The night sky glistened with bright stars twinkling against the curtain of darkness that covered the world of Equestria. On the hills in the country side sat a mare and a stallion, sharing a tender moment with one another as they stared at the stars dotting the sky. Ohhing and Ahhing at each twinkle.
"This is so beautiful!" The mare exclaimed with widened eyes of joy. Her rose red coat shimmered against the moonlight. The stallion smiled softly and pulled her closer with a warm hug.
"I wonder whats up there?" replied the stallion with wonder as a shooting star shot by. The mare nuzzled the stallion and giggled. They had spent many nights out here staring at the stars.
"I don't know but nothing as amazing as you for sure!" She laughed and poked his chin. She never ceased to crack a smile out of him. Tonight, however, more shooting stars had shot past them than usual, which oddly made the stallion feel uneasy.
"There's been a lot of shooting stars tonight. A lot more than usual don't you think?" He asked with concern.
"Oh why do you sound so grumpy? We should be making wishes!" She giggled and booped his nose. He smiled in response. Unbeknownst to them however, something was rocketing its way through the atmosphere. Something huge. Something that would only bring dread. A large meteor like ball of energy was blasting through the sky picking up speed as it came closer and closer to the earth below.
"Um, honey whats that?!" The mare pointed with her hoof at the meteor shaped energy ball hurtling through the sky.
"It looks huge. Like a falling star!" he gasped. The mare couldn't take her gaze off of it, her eyes widened slowly, completely mesmerized by the falling object.
" I don't know what it is," - her voice was dreary as if in a trance - "but it's so lovely."
"We have to get out of here!" he nudged her but she wouldn't move.
"So beautiful."she mumbled.
"It's getting closer! We have to go now!" He shot up and yanked her up with him, well aware she wouldn't move if he didn't "lets get out of here before it lands!" The mare continued to stare at the object as it came ever so closer. Her large ivy eyes reflected the sky blue meteor.
Running as fast as he could, the stallion saw a nearby cave and dashed towards it. "Hold on!"
"Wha? Oh golly! By Celestia! I am!" She replied in a panic, apparently the jolt of movement had snapped her back to her back to her senses. With a fuss she wrapped her legs around his neck and held on for dear life. Her mouth was completely open, gaping in a mix of wonder, beauty, and horror at the object in the sky that was right about to smash into the earth. The stallion ran as fast as he could. They needed to find a shelter, somewhere safe. If they stayed out in the open they would be goners for sure. He looked left then right then all around before spotting a cave off to the left.
"hold on!" He shot to the left and dashed towards the opening. Barely at the nick of time the the two dived into the cave and hid as their ears were shattered by an earsplitting boom. With a rumble the ground around them began to shake violently as rocks from the ceiling fell.
"Watch out!" The stallion dived on top of the mare to keep her safe from the falling debris. He felt the rocks smash into his back as the rumbling continued. After a few minutes the rumbling stopped, and the two slowly got up.
"Oh no! Are you okay?" She gently rubbed her hoof against the bumps and bruises on his back.
"I'm okay. What was that thing?" He cracked his neck and stretched with a groan.
"I don't know. Should we go look?"
"I don't know...," He glanced outside the cave, the crater was giving off an ominous blue glow "It could be dangerous."
"Well its either that or we keep hiding in this cold damp cave." The stallion glanced out again and pulled himself and his mare up. Once back on the ground the two cautiously trotted over to the crater.
"Oh my!" They both gasped once they saw the ginormous damage done by the meteor, an absolutely gigantic bowl shaped crater was all that remained of the grassy plains that they had just relaxed in. The meteor itself must have been an intense ball of magic because the crater reminded the two of the ones Tirek had left behind during the fight between him and Twilight. No explosions, or ash was anywhere. Just dirt and grass.
"Look!" The mare pointed towards the center of the crater where a body was slumped over. "Should we help him?"
"I don't know, this is all really odd." He kicked the dirt with his hoof.
"If he needs help we should help! That's what princess Twilight said right?" The mare stared up at her stallion.
"Yeah, you're right lets go see if he needs help." The two hopped into the crater and ran towards the body. As the grew closer the body became more identifiable. It was a rather tall pure silver alicorn. But thats impossible, the mare thought. There were only 4 alicorns that she knew of. Something wasn't right. His body was lean with large raven like black wings on his back, and a bent black horn sprouting from his forehead. The alicorns hair was a aqua and sky blue that fell almost perfectly over his neck and face. He was a truly beautiful creature, only exaggerated by an odd aura of dread that seemed to surround him. His cutie mark was rather peculiar, a pitch black heart snapped into two shattered pieces. The mare began to back away, feeling a sensation of fear and dread flow through her.
"We shouldn't be here," She softly whimpered "somethings...really off about him." She glanced over at his chest noticing that he was wearing a silver amulet that had a pitch black crystal heart attached to it.
"Why not?"- the stallion turned around and stared at his companion with weary eyes, and unbeknownst to him the creatures eyes snapped open, large and feline like- "he needs our help and you said th-" In a blink of an eye the stallion fell to his knees. His eyes rolling back into his head. The mare screamed staring in open mouthed horror at the creature standing in front of her.
"Hello dear." The creature spoke softly with a low hiss. His eyes pierced through her. With a shriek she began running as fast as she could. The creature didn't follow her. He simply stared at her with an unsettling smile. Tears flew behind her as she ran without stop. She dare not glance behind her, she had caused her lover to die. This was her fault. She felt her heart snap in two as she ran.
"Hmm," the alicorns hair fell perfectly over his long silver neck "Not the welcome I was expecting. I was expecting something...more vibrant. " He glanced at the body and smiled with an eerie grin. The heart on his amulet began to glow in a soft shade of dark blue. "Oh, how peculiar. More magic in the air than I remember. Trivial, but alas I plan on finishing what I started." After whispering this he laughed a dry, heartless laugh. "You cannot stop destiny. Come. Come hunt me. I ask of thee." His voice was sly and quiet, but most of all eerily calm. The kind of calm that sent shivers down the necks of all he spoke to.
He had been gone for a long time, trapped in a eternal prison so it seemed. Yet, here he was somehow back. He himself didn't understand why, but that was besides the point. His heart shaped amulet began to glow again. "Oh, yes?" He remained silent again as if listening to it. "Oh yes master. I will finish what you desired. Capture the alicorns you say? Yes... that would make my mission less troublesome but in my current state I doubt that I'm strong enough to take on 3, let along 4 alicorn princesses. What should I do master?" The crystal shimmered again as if responding.
"The tower? Brilliant. Yes....yes! That will make me powerful enough! Nothing can stop me! I'll carry out your wishes! Balance will be restored. Oh how beautiful your vision will be!" He laughed yet again. Even when he was "shouting", his voice remained unnaturally emotionless and quiet. He had a mission to complete. The time was right, it was time to begin the rebirth. Then with a quick "whoosh" he opened his dark wings, the moon glimmering through his feathers, and flapped them sending him straight up into the night sky. A single black feather drifted down, swaying back and forth in the wind before it gently landed next to the stallions' body.