“What in Celestia’s name happened to Canterlot?” The flapping of wings created a distinct sound, echoing unnaturally through the collapsing city. A streak of purple illuminated the skies temporarily. The figure continued to fly over Canterlot, terrified at the sight of raging flames and charred corpses. This figure was lavender, harbouring a horn and two powerful wings. She bore a six star-like shape mark surrounded by white sparkles. On her head, a golden crown with a crest similar to her mark shone bright. This was Princess Twilight Sparkle.
As she flew, she spotted Ponyville. It was hard to miss, as an enormous flame roared from a certain oak tree. That was her old residence, and it was burning down. Fear latched onto Twilight’s heart as she remembered two people still lived there. Were they alive? She flew even faster to the Golden Oak Library, the name of her former home. Landing harshly on the ground and kicking up a circular cloud of dust, she approached the tree.
“Spike? Owlowiscious? Are you two there?”
No response.
“Please, someone answer me!” Twilight felt tears streaming down her cheeks. It wasn’t like Spike to just give up, and Owlowiscious would never go down that easily, but as the oak burned down to its roots, she feared the worst. To her horror, among the ash lay two bodies; one of an owl, and one of a dragon. They were dead. She fell flat on the dirt, tears now gushing out of her eyes. But then she viewed the fire. A fire of that caliber couldn’t have started naturally without someone setting it off. Suddenly, something hit her; something went off in her mind.
“Dragons… are fireproof.” No matter the age of a dragon, their scales were invulnerable to fire and lava. Spike himself told her after the Dragon Migration fiasco a couple years back. Twilight backed away slowly, grasping the events she had witnessed.
“This….is a dream! A nightmare! None of this is real!”
“Very clever, Miss Sparkle. It would seem that you have seen through my deception,” a voice rang out. In an instant, the entire scene collapsed into nothingness. It was dark. Twilight looked around, but of course, nothing was visible. That was, until a pair of crimson eyes appeared out of nowhere.
“Who are you?” Twilight's horn began to spark with magic, preparing for an attack. “How can you be in my head?”
“Oh Twilight, no need to ask such tedious questions. Everything will come together. Just as planned. Your fellow princess, sweet Celestia, shall dispatch you soon to confront me. But you will not return. I will impale you and those you hold dear with a swift strike. Spike, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and even the lovely Fluttershy will writhe in agony before your very eyes. One by one, they’ll cease to live, until it comes to you. I hope you enjoyed your sleep, for it shall be your last.” The eyes shut, only to open again with electrical sparks coming from the outer corners. Twilight couldn’t react as an azure thunderbolt approached her head and-
Blank…
Twilight shot up in her bed, breathing heavily as her eyes darted around the room frantically. Rays of sunshine cast themselves onto her covers and onto her head, calming her gradually. She gazed onto the floor for a moment and then looked up. Tilting her head in slight confusion, she saw six beds. In each bed, the covers shifted spastically and faint mumbles of the word ‘No’ were heard. She realized that her friends were here, but she couldn’t quite remember why they were here.
“Hold on a second…” Everything began to rush back to her head. Princess Celestia had summoned them all the night before to discuss something urgent, but do to an odd delay; her friends didn’t arrive until late last night. Celestia had suggested that everypony (and dragon) get some rest, so they all decided to crash in Twilight’s room.
For a while, she was the only one awake, until her friends shot up. Twilight gazed around, noticing everyone, from Rainbow Dash to even Pinkie Pie, was trembling.
“Are you all alright?” asked Twilight as she clambered out of bed. Rainbow shook her head.
“I had a crazy nightmare that all of Equestria burned down. Everyone was dead, and I mean every single living thing,” she waved her hooves around. Everyone stared in awe.
“I had the same dream…if you don’t mind me saying,” said Fluttershy meekly. Twilight paused. How was this possible? Only one pony could do this, but Luna wouldn’t do something this severe, and King Sombra was dead.
“What do you think this means?” Spike asked as he clutched his chest; his heart still beating hard from the nightmare.
