MY LITTLE SCOOBIES

Prologue

Earth. Third Year of the End of Days

A hot wind ran through the devastated, landscape, reeking of brimstone, and illuminated, not by Sun, Moon or stars, but by the blood red skies themselves. The only sounds that could be heard were the scream of the Damned. Hell had come to Earth.

Under what had been Mount Cheyenne, there was a great deal of activity, as the Last Army, the last organized fighting force of Mankind against the demonic invasion, was preparing for the decisive battle of tomorrow. But in a room of one of the levels, Buffy Summers, leader of the Last Army, was sighing.

"Something to the matter, Buffy?" asked Dawn, her sister, who was sitting besides her.

"This night will probably be our last night, do you realize that?" said Buffy, turning toward Dawn "Win or lose, we'll probably die tomorrow."

"Buffy, we all know that, and we agreed that we won't be talking shop tonight." Said Xander who was putting the snacks on the table. "This is the first night that we have spent together simply as friends, since... well, since before the First, actually."

"And we need this, Buffy. How much time have we been planning tomorrow?" said Willow, who was sitting in an armchair to their right. "We need to unwind a bit."

"All right." Said Buffy and looked to the fidgeting man setting the DVD player and the VCR, connected to the TV "So, tell me, Andrew, what we are going to see tonight? And, don't tell me that it's another Star Trek marathon."

The little man straightened out and tried to muster some dignity, something a bit difficult when you looked and sounded like Andrew did.

"I hope that it's not My Little Pony or Transformers, again." quipped Faith. She had to 'babysit' Andrew many times while their desperate plan was being developed, and had come to know the geeky tastes of the excitable little man.

"No. It's something that, I saw it with my brother..." his voice broke for a moment."...s-sorry. I-It was the l-last thing we d-did tog-ge-gether."

Willow went, shortly followed by the others and hugged the young man while he sobbed quietly. It was quite unexpected how they had grown close over the years, as they become teacher and student. They had suffered so many losses over the years, Jesse, Kendra, Joyce, Tara, Anya, Fred, Gunn, Spike, Kennedy, Angel...

"T-thank you, Mistress." Said Andrew, an answer that made Willow roll up her eyes.

Many miles to the West of Mount Cheyenne, a fortress built in dark stone presided over the ruins of a great city. Demons of every kind scurried about to their work, boasted in their free time, and occupied themselves in perverted pursuits of pleasure. And in the higher level of teh Dark Tower, where the personal rooms of the Overlord were placed, one of the higher placed minions, was talking with his Master.

"Our sssspy in the human army have ssssent their plan." Said the demon, who could have been mistaken by human if it wasn't by the slitted yellow eyes and the forked tongue "The Sssslayers and their alliesssss are going to attack the Circle tomorrow."

Once, the Overlord had been a man, but now, after the agreement that the Senior partners signed with the First Evil, he was the incarnation of the Senior Partners, the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart in Earth. He looked the part, as only the torso and the arms remained more or less human, if covered by a thick grey fur. Below the waist, he had the body of a Hart, his head was of a wolf with ram's horns. He snarled and ordered to his minion. He looked through one of the windows, to the East.

"Tomorrow, Slayers, your pathetic Last Army will crumble before our forces, and you Buffy Summers will see the completion of the Spell that will allow us to hold this realm FOREVER!"

Equestria. Canterlot.Personal study of Princess Celestia. Two and half years ago.

"There, stay quiet for a moment" said Celestia as magic shot from her horn into the one of Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight felt like a door opened inside her, allowing herself access to power that she hadn't have before, at least since she got her Cutie Mark.

"Twilight, my faithful student" she said, smiling "I placed blocks in your magic, so you wouldn't be a danger if you lost control like you did before. "

"Thank you for your trust, Princess." Said Twilight, bowing to her teacher "I hope to be worthy of that." She Twilight, shivering for a moment remembering how she had transformed her parents into potted plants. The perspective of losing control again like that, terrified her.

