//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Twilight's Gift // by Nagato //------------------------------// “Unexpected guests” Ponyville Golden Oak Library Walking through the deserted streets of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle, the element of magic, was making her way home. She looked completely tired and restless, and wanted nothing more than to go to bed. The source of her tiredness was her recent birthday party held at Canterlot. It had been a really good party too. She had had a lot of fun with her friends; and all that dancing and singing really had taken her a tool on her, but she definitively had had a fun time with the other ponies. Plus, she got to meet new ponies! That gentlecolt Fancy Pants was really kind with them, and he complimented her dress! Twilight felt her cheeks flush; it wasn’t often that anyone but her friends and spike said good things about her, and since she wasn’t the most social of mares, more often than not she was ignored “I guess Pinkie and Rarity are right though, I do need to get out more often…” Her eyes went upward, gazing at the starry sky brought by Princess Luna “I suppose I could ask the girls for some advice about social interactions…all of them seems to be pretty social, even Fluttershy…” Her almost closed eyes were filled with uncertainty, her mind wondering how even her shy friend seemed to have more friends than herself. Suddenly, she lifted her head, her snout pointing straight ahead. A glint in her eyes indicated that she had a new idea in her mind. “…Or, I could look for a book about social interactions between ponies, learn everything in it, and then ask for advice! Just in case the book doesn’t work” The last part was murmured through her teeth. She kept her pace, her expression slowly changing. She was smiling, coyly, at her own silly idea causing her to blush. Her tiredness was really affecting her head. “I really need to hang out with the girls more often. I should have just taken the chance to interact with ponies back in my party…” she was looking at her own hooves, her expression was a sad one “…although I did pretty good talking with them, I’ve never really been a social pony” And even though she wished it had been a more private affair, she still had enjoyed herself and ended up making a few new friends. And to Twilight Sparkle, making new friends always was something worth remembering. She just needed to learn how to better communicate! After all, she was Celestia’s student, and her teacher was the most sociable pony on all of Equestria; she didn’t even need to talk to make new friends! Now that was a goal worth of being achieved. How could it be to be friend with everyone? To bond with other ponies, she thought. It would be wonderful. Her own mind said. The purple mare thought of bonds with all her friends, but especially the rest of the elements and Spike. To be so close to somepony, close enough to even share your deepest secrets, your fears…it truly was something beautiful, and every day Twilight tried to make the most of her time, to spend it with all the girls, to make Spike laugh, to share smiles with all of them. Making new friends was amazing, and sometimes Twilight wondered if her cutie mark should be related with making friends instead of magic. Maybe if that was the case I wouldn’t have any problems talking to other ponies... But then again, Twilight loved her cutie mark; it was such a wonderful thing. To learn all about magic, being able to immerse her own self in the knowledge of all of the ponies that came before her. Those who worked hard to decipher the secrets of magic…it was such an interesting thing, and just for that Twilight didn’t mind having to work a little harder than other ponies to make friends. And she had so much to discover! The amount of new things popping up every day was astonishing. New discoveries appeared every other day, sometimes old theories were proven right after being called nothing but madness when there wasn’t as much knowledge as now. Other times, it was popular studies that were prove to be wrong and subsequently discarded, not without trying to investigate if there wasn’t anything worth saving in it. Also, being the student of the supreme ruler of the country had its perks, although she more often than not chose to not abuse it. However, she did use that influence a few times, especially when she was younger and didn’t have the patience to wait for the new books for her collection to arrive. Of course, she eventually snapped out of it, mostly because of a talk with her teacher; Celestia wasn’t harsh on her, but her words did transmit that she was disappointed of her student showing such attitude. And just like that, the then purple filly decided to stop and learn patience. And it worked out quite nicely. Her patience was one of her most positive traits, not even Fluttershy had her ability to wait so much. Now that she thought of it, most of her friends were quite reckless sometimes, even Fluttershy. “Me too, though. I can be completely insufferable sometimes…heh…” She chuckled at her memories. I should quick my pace, at this rate I’ll never get home… Sighing loudly and with a tired smile in her face, she started to walk a little faster. Humming to herself, she suddenly remembered that Spike wasn’t in their home; the little dragon had gone with the Crusaders on a sleepover. She was thankful for that, she didn’t want Spike to be alone when she wasn’t around, and honestly, she felt that with him around them those little fillies might hold back a