//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: It Awakens // Story: The Chronicles of Viel Vulter // by Viel Vulter //------------------------------// "Viel, it's time to wake up! You don't want to miss the carriage, do you? It'll be here in an hour!", My mom yelled from downstairs. I slowly open up my eyes to see a beautiful, bright sunny day. I wondered why my alarm didn't go off, so I looked over at my clock and it was turned off. I didn't remember turning it off last night. There must have been a power shortage or something last night. I put on a shirt and walked downstairs to eat some breakfast. My dad was sitting there with some coffee and reading The Equestria Daily. "Was there a power outage last night dad? My clock was turned off this morning.", I asked him. "Yea.", he said. "There was an unexpected storm last night, I'm surprised you were able to sleep through it!" , he said with a little grin I looked at him and said, "You know I'm a heavy sleeper dad! Once I'm out I am out!" He smiled and went back to reading his paper. When I finished my breakfast I started to go upstairs to pack a few things when I heard my dad call out and say, "Make sure you pack enough clothes for two days! Eissen came by this morning and said that we'll be staying for your birthday!" "Alright! That's awesome!I'll make sure to pack extra!", I yelled back. Now i'm sure you're wondering: "Why does she need clothes? She's a pony!" Well we are more civilized now, compared to what y'all are use to. We don't just walk around naked! I mean we don't wear pants and such, but we wear shirts, vests, etc. Anyhoof I'm getting off track here. I went upstairs and got everything together. I made sure I had the bracelets, my vest, and some other miscellaneous things. I took a shower and doubled checked to make sure everything was here. Once I made sure I had everything I threw my bag over my back and walked downstairs to see Eissen standing at the door waiting on me. "Looks like somepony is tardy. I came here to make sure you were still going", He said with a smile. "Yea... sorry about that! My alarm got turned off last night and I woke up an hour ago.", I told him. "You got ready in under an hour? You're the first mare I've heard of that is able of doing that!", He said as he and my dad snickered. I growled at that and heard my mom call out from the other room, "What was that Ace? You want how much poison in your drink?" My dad stopped snickering pretty quick at that and his ears fell back some. I laughed quietly to myself. I don't care what other ponys say, but us women are the real head of the house. Well, at least that's how it works in my house. I gave me mom a hug and kiss before we left. She told me that if I see any of those Canterlot dresses that she likes, she wants me to get it for her if I can. Me, dad, and Eissen all got into the Carriage and we were off. I looked out the back window and saw my mom waving bye to us. I looked out the window and waved back, my eyes tearing up. I have never been anywhere without both my parents, let alone ponyting. "Viel get back in here! I'm about to go full speed!", Eissen said. Despite not having a lot of money, he had a really nice electro-carriage. It was really roomy, smelled very nice, and even went sixty miles per hour! At this rate we should reach Canterlot in under a day. As we were riding we talked about some random things. It ranged from cooking to my dads "good ol' days" as captain of the Manehatten cloud patrol. Man I have heard all of those stories hundreds of times, it kinda starts to get boring after hearing them so much. It was about three hours into our drive when I asked my dad about my name. "Hey dad, I was named after my aunt right? Your sister Viel?", I asked him. His face went pale as I asked him that. My dad didn't talk about his sister much. I felt kinda bad for asking him that question, I totally forgot that he doesn't like to talk about her either. "Yes honey you were.", He said with a half smile. "What... What happened to her?.. If you don't mind me asking.", I asked, kinda getting nervous about to what he might say. He looked at me and said, "Well.. you are named after her, so I guess it's fair you finally know." I sat next to him and got ready to listen to his story. My dad was not only a great cloud patrol commander, but we was amazing at telling stories! "Okay just to get things clear, I loved my sister with all my heart Viel. She had the most beautiful navy blue coat you would ever see. Her eyes were a soft brown, and her mane was snow white, and she was an earth pony like your mom. She a really stern, yet soft voice too. I don't like talking about her because.... it's very painful, but you have the right to know what happened to her. It started way before you were even born. Me and your mother had just started dating when it happened. Your aunt was in the police force with your mother, that's actually how I met your mom. I was doing some cloud kicking when I got a call-in from the station. A giant group of bandits, about two-hundred of them, have been seen about sixty miles away from Manehatten. We always had problems with bandits, but never a group as big as that. I gathered my unit and flew back to our base. I gathered everypony on duty and had them ready to help defend the city. We waited for about two days when they arrived, but in a much larger force than we realized. Instead of two-hundred, there was almost two-thousand of them. They were using the cover of the trees to hide their real numbers. The had anti-pegasus weapons as well, which we did not count on. Fire started raining down on us. We tried to escape, but they took out a good amount of us before we could. The ones left tried to make tornadoes and high winds, but they had pegasi ponies on their side, and they instantly stopped anything we threw at them. It was like they were trying to take over the city with the force they had. Once they made it to the city we had some tricks of our own. With giant arrow machines we were able to shoot down and kill most the hostile pegasi, but sadly the earth ponies were already in the city and we could no longer form tornadoes to stop them. If we did that inside the city it would destroy what we were trying to protect, but we could make it rain, and boy did we make it rain!. We made it rain hard enough to give our ponies cover as they got ready to attack the group, but again the bandits had taken us by surprise. They had some sort of high-tech goggles that allowed them to see through all our rain. Once the broke through the storm, which was dying because the clouds were running out of water. That's when the real fighting begun. Thanks to an invention we were able to hold guns with a mechanical arm, but the bandits had the same device, along with knives, bows and arrows, swords, and other deadly weapons. This