//------------------------------// // Crystal Revelation // Story: Aeternitas Book I: Lunar Shadow // by Shadowlight Wanderer //------------------------------// Chapter 3 Shining Armor awoke after a moment and when he did, he stood up and looked at party guests more calmly " Twily, you and all of your friends have to go with me to Canterlot right now." "Whoa, hold on. We can't just go with you without any explanation what is going on" Rainbow Dash hit the ground with full force of her four hooves. She slowly circled Shining Armor " Come on, bro! Spit it" she said, performing boxing-like moves in front of a stallion. "Rainbow!" hissed Twilight. Blue pegasus was suddenly consumed by violet magical aura and moved away from Shining Armor. Twilight frowned and turned back to Shining Armor " You are my B.B.B.F.F so I believe you have a good reason for what you are doing. But Rainbow is right. You can't just pull as out on an adventure without any explanation" Shining Armor lowered his head " I'm sorry Twily, but you really have to trust me on this one. I only can tell you that I'm following orders from Princesses. Ancient evil is rising. Balance and harmony in Equestria are in danger. We must hurry up, we have to leave right now or you won't have a place to come back later". The ponies in the room were stunned by Shining's confession. Twilight looked at her friends who came closer to her. " I trust Shining Armor. We should go, especially when Princesses need us" said Twilight "I don't know, Twilight" said quietly Fluttershy " It all sounds so spooky and dangerous. And if you don't mind that I say that, look at Shining Armor. Poor deary." "Fluttershy is right" Applejack thought out loud " there is something off about him" The six stood there in silence for am moment. Then Spike grabbed his stomach and belched out a letter, signed by insignia of sun and moon. The letter contained only two words "GO.NOW". "Well, I guess that solves it. We have to take a risk and save Equestria once again" said Twilight "Oh, whhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?" cried Rarity Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes "What is it, Rarity ?" she asked "Only that I'm can't ever be packed properly for saving the world. Really, just once."Rarity sobbed quietly. Twilight looked at Shining Armor once again " Oh right, we are ready to go. Count as in". The group were starting to leave when Shining Armor shook his head and pointed at Cutie Mark Crusaders " They must go too". "What? Why us? We didn't do anything, you have no proof" stated Scootaloo "Oh shush yourself Scoots" said Applebloom. Shining Armor went out through the door "Your presence is required in Canterlot. You too, little fillies. I can't explain now. To the Canterlot, here we go" **************************** Road to Canterlot was fast and undisturbed. In the train, ten ponies were still trying out to figure out what exactly is going on. When the group finally wasentering the Canterlot Castle, they saw two silhouettes flying down from one of the castle's towers "Princess Celestia! Cadence! It's so good to see you" Twilight and the others bowed before two princesses " Can anypony tell us what is going on here ?" asked Rainbow Dash, visibly irritated. Princess Celestia smiled weakly " Of course. I believe that we owe you some explanation, my little ponies. Go inside. You are going to understand not before long..." suddenly, her front legs folded under her as fell to the floor. The sun in the sky became incredibly bright then turned completely black and after that, it returned to its usual state. Cadence ran over to her aunt arise. Meeting with Twilight's concerned gaze, Celestia smiled weakly once again "It is nothing" she reassured quickly "I'm just dealing with certain crisis but it is nothing I can't handle on my own". The group of ponies went to castle, led by alicorns. All ponies but one. Applejack stayed behind, looking at the entry with hesitation. Something was definitely wrong and Element of Honesty can felt the lies in the air as if they were almost substantial. Farm pony slowly walked into the castle: "We all can only hope that this is not as bad as I feel" she thought. Celestia and Cadence welcomed ponies with tea and when whole team sit by large table in the throne room. Cadence stood up and began "I'm really sorry for the hurry and surprise but there is a matter of great importance we must address to you. It all started few days ago in the Crystal Empire. The group of my subjects mysteriously disappear. And later, more and more ponies went missing. But yesterday, something bizarre and terrible has happened . I was just preparing for meeting with some delegates from Griffinstone when all of the sudden, somepony ran into audience room. It was a unicorn with black coat and blue mane. He looked crazy... like a madpony. His coat was all sweaty and his mane messed up. And his eyes... oh, his eyes was like a shattered lenses. He was chased by place guards and they caught him before he ran to me. But he was still shaking and looking me with that seeing-through gaze. He smiled widely, too widely for his muzzle and exclaimed with voice that certainly didn't belonged to him "Oh my dear crystal princess, long time no seen. Have fun with eternal night. The daaaaaaaarkkknessss ssssss cooooming. Lucky lucky