bit their need to go ‘’crusading’’. Giggling at the memories of their antics, the unicorn mare kept walking. “…everything it’s so calm and peaceful…what a difference with Canterlot huh…” Her eyes darted over all the houses that were in the way to her own. She then started to imagine, all the ponies out, selling their stuff, interacting with each other, smiling, helping. Sharing the magic of friendship with others. I love it. Soon enough, she could see the silhouette of her tree at the distance. Letting a breath escape her mouth, she moved forward. Slowly but surely, her home was getting closer, and knowing that, her body was pretty much screaming at her to just get over it and enter the house and go to sleep. As she approached the old library, she noticed something. Her house was glowing. As if it was a beacon on the middle of the darkness. Quickening her pace, she found out that it wasn’t her entire house that was glowing. It was her room. Immediately thoughts about a new threat or enemy filled her mind. With a worried gaze at her surroundings, she was thankful that everypony was sleeping or else they would be swallowed by collective panic. It may even be some kind of harmless glow! She thought to herself. When she reached the house, she opened the door; entering the house in a dash, she slammed the door behind herself. With big eyes, the purple mare’s gaze fell over each single book on her shelves, taking note on anything that could be considered as out of place. Once she realized that her books hadn’t been touched or messed with, she left out a relieved sigh. But then, if it wasn’t for her books, why was somepony in her house? She didn’t really have anything worth stealing besides some of her personal collections, so the idea that whoever was there didn’t want her books was confusing. Maybe the pony wanted some of her pillows? As silly as it sounded, she remembered that there was a Pillow thief in Canterlot back when she was a filly. “I guess I won’t need to call my friends…the girls are probably all tired too, especially Rarity, all that fancy talk must had been tiresome” She half smiled at that, reaching the stairs to her room. Starting to walk, she went upstairs, her pace neither fast nor slow. “The thief may even be reasonable! We could talk this out and then…ugh, I just want to go sleep” She murmured to herself, a frown making way into her face. The moment she reached the end of the stairs, the door to her room was there, the glow from the other side escaping from the bottom of the door. Taking a long breath, she went forward and opened it. The full brightness of the glow hit her right into her eyes, making her yelp in surprise and then fell in the floor. Gritting her teeth, she waited until she felt her sight back, and after several seconds she opened them slowly, the light still bothering, but not enough to blind her. Her gaze went right into her bed, from where the glow was coming. She raised a brow in confusion. There was a pair of creatures lying there, seemingly sleeping, completely oblivious of what they were doing. “How…? What? What are these?” She made the way to her bed walking slowly, making sure she didn’t wake them up. Immediately, her academic-self took over and mixed with her curious side and so she started to examine her guests. “Four limbs, like a pony but not quite the same, no. Completely different structure, arranged in a different way…hmmm, bipedal probably-“She stopped for a moment, looking at the one with blonde hair that was giving her its back “-no tail to balance itself…how does it walk?” Feeling her curiosity reaching new heights, she put a hoof on her chin, trying to find a way to such a development in a creature. A sparkle appeared in her eyes, and she quickly started to recite her new hypothesis. “Maybe they don’t need a tail, because they use magic!" A wide smile plastered in her face, the unicorn was going back and forth in front of the bed. She was ecstatic. They certainly weren’t the first species to use magic to facilitate their movement, even ponies did that. But they were a completely new species, with unique features from what little she had gathered by only looking at them. Nodding to herself, she continued. “They seem small, like, really small…maybe they’re infants…it could be it, but then, how did they managed to get into my house? And why? “ Taking a closer look, she was examining their faces, noticing their chubbiness. Along with the surprising lack of fur in their bodies. All but their heads were hairless, each one sporting a color that made them more striking to the sight. Blonde and black. And then another thing dawned on her. They were dressed. “From where did they get clothes?” Now she was truly confused, why were they using clothes? And just a moment after that thought, a second one came into her mind, answering her question immediately. They didn’t have any fur except for the one in their heads it seemed. So maybe they needed to use clothes so they wouldn’t feel the cold air? “That makes sense” she whispered to herself. Besides, what they were wearing seemed really comfy too. And thankfully winter wasn’t there yet, so the cold of the night would not affect them as hard. She looked at her floor for a moment, before looking back at her guests. “But they could be using them for something else too; there could be some kind of cultural significance to it… I need to know more, and if they are infants, I’d be able to take care of them until Fluttershy comes here or I can talk about it with the girls. Maybe their species are in one of