fight lasted about twenty days, it even destroy one-forth of Manehatten. On one of the last days of the raid, I was helping transfer injured ponies deeper into the city for safety. On one of the runs I was on, one of the bandit leaders attacked us with a small group that had infiltrated past the front lines. He opened fire on us and we took cover, but not before he killed about six of us. Your mother was there with me, for protection, along with several other police ponies. We were under heavy fire and nopony was near us. Your mother and I thought this was the end. We kissed one last time and waited for the end. She tried radioing in for back-up, but no one responded. We suddenly heard shooting from our left. I looked up to see it was my sister and a small group of her squad sent to check up on us. Your mother got up and started shooting back at the bandits too. We had almost driven them back when their leader appeared next to us. He was badly hurt and out of ammo, but he had a large knife with him. He told us that he was going to enjoy stabbing us to death, that he would be the victor even if his raid failed, that he would have victory in the long run for killing us. As he went at us, I stood up to take him head on, but my sister jumped in the way. She told me to stay back, that she would take of this. Before I had time to ignore her commands and help my sister out, it was finished. She had got one good stab in him, and he fell to the ground dead. My sister turned to me, smiled, and fell down. I ran over to her and saw the giant knife sticking out her side. I screamed for a medic and one came running over. He tried his best to help her....but..but... it was too late..", My dad started to tear up. "She had been stabbed right next to her heart. Even if the medic had pulled it out and worked on it, she would have bled to death before he could bandage it. She looked up at me and told me words I will never forget. Words that I shall always live by. She told me: Ace... I.. I love you so much lit...little brother.. don... don't let this fill y...your heart wi..with rage. Alw..always care for everypony... I di..did this so y..you could li..live on. Tre...treat Kelly go..good little bro..brother.. I love yo..." and that was all she could say her time had run out... she slowly faded away. Your mother and I started to cry our eyes out. I couldn't believe my older sister was gone.. and I wasn't going to stand for this Viel. I felt anger take hold of me. I told your mother to stay there as I flew off. I used my radio and contacted the police Chief and told him to retreat back. It took some convincing, but he eventually listened to me. As they were retreating I got what was left of my squad and hovered over the bandits. Their numbers were small now, and could easily be taken care of. We started flying as fast as we could. Faster than any other pegasus has gone before. They tried shooting us down, but they were low on ammo for their weapons, and by the time the realized we were up there, it was too late. Their arrows were flying away from us, because of our high wind, and we were moving too fast for them to get a clear shot with any of their guns. We created on of the biggest tornadoes you would ever see in your life, and since there was nopony but the bandits here, we didn't have to hold back. We threw everything at them, like before, except now they had nothing to stop us. Name it, from six-hundred miles per hour wind to giant lighting strikes, we did it. All I saw was body parts flying everywhere. I could barely hear the screaming of the bandits as they were ripped apart by the wind. In about two minutes, it was finished. All the bandits were either dead, dying, or running away. We had won... but at a terrible price. Since that day no bandits have attacked Manehatten, and my sister was given an honorary burial. Her and the other four-hundred ponies that died. A lot might have died if I didn't do what needed to be done. I would have done it sooner, but we were hoping the police and military could drive them back first, and because of our tornado, that area of the city was completely leveled. That's the story of your Aunt Viel. That's why she's a hero to us Viel. If it wasn't for her, we might not be here right now. I might have been able to take him, but my sister was a much better fighter than I was, and she got killed by him. So that's why we named you after her Viel, if not for her; you wouldn't be here." I was silent for a long time. I knew my aunt had done something brave, but nothing like that. She saved my parents lives! Man I have a lot to live up to now. Eissen opened the door to the back and asked my dad, "Wasn't that the Great Raid of Manehatten?" My dad answered, "Yea it was, and it was a bloody mess." "Damn...", I heard Essien say under his breath. "What is it Eissen?", I asked him. "Nothing.. uh.. just that I heard about that along time ago. I can't imagine what it was like to actually go through it.", He said with a weird tone. I just shrugged it off and looked out the window. It was in the afternoon by the look of the sun. I looked at the clock in carriage, and it was about two in the evening. Man dad's story took up a lot of time. I decided to take a small nap. I heard Eissen tell my dad we should be there in about fourteen hours, which is sooner than we expected. We left at about seven in the morning, so getting there at four in the morning wasn't too bad. I dosed on and off for the next few hours. Eventually I feel asleep. I, thankfully, had no weird dreams or nightmares. I didn't even have a dream. The next thing I knew I was waking up inside the Carriage in-front of the Canterlot gates. I looked at the clock and it said six O' clock. I looked over and saw dad sleeping next to me, and Eissen was sleeping in the front seat. I guess they decided to wait for me to wake up before going in, or maybe Eissen just decided to sleep out in the carriage today to save some bits. I just fell back to sleep eventually, figuring they'll just wake me up latter. About three hours later my father woke me up to help carry stuff into Canterlot. Since the city was so big electro-carriages aren't aloud, only manual ones are aloud inside the city's gates. So me and dad got out of the carriage so that Eissen could go park it. I put my hood on as I stepped out of the carriage. Even though Canterlot isn't really a unicorn hating place, I figured to play it safe and avoid any type of trouble. As we were waiting for Eissen I heard some commotion about my head. I looked up to see about five pegasi flying over my head, well only one was really flying, the other four were watching him cheering him on. He was a really good flyer, really graceful. All his moves were sharp and on point. I assumed he was part of the Canterlot guard. I haven't ever seen one in action, but I heard they were