//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: The Night's Justice // by JadeLightning //------------------------------// Justice of the Night -Prologue- By JadeLightning For thousands of years, citizens of Equestria have lived in general peace underneath the brilliant moonlight provided by their benevolent Queen Luna and would take their rest beneath the sunlight provided by her sister, Celestia. As the centuries went on, Celestia became angered by Luna and the rest of ponykind who would not wake to see her brilliant sunlight. Celestia grew angry, and her blind rage and feelings of worthlessness turned her into an avatar of destruction known as Sol Fury. Sol Fury’s connection and ability to manipulate the sun allowed her to achieve incredibly destructive ends. With her ability to intensify the sun’s rays, she burned countless villages and destroyed lives, all during a single sleep cycle. Luna, being peaceful, but not wanting to see her land destroyed and shame brought to her family, destroyed by her hand, decided to confront her sister, using her connection with her people’s fabled artifacts, the Elements of Justice. Luna underestimated the power of the elements, however, and judging Sol Fury’s actions unspeakable, the Elements took the destructive mare’s life. Luna, realizing she couldn’t truly control the power of the Elements, had them sealed away and forgotten, so that nopony could ever use them again. Since the passing of Sol Fury and the return of Equestria to relative peace, Queen Luna and her subjects have lived upholding the tenets of truth and justice. “What? I’m not studying that! Why is this book here, anyway?” Twilight Sparkle groaned. She had spent the past night, and every other night for the last two weeks studying for the next day’s hardships . Twilight’s studies were in preparation for the entrance exam at Luna’s School of Sorcery, the most prestigious school in Equestria. She didn’t truly understand why she needed to go to such a school anyway. She was a fairly good student, and did more studying than the average pony, but she couldn’t see why her parents thought her capable of a school like that. She gazed out longingly at the starry night past her glittering windows. She wanted nothing more than to give up her studies and leap out the window to explore what lay beyond. She loved exploring the world, both physical and ethereal. That was what she loved about magic. It let her discover things not everypony, or even unicorn knew about the world. For that, she loved it. But she was no bookworm. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to let her parents down, so she studied a little longer, and then passed out only a couple of hours after Luna raised the sun. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next evening was, in Twilight’s opinion, the most stressful of her entire life. Twilight’s father, Midnight Sparkle, had quite a few things to say. “Twilight, you look terrible. Did you get any sleep last morning? And I hope you studied. Today’s the big day, and those judges aren’t the most kind. As I understand it, Bastion Yorsets is the lead judge, and I know him personally. He’s a rough soul, and a hard judge to say the least.” Twilight, a filly as she still was, cringed, and a tear formed in the corner of her eye, not able to handle the pressure her father was already hitting her with before her exam. “I…I’ll do my best, Daddy. I’ll make you proud, just like you did your father. “Twilight trailed off, tears forming in her eyes as she looked down, her mind anticipating all sorts of failure, and what was going to happen. “Oh dear, don’t worry her so, I’m sure our brilliant Twi’ will do just fine!” Twilight’s mother Stardancer trotted into the kitchen, nuzzling both Twilight and her husband before sitting down to breakfast. “As long as you studied your best, Twilight, you’ll be fine. Just keep a clear head, don’t worry about what might happen, and ignore your father’s stressful banter”. After finishing, and taking a quick bite of her blueberry oatmeal, she shot a look of daggers at her husband. Midnight Sparkle recoiled, looking a tad embarrassed, realizing how what he said to his daughter might have frightened her even more than she plainly was already. “I…well…I’m sorry Dancer…and to you, Twilight. I’m sorry I keep putting this kind of pressure on you. We just have so much riding on…” He stopped talking as his wife shushed him again. He could positively feel the heat radiating from her bright pink fur. “I…very well. S-shall we get going then? It’s a big day ahead of us.” At this, Twilight gathered her things, and the family of three, with a flash of Midnight Sparkle’s horn, teleported toward their destination. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As they family of three materialized, Twilight took a look around, unsure where exactly they had landed. Up ahead, a bright sign flashed the words: Ponyville International Flightport: Concourse A “Hold on, Twi, we’ve got to hurry to catch our chariot! It’s going to leave soon, and I’ve done enough teleporting today!” Twilight then felt her father pick her up and put her on his back, before his father and mother set off at a run down to their chariot’s docking bay as the attendant made the last call. As they boarded the chariot, Twilight’s father heaved a sigh of relief, and Twilight sat with her hooves hanging out one side, her eyes ready to absorb everything they’d be passing by as they flew through the sky. After a flight that lasted several hours, the chariot finally touched down in the golden mountaintop city of Canterlot, the gilded halls and towers shining beautifully in the night. Twilight had never seen Canterlot, and her mouth fell open as she tried to take in the city’s majesty. As they departed their chariot, Midnight spoke up: “Alright! The building we’re looking for is right over there. It’s half-past midnight, and the appointment is in thirty minutes. We should still be able to make great time. Let’s go!” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight and her family arrived at the doorstep of the second-largest building in all of Canterlot. The great bleached marble building towered over them, little Twilight falling back on her flank in awe. At the top of the entryway sat, in brilliant golden letters: Luna’s School of Sorcery, and beneath it, in Ancient Equestrian, read: Luna splendet super splendorum. “The Moon Shines Upon the Brilliant” Midnight Sparkle said calmly, looking at his daughter. “That’s you hon’. Now let’s get in there and prove it to everypony!” At this, Star Dancer flapped her wings in frustration. “Midnight, dear, what did I say about pressure on poor Twi? She doesn’t need to prove anything to anypony.” Twilight sighed, trying to keep the tears from flowing as the stress crept up on her again. “I-it’s…it’s OK, Mom. It’s just another day of school!” She took a moment to strike a confident pose, and, not looking back toward her parents, she marched toward the entrance. She and her parents had spent about fifteen minutes wandering the halls, quick to note that they were not the only ones under the same stresses today at the academy. Twilight had seen her friend Moondancer and her parents, although she thought Moondancer looked really sad. She figured she’d ask her why later, if she got the chance. She also took note of a young green filly, who had already gotten her cutie mark, a lyre, and was positively beaming. Twilight had gotten up the nerve to talk to her, and she said her name was Lyra and that she had passed her exam with flying colors. At this, she bounced out the front door. At last, they found their destination. Twilight glanced up at the door, which read “Examination Room B” before she pressed it open gently, only to be brushed gently out of the way by the parents of the most eccentric filly she’d ever seen. “Out of our way, rabble!” A very sophisticated-looking, highbrow unicorn stallion said to both Twilight and her parents as he passed. Twilight took a minute to register both the filly and her parents. All of them had a pure white coat, and a deep blue mane, and all of them were unicorns. The filly however, had a very interesting feature. She seemed to be wearing black-rimmed glasses with magenta frames that completely covered her eyes and gave her an otherworldly appearance. As she and her parents moved past, she quickly turned to apologize. “I…sorry about that. My Dad is…well, I didn’t pass my exam, and he’s not happy about that. But I don’t care; I’d rather rock Equestria with my beats, because one day, I’ll be a star!” She took a moment to wiggle her flank, displaying an obviously recently-acquired musical note cutie mark. “I’m Vinyl Scratch, by the way.” She extended her hoof, and Twilight took it, shaking it gently. Twilight’s father was glaring at the filly’s parent’s backs as they moved away, shocked at the father’s rudeness, but didn’t want to start anything. Twilight casually said good-bye to her new acquaintance, and she and her parents trotted into the room. As the three of them stepped into the room, they were greeted by a very unhappy-sounding voice. “Twilight Sparkle, I presume? You’re late.” Twilight and her father shared anxious looks, and her father spoke up. “Bastion Yorsets, correct? I’m sorry, but I recall Twilight’s examination was scheduled for one o’clock this evening. It’s now...” He frowned. His watch showed him two minutes past the hour. “Mr. Sparkle, I must tell you that I do not appreciate tardiness, nor does Ms. Nexus here.” He motioned to the female unicorn on his left. “But, seeing as you are already here, and