my books? I doubt it, but I won’t be overconfident with this one” They are kinda cute though. She thought. “I need to examine them further; books can wait a few minutes…” Twilight wasn’t aware of it, but in her excitement she had activated her magic, and the horn on top of her head was covered in power, buzzling as if it was alive. The purple glow emanating from her horn was mixing with the almost white glow present in the whole room, and suddenly she felt the need to take an even closer look at them. As if a voice was urging her to do it. With her head approaching them, she took notice of the difference in size between the two and herself; they were really small, even for pony standards. Cooing a little she noticed the blonde one had whiskers-like marks in its cheeks, and the black haired one had a really chubby face. It was a cuteness overload. If there was something that ponies love more than making friends and be happy, would be cute things. And these babies were like nothing she had seen before. She couldn’t help but try to cuddle them, to hug and hold them in her hoofs. She could feel her body vibrating with excitement. And then, it happened. Once her horn was close enough, the white glow that came from both of them turned into a golden and purple one, quickly expanding and swallowing her body, and with a yelp she felt it, the foreign power coming from them getting into her horn, into herself, and then a sudden pain filled her skull. Twilight fell to the ground, twitching and with white eyes, her horn pulsing with power. Everything was in silence for a few moments. The only sound was that of the mare’s twitching body. And then it exploded. A light so bright that it could have been confused with the sun exploded out of her body, bathing the entirety of Ponyville in a lightshow. And just like that it banished. Right before something even greater happened. Twilight Sparkle, Element of magic, Princess Celestia’s student and resident of Ponyville couldn’t see it, but once she passed out, a wave of pure energy escaped her house, quickly covering Ponyville and the surroundings in a faint glow, a glow that turned into a brightness fury that like a fire, expanded to every direction. All of the animals living in Ponyville were suddenly waken up by a sudden urge to run around, to spend all the energy that had just got into their bodies. Dogs howled, cats started to call each other in the middle of the night and the birds around the little town flew out of it. In mere minutes, this new energy was travelling all over the sea, quickly crossing it and reaching new places, bathing them in its power. Nobody but those with an extreme magical ability could feel it, but this energy was rapidly covering the entire world. As if it was a blanket covering a body, the energy did the same with the planet. And everywhere, it was absorbed by the planet itself, accepted into the world, into Equus. All over the globe, this unknown power planted its own seeds; for these seeds, nine of them, was reserved most of the power. And like any seed, they were put in the earth, waiting for the moment to awaken. And that they would do, in the right moment, and when they finally did, everyone in Equus will feel it. In the middle of the night in the starry sky, Princess Luna, the younger sister of Princess Celestia, was flying. She was enjoying of her time of the day to rule, making sure that everypony slept well. At first she felt kind of offended by it. Before, most ponies would just go to sleep and let her alone; but things had changed. Now there was as much activity during the night as in the day. Ponies were going out to party, to spend time with their friends and enjoy the night. Her night. The one thing she commanded. It felt so good, to know that in this new era the ponies liked to enjoy the gift she gave them. It filled her heart with warm, and made her feel wanted and loved. It was as Celestia said. The times had changed. And she loved it. Sure it was quite hard to get accustomed to it after so much time in loneliness, but with the help of her new friend she had managed to do it. Luna was certainly grateful, and she intended to make the most out of her time to rule. So with a smile in her face, she flew over Manehattan, letting her magic reach everypony in the city. Immediately, the dreams of thousands of ponies filled her mind, and with a smile, she set out to go into their dreams looking for any nightmare that could terrorize their rest. Or she was about to, because suddenly and without any warning, a wave of raw energy hit her, almost knocking her out of the sky, the only reason she did not fall being her pure will to not fall. Huffing, she looked to where the wave came from…which was everywhere. With worried eyes, she looked as waves came from east and west, colliding with those from south and north, and creating new waves that quickly travelled to new destinations. Her breath was taken away; she was completely speechless for a few moments. “I…Celestia must know about this…such power…” She hadn’t ever felt something quite like that. As Nightmare Moon she was powerful, but it wasn’t the same. What hit her was unaltered and pure power, almost natural, as if the world suddenly developed its own brand of energy. Her gaze went upwards, focusing on her symbol, the shining moon. “I shall part now…sorry my little ponies, today I won’t be able to assist you all in your dreams…” And with a pitiful look, she gave her back to the city, launching herself soaring through the skies right into Canterlot. I’m really sorry…