//------------------------------// // The Call of Destiny // Story: Magical Ponies: Defenders of Earth // by Sea Pony //------------------------------// It was a beautiful night not a cloud in sight and the stars illuminated the sky and the moon gave off a comforting glow. It was under that sky that a young girl observed the sky with her trusty telescope. Her target was the legendary planet Equus the closest planet to Earth. It was a strange celestial body despite the fact that it was the closest it was the only planet in the solar system that never been observed by a probe. The reason for this was simple, any and all electrical appliances just shut down as soon as it entered orbit with the planet. Scientifics have tried for decades to explain what could cause this but it was all speculations and theories none of them have found the true cause. That planet fascinated the young Sarah Bright she dreamed of one day being the first human to set foot on that planet. She knew it was incredibly unlikely but it was her dream. She knew she was inteligent enough to become an astronaut, after all she was in third year of high school despite the fact that she was only twelve years old. The problem was finding a way to land on the planet without having the spacecraft shut down and crash on the planet. Sarah didn't delude herself into thinking she could find a way when scientific have been trying for decades she was smart, but not that smart... Yet. Sarah sighed, maybe if she was surounded by scientists she could finally make friends. Despite the fact that she was surounded by older teenagers they couldn't keep up with her, making her an outcast. Fortunately she wasn't a victim of bullying, nobody was brave enough to pick on the sister of a General of the army. Sarah sighed again her brother David was the only friend she ever had but he was so busy fighting the stupid wars of their government he was almost never home. She wished the stupid leaders that declared war would be put on the frontline where they deserved to be. It was not fair why should they be safe when they were the ones throwing the world in chaos? ''Twilight... Sparkle'' ''Huh?!'' Sarah jumped up in surprise when she heard the unfamiliar voice of a young boy in her head. ''W-who's there?'' ''Twilight... Help me...'' ''Is this a prank? Because it's not funny.'' A glow coming from the forest caught her eyes. ''Oh, ah ah! I see you there whoever you are you can come out now!'' ''Help... I don't have... Enough power.'' More than a little scared Sarah began to approach the glowing light. It was coming from a bush, with trepidation she peeked inside the bush and gasped at what she saw. It was an egg, but not any egg it was way bigger than any egg she ever saw not only that but it was pink with purple dots. With care she took it in her small hands and looked at it curiously. What type of animals could have laid that egg? Then without warning it began to glow even brighter, nearly blinding poor Sarah. She covered her eyes with one hand and kept the egg on her chest she could feel the egg shaking violently before it exploded. The shockwave it produced wasn't that strong, but it was strong enough to make Sarah tumble on the ground. After a minute the light died down. With a trembling body Sarah lifted herself from the ground and looked at where she dropped the egg. In it's place was a creature she had never seen in her life. It was a small bipedal lizard with purple and green scales and it looked at her with a smile of adoration his green eyes shining brigthly. ''Twilight! I have waited so long for you!'' He sudenly exclaimed before takling her with a hug. ''W-what?! What are you?! And who is Twilight?!'' Sarah screamed in fear for all she knew the little creature was faking it's happiness and was waiting the perfect opportunity to eat her! The creature looked at her confused before realisation dawned on him. ''Oh right, in my excitement I forgot you wouldn't remember. My name is Spike, Spike the Dragon. I have so much to tell you... But I guess you're arleady overhelmed as it is so I will only tell you the basic.'' ''You're a dragon?'' Sarah said incrediously. ''Yeah right and I'm a Unicorn Princess.'' ''How did you guess?!'' Spike responded in surprise. ''What?!'' Spike shook his head. ''Nevermind it's not important for now. What's important is that you are here which mean that Equestria is waiting for us!'' ''What's Equestria?'' Sarah asked in confusion. The little Dragon pointed in the sky in the same place where she had observed Equus a few minutes ago. ''This is Equestria. We need to return there and reclaim our world!'' ''What?! But nobody can go to Equus we have been trying