Chapter One
Black.
Nothing but never-ending black. Above her, below her. All-around.
She didn’t know where she was or how she got there. She didn’t even remember who or what she was…is. It felt like she was just…there. Floating…standing…she wasn’t quite sure. It didn’t matter anyway. There was nothing to do, nowhere to go, because there was nothing all around.
At least, not until she heard them.
The voices had breached the darkness, somehow. She could never fully understand them though. Always obscured, like a conversation in the next room. She could tell some voices were different than others though, whether from their differences in pitch or tone. For instance, one was soft and sweet and never much above a whisper while another was deeper and had a distinct twang.
When she heard the voices, something weird happened too.
Colors.
Each voice brought a distinct color to the darkness. Yellow. Orange. White. Cerulean. Pink. A light purple. Sometimes there was only one voice and only one color, other times there were many voices and the colors would create a beautiful aurora as they danced across the darkness. Regardless if there was one or many, the voices and colors always filled her with a certain warmth, like she knew them from some place in a long forgotten memory.
She noticed too that the colors came from various places in the darkness but always left in the same spot, flying off in the same direction and disappearing. She didn’t know when, but at some point she had started moving in that direction. She couldn’t tell if she was walking, running, or floating; all she knew was that she wanted to follow those beautiful colors and so she did. The colors would come and go but she’d keep moving. Even when the colors and voices had stopped altogether, she still kept moving until she finally reached the end and everything turned white.
Twilight slowly opened her eyes to a familiar crystal ceiling.
Groaning, she closed her eyes as she stretched. Her muscles were strangely stiff and ached as she did so. She couldn’t really remember, but she probably just had another late night hunched over books. She rolled out of bed and spread her wings, hearing the satisfying pops of stiff joints loosening up.
Sighing contently, she opened her eyes. She found herself in a room with no windows and a single door for an exit. The room was barren of decorations. There were no portraits, no statues, not even a rug. Her bed was located on the opposite wall of the door and next to the bed, facing it, were a couple of rather plush and comfortable-looking chairs. The room appeared to somehow be self-illuminated, probably by a spell or enchantment, for though there were candle fixtures on the wall, none were lit.
She didn’t know where she was.
Twilight knew for sure that she was in her castle, she’d know that crystal architecture anywhere. But she’s never seen this room before and she was sure that she and her friends had discovered all the rooms.
So…she couldn’t have brought herself here. Maybe someone else did? The last she remembered, it was Saturday night and she was falling asleep in her bedroom after going over the checklist for tomorrow’s picnic with the girls.
Regardless, standing around and analyzing this strange room wasn’t getting her anywhere.
For some reason, her stiff muscles didn’t want her to walk as she nearly stumbled to the ground taking the first step. A quick spell took care of that soreness and the alicorn soon enough found herself at the room’s lone door.
Locked.
Analyzing the door, she found the door was locked and sealed with a magnitude of spells. Someone had obviously either wanted to keep her in or keep someone out. She needed to find someone and demand information…and that lock would take forever.
In a flash of magic, Twilight found herself on the other side of the door. Obviously if they were hoping to keep her in, they had forgotten one very important fact. That, or the lock was really meant to keep someone out.
Mind back to her current task, Twilight now found herself in a dark hallway. Whatever illumination spell the last room had, this hallway now lacked.
Lighting her horn, she noticed she was at the end of a hallway but she couldn’t tell how long the hallway was. Carefully, she started to make her way down the hallway which she noticed, like the last room, was strangely devoid of decorations unlike most of her castle. The hallway ended in a set of stairs which she soon discovered lead to…a wall. Great. It wasn’t even a full set of stairs.
Unless… remembering all the Daring Do stories she’s read, a common motif is the secret passageway. Maybe, that’s what this is.
Examining the nearby wall along the stairwell, she looked for something that might appear to act like a switch. Her horn’s light fell upon an elegant candle stick that must’ve at one point lit the hallway, figuring that objects like that normally serve as a switch, she tugged on it. Nothing.
There was nothing else on that wall so she turned around to examine the other wall that lined the stairs. This one had a candle stick as well, which after pulling on it, revealed it to be nothing more. However, this wall did have something a little different, on the wall was an exquisitely carved engrave of her cutie mark, the main star being no bigger than her hoof. All the details were just right, they even carved it out of the same beautiful crystal that her castle was made of. Astounded by the sheer beauty of the piece, she reached out to touch it. It depressed slightly at her touch and a click sounded, followed by the grind of stone moving as the wall blocking the stairs pulled back to reveal a room.
Leaving through the newly discovered exit, she found herself rising through the floor to her castle’s library.
At least, she was pretty sure it was her castle’s library. The place looked like a war had hit it. More than half of the books were gone and those that did remain lay scattered around the room, most were burned, slashed, or otherwise ruined but several still appeared to be fine. Many tapestries and paintings that once decorated the room were slashed or burned, the statues smashed beyond recognition.
The library’s normally grand double doors had been blown off their hinges by some powerful force and lay on the ground.
