//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Origins // Story: Equinox: Demons within // by Jtpivot //------------------------------// Equinox is a dark place that is found past the dimensional gate that is passed the void that blocks Equestria's reach. The void is a place between those two dimensions which sustains absolutely no life whatsoever and will eliminate any who try to cross it. Nothing gory or graphical. They just disappear. Equinox and its inhabitants are identical to Equestria and those who live in there. But Equinox is twisted and filled with demented and psychotic creatures. This place is ruled by a tyrant by the name of Queen Black Hole. She and her loyal followers are responsible for the corruption which runs through Equinox. The Elements of Anarchy are made up of six mares who uphold the Queen’s tyranic rule respectfully and without question. Each represent a role similar to the elements of harmony from equestria But have a demonic twist attached to said role: Dimmed Star (Twilight Sparkle): The Spirit of magic... Black magic that is. She is Loyal to her queen and has studied under her wing since her filly hood. She is an expert sorceress and has the ability to reanimate corpses from the dead. She successfully resurrected one pony, reconstructed one’s wings, and may or may not have created a hybrid of pony and para sprite. Overall. Shes evil. She resides mostly in a small hamlet in the center of town and continues to study.   Stone (Rarity): The Spirit of generosity. She’s generous to the point of petrifying and leaving you in her dark garden. You may wander aimlessly through the town to find a majestic garden. You take the time to admire all of the stone statues. By then it’s already too late for you have just wandered into Stone’s lair. She carries the same features as the mythical Greek creature by the name of Medusa.She is seen in town wearing a blindfold to cover her deathly gaze. Dull Sloth (Rainbow Dash): The spirit of Loyalty. Although the Elements of Anarchy are already loyal to their queen, Dull Sloth is mostly loyal to herself. She does not care about what everypony thinks about her and focuses on her own goals. She is a thrill seeker much like her dimensional counterpart and can be very competitive. Almost too competitive to the point of annihilating her opponents. She had a terrible accident when trying to do a high risk move and lost her wings. Dimmed Star had replaced Dulls wings with artificial wings and rockets. Spider lock (Flutter shy): The spirit of kindness. This mare loved animals to the point of obsession. She wanted to become an animal. So Dimmed Star decided to help her, but unfortunately something went wrong. Dimmed Star created a para sprite and it grew inside Spider lock.  Enormous insect legs shot out of her body and her eye was replaced by the para sprites. Since the para sprite needed a host to survive, Spider lock agreed to keep the para sprite. They made a symbiosis and have been living in a cottage isolated from the rest of the town. Rotten Bunch (Apple Jack): The spirit of honesty. She died a long time ago. That was until Dimmed Star brought her back to life. However Rotten Bunch was far too clever to be called a zombie. So Dimmed Star left her recreation on her dead farm. She occasionally visits the town to see what’s happening and to visit the other elements. Despite her living again, she still fears that everypony had forgotten her and she would be sent to the void for it. Zalgy Cake(Pinkie Pie): The spirit of laughter. She is a pony of pranks. It didn’t matter if said prank were to hurt anypony. If it made her happy, that’s all that matters. She has a great sense of humor and a lot of ponies laugh at her jokes and pranks. But sometimes she takes the joke too far, thus resulting in somepony being very hurt.  Everypony knows to keep Zalgy cake happy for the sake of their lives because if she became sad, she becomes Zalgressa. This is her depressed state and it takes awhile for her to recover from this. She is a relentless killer when in this state of mind. To disturb her in this state... That’s a death wish. The average lifestyle of an Equinoxian citizen. Either become corrupted or die. --The Introduction of Articus Blazier-- -In Pony ville- “You have a great piece of history in your hooves Articus. It describes the alternate dimension known as Equinox.” Twilight Sparkle said to Articus as she continued to organize the bookshelves in the library. Articus briefly skimmed through a few pages and then closed the book. “Well this sounds like a load of hogwash, yeah I ain’t buying it.” Articus said in disappointment.  He brushed his luminous blue mane back and hopped off his reading nook. The sky light from the library window Illuminating his teal fur as he trotted to a nearby bookshelf. “There is absolutely no way that there is an opposing dimension which conveniently resembles everypony here” He said confidently and jokingly as he reached the shelf which was labeled "History of Equestria". “Twilight. Why is this book in the history of Equestria section? It sounds way too fictional to be true” He asked as he placed the book in its allocated shelf. “Because it’s true. Equinox actually exists” she said frustratingly as she continued to re shelve books. “It’s said that Queen Black hole is Princess Celestia’s corruption but was cast off across the void. But that’s all we know. Only the princess can truly answer your question” Articus took some time to consider actually asking the princess about Equinox. “Hmmmm.... Maybe I should actually ask about -” He was cut off as a magical bolt had fallen from the skies. Articus and Twilight fell over in shock and all of the books fell off their shelves. There was a large, thunderous noise which echoed across Ponyville. “What in the world was that!?” He exclaimed as he recovered. He dusted off his mane and looked outside to where the bolt had hit. “I have no idea what that was. Maybe it was a meteorite that had just hit ponyville?” Twilight said in confusion. Twilight was at a loss for an explanation. She really had no idea what it was. Wait... The Smartest pony in Ponyville or even Equestria having no idea what that bolt was?! Well... There goes the world. “Or maybe its... Ummm. I don’t know. Something? Lets check it out instead of standing around like morons.” He said as he charged outside and towards the destination