the best of the best in all of New Equestria. I looked down and saw Eissen walking up to us. "Okay the Carriage is all parked and I even rented a pull cart to put our stuff in.", He said to me and my dad. "I'll pull it Eissen, I can't have a day of slacking! If I do I won't be fit to work the farm! Viel would have to do all the work!", He said with a laugh. "Oh man! I can't do it all? How sad!", I said sarcastically. As we were walking up to the gates I heard shout from above, "Shit! watch out below!" I didn't have time to move out of the way when a blue pegasus crashed into me. "Ouch!" I yelled out. "Ugh... crap.. are you okay? I lost control while doing a barrel-" My dad cut the blue pegasus off and said, "VIEL?! Are you okay?! You little punk! I should knock your head off! If you hurt my daughter I'm going to-" I cut my dad off and said, "I'm fine dad. It'll take a lot more than that to hurt me." My dad cooled off and asked, "What's your name boy?" The pegasus answered, "My names Vincent sir, Vincent Rush." My dad sat there for a bit then asked, "Wait... Vincent Rush? Aren't you captain of the Royal Guard?" Vincent looked at my dad, sighed, and said, "No sir.. That would be my father Vincent Rush Senior. I'm his son and second in command of the Royal Guard. I'm also the fastest flyer in all of New Equestria!" That last part he said with a lot of pride. "Huh is that so?", My dad asked. "Yes sir! As matter of fact I ca-" "Vincent what the hell are you doing?" I heard a voice from above ask. A black pegasus with a grey mane and green eyes flew down to us. "Did you hurt somepony again? I told you if this happened again I was demoting you!" The pegasus yelled. I quickly said, "That's not necessary sir! Nopony got hurt. He just had an accident. The pegasus looked at me and said, "You sure ma'm?" "Yes.", I told him. He was about to say something when he noticed my dad. "Well I'll be damned, Is that Ace?", He said in a much friendly tone. "Um, hi? I'm sorry but do I know you?", My father asked. "Oh come Ace don't you remember me? Once you're pact you never go back!" he said with a smile. "Wait.. Spade is that you?!" My dad said with excitement. "You bet it is! I haven't seen you since Manehatten my friend! How have you been?" Spade said with a giant smile. "I've been good.", my father answered. "This is my daughter Viel. We're visting Canterlot to get some supplies and have some fun for her twenty-first birthday party." Spade looked at me and said, "Viel huh? After your sister? Your name carries great weight miss, I hope you know that." I nodded my head at him. "You already met my little trouble maker, get over here junior!" He yelled over at Vincent. My dad looked at Spade and said, "I didn't know your name was Vincent. Why didn't you tell me? I thought Gravine Rush was your real name." "I changed it when I moved here, I didn't want any special attention after what we did in Manehatten. "Yes dad?", Vincent asked his father. "Be respectful boy! You're looking at the hero of Manehatten!" Spade yelled. Vincent's eyes got wide and he did a really big smile, it was kinda cute actually. "THE hero of Manehatten?! The pegasus that went over twelve hundred miles alone? You're a legend!", Vincent said in a really fanboy voice. "I'm not a legend my boy, nor am I a hero. I'm just a pony who did what was needed to be done.", My father said. "We have to catch up sometime Vincent, but for now we have to get everything ready.", Spade said. "Ready for what Mr.Rush?", I asked him. "Call me Spade, Mr.Rush was my father, and we are getting ready for the one-thousand year anniversary of the creation of the barrier surrounding The Waste.", he told us. "I didn't realize there was a celebration for that", my father said. "It wasn't always a celebration, but around four-hundred years ago they decided to start having a celebration for it, to honor all the ponies that lost their lives during the war. I mean it's been one-thousand years since the barrier has been put up, but we've only been celebrating it for six-hundred years. It's confusing I know, but because of the Unicorn Wars, the ponies of the old days didn't really want to celebrate what "caused" Vigor to come here in the first place, but I'm actually glad they decided to have a celebration. It's a lot of fun! You three ponies should come out!" Spade said. "Why does there need to be security? Has there been a threat made?", My father asked. "No", Spade informed my dad. "No nothing like that. We just take precautions, just in case somepony tries something stupid." He looked over at Vincent, who was looking down. "Anyhoof I'm sorry to keep you waiting listening to an old man chat. Come on Vincent they need us back at the palace! The High Four have requested us to ask about our preparations, which is why I was looking for you in the first place. I'll race you back to the palace!" Spade said with a smile. "You're on dad!" Vincent said with a smirk. They both swooshed up and flew off at a really fast speed. I liked the way Vincent looked. He had a cool looking under suit on, with a black vest. His coat was a light sky blue,his mane was tri-colored. It had dark blue, green, and red mixed in it, I thought it was really cute, and his eyes were an emerald green. Overall he didn't look too bad, but I'm not really a dating type of pony. In my mind family comes first. As we walked into the city I was bombarded with all sorts of senses. From the smell of fresh baked apple pies to the sound of fillies running in the streets. There so many buildings here too! A few of them caught my eyes though. The first one was Lyra's University of Anthropology. "Eissen, what's Anthropology mean?", I asked. He let out a deep sigh and said, "It's the ridiculous study of ancient things called... err what were they called... ah yes humans. Somepony believed they actually existed before poines, which is completely idiotic, but someponys actual take it seriously and study it." In the front of the building there was a painting of a little mint green pony, with a giant smile on her face, holding a sign saying: "They do exist!" We pasted a couple of other buildings that I thought looked cool: Scoot n' Dash's Flying Academy, Bon Bon's Treats, The Pink Cupcake, which had some awesome smells coming from it, Fluttershy's Nature Academy, and one broken down building. As we walked by it I saw a sign that read "Princess Celestia's School of Magic". This building was broken down and really old looking. I didn't bother asking Eissen why, because it was quite obvious why. It looked like it was a magic school, it's kinda obvious from the name, but it made my heart drop when I saw it. I guess Eissen wasn't kidding when he told me that these ponies wanted nothing to do with magic in any way, shape, or form. I did ask him about these buildings that were still standing though. "Ah yes, a