"Good morning Twilight! Come one wake up sleepy head!" Twilight's eyes groggily forced themselves to open, and upon opening she saw her little purple dragon Spike nudging her awake. "If you don't wake up you'll be late for your lunch with Celestia!"
"Oh!" Twilight bolted straight up, which launched her blanket across the room of her castles bedroom. "I can't believe I slept in!" She let out a shriek and summoned a comb. With furious strokes of panic she brushed her hair as fast as she could.
"Yeah you must have been pretty tired" Spike walked over to Twilight's saddlebag and began to fill it with the things she would be taking to Canterlot. "I can't blame you though! After all you've had to do lately I would be beyond tired as well. I actually just woke up myself. Ha ha." Spike blushed and scratched the back of his neck, giggling awkwardly.
Twilight took several deep breaths as she finished cleaning and straightening her long purple and pink hair. She had to calm herself down, everything would be okay after all. After a moment of taking deep breathes she trotted over to Spike and magically lifted her saddlebag onto her back.
"Here let me get that for ya." Spike opened the door way politely for Twilight, who smiled in response.
"Why thank you very much." She giggled and trotted through the door. "Oh," She turned back to Spike, "I should be back around evening. Have a great day Spike." Spike smiled in response.
"Well you too!" He giggled. Once outside of her tree shaped castle, Twilight surrounded herself with a purple aura that only meant one thing, teleportation. She disappeared for a moment before her body reappeared in the densely packed street of Canterlot, roughly a street down from Celestia's castle. Teleporting great distances always made her feel somewhat tired, but she quickly got over this feeling. With a smile she trotted over to her once teacher's castle.
"And then in another future all of the ponies lived in the everfree forest to hide from the changlings!" Twilight took another drink of tea. The sweet liquid rolled down her throat. She had made it, miraculously on time, to the lunch. After eating some sandwiches she begun telling Celestia about her time traveling battle with Starlight Glimmer. It had only been a week since she and Spike had been launched through time itself, and saw the many, many different futures that could have taken place had Rainbow Dash never performed her sonic rainboom. Celestia smiled sweetly and took a drink of tea as well.
The two were in the princess's throne room, the sun bathed them both through the elegant glass paintings, and giant archways. Even after having been here so many times, it was always just as beautiful. Twilight did feel a little bad for having not visited Celestia sooner. Due to a busy week of running her castle, and trying to find things to do with Starlight Glimmer, Twilight had just only now been able to meet with her once teacher.
"Well then its a good thing that you went to Ponyville despite your insecurities," Celestia laughed, "And you're stubbornness." Twilight blushed remembering how hostile she had been about the idea of not only going to Ponyville, but making friends there as well. It all felt so silly now when she looked back on how she used to be so long ago.
"Well I sure am happy that you made me go! Who knew that the entire fate of the world would rest on our friendship." The two giggled for a moment before Celestia sighed and continued their egged her on to continue their previous conversation, clearly interested in hearing more.
"Were there any other possible futures that you saw?" Celestia asked. With her magic she lifted her cup up to her lips and took a sip.
"There was one, but it was really strange." Twilight hadn't thought about it much up until now, but she remembered the last potential future she had traveled to was a complete wasteland. No life seemed to still exist. Roaring winds had pushed the dead soil up into an eternal sand storm, while tumbleweeds darted around the long forgotten tree stumps. It had been horrible, and the more she remembered it, the more it bothered her.
"Strange?" Celestia raised a brow and placed her tea back on the table. "How so?"
"Yes, it was very strange. It looked like Equestria had become nothing more than a giant wasteland! Absolutely no living things were around. At the time I was trying to convince Starlight Glimmer to stop altering the past, so for whatever reason I didn't pay as much attention to he future as I should have. But," Twilight rubbed her chin, "it didn't fit with any of the villains I've fought before. What do you think it was?" Celestia began to think it over. She thought of all the potential threats of Equestria, but at this point few came to mind.
"Well, its hard to say. As you already know time is something you cannot play around with. One little change could spark the most disastrous of events." she replied.
"So you think that its nothing?" Twilight asked.
