//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Forgotten // by Fiji Firefox //------------------------------// It was a lovely, sunny, Monday morning. The lavender mare, Twilight Sparkle, was bustling hurriedly around her temporary home, the Golden Oaks Library. Her faithful assistant, Spike, stood in the middle of the main room, watching his mother-figure briskly trot about, the clip-clopping of her hooves background noise to her rambling. “What’s so important about this…"get-together" anyway, Twilight?” Spike asked, interrupting her concentration. Twilight took a moment to give a glance at her baby dragon, a hint of anger tinting her gaze. “This…is not a simple get-together, Spike! It’s a royal summons!” She cried, trying to swallow her temper. “Okay, okay, a royal summons. What’s so special about it?” Her assistant asked, genuine curiosity lacing his voice. “It’s so important because the Princess summoned me herself!” She shouted, her temper finally taking the best of her. “It might be something important and you’re saying that this isn't special?” She had walked over to Spike and had her muzzle very close to his face, her breath bellowing out of her nostrils. A frightened expression painted itself into Spike's expression as he backed away slowly from the raging purple mare. The rage quickly drained from her purple eyes and her muscles relaxed back to their normal state. “I-I’m sorry…Spike…I didn't mean to snap at you like that...I-I'm just so nervous.” She apologized. “Aww, it’s okay, Twilight.” Spike replied, walking towards a couple of books that had fallen from one of the bookcases. “Thanks Spike. You're definitely my Number One Assistant.” She said. She continued her brisk trot around the library without another moment’s hesitation, gathering supplies for her journey to the grand city of Canterlot. After she’d stuffed her bags till they were bursting at the seams, she sighed deeply as she looked around the library one last time before she began her journey. “Well Spike…” She began, looking at Spike with tears in her eyes. Spike caught this and said, “Don’t worry Twilight! You’ll be back soon! And I’ll be here waiting for you, just like always!” He reassured her. Tears never leaving her eyes, Twilight leaned in for a quick embrace. When she pulled away, she nodded to Spike, gesturing that he was in charge until she got back. He smiled like a dope as she pushed past him and towards the doorway. Spike rushed forward and opened the creaky oak door for her. Twilight stepped into the doorway and looked out at the beautiful city of Canterlot, its marble finish shining in the growing rays of the bright morning sun as it sat on the mountain side. Twilight turned away from the glowing city to take a last look at her dragon assistant, his eyes shimmering like platinum. She patted his head as a last farewell and headed out the door, Spike closing it behind her. She trotted happily through the streets of Ponyville, watching as everypony started their day; from elders to sitting on porches in the sunlight with cups of hot tea at hoof, to young fillies walking down the street towards the school house, where their beloved teacher, Ms.Cheerilee, was going to teach them about the world one little bit at a time. By the time Twilight reached the edge of Ponyville, it was already noon. I’d better hurry or I’m going to worry the princess… As the thought raced through her mind, she quickened her pace towards the train station. When she arrived, she read on the bulletin board that the next train to Canterlot would be arriving at about 12:15 p.m. Twilight gave a great big sigh of relief. So I'm not late at all. As she waited for the train to arrive, she tried to do as many things as she could to think of to occupy herself like; reading one of the books that she’d brought along or re-reading the letter that had arrived from Celestia about summoning her to the royal city. Sweat started to trickle down her face as she ran out of ideas to make time fly. She worriedly looked at the train station clock as it struck the time of 12:14. Almost there…just one minute to go…she thought restlessly. She glared at the clock to try and make it tick faster, not succeeding after trying for a few seconds. She looked around and caught sight of their coffee booth. It was the only thing that she could think of to pass the time, so she walked over, grinding her teeth at the thought of their horrible coffee. As she reached the window, she quickly poked her muzzle inside her bag to bring out two bits. She laid them on the counter and looked at the grumpy mare behind the glass as she spoke, “Can I have one cup of caffeinated coffee please?” The mare grunted but gave her the cup of coffee she’d asked for, taking the bits off the counter before