lot of these buildings are very old Viel, some are even named after The Original Six!", he told me. "Do you know which one's are named after them Eissen?", I asked him. "I think I do, that one over there, The Scoot n' Dash one, is named after Rainbow Dash The Loyal. That one over there, The Pink Cupcake, is named after Pinkie Pie The Laughing. That one over there , Fluttershy's Nature Academy, is named after Fluttershy The Kind. I don't see any other buildings that are named after The Original Six, but I'm sure there are more in the city somewhere. I mean after all this isn't even a portion of the city! This place is gigantic!", He with a smile. Our hotel was in the middle of this massive city, which sucks because it's a far walk. I know I'm not out-of-shape or anything, but I hate walking on a hard surface for a long time. All the roads and sidewalks here are made of tile and marble, so my hooves were killing me. After what felt like forever, we finally made it to the center of the city. This looked like the most busy part of the city. I smelled all sorts of yummy treats from all the stores around, the sights were beautiful and amazing too! I could even see the Canterlot Castle from here! The coolest thing, though, was the statues in the middle of the city. I couldn't read what their plaques said, but I was guessing they were statues of The Original Six. I decided to check those out later tonight if I got the opportunity. We eventually made it to our hotel we were staying at. I am really glad I came with Eissen, he seemed like he knew his way around this city quite well. We got settled in, called up room service, ate, and even watched something Eissen called a T.V. I have always heard of these things, but have never actually seen one. They could transmit pictures into a box and make them move, and it even had different channels you could watch! This place truly had everything! Later that evening I decided to go out for a walk, after the crowd died down a lot, and go look at those statues. It was about eight O' clock when I left. I walked up to the statues and there was a big plaque in-front of them that read: These statues are a tribute to the six brave ponies, who lost so much and gained so little. Let this be a reminder that, when even in a time a peril, friendship can and will conquer all. Let these statues always remind people of the others lost during the twenty-five year war along with The Keepers of Harmony. Let us always be reminded of their courage and bravery. Signed, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza The names of The Original Six were on the side of the statues. I read them in order: Rainbow Dash The Loyal, Rarity the Generous, Pinkie Pie The Laughing, Fluttershy The Kind, Applejack The Honest, and Twilight The Spark of Friendship. These statues were really detailed, they looked really old, and where actually really beautiful. I turned around from looking at them to meet with a pair of emerald green eyes. "Hi!", said the pony. I yelped and fell over in surprise! "Haha! Nice one Viel! Need help getting up?", said the pony. I recognized that voice.... oh wait.. it was that pegasus from earlier! Vincent! "No, no I'm fine, you just startled me is all. You really shouldn't do that sneak up on other ponies Vincent! You scared the hell out of me!", I yelled at him. "Heh, sorry! I thought you heard me come up, I mean it's not like there's a lot of noise around here.", He said with a smirk. "I was looking at these statues! I wasn't paying attention!", I yelled. "Calm down Viel!", he yelled back. "I was just messin with ya! I come out here a lot after I get off of work. It's really quiet and peaceful, and the lights make it even more beautiful." I looked around and found out he was right. I didn't really look at the streets or the lights, but they were beautiful! These weren't normal lights, they were full of life. Every other light was a different color, it went from red, blue, green, yellow, purple, and all sorts of other colors. I asked, "Why are they like this Vincent?" He looked at me and said, "No idea, but I love to stare at them and just relax." He then flew over to a bench and sat down. I decided I should join him, since he was basically my only friend here. We sat there for about forty-five minutes when Vincent finally broke the silence. "So what's it like?", He asked me. I asked, "What do you mean?" He smiled and said softly, "What's it like being a unicorn?" My heart sank, I didn't know what to say. My mouth just hung open. I tried to answer him, or ask him how he knew, but I just couldn't talk! After about five minutes I was finally able to ask, "H...how did you know?" "Well, this morning when I crashed into you, your hood fell down for a bit, and before you could put it back on I saw that you have a horn. You don't need to worry about me. I love unicorns, and I've always wanted to meet one! My dad also likes unicorns, it's the main reason we left Manehatten that place hated unicorns!", He told me. I answered, "Well.. I guess it feels the same as being an earth pony or a pegasus pony. I don't feel to special at all honesty." "Well, can you use magic?", Vincent quietly asked me. "Yea, but only simple things. Nothing more than teleporting fifty feet.", I quietly answered. "Wow! That's so cool!", he said with a lot of excitement. For the next hour we just talked about me being a unicorn. I had never had so much attention from being a unicorn before, and I'm not going to lie; I kinda liked it. When somepony would start to walk by, we would just quickly change subjects. Vincent had told me so much about this city! He told where to get some great hay bacon, where to go for a good drink, he even told me about a club called DJ Pon3, which, according to Vincent, is the best place to go for a party. "Well you know I'm a unicorn, so I wanna know something about you mister.", I said to Vincent. "Sure, what is it?", Vincent answered. "Why is your hair tri-colored? Do you take after your mom?" I asked. He blushed really red when I asked him about that. It looked like his hair wasn't the only thing that could change color. "Well... you see.... I'm a big fan of Rainbow Dash", He said with an embarrassed tone. "Why are you such a big fan?" I asked him. "Are you kidding me?! She's the fastest pegasus to ever live! She did the legendary sonic rainboom multiple times! What isn't there to like about her?! I dyed my hair three colors to show my respect... and to be a little bit like her... man what I would give to have met her!", He said with an exciting tone. "Haha I bet Vincent! You sound like a big fan!", I said with a smile. "You have no idea Viel!", he said with extreme excitement. We talked about rainbow dash and the other Original Six for about another hour. Eventually we both started feeling pretty tired, so we decided it was time to go