for decades. No matter how we advance technology we will never be able to make it there!'' Spike smiled smugly at this. ''That's why we're not going to use technology. What we need is magic!'' Sarah sudenly felt something incredibly warm against her chest where her heart was supposed to be. It felt comforting but powerful and for some strange reasons a little bit familiar. Her clothes sudenly vanished which made her instantly panicked but before she could even think about covering herself her body began to glow with a blinding light. She felt her body shift in strange and alarming ways but it didn't hurt at all. Finally the light stopped and she fell on the ground softly. Sudenly she gasped ''I'm naked!'' She was about to cover herself but then she noticed her hand was very different than she remembered for one thing she had no hand at all! They were replaced by purple stomps! Spike snickered. ''Seriously? You turn into a pony and the first thing you notice is that you're naked? Humans are hilarious.'' ''What do you mean turn into a pony?!'' Sarah screamed in fear and confusion. Spike pointed to a small puddle of water. ''See for yourself.'' Gulping nervously Sarah made her way to the puddle and instantly froze when she saw her face in the reflection. Her brown hair had changed of color to a dark purple with a pink streak in the middle. Her eyes had changed from brown to purple and her nose was now longer she could only call it a snoot. Sarah did the only thing a sane twelve years old could do. ''AHHHHHHHHH!'' Sarah was left in a state of shock for five whole minutes before Spike managed to snap her out of it. As soon as she did she looked at the Dragon she became angry. ''What have you done to me?! I've become a freak of nature I'm probably gonna get capture and spend the rest of my life in a circus or worse they're gonna cut me open in a labotary!'' Spike was about to respond to that but before he could they heard a low growl coming from behind them. Sarah could feel her newly aquired fur standing on end. She could hear the bushes rustling for a few seconds before something massive jumped out. Her eyes widened in horror. It was a monster it was the only word she could think of to describe the creature. It looked like a giant lion at first glance but then she noticed it had small bat wings on it's back and a massive scorpion tail. Without thinking she began to run on four hooves and Spike followed behind her. The creature roared in anger and ran after both of them. Sarah noticed she was much faster than when she was human but to her horror the creature was gaining ground on them despite that. ''Twilight we're not gonna outspeed it! you need to defeat the Manticore!'' Spike yelled. ''What?! Are you crazy?! Have you seen that thing?! Nobody would stand a chance!'' Sarah Yelled in terror. ''You're right nobody could defeat that. But maybe somepony could!'' Spike replied. Before she could respond the Manticore jumped and land in front of them blocking the road in front of them. Sarah halted immedtiatly but it was too late the Manticore lifted his paw and Sarah could see her life pass throught her eyes. ''Twilight why do you always use that magic beam when you need to attack ennemies? Isn't there more dangerous spells that you could use?'' A older looking spike asked her. ''Sure in fact my magic beam is the least dangerous offensive spell I know. The thing is Spike I am extremely powerful and I don't say that to boast, if I used any other spell I would instantly kill everyone that's in my way. I prefer to give my enemies a chance at redemption and for that reason I only attack to make them lose consciousness and nothing more.'' Where did that memory come from? This was the first time she was meeting Spike and she never knew about magic before today. But the strange memory made her remember something. and with instinct taking hold Sarah fire her first spell. A huge fire ball erupted from her horn and engulfed the creature without mercy. The manticore screamed in pain before a flash of light engulfed it and only a spark of light remained. The little spark stood there for a few seconds before zipping into the sky never to be seen again. Sarah let herself fall on the ground and she panted and was shaking as the adrenaline wore off. Sudenly she burst into tears and began sobbing. ''I want to go home!'' ''Twilight?! Are you arlight?!'' Spike asked worriedly. ''I'm not Twilight! Stop calling me that! My name is Sarah! Sarah Bright! I want to see mom and dad, leave me alone! this is all your fault!'' She continued to sob uncontrollably. ''Calm down Twi- I mean Sarah we'll go see your parents right now alright?'' Spike said with a worried