Some legends remain forgotten. Some remembered but shrouded in the inky mists of time. And some live on, but are cursed with misconception. Others still, deserve to be forgotten, hidden away for none to see in a time long past. These legends tell of a time, a time when nothing was sacred. A time when war between good and evil. A war between black and white, bathed in the gray middle grounds, raged in Equestria. Simply thought of as foal's tales, these stories now lack the dire urgency of which they were crafted. Just a bedtime story to scare little ponies, nothing more. Some are known, some are forgotten, but all live. Somewhere, deep in Tartarus's depths, monsters from an age long past scream for revenge, howl for payback. Are a few magical chains and a three headed dog enough to stop these monstrosities? None will know, until it is too late.....
“And that's why the headless horse never came back to Equestria again. The end!” Mrs. Cake shelved the book she was reading and turned to the cake twins. They sat in their cot, bolt upright and wide eyed from the story.
“And was the foal ever heard from again?” one of them asked. They had grown a lot since Pinkie was foalsitting them, even learning to talk.
“Of course, sweetie,” Mrs. Cake said, kissing her children on the forehead before walking to the door. “It's just a story!” she said cheerily as she blew out the candle, plunging the room into an unsettling darkness. “Goodnight!”
“Goodnight, mom!” the two foals said lying down to go to sleep. After Mrs. Cake left the room, Pound Cake turned to his sister.
“Do you really think it's just a story?” he said, looking at the dim form of his sister through the darkness.
“I don't know,” Pumpkin Cake said, rolling over to look at Pound, “I hope so.”
Pound Cake had been turning this phrase over in his mind ever since he heard the story. 'Ma says it's just a story, and it probably is, but what if it isn't?' he thought in a circular train of thought, day after day.
Whenever he brought this up to his parents, he was brushed off as being 'unresonable', but yet he continued to think about it. It became almost like an obsession. He couldn't stop thinking about the headless horse, eating ponies, weilding magic from an unseen horn....it all seemed so real.
Whenever he cleared his mind, the first thought to pop into it was the headless horse. Day after day, his obsession grew worse, until the day all hell broke loose.
-------
“And the serpentine snake was never heard from again!” Applejack finished reading. Applebloom sat in her cot, shaking a little from the story, even though she knew it was all in good fun.
“Were the ponies ever heard from again?” she asked worriedly.
“You bet your hay they were, why, I'll bet they showed up the next mornin' after dawn!” Applejack said, moving over to the door. “Goodnight, li'l sis, sleep tight!” Applejack blew out the candle, engulfing Applebloom in an inky darkness. The door swung shut, blocking the single ray of light coming from the hallway, completing the darkness.
“Well, I know big sis says it ain't real an' all, but what if it is?” she asked herself, rolling over in bed to try and find a comfortable position. Ever since she heard the story a month ago, she wasn't able to stop thinking about it. First, it was like she really liked the story and wanted to talk about it all the time. But as time went on, a simple like grew into an unhealthy obsession.
She tried to contain it, not talking about it whenever she could. But lately, she had begun to slip up. She said thing's she didn't mean to say, as though her mouth had a mind of it's own.
“I really don't wanna think about it, honest!” she said to herself, pouting a little into the bed sheets as the images of a grinning snake forceably pushed their way into her head. “Stop it!” she said a little louder, but the images took no heed. Every night was like this, her dreams were saturated in the evil creature; an obsession was growing.
“Why me! Why me?!” she said through tears. Tonight, was like any other night. She would cry and fight the images and thoughts entering her head, eventually falling asleep, only to be haunted by the images in her dreams. Even Princess Luna was powerless to stop it.
Applebloom's fears cropped up. She began to be scared of her own mind, scared to stop thinking for a second as evil thoughts might fill the void.
“I think we need to get a doctor for her,” Applejack said to Big Mac outside Applebloom's bedroom.
“Eeeyup,” Big Mac said, his face contorted with concern.
“Anyway, I'm gonna hit the straw, see ya in the morning!” Applejack walked into her bedroom and closed the door, thinking about her sister. “Well,” she thought, “She don't seem to be want'n that snake in her head, but what are we supposed to do about it? An every night, she begs me to read the story, but when I finish, it's like she's fighting with herself!”
Applejack lay down on her bed, shaking her head. “We really need to get a doctor,” she blew out the candle and settled in for a good night's sleep.
------
“Sister, we have a problem,” Luna alighted next to Celestia after a nightly run checking up on the dreams of the ponies in Equestria.
“What is it, princess Luna?” Celestia said, getting out of her bed. It was something like two in the morning, but Celestia trusted her sister to only wake her for dire emergency's, besides, she was up anyway.
“The dreams of Equestria, they are poisoned,” Luna said seriously as she and her sister walked down the red carpeted hallways of the palace.
“Poisoned?” Celestia asked, concern growing on her face.
“Many of the fillies and colts in Equestria dream of monsters, of hate, of destruction. But I notice something,” Luna explained, “A collection of twenty children dream of the same monster, all in all, there are ten monsters being dreamed of in full.”
Celestia's face grew in concern. “What monsters are they?
“Well, as I recall, the Headless Horse, the Serpentine Snake, Fire Lace, the Horse Reaper, the Ghostly Knight, the Army of the Lost Sword-” Luna was cut off.
