Once in the kingdom of Equestria..
…there lived a brave and beautiful alicorn. She was the first alicorn in the world. The great-great-great-great-great grandmother of Princess Celestia, the alicorn everypony now honors as their princess. This alicorn was called Brightflower.
All alicorns are, immediately, at their very moment of birth, given a special magic that allows them to live for as much years as they want. Each alicorn that is ever born may choose to use their magic wisely, and rule for only a period of time. But there are some who do not. There are many alicorns who use the magic unwisely, and try to live forever. But they never do succeed. Even if the years of their rule are horrible years, when all ponies live in despair under a selfish rule, they cannot live forever. For when an alicorn lives up to 1000 years, their magic goes and becomes attached to another firstborn alicorn. But some magic will drift into the earth, allowing the space it is inside to turn into water, water that can be drunk by alicorns to provide another thousand years just by drinking one sip of it. Brightflower found a lot of the unique water, and found that its use was to prolong the life of an alicorn by just one sip of the water. Brightflower lived many years, and the ponies were put under a great, and continuous rule.
At 3000 years, ponies from a other kingdom came, asking for the ponies in Equestria to surrender their land to them. When Brightflower’s peaceful kingdom said no, these strange foreigners waged war upon them. Feeling that her death might come in the long war, Brightflower crafted six magical lockets, with her magic sealed inside. This way, her magic would stay on the earth forever. She concealed them in the walls of her castle. Each was hidden in a different place, every locket was sealed into the wall behind a certain tapestry. But the greatest enemy of all, even greater than their opponents in war, heard of the six lockets. He decided to design an even more powerful one for himself. His name was Discord. He hid his locket beneath the ground, in a volcanic area where nopony would ever dare to go. When Brightflower heard of the new, more powerful locket, and where it was, she decided to go fetch it from its hiding place. After a year, Brightflower returned-with the powerful locket Discord had hidden in the fiery depths of his volcano. She smashed it to pieces, for fear that it could tear her kingdom apart.
She was very right to do so.
The locket had been crafted in the way that it would corrupt every pony that wore it, similar to Discord’s magic and ability to hypnotize any living thing. Brightflower’s kingdom later won the war they were having. But Discord had seen Brightflower snatch the locket he had crafted right from his volcanic kingdom. Discord united with a pack of changelings called the Chrysalis clan. Then he attacked upon Equestria with the changelings. While his changelings were attacking, Discord snuck into Brightflower’s castle and restored the smashed locket with his magical powers. Discord appeared suddenly in the midst of the battle wearing the locket, and shone a large solar beam around that made everypony from Equestria fall over. But Brightflower was very brave. She stood up, and picked up her sword. With it, she cut the locket from Discord’s neck. The locket fell to the ground, its power once again defeated.
Brightflower stepped away from the locket. She knew what magic Discord had put into it. She didn’t dare to touch it. But the locket was cut. The magic could have already escaped from the locket. Brightflower stepped bravely toward the locket. She picked it up and examined it. Discord stepped back as she levitated it with her horn. Many thoughts were running through her mind. If she put it on, she could risk endless danger. If she didn’t the battle would go on, and Discord would surely win.
Taking a deep breath, she levitated the locket to her neck..
..and put it on.
Brightflower never knew what happened next, because a blue, sinister-looking fog emerged from the locket and engulfed her body. The only thing she knew, was that the evil magic had stayed inside the locket. But she had protected everypony else from death by putting on the locket, sacrificing herself for her kingdom. Brightflower chopped away at the locket with her sword, hoping to end the pain that engulfed her as the sinister blue fog carried her up towards the sky. She succeeded, and the locket fell to the ground, broken for the third time. But the magic inside was too strong, and it had already completely engulfed the struggling alicorn. And everypony could only watch in horror as their beloved ruler was carried to the moon by the magic inside the locket.
Chapter One
“Twilight! Twilight!”
