"All concerns of men go wrong when they wish to cure evil with evil."
[ - S k i S M - ]
Chapter [ ONE ] - - - > Danger is on the Horizon
Twilight Sparkle sat in her library, a book sprawled open in front of her. Spike had been bringing her book after book on mythical creatures and monsters from Equestria's many urban legends the entire morning. After being challenged by so many previous monsters and enemies of Equestria – Discord, Nightmare Moon, Cerberus, Chrysalis and the Changelings – Twilight found it would probably help to read up on mythical creatures, just in case Ponyville and Equestria was attacked again. She didn't want to be caught off-guard, after all.
"Twilight, is this really necessary?" Spike asked, bringing another armload of books down to the busily-reading pony.
"Of course, Spike," Twilight said. "We need to be ready in case Equestria gets attacked again."
Spike sighed and went back up to the top level of the ladder to check for more books.
Twilight scanned her eyes over the hand-written words and drawn pictures of the old book sitting in front of her, reading every word that she could spot. Each monster she read about – Harpies, Krakens, Sirens, Chimeras, Basilisks – just sent more chills through her body, and eventually she had to put the book away because the pictures were too horrifying to look at. And she knew these kinds of creatures must have existed at one point, if they didn't already exist today; after all, she had seen all kinds of things like this, like Cerberus, the Manticore, dragons, parasprites, and Changelings. After having been attacked by so many monsters before, none of these mythical creatures surprised Twilight.
Twilight closed the book and pushed it aside with the others. She grabbed another book and looked at its cover – what a surprise, more monsters. She opened it to find much of the same things that she had already read about. She flipped through the pages using her magic.
"Harpies, Changelings, Manticores, Cerberus . . ." Twilight muttered to herself. "Basilisks, Sirens, Chimeras . . ."
She stopped flipping when he eyes caught something interesting. She flipped back to the page she had seen.
"The Apocalypse Horses?" Twilight pondered to herself as she stared at the picture of the four ponies. There were three stallions, and one mare – and all four of them looked even more terrifying than anything else she had ever seen.
Twilight read the passage to herself.
"The Apocalypse Horses are mythical beasts that are said to bring chaos everywhere they go. The four Horses – Death, Famine, Pestilence, and War – have always existed in the spirit world, and it has been stated in legend that the Horses will one day rise and bring down the rains of fire and chaos with them, bearing nothing but destruction . . ."
Twilight couldn't read the rest – it had all been scribbled out with a black pen, and there was no way she could read past it.
That's strange, she thought to herself. Who scribbled it out? I never let anyone near my books . . . and I doubt Spike did it.
Twilight closed the book and set it up onto her podium where she wrote her letters. She didn't want to lose the book; it was too intriguing for her to forget.
Twilight heard the sound of flames bursting behind her. She turned around to see Spike standing there with a letter in his hand.
"It's from Princess Celestia," Spike said, handing the letter to Twilight. Twilight opened the letter and proceeded to read it.
My faithful student,
It has been a long time since we have seen each other in person. On that note, I would like to kindly request to see you this evening. I would like to assess how much you have learned about the magic of friendship in person.
- Princess Celestia
Twilight closed the letter and gave it back to Spike.
"She wants us to go see her in Canterlot," Twilight said. "Spike, could you get the air balloon ready?"
"A trip to Canterlot? Alright!" Spike cheered. He spun around and ran outside into the backyard.
Twilight Sparkle looked back at the book sitting on her podium.
Maybe Celestia will know something about the Apocalypse Horses . . .
Spike and Twilight hovered over the beautiful pink-white clouds, the hot-air balloon drifting slowly through the air. Dusk was falling, and the clouds were changing to orange and red as the sun set on the horizon. Twilight had brought the book; it was sitting in the corner of the balloon's carrier basket. Spike had noticed her sudden obsession with the book, but he had decided not to say anything; Twilight always had her reasons, and her instincts were usually right.
"I wonder why the Princess wants to see you in person," Spike said aloud.
"She likes to give me personal lessons sometimes," Twilight answered. "And I'm sure she doesn't mind my visits."
The hot-air balloon bobbed atop the clouds, until they could see Castle Equestria perched on the cliff of Canterlot. Spike changed the balloon's direction, taking it over to the balcony that served as a landing spot for them. When they were close enough, Twilight jumped off, and Spike secured the balloon to the castle with a rope before getting out as well. The ponies there greeted Twilight Sparkle and Spike with smiles and waves.
"It feels good to be back in Canterlot, huh?" Spike said. "Seems like everybody missed us."
"Well, we haven't been here since my brother's wedding, remember?" Twilight replied. "And that was nearly a year ago."
"You think the Changelings are causing any trouble?"
