Chapter 1
The sun slowly started to rise over the magnificent city of Victoria, British Columbia, as a small robin flew down toward the city, chirping a happy song as it soared through the air and clouds before finally reaching the city below.
It flew over several tall and small buildings, a few startled people, amusement park rides at a Fair that was currently getting ready to be activated once all the people started arriving, and finally, it flew over a fast looking train just racing down the railroad tracks before reaching a peaceful looking neighborhood.
The robin soon reached the window of one of the many little houses and pecked at the glass for a bit before flying off somewhere else.
On the other side of the window was the bedroom of a preteen boy named Declan Shay, whose peaceful sleep was disturbed a bit by the Robin's pecking, but despite that he continued to try and rest. That's when the alarm in his clock went off as soon as it hit 7 AM, he groaned a bit before raising his hand and hitting the snooze button.
He pushed back the covers and then quickly sat up as he rubbed his sleepy looking emerald green eyes, which had black discolored marks around them, indicating that he didn’t get much sleep as it was. His average-length brown hair, was currently a bit messy and his skin was somewhat pale. Declan was somewhat small for his age but that didn’t seem to bother him much, things were pretty good for him. He had a home, friends, family and aside from the alarm all was right in the world for him. His voice had a very mellow tone.
Declan sighed. “Stupid alarm…” he muttered, still sleepy. He quickly shrugged it off though. “Oh well, time to start the day.”
The boy quickly got out of bed and went to go change into his regular, everyday clothes. He had a typical boys room filled with toys, action figures, comics, and a soccer ball also and a picture of his parents on his dresser, which he took some clothes out of him.
He quickly slipped on a dark green t-shirt over a light green zip-up hooded vest with dark green on the sides, dark green pants and black socks as well as green arm bands and a pair of glasses. He combed his hair, making it wavy and flare out on the sides aside from one short-upwards pointing spike on top of his head that resembles the stem of a leaf, though it still looked tousled. He smiled in front of the mirror, revealing a gap between his teeth and then he heard someone call out to him from the kitchen.
“Declan! Time for breakfast!”
“Coming, Mom!” Declan called back, before he rushed out the door.
He soon went down the hallway, got onto the railing of the staircase and slid down it for a bit before landing on the ground. He went to grab his black baseball hat, resting on the hook near him but was quickly zapped.
“Ow! Dang static electricity…” Declan complained as he shook his hand and grabbed his hat. “Isn’t it time we got some hard wood floors, people?”
Declan put his hat on in a sideways fashion before walking forward and accidentally bumping into a rather large man in front of him, causing him to fall over. He looked up to see that it was just his Dad: Harvey Shay standing over him.
Harvey was a big man in his mid-fifties, had a bit of a big gut but was muscular, tall, had a big brown mustache that connected to his sideburns, no hair on top of his head, and wore a simple white t-shirt and blue pants.
“Sorry son, in a bit of a hurry this morning.” Harvey apologized as he helped Declan back up.
“I feel ya Pop, got a big day planned out for me myself.” Declan admitted as he adjusted his glasses and then began to follow Harvey to the kitchen.
“Yeah? And what does that entail?” Harvey asked, curiously. “Besides going to school anyway.”
“Don’t remind me.” Declan said, lowly.
“Sorry. So, what do you have planned after school?” Harvey inquired.
“Well, me and some of the others are planning on doing some exploring.” Declan said as he and Harvey opened the door to the kitchen and walked over to the table, where a beautiful woman named Rebecca Shay approached the table with breakfast, She was Declan’s mother and Harvey’s wife.
She appeared to be in her late 30s/early 40s. She had long black hair and she wore blue jeans and a black, long sleeved shirt. She heard Declan’s comment on exploring and smiled.
“Oh? Exploring where?” she questioned, curiously.
“Just around the old buildings of Victoria, heard you can find some cool stuff there.”
“Well, just be careful alright? Some of those buildings might be dangerous.” Rebecca reminded him.