Twilight Sparkle the unicorn slumped down below the sheets in her bed. She could hear the unmistakable voice of her assistant Spike calling her. Groggily, she groaned back at Spike, “I don’t want to wake up!” “Youv’e got to,” said Spike. “ An important letter from Princess Luna has just arrived. It says to come to her place immediately and bring as much tools and provisions as possible. She also said to get your horn in very good shape. And she also said to bring whatever weapons you can find..because there is an unknown force waging war upon our kingdom.”
Twilight instantly sat up in her bed. She blinked her eyes a few times. “What??” she asked Spike. Rolling sleepily out of her bed, Twilight stumbled her way to the main room of the library. “But…” Twilight levitated the scroll away from Spike’s hands and into hers with her magic. “..But why Princess Luna? Why not Princess Celestia? And this-“ she pointed at the sentence “an unknown force waging war on Equestria” –“this is a very big deal. We have to let everypony in Equestria know about this. We could be plunged into a deep war. Many ponies could die. Let’s get to Princess Luna’s soon as possible.”
Twilight ran back into her room. Still a bit groggy, she practically ripped her saddlebag off her clothing hook and packed it with provisions until it almost popped open. Then she zipped both bags closed and strapped them onto her back. “We need to go, now,” said Twilight. “But the letter says you have to bring all your friends, with all of their provisions,” said Spike. “Oh, really?” she said. “In that case, we’ll have to teleport with magic. It’ll be faster.” Spike nodded as Twilight levitated Spike onto her back. “Hang on tight,” said Twilight. With a large flash of pink light, they were gone.
Appearing at the town square, Twilight and Spike immediately got up and brushed themselves off, a bit hurt from their fall. Twilight spotted Rainbow Dash helping the other ponies manipulate the weather. “Hey, Rainbow!” Rainbow turned at Twilight’s call. “Oh, it’s you, Twilight. What’s up?”
“I need you to go to your house,” said Twilight. “Princess Luna has called us to her castle to help her prepare for a war that an unknown force is waging upon Equestria. It’s very important that you get there right away.” Rainbow, puzzled, looked around. “What? A..war? Where? Is it hitting us first?” “Calm down, Dash,” said Twilight, patting Rainbow’s back. “’The war hasn’t started yet. But it’s coming soon, and we have to prepare for it!” “Then we have to prepare rainclouds, in that case,” said Rainbow Dash. “All we do is hit those war-waging forces with thunder and-“ Twilight shook her head. Leave that to the other Pegasus ponies. It’s not your job right now.”
“But-“ Rainbow Dash protested. “No. You can shock enemies all you want in the war, but now, if we don’t prepare, our kingdom could die. Now go collect your things, and fly to Princess Luna’s with me.” Rainbow Dash nodded vigorously, a large grin spreading across her face. Twilight sighed. Rainbow wouldn’t have to worry about the war. After all, she was the fastest flyer in all of Equestria.
And again, Twilight knew that she could do all sorts of magic tricks. She could levitate herself. Teleport with ease in any situation. Turn into anything she wanted. Sink into the ground. And she could even give another flightless pony wings. Twilight smiled. Maybe she would be of some use in the war.
She thought of how she could send ponies flying off into the air with her magic, how she could trap ponies in cages with her horn, and how she could easily teleport if she were in danger. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice that the town square was slowly starting to vibrate. She didn’t even notice that ponies were peeking out of their windows in fear, staring at a large figure ahead that was slowly moving up the streets. Then she heard a loud, piercing scream.
Suddenly Twilight snapped back to reality. Realizing that something was wrong, she looked up ahead and heard the vibrating of thousands of hooves. And she saw hundreds of figures galloping up ahead and swarming into Ponyville. Ponies were running out of their doors, and Twilight could hear cries for help within the sound of many thundering hooves heading towards the town square.
Then Twilight recognized the figures of the scary creatures that were moving toward them. It was Discord-and a giant pack of changelings at his side. I’ve got to warn Rainbow Dash! thought Twilight. Twilight galloped towards Rainbow’s home. “Spike, go home and send every single item inside to Princess Luna’s. We can’t risk a thing being damaged.” Spike nodded, and ran back towards the hollowed-out tree in which Twilight lived.
