//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: A Crash in the Past // Story: Stopping the Future That the past Creates // by Yoshi1990 //------------------------------// Lightwing sat in the grass; her green mane fluttering in the breeze. Vivian Rivers, her younger unicorn friend, sat next to her as they looked upon the stars. At the time, Lightwing was thinking to herself. The moon is beautiful in the sky, the stars are beautiful too, but the constant darkness does make problems for everypony. It was weird how such a beautiful thing like the moon could exist in such a dark, cold, and desolate world. It always seemed to bring hope with it when it rose into the sky. The sky looked so empty when the luminescent moon was not there. Lightwing wondered what the sun would look like. Most ponies didn't even know that a sun ever existed or what a sun even was. Despite the fact that an evil dragon ruled over the world in eternal night, life was actually pretty good, but probably not as good as the Equestrian Golden Age was told to be. The fact that most magic was now illegal made lots of problems for ponies who liked that kind of thing. Anything more than a simple levitation spell would bring the full force of the law. Vivian looked over towards her friend. “Your cutie mark seems to sparkle in the moonlight; I wish mine did that.” Giggling softly, Lightwing replied, “Get a glass bottle as your cutie mark, then it will sparkle.” Vivian looked back at the black sky filled with twinkling lights. “What is the news you wanted to tell me?" Lightwing smiled. "I finally made a potion that will allow me to travel back in time, but It only works if I’m going sonic-rainboom speeds." Lightwing had been trying to make this potion for almost 449 years of her 656 year life. Vivian Rivers put her head down and stared at her hooves for a few seconds. "Does that mean you’re leaving soon? Will you ever return?" Lightwing let out a sigh. "I wish I could say I would return, but I don’t want to give you false hope. I’ll try to come back, but I don't think I can. This type of magic always comes at a price. I know that you want to come with me, but we both know that’s not possible without you using some sort of magic, since you don’t have wings." "So now who is going to make anti-aging potions with me or style my light blue mane?" Vivian asked while she giggled. Lightwing gave a false laugh. "Some lucky new friend… that’s who. Don’t become green with envy. More green fur is the last thing you need." With a chuckle and a roll of her eyes, Vivian asked. “Why do you always make that joke?” “Because it’s fun and I have to say jokes to stop my heart from becoming as black as my fur.” “I am going to miss your bad jokes and stargazing with you. Well mostly just the stargazing.” The two girls went into Lightwing’s house to gather the supplies for the trip. They were sad to think they would never see each other again, but it was worth it if Equestria could be saved and none of them would remember this bad place. Vivian went to the kitchen and opened the fridge; she grabbed the muffins that she had made earlier and started packing some into a saddlebag. Lightwing was in her room opening her safe to get a very special book and the dragon pendant that she had stolen from the castle at the Crystal Empire, or at least what was left of the empire. She put the pendant around her neck, and she put a cloak to hide it from sight. Vivian Rivers walked over and gave her friend the saddlebag of food and other supplies. "Here is your food for the trip. I packed the muffins that I made. I know you love them. Do you have your bits and that dragon necklace thing?" Lightwing gave her friend an annoyed look. "It’s a magical pendant! Not a necklace thing! It is directly connected to the dragon’s life energy. So once I absorb all his life energy into the pendant, we can destroy it with the Elements of Harmony and the nightmare will finally end.” She sighed. “But in order for it to work, I must release the dragon from the ice in the Crystal Mountains. So if this doesn’t work, Equestria will be doomed earlier instead of saved." Vivian could see the worry in her friends eyes. "Have faith in your abilities and the Elements of Harmony. Don’t be a silly filly," Vivian Rivers said with a small laugh, "So if you’re ready, we should probably get ready for your departure." Lightwing stared at her friend for a few seconds then answered with a sigh, "True." Vivian sensed the fear in her friend. "Everything will be fine. You just have to believe." The two ponies went back outside. They could feel the never-ending cold air on their skin. The two ponies gave each other one last hug before Lightwing spread her wings. With a quick, "Wish me luck!" Lightwing took off. Lightwing grabbed a teleporting potion from her saddlebag and drank some of it. Thankfully all her potions were labeled for easy access. She