princess, sitting on the throne. Watch out watch out, your friends will be gone. See ya. I'm coming. This is the beginning of the end." After that, his horn began to glow and he exploded in flames. I had only time to shield myself from the wall of fire and it was so powerful feat that it knocked me out. When I awoke I found only three grilled pony skeletons. And then I felt something. It was coming from downstairs. It was somehow summoning me. I followed the summon until I recognized the familiar sight of Crystal Hearth. In that moment. I noticed something. There was a beam of light illuminating fragment of the floor. On this fragment was written something that may explain to you why you are here. Here it goes: "When darkness and light gets head down Beware the eclipse of shadow and sun Foe bended by hearth only by another May be killed to welcome a night as a brother Be careful who you trust, look for reflection of sun When doom returns, the flesh cannot be undone Six by one and three in one might be the only cure The only light will be see while darkness can endure Sometimes the way to live is to choose the death Only love can save you from your lasting breath And the reflection may only be gone When somepony will claim time as a rightful throne" The ponies in the room remain silent as they listened to Cadence's story. Finally Rainbow Dash broke the tension " So... what all of this has to do with us?". Princess Celestia gave Rainbow another tired glare "Despite the fact that you are bearers of the Elements of Harmony, it seems that your presence here is required for bringing back balance and harmony and Equestria, finding the missing crystal ponies and... face the foe. As you probably noticed, my sister Luna is not here. She has been missing for a week now. I don't know where she is and what happened. I was looking for her everywhere. I am expecting the worse. You see, now it is not daytime at all. It is an illusion. For a week the moon is standing in the place Luna left it and for some reason it's enchanted. I can't lower it as I was doing for thousand years when Luna was on the moon. There is something wrong with my celestial magic in general. So I keep performing the illusion as the cycle of day and night was never broken. But I can't do this forever. And I'm sure that I know somepony who would love the eternal night over Equestria. I'm afraid that my sister might transformed herself into Nighthmare Moon once again." The group listened to Celestia's confession. This time it was Rarity who spoke first " Princess, we certainly do understand the great problems you are dealing with. But why we have to bring on this dreadful mission our dearest sisters" She pointed at Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Yeah Princess, why are we here?" asked Applebloom Princess Celestia nodded at Cadence who cleared her throat and explained " After receiving this...revelation, I met with my advisors to discuss this riddle. One those advisors happened to be on your Cutie Mark lecture, Twilight" she turned to purple alicorn" and he stated that the words "Six by one and three in one" could be about you. You six" she pointed at Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy "got your cutie marks because of Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom. And you three" pointed at CMC "achieved your destination simultaneously and your cutie marks are almost identical. You nine are bonded by fate on different levels..." "We are here, princesses! Where are we meant to start?" asked Twilight Before Celestia or Cadance could answer, a loud explosion was heard. Cadence frowned and turned to Celestia " We must check what was that" she said and ran through the throne room's door. Celestia stopped at the door " Don't wander off. It is important that for your own safety you can't leave this room. This is an order. We will back in a moment". And after that, she was gone. Twilight looked at her friends "This is weird. Why they didn't let us help?"she wondered out loud "Yeah they really should. Whoever is that troublemaker, I would smash him to pieces" Fluttershy pressed her hooves together. Twilight backed away "Fluttershy what is wrong with you?" she asked quietly Behind her back she heard voice of Rarity " Oh darling, it is better that they went there without me. I will never become as great as them. Why can't I be so fabulous? "Are you ok, Rari? You look strange. You want a hug?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Girls" Twilight shouted "answer me, what is going on ?" "Hold on there partner" Applejack stared at Dash "since you like nicknames so much?" she looked at direction where Celestia disappeared and sighed " I really hope that she will come back. I don't think I can't stand one more... Twilight's calm wore off. She quickly moved closer to Cutie Mark Crusaders. She shielded them with her wings while still trying to comunicate with the rest of the girls. Suddenly the world started to spin around. Twilight turned to Pinkie Pie who was sitting quietly in a corner. "Pinkie, what is going on" she asked pink pony. Pinkie slowly turned to Twilight to reveal a toothy grin, too wide for anypony to smile with. "Now you take a nap" she said, licking her lips And in that moment, everything was consumed by the sea of blackness and Twilight fell in the darkness