//------------------------------// // The First Signs // Story: The Legacy Of Darkness // by Darkness 1 //------------------------------// Princess Luna began writing in her journal some more, and it read: "The signs were so obvious, but we had all seen peace for so long, that we thought nothing of it, and we all dismissed it as a false alarm, that it wasn't what it seemed to look like. We were all so wrong......how we were so very wrong... and now, a city has paid for our ignorance and inaction. Anyways, it all started just last week, on that first day of that week, fall had just started, and things were beginning to get colder, as everypony prepared for the weather, as I decided to visit Ponyville from a distance. However, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until the black lightning hit the ground in Ponyville town square. However, I admit, at the time, I did think it was strange, although, it only struck the ground once, and then the clouds dissipated, but it left an unsettling unease among all of us, especially those in town, and in myself, who had seen it. But still, we did nothing, as we all shrugged it off as a one-time anomaly, and everypony resumed preparations. I later went to my sister about the strange occurrence, because we were both still so uneasy about it, but we later dismissed it. As my sister, a few days later, had a meeting with Twilight and her friends about it as well, and they too, came up with the same conclusion." Princess Luna stopped writing for a moment, and then continued, and it read as she wrote it: "We all should've known better, because on the second day, reports came in from all over Equestria, of strange, medium-sized black crystals that had fallen all over Equestria, of course, none of us wasted any time, I started my own investigations right after my sister, Twilight and the others had finished theirs, and I came up with no results as they did, and we determined that the crystals presented no threat, as they didn't glow or explode or anything, they seemed lifeless, like it was just another one-time weird weather anomaly, we had some strange weather in the past, so I the others treated this just like another anomaly, but I myself, kept an eye on them just in case, and I found out later, that my sister and the others were doing the same thing. The third day of the week came along, and nothing new happened, and the black crystals had not done anything new, the fourth day of the week was much of the same. After the fourth day of the week had passed, we all had went back to our daily lives, thinking that we were safe, that nothing was wrong, that the weather was just strange this year, we should've known better, we were so foolish to think that we were safe, we were wrong, everypony was wrong in thinking that we were, because we were not." Princess Luna adjusted her seat, and continued writing, and read: "On the fifth day of the week, I had one of my own scouts report some news: the crystals had began to glow, and new crystals had began appearing in other places around Equestria. Just like the third and fourth days of that week, we all investigated, but came up with nothing, as we all again concluded, that as long they did not pose a threat to anypony, that we all should go back to whatever we doing before the investigation. On the sixth day it was the same, however, the crystals had all began to glow even brighter, and began to pulse slowly and that was it for the sixth day, however it was what happened just yesterday that none of us expected, but should've seen coming, we should've known better...the signs were all there......" Princess Luna stopped writing, shook her head in sadness, and the began to write once more, and it read: "What happened yesterday, was that I was in my chambers, when I was awoken by two of my scouts, and a guard from my sister's castle with troubling news: the crystals had begun to open, and were shooting a powerful black energy towards the city of Manehattan. I wasted no time, for I knew the others had to have been notified, I left my home, as I flew and followed where the black energy was going. Sure enough: it was heading straight into the center of the city of Manehattan! When I landed at the entrance to the city, Twilight, her friends, Snowshy, Lunar Ebony Blade, and my sister were already there, waiting for me, and together, we headed for the center of the city." Princess Luna stopped, sighed, and kept on writing, as it read: "We when got there, what we saw, horrified us all, the black energy looked like it was forming together, into a living pony being of some sort, and before we could get any closer, the black energy imploded on itself, and sent a massive shockwave that sent us all flying. I know for sure that everypony that survived, because it was as I layed there, I looked up, and this is what I saw ahead of me: I saw a massive pony, he was as big and as tall at least the size of eight combined bodies of the biggest ponies put together, covered in a fiery golden armor from the chest down, but no helmet, and then he let out a massive scream of hatred, and when he had finished, he began to speak, and this is what he said, 'I AM ARROVAK! THE CELESTIAL EVIL GOD OF DESTRUCTION! AND THE LAST THING YOU WILL EVER SEE! IT IS TIME TO CLEANSE THIS WORLD! YOU PITIFUL, WEAK PONIES THOUGHT YOU COULD DEFEAT ME LONG AGO! AND ALL OF YOUR MISBEGOTTEN KIND COULD PULL OFF WAS TAKING ME BY SURPRISE AND PUTTING ME WHAT THEY HOPED TO BE MY 'ETERNAL' PRISON! HA! I SWORE, I WOULD RETURN, AND I WILL FINISH WHAT I STARTED! YOU AND THE REST OF YOUR KIND WILL DIE! NOW, BEGONE FROM THIS CITY AS I MAKE MY NEW FORTRESS HERE, RUN IF YOU CAN!!!! AHAHAHAHA!!!! MUWAHAHAHA!" Princess Luna shuddered for a moment, and realized it had gotten cold in her chambers, and with her magic, lit a few candles that were around her room, and went back to her writing as it read, "Arrovak had ten swords drawn, and he was holding them all, and I realized, as I picked myself back up, as I looked, that he had 14 hoofs, as he used four them to stand, and he used the other ten to pull out ten massive golden swords, and began to kill anypony unlucky enough to be in his path. He then also called upon his powers, as the sky turned pitch black, as huge bolts of black lightning violently struck the ground, and black fireballs, came in from the sky all over, and rained down upon the city. I quickly went to the others, and told them to evacuate the city and as many others as they could, as I would do the same. In those moments that followed, all I remember is yelling, screams of terror, running, dying, and bodies of dead citizens here or there, or others get thrown up into the air, and either falling to their deaths, or get struck down by a large black fireball, it complete chaos. I don't really know how many made it out alive, but I do know for sure, that Twilight, her friends, my sister, Snowshy, and Lunar Ebony Blade made it out, As I remember looking at them all as we left the city on opposite sides, and then with the group I managed to evacuate and what the others had managed to save, we didn't need to say anything, we all knew the best thing to do was to spread out, and go to either my castle or my sister's and we would all meet up later. I wasn't long after that once we were all far away enough from Arrovak's wrath, that we could do, was watch in horror, as we saw Manehattan torn to pieces, and then, everything went still, and all any of us could see, was the fire, and Arrovak's figure within the city, screaming his cry of victory. In was in that moment, I knew and I'm pretty sure all others thought the same thing and realized that Manehattan was no more, and that a new evil had arisen once more." Princess Luna got a new quill and some more ink, and wrote, "Because of all our ignorance, many of Equestria's citizens in Manehattan have paid a terrible price because of it, as of today, I do not know what will happen to us, or how much time we all have left, Arrovak has already began building his fortress. I fear that by the time he finishes it, and any other plans he might have, I am afraid that we will all be the ones next he comes after, and then after that, the rest of the world. I do not think anypony will survive this, if Arrovak is not stopped and defeated before he finishes his fortress, and possibly any other plans he might have, and try to complete, it is with this thought I have: I can only wonder: how can we defeat a god? Not just any god, but the Celestial Evil God Of Destruction? It is in times like this, I really wish Darkness was still around to save us, but he did what he could, it is up to us now, we must do what we can now, and I can only hope we find a way to defeat Arrovak soon..." When she had finished, she got up from her desk, closed the journal, and went to the balcony just outside her chambers, and looked out over Equestria with a look of worry, and not knowing what will happen next.