“You can't catch me!” A small dragon laughed as he flew high in the sky, even higher than the clouds. Concurrently, two other young dragons stopped in mid-air as they stared at him flying higher and higher.
“Come on, Zach! You always win this game, just because your wings are better! That's unfair!” One of them complained while the second one just sighed.
“I'm solely employing my innate talents!” Zach replied as he flew in circles.
“Why don't we go home guys? I'm starved and don't want to play the hunters anymore. It's boring.” The dragon that had been quiet said as his stomach grumbled. His friend beside him rolled his eyes before returning them to Zach.
“You heard him! Let's go, I'm kinda hungry, too!” He shouted; however, Zach remained where he stood, his back overlooking them. The two dragons looked at each other, “Zach? Did you see something?”
“Y-Yeah!” He replied with a bit of hesitation, then breathed in, bulging his chest. Next he breathed out a stream of fire that dissipated the clouds in front of him. “Look at this!”
The young dragons widened their eyes as they observed what he was pointing at: it was an enormous black ball. It looked like an inky cloud, but they knew it had something else to it, as if they felt it. The orb was surrounded by a black smoke, slowly expanding.
“What do you guys believe this is?” Zach asked as he came relatively closer, inspecting it.
“I don't know, but maybe we shouldn't touch it. Let's call an adult.” The dragon that only wanted to eat, said while sweating,
Zach ignored him and narrowed his eyes at the black smoke growing bigger by each second. It didn't look that dangerous to him. While it was definitely unusual, he knew he could defend himself if needs be. While it was definitely unusual, he knew he could defend himself if needs be. he felt... nothing. It looked harmless. He shrugged and turned around to leave; however, a black tendril suddenly came out of the unidentified object and wrapped around his waist, before pulling him back.
“W-Wait! Let go of me! What's happening!” He screamed in panic as he wriggled around.
“Zach!” His friends screamed in fear while the young dragon was being pulled back towards the orb. The dragon breathed out as much fire as he could, but it remained useless as it did nothing to his attacker. His friends could only fly back to the mountain to scream for help as they weren't skilled enough to fly high enough to get him.
And at that moment as Zach was gradually pulled inside the dark ball while he looked a his friends flying away, he cried. Cried and screamed for help. Begged for it, but nobody came as the dark mass swallowed him.
The last thing he perceived was complete and utter darkness, a place devoid of any life.
Meanwhile, in the peaceful land of Equestria, at the Canterlot castle. Celestia widened her eyes as she stumbled from her throne. The guards, seeing this, tended to her side to help.
“Princess! Is something wrong?!” One of them asked, worried.
However, Celestia ignored him and panted. She was lost in thought while she could nevertheless experience the feeling of dread that came to her. She received visions of dark events multiple times in the past; however, she was always asleep during these! This time, it was different. It wasn't a vision, but every fiber of her being screaming at her to fly as far away as she could; and to give everything up to save her life. She wouldn't do that of course, but whatever made her feel like this needed to be taken care of or else... she feared the worst. She had to try to determine the origin of this magic, then call the other princesses, this could potentially be something even more dangerous than Tirek.
“D-Don't worry. I'm fine. Just a bit tired,” The princess replied with a shaking voice.
While Celestia's mind was clouded with worry and fear, several miles away in the town of Ponyville, everyone enjoyed their life blissfully unaware of the upcoming danger. Two ponies specifically...
In the castle of friendship
“How foolish! You shouldn't get in my way! When I get my hands on these sacred artifacts, I'll possess a power beyond anything you can imagine, Daring!” Twilight shouted before laughing as evilly as possible.
“You won't even get a chance to graze them, Ahuizotl!” Rainbow Dash replied as she jumped atop of Twilight with a mighty roar.
The two mares both fell on the ground before laughing, clenching their sides.
“This may be her best book yet, Rainbow! And to think we get to read it before anypony else!” Twilight exclaimed while she clapped her hooves in excitement.
“I know right!” Rainbow said, happy that Ms. Yearling would send them her new books early, “I never thought I'd enjoy a book this much, thanks Twi!” After all, Twilight was the one that introduced her to this masterpiece.
“I can't believe she mentioned our names!” Twilight added; Yearling did mention their name in her recent novel, although it was only once, it made them feel proud to be mentioned by their favorite author (one of, in Twilight's case).
“We have to read it again, Twi!” Rainbow said excitedly as she flew around in circle in Twilight’s room.
The young princess giggled in response, then picked the book up with her magic, and closed it.
“I’d love to, Rainbow, but we already read it twice today and I still have work to carry out. However, I promise you; we’ll do it again tomorrow.” Twilight explained sadly. Being a princess was hard and it required much of her time, but in the end, she still liked it and didn’t want to disappoint Princess Celestia.
“Oh… I guess I can wait ‘till tomorrow… but are you sure you can’t take a break from these boring princess duties?” Rainbow Dash asked, her good mood dropping in an instant. She knew it was something significant for Twilight, but she could tell they weren’t fun, even for her favorite librarian.
“You know I can’t. I’m sorry, Rainbow, but like I said: we’ll do it again tomorrow. Okay?” Twilight replied as a small, hoping, smile formed on her lips.
The blue pegasus stared at her, unsure of what to reply. The more she looked at her friend, the more she thought it would be bad if someone as adorable as her was sad. Knowing Twilight, she was certain she’d think she was mad at her, just because Rainbow’s fun was spoiled by princess duties. Retaining this in mind, she sighed then looked up and smiled.