expression in all the excitemenet Spike forgot he was dealing with a kid. She didn't have the experience the old Twilight Sparkle had. ''They will think I'm a freak! I'm not even human anymore!'' She replied throught her tears. ''Oh, that won't be a problem.'' Spike snapped his finger and with that another flash engulfed the crying pony. Once it's died down the Unicorn was gone and Sarah the human was back as if nothing happened. Sarah sniffed but she wasn't crying anymore. She tried to lift herself but a sudden wave of dizziness hit her and she fell on the grass unconscious. Sarak woke up with a gasp. She looked around and the familiar walls and furnitures putted her mind at ease instantly. She was back home in her bed. ''What a weird dream...'' ''You finally woke up it's about time.'' A familiar voice sudenly said. She gasped and looked to her right. Standing there was the same Dragon from her dream. ''You've been sleeping for almost twelve hours. But it was to be expected you barely know how to channel magic and yet you managed to throw a high level elemental spell at that Manticore. Once you get familiar with your power you won't faint every time you attack.'' ''Last night was real?!'' Sarah asked in disbelief. Before Spike could talk more a woman opened the door and looked at Sarah with a smile. ''Good morning honey! I didn't see you entering the house yesterday. I hope you didn't stay too late observing the stars. The summer vacations are gonna end in a week you should get used to sleeping early right now.'' Without saying a word Sarah got out of bed and hugged her mom. Tears were streaming down her face. Sarah's mother looked at her in concern. ''Sarah? What's wrong?'' She was about to explain everything but then though of how insane it would sound and decided to say a white lie. ''I got lost in the forest yesterday and I missed you.'' Her mother looked at her sympathetically. ''I'm so sorry honey if I knew I would have come for you immediatly. Next time you find something interesting in the forest you should take me or your father with you.'' They stayed like that for a few minutes Spike didn't dare interupt them. Sarah's mother lifted herself with a smile. ''So how would you like your eggs this morning honey? ''Scramble please.'' She responded a little bit embarassed about the display of affection now that she remembered Spike was there. With that her mom left the room closing the door behind her. ''She look like a good mom.'' Spike sudenly said. Sarah looked at him and nodded but then she frowned. ''Wait how did she not see you? You were standing right behind me the whole time!'' Spiked cocked his head. ''Oh, that. I casted a 'don't see it, don't want it' spell on myself, basically it makes me look like the least interesting thing in this room unless I call attention on myself.'' ''Magic, huh? I still can't believe it, all common sense state that magic can't exist and yet I can't deny it since you turned me into a Unicorn yesterday.'' Sarah said with a shake of her head. ''I still have a lot of things I need to talk about but it can wait after you eat.'' Spike said while he looked out of the window deep in though. ''Speaking of eating what do Dragon eat?'' She asked curiously. ''Well our favorite food is gems and gold.'' Sarah winced at that. ''I'm sorry but I'm just a kid I don't think I can aford something as expensive as gems.'' She replied with a worried frown. She didn't know what to think about the small Dragon after yesterday but she didn't wanted him to starve. Spike waved at her reassuringly. ''Don't worry about it. It's our favorite food but we can mostly live without it. We can also eat normal things like meat, vegetable fruits. etc. The only problem is that a Dragon without gems won't grow up. But I'm not pressed for time once we reach Equestria I'll be able to get all the gems I want.'' Sarah opened her mouth to ask a question but her mother called her for breakfast. She ate half of it before making an excuse to go in her room with the rest which she gave to Spike. Once that was done both of them went outside. Sarah's belly rumbled ''Ugh I don't think I ate enough.'' Spike shook his head. ''I told you, you should have ate all of it I could have gone hunting or something.'' The girl rosed an eyebrow at that. ''Somehow I can't imagine you hunting something you look too cute and innocent.'' Spike pouted at that. ''Looks can be deceiving after all you don't look like someone that could defeat a manticore.'' That made Sarah stop in her track. ''Oh my God I burned a creature alive I'm a horrible person.'' Spike shook his head at that. ''No the Manticore would have killed both of us. Beside it was not a real