Something wasn’t right. So many questions ran through Twilight’s mind: Could this really have happened in one day, or could she somehow have been out longer? Where were her friends? Where’s Spike? Are they alright?
Including the all-important question: what, in the name of Celestia, happened?
Willing down her panic, which as she had learned never helped a situation, she found her way through the ruins and out of the library. The rest of the castle wasn’t much better, and it looked like a soul hadn’t stepped hoof in any room she’d passed through in a rather long time, judging by the dust. This only raised more questions.
Making her way outside to the castle grounds, Twilight found what appeared to be a series of long abandoned tents around her castle, enough to host small army. This wasn’t what concerned her however, in the light of day, off in the distance, she could see Ponyville.
Or what remained of it.
From her vantage point, she could see that so many of the buildings were burned down or collapsed. Only a scattered few buildings appeared to still be in one piece. But, still, not everyone could’ve left…right? Surely there was someone there who held the answers.
Twilight found her way through the maze of tents and followed the short distance to the outskirts of Ponyville. There didn’t seem to be very many stable buildings on this side town, but she began to make her way past each building, calling out for help as she went.
It was unbelievably quiet, like there wasn’t a living soul left in the town. Still, she persisted, searching through each building for any signs of ponies.
It was while searching through one of the buildings on a block adjacent to town square that she felt it…she was being watched. By Luna, she swore she saw a shadow flicker out of sight while leaving one of the buildings not soon after.
That incident was in the back of her mind by the time she had reached the town square. It was while crossing the town square that she heard a light shuffle from behind her. From very close behind her.
She froze in fear. Her heart hammering in her ears.
“Turn around, slowly.” A gruff voice from behind her demanded.
The alicorn decided that not fighting was probably a smart idea. She didn’t know who or what they were, or what they were capable of. Slowly, she began to turn around.
In front of her was a pegasus in black armor. A mare, if her body shape, still evident underneath the light armor, was any indication. Her mane was concealed beneath a helmet; her face hidden behind a scarf and a set of strange-looking flight goggles. She was in an attack stance, a dagger attached to her foreleg by some sort-of strap and pointed at Twilight, her wings spread wide as if ready to attack. Her wings were mostly covered in some type of armor, but the tips revealed that her coat was a light blue. However, her stance left her tail out of sight and her cutie mark hidden under her armor, leaving no further means of identification.
There was a long, awkward silence as the two simply stood there looking at each other. It was the stranger who broke the silence.
“Where did you get that image?” She asked, in the same gruff voice.
“W-wha-”
“I ASKED, WHERE DID YOU GET THAT IMAGE?!” The stranger yelled, lowering her position as if ready to lunge at Twilight.
“I-I don’t know what you’re t-talking about.” Twilight managed to stutter out, taking a step backward.
With impeccable speed, the stranger closed the distance between them and tackled the alicorn to the ground before Twilight could even react. The touch of cold, sharp metal pressed to her throat stopped her from fighting back.
“You heard me, changeling! Where did you get Twilight’s image?” The stranger growled, her face close enough that Twilight could feel her hot breath on her face. The lunge had caused the stranger’s scarf to fall loose, revealing a cerulean muzzle with a slim scar running on the right side of her muzzle from the tip of her nose and disappearing behind the goggles.
“I-I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about! I’m not a changeling! I just woke up a few hours ago and I don’t have any idea what is going on!” Twilight cried, cringing away in fear.
The stranger paused and pulled the blade slightly away from her neck. A good minute must’ve passed before the stranger spoke again, this time dropping the gruff voice and speaking in a voice that was all too familiar.
“If you’re not a changeling, then answer this question: how did we meet?”
The shift in voice caught Twilight momentarily off guard, but she answered almost automatically none-the-less.
“You crashed into me.”
A click sounded as the pressure of the blade disappeared, the pegasus stumbling backward off Twilight. As Twilight stood, she watched as the pegasus removed her helmet, a mane that spanned the colors of the rainbow falling loose. With the helmet, off came the goggles that shielded her eyes, revealing them to be a beautiful cerise.
In front of her was her friend Rainbow Dash, gawking at her as if she couldn’t believe her eyes.
Twilight was still shook up from the encounter, but a smile still overtook her face as she felt relief to finally see a familiar face.
Dash stood there for a good number of seconds before she finally reacted. Reaching out a hoof to touch Twilight’s chest, as if to make sure she was real.
“T-Twilight?” she asked, her voice cracking near the end.
“Yeah. Dash, what is -” Twilight didn’t get to finish her question as Rainbow pulled her into a tight hug.
Dash was never one for public displays of affection and she rarely initiated a hug, but yet here she was, hugging Twilight like she hadn’t seen her in forever. Just how long was she asleep? Maybe some kind of spell or something had gone wrong? …And since when did Rainbow wear armor and know how to use a dagger...and have a scar?
It was time for some answers.
“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight spoke up, “what is going on?”
Rainbow pulled away from the hug and faced Twilight again. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I have no idea what is going on! What happened to Ponyville? To my castle? To you?! To me?!” Twilight questioned, gesturing wildly in the direction of each of the objects as she mentioned them.
