10,000 years after….
Canterlot Castle, Canterlot
1514 CLR (Celestia and Luna's reign)
Celestia jerked up from her bed with a gasp. She looked around frantically before she recognized her surroundings and relaxed, her breathing slowing down. 'What… what was that dream?’ She thought with a shudder, 'Ponies being attacked by creatures under control of some… malevolent being… was it some sort of vision of things to come? Or was it just some random nightmare…’
A small knock on her door caused her head to turn towards it. “Sister? Art thou awake?” Luna's voice asked. Celestia noticed that her voice was shaking, as if she had just gotten a fright.
“Luna, are you alright?” She asked, her own voice quivering a bit. The door opened and Luna stepped inside, her eyes showing her fear of whatever she had seen.
“I… I had a dream that Equestria was under attack by… some unknown foe. Ponies were being killed by creatures like what we saw back in Discord's time.” She said shakily.
Celestia's eyes widened in shock. 'She had the same dream as me?! This can't be a coincidence…’ she thought. “I had the same dream… but what does it mean?” She said.
“I don't know… but I think we must prepare for this new foe… because if we don't… Faust help us all…” Luna said as she looked out the window. Little did she know… in an another part of Equestria, her nightmare was becoming a reality...
Unknown town, near Fillydelphia
“Little Leaf, run!” A unicorn mare with a grey coat, red mane and tail, and a bird and binoculars cutie mark yelled to a earth pony filly with a white coat, and a brown mane and tail. Behind the mare, a host of creatures smashed through the town, and occasionally, flares of fire emanated from their mouths, incinerating both houses and ponies in their path.
The filly was sobbing in fear as the two ran towards the direction of Fillydelphia, the mare looking back now and again to make sure they weren't being pursued. The light from the burning town could be seen for a few miles, but unfortunately, from where Fillydelphia was, it couldn't be seen at all.
As the two ran, they didn't notice the pair of blue eyes that followed them from a nearby thicket before looking towards where they had come from. They then narrowed before disappearing as the owner of them headed towards the town, as it moved, the moonlight glinted off a steel blade before it then vanished into the darkness. 'Salamanders, I'm guessing… ugh, I can't deal with these alone, looks like I’ll need to get Seria and deal with them…’ it thought before it headed deeper into the nearby woods.
It was only a few hours later that a platoon of Royal Guard found the two hiding on the outskirts of Fillydelphia, exhausted and half dead with terror. It was then that the horror the two had seen was told, and a single pegasus flew back to Canterlot to deliver the news of what had happened.
Canterlot Castle, the next day...
The sound of the doors slamming open caused Celestia to look up as a pegasus guard ran in, a look of panic on his face.
“Your majesty! We just got news that two survivors from an attack on a town near Fillydelphia were found!” He said as he came to a stop.
Celestia's eyes widened in shock before she got off her throne and gave the guard an order as she headed to her chambers. “Wake my sister up and tell her to meet me here. I need to send a letter to Twilight.”
The guard nodded, but as Celestia left, he winced. Luna was not going to be happy about being woken up.
Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library
A few minutes later…
“Twilight, what's so important that all of us need to be here?” Rainbow Dash asked in annoyance. “I have other things to do!” She and the other four mares had come running as soon as they had heard from Spike that Twilight needed them and that it was urgent.
“I just got a letter from Princess Celestia, she says it's urgent.” Twilight retorted before she levitated a scroll over to where the six mares were gathered. “Apparently she wants us to come to Canterlot immediately, and for me to bring… a copy of The Tale of the Blade Queen and the Thunder Phoenix… why would she want me to bring a copy of that book?” She said, sounding confused.
“Maybe she wants to see the prophecy at the end!” Pinkie said, bouncing up and down. “Or maybe Company Master Sebaste has something else planned!”
(Throne damn it Pinkie! Don't you dare spoil anything!)
The five others looked at her in confusion before passing it off as Pinkie being Pinkie. “So whut are we waitin’ for? If Princess Celestia wants us over there, y’all can bet that something’s up.” Applejack said.
“I agree with Applejack, but why would Celestia want to have you bring a story about the two heroes who sacrificed themselves to stop Discord?” Rarity asked.
“That's what we're going to find out…” Twilight looked out the window. “But something tells me that we may find out that there's more than meets the eye with this…”
A few hours later, the six were on the train to Canterlot. As the train clattered along the tracks, Rainbow turned to Twilight in the car they were in. “So what's so important about two so called heroes?” She asked.
“These “so called heroes” were real ponies once, they were known as Blade Queen Sefia and Phoenix Thunder Rayla. Sefia had the ability to summon blades of light, while Rayla was able to call down lightning with every strike she made. They helped Celestia and Luna during Discord's reign, eventually stopping Discord and sacrificing themselves by being turned to stone with him.” Twilight said, “But recently, I found what looks to be a prophecy concerning these two: When the Four Fallen appear, destruction seems near, but do not lose hope, for the two who slumber will awaken, and even the gods will tremble at their names… and the universe shall reveal their destiny as protectors of a new land…. But I'm sure that's just something the author of the book made up.”
“Maybe, or maybe the two were weird creatures from another universe that got sent here to save us from some big bad meanies!” Pinkie interjected.
(Pinkie, I swear to the Emperor that if you spoil anything…!!!)
“Anyways… I'm sure that whatever the princess needs us to do,we can do it.” Twilight finished. What she didn't realize though, was that some legends… were more than just that….
Canterlot Gardens
Darkness… that's all Cassandra “Cassie” Dayros knew. Ever since she and her adopted sister Miriam “Mira” Dragos had been sealed in stone while stopping Discord, she had no clue of what happened in the outside world, instead, she was trapped in an eternal slumber.
