//------------------------------// // Prolouge // Story: Trials of Sarah: A New Mark: Alternate Equestria Adventure // by Zipp Storm //------------------------------// In the style of the prologue from Disney’s 1991 animated film, Beauty and the Beast, our story begins in a beautiful forest setting with a river running down a small waterfall, particularly in the kingdom of Equestria in the world of Eques where we see a majestic castle along the summit of Canterlot Mountain above the forest and valleys below. A female deer and her male fawn were drinking water peacefully at the river and they turned to see two bluebirds chirping happily together as they flew past them. Panning closer to the castle, our story is first told through a stained glass representation of what had happened since the events of Friendship is Magic prior to the official MLP: FIM series finale, The Last Problem. The first window showed Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship during her rule of Equestria following the retirement of her former fellow princesses including her mentor, Celestia, and Luna. “Once upon a time, in the magical kingdom of Equestria, a young princess named Twilight Sparkle lived in a shining castle on the summit of Canterlot Mountain and in her personal royal residence of the small but humble town of Ponyville in the valleys below. Although she had everything a royal in his or her heart desired, unlike many other royals who are snobbish, spoiled, selfish, and unkind, she was generous, kind, and benevolent with the help of her six Ponyville friends and Spike, her humble advisor and adopted son, for she was the Princess of Friendship.” Through a small recap of the entire series of Friendship is Magic leading up to The Ending of the End before beginning and end of The Last Problem (including the 2017 MLP movie), flashbacks of Twilight’s journey from student to princess are shown, displaying her many achievements and blunders that helped her to grow into a fair and wise Princess of Friendship with the assistance of her friends, old and new. It seemed like she was on track to become one of the fairest and kindest rulers Equestria has ever known given everything she had been through. “Once a humble unicorn and an avid student of her mentor and former superior, Celestia, she climbed through the ranks to become a special pony. Since being sent to Ponyville, initially to check in on the preparations of the Summer Sun Celebration before she was allowed to stay with her friends, she crossed paths and clashed with several other ponies and creatures beyond her home’s borders before she became a princess after completing a spell left unchecked by her unicorn idol, Star Swirl the Bearded. Although she did go through lots of awkward bumps and screw-ups along the way, she eventually grew to become the kindest and fairest ruler of all with her friends helping her despite their own share of trouble.” Unfortunately, that would all change for the worse three years later into her new rule following Celestia and Luna’s finalized retirement when she and her friends, making up her Council of Friendship, were holding a Hearth Warming’s Eve party one winter. As they were celebrating with friends and family and hosting several creatures and worldly dignitaries from across Eques such as King Throax of the Changelings, Prince Rutherford of the Yaks, Ember of the Dragons, Gilda as Griffonstone’s Griffon ambassador, and Queen Novo and Princess Skystar of the Hippogriffs, a messenger pony from the Royal Guard frantically barged inside the ballroom and reported news of a strange visitor from the resurfaced kingdom of darkness, Tambelon, at the gate. This drew surprised and shocked gasps from everybody but as Twilight went to check on the visitor, Celestia, Luna, and Star Swirl looked at each other with horrified and worried looks as if they know something about Tambelon and the stranger after hearing the name from the messenger. The young Supreme Ruler approached the gate and found what looked to be a hooded unicorn beggar who thanked Twilight for answering his call, producing and offering a single beautiful crimson rose that is about to bloom as a gift for her help to get him out of the winter storm brewing around them. Feeling sorry for the visitor, she looked at the gift and eagerly offered him to join her inside the castle and attend her party which caused the visitor to raise his eyebrows in surprise before warning him about the issue of trust and not judging a book by its cover. “But, then, one winter’s night during a special Hearth Warming’s Eve party with family and friends from far and wide at the castle, three years after the downfall of their final enemies, Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis, a messenger from the Royal Guard alerted Princess Twilight of an unexpected intruder from a kingdom from her world’s Realm of Darkness known as Tambelon who came without warning to Canterlot and offered her a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Feeling sympathetic for the visitor’s sorry condition, Twilight eyed the gift and tried to offer him a place in Ponyville to stay for the night or to join everybody at the party to have fun with them and accept her hoof of friendship but he warned her not to be deceived by appearances and to be cautious of others for beauty can be found within or she’ll be too naïve for her own good despite everything she’s been through as a princess and more.” Still feeling sympathetic for the beggar, Twilight nodded, keeping his words in mind and offered him to join him inside for the party. This time, the beggar accepted the offer but as she led him to the ballroom to see if she could introduce him to everyone there, she didn’t see the beggar smirking darkly at her as if this was what he wanted. That moment when Twilight brought him to the ballroom and introduced him to the crowd before them was the moment when the beggar sprang his trap for when he stepped forward to make himself know, a panicked Celestia and Luna ordered Twilight to apprehend him and to watch out for any tricks he’s pulling until he revealed himself to be a familiar blue ram as he cackled and removed his disguise, his Bewitching Bell back on his huge collar. Everyone was shocked, horrified, and stunned by the figure they saw and even Discord was left paralyzed, looking thunderstruck at the sight of the giant ram with horror. This was someone he knew very well because he was foolishly posing as him according to his maniacal and selfish plan to help Twilight become a true princess; his name was Grogar, the Father of Demons. With the threat of the real Necromancer having been revealed and his donkey soldiers arriving to ambush and help claim the kingdom for his own, everyone was forced to fight along with Twilight and her friends to protect