Declan nodded. “I know, Mom. I will. Don’t worry I won’t let you down,” he assured her, though deep down he was wondering if he could keep that little promise, and it distressed him very much inside.
Rebecca smiled warmly at her son. “I know you won’t. Now, how about some nice fresh toast?” she offered as he places four pieces of sliced toast on a plate in front of him.
“Sweet!” Declan said, brightening up as he quickly grabbed a slice and dug right in.
“Easy, don’t woof it down so fast.” Harvey told him.
“Ok, Dad.” Declan nodded, as he began to chew slower. Then they heard a knocking at the door. “Odd, who could that be?”
“Go ahead and answer it.” Harvey told him.
“Ok.” Declan nodded as he stood up and left the kitchen.
He soon reached the front door and when he opened it, he saw a slightly chubby elderly man that didn’t look a day over 90 but was presumably older. He had kind and wise eyes, white hair, a goatee, carried with him a red bag and wore brown colored clothing. Declan recognized him immediately.
“Grandpa!” he said, surprised.
“Hey, ya little Scamp. Long-time no see!” The elderly man smiled.
“I’ll say.” Declan agreed, smiling brightly as they quickly hugged. “So what brings you here, anyway? Dad said you were leaving town and never coming back.”
“Well, you know how your father exaggerates. And I came to give you this.” Declan’s Grandpa said as he took a black box out of the red bag. “Happy Birthday.”
Declan smiled brightly as he took the gift while his Grandfather chuckled.
“You didn’t think I would forget, did you?” he remarked.
Declan opened the black box and took out what appeared to be a necklace with a small, rectangular white crystal gem at the end of the black string. Declan held it in front of his face curiously and swung it from side to side like a pendulum.
“What is it?” Declan inquired, curiously.
“It’s called the Emperor’s Gem, it’s been in our family since our ancestors first dug it up after they had just settled in Canada back in 1849.” Grandpa Shay explained. “My father gave it to me when I was your age, who got it from his father, who got from his father and…”
“Ok, I get it.” Declan said, quickly.
“Good. Anyways, besides you and your own father… it’s my greatest treasure…” Grandpa Shay expressed.
Declan looked at it and his grandfather again. “How much is worth?”
“Never found out, but every one of our forefathers, including myself, knew this; that gem is something special.” The old man stated. “And now it’s yours.”
Declan smiled. “Thanks, Grandpa,” he said. Grandpa Shay nodded. “Oh, by the way… why are you giving to me? Should Dad have it?”
“I was planning on it when he was a boy but… he’s never been one for jewellery.” The elderly man said, with a smirk.
“Oh yeah.” Declan nodded.
“Just promise me you’ll keep it safe for me, son.” Mr. Shay urged him.
Declan gulped a bit, feeling a little pressured, but nodded. “I’ll… do my best.” he promised.
“Good boy.” Grandpa Shay smiled.
The young boy returned the smile then put the Emperor’s Gem around his neck. “Hey, it’s my size!” he joked.
“It sure is!” His grandfather agreed with him, chuckling.
Just then, Harvey poked his head in, interrupting them.
“Hey, Declan… oh Dad! It’s good to see you,” he said.
Harvey’s father nodded. “Likewise,”
“Anyways… here’s your bag son.” Harvey said as he tossed Declan’s backpack to him, which he caught. “Have a good time.”
“I will. Bye Dad, bye Grandpa!” Declan said as he then quickly put on his green runners, walked out of the door and then ran off to school. As the smiling preteen continued on his way towards his school, the gem around his neck began to glow faintly, though Declan didn’t really notice it at the time.
Meanwhile, in the mysterious and magical land known as Equestria…
In the town of Ponyville, the many different colored ponies of the village either walked, or flew, around enjoying their day and embracing the harmonious times granted to them by their leaders Princess’ Celestia, Luna, as well as the newest Princess, Princess Twilight and her friends.
