluttershy walked up behind me and put her hoof on my shoulder.
"Don't let that upset you." She said. "You don't seem like a bad pony. We exchanged smiles and left the room. The library was quiet, save for the loud snoring of a baby dragon upstairs.
"Where's the others?" I asked.
Fluttershy motioned towards the door. "They're helping restore the town after last night's incident." I looked out the window to see the damage. The darkness of the night made it hard to see what was caused to the houses. I was relieved to see that no houses collapsed, but some were unfortunately banged up. The ponies of the town were clueless as to what was going on, discluding the few that were surrounded that night.
"This is my fault." I sighed.
"Oh, it's not your fault." Fluttershy reassured.
"Think about it, Fluttershy." I snapped. "The day after I appear in this place, Heartless invade your town!"
The yellow pony shook her head. "Equestria is filled with lots of creatures, even I've never heard of most of them." The door to the outside opened and two ponies entered.
"Hello Twilight, Dashie." Fluttershy nodded.
Twilight waved. "Ready to go?"
I turned to the purple unicorn. "Where are we going?"
"Did Fluttershy not tell you?" Twilight replied. "Princess Celestia requested our presence at the castle."
I raised my eyebrow. "I suppose it's about last night's incident?"
The three ponies nodded and I turned back towards the window.
"We've dealt with problems worse than what happened that night!" Dash said.
I turn back to Rainbow and hesitated. "I suppose a visit to the princess wouldn't hurt." We took our time as we headed towards the train station. I wanted to examine more of the damage. Some of the stalls that circled the town square were torn apart and their contents - mostly food and homemade items - were scattered around the area. Ponies from all over the town were assisting with the clean-up and I felt horrible just watching. We reached the train station and climbed aboard the colorful "Friendship Express", prepped for its destination: Canterlot.