Twilight was awakened by a loud knocking at her front door. It was shortly followed by a calmer knocking and the sound of voices. Twilight recognized one of the voices as belonging to Rarity, as well as the second set of knocks.
The alicorn stumbled out of bed and to her window. She saw that the clock tower read 7:04 PM. She went to bed only two hours before, and it wasn’t even night yet. She’d never been to bed so early, but the night before, she hadn’t gotten to sleep until after four in the morning. As she made her way to the stairs, she heard the door open, probably thanks to Spike.
“Sorry, Twilight’s asleep right now.” Spike whispered.
“Oh, this is bad time?” Rarity asked. “Grey, do you mind if we wait until the morning?”
Spike craned his head over and caught a glimpse at the bat pony standing behind Rarity.
“Now’s fine.” Twilight yawned as she got down to the first floor. “What’s the matter?” her voice was groggy and her words were slightly slurred.
“I met this pony on the way back from the fashion show in Canterlot. She said that she needed to speak to you and I picked something up for you in Canterlot.” Rarity explained, stepping aside to let Twilight see Grey.
“My name is Grey Cloud.” the bat pony stated, scraping her hoof at the ground.
Spike stepped back. This was his first time meeting a bat pony who wasn’t wearing the armor of Luna’s Royal Guard. He’d never spoken to one before, and he’d always heard that they were, on average, very hostile.
“Nice to meet you Grey Cloud.” Twilight paused to yawn again. “I’m Twilight.”
“I need to speak with you about that book that you wrote. About Mist Valley.” Grey stated.
Rarity froze up at the mention of his name. It was a sensitive topic around Twilight. She didn’t know him well, but he had practically saved her life, and later gave his life in an attempt to save the world. A sacrifice that turned out to be in vain. “I’ll just give you the gift tomorrow.” Rarity smiled awkwardly before galloping away.
“I’ll just leave you two alone for a bit.” Spike said before running up the stairs.
“I’m not really in the mood to talk about him. I’m sorry.” Twilight shook her head.
“I knew his family. His real family.” Grey stated, catching Twilight’s attention.
“That’s not possible.” Twilight thought back to Celestia telling her about the sudden appearance of Valley. How he came from the same place as Vim.
“His mother and father were killed. The last thing that I saw before his uncle, Ink, threw me through the gate was a mare named Midnight Vim. I can only assume that she killed him.” Grey stated, clearly affected by the statement.
Twilight nodded, taking mental notes of everything that Grey said.
“Inkwell, Leaf, Valley, and I were running from a pony who called himself the Overlord. He came suddenly and without warning, bringing with him an army of warriors. We never knew of an official name for them, but Inkwell always called them Fissure. The cracks in their bodies made him think of fissures. He made them wipe out whole cities, I don’t know of any other survivors.
” Grey explained, bringing up memories that brought her to tears.
“I’m sorry…” Twilight said quietly. “You haven’t told me what happened to Leaf.”
“He went out to fight the Fissures, I don’t know the details, but he couldn’t have survived. Fissures can’t be killed; I don’t even think that they feel pain. I only hope that his death was quick.” Grey wiped her tears away with her wings.
“But did you really come to me just to talk about Mist Valley? You seem to be focusing more on telling me about the other Equestria than asking about Mist Valley.” Twilight yawned, remembering how tired she was.
Grey’s face may have been blushed, judging by her expression, but due to her dark grey coat, it was hard to tell for sure. “I was hoping that you might tell me about those few weeks before your coronation. The day before is all that I can remember, and the same applies to everypony that I’ve spoken to about this matter.”
“I’m sorry, Grey Cloud, I really am, but I’m not allowed to discuss-” Twilight started.
“Stop saying that!” Grey cried. “I don’t want ‘I’m sorry’s’ I want answers. Mist Valley died during that week and I need to know why.”
“All I can say is King Sombra. I shouldn’t even say that much, but I can’t leave you like this.” Twilight whispered.
“Sombra…” Grey’s expression looked like she seen a ghost. “But how? He was with Vim and the Overlord in the other Equestria?”
“As far as I can tell, Sombra took Vim back here with him. It was the Sombra from this Equestria that had Vim doing his dirty work. In the end, she gave her life to save me.”
“She sought redemption? No wonder, considering the cities that she leveled after killing Princess Celestia as a filly.”
“She what?” Twilight shouted back, the shock waking her up.
“Yes, she killed Princess Celestia by Sombra’s request. A few years later, when Nightmare Moon came back, Sombra tried to convince her to join him. He mentioned what happened to Celestia and Nightmare Moon went berserk. She lost it and tried to kill him. He knocked her out and tortured her for three years before killing her when she still refused to join him.”
