Drocsid

by flutterspin

Broken Seal

Broken Seal

---

I gradually opened my eyes and shocked to see myself in a comfy bed. I pushed aside the soft covers. My face brightened. I was home, inside my very own room.

I stepped off the side of my bed and roamed around for a few minutes. As my hoof ran across the edge of the bed, I noticed something peculiar in the mirror hanging up on the wall. My horn had disappeared. When I straightened my hair, I didn't feel anything sticking out of my forehead. There was a steady sound of dripping sand that filled the air. It came from the miniature hourglass model placed on the corner of my cabinet. I poked the metal frame and watched it rattle on the golden pedestal.

Then, all feeling of comfort left my body. The straps on my school bag laying by the door rattled against the rough wind that chilled my legs. The strong current flipped the hourglass upside down. I passed through my room and entered into the kitchen. On the counter laid a half-eaten strawberry cupcake. I ran my hoof across the small plate it was resting on. I dismayed at a thought that triggered in my head. "Mom?"

I heard a cackle from outside the house. I hurried to the front porch. There my mother stood frozen in fear of the black flame that rose from the ground. Two eyes popped through the smolders. A crescent smile grew underneath. A claw reached out from the smoke and touched my mother's forehead. Her body's vibrant colors gradually faded away.

I rushed out to meet her, but lost hold of the ground. As if a trap door gave way, the earth peeled away underneath me. I tumbled blindly through the dark abyss.

I woke up back in the Canterlot Archives. With my sight still a bit dazed and my head barely off the ground, I saw Rainbow Dash kneeling down next to the princesses across the room.

"He's coming to!" Pinkie Pie shouted.

"Not so loud Pinkie," I mumbled.

I planted my front hooves on the ground in an attempt to stand up, but my legs buckled under the pressure. Pinkie Pie's concerned face appeared in front of my eyes.

"Easy there," Pinkie stated, "You don't want to strain yourself."

I gripped both sides of my head. "What happened?"

As my vision cleared, I perceived Luna and Celestia in the same deplorable state I was in. Rarity and Twilight laid motionless on the floor. Fluttershy and Applejack patiently waited over for them to regain consciousness. I felt sick to my stomach. My head hurt just as bad as when I smashed into the apple stand.

Fluttershy gripped Twilight's hoof. "Oh, please get up." Fluttershy was relieved when Twilight kicked her legs. "Oh good, you are waking up."

Rarity pressed her hoof against her head. "Did some pony catch the cart that ran me over?"

Pinkie Pie asked, "What happened to you guys?"

Applejack commented, "Whatever it was, it seemed to have affected just the unicorns."

Luna gasped for air while rising off the floor. "It was... a magic drain."

"That's... not possible," Twilight uttered.

Applejack stated, "It certainly explains things, but where did it come from?"

Pinkie Pie hopped to a hole in the center of the room. The etched seal had disappeared and revealed a stone staircase leading down to a basement level. "I bet it came from down there."

Despite her condition, Twilight Sparkle exerted all her strength in standing up from the ground. As sweat droplets rolled off her chin, she wandered over to Pinkie Pie. "We have to go down there and-" Twilight lost her balance and collapsed. Pinkie Pie grabbed hold of her before she fell down the hole.

"Not in that condition," Applejack said.

"Luna? Is there a way to get your magic back?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"We might not be able to reverse the spell, but there is a way to accelerate the healing process. My memory is a bit fuzzy. Sis', do you remember that restore spell?"

"No, but we might be able to find a copy of it somewhere in this room."

Pinkie Pie saluted. "On it!" Within a matter of seconds, she returned with a scroll and laid it in front of Celestia. "Here you go."

Rainbow Dash playfully nudged Pinkie Pie. "How do you keep doing that?"

"You just have to know where to look." Pinkie grinned. "It was under R."