each other and themselves. Unfortunately, they had completely underestimated Grogar and his true might when he used his reclaimed Bewitching Bell, which he revealed to have returned to him through the lambasted defenses that were put in place to keep it in check after dealing with their supposed final enemies, to blast at everyone in his sight, either being killed off or having their magic taken away and captured after being worn out and subdued by his soldiers so that nobody can possibly challenge him once he reclaimed his rightful land. The situation became so dire and hopeless that it caused Twilight to be stricken with horror at what she unintentionally and inadvertently brought upon her kingdom. Equestria and all those aligned with the land and her are falling in Grogar’s clutches and she didn’t know what to do now. Her growing horror and panic were plain for all to see as her friends, her family, the Student Six, and her former fellow princesses noticed that she was the verge of being broken down. Seeing that she was still their world’s last hope and that she can no longer fight in her current condition, Celestia produced a magic mirror and handed it to Twilight, her and everyone else begging and pleading her to run away and save herself despite her growing horror and protests. Ultimately, they all had the final say as Grogar cackled, his victory fully assured, as Twilight was forced to agree with them and leave Canterlot with Spike tagging along to protect her as best he can. This was all Grogar needed to achieve complete victory and he relished in his success as he defeated Equestria’s remaining defenders easily. “And, when Twilight offered him her hoof of friendship again and he finally accepted her offer, the old beggar’s smirk widened darkly until his ugliness melted away to reveal the most feared sorcerer in the history of the world of Eques, Grogar, the wicked and worldly-feared ruler of Tambelon. The princess and all her friends, horrified from seeing the real Necromancer and not just the Master of Chaos, Discord, in disguise, tried their best to stop him and his forces as they laid siege to the land and its neighboring kingdoms but it was too late for Grogar and his soldiers had fully infiltrated Equestria’s borders and thoroughly planned his revenge for his initial downfall against Ponykind by one of the most revered unicorns of all time, Gusty the Great. And, as punishment after he succeeded in overthrowing her and she was forced to flee as per everyone’s panicked pleas for her own safety, he took back the kingdom from his enemies and reinstated his iron-fisted rule over the land and beyond, imprisoning and enslaving everyone who resisted him and his might, and placed a powerful spell on Equestria and all that are aligned with them.” In the aftermath of her and everyone else’s battle with Grogar and his soldiers, now veering away from the stained glass story and moving on to what’s going on with her, taking out her frustrations on herself and anything and everything around her in their new abode with pained and broken screams, Twilight ultimately blamed herself for failing everyone she had come to know and love she throughout the past twelve years since coming to Ponyville and for trusting Grogar so naively, sobbing heavily as she didn’t know what to do anymore. Spike, who had managed to escape from the onslaught brought on by Grogar with her, stayed by her side to comfort her as he held out hope that things will somehow work out and they’ll be able to put an end to him and his tyranny and save their world before it was too late. Nothing else matter to him anymore, all he cared about was her safety and he wanted to be there for her as a good son should. While he comforted his mother figure, on a makeshift table in their cave, there lay the rose Grogar had given her floating in a glass case when he was in disguise to serve as a reminder to her for her greatest failure and a magic mirror which glowed and fizzed with a green glow and electricity, their only hope for knowing what’s going on in the world around them while in exile. “Ashamed of her failure to protect her family, friends, and fatherland and over trusting a complete stranger that brought about Equestria’s destruction in the process, the broken princess took refuge on the dark shores of the beach beyond Equestria’s southern borders leading to Seaquestia and Mount Aris that has not yet fallen under Grogar’s control along with the other kingdoms with Spike having also escaped to protect his mother and a magic mirror Celestia had given to her in her haste to leave Canterlot as her only safe window to the outside world. The rose Grogar once offered, and that she took with her following her kingdom’s downfall, was truly an enchanted rose which would bloom until her 35th year.” The enchanted rose soon glowed with a soft hum and it began to glitter, white sparks fluttering from its petals as if it was now meant to serve as a timer for what was about to come until it would lose all of its petals. Along with the enchanted mirror, it served as a timer in which she would need to be prepared to take down Grogar and save Equestria in her own time. But, over the next eight years from her current age of 27, she didn’t have any plans to retake Equestria as her mistake of trusting Grogar when he fooled her with his act still weighed heavily over her. Spike was seeing it was still taking its toll on her. Seasons came and seasons went as the years passed and eventually, she lost all hope in the Magic of Friendship and denounced it as well as her title. What was she to do now, what can she do in her current state? Grogar had won after he got the drop on everyone after baiting her so why take the risk of wanting to fight again when he could do it all again and everyone she knows and loves would eventually die tomorrow? Even so, despite her losing hope, Spike hadn’t done so; to him, he still believed that somehow, he and Twilight will return to help save the world from Grogar. But, what they didn’t know is that in order to do that, they would need the help of a special and much more unique princess from another world; one that knows more about love, friendship, and hope than they and their own family and friends could ever hope to know. “If she could learn to embrace the Magic of Friendship again and take down Grogar with the help of everyone she knows and loves and earn their love and friendship again in return by the time the last petal fell, then the Necromancer will be beaten and his spell would be broken. If not, she and her world will be doomed to suffer and die under his renewed wrath for all time. As the years passed and more of her former kingdom fell into darkness, she fell into despair and lost all hope for how could she ever again wonder what true friendship can really be?”