"Not only that. Tomorrow I'm going to show you the spell to unlock the remaining blocks in your magic. You can't cast it in yourself, but any unicorn with enough power can cast it in you, when you think that you are ready." Said Celestia, and she closed her eyes for a moment 'It's time. In six months... Nightmare Moon will be back. My scheme must work' "Now, my faithful student, you'll start the study of a tricky and particularly arcane field of magic, Divination, the magic to see the future."

"But, Princess, all what I have learned say that seeing the future is impossible..."

"It is for normal Ponies, Twilight. To date, only a handful of Ponies have shown any talent in Divination." Started to explain Celestia "And the greatest of all was the Oracle. Before her disappearance she left seventeen prophecies, several of them had come to pass."

"It's a long story, Twilight. And I don't have much time." She said looking at the wall clock, and got a book from a shelf "This book, 'Predictions and Prophecies' , is a collection of prophecies from the Oracle, Star Swirl and others." She smiled and then said "A number of them are not actually prophecies, of course, but random nonsense."

"Because unless you have a perfect command of that gift, like the Oracle, you end being a bit... weird, specially if the gift for prophecy is minor. And sometimes, there no way to tell the difference." Seeing the baffled expression in Twilight face, she sighed and added "Read the book, and then get the full copy of the Lore Book of Star Swirl, from the School Library. It will help you to understand the magic of Divination. And now, my faithful student, I must go. Matter of state reclaim me" and thought 'As well as that cinnamon cake'

Celestia teleported away and Twilight got her saddlebags and put the book there. She went to the Library, as the School was adjacent to the Palace. She was so involved in her own thoughts that she collided with a fellow student that was also lost in thought.

"S-Sorry, I wasn't looking" said Twilight, and looked to see a mint green Unicorn with a Lyre as a cutie mark.

"N-Neither was I." Said the green unicorn, getting up and looking at her. "Do I know you?"

"Err, the School, I think," said Twilight vaguely remembering seeing her in a couple classes "I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"Oh, yes, now I remember." Said the other Unicorn "You were the filly who hatched the dragon egg, years ago."

"Were you there?" said Twilight, she didn't remember her, well, that day was mostly a blur for her.

"I had to take the entry test another day." Said the green Unicorn, who facehoofed, remembering something "Sorry, you have presented yourself, but I haven't done that myself. I'm Lyra Heartstrings."

"I was thinking about a monograph that I have to write about Pre-Equestrian civilizations..."

"I have homework about an arcane field of Magic. Divination and Prophecies, I have to study the Lore Book of Star Swirl and the Prophecies of the Oracle" Said Twilight

"Oh" said Lyra, who then looked at the clock tower "Sorry, I have to go, see you around." And she galloped toward the main building of the School.

Twilight smiled, shook her head and went to the library looking forward to studying an arcane field of magic, her favorite way to spend an evening. In the Library, while she waited for teh librarian to get a copy of the Lore Book, she started to skim the book of Predictions and Prophecies. She stopped in a page with an stylized representation of a black Alicorn. It read:

Ponyville. The present

Two weeks after the wedding of Princess Cadence, everything had gone back to normal in Ponyville. As dawn started to creep into the sky the inhabitants of the little town started to get into their daily lives. Lyra, now working in the Ponyville Music Academy, left the house that she shared with Bon-Bon after kissing her.

BonBon was getting ready to go to her own work when she heard somepony knocking on the door.

"Mail for Lyra and BonBon!" said the voice of Ditzy Doo, or Derpy Hooves as most of the people in Ponyville called her.

When she opened she saw the blonde mailmare waiting, with her good eye looking at her, and the other pointing to the end of the street. The wall-eyed mailmare didn't looked it, but she was one of the more dependable ponies in the little town, even if she was a little clumsy.

"A letter for you, from Hayvana and a package for Lyra from Canterlot." she said, producing both items with her wings from her saddlebags, and after she got it a clipboard and a pen. "I need your signature"

"How are Dinky and Sparkler?" asked Bon-Bon, giving back both objects to the Pegasus.

"Pretty well, they had just started the Summer Camp yesterday. Next weekend, I'm gonna visit them." She said, putting back teh things in her saddles and taking off "See you, BonBon!"

"See you!" answered the pink and blue-maned mare, before getting back into the house.

She put the letter and the package in her purse; she'll look the letter later in the radio station, and wrap the package for Lyra as a gift. After all, tomorrow was their anniversary.

