“T-Twilight, are you sure this is safe?”
“Of course, Spike. I’ve taken all the necessary precautions. Honestly, who do you think you’re talking to?”
“Yeah, yeah, good point,” the baby dragon replied. “I’m still gonna stand over here though.”
Twilight rolled her eyes and giggled as Spike scrambled across the room to stand near the door. “Whatever you say, Spike.”
The Princess of Friendship lit her horn, casting a lavender aura that illuminated the room. They were in the Restricted Section of the Canterlot Library. Spike sighed, watching as Twilight worked. It had been about four months since she had taken over ruling Equestria from Celestia and Luna. So far she was handling it well, but still stressed over the tiniest of details. Spike laughed to himself. Twilight had grown so much ever since she had been sent to Ponyville to learn about friendship all those years ago, but some things about her would never change, most notably her tendency for “Twilighting.”
A loud noise jarred him back to reality. He looked over to see that Twilight had set a large tome down on one of the wooden tables that were sitting around the room.
“Jeez, thanks for making me nearly jump out of my skin,” Spike said.
“Sorry, Spike,” Twilight said sheepishly. “But this tome contains the spell I need.”
Spike mumbled something under his breath as Twilight flipped through the pages with her magic, muttering to herself as she did so. “Sliver, Sliver, S, S, S…aha!” Having found the right page, Twilight scanned the text intensely, reading aloud to herself. “The origins of the Sliver of Darkness are shrouded in mystery. It is a powerful artifact from ancient Equestria that is imbued with a dark, malevolent, and above all, corruptive, power. Any creature who comes into contact with the Sliver becomes a prisoner of their own mind, as the Sliver will construct an ‘anti’ version of themselves; opposite qualities, personality, demeanor, worldviews, everything. This new personality will assume full control of the host’s body. Numerous physical changes have been noted to occur as well. There is no known cure for something that has been corrupted by the Sliver. The only possible solution that our mages have come up with is a powerful containment spell, meant to keep anything and everything from ever coming into contact with the Sliver again. However, even though such a spell has been attempted numerous times, none have been powerful enough to cast it. I pray that someone, anyone, reading this at any time in the future can find a way…a way to seal this dark power away for good. I’ve included the transcript for the spell below.”
The alicorn finished reading. She glanced up at Spike to see him shivering in place. “Spike? What’s wrong?”
The dragon tried to stop his shaking to no avail. “S-sorry Twilight, it’s just…that Sliver thing gives me the heebie-jeebies, even just the description of it.”
“I understand why you’re afraid, Spike,” Twilight reassured her adoptive brother, “but I’m confident that I can cast this spell effectively.”
“If you say so…” Spike said warily.
Twilight activated her magic once again, bringing a small chest over from the top shelf of one of the bookshelves. She floated it down to rest on the table in front of her, and slowly but surely opened the lid. At once, the room seemed to get darker, and shadowy tendrils resembling smoke rose up out of the chest. Twilight activated her magic once more, lifting the Sliver of Darkness out of the chest and up into the air. All the air seemed to leave the room, and Twilight instantly felt nauseous. She glanced over at Spike, and could tell that he was feeling the same way, as he was doubled over on the ground, shaking uncontrollably. She had to act fast. Glancing down at the spell written in the tome, she closed her eyes and recited the incantation.
“Darkest night, blacker still, let your power be rendered nil. Succumb now to magic’s bright light, and thus your evil shall bear no might!” At the last word, she drew all the magical power she could summon into her horn, attempting to cast the containment spell around the Sliver. A blinding white light engulfed the room, forcing both Twilight and Spike to shut their eyes. A loud, high-pitched ringing sounded in their ears, and it grew louder and louder until it was almost painful. And then, everything suddenly went quiet. The light disappeared, and silence and darkness were all that remained.
Slowly, Twilight opened her eyes. All of the torches and even the fireplace had been blown out. The only source of light came from a small, glowing, pure-white sphere that contained the Sliver of Darkness, its black tendrils trying to no avail to break free of the magical prison.
“Spike!” Twilight uttered in an excited whisper. “Spike! I think it worked!”
Spike groaned from across the room, rubbing his head. “I knew I should’ve stayed upstairs. Oh, my head.” He groggily got up and walked over to stand beside Twilight, gazing up at the now-contained Sliver.