Princess Celestia used her nose to roll the scroll open. She spent a minute reading its contents and then closed her eyes to meditate. The tip of her horn glowed bright yellow. The sunlight from the window intensified, filling the entire room. The warmth from the sun rays restored enough strength for us to stand.

Twilight stretched her legs. "Thanks Celestia. That feels much better."

Princess Celestia spread out her wings. "Just don't overexert yourself."

I ambled next to Twilight by the staircase. "What do you think is down there?"

"The truth," Princess Celestia stated as she approached behind me.

The air thinned as we entered into the stone cavity below the main room. Both Twilight and Celestia lit the way. A dark room emerged at the bottom of the stairs. Its shape reflected the form of a heptagon. Near the jagged, purple crystals sticking through the crag, a few rotting bookcases leaned against the stone walls. An old book rested center on top of an decaying table near the end of the room. A narrow indentation singed clean through the dusty tome and table.

A voice echoed in the room. "You fell right into my trap."

The book flipped open and generated a wind current that began pulling us in. The ponies held their ground, but the current swept me off my hooves. Applejack lept forward and grabbed hold of me.

"Don't let go!" I shouted.

The strength of the current was too much to bare. The current plucked Applejack's hat off her heat. It slammed into my face. I felt my grip slipping. Then, the whirling stopped. My body dropped down to the floor. I pulled Applejack's hat away from my face. "I think this is yours," I stated as I offered it back to her.

"Thanks," Applejack said as she placed the hat back on her head.

The voice reacted in a more casual tone. "Using your magic to close the book. How could such a simple plan be foiled by a simple pony."

Twilight responded, "We know you are here! Come out where we can see you!"

The voice mocked, "Please, be a little patient. I put a lot of effort into that plan. Ok, I'll admit. It wasn't the best plan, but a good plan nonetheless."

Using her Canterlot voice, Luna shouted, "Show yourself!"

The voice responded, "Is that you, Princess Luna? I recognize your loud shouting from anywhere. Or, are you still Nightmare Moon? It has been awhile and I want to make sure I get it right. Sometimes, I have a tendency to forget things when trapped for a millenium or two."

Luna slanted her head. "Discord?"

"You wound me. No, I am not Discord. I am the one and only..." The gems in the room emitted a purple light. Black smoke rose above the book on the table. "Ordain!"

Rainbow Dash asked, "Ordain?"

My heart skipped a beat as the smoke dissipated. Ordain looked identical to Discord except his image was symmetrically shaped. Otherwise, he retained the same deer antlers, lion's paws, wings of a pegasus, and legs of a lizard.

Ordain flailed his arms around. "Yes. Ordain."

Rarity asked, "So you're not Discord?"

Ordain slapped himself in the head. "No, I'm not Discord. He's the spirit of chaos... or disharmony... whatever, same thing. I'm Ordain, the spirit of order."

"Could it be," Luna muttered, "after all these years?"

Ordain pointed at us. "And I'm going to make a few corrections around here."

Applejack asked, "What does that supposed to mean?"

Ordain replied, "So many things wrong in the universe. It's my job to fix 'em."

The sudden silence made every pony uneasy. We put up our guard in a defensive position and braced for the unexpected.

Ordain tugged on his black goatee. "I think I know where to start. Those colors. They are all wrong."

Ordain clapped his paws together. When he slowly separated them, a fracture ripped open in the fabric of space. Like weaving magic thread, Ordain enclosed his paws together twice more through the hole. Electricity flowed around his paws.

He grinned and exerted his paws towards us. "The pink one will go first."

Lightning shot out of Ordain's paws and hit Pinkie Pie. She carelessly watched her colors seep out of her body. Pinkie's body turned white, and her mane was left tinted a shade of yellow.

"Stop this, Ordain!" Twilight shouted.

"Don't worry. You shall be next."

Ordain closed his paws behind his head and pounded on the magic tear in front of him. Two transparent panels appeared, one on each side of Twilight Sparkle. The panels mirrored Ordain's movements as he crossed his arms. They quickly slid through Twilight and disappeared. Her darker violet color disappeared and replaced with a sheer white color.