closed the bottle and put it back in her saddlebag. Closing her eyes, her thoughts became focused on Canterlot. A moment later, the strange zap sound that happens when somepony teleports was heard. Opening her eyes, Lightwing could now see that she was above the Canterlot Library Ruins. All the ruins of the castle and other buildings were visible to her as she flew over them. She smiled while thinking of how beautiful it would look in the past. Lightwing tightened her saddlebag so it wouldn’t fall off when she was flying at sonic-rainboom speeds and then began to increase her speed. As she went faster and faster, a ring of energy began to surround her until it exploded into a large wave of rainbow energy. With a loud crack, she vanished from that spot and time. Vivian and most of southeast Equestria could see the sonic-rainboom because of the location of Canterlot in the high mountains. Vivian stared at the amazing sight that was so far away and softly said, "Good luck my friend.” The ground shook as something big landed behind Vivian. She slowly turned her head to look behind her and began shaking in fear at the sight of a large ice dragon. The dragon lowered his head to Vivian’s eye level. “Hi, Vivian. That Sonic-rainboom was an amazing sight.” Vivian continued shaking in fear with no reply. “Vivian, you are coming to my castle. Grab your friend’s time travel supplies and bring them with you.” Vivian nodded her head slowly as her horn glowed. “Yes… master.” A saddlebag was teleported onto Vivian. “What now, master?” “I congratulate your friend for traveling through time. We have much to discuss once we return to my castle.” ==================== It was a normal day in Canterlot. The sun was out and shining brightly. Princess Celestia was in the castle talking to some ponies about political stuff. Princess Luna was asleep in her chambers. The newest princess, Twilight Sparkle, was outside talking to her assistant about her friends in Ponyville when a loud explosion was heard in the sky. The source of the sound was a strange rainbow portal that appeared in the sky with a pegasus flying out of it at incredibly fast speeds. "It’s so bright!" Lightwing screamed as she put a hoof over her eyes. Feeling disoriented from the sudden burst of so much light, Lightwing began to spiral out of control. Crashing through a window of one of the castle towers, she hit the floor rolling straight through a wooden bookcase and into a wall. The force of the blow made her faint on impact with the wall. Twilight Sparkle saw the tower the pegasus had crashed into and teleported to it. Some guards came rushing up the stairs and into the room. "Take this pegasus to the medical chamber," Twilight said as she used her magic to levitate the unconscious pegasus onto one of the guard’s backs. "Yes, Princess!" the guards replied as they hurried down the stairs. Twilight thought to herself. I better inform Celestia about what happened. Using her magic, Twilight teleported to the castle’s main hall. "Princess! Something has happened at the northeast tower," Twilight said frantically as she ran toward Celestia. Twilight turned towards the other ponies and said, "I am sorry to cut your meeting with the Princess short, but this is more important than whatever you are discussing with Celestia." Celestia turned her head toward Twilight and asked, "Does it have something to do with that loud sound that we heard from outside?" "Yes," Twilight said with a worried look on her face, "A strange pegasus came flying out of a rainbow-colored portal and then crashed into the tower." Suddenly the main hall doors opened and Luna came walking in. "What was the loud sound? It woke us up from our sleep." "I was just telling Celestia about that," Twilight answered. Twilight filled Luna in and then informed both her and Celestia that the pony was now in the medical chamber The other princesses looked at Twilight with some worry. Celestia said, "Is the pegasus alright?" "I honestly do not know," Twilight said as she looked down at the ground. All three of the princesses teleported to the medical chamber in a flash of multicolored light. The nurse bowed when she saw the princesses. "I did not expect to see all three of you here," she said with slight reservation. With a worried look on her face Twilight asked, "Is the pegasus ok?" The nurse responded with a smile. "She does not seem to have any major injuries." Celestia looked at her little sister and said, "Luna, you should use your abilities and go into the pegasus’ dreams to figure out why she is here and what happened… but do not be too forceful." "We agree," Luna replied. "We should leave and let my sister concentrate," Celestia beckoned to Twilight as she turned for the door. Twilight nodded her head in agreement and both princesses left the room. "Should I leave too?" the nurse asked. Luna gently smiled. "You do not have to but it would be