What was also new to Ponyville was the large, crystal like castle close by. It was called the Castle of Friendship, now home to Princess Twilight.
Inside the castle, where dozens of books were neatly organized on the shelves, the young alicorn herself currently had a large tome open in front of her, the title of was “Legends of Equestria.” Her violet eyes scanned the pages intently, while her purple coat complimented her indigo mane and tail nicely. A personal touch to her mane, pink and purple stripes, was visible. The cutie mark on her flank resembled a six-pointed, pink star.
“Hmm, now what do we have here?” she wondered to herself, as she read a page. “Looks like some kind of gem… but the words seem to be bit smudged… I wonder…”
A small, slightly chubby and adorable purple scaled and green spiked baby dragon with green eyes the burst right in. His name was Spike.
“Hey, Twilight!” he said, loudly.
Spike’s sudden appearance made Twilight yelp, startled. She turned to him annoyed. “Honestly, Spike! Haven’t you heard of knocking?”
“Oh, sorry. Just wanted to let you know breakfast is ready.” Spike informed her.
“Oh right, good. Though I’m kind of in the middle of this great book… it’s called Legends of Equestria and this one’s a good one too.” Twilight expressed.
“Well, why don’t you read it while you’re eating?” Spike suggested. “I mean you’re a Princess now, I’m sure you can handle reading and eating at the same time.”
Twilight thought about and quickly saw his point. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“Cool, then let’s get to eating!” Spike said, as he began to walk out the door.
“Alright, alright, I’m coming.” Twilight told him, amused as she began to follow him while levitating the book behind her with her magenta colored magic.
Now, for both the Human World and the Pony World, things were peaceful, and the lives of both Twilight and Declan were looking pretty good at the moment. But unfortunately, in this life, all of that could change in an instant.
And deep below Equestria, something was stirring, something bad.
In what seemed like a dark void, a large, rectangular metal box, suspended in mid-air by webs sticking to it from all different directions, lay silently. But it wasn’t the box that was the problem, it was what was inside it that was stirring. And inside it seemed be a woman of some sorts with chalk white skin and red hair. Her eyes were currently closed, then a second later they snapped open revealing two red eyes with black sclera.
Upon the moment her eyes opened, the metal box she was in began to glow with a black and blood red aura. Above it, the ground beneath everypony’s hooves began to shake, startling them and knocking a few off balance, including Twilight and Spike who were just walking down the hall. The sudden fall caused Twilight to drop the book she was carrying with her magic, and also caused it to open to a page with the picture of the Emperor’s Gem on it.
But little tremors weren’t the only thing happening, other odd things began to happen in Equestria, like the sky flashing light and dark for a bit, the clouds rumbling and everypony’s magic was interfered by something, just like it was when the plunderseeds awoken.
Elsewhere in the otherworldly city of Canterlot, an alicorn named Princess Celestia, the co-ruler of Equestria, stepped out onto the balcony of her giant, gleaming white and gold castle, which was set on the side of a large purple mountain, looking greatly disconcerted. Her white coat shone in the sun, as her long and colorful mane caught and reflected the sun’s light. She looked out toward the city and Ponyville and saw the strange occurrences happening with a concerned face.
The sound of hoof steps was heard by the Princess and was getting closer. It was Princess Celestia’s younger sister, Princess Luna, approaching her from behind. Celestia did not turn around and continued to stare out into the horizon disturbed.
Princess Luna had an indigo body and a teal mane and tail.
“Sister?” Princess Luna said, getting her older sister’s attention.
“Luna.” Celestia said, acknowledging her sister’s presence.
“Tell me, what is happening? What is going on in our kingdom?” she asked.
Princess Celestia looked out toward the horizon again. “Something is coming…” she said, grimly. Both Princesses’ looked toward the horizon with concern glimmering in their eyes while the skies around them continued to grow ever darker. Meanwhile, a clock nearby continued to tic normally though it gradually got louder and slower, to somepony else it was a sign that fate was counting down to something.
Something very, very bad.