"Change us back!" Twilight shouted.

Pinkie Pie admired over the changes. "I don't know, Twilight. I kind of like being white. I look like a giant marshmellow!"

Rarity looked over at Pinkie Pie. "Now wait a minute..."

"And now, you look just like your mom," Pinkie commented.

Twilight restated, "Ok... change me back."

Ordain ignored Twilight and turned his head toward his next subject. "The rainbow one. Yes."

"No!" Rainbow Dash yelped.

Ordain retracted his arm to his side. As he pulled it forward, a book flew across the room and slapped him in the face. He rubbed the side of his face. "Ow, that hurt."

"That is enough!" Luna shouted using her Canterlot voice.

"Oh be quiet," Ordain remarked. He cupped his left paw into his right. A spark flew out and landed on Luna. She rapidly moved her legs to check her vitals. Everything seemed normal.

Luna reacted with a haughty expression, but there were no sounds from the words she conveyed to Ordain. She mouthed a few more words before she quickly covered her mouth in fright. Princess Luna had become mute. Ordain redirected his attention back at Rainbow Dash when another book flew in from the opposite side of the room.

"Stop this now!" Celestia shouted.

Ordain dropped his arms to his side. Electricity sewed the magic rift up as to repair the dimensional space tear. A smug grew on Ordain's face. "Oh, look. It's the princess. What do you want me to do? You want me to stop? Ha! What if I say no? Hmm."

Celestia discharged a beam of light from her horn. An invisible barrier around Ordain absorbed the blow. He cackled as Princess Celestia stopped her attack. Luna knelt down in preparation to charge Ordain.

I briefly dashed forward and stopped with my head held high. "Why are you doing this?"

Ordain walked around the table. "Why? Because things have been changed, manipulated, and destroyed. I'm just trying to repair the damage. Fix what is broken. Isn't that right, Moonlight."

"How-"

"So much chatter! Where was I?" Ordain slapped his knee. "Wings! Right."

Ordain initiated another rift. He clapped his paws once, twice, and then quickly lifted them upward into the air. Light from the rift blinded our eyes. After a few seconds, we saw Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all had lost their wings. Luna stomped the ground as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash cried out in horror.

Applejack exclaimed, "What gives you the right to-"

"The right? Oh, the pony is telling me about rights. Why do you care? Your friends are just like you now," Ordain remarked.

Pinkie said, "Just because our friends can fly and we can't, well without a little ingenuity, doesn't mean you can just take their wings like that."

Rarity said, "It is what makes them unique. Same applies to unicorns."

"You're right," Ordain shrugged, "I guess I'll have to take your horns away too."

Ordain inserted his paw into the rift and pulled out a magic sword. He struck the air generating an electric strike that hurled towards us. Luna jumped between us and repelled the strike with a force field. Ordain grew angry and transformed the sword into a spear. He jabbed the spear into the ground. Eight spears randomly tore through the room, but were repelled by Luna's force field.

"I'm touched, Luna. You do remember me and you still had enough wit to stop my attacks," Ordain shrugged, "Oh well. I can always turn my attention elsewhere, Ponyville perhaps?"

Ordain's image blackened. Luna, Twilight, and I charged forward but were only able to run into the puff of smoke he left behind. Luna shortly collapsed on the ground.

"Luna!" I exclaimed.

Celestia sat down and comforted Luna. "You'll have to stop pushing yourself like that, Luna. That being said... thanks."

"We have to stop him!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"But how? He's too powerful," Rarity responded.

I walked around Celestia. "Luna, do you know Ordain?"

She nodded in response.

Twilight asked, "Perhaps you can write down how you know him and..."

Princess Luna shook her head and motioned Celestia to help her up. She approached the book on the table and flipped it open. All the pages were blank. Luna temporarily closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She gestured us to follow her up the stairs.