“A voice told me that this was a planned event. It said that this would be my last sleep. It also said it would kill everyone here.” Twilight said as she walked over to the window, gazing at the rising sun.
“Ah reckon everyone here heard that voice,” Applejack grabbed her Stetson hat as her friends nodded in unison. Brushing it off, they all got out of bed. Soon, the room was filled with ponies and a dragon getting ready. They were going to see Princess Celestia and Luna, after all.
The doors swung open as Twilight and her friends walked down the hallway to the throne room. At each pillar in the castle, a guard stood tall. Whether it was Luna’s or Celestia’s was trivial. However, this was more defense than usual. Each guard was armed with a lance and a cup of coffee. No one really understood the coffee part.
They approached the doors to the throne room, guarded by two dragons. Spike eyed the two skeptically, only to be greeted with a fierce snarl and a pointed sabre. He wasn’t fazed, and gave a smug look back. Nopony was surprised. Over the years, Spike had grown taller that the ponies, but was the same size as them when on all fours. His baby fat was gone, leaving lean muscles and a sinuous tail. His spines were like daggers.
Twilight was let in, but they stopped everyone else. She turned and nodded, giving a signal to both dragons. They let everyone pass, but elbowed Spike on his way in. Princess Celestia sat in front of them.
“Celestia, what’s with the coffee for all the guards?” asked a curious Pinkie Pie. This earned a round of sighs, but Celestia answered anyways.
“I shall explain everything, but first, did you all rest well?” Twilight shook her head.
“We all had nightmares; the same nightmare,” said Twilight as she pointed to her friends.
“Just as I feared. It really has returned,” a distraught Celestia said grimly. “As for the coffee, none of the guards want to sleep. They had a nightmare as well.”
“Only two ponies could’ve conducted this. One of them is gone, and I doubt Princess Luna would create such a thing,” said Rarity in a matter-of-fact voice. Celestia agreed.
“Then who does that leave? Some mumbo-jumbo voodoo spirit with a vengeance?” Rainbow was well out of guesses.
“Celestia, I believe this is why you called us?” Twilight asked.
“It is the reason. These nightmares weren’t caused by Luna, as we have already established, and King Sombra couldn’t have done it. That is what you all believed and you are correct. However, there is one who has the ability to create vivid nightmares and visions, or phantasms.” Celestia descended from her throne and turned to face it. Muttering a simple phrase, her throne shifted to the side, revealing a dusty corridor. “Come with me, and I will explain everything.”
The place was dark, so Spike lit all the torches they passed. It was dusty, and the multiple stairs down weren’t helping. As they stepped down, symbols and marks lined the top and bottom of the wall. They appeared to be ancient runes. As they neared the end of the downward spiral, they were greeted by Princess Luna and Discord.
“Oh, there you are. Lulu and I were beginning to think you trapped us down here!” Discord jokingly said as Luna gave a stare of annoyance. “I see you brought the gang. Now can we hurry up and get this boring lecture out of the way? Equestria is scheduled for a heavy chance of chocolate milk rain.”
“What Discord wanted to say was that we should make haste and explain now.” Luna translated, getting a pouty face from a certain draconequus. Celestia nodded. Lowering her horn, she touched the wall, sparking the runes. As the runes lit up, the dull, gray stone wall became filled with marks and symbols.
“Have any of you heard of the Phantasm Kirin?” Celestia asked.
“The Phantasm Kirin? I thought that was some old dumb pony myth,” Rainbow replied.
“I wish it were, but the Phantasm Kirin is real. I know because Luna and I stopped it.” The wall lit up instantly, causing everyone to jump back. Celestia began her story.
“Ages ago, before Luna and I ruled Equestria, there was a race of creatures called the Kirin. These creatures, even though they appeared to be pony, were a different thing all together. Yes, they looked like unicorns, but they could easily do anypony’s task, from the clearing of clouds like a Pegasus to the handy work of an earth pony. The Kirin lived on the outskirts of Equestria. They weren’t hostile. They enjoyed helping ponies with tasks that were difficult.”