replacing the empty space with the cup. “Thank you.” Twilight said, smiling at the pony before using her magic to lift the cup up from the counter. She then turned around and walked back to where she was standing before, taking a sip from her cup. And just as she had predicted, the coffee quality tasted terrible, and she didn't take another sip until the train arrived. The screech of its brakes brought her from her thoughts and she smiled with relief. She quickly dropped the still full cup into a nearby trash can and trotted aboard the train, a train ticket held firmly in her mouth, which the conductor punched a hole in to grant her the wish of riding the train. Twilight smiled at him and went into the next train car. It was completely empty. “Well…it sure will be quiet on the train ride this morning.” Twilight said to herself as she picked a random seat and looked out of the window at Ponyville. She could just make out the ponies in the small town, getting on with their days. Twilight smiled to herself and laid back in the seat she had chosen. Something dark caught her eye and she looked across the aisle at a stallion covered with a brown cloak, the hood up and over his head. He was looking out of his window. She never noticed him until now but she didn’t really need to pry into other’s lives. She shrugged, closed her eyes, and soon fell into a light nap. Twilight woke up half an hour later to the sudden jolt of the car on the rails. She quickly jumped out of her seat and into the aisle. She glanced towards the stallion with the cloak to see if he was alright and saw that he hadn't moved from his seat. The only thing that was a sign of movement was the sparkling red aura around his horn. Twilight looked out the window, only to whip her head around towards him again. Something about his unicorn horn looked very familiar; black with a red splatter at the tip of it. Twilight thought to as far back as she could and looked throughout each day trying to remember if she’s seen him somewhere before. As she thought, she suddenly remembered when she and her friends had to save the Crystal Empire. “King Sombra?!” She gasped, the important summons suddenly forgotten. He turned his head at the sound of his name to come face to face with the shocked mare. Twilight caught a glimpse of his gleaming white smile in the shadows. She heard a soft chuckle as Sombra slid off the seat. He lifted a hoof to the top of his head to pull down the hood that had shielded his eyes and face. Her eyes widened as she backed away from him. When she thought she was safe distance away, she stammered, “How…you…we…huh?!” He chortled again and got close to Twilight, who kept backing away. “I-I thought that you were destroyed when the Crystal Empire was saved?” Twilight asked softly, still partly in shock. “Ah, yes. The Crystal Empire. You see, my horn didn’t get ruined during the explosion that was supposedly supposed to "kill me." And if you didn't know; I can control my horn with or without it even it being attached to my body.” Twilight gasped. “But…how can you…?” “Now that, my dear, is a secret…” He said ominously. A chill crept up into Twilight’s back. “I had the power to rule over others…I liked that power.” He told her, crawling closer. “I liked it so much that I would have killed if it was taken away from me...” He snarled. Twilight felt something flat behind her and looked back to see what it was. A table? A chair? Anything but the... Her eyes met the wall. …wall… Twilight twisted back around and nervously smiled; trapped against the wall of the train car. King Sombra stopped as he neared and looked down into her frightened eyes. “And since it was taken from me, I’m going to get it back…” He paused. “But for me to win it back...” He leaned down and whispered into Twilight’s ear. “I must dispose of the little fillies getting in my way and ruining my opportunities for world power.” His horn flashed a brilliant red just as the train started to bump along the track again, making Twilight shake. Sombra hadn't finished though. “It’s you first…then the others…” And with that, he disappeared into a puff of black smoke, his evil smile still visible for a moment before it vanished completely. Twilight felt the train jolt, and she stumbled over to the window to investigate. As she peered out, she saw that the train had run off its tracks. The train flipped over almost as soon as she discovered that and it kept flipping over and over again. It seemed as an eternity had passed before the train finally stopped. Debris spewed everywhere as the locomotive halted its flipping descent. Twilight bumped her head as the train abruptly landed. She rubbed it sorely and cracked open her eyes to look at the ruins around her. Her eyes showed her; the windows of