where the bolt had hit, which just so happens to be outside Articus’ cottage near the everfree forest (a fair distance from Fluttershy’s cottage). Moments passed and the charge became futile as Articus became fatigued very quickly which forced Twilight to slow down so she would not lose him in her haste. “Ahaha man. I need to exercise more.” He said in embarrassment as he continued to try and catch his breath after a huge 20 seconds of sprinting. “Yes you do Articus” Twilight said cheekily as they continued onward. “This is so exciting!” “Who knows what we will find from whatever it was that fell from the sky!?” Articus nodded slowly. He was panting slightly from the fatigue as they continued towards his home. "Agreed. This is a very unusual sight indeed" Moments passed and things started to become awkwardly silent. Come on man! Think of something to say you moron! “So umm... Twilight. Why are you so smart?” He asked bluntly. Damn it. Smooth move idiot. Things just got more awkward. “Why is it that you know so much about nearly everything? Sure I may not know you that much but your knowledge is just amazing!” He exclaimed. Stop yammering about it man! Calm the hell down! Twilight was shocked by this question and went crimson for a brief moment before answering. “Well. I’m not that smart.” Hmmm... Maybe something you can work with here. Go man! You may have only known this mare from your occasional visits to and from the library but what the hay? Go for it! “You’re also modest as well? Wow”. “You’re smart and you know it” he said in a confident and serious tone. “Thank you" she said as the crimson red complexion began to intensify, she recovered quickly but not without Articus noticing the redness on her face. He chuckled playfully and signaled Twilight to answer his question "To answer your previous question. I studied magic ever since I was a filly and have been practicing magic”. “A few years later after exhaustive studying, I got to prove my skills and enroll in the school for gifted unicorns, It did not turn out that well”. Articus gasped at the thought of Twilight Sparkle failing.   "What happened next?" He asked worried about the outcome. “As I was about to fail, A magical pulse caused me to have a magical overload and it caused chaos”. “But then Princess Celestia found me and suppressed the chaotic magic. She took me under wing and has made me her faithful student”. “From the day she saw my capabilities, she has been teaching me how to control my magic.” She points to her cutie mark. “This mark is my special talent. My special talent is magic” Articus was at a loss for words. Clearly he did not know this mare very well. “Wow! That is awesome! I’m stunned!” he exclaimed. "I guess you're more than just a librarian" he said in a playful tone. Twilight rolled her eyes in response then spoke. “What’s your special talent Articus?” She said as she studied his flank to see a snowflake inside a ball of fire. "It looks pretty poetic" she said intrigued by how unusual his cutie mark was. “Well my special talent is, wait a minute” he lifted his hoof into the air and a drop of water fell into it. “Damn it It’s gonna rain!” He said as more drops of water were beginning to fall from the sky. “Look there’s my house! Let’s go!” They charged inside his house and successfully avoided being drenched in rain. Articus magically teleported a cup of tea towards the table and signaled Twilight to take a seat.   “Twilight, wait here. I’m gonna go see what the bolt was. There is tea on the table, feel free to refill whenever you want, I’ll explain my talent later alright?” She nodded reluctantly. “Fine. You go and discover something new while I stay inside and drink tea” she said sarcastically. Articus did not notice the hint and went outside into the rain. “Darn you Articus, I’m coming with you no matter what!” she declared as she followed. “Now what are we dealing with?” As they ventured further outside. The rain has left them completely drenching them in soaking water. “I thought I said to wait inside. What if something happens to you?!” He said. He was clearly not amused by Twilight's presence. “Nothing you say will stop me from following” she responded “So smart, modest and stubborn? Fine, just be careful” “I'm an element of harmony, when has danger ever harmed me?” She said cheekily. “About once or twice” he responded as a matter of fact. "If my memory serves me right, you were almost defeated by Nightmare Moon, turned against your friends by Discord and you almost lost your brother and the kingdom to Queen Chrysalis". “Still won’t stop me from helping” she responded sticking her tongue out. “I’m just as curious, if not more curious about this as you are, so let’s go!” she announced. They walked for about a minute to find the source of the bolt. They ventured cautiously and curiously into a crater that was presumably made by the strange bolt. Inside the crater were 3 equines, all covered in dirt from the ground. One was a young colt which had a messy, black mane style. He had monochrome grey fur and was wearing black and white Armour. His cutie mark was unidentified due to the massive amount of dirt that covered him. Maybe he was a guard? Who knew? Articus and Twilight didn’t. Another was a mare with a short, purple mane much like Twilight’s. She had a large amount of cuts on her violet fur and had strange fangs sticking out of her mouth. A radiant, green glow had emitted from her horn but nothing was happening. It was just... glowing. The last colt of the trio looked like the youngest. His cutie mark was the only one we could see. It was apple pie? Maybe he was an apple? But aside the details that were mentioned, one detail in particular scared the daylights out of Twilight and Articus. The three of them were unconscious. “Gahh!” Articus Exclaimed. “Twilight! We need to help these ponies!” He said as he rushed towards the three lifeless ponies. “Alright we’ll take them to your place and bring them back to good health” She said seriously. Articus took a brief moment to check for a pulse. Luckily they were still breathing, but they were severely injured. “We need to hurry Articus”.  “These ponies will get really sick in this rain”. So they picked up the three ponies magically and brought them to his home safely. "Alright then. Let's find out what's wrong here."   --The Introduction of Black Roses and Quartz-- Coming soon...