“Okay, I get it. I guess I can wait at least one day. See you tomorrow, Twi!” Rainbow answered, hugging Twilight, then taking off. She did have things to do, too, after all. Although hers were more physical than Twilight’s.
“Bye, Rainbow!” The purple alicorn waved as the pegasus flew out of the window. “Well… looks like it’s time to go back to paperwork.” She sighed, “I feel like I’ll work on these until 3 am once more…” She muttered in annoyance.
Back to the Canterlot Castle, Celestia threw her belongings all over the place, seeking something in particular. Suddenly, the door of her room opened as Luna came in, barely dodging a dress which almost struck her in the head.
“May I ask what are you doing?” Luna asked in a deadpanned tone.
“Did you do as I told you?” Celestia sharply jerked her head to Luna. “Did you observe what this new threat was about?”
“Affirmative… It looks like masses of dark smoke appeared at multiple places in Equestria, even in the other lands: Griffonstone, the Badlands, the Crystal Empire. There is one in Los Pegasus,” Luna explained as she stared at her sister pacing around. “It looks like it’s absorbing everything it enters contact to… Why are you so stressed? Even when Tirek came back; you stayed relaxed and rational which is not the case here,” Luna said, unsure of how dangerous could some clouds be. “They don’t seem to constitute any threat at all,”
“Luna, you know I never worry for no reason… Inform me, what do you believe this is?” Celestia asked, trying to remain as calm as possible.
Luna stroked her chin in thought. “As far I can tell, it looked like remnants of Sombra’s magic, nothing we can’t easily deal with,”
Celestia shook her head in disagreement. “Did you try scattering them?”
“Yes, I must admit I failed, but I must have been more exhausted than I thought. Shining Armor and Princess Cadence stayed behind and are holding a magic shield as we speak, it was enough to block the dark smoke’s spreading,” Luna explained.
“Then you should have felt this darkness as much as me,” Celestia replied while Luna looked down. “We can’t shrug off threats by being over positive, unfortunately…” Celestia muttered, recalling the numerous fights she partook in. “Listen, I discovered a book a few years ago, in one of Canterlot’s ancient mines. It looked fresh and new, but I felt it was even older than us,”
“A book? In Canterlot’s mines? What were you doing here and how is it important in our case?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
“I wasn’t even supposed to ever come down there; however, I felt drawn to it… It was like my magic was attracted to it! When I read it; I was disappointed to find only myths and legends of Equestria’s alleged doom,” The princess of the sun replied as she moved her belongings again.
“Equestria’s doom? It is not surprising, knowing the many villains that tried to take over our land,” Luna said as she thought of Tirek, Discord, Sombra, Chrysalis and… herself.
“It was something like we’ve never seen until now… Something that only desired one thing: erase all life. However, since nopony ever talked to me about it when I was young, I thought it was only an old tale… forgotten. When I felt that new presence added to what you just described, it reminds me of what I read in that book. I’m still uncertain if this is the same threat, but I must make sure!” She answered while searching through her stuff. Finally, under the many dresses she had; she found a book with a golden cover and the symbol of a magnificent jewel drawn on it. “I found it!” She exclaimed in relief and happiness as she opened it and started reading. “Just as I thought! A million years ago, Equestria suffered the same fate as today; they’ve managed to defeat it by…” Celestia stopped talking as she read through the various pages of the book. Her face changed from confusion to shock, then finally: sorrow. Her lips trembled as tears were brought to her eyes.
Luna stared in shock at her sister, surprised to see her cry, something that very rarely happened. She snatched the book away with her magic to read its content. “It doesn’t sound troublesome…” Luna said as she read the opened page. Nodding in understanding of how they got rid of such a monster.
“Read on,” Celestia said in a dead tone. Luna did as she said; in a matter of seconds, her eyes grew dilated.
“It can’t be, can it?” She asked in confusion and shock. She shifted her head to her sister. “Do we call Twilight Sparkle and her friends? They should know about it as quick as possible or else…”
“No!” Celestia cried out abruptly, making Luna step back. “I… I will try to find another way first. Then I’ll call for their help.”
“Sister... “ Luna whispered sadly as Celestia walked away with the book in her magical hold. “I should at least see the unicorns experienced enough to cast shield spells around Equestria. Everything is good enough to hold back these shadows,” She whispered to herself. It looked like Starswirl still had job to do.
***
Meanwhile, at the Crystal Empire, on the balcony of the Crystal Castle. Shining shot a beam of magic high in the sky, strengthening the shield Cadence and he created. He sighed as the beam disappeared into the sky, but he knew very well it hit its target.
“How are you, dear?” Cadence asked as she nuzzled Shining’s neck. “Although I’m helping you, this barrier is the largest you’ve ever made.”
“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” He replied before grabbing his head in pain. Cadence hurriedly casted a healing spell. “Besides, I don’t want to take any risks; as far as I know, this is a completely unknown threat. I don’t want to risk putting you or Flurry in danger,” He added while nuzzling his wife.
“I doubt you’d be fine after casting a 3 mile wide barrier,”
“Here for a report!” A guard joined them as he performed a salute. “Those mysterious looking shadows reached the barrier, sir!”
“Already?!” Shining Armor muttered in disbelief. “It’s faster than expected… How’s the barrier doing?”
“It looks like it stopped it!”
“Good… Great even! That means my magic is strong enough to halt it!” Shining regained confidence and smiled, then grabbed his head as he felt pain again.
“Don’t push yourself,” Cadence said while healing him.
Shining could only sigh as he looked at the horizon made of ice. Who knew what would happen now.