It was dark and musty.
It always was.
There was nothing to brighten the sky; no stars, no moon, no dawn. Just lonely darkness and wisps of clouds drifting by once in a while. The ponies walking by were barely noticeable in the deep blackness covering their beloved home of Equestria.
Occasionally, there would be a small dot of light passing by. A candle, to be precise, carried by the rich ones to see. As the light appears around the corner of a raggedy building, a group slides out of the darkness as if drawn to it, and surrounds the light, trampling the rich pony harshly trying to get near the warmth and light of the flame. But as this occurs, their struggle would cause the flame to be smoldered.
When the ponies are suddenly plunged back into darkness, they step back and you can hear their hooves’ clicking fading into the black.
In the midst of this bedraggled group, there was a small, young little filly. Her name was Fillevera, but she preferred to be called Vera. She had a light purple mane with a dark gray coat. She was an earth pony, and she hadn't discovered her special talent yet, so she didn't have her cutie mark.
I'll get to that later. She would always think whenever she would happen to glance at her blank thigh. She had to worry about other things like keeping free of sickness, staying warm, and helping out her family.
Everyday was the same to her; dark. One night though, she had a strange dream; she found herself standing in huge white hallway lined with gold, with golden pillars holding up the roof, which were lined with gold patterns such as zigzags, swirls, and clouds. The hallway was lit up extremely, and at first, Vera had her eyes shut tight against the brightness she had never known.
Suddenly, she started trotting forward, as if someone was pulling her by a string and controlling her movement. After a while of this, she started seeing these…creatures. They were tall, and didn't have any hooves. She didn’t know what they were, and she wanted to stay still and study them more to find out what they were, but her legs never stopped moving, and the nonexistent string kept on pulling her forward.
* * *
When she walked a little more down the strange hallway, she saw more creatures like the first ones. When she was staring at one, her legs stopped moving abruptly, causing her to lose her balance and fall face first into the polished, white tile floor. When she looked up, she saw the bottom of what looked like a very regal throne; pure gold with all sorts of different jewels lining the bottom, top, and sides, including the arm rest.
Then, Vera notices yet two more creatures; one sitting in the throne, and one standing next to it. She gazes at the pair, noticing that she can now study them without being interrupted. She looks closely at the two, and guesses the one sitting is a male because of his facial hair and bulky frame, and she assumes that the one standing is a female because of her thin, fragile-looking frame.
The man looks down sharply, surprised as if he didn’t know she had been standing there. He then leaned over urgently to the woman and whispered something in her oddly shaped ear. Since ponies have excellent hearing, Vera heard what he whispered, “I thought you said we would be expecting a human, dearest…” Vera was about to protest after she heard that, but the man sat up quickly and addressed her before she had a chance to.
“What is your name, child?” Vera was a little taken aback by the sudden question, but she barely hesitated a moment. “Fill-Fillevera…sir,” she squeaked, realizing just how small and insignificant she must seem to them. The man glanced at the woman, and the woman stared back angrily, as if daring him to say something else to her. As they were in the middle of their ‘staring contest’, Vera still had one question to ask. “What about your names?"
Both the man and the woman both looked equally surprised at this question and gaped at the small filly. Vera suddenly got very frightened and was about to take her question back, but they answered her before she could say anything. “My name is Hera.” The woman said. “And my name is Zeus.”
It took a second for Vera to process their names, but when she did, she felt a little more confident. But Vera still had one question on her mind.
“Why did you bring me here?”
The humans were prepared to answer that question,“Because there is a very important prophecy we need to tell you Fillevera, so you can tell your…people,” Hera said. Fillevera noticed the slip-up, but nodded and listened as she spoke the prophecy:
“Moon and Sun will come together with a bang and a crash;
to keep you in line with peace, fairness, and kindness.
And though there will be times with great troubles and frights, indeed,
they will always be there to help and care for you…”
* * *
Vera woke with a start. Vera then realized that she had cold sweat forming on her forehead. She shifted in her bed onto her back so she could look up at her ceiling. She looked at her ceiling when she needed to think, so she did it in most of her spare time. She remembered her dream and then remembered the prophecy: Moon and Sun will come together; to keep you in line with peace, fairness, and kindness. And though there may be times with great troubles and frights, indeed, they will always be there to help and care for you…Vera repeated this over and over in her mind, struggling to keep it remembered so she didn’t forget about it later.
Fillevera clambered out of her bed and fixed her mane a little before walking outside. As she walked out of her small shelter into the cold, piercing wind of the darkness outside, she made a small gasp as the wind reached through her fur and touched her skin, giving her goose bumps. She looked around the dark alleyway blushing, hoping nopony had heard her. She looked around again, suddenly feeling like she was being watched and nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard something shuffle in the darkness.