A sudden jolt made her shift in her shell, but as she did so, pieces fell off from a fracture in it. In seconds, the stone shell had fallen off, and she toppled off the pedestal she had been perched on, her eyes still shut in slumber. Mira followed after, the two human turned ponies laying side by side as they slept near the pedestals they had originally been on.
After a few minutes, Cassie's ear flicked as a breeze blew through the garden and she began to stir. 'Wh… where are we?’ she thought sluggish, her mind still slowly waking up from her long sleep. She yawned and stretched, spreading her wings as she got the kinks out from her body. But as she looked up, her eyes widened at the sight of the castle in front of her. “M-Mira? Wake up, you need to see this…” she said, poking the unicorn. Mira groaned as she stirred, but she was soon awake and shakily standing up.
“Cassie? What's going o-” She began to ask before she too saw the castle. “Wh...Where are we? Last thing I remember was us being on that hill when the Princesses used the Elements….”
Before Cassie could answer, the two heard voices approaching where they were, two of which they recognized. But as the two headed towards where the voices were coming from, their legs still shaky from being encased in stone for who knew how long, a pair of guards in golden armor halted them. “Identify yourselves.” A unicorn mare ordered, while a pegasus stallion readied his wing blades.
Mira stepped forward and said, “I am Blade Queen Sefia, and this is Phoenix Thunder Rayla.” She finished, nodding towards Cassie.
Both guards snorted in disbelief. “Yeah right, they were turned to stone with Discord. You obviously aren't them, but where did you get the Nightmare Night costumes, at a store?” The pegasus scornfully said.
Both of the mare’s eyes narrowed in anger. “I would choose your next words carefully…” Cassie growled, flashing her own wing blades and letting bolts of electricity course through her feathers.
The unicorn’s eyes widened at the display, but before she could say anything, the pegasus rolled his eyes and retorted, “Please, like that's gonna scare me. Why don't you go back to the costume shop where you two belong?”
Mira growled in anger before the air shimmered and eight swords appeared around her, their points directed at the now nervous guard. “Care to run that by us again?” She asked, her tone soft.
As the pegasus opened his mouth, the unicorn stuffed a hoof in his mouth. “I think you’ve proven who you are…” she said, glaring at the stallion. “Private Cliff Wing here sometimes has a running mouth and that usually gets him into trouble. I'm Lieutenant Black Blade of Princess Celestia's Solar Guard.”
“It's nice to meet you both.” Mira replied, nodding her head to the two while giving a small glare at Cliff Wing.
“The pleasure is all mine, I honestly wasn't expecting to meet the Blade Queen and the Thunder Phoenix.” Black Blade chuckled.
“You said Princess Celestia, does that mean she's the leader of Equestria?” Cassie asked, her eyes curious. “Last I knew, she was only trying to save the ponies from Discord.” She then realized something. “How exactly did you know about us?”
“Both she and Princess Luna rule from here in Canterlot, the capital city.” Cliff Wing said after Black Blade took her hoof out of his mouth. “Honestly, how do you not know this?”
“Gee, maybe because we were trapped in stone for who knows how long!” Cassie snapped.
“It's been 10,000 years. But 1,000 years ago… Princess Luna turned…. Well, she’ll tell you what happened when she sees you.” Black Blade said. “As for how we know about you, there have been stories about your bravery and the sacrifice you made to stop Discord.” The two mares looked at Black Blade in shock before a new voice cut in.
“What's going on over here?! Lieutenant, Private, why are you two not on-” A white unicorn stallion with a dark blue mane and tail that had light blue streaks in them and light blue eyes in more ornate armor walked up to the guards, intending on reprimanding the two before he spotted the two mares behind them and his eyes widened before he regained his composure and asked, “Who exactly are you two?”
“They say they're the Blade Queen and Thunder Phoenix, but I don't honestly believe them.” Cliff Wing said with a salute, Black Blade also giving one.
Black Blade then facehooved while the two mares glared daggers at him. The unicorn stallion arched an eyebrow at that. “Maybe we should take this to the Princesses, see what they think of the situation.” He said, giving no sign of his shock over the two names Cliff Wing had given.
“Make of what situation?” Celestia asked as she, Luna Twilight, Spike and their friends appeared. The three guards saluted as they approached.
“Shining!” Twilight happily cried before running to the stallion, who grabbed her in a hug.
“Hey Twily! Wasn't expecting to see you here, what's going on?” Shining Armour asked.
“Something about some evil force and a prophecy concerning two ponies that got stoned.” Rainbow replied, rolling her eyes.
This caught both Mira’s and Cassie's attention. They pushed through the three before Mira asked, “What exactly are you talking about? What prophecy concerning us?”
Instead, they got astonished stares from the the seven in front of them. “Rayla? Sefia? Is that truly you?” Luna whispered.
“Wait, how do you know these two?” Rainbow asked in confusion.
“Because we are the ones who helped them stop Discord while sacrificing ourselves by turning to stone with him.” Cassie answered.
“You mean you're…?!” Twilight asked in astonishment.
The two nodded. “We are the Blade Queen and the Thunder Phoenix.”
“But when exactly did you appear here?” Twilight asked excitedly. “History doesn't mention you until the end of Discord's reign!”
Mira sighed before answering, “It's a long story, and some of it may surprise you. Our story begins a long time ago…”
As Mira started her tale, Pinkie looked up into space and said “What surprises lie in store for the ponies gathered? What is their secret? Find out next time on “Brave Frontier Equestria”!”
(EMPEROR DAMN YOU PINKIE!)