We slowly ascended back to the main room. Luna walked over to one of the bookcases by the window and browsed the selections. After a few minutes, she dropped one on the ground for all to see.

"Is that a journal?" I inquired.

Luna cracked open the book and slowly turned the pages one at a time. Certain chapters mentioned the origins of unicorns and pegasi. Other chapters listed talents found among the ponies of Equestria.

As Luna slowed down, Twilight recognized one of the illustrations. "That's Starswirl the Bearded!"

Celestia responded, "He helped the city more ways than one. He excelled in his duties as a guardian."

"A guardian?" I asked.

Twilight responded, "Kind of like my brother. A type of ancient captain."

Luna turned to a page and poked it with her hoof. The opposing page displayed a picture of the Elements of Harmony. Twilight read the top of the page.

The monsterious beast came up out of the swamp and surprised me. It was a hydra! I stood my ground and let out a quick swipe of my...

Luna tapped lower on the page. Twilight began reading again.

The next night, I was approached by a mysterious creature shrowded in a black cloak. My instincts told me to take defensive measures, but my curiosity said otherwise. Before taking any action, the creature dropped a letter on the ground. Inscribed were details on the location of the legendary Elements of Harmony. Before inquiring about the letter, he vanished. A puff of black smoke was all that remained. The only name provided was the signature on the bottom of the letter - Drocsid.

"That sounds like Ordain!" I remarked.

Luna turned over a couple pages. Twilight continued reading.

My joy for the victory of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna over Discord was short-lived. Concerns over Drocsid weighed heavy on my mind. Why leave the letter? Why hide his face? Later that night, I approached Luna of my anxiety. She laid my worries to rest when she agreed to personally seek out guidance among my comrades. Her wings would make traveling much easier than my bare hooves. I pray she returns safely, for the sake of Equestria.

Rarity said, "That explains a few things."

Rainbow Dash added, "But we still don't know how to stop Ordain."

Luna combed her hair back and looked at Celestia.

"Any ideas, princess?" Twilight asked.

Princess Celestia paced the floor. She circled around the hourlgass and walked down the room's aisles. She looked out the window and then stepped back to us. "What about the book?"

"The book Twilight just read?" Applejack asked.

"No, the book downstairs," Celestia reiterated.

Pinkie Pie rushed down the stairs and retrieved the book. Celestia held up the book and meditated over the whole matter. "What is Ordain trying to accomplish? That is what troubles me. If we can piece together his motives, we might be able to put a stop to his plan. I will round up the guards. Luna, you can-" Luna kicked open the doors and charged out.

Rarity stated, "She recovers fast."

Celestia smiled. "My sister can be very stubborn sometimes."

Princess Celestia turned the book over to Twilight. "Here Twilight. See if you can figure out more about this book."

"Right," Twilight Sparkle said, "We will find a way to stop him. Pinkie..."

Pinkie interrupted, "Call me Whitee."

Twilight said, "Ok?... Whitee. Since you are so good at finding things, see if you can look for a scroll or something to get us back to normal."

"What about us?" Rainbow Dash asked, "We're not just going to sit idly by."

"Without a unicorn, we have no chance of stopping his attacks," Applejack said, "no offense, Rarity."

"None taken."

Twilight Sparkle said, "That is why you aren't going alone. Take my brother with you. You should be able to find him with Cadance at the observatory."

I asked Twilight, "Do you really think he will help us?"

Twilight Sparkle responded, "When it comes to protection, he is the best. I know from experience. He didn't become captain of the guard because of his looks."

Rarity said, "He sure looked good in that uniform he wore to the wedding."

All the ponies looked at Rarity.

"What? The red worked really well with his blue mane." Rarity walked outside to try and diffuse the awkwardness. "Come on. I know the... way?" She opened her mouth wide and sat on the floor.

Pinkie hopped next to Rarity. "Cool!"