the car were all broken and cracked, the lights and light bulbs had shattered, and the seat cushions had rips and tears cut into them from the glass flying around. Glass shards were scattered around the bottom of the train, which Twilight realizes is really the ceiling because the carpet from the aisle is up above. She gingerly stands up and slowly walks to the upside down doorway. The door was nowhere to be seen, so Twilight just struggled through. When she arrived at the next train car, there was a large opening in the wall that led to the outside. She walked past more debris and squeezed through. When she was finally outside, she shook the remaining debris from her coat and decided the best thing to do was try and find the staff of the locomotive. She walked around to the engine and looks inside cautiously, afraid of what might be inside waiting for her. She peeked in, expecting to find the worst done to the engineer, but there wasn’t a single trace that anyone had been there at all. She climbed in, and looked around; the seat wasn’t warm, and the levers controlling the train were bent, and some weren’t even there. Countless wires flowed everywhere; the floor, the ceiling, and everywhere in between. Twilight struggled to try and not get herself tangled in the jungle of red, white, blue, green, and yellow. She safely climbed out, and walked to a spot where she could gaze at the train fully. Twilight Sparkle looked over the locomotive for a few minutes, not spotting anything that would suggest there was life still on it. She stood there, staring at the train, processing the event that had just occurred and looking to see if anyone was still left on it. She searched for a little less than an hour, her hope too great for her actual confidence. She finally broke down when her hope shattered inside of her heart, and Twilight collapsed on the ground, exhausted and sore. She took one last look at the devastating scene before her before she closed her eyelids and fell into a light sleep. Her mind took her into a dream where she was standing alone in a dark room. The words King Sombra had whispered to her echoed around and never seized to stop. I must dispose of the little fillies getting in my way and ruining my opportunities for world power…it’s you first, then the others… A picture of her friends and Spike revealed itself like it was on a screen in a movie theater. Twilight stood up, and slowly walked towards it, finding a smile poking at the corners of her mouth. But then...the picture changed. It changed to something dreadful. Twilight gasped, and tried to look away, but she didn’t seem to have any control over her hooves or head. Pinkie Pie was lying on the ground her legs sprawled in the same direction and arrows were planted in her flank and neck. Blood was trickling out of her open mouth and onto the ground in a tiny stream, and her unseeing eyes were staring at nothing. Rarity was pinned up against a torn up house by what seemed like hundreds of arrows. There was one arrow that had been shot straight into her forehead. It was made out of metal, so it could crack the skull and pierce her brain. Parts of her skin had been torn off by the dodged arrows grazing her flank. Applejack was lying on the ground nearby Rarity, a long javelin sticking out of the place where her heart would be. Her eyes were closed and so was her mouth, but Twilight could just make out the thinnest trickle of blood pulsing from it. Twilight gasped; terrified. By the way things looked; it had looked as if Spike had been trying to protect Applejack from the hit. Rainbow Dash was hanging upside down off of a building, arrows pinning her legs and chest to the house. Her mouth and eyelids was closed due to gravity. But something about them didn’t seem right. Grinding her teeth, Twilight looked closer, realizing that only one of her eyes had been closed. Twilight flinched when she looked at the other side; Rainbow Dash’s right eye was missing from its socket. The dark shadow of the empty pocket seemed so…wrong… Fluttershy’s death seemed the most frightening; a javelin had been stabbed in through her back, the non-bladed side planted into the soil, leaving Fluttershy stuck in mid air, her sightless, terrified expression looking up towards the sky for eternity. Twilight’s expression was growing more and more frightened the longer she looked at that picture. But what really frightened her, was when the bodies in the picture started to stir. Each of her friends started to rise up on their hooves, one after another. Twilight stared, suddenly realizing they were coming towards her. She backed away as the zombie Pinkie slowly crawled out of the picture, followed by the others. When they were all back together, their blank eyes shifted to look at