It was a dark and misty night in the back alleys of Canterlot, certainly not the kind of night one would want to stay out on, not even for all the bits you could ever want. But such was the unfortunate case with a chestnut brown coated unicorn stallion with blue eyes, a shady white mane and tail, and a cutie mark depicting four green balls.
"If only the store wasn't so far from my stand, I'd wait until morning to pick these up." The stallion thought to himself, just as he thought he'd heard a strange sound. Frightened, the stallion turned around, only to find it was a tossed aside can that was completely empty that had made the noise. Relieved at this, the stallion sighed, and turned back to the path ahead. Only to be surprised when he ended up face to face with a figure obscured by a thick black cloak. And said figure seemed to be breathing heavily.
"Oh, very sorry," The stallion apologized. "Y-you came out of nowhere. Didn't mean to frighten you," But the cloaked figure did not reply, it just kept breathing heavily. "Um, are you okay?" The stallion asked the figure, hoping for a response of some kind, but there was none. "Hello? Can you hear me?" The stallion asked, a bit more loudly.
At last, the figure spoke. It sounded male, but kind of raspy. "'Is he friend or is he foe?' the pony wonders," The figure said in an eerie tone of voice. "Well, I can assure you that I am no friend."
That statement was enough to unnerve the stallion, just a little. "W-who are you anyway? W-whadya want?" He asked, trying not to show how frightened he was.
"I am Lord Tirek," The figure replied, revealing itself as a small centaur like creature, as his face poked out from the cloak. He then opened his mouth and began to drain the unfortunate stallion of his magic. "And I will take what should've been rightfully mine long ago." Tirek just kept on draining the unicorn, until there was no magic left in the stallion who had been unlucky enough to cross Tirek's path. Said stallion dropped to the ground, his cutie mark having vanished, and his eyes having taken on a faded gray color.
Tirek began to glow, as the magic coursed through his veins. Then he began to chuckle himself. "I'm coming for you, princesses!" He thought to himself. "You'll regret that you did not destroy me when you had the chance."
Princess Celestia woke with a start in her own bed, frightened beyond all belief, and still wearing her royal tiara and horseshoes. "That's the last time I eat cake before bed!" She thought to herself, even though she knew what the more likely explanation for her disturbance was.
Sure enough, Princess Luna came barging in a short time later. "Sister, are you alright? I heard your cries of distress from a mile away." She spoke with concern.
Celestia breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh Luna, I've just had the most terrible dream."
But in a very serious tone, Luna looked at her sister and said to her. "Why do you think I'm here, dear sister? You know as well as I do, that this was not just a dream, but a vision. A warning of things yet to come!"
"I was afraid of that," Celestia sighed, as she got out of her bed. "But I figured he would make his move eventually."
"Do you really think Tirek has finally decided to show himself?" Luna asked her sister, as the two looked out at the window.
"No doubt about it," Celestia nodded, and turning to her sister she instructed. "We must notify Cadence and Shining Armor at once. The longer we wait, the more we are all in very real danger! Tirek must be stopped at all costs!"
"And you believe it is imperative we inform our niece and our nephew-in-law?" Luna inquired. "I have seen into your dreams, sister. I already know who you intend to send to face Tirek. Assuming Discord can be trusted, is there a need to inform anyone else? Surely it would be wise not to cause a panic."
"I don't know how powerful Tirek has become, or how close he is to finding us," Celestia replied with concern. "Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor need to know about Tirek, so that if anything were to happen to us, they will be able to take over. I just hope that it doesn't come to that."