"I hope not," Twilight sighed. "We may have stopped Chrysalis from overtaking Canterlot, but I'm sure that the Changelings will come up with something else eventually . . . that's why I've been reading so many books on monsters lately. I don't want us to get caught off-guard again in case something else weird happens."
With Spike on her back, Twilight walked through the palace, getting more waves and smiles from other mares and stallions. When she made it to the entrance to the throne room, she was stopped by two royal guards, their grand wings spread across the door.
"Do you have an audience?" the one on the left asked.
"Yes," Twilight said, using her magic to bring the letter up to their faces. "Princess Celestia wanted to speak to me about my lessons."
The guards looked over the letter. When they finished reading it, they both nodded and pulled their wings back, allowing her to enter the throne room.
"Thank you," she said as she walked away.
Princess Celestia was sitting in her throne, her rainbow mane and tail flowing around her body like majestic clouds. Twilight walked to her, and bowed in respect.
"Good evening, Princess Celestia," she said.
"It's so wonderful to see you, Twilight Sparkle," Celestia said with a smile. "How are your lessons going?"
Twilight lifted her head. "They're going very well, Princess. Although, I haven't been able to come up with a new report for you . . ."
"That's quite alright, Twilight," Celestia smiled. "I'm very proud of you; you've learned so much about the magic of friendship in such a short time."
"T-Thank you," Twilight stammered in embarrassment. "Um, Princess Celestia . . . there's something I wanted to ask you about . . ."
"Well, ask away, Twilight," Celestia said happily. "Are things okay in Ponyville?"
"Y-Yes, they're fine, but . . ." Twilight cleared her throat. "I was reading through some old books this morning, and . . . I stumbled across a passage regarding the . . . the Apocalypse Horses."
Celestia didn't say anything. Her gaze went cold.
"I know you tell me not to worry over these things, but I was just curious, that's all," Twilight said to reassure the Princess.
Celestia smiled, her eyes becoming warm again. "Of course you were, Twilight. I guess I'm partially to blame – I thought I had destroyed all the books about the Horses long ago."
"So . . . wait, part of the passage was scribbled out with black ink," Twilight objected. "That was you who did that?"
"Well, one of my servants, perhaps. I had several people working on the destruction of those books; I merely led the project," Celestia explained.
Philomeena the phoenix flew in from the open window above the palace, its wings leaving trails of fire behind him. He landed on Twilight's shoulder, and nudged her face with a warm – literally, warm – greeting.
"I know it's a lot to ask, Princess, but . . . could you tell me more about the Horses?" Twilight asked.
"You shouldn't let your curiosity get the better of you, Twilight," Celestia said strictly. "It's nothing you have to worry yourself over."
"I know, but you said the same thing about Night Mare Moon and she ended up attacking Equestria!" Twilight shouted unexpectedly. She covered over her mouth with her hooves. "E-Excuse me, Princess, for being rude . . . I just . . . I don't want Equestria to be caught off-guard by any weird monsters again."
Celestia walked forward and stroked her head with her decorated hoof. "I don't blame you for that, Twilight Sparkle. And personally, I trust you enough with the information about the Horses . . . I'll tell you about them, as long as you promise me you will keep it a secret from the rest of Equestria, alright?"
Twilight smiled. "Thank you, Princess!" She snuggled her face into chest.
"It's no trouble at all," Celestia said. "I know that you were going to find out about them eventually, anyway. It's hard to keep you out of those books."
She turned around and pointed her unicorn horn towards the throne. Her horn glowed yellow until the throne where she sat began to tremble and move. It sank down into the floor, revealing a hidden door in the wall right behind the throne.
"Wow!" Twilight exclaimed. "I had no clue that was there!"
Celestia smiled at her student, and guided her towards the door. She leaned over and pressed her horn into the keyhole – much like the door that kept the Elements of Harmony locked away. The door opened, revealing a dark stairway that went downwards.
Philomeena let out a frightful cry and flew off of Twilight's shoulder, heading back outside of the castle. Twilight suddenly felt a bit troubled, especially because of Philomeena's reaction – she knew that whatever it was that was down there, it was dangerous enough to scare off a brave phoenix like Philomeena.
Twilight, Spike, and the Princess walked down the flight of stairs, Twilight trying desperately not to trip on her own hooves in the darkness. Celestia lit her horn up with magic to use like a torch, its yellow glow illuminating the dark in front of them.
"How far does this stairway go?" Twilight asked after walking for a few minutes.
"Very deep underground," Celestia replied. "This room must be kept sealed safely underneath the castle – you'll see why in a moment."
Twilight felt another one of her nervous chills go through her back as she followed the Princess down the stairs.