Twilight. They limped towards her, their faces contorted with anger and pain as they advanced. Suddenly, Twilight couldn’t move anymore, she had been frozen to her spot. She looked down at her hooves, but saw nothing holding them down. She looked back up to see the corpses of her friends had come closer. She gulped nervously and stared at them. “Frightening…isn’t it?” A familiar voice asked behind her. Twilight whipped around, only to find herself lying on the ground back in the forest with the train wreck. She opened her eyes the rest of the way and slowly got to her hooves. She stretched her aching muscles for a few moments before she began walking around the train once more. Then she started to wonder what time it was. Her horn started to emit a purple glow along with some leaves on a tree. Twilight pushed the leaves apart with her magic and looked up at the sky. Twilight eyes widened; there was no sky. It was a big black blanket of nothing. The canopy seemed to be enchanted, though, because it was stronger than Twilight’s magic, and closed almost as soon as it had been pushed apart. Twilight stood, frozen, to her spot, as she stood staring at the sky that wasn’t there anymore. Sweat started to trickle down her forehead and into her eyes, making them burn and blur her vision. She finally awoke from her trance at the first sting of salt. She shut her eyes tight, and kept them closed, until she was sure the feeling was gone. She reopened them slowly and looked around at the surrounding trees around her, making sure that she kept a close eye on the shadows of them. She didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, so she started forward and into the unknown. As she walked down the aisle of trees, she looked from side to side, searching for signs of light. Once, she didn’t pay attention to where she was going, and she bumped into one of the trees muzzle first. She got bumped back onto her haunches. She started to rub her sore nose with a hoof, until she realized that something weird was with the tree she bumped into. She looked at it and saw that the bark was wavering and water-like. She got up casually and walked over. She gingerly touched the bark with a hoof, which the response was like touching the surface of water. A part of the bark disappeared for a moment where she touched it, replaced by a simple grey color. She backed up as it switched back to the rough tree bark and looked around at the trees again, wondering where she really was. She thought of something, and then shut her eyes tight. This isn’t a forest…there was no train wreck… Twilight thought repeatedly. She opened her eyes a sliver and looked at her surroundings. They were gradually changing, changing to simple grey walls and no sky. This isn’t a forest… She heard a sudden whooshing sound and quickly opened her eyes. The whole forest, top to bottom, had been changed completely to…a maze. Twilight glanced around, and widened her eyes. She quickly inched forward and looked around the nearest bend, only to see yet another grey hall. She began to walk around aimlessy, until she thought, what is this place? “This…” A sudden voice began, booming around throughout the maze. Twilight hit her back against the wall when the voice startled her. She listened to it though. She didn’t really have that much of a choice. If she wanted to learn where she was, it had to be now. “…is the inner core of your complicated mind. If you hadn’t done so much studying and cramming so much knowledge in here, you wouldn't have the maze problem, now would you?” The voice asked Twilight. She didn't answer the question, though. She was still trying to process what he had just informed her about where she is. In my mind? That’s not even scientifically possible! “Wrong you are, Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia herself, and the leader of The Elements of Harmony.” The voice said mockingly. “You see, you are not physically trapped here. It’s all an illusion in your perspective.” He explained. “Your real self, is under my total control, though. "So in the real world, you’re going to do whatever I ask you, whenever I ask you.” “Y...you…you jerk!!” Twilight screamed. “Why are you doing this to ponies like myself and the others?! What have we ever done to you?!” A long pause in the vocals told Twilight she had hit a soft spot in the conversation. “What you…what you did to me…” His voice shivered angrily. “What you all did to me was unspeakable and cruel!!” He shouted; a familiar black puff of smoke appearing in front of her. King Sombra stepped out, his eyes burning like a thousand suns. “You…took away everything I had to live for...” He took a menacing step toward her as he went on with his rage. “…family…friends…my beloved teacher…my home…my.." He