Dash’s expression was briefly one of confusion until realization dawned.
“What is the last thing you remember?” she inquired.
That wasn’t exactly the answer she wanted, but Twilight answered the questions anyway. “Falling asleep in my room the night before our picnic.”
Dash’s gaze flickered back and forth between Twilight’s eyes, as if searching for something. “Was this about two months after Tirek attacked?”
Twilight nodded.
“So you don’t remember getting Celestia’s letter and going to Canterlot?”
This time Twilight shook her head.
Dash looked away and took a deep breath.
“Twilight, you should take a seat.” She suggested.
It took Dash awhile to give the whole story about what happened that day, even filling her in about what happened after she was knocked unconscious.
She and the rest of the girls had awoken to find no Lavan and an unharmed and unconscious Twilight. They brought her back to her castle and when a few days had passed and she still hadn’t awoken, they called in a royal doctor…who called in more doctors. No one knew what was wrong until a specialist in magical conditions was called in. His diagnosis was that something must’ve backfired when they called upon the power of harmony, for the magic had locked her in a state similar to suspended animation. The doctor couldn’t give an estimate on when she’d wake up, so they called Cadence and Shining Armor in to rule Equestria in her stead.
It was a lot for Twilight to swallow and it still hadn’t answered every question Twilight had.
“But, what happened to Ponyville? How long was I out?”
Dash sighed, glancing out toward the ruins of Ponyville. “A war is what happened here. After we blasted him, Lavan kinda disappeared for a bit, but after a while he returned and things went to Tartarus. Ponies…gryphons…dragons…all kind of creatures turned on their own kind. Twilight, you…” Her friend paused, her mouth opening and closing multiple time, as if trying to decide what to say.
“Twilight, you’ve been in a coma for something around twenty years.” She finally managed to say.
Twilight felt the world come to a speeding halt. She became oblivious to everything around her as that last sentence echoed through her head. Twilight didn’t even realize she was beginning to hyperventilate until a sharp pain in her right cheek registered in her shocked mind, snapping her back to reality.
She came face-to-face with a Rainbow who was firmly gripping her shoulders. Though at first her expression was one of concern, Rainbow flashed an apologetic smile and pulled away.
“Sorry, Twilight but you weren’t responding to anything else.”
It took Twilight a solid thirty seconds to regain her train of thought, another half-minute to register that her friend had just slapped her, and another minute to come up with a response.
“So…twenty years?”
Rainbow just nodded. “Yeah.”
Twilight nodded along too, trying to decide on what to discuss next. What do you say when something like this has been dropped on you? Which of the million questions do you ask when your mind is chock full of them?
“What’s with the armor?”
Apparently, that was the question that decided to sneak its way out. It must’ve been one Dash liked as she stood a little taller and presented a proud smirk as she answered.
“You are looking at the Commander of the Rainbow Friendship Kingdom’s air squadron!”
Twilight tilted her head. “My kingdom?”
“Well, kinda!” Dash responded with a laugh. “We named our group after your kingdom in your honor.”
Twilight couldn’t help but smile bashfully at that. “What of Spike and the other girls?”
“They’re all leaders in the Kingdom as well. Actually,” Rainbow glanced skyward. “I should start heading back to camp. I’m already way late and I don’t want them to start worrying.”
Dash picked up her helmet and brushed the dirt off of it, placing it back on her head when its cleanliness was deemed acceptable.
Spreading her wings, she prepared to take off but not before turning back to Twilight. “Come on, Twi. I’m sure the girls are going to be excited to see you again!”
The pegasus took off into the sky and Twilight soon joined her friend.
Twilight was anxious and excited to see the rest of her friends. There were many a fears and concerns about what may great her when they arrive, for who knows about what might've occurred in her absence. In addition to that, who knows what sort of mysteries and challenges the future may bring but if there's one thing she's learned over the years, it's that friendship always prevails and when armed with that magic, they can overcome any obstacle thrown their way.
However, throughout the day’s events, there was one thing that Twilight had failed to notice about her friend: despite the twenty-so years which have passed and behind the scars and dirt and dust that clung to her fur, Rainbow Dash did not appear to be a single day past the age when Twilight last saw her.
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Dat title doe.
5458602
I've heard of that song before, but the title's similarity is completely unintentional lol
Very nice chapter.
Your descriptions and pacing are much better here compared to the prologue.
Can't wait to see more!
Another thing I'd recommend is finding a cover photo for your story. Even if it's just a picture of flames, it'll grab the attention of more readers.
5459786
5460596
Thanks, I was hoping the pacing and descriptions had turn out better! Were it not for feedback, I'd have no idea how it's turning out. lol
As for the cover photo, I do have one in mind, just with being home for the holidays I lack the supplies to make it. I do appreciate the tip though, most people probably wouldn't bother to give the suggestion to have one.
This is good. I don't say that often. Continue.
5463284
A lot of times I find myself skipping over stories that lack cover art, so I thought it would be nice for this story to have one.
5463303
Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far!