prefered." "Then I’ll leave," the nurse said with some worry in her voice. Luna closed her eyes and started to concentrate. She opened her eyes and saw that it was night. The snow under her hooves surprised her. A bolt of magic zoomed over Luna’s head. When she looked to see the originator of the attack, she saw a light-blue dragon battling three flying ponies. ==================== Lightwing glared at the dragon. “Time for you to die! The Elements of Harmony and I will stop you!” A burst of magic flew at her. While she had little time to react, she managed to throw up a hasty shield. However, this proved to be too little and she was thrown back from the force of the attack. “Are you alright?” cried Twilight. Lightwing nodded her head. “Good,” Twilight sighed. Turning towards her enemy, she loosed a salvo of purple lightning towards the dragon. Unfortunately, the dragon effortlessly redirected her attack towards Lightwing. Lightwing’s shield shattered under the force and she spiraled toward the ground. Fluttershy caught her before she hit. With a shake of her head and a hasty thanks, Lighting wasted no time in taking to the air again. Twilight and Lightwing shot a volley of magic bolts at the dragon as they continued zooming around him until a wave of magic pierced the air as the dragon activated a shield. Lightwing shot a burst of magic at the dragon but it was just as easily deflected as the former barrage. “Twilight, my magic is having no effect on him!” A bolt of magic singed Twilight’s wing as she flew toward Lightwing. “You need to rely on the power of your pendant, not your own magic!” Twilight cried as she retaliated with a bolt of magic back at the dragon. “You can’t be afraid to tap into its powers!” Lightwing focused her mind on the pendant. She could feel the magic energy welling within it. However, before she could do much more, she noticed three balls of magic were lancing straight for her. Lightwing charged a rushed counterspell, but was never able to use it. A concussive boom was heard from far below, and suddenly the air before Lightwing was filled with razor shards of ice, slicing clean through the attack. The pegasus looked down to see Pinkie Pie, way below, waving happily from beside her party cannon. Lightwing waved back thankfully, then focused the energy from the pendant into a single point. Once she felt there was enough power to attack, she released the energy toward the dragon in a beam of light blue magic. Twilight and the Elements of Harmony watched as the magic engulfed the dragon. “Is it over?” asked Twilight as the magic began to fade from around the dragon. An answer was given as there was no dragon in sight. She gasped from shock at what she saw next. “Lightwing, why are you standing where the dragon was, and how are there two of you?” Lightwing stared at herself. “I don’t know,” she replied as she floated over toward Twilight. The two ponies hovered down to the mysterious Lightwing. “Who are you?” The mysterious Lightwing smirked. “Are you blind? I’m you, just evil.” “That’s not true!” she replied to herself. “I would never become evil. Your mind games won’t work on me.” Evil Lightwing shook her head with a smile. “Don’t be a fool. I’m you from the future and you know it. We created the Dragon Pendant and you can sense it as you wear it. If you’re so sure I’m not you, then have Twilight destroy the Dragon Pendant. I can’t stop you because you took my magic away. Know this first. You die with me, if you destroy it.” The Elements of Harmony were now surrounding evil Lightwing. “I’m just a weak and helpless pegasus without my magic.” Twilight looked over at her Lightwing. “What’s your choice, friend?” Lightwing stared into her evil counterparts confident eyes. “I… I don’t know. I don’t know what to believe. I want to save the future but I don’t want to kill me… if that really is me.” The confidence of evil Lightwing only grew more. “Give into your selfish desire to stay alive. I know it’s in you. You want to live to see the dark future gone. I know you will do anything to make sure it ends, but if you kill yourself… you will never know if you truly won or not. Lightwing sighed in defeat. “She is right. I just hide my fear behind my temporary magic. Twilight… destroy the pendant. I’ll die if it means saving the future. I just hope it’s the right thing to do.” Twilight’s eyes glowed white as rainbow magic surrounded her. The magic moved to surround the pendant and it shattered into nothingness. Evil Lightwing began to disintegrate into the air. “Good work. You have now killed us and failed to save the future.” Lightwing started to feel weak. Her world began to black out. Before she lost all sight, she saw the Elements of Harmony turn into stone and shatter. Lightwing opened her eyes. She was now floating in a black void and Luna was standing in front of her. “Am I dead?” she asked. Luna shook her head. “Where am