“It all started two thousand years ago, in a day just like any other…”
The bright day had started and Twilight opened the windows of her room in her Crystal Palace, took out a deep breath and looked over the city that, following Princess Celestia… no… Celestia’s ideas, was now part of her own kingdom or something like that. Afraid to failure in ruling over it, the first of Twilight’s decrees as Princess of Friendship was that everypony should keep their usual jobs, what kept the Mayor Mare as the mare in charge of the town and would free Twilight from at least that little problem until she had learned to deal with it by herself.
After admiring the town for a couple of minutes, she smiled and took in a long breath and released it slowly. Then she jumped out of the window, opening her large wings, and glided down, just to be met by two pegasus guards that now composed what was being known as Magic Guard, and started singing out of nowhere.
“Morning in Ponyville shimmers
Morning in Ponyville shines
And I know for absolute certain
That everything is certainly fine
There's the Mayor en route to her office
There's the sofa clerk selling some quills
My Ponyville is so gentle and still
Can things ever go wrong?
I don't think that they will
Morning in Ponyville shimmers
Morning in Ponyville shines
And I know for absolute certain
That everything is certainly fine!”
She then remembered the last time she tried to sing this one. All her friends had suddenly exchanged cutie marks and after she solved that problem, she had ascended into a new alicorn princess. However, this time it seemed like she could sing this lovely song forever, there was simply nothing to grow wrong in the world.
And she was about to do just that when she felt something. It was strange, just a tingly sensation in her wings, like something was tickling it. But… it felt different…
“Your Highness?” both guards asked in unison.
When she got a hold of herself, Twilight noticed she was worried. Her eyes had widened somewhere between her stop and now, her wings were closed tightly shut against her back almost painfully, her horn was hot as if readying a magic of its own will and all her four legs were stiff and frozen in place. Whatever that sensation was, her body seemed to know what it was better than her mind.
She calmed herself down, breathing slowly until she recovered her self-control. Then she looked to the two guards following her. “I want you to go and gather the other Bearers, Spike and Discord. Make Spike your first priority, though.”
“Yes, your Highness!” both bowed to her before flying out to fulfill their mission.
Twilight then returned to her castle, her eyes now serious, almost angry at something she doesn’t quite understand. What is that feeling I have? she thought. I never had anything like that…
Twilight didn’t have to wait too much. Her friends were quickly brought to her presence with a very worried Pinkie Pie rushing towards her in their lead.
“You felt it! I know you felt it!” Pinkie Pie said to Twilight as they were all in the room.
“What? How do…” Twilight’s eyes suddenly widened again. “Your… Pinkie Sense…”
“Your body got all itchy-stiffy and you had this sensation of something going to happen! I know you had it!” Pinkie Pie accused.
“Hey Pinkie! Stop that okay!” Rainbow Dash pushed the pink mare back to the floor and not all over Twilight’s throne.
“Pinkie has come to each of us telling you would need our help, darling…” Rarity asked as she also approached them. “However, she never said why…”
Twilight just closed her eyes and nodded softly. “What Pinkie Pie said is true. I felt this sensation something was going to happen. The only time I ever felt that was when I was fighting Tirek and I could foresee a little of his movements…”
“Indeed, there was a large distortion in the magic somewhere I can’t exactly place my claws on,” Discord announced. “Normally I’m able to pinpoint these distortions with precision but this time…”
“It was like coming from everywhere at once, wasn’t it?” Twilight asked. Discord only nodded at that. “Care to share how your ability to track these distortions works, Discord?”
The draconequus nodded, “Part of it is due my natural chaos magic. You have to understand that it’s always easier to stir some chaos where the magic is instable. Whenever there’s a disturbance in the magic force, it’s more likely for me to be able to cause chaos. Another part of it is the simple fact that as more magic you have the more sensitive you become to it. If you fuse both characteristics, I do need to know where these distortions are, since the chaos lead me there and I have quite a lot of magic myself.
“We also have to take in account the size of the distortion. As you may guess, the bigger the distortion, the easier it is to be felt. The tricky part is that, besides me, the creatures with enough magic to feel it are dragons and… alicorns.”
“If it’s so, why haven’t I felt the distortions caused by Tirek?” Twilight asked. “Or the Princesses for that matter?”
“Celestia and Luna could feel it: they had visions about Tirek. You and Cadance, though, couldn’t feel it because you’re still growing as alicorns. Different from Celestia and Luna, your powers aren’t that much developed yet. A simple example is your manes and tails. Luna and Celestia are ethereal, while yours and Cadance’s aren’t. When the Princess gave you their powers, I felt the distortion but I wasn’t sure what it was about since I was at the side of the person robbing other ponies’ magic.”
Twilight’s mind cast back to that day then. For a brief time, Twilight had felt her mane and tail to become ethereal, just like Celestia and Luna’s. “But… when I received their power…”
“It doesn’t mean that magic belongs to you, Twilight,” Discord answered. “If I know you well, you should keep referring to it as Celestia’s magic, Luna’s magic and Cadance’s magic. That’s why you couldn’t feel the distortions: besides the amount of magic in your body, you didn’t act as if it was yours. Then, during the battle with Tirek as you narrated to us, you forgot whom the magic belonged to, and you achieved a different lever of sensibility: you could feel the movement of Tirek’s magic inside his very body.”
“Geez… I never thought I would be saying this but…” Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight, “Discord has a valid argument, Twi.”
Twilight then shook her head. If that was right then, it had only one meaning, and it scared her out of proportions. “You noticed it Twilight?” Discord asked.
“What she noticed now?” Applejack asked.
“Considering that Discord is telling the truth… then I’m actually the weakest of all Alicorns, what places me barely among the ten creatures when it comes to raw amount of magic… counting dragons of course…” Twilight answered.
“Eighteen place, actually… I occupy a comfortable sixth position, Celestia is the first no doubt,” Discord answered.
“Then how comes Celestia couldn’t defeat you?” Rainbow Dash asked Discord.
“If I am to guess, she can, but she would never pay the price…” Twilight answered. At their friends’ puzzled looks, she elaborated, “Her domain is the sun. If she was to bring that power into battlefield, not only her enemies would suffer but everypony else close to her as well.”
“Right,” Discord answered. “What held Celestia back had always been the lives of her subjects. Princess Luna holds seventh place in that rank. Between Celestia and me are the group known as the Dragon Court, four dragons as old as Celestia herself. And besides Cadance in twelfth place, all the others are dragons as well. Of course, there are other creatures out there but I'm not sure how much magic they have.”
“I knew dragons were magical creatures but to have so many dragons between the twenty more powerful beings…” Spike commented.
“Back at subject, though…” Twilight called their attention. “Since I rank so low and I could feel that the distortion…”
Discord shook his head, “What worries me, Twilight, is not that you could feel it.” At the Princess’s puzzled look, Discord pointed a claw at Pinkie Pie. “The moment an earth pony, even one almost as random as me, could feel it…”
“It means this distortion is way bigger than we ever thought possible to happen,” the new voice got all of them by surprise. In the next second, through the door, Princess Celestia appeared, followed by Princess Luna and Princess Cadance at each of her sides. “Whatever it is, I think that not even the Elements of Harmony will be enough to stop it if we let to act too late…”