Normally waking up is accompanied by the refreshed feeling of being able to look at the world through brand new eyes. Everything that seemed wrong the previous night gets shed in favour of answers that you couldn’t see before. Even if it is just your body, that can be enough to bring about the kind of wonderful elation that lets you get out of bed and face the day. Unfortunately for Twilight, this kind of feeling was reserved for those whose waking moments made even the slightest lick of sense.
Twilight may not have remembered much of the few minutes before she apparently fell asleep, but she did, at that moment, remember that she had been in her wonderful library home with Spike. She was not there now, not by a long shot.
Hooves slowly stretched out over the polished stone, casting aside ample amounts of ridiculous dust which promptly invaded the sinuses of the confused mare. In a coughing fit the lavender unicorn brought her hooves under her and stood, somewhat reluctantly, to examine the surroundings fully.
She had been sleeping in the middle of an aisle, all around her ornate, polished, and dusty pews sat in perfectly ordered rows leading up to the single podium at the far end of the room. Windows comprised of stained glass prevented Twilight’s view from leaving the room, but still illuminated the room well enough for her to concern herself. Layers of dust were scattered across everything from the pews, to the podium, to the doors at the far end of the room. This room, this church for lack of a better word, had not been disturbed in a very long time. Even worse was the lack of any disturbance coming from the door. Not a single speck of dust was out of place to indicate how the unicorn might have come to reside in her aisle resting place.
Calm down, Twilight. Her internal voice was usually comforting and logical. Right now, it was just barking an order and seemed almost as frantic as her body did. She twisted around, taking in the entire small room again. Nothing new, just the same four walls and suspiciously church-like interior. Only, there were no churches in Ponyville.
She paced. Pacing was good. She paced up the entire length of the aisle, around the podium, and back down. She paced around the outside, glancing at the stained glass windows. They were nice to look at, similar in design to some of the ones in Canterlot Castle, but the designs were different. A few depicted some of the victories she had had in the past. Then, continuing forward, they began to depict things she had never seen before. Most notable in these forward moving panes was a distinct lack of herself. As the panes continued, fewer and fewer of her friends graced the images, it felt almost like she was watching a story that hadn’t been written yet unfold.
Twilight couldn’t take it anymore. The dust, yes the dust must have been the reason, was far too much for the mare. She had kicked up years worth of the stuff in an enclosed space. She needed to open the doors, she needed to open them fast. Sure, they were big and wooden and on the other end of the room, but they were no match for a slightly panicked magic spell.
The doors themselves didn’t so much open as they did explode outwards as the unicorned galloped out of them. This, amongst the things she had done so far this morning, would be widely viewed as the biggest mistake she had made to date. Outside was not nearly as calming as the mare had hoped it to be. It was quite the opposite actually.
The outside world had obviously gone completely crazy at this point. This wasn’t Discord crazy, either, this was too well detailed for Discord. She was standing on a hill she knew all too well, looking down at what should have been Ponyville. Only, in this case, Ponyville was completely wrong. Yes, wrong is about the only word that made any sense in this case.
The entire eastern quarter of the town was completely missing, as if the buildings had never existed. Familiar landmarks like Sugarcube Corner and Carousel Boutique had been replaced by new businesses. All of the homes looked slightly different, updated or completely changed. Her library was still there, same as ever, but the town hall was the biggest surprise of all. What had originally been a quaint and wonderful center of politics had been replaced with a metal monstrosity. Actually, when one conjures an image of a metal monstrosity they may not even do this spiked four-story tower justice. It was an eyesore of epic proportions, like an invading force had just plopped it down where the town hall had been and laughed.
Twilight, by this time, was about ready to run back into the pseudo-church, slam the doors shut, and scream until the world deigned fit to stop being crazy, but she wasn’t going to be allowed that option either. As Twilight was desperately searching for a logical explanation for the world going completely crazy she was treated to the procession of hooves approaching her from behind.
The unicorn whipped around to see one of the few things that could give her true happiness. A procession of royal guards, pegasus decorated with elaborate, shining, white armor. At least they remained exactly the same as they were supposed to be. She was sure they had the answers to what was happening, “You have no idea how happ...”
The lead guard raised a hoof, immediately silencing Twilight in her tracks as he began to speak, “Unregistered unicorn. You will submit yourself for registration or face punishment for breaking the laws.”
“Registration,” The unicorn questioned, trying desperately to wrap her mind around what the guard was saying. And, for that matter, why hadn’t they recognized her? She was Princess Celestia’s personal student. Maybe they just had poor eyesight, “Look, something is very wrong here. My name is Twilight Sparkle and I need to talk with Princess Celestia right away.”
“All unicorns must be registered and have their magic restrained,” This guard seriously wasn’t getting it. Another two began to advance on Twilight, a strange metallic band held aloft in one of their hooves, “That is the decree of Princess Celestia. All who refuse are to be labelled rebels and summarily punished as such.”
