//------------------------------// // Old fears and New Beginnings // Story: Equestrian war // by Blackdust //------------------------------// As the human named Johnathan was walking through the ruins he found in the forest near his house, the ground suddenly broke underneath him and he fell. He fell far enough for the light of the moon, which he had grown accustomed to searching the ruins to months ago, had vanished from sight. When he stopped falling, he was sliding down a tunnel. When the tunnel finally ended, he was in a room deep underground. "Where in the nine pits of Tartarus am I now...?" He asked of no one in particular. "And more importantly, how am I gonna get back up? I should be a couple hundred feet down by now..." "Well down Twilight, it would appear that the Delayed Message spell is finally complete." Said a disembodied voice from about the center of the cavern. The room now that Johnathan actually got a good feel for the walls. "And not a moment to soon, sister!" Said another voice as the sound of something hard hitting the ground hard and repeatedly and moving towards him entered the room. "The things have found us and defeated Discord! We must seal ourselves away now!" "But she hasn't-" Said a third voice. "There is no time, Twilight. Luna is right, if the things truly have bested Discord and found us, then we must take the elements of harmony and seal ourselves away. And please, for the one that is listening to this message now, we shall be behind the door directly in front of where you came in from." Said the first voice. "And Cadence...?" Asked the third voice in a disheartened tone. "We must trust that she sealed herself away in her kingdom, Twilight Sparkle." Replied the second voice. And with that, a sudden light filled the room, blinding Johnathan temporarily. After his eyes adjusted to the sudden light, he saw the door mentioned. And noticed it was opened slightly. "Oh no..." Said a purple thing whose voice matched the third voice he heard. It then shut the door. "Was that... a unicorn?" Johnathan asked out loud. He then proceeded to the door it ducked behind and tried to open it only to find that he couldn't. And that a faint purple- aura? Yes aura seemed like the right word for it.- had covered the door. "Hey! Open up! I won't hurt you! Whatever you are..." He said, hoping the thing could hear him. "And how can we trust thee?" Replied the second voice. "Well... You can't. Not until you open the door." He replied. And as if like magic, the door opened slightly and the aura faded from it. "We shall trust you. For now." Said the first voice from the room beyond the door. "Thank you." Johnathan replied and opened the door far enough for him to see into it with the light from the room he was in and saw not one, not two, but THREE things. One white with an aurora mane and tail and a sun on its flank, one dark blue with the night sky for a mane and tail and a moon on a black splash on its flank, and one purple with a purple mane and tail with a darker purple and pink streak down the center with a starburst and six smaller white starbursts around it and each one had a horn on each of their foreheads and bird like wings on the side of their bodies. They were trying to hide a pedestal with some things on it. "What're those?" "These are things that you would never even hope to comprehend, let alone use, you foul beast!" snapped the blue one with the second voice from the message. "Please sister, he means well." said the white one with the first voice he heard from the message from the other room. "But what about Cadence... I doubt those... THINGS haven't found her yet, Celestia." said the purple one addressing the white one. "Waitwaitwait. Celestia? Cadence? Y'all can't be Luna, Celestia, and Twilight Sparkle, can you? We have legends in my town that you would return and help us push the demons of the shadows back at some point..." Johnathan asked in pure amazement. The three alicorns, now that he knew them, just stared at him in shared amazement. "And what of Cadence...?" asked the one he assumed the be Twilight Sparkle. "We haven't seen hair not hide of her and the Crystal Empire... And believe me, we searched for months along the ancient railroad we found. We couldn't find the depot. Instead it just... stopped." "Then we must assume the best Twilight." said the white one, Celestia he assumed, trying to comfort Twilight. "But sister..." said the blue alicorn. "No. She's right. I read that the leader of the Crystal Empire has the power to hide the kingdom from all unwanted eyes. Even to the point where time stands still in the kingdom. But only until certain circumstances are met." Twilight said. "Then we must pray that is the case." Johnathan said, trying to help diffuse the potentially hostile situation. "But as to what circumstances is the question now, right?" "If Twilight is correct, then yes. That is the question for now." Celestia replied. "Now how do I get out of here? You three can probably just fly out of that hole in the roof." Celestia laughed slightly at that and replied, "Perhaps we could carry you in our magic?" "But their immune to our magic sister." Luna said. "Actually..." "What? Are you creatures-" "We're called humans." snapped Johnathan. "Are you... humans... capable of using magic then?" Luna asked putting enough venom in the word 'human' to kill an elephant. "To a degree. We engrave runes onto our arms. It allows us some limited telekinesis, use of a couple of defensive and healing type spells." Johnathan replied, pulling up the sleeves of his shirt to show them a couple of the runes that he had. "Our best guards, healers, and storytellers have a lot more than this..." Luna, upon seeing one that matched the mark on her flank, grew silent and stared at it. There were several others that caught the attention of Celestia and Twilight, particularly the ones that matched the mark on Twilight's flank and the stones on the pedestal. Luna broke the silence first asking, "What, pray-tell, does that one do?" Indicating the one with the moon. "Oh this one? It's my pride. It means I'm a nightrunner. A person-human, that is always active during the night. I had to shun the light of day though. Small price to pay when the nightrunners are hard enough to come by..."