Eventually, the stairs ended, and they were in a wide, open room that was similar to that of the throne room – except the walls in this room were plastered with mirrors.
A loud, high-pitched laugh screeched through the room.
"Oooh, I have visitors!"
A horse appeared in the mirrors, his face gigantic as it was reflected in the various strips of glass. Twilight looked around, thinking he was actually in the room, but realized that he was actually trapped in the mirrors. There were three other horses in the mirrors as well, but they seemed to be asleep.
"Ugh, he's awake again . . ." Celestia scoffed in disgust.
The horse's face shrunk down to that of regular size. Twilight could see his entire body now – his light-brown coat was messy and covered in blood; he had a long line of stitches running across his face, from above his right eye down to the bottom-left portion of his cheek; his dark-brown mane was matted and stained with dirt; the whites of his eyes were slightly red, as if his eyes had been struck with a weapon and were now filled with blood; his pupils were shrunk and filled with a strange kind of chaos and insanity; blood was running down his legs; and the lower portion of his legs were covered in mud and dirt, like he had just gotten back from the racetrack and hadn't bothered to clean his hooves.
"Pestilence," Celestia sneered. "I'm not in the mood for your games today."
He smiled a crooked smile, and bashed his face into the surface of the mirror from where he was trapped inside of it. He dragged his tongue down the glass, leaving a slobbery trail of spit and bile.
"Every day is a day for games, Princess!" he laughed. He eyed Twilight Sparkle with his psychotic blood-shot eyes. "Oooh, new meat today? Don't mind if I help myself?" He licked his lips.
Twilight backed away in total shock when he started bashing his head even more into the mirror.
"Don't worry, Twilight, he can't get out," Celestia assured her.
"W-What is he?" she asked with extreme panic in her voice.
"He's one of the Apocalypse Horses," Celestia answered. "Pestilence – the horse of the righteous plague."
"He's . . . he's an Apocalypse Horse? What's an Apocalypse Horse doing underneath the castle?"
"A long time ago, the Apocalypse Horses showed up in Equestria, and tried to destroy it. I had to use all of my power to seal them away in these mirrors. The Horses only bring destruction and death with them – they were too powerful for me to destroy, so I was forced to merely seal them away in the mirrors here, under the castle. They'll live on forever, trapped inside the glass in this underground room."
"That is incorrect," Pestilence interrupted her. "We don't bring death and destruction – we're merely cleansing the world of its impurity and filthiness."
"It doesn't matter what you call it, you fool!" Celestia roared, sending a wave of strong magic into the mirror. The horse's eyes rolled back into his skull, and he collapsed onto the ground, fast asleep like the others.
"That should take care of him for another few days," Celestia sighed.
"But what about those three?" Twilight asked, pointing to the three that had remained asleep the entire time.
"Those ones seem to stay asleep, for some reason," Celestia said. "It seems to only be Pestilence that wants to act up."
Twilight carefully approached the mirrors, looking at all the horses with a curious gaze. "Just like the book said . . . Death, Famine, Pestilence, and War – they're all here, trapped in the mirrors."
She looked up to see a stone tablet resting above the four mirrors that held each horse – it was the only thing in the room that wasn't a mirror. She peered to read the letters that had been engraved into the gray stone. She read it aloud.
"On the seventh day, at the seventh hour, the dark beings shall reign supreme when all becomes shadow."
"What does that mean?" Twilight asked the Princess.
"It means that the Horses will be at their strongest on the seventh day, at the seventh hour," Celestia said. "At least, that's all I've been able to interpret. I haven't been able to figure out the rest of it."
Twilight stared at the tablet. "Hmm . . . 'the dark beings shall reign supreme when all becomes shadow.' . . ."
Celestia turned around and pointed her head to the exit.
"We should leave, Twilight," she said cautiously. "It's not good for ones' mind to be around the Horses for long periods of time – their madness spreads like a disease."
Twilight looked back at the sleeping Pestilence and the rest of the horses that were sleeping within the mirrors. She examined all four of them, and then turned around to follow Celestia back up the stairs.
As they walked up the long stairway, Twilight tried to guess the horses to herself.
So the one with the stitches was Pestilence, she thought. The one on the far end was wearing armour and had battle scars . . . so that must have been War. The one next to Pestilence was very scrawny and unhealthy-looking . . . Famine? So that means the only female, the one between War and Famine, must have been Death. But she didn't look very scary-looking.
Eventually they made it up back to the throne room. Celestia used her magic to hide the door with the throne again.
"Do you understand why I must keep it a secret from Equestria now?" Celestia asked Twilight.
"Yes, I understand, Princess," Twilight said. "I won't tell anypony about it.
Celestia smiled. "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. I trust you with this secret, understand?"