“I knew you could do it, Twilight.” he said, reaching up a claw to pat her on the leg.
“Thanks, Spike,” Twilight said. “That was pretty intense. I haven’t had to produce that much magic by myself in one go in a long time.”
“Well, it was definitely worth it,” the baby dragon mused. “Where are you gonna keep it now?”
“Down here,” Twilight said. “Even though it’s rendered harmless now, I still don’t want anypony getting near it. It’ll be safe down here; you and I are the only ones who know how to get in, or that this room even exists to begin with.”
“Good point,” Spike said, nodding his head in agreement.
Twilight returned her gaze to stare intently at the dark artifact. “As far as I’m concerned, the Sliver of Darkness will never corrupt anypony else…ever again.”
GENERATIONS LATER
Chaos had utterly consumed Bridlewood.
Countless unicorns scurried through the undergrowth at breakneck speed, running in all different directions. And each one of them was screaming. The ground shook now and again, knocking some of the ponies off their feet here and there.
It was all Izzy could do to not lose her mind.
“Hey! Please everypony, calm down! Everything will be alright! Just please all proceed out of the forest in a single-file line, preferably sorted alphabetically, and please make sure to, um…oh, who am I kidding? EVERYPONY RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!” She screamed and threw herself into the chaos, running around like a maniac as well.
Hovering above the scene, Pipp saw this and rolled her eyes exasperatedly. Leave it to Izzy to do something like that in a situation like this.
“PIPP, MOVE!” She was suddenly tackled out of the air by a white blur. They both hit the ground hard. Right where Pipp had previously been hovering, a massive boulder careened by, slamming into the ground and knocking several trees over. Thankfully, nopony had been in the path of the boulder except Pipp.
Groaning in pain, the pair of pegasi rose to their hooves. “Thanks for the save, Zipp,” Pipp said gratefully.
“Yeah, yeah, just be more aware of your surroundings next time!” Zipp said exasperatedly as she spread her wings and shot into the sky once more.
Pipp looked over to see Hitch and Misty attempting to round up the woodland creatures and usher them out of harm’s way. It seemed to be working, at least a little bit. The animals were definitely following directions better than the ponies, that was for sure. Pipp looked skyward after Zipp, wishing she could help. Zipp eclipsed her by an order of magnitude when it came to speed and strength. She would only get in the way. Still, she hated standing around and doing nothing. She had to do something, anything.
Zipp did a barrel roll in midair, dodging another boulder that was lobbed at her with enough force to topple a building. Zipp increased her speed to its maximum, winding up a punch as she careened straight at the foe that was currently tearing Bridlewood asunder. She was going so fast that the air around her began to warp and distort her vision. In an instant, she made contact with the Ursa Minor, putting all of her strength into a punch, but all it did was knock the massive bear back a few meters. Stunned at how little of an effect her attack had had, Zipp merely hovered in midair for a moment, flabbergasted. Suddenly, a massive claw grabbed her. She yelped in pain and shock, struggling to break free, but it was too late. The Ursa Minor wound up and lobbed Zipp away, sending her careening down into the forest below. She crashed through countless branches and even a few trees before skidding to a halt on the forest floor. She groaned in pain. She could definitely tell that one of her legs and maybe a few ribs were broken. How she had managed to survive at all was beyond her. It must be her intense pegasus durability that she had built up over the years. She knew that if it weren’t for that, she would be dead.
“Zipp! Are you alright?!” Pipp cried, rushing to her sister’s side.
Zipp groaned in pain again. “I’ll be alright, Pipp. Just a few broken bones. Nothing I can’t handle.”
“A few?!” Pipp cried. “You need to stay here and not move. If you get hurt any more, you could…you could…” she choked back a sob and turned away.
“No, Pipp,” Zipp said, fighting through the pain to struggle to her feet. “I’m the only one who can stop this thing. It’s the truth,” she said quickly to counter Pipp’s expression. “You aren’t fast or strong enough, Misty and Izzy can’t produce enough magic to do anything substantial to a creature of that size, and no vines that Hitch could produce with his earth pony magic could hold that thing down.” She groaned again. “If only Sunny didn’t have to stay behind at Canterlogic to study that artifact she found, she could’ve come with us to the Night Market like we planned. She would’ve been here. Why today, of all days? We could really use her alicorn powers right now!” She sighed. “I have to keep trying to beat that oversized teddy bear, for all our sakes.”