“The Army of the Lost Sword doesn't sound like one monster,” Celestia interupted.
“According to legend, they are a band of ponies formed to find Hialth, the Sword of Long Past, supposidly the most powerful weapon forged,” Luna explained.
“Keep on,” Celestia sat down at a table, Luna took the other seat.
“The others I do not recognize,” Luna said, still looking at her sister.
“We have a problem, Luna,” Celestia said, “Foals all over Equestria are dreaming, night after night about monsters from a time long past.”
“You're saying, that all these monsters in foal's tales are real?” Luna said, surprised that her sister would believe such nonsense.
“Not entirely,” Celestia said, getting up from the table, “Let us move to the library.” The two sisters walked in silence, each mind was filled with thoughts and worries.
“The foal's tales are based off legends,” Celestia said, pushing open the door to the library. Inside, bookcases lined the walls. A magical lamp hung from the ceiling, giving light but not flame, for risk of lighting the books. The soft magical light filled the room, a purple tint in it.
“But you don't mean to say these tales are true, Tia?” Luna said scepticly, walking alongside her sister as Celestia feverishly picked out books from the shelves.
“No, but I am saying that they are based off of legends from a time long past,” Celestia moved to the reading table in the center of the library and set the books down with a soft thud. She began to sort them with her magic, the books arranged themselves on the table and she opened one.
“This is the oldest record we have of Equestrian legends,” Celestia said, flipping through the pages of the book. Luna watched intently from her spot next to her sister.
“As you can see, the same monsters you saw in the dreams are here in the book,” Celestia passed the book to her sister. Luna took it in her own magic and flipped through the pages, a look of surprise on her face as she saw stories and illustrations of the monsters which haunt Equestria's foals.
“I note these stories are not adapted for children, none have a happy ending,” Luna said as she set the book down.
“I know,” Celestia opened the book to the legend of the Headless Horse and left it there. “I know, they have been adapted and twisted to fit foal's tales, but in reality, they are much, much worse.”
“Sister, do you mean to say that the monsters in these legends are real?” Luna asked, wary of her sisters train of thought.
“I don't know, Luna,” Celestia closed the book, “But the dreams you observed have led me to believe that that is a possibilty.”
“We will consult in the morning, my sister,” Luna said, “You get some sleep.”
“I'll try Luna, I'll try,” Celestia walked back to her bedroom and closed the door. Lying down in bed, she tried to find a comfortable position, but none seemed to satisfy her worries. 'We'll figure it out, somehow,' she thought to herself over and over. Eventually, she fell into a light and worried sleep, just as the sun was schedualed to come up.
-----
Meanwhile, on the eastern rim of Equestria, the pit, Tarterus, in which all things evil are imprisoned began to shake. Screams from ferocious monsters howled out of it's depths. Cerberous stood guard, his three heads growling and snarling, irritated from the sound.
Deep in the bowls of the earth, monsters pulled at their chains,the groaning of strained iron added to the din. The chains were enchanted so none could brake them. But slowly, one by one, aided by the power of nightmares and the obsessions of foals, the enchantment unwound. Sparkling thread of mystical energy unwound and littered the floor, fizzling, crackling. Soon, the chains would brake, soon monsters of a time long past would be free.
----
Not too far away, a cloaked Equestrian figure ran through the woods, smiling as she fled. Reaching a small hut, she threw open the door. Her horn glowed brightly as she stepped inside, illuminating the small room with a purple glow. An oaken desk sat as the lone piece of furniture in the house. Ink and quills sat on it, along with parchment.
The cloaked unicorn stepped up to the desk, grabbing a quill and dipping it in ink with her magic while moving a piece of parchment to the center of the desk. She grinned as she wrote, scratching down the words feverishly.
Storm Wind,
The spell works, fears of the monsters, obsessions of the monsters grow within Equestria's foals. The power of their nightmares powers the monsters. Even princess Luna is powerless to stop it. They will rise. Soon our army will break free and ravange all of Equestria. Pass this message on to the others.
May the legends live on,
Sunset Shimmer
After completing the letter, the unicorn blew it away, flying thousands of miles to a similar house in Everfree forest. Sunset Shimmer threw back the hood of her cloak, showing the red and orange mane falling over her left eye.
“They thought they could simply leave me there?” she asked, grinning deviously, “They thought I would learn the 'magic of friendship' with those losers? Well I'll show them magic, THAT EVEN THEIR FRIENDSHIP WON'T BE ABLE TO STOP!" By this point, Sunset had taken off her entire cloak, revealing the rest of her body. Laughing crazily, she walked out of the house and walked about ten feet away.
"I'll show them power," She said, still laughing slightly. She powered up her horn, aiming right at the house. A bolt of yellow and orange magic engulfed the structure, a fizzling and a crack was heard and then...
*BOOOOM!!!*
The house exploded. Timber and nails flew everywhere, landing around Sunset who had cast a protection spell around herself. When the dust cleared, two ponies sat where the house had stood, bound and gagged. The original owners of the place.
"Run, why don't you?!" Sunset Shimmer asked, laughing. A burst of magic later and the ponies were running over the horizon. "And don't come back!" Sunset added, shouting at the couple. She regained her composure from the near psychological state to which she had gone.
"I'll show them," she muttered to herself, throwing the black cape over her body, shrouding it in darkness. "We'll show them all!"