the exam has been prepared already, Miss Sparkle is allowed to go ahead. Just be glad that today, of all days, I’m feeling generous…” Midnight Sparkle scowled dangerously at Bastion Yorsets’ callousness, but, recognizing the situation again, glanced anxiously at Twilight, and gently nudged her toward the exam table. Star Dancer placed her hooves on her husband’s shoulders, and whispered gently at her daughter as she turned to look at her mother for last minute encouragement. “Go on Twi, you can do it, Mama’s got your back all the way!” Twilight shrugged her nervousness off and moved finally up to the table, where a single egg was placed. Bastion Yorsets coughed impatiently, but it was Dream Nexus that spoke up, in the same impatient tone that should have been expected, but in a much higher pitched, song-like voice. “Miss Sparkle, are you going to take your exam, or can we be on our way? We do have a schedule to keep and many more unicorns to test…” She tapped her clipboard, and Twilight frowned down at the egg, not wanting to let them get to her. “Alright, Miss. Sparkle...” Bastion Yorsets began, realizing he could finally start the exam. “What you have there is an unhatched dragon egg. All you need to do is use your magic to make it hatch. It’s a standard test, really. You will of course be graded on time. Begin.” Twilight gulped and started running through the pages of the spell books she had studied in her mind, thinking of the spells she’d need to perform such a task. She thought hard, sweat already dripping from her forehead as she felt the time drag on. She glanced back at her father, who returned her glances with his own nervous-yet-confident looks. Finally, after turning back to the egg and thinking a bit more, a moment of brilliance struck her. She realized she needed to weave together a spell to speed up time around a certain area and one that simply generated warmth. After finding the strength and magic for the task, her horn glowed as she focused on the dragon egg. After channeling the spell for what felt like an eternity, she heard a cracking sound and stopped casting, to watch a little purple baby dragon crawl out from egg debris. At this, Twilight started jumping up and down, bouncing her way over to her mother and father, repeatedly squealing “Yes”, amazingly pleased with herself that she actually did it. And then the sound of a pony clearing his throat filled the room as Bastion Yorsets began to speak. “I must say, I’m impressed that you managed to succeed. Your time was…average, to say the least, but one minute and forty-five seconds it was. So you’ve passed, Miss. Sparkle. Welcome to the academy.” Twilight and her parents simultaneously jumped into the air and cheered as Bastion Yorsets trotted down to hand a plaque to her signifying her entry to the school. Dream Nexus trotted down the stairs to curtly congratulate Twilight, before teleporting the newly-hatched baby dragon and its broken egg shells away from the room. As Twilight’s father thanked Bastion and they proceeded to exit, the examiner spoke up, as if only to poison the moment a little bit. “Just remember, Miss Sparkle, be glad I’m feeling generous, today.” Twilight’s father scowled at him again, and she frowned, her mother immediately moving to comfort her. “Don’t worry about him, Twi’, you did it!” Her mother cheered, and her father rejoined them, Twilight cheering up immediately as they quickly left the room. As they exited the building however, a most unexpected event happened, and a great crash hit their ears as they watched a purple baby dragon that had apparently grown enormous come smashing out of the roof of another examination room. “What the hay?” Twilight’s father said, aghast as the dragon began moving about. The family and the examiners just stood there, transfixed, as they watched the scene, even more stunned as Princess Luna herself swooped in past the now-grown dragon. And as suddenly as it had grown, the dragon shrank. “W...what was that? What was all of that?” Twilight’s mother was floating beside her family, flapping her wings frantically, unsure what to make of what just happened. “I…I don’t know, Star. I don’t know. And what…how, did Princess Luna know what was happening? “They both stood there, shocked. Twilight, however, having passed her exam, was beyond ready to find out, and ran towards the lowest window of the spire, which was miraculously intact after that event. What she saw inside was a face she wasn’t soon going to forget, whether she knew it or not. There was Princess Luna, standing next to a normal-sized baby dragon, a couple of cacti, and a small blue unicorn filly with a silver mane, who was grinning happily at her flank. Twilight gave it a closer look, and saw a crescent moon made of stars, with a magic wand lying across the south end.