Twilight finally reached Rainbow’s house, where she bumped into Rainbow Dash and sent her things flying out of her unstrapped saddlebag. “Rainbow! The war has started! Discord and the changelings are raiding Ponyville!” Rainbow shook her head around vigorously. “Did you say..Discord? And the changelings?”
Twilight nodded. “There’s not much time to explain. But we have to stop the raid now.” Twilight wasn’t sure of how close Spike was to the library now, but she hoped that Spike was safe. “Quick, pick up your things,” said Twilight. “Let’s head to Luna’s.” Rainbow nodded, keeping quiet. Twilight ignited her horn with magic. The two ponies quickly teleported to Princess Luna’s castle. Twilight fell immediately to the floor, rubbing her head. She had put a lot of work into teleporting across Equestria and right to Canterlot.
“I feel like I’m sick!” groaned Twilight, her head hurting her with lots of pain. Her forehead felt like it was about to burst. Twilight, dazed, fell to the floor in pain. “I’m afraid I put too much work into teleporting,” said Twilight. “I’ll go get Princess Luna,” said Rainbow. “She could give you something to put on your head, maybe.”
Twilight nodded, and Rainbow Dash flew away. Twilight groaned again, louder this time, and struggled on the floor for a while. Then, seeing it was no use, she just lay down on the floor for a while. Trying to get up, Twilight realized that her whole body was too weak to walk, or even stand, much less run. She stood up once stumbled, and fell again. She felt weaker than usual, and her head was hurting her harder than ever. Then, suddenly, a large amount of pain pierced through her head, and she screamed.
“Owww…” she moaned, grabbing her head tightly. She tried harder than ever to stand up, but all she was able to do was stumble around, in a weak and feeble pose, and then fall hopelessly to the ground again. She slid herself across the floor with her hooves, hoping to find a interesting book on the bookshelves inside the walls, for her to read so she could pass the time.
She suddenly screamed again as pain pierced her whole body like a large needle. Twilight then found herself clutching her head tightly, her whole body scrunched up. She then saw the princess standing over her. “Princess Luna!” said Twilight. She was so happy to see the Princess, all the pain left her body at once, and she scrambled up to meet the smiling princess. But she stumbled and fell, as she was still very weak. Princess Luna frowned. “Hello,” she said. “It seems you have a case of the teleportation cramp. It is a very unknown sickness across the pony kingdom, but it’s possible. Every time an unicorn teleports too far away beyond the magical barrier they can take, they get the teleportation cramp. . Their body will become weak and feeble, and very soon, show signs of various sicknesses. This sickness has resulted in death or permanent injury. But luckily, right now you are showing the signs of recovery.” Twilight nodded. “Okay.”
She feebly tried to stand up, and to her amazement, she could finally stand. “Oh, good,” she said. “Princess, the war has started,” she said. They’ve raided Ponyville. I’m not even sure if Spike is safe. I only had enough time to rescue Rainbow here. I don’t know about my other friends.”
Princess Luna gasped. “Then theyr’e in big danger,” she said. “I have to use my magic to create a map on which I can check where the raid has gotten to.” Princess Luna’s horn began to glow. Sparks began to ignite from her horn, flying everywhere. A small portal- like circle appeared in front of the princess as she focused on her spell. The circle warped around for a while, then became a large rectangle. The light died down, and a complicated map appeared in the rectangle. Strange dots were moving around on it. Princess Luna looked around on the magical map.
Twilight could see many giant clusters of red dots on the map, especially even bigger clusters that were coming onto the “screen” from the side of the map. She tried to interpret the map, but she couldn’t. For some reason the teleportation cramps she had gotten must have somehow gotten into her head. It was a pretty obvious map, Twilight then realized.
Luna looked at the map. “Twilight,” she said, frowning with a sad look on her face that Twilight knew could only mean trouble, “These red dots on the map are the people of the enemy. The green dots are your friends. If any of those green dots have an red X on them, that means that friend’s home has already been infiltrated by the enemies. “ Twilight gasped in horror as she saw that all of the green dots had a bright red “X” on them. “Do you know what this means?” Luna asked. “This means..all of your friends are now in grave danger.”