"Possibly, but you can never be certain." Celestia, however, appeared to be bothered by something. Her face tensed up a little, but she remained looking regal and calm.
"Is something the matter Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked with concern. Celestia shook her head with a small smile. She had remembered one foe that her and Luna had banished a thousand years ago, but it was impossible.
"There's no way he could have escaped." Celestia mumbled to herself extremely quietly. Twilight heard the whisper and leaned in closer. Celestia noticed and regained her composure. "Nothing Twilight Sparkle, just a slight headache is all. I drank my tea rather quickly." Celesta chuckled awkwardly. Twilight didn't question the absurdity of getting headaches from drinking tea too fast. She just joined in on the giggling.
"Oh well, maybe we've reached a new era of happiness, and hopefully peace." Twilight reassured her. She ultimately hoped that that was the case. Every potential threat seemed to be stronger than the last. She mulled over the thought of someone more powerful than Tirek stepping in. A shutter rolled down her spine at the thought of it. At that moment a guard slammed the door way into the throne room open creating a loud bang that made Celestia and Twilight jump and focus their attention on him. He rushed in sweating and gagging, apparently having ran a great deal. His gold armor glistened in the bright sunlight.
"Princess Celestia!" he glanced over and saw Twilight as well, "Oh and Princess Twilight Sparkle as well!" he added, blushing from having accidentally forgotten to acknowledge a princess. "I have grave news from the west!" Oh boy Twilight thought to herself. "Its awful!" Celestia's face became stern and the look she had when a potential threat came to Equestria fell over her like a helmet. It always shocked Twilight how much her demeanour could change in a moment if her kingdom was ever even remotely threatened.
"Yes? What is it Lightning Slash?" Celestia asked in a stern voice. Her rainbow mane billowing behind her as she sat down on her throne. Twilight remained in place staring at the guard nervously.
"Well we heard last night that a giant orb of magic had supposedly crashed in the countryside outside of Rainbow-Hoof," -he began, having regained his breath from running to the throne room -"Apparently a mare and stallion had been present during the crash. The stallion didn't make it, but the mare survived. The concern, however, is that it wasn't the magical meteor that had taken the stallion, but a mysterious creature." Celestias face grew grave. While she still held her posture, Twilight could tell something was gravely wrong.
"Mysterious creature?" Celestia asked in her demanding voice, "Were we able to gather a description of it?"
"Well," Lightning Slash coughed and magically summoned a scroll, which unraveled in front of him " the mare was able to give a rather detailed description of the suspect in question. She described him as appearing to be that of an alicorn, with a glistening silver coat and a triangle shaped black patch of fur on his chest. He is said to have a long silky sky blue mane, and cat like eyes with a scar through the right eye. She noted that while he appeared to be an alicorn, he seemed very odd. His wings were pitch black as well as his horn, which she stated to be bent." Twilight imagined the creature in her head. Why would an alicorn have a different colored horn? Or wings of such a different color? Lighting Slash continued" She added that he looked unnatural, and that she felt an overwhelming sense of dread while near him."
"Did she mention anything else?" Celestia interrupted.
"Yes." he replied quickly, "His cutie mark was a cracked and broken black crystal heart. And one last point of interest." Lighting Slash coughed again. "Terribly sorry about that. I haven't felt well lately. All that running hasn't helped either."
"Its okay, please tell us the last point of interest. We must know everything." Celestia chimed.
"Oh, why of course!" Lightning Slash replied "The last bit of information is that he wore a silver amulet with a black crystal heart in the center." Celestias' eyes grew wide as she sat up quickly which caused Twilight to jump a little.
"What is it Princess Celestia? Does it sound familiar?" Twilight asked, somewhat spooked herself by Celestias reaction. Celestia's face grew stern again as she glared at the guard, not directed at him of course but at the threat that loomed in the countryside.
"I feared for this day." Celestia sighed loudly as she pulled herself up and began pacing around the throne room. "Lightning Flash, go fetch Luna for me right away."
"Yes mam!" Lighting Flash saluted her and sped off to complete his mission. The doors to the throne room slammed shut behind him.