She got out from the house mentally reviewing her roles in the radio-novel episode of the day, a Rich and Obnoxious Coltonian mare, a Zebra Chieftainess and her favorite, the intrepid Braytish female adventurer Quick Wit. Then she realized something.

'Oh, Celestia, I forgot that bucking Caliponian Valley Filly, and the Manehattanite Battleaxe, and I haven't prepared them in weeks' She thought, cringing . 'This is gonna be a loooong day'

She caught her saddlebags, put them on and ran toward teh radio station. If she got lucky she would have some minutes of preparation this time.

Far, far, far away.

In the limits of Equestria, near the Western range, a mountain stood a bit apart from the rest of the Range. In the centuries since Ponies had settled in that zone, a lot of small miner towns had flourished in the zone, extracting the minerals from the underground, often in company of friendly packs of Diamond Dogs. But the Mountain had always been avoided as an omen of destruction. An old legend talked of the last battle of an ancient war between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Evil being fought in the Mountain, and that sometimes, after nightfall, the spirits of the dead could be seen reenacting the battle.

So nobody knew of the tunnels excavated in the mountains, long ago. And in one of them, light-pink Alicorn with a blue-striped dark mane, had been sleeping for many centuries. But in the last years, her sleep had grown fitful and troubled, until the date came. While Lyra was coming home from ehr work to preapare teh anniversary dining, in the tunnels the Alicorn awakened from her long slumber.

"NOOOOOOOOOO...." screamed the Alicorn as she got her bearings. She needed a moment to get her bearings.

"Oh, Goddess, it was only a dream... " she said to herself as she stood on her four legs.

She looked around as she used her magical senses to get a grip on how much time she had been sleeping

'Damn, so long? When Star Swirl said that it would be a long sleep, he wasn't joking around. I hope that the fillies still remember me!' she thought jokingly, but she grew serious 'If I'm awake, then THEY must be close to awaken also. I need to get to the Castle as soon as possible, and get in contact with my kids.'

She went toward her saddlebags and was satisfied to see that the stasis spell had endured all that time

'But first things first.' she thought, levitating a mirror and a brush, and brushing her mane until the blue stripe in it was clearly visible. 'Acceptable.'

She out her saddlebags and walked through the tunnels until she found what she was looking, the disguised balcony that they had carved ago. She saw a few villages scattered through teh valley, and what was more interesting, a railroad track.

'So they have steam technology already?' she thought 'Good, because I want to go unnoticed, so better cast a illusion to appear a simple Earth Pony... ah, and better hide the cutie mark, is too distinctive. I hope that the line go near the Castle, or at least the Everfree Glade..' she thought ' What am I thinking? Of course that it's go to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters... if they haven't moved the capital while I have been sleeping.'

She cast the necessary spells, including a glamour to make her cutie mark to appear different, and dispelled the illusion that hid the entry of the cave, starting to go down the mountain.

Attuned as she was to the magic of the world, she, the same as her daughters, felt the spell broke before the pulse was unleashed, and as the pulse ran through the countryside she started to curse.

'Star Swirl, you dolt! You timed it wrong, godamned geek!' she started to gallop down the mountain to the town nearer the railroad 'If there is no train, I'm teleporting, stealth be damned!'

Ponyville

"BonBon?" said Lyra as she entered the house with her saddlebags full of groceries. Not receiving an answer, she smiled. She went to the kitchen and started to prepare BonBon favorite meals. It was their Anniversary, after all

'Daffodils... daisies... lettuce... tomato... and a touch of oil and spices. Now, the main course... ' she was thinking as the magical pulse knocked her out for a moment.

'What the hay was that?' she thought as she started to get up. Their supper, momentarily forgotten, she ran out of the house toward the Library, not before leaving a note to BonBon 'If there is somebody who knows what is happening, that's Twilight'

She hadn't been the only affected, as she saw when she started to get near the Library, as Pinkie Pie, still with an apron stained with cookie dough and cocoa, and from the other side, she could see Rarity, carrying Twilight dragon aide, Spike in her back. She probably had been working in a dress as she still has a small pincushion, tied to one of her foreleg and the baby dragon was carrying a measuring tape in her hands.