I if I’m not dead?” “Thou are asleep. The nightmare hath ended.” Lightwing poked at the mysterious void she was in. “Then I should be awake. I always wake up after these nightmares.” “Your body is too weak to wake up. How common are thy nightmares?” Lightwing looked to Luna with worry. “I usually have them three or four times a week but that does not matter.” Taking a firm stance and tone of voice, she continued. “I want you out of my mind. I don’t trust other entities in here.” “Then we shall leave. Are thou sure about not wanting our help? We are willing to help with thy fear of hiding with magic.” “Yes, I’m sure,” she answered with annoyance. “Now leave before I make you.” Luna looked amused. "Does thou really think we could be defeated so easily?" Lightwing rolled her eyes. "Yes! This is my mind. So I am ultimately the one in control." Luna giggled slightly. "Do not worry thy self. We shall leave. We shall see you again when you wake up." and with that, she vanished from sight. ==================== Luna opened her eyes and exited out of the room. Seeing that Luna was done, the nurse went back into the room. In the castle's main hall, Celestia was continuing her meeting, and Twilight was sitting there too. Luna entered the main hall and told them that she had not learned anything. "You did your best," Celestia replied as Luna began to leave the room. Luna yawned. "We are going back to sleep." ========== Later that night ========== Lightwing opened her eyes and yawned. "I really hate those nightmares." She looked out the window to her left and saw that it was night time. “This is where I would have a midnight snack to calm myself down. Eating ham with my pet snake was very calming. I wish she was here with me. She thought. The nurse turned her head towards Lightwing and smiled. "I hope you had a nice rest. Was it nice talking to Princess Luna?" "I did not really talk to the Princess a lot, and where did you put my saddlebag?" said Lightwing with a little worry in her voice. The nurse giggled. "It’s under the bed." Lightwing sighed. "That’s good to know. Thanks for the info, nurse." "No problem." Lightwing raised an eyebrow. "Am I allowed to leave this room?" "Yes, you are, but you have to have a guard with you at all times. It’s the Princesses' orders." Lightwing sighed. "I guess that makes sense." She got out of the bed to grab her saddlebag and cloak. Lightwing opened the door to the room and motioned to the guard that they were leaving. The guard nodded and began to follow her. She opened her saddlebag to see if everything was still in it and intact. Unsurprisingly, everything was perfectly fine. “It’s a good thing I used diamond bottles. Glass bottles would have totally broken when I crashed. Where are Princess Celestia and Luna?" The guard answered, "Celestia is probably in her chambers, and I don’t know where Luna is.” The two ponies continued their walk through the castle. Lightwing was really enjoying the beautiful scenery of the not-destroyed castle. The moonlight looked amazing as it reflected off of the walls and stained glass. "Hey!" Twilight yelled from across the hall. Lightwing stared at the purple pony as she ran up to them. "You’re um… Twilight the element of magic… right?” Twilight smiled. "That is correct. I guess I am more popular than I knew." She giggled at her next thought. Probably still not as popular as Celestia. The guard looked at Twilight and invited her. "Would you like to come with us to see Princess Celestia and maybe help us find Princess Luna too?" Twilight nodded in agreement and the three ponies went to Princess Celestia's chambers. It took close to five minutes to reach their destination. The guards at the doors bowed to Twilight. "The princess has been expecting you two." Lightwing looked a little confused. Why would anypony be expecting me? The guards opened the doors so Lightwing and Twilight could enter. Celestia heard the doors open and greeted them. "Welcome, Lightwing and my student." Lightwing looked at Celestia with a slightly confused face. "How do you know my name?" I don’t know if I’m liking this. "Luna told me," Celestia replied. Twilight raised a hoof. "Should I go get Luna? This does seem important for both of you.” Celestia nodded and Twilight teleported away in a flash of purple light. Celestia looked back at Lightwing. "How is your night going, my little pony?" "Pretty good. This is quite a nice castle you have here." It’s better than I expected, but that’s not a surprise. In a flash of light both Luna and Twilight appeared in the room. "We are here," Luna said as she walked towards her bigger sister and sat next to her.Twilight chose to lay down. She found it more comfortable. Celestia put a wing over Luna. "Lightwing, I think it’s time for you to tell us why you are here, how you got here, and what you want to do here.” "Ok," Lightwing responded as she sat down and began her story.