paused. "My...love for..you..." Sombra spoke softly for the last part and looked away for a moment, for he got flustered for a second before he regained his menacing figure once more. “I got cast away from everypony…I had nothing to live for anymore…” He voice grew very grim as he continued to stare into Twilight’s eyes. “After my home, family, and friends got taken away from me…I thought you would be the one to stay with me…” His stare hardened as he remembered something painful. “But no…when I told you how I felt, you rejected me…dammit, I was so stupid then…” Twilight’s purple gaze widened in shock and misunderstanding. “W-wait!! When did I even do that?! I never even met you before the Crystal Empire!” She interrupted in rage. “So I see…” Sombra said; a painful, distant look in his eyes. “You don’t even remember your early days in Canterlot then…” He said, turning around. “What do you mean?” She asked, a snarl tinting her voice. Sombra sighed sorrowfully. He turned around to face her and closed his eyes slowly. He reopened them and began to gather energy into his horn. Twilight looks suspiciously at it and backs away a few paces. He leans towards her and lets his curved horn touch her forehead before Twilight could move back any further. Instantly, before Twilight eyes, the images and small videos of Canterlot flash through her mind like a movie. Sombra stands a little ways away from her, but keeps his eyes on her. Twilight steps forward slowly as she watches. She sits down when a short video of her and her childhood best friend appears on the screen. They were just fillies then, so that meant neither of them had gotten their cutie marks yet. Her friend was just like her; he studied a lot and he was very smart. He mostly studied the night though; he felt the night had more character than the day. He was also the apprentice of Princess Luna. Twilight’s eyes started to tear up as she looked over her shoulder towards Sombra. His eyes had never left her, so her eyes met his. They stared at each other for a long time, neither of them moving. “Long Shadow…I’m sorry…” She apologized. King Sombra smiled wearily at his beloved. “…but I have to stop you…for the sake of my teacher, friends and family…so they don’t get hurt…” She said, sadness lacing her voice. She galloped away, leaving the dumbfounded and broken-hearted Sombra long behind her as she quickly meandered her way through the twists and turns of the maze. She heard a loud explosion crack from somewhere behind her, though, she never quit galloping. She heard a terribly loud scream from the King, making Twilight’s back shudder. A large shadow crossed over her as she ran on, never looking back to see what it was. Suddenly, a thick black mist formed in the maze’s halls. Twilight froze, unsure of where to go. A light bulb went over her head as she realized something; she could just use her magic as a light and find a way out of this frightening place. She felt the usual energy flow up to her horn as it started to emit an unnatural light. But, then, the light went out, leaving Twilight in the suffocating mist. Sparkle looked up at her horn, but saw nothing. She then heard a loud thump not too far behind her. She flinched and blindly tried to find the wall. After a few moments of struggle, though, she finally succeeded. She brushed up against it and walked forwards; keeping her tail on it so it could tell her when there was a turn or stop. She followed the wall for what seemed like an eternity, the twists and turns starting to make her mind go crazy, until she finally saw something ahead. It was a small dot of pure white light. Assuming it was the exit, Twilight Sparkle pushed away from the wall, now able to see where she was putting her hooves. She galloped quickly towards it, a relieved smile gathering itself on her face. But as she grew closer, something suddenly started to block the light. Twilight stopped in her tracks when she realized who it was. “S-stop, please.” Sombra voice pleaded sadly. “No…I’m not going to let your trickery fool me…I have to sto—” Twilight’s voice was cut off as a pair of lips pressed against her own. “Mmhph!” Twilight stood there for a moment, dumbfounded and dazed, until she finally realized what was happening. She pushed Sombra away roughly, not looking him in the eye. Though, as she stood in front of the exit, Twilight gazed at him for a moment over her shoulder, seeing that he was staring back. The King suddenly leaned forward, his eyes wide and his hoof outstretched towards her, as if trying to reach her. “N-no. Don’t leave me…” He stammered as she pushed her way into the light. His eyes welled up as he began to transform into shadow. “…I..I love you…” Tears finally broke free from his eyes as Twilight was engulfed in the Light.