“But what can you do?!” Pipp cried. “If you take another attack from the Ursa like that one, you won’t survive!”
Zipp grinned. “Then I guess I’ll just have to make sure that doesn’t happen.” She groaned in pain again, looking towards the sky. “What I need…is more speed.”
With that, she took off into the air again, flying straight up. She flapped her wings harder, fighting through the intense pain, going higher and higher, higher than she had ever flown before. She broke through the upper layer of clouds, and kept going. She had to get as high as she could without passing out from lack of oxygen or the cold. She kept flying up for what seemed like an eternity before the sky grew a shade of indigo. She was high enough now. Looking down, she saw the land of Equestria sprawling out beneath her. Directly below her was Bridlewood, and far, far in the distance, she could just make out the mountain that Zephyr Heights sat upon. Farther still, a glimmer of blue shone where the land met the sea. She knew that Maretime Bay was there. Sunny was there.
She shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She could admire the view later. Right now, she had to focus. Turning down, she wound up and shot as fast as she could straight down, once again ignoring the intense pain that shot through her body. Now, she had gravity on her side, and she knew that with this amount of distance between her and the ground, she could reach a speed fast enough to deliver a devastating blow to the Ursa. She had to hurry. The lives of everypony in Bridlewood were on the line. The air around her began to warp as it had before. She flew downward, faster and faster still. She broke through the upper layer of clouds. The purple trees of Bridlewood were growing larger and larger. She flapped her wings harder, flying as fast as she possibly could. And yet, she still had to go faster. Using the force of gravity to aid her, she shut her eyes and screamed as she rocketed through the air. She felt a strange pressure around her muzzle, and opened her eyes. The air was warping even further, and little streaks of color were flying by here and there. The air began to warp more, and the color grew brighter and more intense. As she broke through the lower layer of clouds, she spotted the form of the Ursa Minor below, still rampaging through the forest. Zipp screamed, aiming straight for it, when she was suddenly propelled forward by a massive burst of speed. An ear-splitting boom shook the world, and she careened straight into the Ursa’s chest. She was traveling so fast that she went right through its body, feeling no resistance, before pulling up at the last second and arcing back up into the sky at breakneck speed.
Pipp, Hitch, Izzy, and Misty, as well as all the other ponies, stopped what they were doing at once and looked towards the sky as an ear-splitting boom sounded from above. A massive ring of vibrant color shot out from a central point, radiating outwards with an almost concussive force. A streak of rainbow light shot right through the Ursa Minor before arcing back up into the sky, trailing a rainbow streak behind it the whole time.
The Ursa Minor stood there for a few moments, shaking, before it uttered a final defiant roar and collapsed to the ground, dead.
For what seemed like an eternity, nopony moved. Then, Izzy broke the silence.
“What…the…hay…JUST HAPPENED?!” She exclaimed.
“DidyouguysseethathowthatstreakoflightproducedthatHUGEringoflightandenergyandthenitjustwentWHAMrightthroughthatmeanoldUrsahegotwhatwascomingtohimyeshedidbythewayhasanyoneseenZipp?” Izzy sucked in a lungful of air at this last remark, looking around at each of her friends, eagerly awaiting an answer.
“Uh, Izzy…” Hitch said, “I don’t think anypony here can even begin to understand what you just said.”
“You can say that again,” a strained voice from above said. The group all looked up to see Zipp descending towards them, clutching her left foreleg.
“Zipp!” Pipp exclaimed. “Are you alright?!”
Zipp reached the ground, collapsing in a heap. “Y-yeah…just…just dandy…” she trailed off before passing out.
“Zipp!” Pipp cried again. “Quick, we have to do something!”
“Bring her to the Crystal Tea Room!” Misty spoke up. “Some of the tea blends that my dad has there have healing properties! I know it’s not much, but it’s something!”
“No,” Pipp said. “We need to take her to the Royal Infirmary in Zephyr Heights, right now. The doctors there are the best, and they’re well-versed in treating pegasi specifically.”