“No, you aren’t listening to me,” Twilight was beginning to feel more fear than anger over these misunderstandings. Registration, restraint, these didn’t sound like enjoyable options. It didn’t sound like something the Princess Celestia she knew would think about ordering. She began to shrink away from the two approaching guards, trying to gain whatever seconds she could to formulate a plan. Run away and be labelled a rebel, stay and be registered.
As she continued shrinking back towards the doors of her only refuge the world decided to make even a little less sense. From behind Twilight, a bright blue orb erupted forth slamming first into one of the guards, then the second, and finally tracing its path back from whence it came. All attention was immediately drawn to the source of this ethereal intruder, a white unicorn standing in the doors Twilight had slammed open not long ago.
The yellow mane and white body did nothing for the unicorn, but the face spoke everything. Framed in the incandescent blue of his mysterious hoof and a half diameter orb, his eyes spoke of a determination that would have made even Nightmare Moon back away in hesitation. Even the guards seemed to hesitate for a second as their companions picked themselves up from the impacts.
“Unregistered unicorns. You have assaulted members of the royal guard. You will submit for registration and restraint of magic or we will execute you in the name of Princess Celestia,” Of course it wasn’t going to be that easy. Actually, Twilight almost cursed herself for believing she was saved for a moment. The guards numbered almost a dozen, far more than one impressive and strange orb could tend to.
“Actually, I’m dreadfully sorry,” The unicorn laughed a bit. He seemed so perfectly calm, Twilight seriously considered trying to help him. Maybe if she combined her magic with his they actually could get away. But, she couldn’t bring herself to consider the possibility of going against Princess Celestia, even if it was for her own good, “But, I don’t think we’ll be doing anything of the sort. Registration just wouldn’t look good on me.”
Twilight was literally stuck in between a crazy unicorn, plus his ridiculous blue magic, and a dozen over zealous royal guards. Without so much as a second thought on the matter, she dashed to the less crazy side. Okay, the unicorn being less crazy was debatable, but he at least seemed to admit this whole registration thing was insane. On the other side, she had just pitted herself against twelve very irate guards with only a single ghostly blue orb between the two.
“Now would be a good time for a mass break spell Miss Twilight,” The unicorn was spouting nonsensical words and looking as if he expected her to properly understand. Let alone the fact that he knew her name.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Right, wrong you,” He seemed rather annoyed by this time, like he was expecting a completely different pony to be standing in front of him. Still, he got over it rather quickly as a pair of saddlebags levitated up, caught in his eerily warm magic, “Three stored spells. Should be fine for this lot.”
As he finished inspecting the contents the bags dropped to the ground, his magic now only holding three round stones aloft. Each stone looked fairly similar with strange characters drawn on them. The only differences were in the colours of each stone. Then, they began to glow of their own accord as if drawing from the slight magic used to hold them aloft.
“Ignite,” The unicorn spoke as the three stones suddenly burst to life. Each was, in a fraction of a second, engulfed by an ethereal orb of similar shape to the one he already had beside him. Now he seemingly commanded four, one blue, one purple, one red, and one green, each beginning to pulse almost in anticipation of what was to come.
The next few seconds were something unlike anything Twilight had ever dreamed of. A dozen of Celestia’s pride were completely overwhelmed by these four strange spells. Whatever power Twilight had originally thought the orb had was proven far inferior to reality. These things could be material and immaterial seemingly according to the will of the mysterious unicorn. They would dart through guards, trees, even the ground itself as they flew around. Whenever they chose to contact an enemy, though, the sounds of impact were perfectly real and the pony was sent flying meters by whatever sheer force they controlled.
One dozen, two dozen, three dozen, honestly the number of guards no longer seemed like it would have mattered. At the same time Twilight had never imagined a spell of this level. It was grand and terrible, it was the fire and the ice, and this pony was the master in the ebb of the storm. That was, until the guards had all been rendered unconscious and the orbs seemed to be used up. Every last one of them faded completely, leaving only the four mysterious stones and a pony surveying the damage he had just done.
“What, how , who,” Focus, one question at a time Twilight. The strange unicorn was picking up his stones now, having deemed it safe enough to do so. He honestly didn’t even seem to be paying attention to the pony whose life he had just saved. What kind of a pony was this, “How do you even know who I am? Have we even met before?”
“Of course we have, or we will,” He was not making a good case for sanity. He wasn’t even looking at Twilight as he responded. Instead his attention was perfectly focused on the forests in the distance, “I know you quite well Miss Twilight. Or, I will know you. Tenses. You’ve got quite a journey ahead of you.”
“Okay then,” Skeptical Twilight refused to completely trust a pony who spoke of the future like it already happened. Of course, saved Twilight was more than happy that this pony had saved her from something she was sure she didn’t want, “Why don’t we just go with, who are you?”
“Sine Wave, my dear,” The pony turned and bowed ceremoniously, cascading the ridiculously long golden mane down and displaying several menacing scars he held across his back. This pony seemed completely off, but he was the only one not trying to harm her in any way right now. Was that enough for trust, “Warrant pony for the Shadow Proclamation, Lieutenant in General Pinkie’s third regimen, Trottiman for the seventh Reich, and Knight of Queen Tralsia’s court. At your service.”