"Twilight! Twilight! I felt a cramp in my hind legs, an itch in my ear, a rumble in my tummy, I did two somersaults, and jumped out of the window! I neeever had a combo like that before! It must be something big! And related to AJ, Fluttleshy, Rainbow, Rarity, me and you! I had never had something so big since the day before Discord, and then I thought that it had been the last batch of cupcakes that I thought that were a bit iffy..."

"STOP!" said Twilight coming down from the upper floor, wincing, as Lyra entered the main hall of the library. "Whatever it was, I felt it too. I have just awakened, Pinkie, and I have the mother of all headaches...."

"What happened, Twi? Did you fall? Or did you drink too much this morning? I drank too much hard cider once, and next day I couldn't even endure hearing Gummi eat..."

"Pinkie! I didn't drink too much! I was knocked out by a magical pulse. When I awakened I heard you rambling on. Why are you here?" she said a bit more acidly that she pretended.

"I had a new combo of my Pinkie Sense..." started to explain the pink Earth Pony.

"And I felt that same magical pulse, Twilight. Given that you are a real expert in magic." Started to say Lyra when the door opened again with a slam, and Spike and Rarity stepped inside. "I had forgotten that they were coming too."

“Did you feel that, Twilight?” asked the white unicorn, almost out of breath as Spike got out from her back.

“If by that you mean the magic pulse, of course that I did! And I have the headache to prove it!” said Twilight, slightly exasperated.

"Take an infusion of willow tree bark. I use that for when I have a headache from practices going overtime" interjected Lyra.

"What?" said Twilight as she looked at the crescent-adorned seal in the scroll. She opened the scroll, and read it, her face went from worry to a frown, to a very audible gulp.

Near Canterlot

The Great and Powerful Trixie felt it. Being farther away than Lyra she wasn't knocked out, but the power of the pulse left her uneasy. That wasn't an ordinary spell dissipating...

'But it is far away, near that damned little town.' She thought. The town where her promising career had gone to dust. She had needed nearly all the bits that she had painfully saved over the years to buy a new caravan, as well as new stage clothes, way less showy than the ones that the showmare had owned before. She had been lucky to have been hired in Hayford, and now she was going to Canterlot to catch the train. Fortunately when she had bought the caravan, she had shown forethought enough that it could be carried in a flat car wagon.

If she was lucky she would made to Canterlot and board the train to Hayford, so she wouldn't need to get nearer than the train station to the thrice accursed town of Ponyville, where that lavender bookworm had had the nerve to... to show how big a fraud she was. Really, what had she been thinking? Claiming to have defeated an Ursa Major? Especially in a town that was so near the Everfree Forest, home of many monsters and beasts.

'No, you weren't thinking, as usual.' She thought. 'It is so easy to fall back in the old vices...'

Memories of an unfeeling father, and a missing mother came back to her, unbidden and for a moment, before being shoved to the back of her mind. 'Decorum, young Lulamoon' she thought, remembering what, Prim Proper, the old family servant who had been more of a father to her, than her own father, said to her when she behaved childishly. The old pony had died when she was teenager and her father had been so miser that he haven't had a decent burial, even after more than twenty years of faithful service.

Ruins of the Castle of the Royal Sisters

'What the Hell was that?' thought the leader of the Dark Wolves, who answered to the name Loup-Garou. 'It doesn't matter, not when we are so near.'

"Do you have everything?" asked to the other, smaller wolves, which were heaving some curious looking dark crystals around.

"Good" he said smiling, and then added in a loud enough voice to be heard all over the ruins. "Collect the equipment, people! You have done well. As a reward, this night you can treat yourselves to some ponies!"

The roar of agreement from the pack allowed to the Old Wolf to locate them. He had seen a number of Dark Wolves in the forest but hadn't been able to discover where they had gone until now. He then noticed that the crystals, who had been clear when he had seen the wolves before, were now dark. That didn't bode well...

'I must warn the Princesses' he thought 'Dark Wolves on the prowl, the seal breaking... the Prophecy is happening'

My Little Scoobies

by AntonioCC

Prologue