on home. "Well I guess it's time for me to hit the hay!" , Vincent said with a smile. "Oh very punny Vincent!", I said while I pushed him Fun fact about me: I love puns. We had become really good friends in such a short time. He was pretty smart too, despite being a little bit on the arrogant side. He also knew a lot about the Original Six, and when I say he knew about them i mean it. He told me everything he could about them! I got back to our hotel and lied down in my bed. I looked over at my dad who was sitting in a chair watch that T.V. thing. I turned to him and asked, "Did you have T.V. in Manehatten?" "Yes, but I didn't watch it much though. Now that I think about it, the only time I watched it was back at the Cloud Academy." He told me. "What about your top speed thing? The tornado you said went 600 miles per hour, but yet you went 1200 miles per hour according to Spade.", I asked him He looked over at me, smiled, and said, "We had speed trackers in the body armor we wore when we were doing our patrols. It was kind of like a a competition between us at the station. after the tornado died down, I heard a beeping noise going off. I hit the button and the speed monitor came up. It informed me that I had hit a max speed of 1200 miles per hour for about twenty seconds.If I maintained that, I would have more than likely been torn apart by the force! We pegasi aren't use to flying at those speeds anymore, so it was a really big deal when I survived it." "Okay... one more question!", I said. "What is it Viel?", he asked. "Why is Gravine's nickname Spade?", I asked. "Oh that's not much of a story. I met him back when I first joined the Academy. We were paired up as a team and no one could beat us in anything. Whatever sport it was, we would always come in first place. Since my name was Ace everyone at the academy gave him the nickname Spade, because the Ace of Spade is the best card in a lot of card games. We were the best team, so that's why he got the name, and we just rolled with it.", He said and yawned. "Well Viel it's time for us to go to sleep, we have a big day tomarrow!" He said with a smile. "Alright.. oh and dad... could you... tuck me in?", I asked, feeling really embarrassed. He looked and me and said, "Sure thing honey." I don't care what anypony says, but being tucked in by your parents, even when you're twenty-years old, is the best feeling in the world! It shows that they really care about you. It also helped me go to sleep. I'm so glad my dad could come with us. I do miss my mom, but I couldn't wait until I got back to tell her about how much fun I had in Canterlot! Oh mommy.. I miss you so much. That night I had a another dream.. only this time it was almost real. It actually felt like I was there. I looked around me and I saw... ponything, but everything was burning. I saw my mother and father on the ground.. they... they were dead. I looked over and saw a giant monster standing next to her. He said something to me that I didn't understand, it was in some ancient language. All of a sudden it was all dark around me. I looked around for anything, any sort of light source. Suddenly A light came down on me, and I saw that I was standing in water. I looked down into the body of water I was standing in and... I saw myself.. at least I think I did. My mane was black, my coat was a dark grey, covered in blood. My eyes were blood red... and my teeth were as sharp as daggers. I then heard screaming and looked up, it was the same monster... holding Eissen. I saw him get slowly ripped in half, and I stood there and did nothing. I didn't do a fucking thing! I just stood there and watch my best friend, my mentor, scream bloody murder as he was ripped in-half. I felt a rage build up in me... a rage I have never felt before. I looked up at the monster and shot him with some sort of dark sphere, and he broke into pieces like glass. I heard the deep voice say to me: "Embrace the darkness Viel. With it anything is possible. You'll be the most powerful pony in Equestria. Nopony will stand in your way. NOPONY!" I looked down and.... and.. I saw all of my friends dead at my feet. Everypony I have ever met was there.... and there blood was on my hooves, on my coat, on my main.. it was everywhere. I started screaming and woke up in a cold sweat in my bed. I looked over and saw Eissen and my dad were sleeping. I slowly laid my head down and fell back asleep. I really wish these dreams would stop. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIEL! TIME TO WAKE UP!," I heard both Eissen and my dad shout. I shot up out of bed, heart pounding like no tomorrow! I mean who does that to a girl?! We need oursleep! "Hu..huh?!", I said with shock., "Oh yea.. thanks y'all.", I said with a yawn I was still very tired, but I was able to have a lot fun with dad and Eissen. We ate a birthday breakfast that dad and Eissen woke up early to fix for me. It was hay bacon with flowers, and not just any flowers they were roses! They taste the best! We ate, I opened some presents, and we talked a lot too. The whole day we walked around Canterlot, shopping, buying magical supplies, well supplies we would use for magic, and a few other things. I was having a lot more fun for my birthday than I had expected. just two days ago I thought I would just be in my house doing nothing, not in Canterlot having fun with my daddy and Eissen. We spent the whole day just wondering around Canterlot. I say it was about five O' clock by the time we were finished shopping. We decided to go to the celebration thing that Spade mentioned yesterday. I even bought a dress! It was pure white with a blue trim. I also bought a cool looking hate to go along with it, to obviously over up my horn too. I was wearing my little cloak and vest under it too. It might look pretty, but it did chaff. I have never worn a dress before, but I thought I looked pretty sexy in it. When we got there the festival had started way before we got there. This thing was amazing! It had all sorts cool clothes, masks, food, drinks, decorative cups, all sorts of cute things! I heard trumpets sound and everypony started to settle down. Me, dad, and Eissen walked with the crowd to see what was going on. There was a big stag right in-front of a big, purple, see through wall, then it hit me! We were at the barrier! I knew it was suppose to be big... but man this thing was huge! I saw Vincent and his dad fly out onto the stage. They were both wearing bright golden armor, with a red trimming. Eissen told me earlier that elites in the Canterlot guard had different armor than the normal ones. I looked around and to my left I saw a giant pegasus drawn carriage pull up, then next to it was a highly guarded electro-carriage. Somepony ran up to Spade and gave him a horn and then ran off. Spade then shouted: "Please everypony quiet down! I would like to