So, he was a little crazy. Not a single one of those titles sounded even the slightest bit true, but he said them all with such conviction. Twilight generally contemplated accepting them at face value, but she had already been threatened with registration and witnessed a Ponyville that looked like somepony had run out of standard house blocks and delved into the ‘space alien’ set. Acceptance was something she was running preciously short on at current, “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that last part then. I think I’ve had enough crazy for today.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it,” He was damn well smiling by now. This unicorn was in the middle of a dozen unconscious ponies and he was smiling about Twilight getting worked up, “But, we should be moving. My stored spells won’t have recharged for a couple of hours and you seem to be a rather magically lacking version of, well, you.”
Magically lacking? That was the first time Twilight had ever been insulted like that, considering she was the personal student of the Princess. The Princess who had apparently ordered for unicorn registration. Right, the more she picked apart this world the less she liked it.
Sine, or whatever he wanted to be called, led the two down the opposite side of the hill and away from Ponyville. It was all for the best as far as the poor lavender mare was concerned. She really didn’t want to hear the explanation for the giant tower where the town hall had been, not right now. On the other hoof they were trotting almost directly into the Everfree Forest, which was curiously missing. Well, missing wasn’t the correct word. It was more like somepony had taken a pair of scissors and cut out large chunks of the forest, leaving only small outcroppings of trees here and there.
“Okay, I can’t take it anymore,” To Twilight’s credit, she had managed to last well past the third clumping of trees before speaking up. She was truly hoping answers would have been more forthcoming, but the more she thought about everything, the less it made sense, “What exactly is going on here? Why has all of Equestria gone insane?”
“The short answer, I’m afraid, is that it hasn’t,” The fact that Sine never seemed to face Twilight when he addressed her was starting to irk the unicorn. These half answers were also starting to get annoying, “The long answer is that it is crazy to you, but, to everypony else, this is the culmination of every event that has led up to this moment.”
“What kind of events could lead to this? This is not the Equestria I went to sleep in last night!”
“No, it isn’t Miss Twilight,” He slowly started to sombre up, the pace of the two ponies slowing considerably. By now they should have been nearly a quarter of the way into the dreaded forest. However, it had been no less than a stroll through grassy fields in the waning daylight. Every few minutes Twilight would catch a glimpse of one of the forest’s residents hiding timidly in one of the tree outcroppings. None of them dared to exit their small refuges as if terrified by the simple grassy plain. Even the normally dangerous predators of the forest seemed exactly the same.
“And you, how can you be so calm about all this,” Twilight’s voice was raising in decibel with every passing word, yet Sine seemed no more bothered than he might have been by a squirrel, “Like you have this kind of conversation every day?”
“Because we have had this conversation before. Or, will have it,” The unicorn stopped for a second, scratching the top of his head with a forehoof before turning to face Twilight for the first time since they started walking, “Or, you told me about this conversation. Err, will tell me about it. Honestly, I never have as much trouble with tenses as I do with you. Now, why don’t you ask the question that is really bothering you?”
There was something in his eyes, just like the first time Twilight had looked into them. Something in her screamed to run away and never looked back, while the rest of her was enthralled by whatever glint that convinced a pony of everything they said, “What am I missing?”
“That is a very good question,” The pony turned around, leading twilight to the edge of what used to be the forest cliff. Once upon a time, this cliff had signalled the end of the edge of the forest and the deadly descent into the depths of the true Everfree. Now, however, it was little more than an exceptionally large rolling hill giving a view of the world below it.
Under this ruling view Twilight and Sine watched something the likes of which she had never imagined. Rows of pristine white tents sat in perfect uniform, the occasional pony dashing between them. Small meeting like areas were cleared between groupings of tents where large groups of ponies seemed to be gathered. At the back and front of the huge camp makeshift walls had been erected. It was a testament to something that Twilight did not understand, but would stand in awe of anyway. Even more so once she saw the flag flying from the flagpoles placed in the middle of the camp. This undertaking was flying under flags bearing her own cutie mark, that perfect six pointed star encircled by five other stars. She was damn near speechless.
“That’s, that’s impossible,” The events of the day were starting to catch up to the mare. Now, it even seemed that she was inextricably tied to a camp that she had never seen before in her life. It was unfortunate that life was not going to allow her the time to rest from it.
“No, that is a very bad thing,” Sine, the normally calm and completely crazy unicorn, seemed to be overcome with dread. He wasn’t looking at the camp anymore, but instead at something on the other end of the gigantic clearing. He almost sounded like the world was about to come crashing down, “A very, very, bad thing....”
A/N: This is one of those chapters where you realize it either makes or breaks the world. Up until now just about anything could have happened. Honestly, I don't know what you might have been expecting, but this is what it ended up coming down to. I hope you aren't disappointed with the direction this is taking.
There's a lot else I could bring up as well. However, I kind of want to leave a lot of explanation till the notes on the next chapter. I promise, I'll explain a bit more then.