“W-who’s there?” She saw a faint outline of a pony slide into the alley. “Don’t worry…I’m not here to hurt you,” the strange pony said in a thick, raspy voice. Vera heard some more shuffling and a sudden flicker of light appeared not too far from where she was standing. Vera shielded her eyes briefly, but pulled her hooves away to look at the light. The flame showed that the mysterious pony was a mare, covered by a dark brown hooded cloak that had tapered down corners towards the end. Vera tried to take a look at the mare more closely, but she was so intrigued by the light, she couldn’t concentrate long enough. Her eyes widened unnaturally as she continued to stare at the small fire, and she slowly started forward towards it.
The strange pony watched in silence as Vera was drawn forward. When Fillevera was side-by-side with the small, brass candle holder, Vera suddenly swiped a hoof at the small flame, trying to grip it. But as she did so, the wind from her passing hoof blew the small flicker out. As Vera’s brief moment of hypnotism ended, the brown cloaked pony sighed heavily, as if annoyed with what she had just witnessed.
Fillevera blushed slightly as the cloaked pony lit yet another light. Vera stared at the light, starting towards it again, but then she felt the gentle push on her chest. She looked down to find tan hoof pushed up against her. She looked upward to come face to face with the mystery pony, who shook her head at Vera.
The mystery pony then set the light down upon the littered ground, and sat down herself, gesturing at Vera to do the same. Fillevera sat down very cautiously, but got distracted by the flame again, so she ended up plopping down heavily on the ground. She got a little bit flustered, but the strange pony never seemed to notice and went straight to the point. “You are chosen…” She blurted out suddenly. “…What?!” Vera jumped up, shocked at the sudden outburst. “You have been chosen to do something very important. Something that the whole world of Equestria is counting on…”
Vera listened eagerly as the mystery pony went on speaking. She spoke for a long time, and Vera started to get bored as time passed. After a while, Vera was getting comfortably warm from the flame, and was just on the brink of falling asleep, when the mystery pony stopped talking, and since her talking was lulling Vera to sleep, the sudden silence brought Fillevera back to the dark world. Then, the cloaked pony asked if Vera had any questions she wanted to ask. Vera then realized she did have one question. “What’s your name?”
The mystery pony didn’t seem shocked at all about the question, and Vera heard a little chuckle from the shadows of the hood. Then the strange pony placed a hoof on the top of her hood and pulled the whole cloak off. Vera was blinded by the cloak for a second. When she could see again, Vera saw her unicorn horn, mane, and tail come bursting out of the article of clothing. “My name…is Magestic. I’m a full-fledged sorceress, and I was summoned here to help you with your task.” Fillevera was very impressed by the grand introduction the mare gave, and was about to ask what she needed to do to get started with her “task”, when she got distracted a faint voice calling her name from the littered streets of Ponyville.
"Fillevera!"
It was Fillevera’s mother calling to her, wondering where she was since she hasn’t been out on the streets with the rest of the group. Vera began to panic when she started to hear her mother’s clicking hooves just around the corner of the building. Just when she was about to blow out the flame, her mother finally appeared around the corner a moment too soon. She saw the flame, and noticed the strange pony sitting by it, staring back at the mother with deep, calm eyes. Then, Fillevera’s mother turned her head towards her, giving her a questionable gaze.
Vera then realized she was going to have to explain everything that was going on. Vera sighed heavily, “Oh great...” “Fillevera…what’s going on?” Vera’s mother asked after a few moments of looking from the flame, to the mystery pony, and back to Vera. “It’s a long story, mom…”
* * *
Fillevera explained everything to her; the strange dream she had just last night, to the meeting of Magestic the sorceress. Vera’s mother listened in awe and amazement as she described her dream and what it was like being there. Magestic listened just as intently, but with a little less enthusiasm as Vera’s mother, as if she was in her own little world, half listening, half not, just…thinking. Fillevera was a little distracted by this, and she almost completely stopped in mid-sentence when she wished she could have the powers of the unicorns to read minds, but then she silently scoffed herself for thinking so far into the future, for unicorns hadn’t developed that much power yet, so she went on with her story.
When Fillevera got lost in her own words when she was reciting the prophecy during her story, and her mother must have been getting a bit bored with how long Vera’s story was, because she was beginning to get distant by staring at the flame and almost blew it out when she swiped a hoof at it, like what Vera did before. Magestic was amused by this but kept watching in silence as Vera’s mother made another blow at the flame, making it go out this time. Magestic sighed once again and made another flame using a simple magic spell. After that, Vera’s mother got a little flustered, but listened to the rest of Vera’s story without anymore interruptions or distractions.