animal it was a Nightmare.'' She looked at him confused. ''A Nightmare? You mean yesterday was a dream after all?'' Spike shook his head once again. ''No a Nightmare as the name imply come from the dreams of humans. But there's someone or something out there that take these Nightmares and bring them into the real world. This is another reason why we need you. We need to find what's causing this and stop it before people start to die.'' Sarah looked at him as if he was insane. ''You want me to save the world from these Nightmares?! I'm just a highschool girl! We barely survived yesterday!'' Spike nodded with a frown on his face. ''That's why you need to learn to control your magic better, And we need to find the other elements not only will they help us to defeat those things but we can't go to Equestria at all before we united them.'' ''So is there other dragons like you living on Equus?'' She asked with a curious glint in her eyes. Spike shook his head sadly. ''There were other dragons living there... once.'' Sarah frowned at that. ''What happened to them?'' ''The apocalypse happened. The planet of Equus as you call it was home to many sapient creatures including dragons and ponies. But then one day without explanation magic started to vanish across every corner of the world in three short days all the magic was gone. And then people started to die because of magic starvation. So the Great Queen Celestia used her own life force to create a portal between this planet and our own and sent every remaining sapient beings on Earth where they were transformed into humans to fit in with the native people.'' Sarah eyes were wide as Spike finished his story. ''So wait how many humans come from your world?'' ''None, all the beings that were sent here died of old age a long, long time ago. It's been a thousand years since the apocalypse happened. but at this point every humans on Earth has a bit of magic in their blood with all the crossbreeding that happened between us.'' Sarah blushed a bit at the subject. ''So is that why you were able to transform me into a pony because I have pony blood in me?'' Spike rolled his eyes at this. ''You're much more than just a descendant of a pony. How much do humans know about souls?'' ''...We're not even sure it exist?'' She replies with a embarassed frown and Spike facepalmed. ''Geez it's like humans are completely blind to the energy that suround them. Anyway a soul like a body can get tire after too much action. Because of this when people die they go to a peaceful world to rest we called it the Elysium Fields, humans call it Heaven. Once the soul has rested enough it then choose a new host and live throught a new life and started the cycle all over again. You understand so far?'' Sarah nodded. ''So basically both type of afterlife are real. While it it incredibly reassuring to have confirmation of a life after death I don't see what it has to do with me.'' ''You're not just a descendant of a pony, you're her direct reincarnation. You used to be called Twilight Sparkle and you were one of the four Princess of Equestria!'' Spike stated proudly. ''I know I shouldn't be so sceptic but that's really hard to believe. I'm just a normal girl there no way I could be someone that important.'' Sarah said a little embarassed at how much trust the little Dragon putted in her. Spike shook his head. ''I would recognise your soul anywhere Twilight Sparkle. Beside you're just as smart and nerdy as she was and you have the same talent for magic.'' Sarah was about to protest but she was interupted by the sound of barking. Before she could understand what was going on a ball of fur pressed itself against her leg she looked down and saw a golden retriever looking at her and waging it's tail. With a bit hesitation Sarah started to pet him and he licked her face. ''Oh my sorry young lady. That dog adore kids and when he saw you he just ran away before I could catch him.'' Said the voice of a old lady. Sarah knew her. Ms. Bella Elwood was the biggest animal lover in the town and was the owner of the only pet shop. She was also one of the oldest resident at the age of ninety-five. She was supposed to have retired a long time ago but she just wasn't able to say goodbye to the animals. ''It's okay he didn't do anything wrong.'' Sarah said while continuing to pet him. With that Bella called the dog and he happily made his way back inside the pet shop. Sarah continued to walk but noticed her friend wasn't following and was looking at the pet shop with a weird expression. ''Spike, are you coming?'' ''Yeah I'm coming!'' he ran beside Sarah and looked back at the shop. ''Nah she couldn't be... Right?'' He muttered to himself.