“He had me for a short time, but I was rescued. I thought that I was going to die the whole time though. He starved me and held my friends as bargaining chips. He killed one who had come to save me because I refused to attack him…” Twilight’s eyes refused to part from the floor as she spoke.
“Sounds like him. But if they came here, than what’s to stop the Overlord?” Grey asked.
“I’ll go talk to Princess Celestia about it tomorrow and I want you to come with me.” Twilight covered her mouth as she yawned again. “I really need some sleep though. Do you have a place to stay?”
“Not really.” Grey shook her head. “I’m nocturnal though… mostly. I’ll just go for a bite and stretch my wings while you sleep.”
“I’ll see you in the morning then. We’ll meet at the train station, at about ten.” Twilight nodded before stumbling up the stairs and collapsing onto her bed.
Grey turned around and stepped back into the early night. The first thing that she did was take off vertically, flying straight for the moon. She pulled the sunglasses off from over her eyes and looked down at the soft shades of the small town. The night was her world, one of soft colors and quiet lives. It had been this way for ten years now. Ten years more than she wanted.
At full speed, she threw herself at the ground, pulling up at the last second and flying in the direction of the forest in the distance. Time to put that little pony’s accuracy to the test, time to see if the forest was like she had written. The bat pony flew into the forest at top speed, tearing branched off of trees using only her forward momentum. She pulled up sharply as she was met with an overgrown timberwolf.
As she flew away from it, she heard it yelp out like a dog that’d just been beaten. She stopped in midair and turned to look back at it, her curiosity piqued. Broken shards of wood covered the ground where the timberwolf had stood. She watched for a few moments, waiting for it to rebuild itself, but that never happened. Either it was too scared to let its attacker know that it was still alive, or it was dead.
Something that was capable of doing that to a timberwolf that towered over a pony was precisely that kind of thing that Grey wanted to find. Anything to make her feel like herself again.
The pony flew close to the ground, looking for any animal that would be able to do something like that in such a short time. She looked around, noting some poison joke that lined the forest floor around her.
“Come on out! I’m waiting for you!” she called, taunting whatever it was.
She had the overwhelming feeling that she was being watched. She was unable to see anything, but she knew that something could clearly see her.
Suddenly the mare began suffering from shortness of breath. She couldn’t get any air into her lungs and it took her a few seconds to realize why, but when she did, she gathered up all of her strength and took to the sky. Over the next few minutes, she was able to catch her breath, but her time to enjoy herself was gone.
A stallion walked down the streets of Canterlot, heading to speak with Princess Celestia. He had news from his latest mission, news that the Princess would most likely find to be very interesting. There were still a decent number of ponies roaming the streets, despite the incredibly late hour. There was supposed to be a concert, courtesy of Sapphire Shores earlier that night.
The pony eventually reached the castle gate and greeted the guards as he always did, with a simple and silent nod. They opened the gate and allowed his passage. There were an exceptional number of guards on patrol that night, meaning that something had supposedly happened. Nopony was speaking to the stallion, implying that whatever had happened was above his pay grade.
“Ah, you’re back. What’s it been this time, three months?” asked a mare standing at the door to the throne room.
“Three months, two days, thirteen hours, twenty two minutes, and seven… eight… nine…” the stallion replied, keeping eye contact with the mare.
“Yeah, I get it. Just get your tail in there, Haze.” she laughed at her partner.
It had been eight years since he’d come to Canterlot and the closest to anypony that he’d gotten was with his work partner, Shimmer. She couldn’t describe their general relationship due to the fact that it varied every day. One day, he seemed like he could stand her, and the next, he acted like he wanted her to just fall over dead. He was a tough pony to get along with, but Shimmer was patient, she grew up in a “broken home” with no mother and a father who cared more about cider than about his own daughter.
“Whatever you say, Shim.” the stallion walked into the throne room, adjusting his shaded goggles as he did.
“Ah, Haze.” Celestia nodded to the dark stallion. “What news do you bring?”
“That gate has been open for ten years. Sombra, Vim, and Mist Valley weren’t the only ones to come out.” Haze stated.
“Do you know if that Sombra was originally from this Equestria or the other one?” Celestia asked.
“Here, but in the other world, he’d been there for ten years. This is due to a lapse in time when traveling to that world from this one. I can’t explain how it happens, but I know that it’s true.” Haze stated, his voice staying monotone.
“I see.” Celestia nodded again. “You mentioned that more than just the three travelers we are aware of have come through. Do you know the identities of the others?”
“There is a bat pony. She has been somewhat of a recluse for the past decade. I know that she spends much of her time in bars, yet she has never purchased a drink in all of her time here.” Haze explained.