announce The High Four! Please welcome earth ponies Giga Rushdo and Youder Rushdo!" The two ponies then stepped out of the Electro-cart and onto a giant red carpet. They both had green eyes, a red coat, and white manes. I'm guessing they're twins. Spade then continued, "Also I am proud to present our pegasi leaders Lukin Doe and Ikdon Val!" Lukin had a weird looking coat and mane. They were both green and orange. His yes were redish purple. I didn't really like the look of him. The other one was kinda cool looking though! He had a grey coat, a black and white mane, and red eyes! All four of them walked up to the stage and said at the same time," Welcome everypony welcome! We are so glad you could attend our celebration! While you enjoy your food and drinks please remember the brave ponies that put their life down to save us all! Remember the all of them! Pegasi, Earth, and Unicorn!" When they said unicorn I heard mixed chatter in the crowd about it. They continued, "Now, now everypony! Let's put those old emotions behind us! We live in a new time, a newer and better Equestria! We need to show love to everypony!" Now join us in the Canterlot Ple-" Before they could finish there was a huge explosion, from behind the barrier. Everypony just kinda stood there for a bit, we were all in shock. Nopony knew what was going on, but then we all heard it. The noise of something cracking, breaking into pieces. Next thing I knew everypony was running. The barrier was coming down! I couldn't believe my eyes! This thing was suppose to be unbreakable! It was suppose to last forever! How was it coming down? Why was it coming down? Who was doing it? Eissen and my dad stayed right by me the entire time. We starting running back when I heard it. It was that laughter. "No... It can't be...", I thought to myself. It was the same laughter from my dreams.. the same dark spirit! I stopped in my tracks and turned around to see what it was. I just had to see who the hell has been torturing me for the past five years! I just fucking had to! I couldn't see anything through the barrier. I looked hard, but I just couldn't see through it. My dad and Eissen came running up behind me. My dad yelled, "Damn it Viel! We have to go now! We don't know what's coming through that thing!" "NO!", I shouted back. "I have to see him! I have to see who he is!" My father and Eissen was trying to pull me back, but I wouldn't let them. I looked up and saw Vincent and Spade lining up the men and women of the Canterlot guard. They had sharp wing blades along with mechanical guns mounted on them. "Protect the civilians!", I heard Spade shout. "We can not let anything happen to them! Ready your weapons! Whatever comes out of that barrier, we aim to kill!" Then another explosion happened, only this time the barrier broke. The shock wave sent everypony flying backwards. I hit the ground pretty hard, almost enough to knock me out. I strained to get up and look around.. and what I saw.. was unimaginable. I saw tiny imp creatures start running out of the barrier and started ripping apart the guards, giant Minotaur crushing them with their giant hooves. The were goblins, wolves of gigantic size, demonic looking creatures, some were so deformed I couldn't even Identify them. I saw Vincent and his dad fighting with all they had. As much as the creatures tried they couldn't catch them. I guess he wasn't lying about being super fast. They were able to kill the little imp things with ease, but the Minotaur were a different story. after about five minutes the remaining forces of the guard were able to get up and start retaliating against the creatures. They were doing good too, they truly were the best in Equestria. I got up and looked around for my dad and Eissen. I heard the evil laugh again and I turned to see...him. It was him. The beast of legend. The God of Evil. The destroyer of Equestria. Vigor . I couldn't look away. I was paralyzed with fear. The legends Eissen told me were true. He was massive, and his glowing red eyes were starring into my soul . He had to at least stand almost twenty feet tall. Nine other creature walked out behind him, all of them ugly and distorted. He turned to one and said something I couldn't understand. Some sort of ancient language. He then turned to the Canterlot Castle, spread his wings, and said something I could understand. He said it so loud it was if he was speaking to all of New Equestria. He said in he dark, evil voice, "Attention you worthless creatures of Equestria! I ,your King Vigor, have returned. All those who choose not to accept my rule will die.. slower than the rest! You are all now my slaves! I will feast on your flesh! Your blood shall quench my thirst. Welcome to the rule of King Vigor!" He then flew off toward the Canterlot Castle. His nine minions then started attack the guards, Killing them like flies. The weapons had no effect on any off them. The blades broke on contact with their skin, if the pegasi were lucky enough to get that close. Most of them were sliced into pieces before they could even get to them. The bullets bounced off their skin like it was nothing. I was so busy looking at this scene that I didn't notice they giant Minotaur in front of me , until it was too late. He raised his foot up. I heard Eissen's voice off to the side say, "You get HELL away from her, you abomination!!" A light blue flash of light filled up my eyes and the Minotaur went flying backs, blood coming from a hole in his stomach. Essien and my dad ran up beside me. My dad threw his hooves around me and asked if I was okay. I was quiet for a little bit, but then I was able to say, "Y...Yea dad I'm fine." "LOOK OUT!", Eissen yelled. Out of no where a giant green ball of magic came crashing down onto us. It threw all three of us away from each other. I felt my front leg get burned really bad. I opened my eyes and saw a giant bat creature. He looked at me and said in a sinister voice, "Well, well, well. Look who we have here. It's little miss Viel! About time we met! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Arak Yüen. I am the right hand man of our Lord Vigor, and I am sure he'll love it if I bring him the head of the one he's tortured for the past four years.... no wait I mean five. Happy birthday. No wait I have an even better idea! I'll your take friends here, bring them along with you, then Vigor can eat them, alive, in front of you before skinning you alive and slowly consuming you! Oh it'll be perfect!" He laughed and smiled at his own idea. "N...No.. You... you won't hurt my friends.. I can't... no.. I WON'T LET YOU!!", I screamed. All of a sudden I felt a power rise up in me. It wasn't evil, nor was it rage. I felt like purity was coursing through me. I got up, and saw that my leg ,which was badly burned, was now healed. Along with that, my coat was turning white! I saw my hair turning a gold color, no not blond I mean it was literally the color of gold! I looked to my left and saw my reflection in some broken glass. My eyes were a lighter purple now too! I looked at Arak who was now full of fear. "YOU. WILL. NOT. HURT. MY. FRIENDS!!!" I shouted at him. I felt the power flow into my horn and I shot a beam of light purple light at him. Arak screamed in horrible pain and went flying backwards. I turned towards the creatures coming towards and starting shooting beams of magic at them. I couldn't let my daddy or Eissen get hurt again! I tried hitting as much of them as I could. Despite never using, or even knowing for that matter, this spell, I had great control of it. I heard a that Celestial voice in my head again say: Control Viel, remember what I said. There is no greater power than friendship. Always protect your friends, never seek vengeance.. I heard Arak scream, "RETREAT TO THE CASTLE! SHE HAS AWAKENED HER POWERS!" I noticed he seemed to be missing an arm. The creatures stopped what they were doing and ran towards the Canterlot Castle. I looked at them and tried shooting, but I was completely drained. Everything started to go black, and the last thing I saw before passing out was Vigor standing on top of the castle. I heard his blood curling scream, then fainted. I woke up inside a normal old carriage. My dad was in there with me waiting for me to wake up. His face was full of so much joy when he saw me open my eyes. He said to me, "Viel?! Thank goodness you're okay! I didn't think you would wake up! Here have some water!" I took a drink from the bowl my dad had water in. I noticed in my reflection that I was normal looking again. I started to sit up, but almost fainted. "Take it easy Viel! You used a lot of powerful magic, and it'll take awhile for you to regain your strength.", I heard Eissen say from the front. He was pulling the cart with his magic. "How long was I out? What happened to me? What spell was that?", I asked quickly. I almost fainted again just from that sentence. "Whoa Viel one thing at a time!", Eissen said. "Yeah Viel take it easy.", My dad told me. "Alright.. sorry, but what the hell happened?", I asked Eissen. "Well Viel, it looks like you have a magic source of pure magic, or light magic as some call it. This means that your heart is truly pure. That you care about the ones you love. When that Arak guy attacked us it must of been awakened inside of you, to protect me and your dad. I have no idea what spell you used either. It looked like it was some sort of light spell. Whatever it was, it took of Arak's left arm. You were even able to kill some of the other monsters.", Eissen said "I...I killed something?.." I asked. I have never killed something before. I felt really sick to my stomach. I mean I know I had to so that I could save my dad and Eissen... but still I felt sick. Eissen must have noticed that, because he gave me a concerned look when I met his eyes. He looked over at me and said. "It's okay Viel. Killing something is never easy, but you had to. If you didn't, then we would all be dead right now." Eissen was right. I should dwell on the past. If not for me we would all be dead. I looked over at my father and asked how long we have been traveling. "We've been traveling for almost three days. We should be back in Ponyting by nightfall. Once we are there I can warn our little Village and get everypony out of there." He said with concern. "W..What happened to Vincent and his dad?" I asked my dad. "Well after all those abominations went towards the castle, Vincent and spade... helped clean up. They helped get the remaining ponies out of there, and then Vincent found us. He helped us find a carriage to put you in. He even gave us some food, water, and blankets to help us. He saw that you and Eissen were unicorns, but I know he wouldn't care too much. After all his mom was a unicorn, or at least I think she is. I was the only one who knew that Spade had a thing for a Unicorn girl back in Manehatten. Last time I saw him in Manehatten, they were still together. Guess it doesn't matter right now huh? I shook my head, took a sip of water, and laid back down. "Oh Viel, before you sleep, congratulations." Eissen said. "For what?", I asked, thinking he meant about saving his life. "For your cutie mark, looks like your talent is magic.", He said with a smile. Shocked, I looked down at my leg, and sure enough I had a cutie mark! I really wish it was at a happier time, but you gotta count your blessings. It was a purple gem surrounded with purple magic. I thought it looked really nice. I laid my head back down and fell asleep.We walked for about twelve more hours until we reached Ponyting. I slept on and off the whole way there, so most of my strength had returned to me. We got out of the car when I smelled something.. burning. "Dad... What's that smell?", I asked him. He sniffed the air, as did Eissen. My dad's eyes widened, fear flowed over his face. "NO! NO, NO, NO!", He shouted and ran off towards Ponyting. Eissen and I were right behind him. When we got to Ponyting.. there was nothing left. Only a few buildings on fire. Without thinking about it I ran towards our house. My dad tried to stop me, but I was too quick. I kept thinking in my head "She's okay, She's Okay. She got somewhere safe". I found my house and started going through it. My dad and Eissen started helping me. That's when I heard a feint voice say, "Help...". It was my mom. I ran over to where I think the voice came from. Since it was so dark, I couldn't really see. That's when I heard voices coming. It was monsters. I saw that two of them were part of Vigors nine. They both looked like big hairy two-legged timberwolves. We quickly hide, but I quietly kept looking too. Eventually I found her. She was cut, bruised, and slashed. "H...Hi Viel", She said weakly. "Hi mom.", I said back. By this time my dad and Eissen had quietly came over next to me. Dad couldn't even speak. He just got down, hugged her, and kissed her. I started talking in a quiet voice and said, "Mom, it'll be alright. We will get you out of her. We will find you help" "V-V-Viel.. W-we both know- it's too late for that.. My-my wounds are t-too deep.", she said weakly. "Damn it mom.. don't talk like that! We can save you." I said. My eyes tearing up. "Viel.. y-you've grown so much... I-I am so proud of you...", she weakly said as she teared up. "I-I couldn't.. have asked for a better daughter..." It started to rain. When I say rain, I mean it started to pour down like no tomorrow. "Viel... Take...take this. It's... an amulet... from... my mother...she said...to... to pass it on... to my daughter...", she said as she took off a purple amulet and gave it to me. "Viel.. I... I love.. you..." She said as she let out a breath. "M..mommy? Mommy?! Wake up! Please wake up mommy! Don't