"I won't break that trust."
Twilight Sparkle trotted through Ponyville, Spike still riding on her back. Luna had raised the moon into the night sky, and she was returning to her house for bed. Spike was reading a pamphlet on local events he had picked up at Canterlot before leaving.
"Hey, Twilight, look at this," he said, holding the pamphlet in front of her for her to see while she walked.
"A solar eclipse tomorrow?" Twilight Sparkle said with a smile. "We'll have to go see that with everyone else."
"What's a solar eclipse again?"
"Every hundred years, the two sisters – Celestia and Luna – raise the moon and sun together into the sky. They do this once a year, when Luna raises the moon to cover over Celestia's sun. It's celebrated to show an essence of harmony between the two sisters. Equestria hasn't had a solar eclipse in many years because of Luna's defiance against Celestia and her transformation into Night Mare Moon – so this solar eclipse is very important because it's the first one that we've had in a very long time."
Spike looked back at the pamphlet. "Wow, it looks pretty interesting. Look at these pictures." He held the pamphlet back down for Twilight to see – it was a picture of the sun being obscured by the moon, a black circle hanging in the sky and the sun just barely shining out around it.
"Looks like it'll get pretty dark out when the solar eclipse happens," Spike muttered.
Twilight Sparkle stopped in her tracks.
"Spike . . . what time are they performing the ceremony?"
"Huh? At seven, tomorrow night before Luna raises the moon."
Twilight stared straight ahead, still not moving.
" . . . the dark beings shall reign supreme when all becomes shadow."
"It . . . can't be . . ." Twilight whispered.
"Huh? What was that?" Spike asked. "Did you say something, Twilight?"
Twilight suddenly broke into a run. Spike almost fell off her back, but managed to regain his balance by grabbing onto her mane.
"Whoa, slow down, Twilight!" Spike cried out loud.
"We don't have time, Spike!" Twilight said. "I have to get back to the library!"
She sprinted through the town, trying not to hit any other ponies. She accidentally bumped a donut trolley, but not enough to knock it down.
"Sorry, Donut Joe!" Twilight called back to him without slowing down.
She burst into her house and ran for the library, immediately ordering Spike to find a book on solar eclipses. Spike did exactly as he was told, grabbing the first book he saw, The Solar and Lunar Eclipses of Equestria. He handed it to Twilight.
Twilight skimmed through the pages, reading every sentence and looking at every picture that her eyes could catch before she turned to the next page.
Just like the pamphlet had talked about, Ponyville would get extremely dark out when the moon covered over the sun. And they were beginning the solar eclipse at seven in the evening, when Luna raised the moon to cover Celestia's sun. It couldn't be a coincidence.
Twilight grabbed the book that she had looked at earlier that day, the one that had got her thinking about the deadly Apocalypse Horses in the first place. There, in the picture that she had already seen, were the same Horses that Celestia had shown her underneath the castle. Pestilence, with his scars and matted fur; Death, with her majestic black mane, beautiful black Pegasus wings, and slender body; War, with his sleek armour and battle scars; and finally, Famine, who looked like he had never eaten a scrap of food his entire life.
She re-read the passage that was written below it.
"The Apocalypse Horses are mythical beasts that are said to bring chaos everywhere they go. The four Horses – Death, Famine, Pestilence, and War – have always existed in the spirit world, and it has been stated in legend that the Horses will one day rise and bring down the rains of fire and chaos with them, bearing nothing but destruction . . ."
I can't let that happen to Equestria! Twilight thought with a determined glare in her eyes. I have to stop this from happening!
She was about to leave the library, but then she remembered what Celestia had said.
"Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. I trust you with this secret, understand?"
Twilight couldn't break the Princess' trust. She had to keep it a secret. So she took her books and went upstairs to her bedroom, watching the night-sky outside.
They won't escape, she tried to reassure herself. Celestia told me that they're trapped in there. Besides, they're only at their strongest on the seventh day . . . that doesn't mean they'll actually be able to make it out . . . Celestia will probably be guarding the mirrors, anyway. And just because the solar eclipse makes everything dark, doesn't mean that's what the tablet meant back in the underground room. I'm overthinking everything.
Twilight kept these thoughts in her head as curled herself up on her bed and closed her eyes, drifting off into a deep sleep . . .
Zecora flipped through the old textbook sitting in front of her, her eyes growing wider and more frightened as she continued to read the ancient text.
"Tomorrow the moon will rise!" she said to herself. "And with it comes the land's demise!"
Zecora stared out the window at the moon in the sky. Then she looked back at the book laying on the floor next to her potions.
"I must prepare for tomorrow night!" she gasped. "Otherwise it will be a horrible sight!"