"Twilight there is something I must tell you." her words sounded grave. Twilight knew that something bad was out there. Celestia turned to her once student, her face rather grim. Twilight gulped. Looks like peace and harmony would have to wait. Again. "Long ago right after Luna and I had defeated Discord another threat presented itself. At the time we saw Discord as the larger threat, so we dealt with him first." She continued pacing around her throne room. "But long ago a creature known as Dionin appeared. He was a dark alicorn, an unnatural creature created by dark magic. They aren't true alicorns, or even true life but simply appear to be. They are characterized by their black horns and shadowy wings, as well as their ruthlessness. At the time he was the only one we had ever seen, so we didn't believe he was actually one of them, as we thought of them as both extinct and impossible. And yet, there he was."
"Dark Alicorns? I've never heard about them before." Twilight responded with curiosity and a touch of fear. The idea of a creature born to only destroy love, life, and harmony filled her heart with dread. How could such a terrible thing exist?
"Yes that's because we were fearful of somepony potentially recreating one. So we made sure that no records of them survived." Celestia answered with a sigh. Her voice sounded disappointed in herself. Twilight understood though, and didn't say anything. "I know it wasn't right of me to do, but I was foolish back then...and fearful." She sighed again and walked by the glass mirrors staring them down, each with Twilight and her friends combating a threat to Equestria. There was no doubt that she was imagining yet another glass window would adorn these walls soon. "Dionin appeared and believed that the balance of magic was teetering into chaos. He felt that Luna and I were growing too powerful, and that as a whole harmony was falling apart. He was extremely, and most unnaturally strong. His power stems from a magical artifact known as the heart of magic. Its what makes him as powerful as he is."
"The heart of magic!" Twilight exclaimed. She had only heard myths of it, and never in her life had she imagined it could be real. The heart of magic was a legendary relic that was extremely ancient. She had read that it had been lost ages ago. It was terrifying to imagine such a powerful tool in the hands of a monster.
"Yes. But was is most grave is that his final goal is the end of all things." Celestia grimaced as she spoke those words. They felt like vile sour sounds she had never wanted to speak.
"W....Wait what?" Twilight had fought many terrible villains in the past, and all of them seemed to be worse than the last. She feared that this new threat could be the worst yet. "You mean...destroy everything?" She was hoping that that was false, and simply her mind jumping to conclusions.
"Yes my past student. Those words are fairly simple really. Like I said he wanted to end all things. His ultimate goal is to destroy everything so that he can and then rebuild the world from the ashes as he feels it should be. He will stop at nothing to achieve this." Celestia looked out her window, her eyes filled with dread. Twilight shivered. The other terrors that had attacked Equestia all wanted it for themselves. While Tirek had tried to destroy it, his goal wasn't to end all life. Twilight remembered how desolate and horrible the wasteland of the possible future had been. She couldn't allow that future to take place. She would stop this new threat. No matter what.
"Princess Celestia. We've fought foe after foe. I believe that my friends and I can tackle him! How did you and Luna defeat him?" Twilight was suddenly filled with an energy she had never felt. She didn't quite understand why she wasn't as nervous as she was a moment ago and when a new foe emerged.
"Don't get ahead of yourself quite yet, he's still extremely dangerous Twilight. Even for an Alicorn Princess." Twilight realized she had sounded a little brash. She remembered the worst thing one could do was underestimate a foe.
"Sorry Princess Celestia. I just felt a sudden surge of energy! I want to protect Equestria!" Celestia, despite the dire circumstances, couldn't help but smile. Twilight reminded herself of how she had been when she first became a princess so very very long ago.
"It is okay Princess Twilight," -she put a heavy emphasis on the word princess- "At the time we had the elements and all of our strength. We knew we couldn't just banish a monster like that to Tartarus, we needed somewhere worse. So using our combined magic, and admittedly some dark magic," The very idea of Princess Celestia using dark magic was unbelievable to Twilight, but she remained quiet, "we sent him to the realm between realms. A place that someponies refer to as the shadowrealm. He could do nothing there so we thought. But somehow he has returned." She looked up at the sun then across all of Equestria imagining it in complete ruin. Quickly, She turned to Twilight. "We have to stop him before he destroys all of Equestria."