“Interesting. Do you feel that she poses a threat?” Celestia asked, stepping down from her throne as Luna entered the room.
“She just passed through Canterlot at about noon where she took a train to Ponyville. I believe that she intends to confront Twilight Sparkle about something.”
“As a precautionary measure, I’d like to have a couple of guards be alert in Ponyville. If she’s been hiding for ten years, there can’t be a good reason.” Celestia stated.
A pair of guards that were posted by the door nodded before swiftly running off to get a group in Ponyville.
“What’s going on?” Luna asked, having entered the conversation near the end.
“Come with me and I will explain everything that I know.” Celestia wrapped a wing around her sister. “You may go, Haze.”
Grey concealed herself in the branches of Twilight’s tree house, watching carefully for any sign of danger. It was getting close to morning, so she’d covered her eyes back up with the sunglasses. She wasn’t sure what was normal for a small town such as Ponyville, but things seemed calm enough. That is, until four armored ponies entered her line of sight. Two pegasus, and unicorn and a bat pony. They wore the armor of the princesses.
They did a scan of the area, looking for something, or somepony. Grey would have gone out to speak to them, but she wanted to make sure that Twilight would be safe as well. Maybe the activity would draw it out, but then what? She couldn’t kill the thing, that was impossible, but maybe she could get it away from them.
She could faintly hear them speaking, but they didn’t seem to be trying to hide their conversation.
“I don’t know. All she said was to keep an eye out.” the unicorn stated, shaking her head.
“How in the hay are we supposed to do crap without knowing what in Tartarus we’re supposed to be doing?” the bat pony growled. He was in no mood to hide his short temper.
“Shut it rookie. If we wouldn’t know when we saw it, then she would have told us.” the stallion pegasus stated.
The mare pegasus turned and looked out into the distance. “Why don’t we just cover the four corners and keep an eye out for anything suspicious.”
“Or we could ask her.” the bat pony stated.
“What are you talking about Rogue?” the pegasus mare asked.
“Her, don’t you see ‘er, Twister?” the bat pony pointed a hoof at the tree.
“Get down from there and identify yourself!” shouted the pegasus stallion.
“Hush!” Grey shouted between clenched teeth. “She is sleeping in there.” Grey slowly floated down to the guards, giving up on her plan.
“What were you doing up there?” the pegasus stallion growled, slightly quieter than before.
“My name is Grey Cloud and I was keeping an eye out for something that I have a feeling was going to be coming after her.” Grey stated.
“Why hide?”
“When you want to catch something that can’t be fought off guard, then you need to hide. Otherwise it isn’t very off guard.” Grey turned her head suddenly at the sound of a breaking twig.
“C’mon Temp, she’s telling the truth.” Rogue stated, stepping between the two.
“It’s Tempest. You will not abbreviate my name, and you will refer to me as sir.” the stallion half shouted.
Rogue pulled Grey aside and spoke with her privately. “He’s got a real stick up ‘is rear.” the pony joked.
“I’m inclined to agree with his thoroughness, however inconvenient it may be.” Grey maintained her blank expression. “What’s the unicorn’s name? I heard the rest of your names, but not hers.”
“She’s a funny one, her name’s Raid, or at least that’s what she goes by.” Rogue stated. “What are you doing so far from where bat ponies usually live? If you were a guard, it would make sense, but you aren’t.”
“I had some questions for the princess who lives here. After we spoke she decided that we should speak with Princess Celestia.”
“You mentioned something about being watched.” Rogue asked, finally dropping his joking attitude.
“I was flying in the Everfree Forest and something destroyed a timberwolf in only a couple of seconds. I think that it is probably after Twilight considering what happened before her coronation.”
“You’re not supposed to know about that.” Rogue pointed out. “How do you know about that?”
“Twilight told me after I told her what I knew about the other Equestria that Vim had come from.” Grey answered.
“Okay, so… need any help protecting her until you can get to Canter-” Rogue stopped when Grey’s hoof flew toward his face.
“Quiet. We’re being watched. Get your friends and get the princess out of here.” Grey commanded as she spread her wings and lifted her body into the air.
She watched in silence as the four guards moved to Twilight’s door and knocked before letting themselves in. Seconds later they were back at the door, surrounding Twilight in a manner that made it to where nothing could make a move at her.
“Just tell me what’s going on.” Twilight shouted, much more awake than she’d been before she’d gotten to go to sleep.
“Something is here and we have reason to believe that it intends to harm you.” Tempest stated in a very formal way.
“I can protect myself.” Twilight stopped walking.
There was a flash of light as a Keyblade appeared in front of her. The Dawn Star, it was her personal favorite.
“It won’t work. They can’t die.” Grey said calmly.