“However, this wouldn’t last. In the Hearth’s Warming Eve play, the windigos were believed to have brought the blizzards, but that fact isn’t truthful. It was a cover-up.” This gained a sharp gasp from Twilight and her friends. Celestia continued.
“The Kirin had brought the snow to try and solve the argument and hostility between races, but instead, this enraged all of them. The Kirin intended for the snow to hinder all three races separately, and only by working together would the snow stop, but no one believed them. When they told the three races their plans, no one would listen. The pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies believed this was an act of hostility. What they ignored was that no one died from the cold.”
“Each one of them realized a Kirin was stronger than each race by a large amount. One Kirin equaled twenty ponies, and as they got older, that number increased. The races could’ve asked them to stop, but rage blinded them. Everypony began to realize that a Kirin could do this anytime, anywhere. So, they all resolved to work together.”
“Isn’t that what the Kirin wanted? If you don’t mind me asking,” asked Fluttershy.
“It was, but they worked together to eradicate the race. The pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies worked together to kill the entire Kirin race.”
“Now what the hay were they all thinkin’? Ah can’t believe they would do sumthin’ like that!” Applejack was just as shocked as everyone else.
“It was a sight most horrid. One by one, they killed the Kirin. Blood tainted the ground as Kirin were burned, impaled, and beaten to death. However, the Kirin never fought back. If they died to bring peace and order among the races, then so be it.”
“Such purpose! Truly, the Kirin were a fine race,” said Rarity. Everyone nodded.
“But they died in vain, for the snow did not vanish, and all three races didn’t want to work together to fix their land. Once again, arguments came up.”
“However, there was one Kirin alive; a pregnant female, ready to give birth. As she lay, beaten and broken, covered in blood, she conceived an infant Kirin.”
“When Kirin are born, they gain the memories of their parents so they know who they’re family is and who they honour. The Kirin also have an elemental affinity, whether it be the straightforward fire or the mysterious light. When the infant was born, it carried the memories of carnage and grief, and was gifted with the affinity for lightning. Afterwards, the mother died.”
“That’s terrible…” Pinkie Pie drooped down. “The baby would never spend time with its family or make any friends.” Celestia nodded.
“This caused the last Kirin to change. To contrast, as the Kirin were known for their peace and order, it became filled with hatred and wrath towards all three races of pony. It swore vengeance on everypony.”
“As the years went by, that kirin trained in black magic. It learned to create vivid illusions, or phantasms. As it grew, it became larger than the average Kirin, stronger, faster, and its power grew exponentially. Its lightning became stronger than any pegasi could control. Soon, it began to attack ponies in the day. It then realized ponies felt safer as they slept, so it began to give phantasms at night.” Twilight and the others listened, even though the tale was long.
“It soon became known as just Phantasm. That was until Luna and I met it ourselves during the first hundred years of our rule. Luna, care to continue?” Luna nodded as Celestia sat beside Discord.
“We heard that Phantasm had been spotted in a cave in the Everfree Forest. Sister and I were the only ones able to confront it, since anyone who attempted was kept at bay with an electric burst. We even had dragons try, but to no avail.”
“We entered the cave, ready for anything, horns aglow with magic. Suddenly, we heard the slow sound of hooves. From the depths of the cave, two, crimson eyes glowed as something sighted us. As it came closer, our magic-lit horns casted light onto the figure. We distinguished it as a Kirin, and we were afraid. A Kirin could easily kill anything. So we unleashed two beams of energy and ran out of the cave.”
“But we failed as we were taken captive by a large azure bubble. Slowly, the bubble levitated back to Phantasm, who glared at the two of us. It lowered its horn, making contact with the bubble. The azure faded as a deep purple came to be…” Luna’s voice trailed off. Celestia understood.
“That’s when we experienced the phantasms for our own. I dare not recall it in detail.” Twilight sat, wondering back at the nightmare.
“After that event, it became the Phantasm Kirin. Knowing we couldn’t let it linger in Equestria, we harnessed the Elements of Harmony and encased it in stone, hiding the statue from prying eyes.” Discord stood up, shaking his head at the familiarity.
“It shared the same fate of stone as myself. It was only a matter of time before it broke free.”