When Fillevera finished her story, her mother was silent and still trying to process everything she had just heard from her one and only daughter. After a few quick moments, her voice came back to her and she said, “What is this ‘task’ of yours that you’re apparently supposed to do?” Fillevera stayed silent, for she didn’t know what her task was at the moment. When Vera didn’t answer, Magestic took this as her que to begin explaining. “She was just about to ask me before you came looking for her, so you didn’t miss anything… your task,” she said, turning to Fillevera. “Is to bring the whole world of ponies together for a very, very important…gathering… a celebration so to speak, for two ponies who are going to save you all from your dark and gloomy graves once and for all…”
* * *
After Magestic explained the rest to Fillevera, she knew what to do. All she had to do was get everypony together so they could put on a celebration for the coming of two mysterious ponies, which apparently were going to change their lives forever. Fillevera set out with Magestic soon afterward, and they went from one end of the map to the other, telling everypony they met about the “celebration” that was going to happen in Ponyville in a few days, and that if they wanted to go, they’d have to get going as soon as possible. At their last stop, which happened to be the home to the pegasi; Cloudsdale, Magestic had to use another spell so Vera could walk on clouds. They also asked two nice pegasi to help Fillevera get up into Cloudsdale and back down again.
The pegasi did just as they promised they would, and Fillevera told all the pegasi who were willing to listen to her invitation. When Vera got back down to the ground with the pegasi’s help, she and Magestic set off once more, now almost completely done with their journey in search of guests for their celebration gathering. Just as they were arriving home, they were being followed by a group of ponies coming to see the “Sun & Moon celebration,” that Ponyville was apparently going to hold but didn’t know it. She started to slow down so the other ponies to pass into the town, and when they were gone, she turned quickly to face Magestic.
“What am I going to do about the Ponyville residents when they hear about the celebration “their” going to hold!? I’m pretty sure they’re going to find out soon enough, and I’m positive that they’re not going to be happy about it either!” Fillevera blurted to Magestic. “Calm down, Fillevera. I’m sure if you can talk to them into it, they’d be okay with what you did. And if you tell them about the dream you had, I’m pretty sure they’d be even more convinced they should do this, and with teamwork, I’m absolutely positive you guys will make it work.
After Magestic’s little encouragement speech, Fillevera worked up enough courage to walk up in the front of the crowd and start her speech. “H-hello everypony…” she started. A few ponies barely looked over at her, but then they just turned back around and ignored her. Vera tried for some time to try and get their attention, and just when she was about to give up, Magestic stood up and helped her out a little. When she came to the front; where Vera was, she used her magic to make hers and Fillevera's voice louder.
But before shespoke to get the ponies attention, Magestic stepped forward and cleared her throat. “Everypony…” she said, looking around to see if she got anyone’s attention.
“Everypony…” she said again, still not getting anyone’s attention. “EVERYPONY!!!!!!” Magestic screamed suddenly. It got deathly quiet, and everypony looked at Magestic, startled. Vera was just as surprised as them. Magestic looked pleased as she continued with what she was saying. “Now that I have your attention,” she said with sharp change of tone. “I have somepony who would like to talk to you about the…celebration that’s supposed to take place here…”
Since Magestic was standing in front of Fillevera, she stepped aside to let the ponies rest their eyes on her. Some ponies started to mumble and mutter under their breath, but with a loud, quick clearing of Magestic’s throat, every single one of them got quiet to hear what Fillevera had to say. When she felt dozens of pairs of eyes pierce her pelt, she suddenly realized she was the only one who could really explain what was going on here. “Here goes...” “Um…hello, everypony… I know your all wondering why you’re here and what’s going on; I’m the one with the answers to your questions…” she began. “The reason I brought you all here is to--”
“But you’re just a filly, you should high-tail outta here and let the big ponies talk about what should be done about this…dilemma…”
Some ponies agreed, but Vera wasn’t done talking yet. “As I was saying…” Fillevera said, trying to change her tone like Magestic did. That seemed to work, because she didn’t hear another peep until she was actually done speaking. “Why I have brought you here is actually because of a dream I had a few days ago that these creatures spoke to me and told me of two mysterious ponies who are going to come and change our way of life.” The group of ponies; which was steadily growing as she continued with her speech, was beginning to murmur with unease at these words.
You're losing them, Vera... Fillevera thought to herself. “It’s okay everypony!” Vera said, talking in a louder voice through the megaphone, trying to talk over the loud group. “Don’t worry! I have a plan!” She shouted. Some of the ponies turned to look at her, as if expecting for her to continue, but Fillevera wanted their FULL attention when she explained what her plan was.
Right when she was about to explode, one of the ponies in the crowd got up and said, “Everypony quiet down, now! That young filly up there said she has a plan, and I’m pretty sure it’s at least worth listening to!" The mare said, looking up at Vera. “Yes…yes it is.” Vera explained what they had to do to about starting the celebration. “And I’m pretty sure you all will be pleased with the results of hard work, dedication, and teamwork. When we’re all in this together, this celebration will be the best one we’ll have yet!” She finished.
The whole crowd of ponies cheered and stomped their hooves at these words, and when Fillevera looked back at Magestic, she nodded at Vera, obviously pleased with the speech that she had given. Fillevera turned back around, pleased with herself, to find that a small group of ponies were surrounding her, asking all at once about which jobs they should have. At first, Vera didn’t know what they were talking about, but then she realized that if they were to hold a celebration; a big one in their matter, there had to be games, food, and most importantly; the big ceremony for the arrival of the two ponies. That was going to be the main event, and in Fillevera’s case; it had to be spectacular.