leave me please! I need you! Please come back mommy please!!" I was yelling at this point. My dad started crying, as did I. All of a sudden two big hands swiped all of us away from her and into the middle of Ponyting. It was the two Timberwolf creatures. "Oh looky here, it's the hero of Canterlot. The little bitch that took Akra's arm. I'm sure he'll be pleased if we bring her back!" said one of the monsters. I couldn't move, I was still in shock, and I was still crying too. "Was that your mommy? Haha! She put up a good fight, actually killing two of our Minotaur, but we put that bitch in her place. It was so much fun cutting into her." I felt a snap in me. I felt something dark coming. "Shut the hell up!", said the other one. Do you want her to go all pure like and kill us?" "Ha! She hasn't mastered it yet! If she had, then we'd already be dead", Timberwolf #1 said. "Yea.. I guess you're right.", Said Timberwolf#2. "I wish her mom had lasted longer though. Her screams gave me so much pleasure. He blood spilling out was the best sight in all of Equestria or New Equestria. Whatever the hell you stupid ponies call it now." Timberwolf#1 said. That's when I felt it. I felt power coming over me again, but this time was very different. This time it hurt. It felt like it was consuming my body. The wind started to pick up, it started raining harder. I started hear to pulsing around me. Thump thump, thump thump,thump thump. It sounded like my heart was outside my body is was so loud. I looked up, or tried to anyways, and it seemed like no one else had heard it. I was just standing there, in a puddle of blood and water. Tears were pouring down my face. The pain started to rise over my body. I felt a darkness start to consume my heart. I felt all the good emotions in me slowly leave my body.. I slowly got the wanting to... murder... no... to TORTURE them to death, then I felt it. The pain started shooting through my body. It hurt so bad I couldn't even scream. It felt as if someone was ripping out my soul. I felt no more love, no more kindness. I didn't know what was going on, but I couldn't stop it. I wanted to kill these things so bad. I felt like ripping them to shreds. I wanted to leave nothing left of them. "What's wrong with me?", I asked myself in pain. "Nothing..", I answered back. "Hey what's wrong with her?" I heard one of them ask. I didn't know which one. I didn't care. "Nothing, she's just having trouble accepting her sad little fate.. is the wind picking up?", said the other one "Yea it is.. what's going on?!", the other one asked. The wind had picked up even more, as did the rain. It was raining so hard that I could barely see. A thunderstorm had formed too. The strikes of thunder were almost deafening. All of a sudden I felt this evil truly come over me. The pain was even more now, it was burning me to the bones. I screamed out in horrible pain. I heard my dad scream my name, but I had no idea where he was, and I didn't care. I felt the evil consume me, and it felt great. I let it take me over. I wanted to teach these bastards a lesson. I felt the evil come over me, and when it completely consumed me, the rain and weather stopped. I looked up and I was surrounded by a red aura. "What.. what is that!?!", I heard one of the creatures yell. "I.. I don't know.. Kill her men!", the other one said. " I don't think so", I said in a cold voice. All i did is look up at them and focused. "Boss.. I can't move!" one of the Minotaur shouted. "You guys are weak let me... what the hell? I can't move?! What are you doing to us?", He asked me. It felt as if someone else was controlling me, and it felt good. I looked over at Eissen and dad and gave them the "stay there" look and walked over to the bastards who killed my mom. I stopped when I got to them. I looked on the ground and saw my reflection, and did this look familiar. My coat was a dark grey, my mane was black and red, my eye color had turned blood red. I smiled and saw that my teeth were sharper. I looked back up and turned my head. My cutie mark was different too. It was now red surrounded by black magic. I turned back and looked at the monsters. "So... You like pain?", I said with almost no emotion. "Do you like pain?! If you love it so much, then why don't I give you some of my pain?!" I thought of every sort of pain I could. From being dissected alive to being impaled, and I made them feel it all at once. I made them feel every pain imaginable. I started to grin at their screams. I laughed at their cries. "P..Please s..stop!" One of the wolves shouted. "Stop?... Stop?... STOP?! DID YOU STOP WHEN MY MOTHER CRIED?! DID YOU STOP AT HER SCREAMS OF AGONY?! DID YOU?! NO, YOU DIDN'T!", I screamed at them and I heard my voice echo. All the memories of my mom flooded back into my head. When she would tuck me in at night and tell me story. When she would sing to me when I was scared. When she would hug me when I was sad. All the things she did for me.. and I could protect her.. I couldn't save her... and no one was going to save them. "It's time to die, you abominations!", I said with a sinister smile. I started laughing, and slowly pulling them apart with my magic. Their screams of pain was pleasure to my ears. I slowly ripped them apart, one body part at a time. From their toes, to their fingers, they were going to die. While I was doing this, Eissen's words popped in my head. "You used light magic Viel, that means you have a pure heart. I laughed at this. If that was true, I wouldn't be doing this right now. I didn't care though.. all I cared about was getting my revenge. Eventually all the monster were dead, except the timberwolves. For them I made them suffer anything I did before, only this time ten times worse. After I was finished I used what magic I had left to rip them to pieces. A spray of blood went everywhere. It got all over my coat and mane, and I licked it off my face. It tasted good. I felt really tired then. I started to slowly black out again. This time though, I heard two voices "Embrace your dark side Viel, and we will become unstoppable.", I heard an evil voice say. It wasn't the same voice as before. This one sounded more like the good voice, except a lot darker. "Do not listen to her Viel, you must maintain your good side. Without it Vigor will win.", I heard the good voice in my head say. Great now I have two voices in my head. I had no time to respond to them before I passed out, but as I hit the ground I heard a different voice, one that sounded Celestial. The voice I heard all those years ago as a little filly. She said to me, "Remember Viel, always trust your heart. Friendship is the only way to bring back the harmony. Never forget Viel, you need your friends." I slowly faded away at those words... Friendship... that was something I didn't need right now. All I wanted was my mommy back.