“I’ll seal the heart then.” Twilight referred to one of the newer Keyblade based spells that she’d learned.
“Locking the heart is a loophole to death. That would be perfect… if they had hearts.” Grey shook her head.
“You’re talking about the Fissure, right?” Twilight asked.
“Yes.” Grey exhaled a deep breath. “They used to be Heartless, but then the Overlord did something to them.”
A hissing sound started behind Twilight and she jumped, expecting a Heartless, but her eyes met with the glowing violet orbs of a stranger creature. It looked like a Heartless as far as body form was concerned, but it had cracks everywhere. It almost looked like a living statue, cracked by weather and time.
She swung her Keyblade at the creature, but it was stopped upon making contact. There was a loud crashing sound as the Keyblade hit it, but the Fissure didn’t react at all. It wasted no time hesitating before making a counterattack. Twilight was quickly shoved aside as Tempest moved to protect her. It was a terrifyingly brutal sight, seeing a pony’s heart ripped out like that. These creatures didn’t hesitate to kill, that’s how they were programed to act. The Overlord took the Heartless and he cast a spell on their minds, changing them from creatures who stole hearts by instinct, to creatures who stole hearts for pleasure.
A loud clap of thunder sounded in the distance as the Fissure loomed over the crimson pool in the grass. It looked up at Twilight and slowly cocked its head to the side and smiled through teeth that dripped with blood. Twilight had to hold back a scream. She thought that Sombra was bad, she thought that there was nothing worse than what he had been doing, but this thing didn’t hesitate; it didn’t show remorse. It simply killed.
“Run!” Grey shouted, shoving the alicorn forward.
A bright flash of light accompanied by a loud blast of thunder shattered the alicorn’s willingness to resist. It was enough to snap her out of the awe that the death had put her in. She watched as the bat pony kicked the monster in the face, but to no avail.
Through the smile, a voice spoke, transmitted through a high level spell. “Twilight Sparkle.” it said calmly. “I know the folly of my pupil, Sombra. He thought that you could be changed, but I know that isn’t an option.” the Fissure stood there as the voice spoke through it. The unchanging expression was unsettling. “I won’t be making the same mistake that he did, I will kill you. There will be no safety from me. I will find you and your friends and I will kill every last one of you.”
“No! I won’t let you hurt my friends!” Twilight cried back.
“You’ll be powerless to stop me. As for you Grey, I have something special in store for you. After the surprise, I will also be extinguishing your light as well.”
“That’s fine by me. Assuming I am allowed to take you to Tartarus with me. You took away every reason for me to live. I only wish that you could suffer as I have, but you can’t feel heartbreak because you can’t feel love.” Grey stared at the creature.
The Fissure closed its mouth and moved its head to a more natural position. It stared back at Grey for a few seconds. During that time, Twilight was able to teleport herself and the three remaining guards to safety. This left the Fissure standing alone with only one living target, Grey.
The monster made the first move, pouncing at the mare, revealing its massive fangs. She was able to move aside just in time. She smirked at the Fissure, hoping that its master was watching.
“If you like surprises, you’re in for a big one.” she said, smiling like she used to, back when she and Inkwell were about to do something exceptionally stupid, even for them.
“Twilight!” Celestia shouted as the young alicorn mare appeared before her in a lilac flash of light.
Twilight panted for a few seconds, expecting to black out from a teleportation like that. She’d gone from Ponyville to Canterlot in only a second carrying three ponies with her. “We need to talk.” she said, her head bobbing slightly as she struggled to figure out which way was up and which was down. “After I…” she fell to the floor and Celestia galloped to her side.
“Twilight!” she shouted once more before turning to the remaining three guards. “What happened out there? Where is your captain? Where is Tempest?”
“Something… attacked us…” Twister stated.
“The pony that we were looking for was there, Princess.” Rogue stated, trying everything in his power to remain calm. “She saved us. I don’t know if she’s still alive, but she gave us time to get the young princess away.”
“What attacked you?” Celestia asked, although she found it to be an implied question.
“Princess Twilight and the mare, Grey Cloud, called it a Fissure. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It jumped at Temp and it… it…” Rogue couldn’t bring himself to say the words.
“It tore him to shreds.” Raid whispered, shaking violently. She didn’t know if it was fear or rage, but she hoped that she could avenge Tempest.
“I’m sorry Raid.” Celestia placed a hoof on the shoulder of the unicorn as she began to cry.
“H- he was a- all I h- h- had…” she stuttered out.
“I know. I would understand if you need to take some time off. He was your older brother after all.” Celestia tried to comfort the distraught mare, but her efforts were fruitless.
“I don’t want time off… I want this Overlord guy dead.” she lit her horn with her bright pink magic.
“Overlord?” Celestia asked.