“That’s a good idea,” a voice from behind them spoke up. The group turned to see Alphabittle. “As much as I’d like to treat you all to some of my tea, your friend needs a real doctor.”
“Dad!” Misty cried, running to him and hugging her father. “I’m so happy you’re alright!”
“I am, and so is all of Bridlewood, thanks to the efforts of you ponies,” Alphabittle replied, hugging his daughter back.
Misty broke away. “Well…it was mostly due to her,” she said sadly, looking at the unconscious pegasus on the ground. She turned back to her dad, opening her mouth to say something.
“Go,” Alphabittle said reassuringly. “I’ll take care of things here. We all owe you ponies an unpayable debt. Go, take care of your friend.”
Misty embraced her dad once more before turning and levitating Zipp in her magic with the help of Izzy. The ragtag group then scrambled off to where they had landed the Mare Stream. Miraculously, it hadn’t been damaged in the battle with the Ursa. In a few moments, they were all piled inside and on their way to Zephyr Heights. As the flying motorhome rose out of the chaos that had consumed Bridlewood, the group of friends couldn’t help but shudder at the sheer destruction that had ensued. Vast swaths of trees were knocked down, crushed by the massive boulders that the Ursa had lobbed. Parts of the forest were completely unrecognizable. For a while, none of them spoke.
“How…why…is an Ursa back in Equestria?” Hitch spoke up, breaking the silence.
“Beats me,” Izzy said. “When I was a filly, though, I was told stories about Ursas. Apparently the Ursa Minor is only the baby version of the species.”
“Only…the…baby?!” Pipp squeaked.
Izzy nodded. “It was said that Ursas were bad omens. Bringers of back luck, that sort of thing. As far as I was concerned, they were only an ancient myth. But now, seeing one here…” she shuddered, her face taking on an uncharacteristically serious expression.
“But what could happen?” Misty spoke up. “We beat Opaline, we beat Allura…that was weeks ago…what else could be out there?”
The four ponies shuddered collectively as the thought raced through their minds.
. . .
The Mare Stream touched down atop its landing pad outside the Crystal Brighthouse. Night had fallen hours ago, and Izzy, Pipp, Hitch, and Misty had just returned from Zephyr Heights. When they had arrived, the doctors had rushed Zipp off to the Royal Infirmary right away. The four friends had pleaded to stay by her side, but the doctors had insisted that she needed to be left alone for the time being so they could treat her properly. Reluctantly, the four friends decided to return to Maretime Bay for the night and get some sleep. They all agreed that they would go back to check on Zipp first thing in the morning.
As they exited the Mare Stream, Pipp groaned. “Ugh, I’m exhausted.” The others mumbled their agreement. As they made their way to the front doors of the Brighthouse, a strange pulse suddenly emanated through the air.
“What the hay was that?” Hitch said, looking around.
“Look!” Izzy said, pointing her hoof upwards. “I think it came from the Unity Crystals!”
The group looked up, and sure enough, the Unity Crystals were glowing with a strange light. Another magical pulse emanated from them.
“Why do you suppose they’re doing that?” Misty asked timidly.
“I don’t know,” Hitch said grimly, “but it can’t mean anything good.”
The pulse sounded again.
“Hey, does anypony feel like that was faster this time?” Izzy said quizzically.
The pulse sounded again.
“It definitely was! I’m not going crazy! At least not today,” Izzy remarked.
The pulse sounded again.
“It’s getting faster…but why?” Pipp wondered.
“Maybe…it’s a warning beacon?” Misty squeaked. “As in, something…is coming?”
At this revelation, the group of four instantly turned around, all on guard. Hitch scanned the surrounding area intensely, but could see nothing in the darkness except for the distant lights of Maretime Bay.
The pulse sounded again. And again. And again. And again. It was now firing off in rapid succession, almost like a heartbeat during a workout. And it was only getting faster.
“Everypony be on guard!” Hitch yelled. He planted his feet on the ground, ready to use his earth pony magic if need be. Izzy and Misty lit up their horns, and Pipp flared her wings, assuming a defensive position.
Suddenly, the pulses stopped. Misty gulped. Beads of sweat plastered Hitch’s forehead. All the four ponies could hear were their breaths and heartbeats in their ears. Everything else was silent. Nothing moved. Nothing at all.
And then something did.