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Chapter 1: A Simple Messenger2,177 words
Chapter 2: Past and Present1,967 words

Chapter 2: Past and Present

Princess Luna stood atop a small hill made of moon rock, gazing down upon the planet in which she called home. Equestria had yet to be founded, but it was still the two sisters' duty to protect the inhabiting nomad pony tribes. By Luna's left flank stood her older sister, Celestia. Both of the alicorns' horns glowed as they cast a spell to keep them alive in the vacuum of space.

“Sister, thee wisheth to know, what shall become of thy planet if thy foe triumph?” Luna asked, slowly shifting her gaze to look up at her sister. Celestia's face bore the expression of a soldier going into a battle.

“They shan't,” Celestia said, with a look of hopeful determination in her eyes. Even then, dim lights could be seen in the distance, slowly closing upon them. A battle was imminent.

- - - - - -

Twilight carefully held up a beaker of green liquid to examine it. Once confident of the precise measurement, she poured it into another container, mixing two chemicals together. She didn't even turn her head as somepony entered the room from behind her.

“What are you working on now?” Spike asked. Twilight sighed.

“I could ask you the same thing. You've been in the basement most of the day,” Twilight turned away from her work to look at Spike, “And you're covered in dirt. What have you been doing?”

“I'm digging a tunnel!” Spike said cheerfully. Twilight turned her head back to her work, not interested in Spike's coltish endeavors.

“If you want to dig in the dirt so badly, why don't you ask Rarity if she needs help finding more gems?”

“I already did. She said she was too busy repairing Fluttershy's dress after Angel used it to go hang gliding.”

Twilight perked up and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, shaking the silly image out of her head as she resumed writing down the effects the two chemicals had on each other.

Spike walked up to Twilight's table, and casually placed his scaly elbows upon it.

“This isn't one of your more dangerous experiments, is it? Just because I'm fireproof doesn't mean I don't worry about you.” Twilight smiled, and replied, “No Spike, I'm just mixing two completely harmless compounds that will-”

Suddenly the beaker exploded, dropping the thick, boiling chemical onto a metal tray beneath it. Twilight stood still, in mild shock from the small explosion. Spike giggled.

“Completely harmless?”

- - - - - -

Valiant slowly awakened as he heard guards approaching. The cold, dark cell had been his home for three long, lonely days as he waited for his hearing to come to an end.

“Come along, scum. Celestia has finally decided what to do with you,” the guard said, opening the cell door as another unicorn guard stood by with a levitating spear at the ready.

Valiant obeyed, not knowing for sure if he was walking to his freedom or execution.

The holding facility doors opened suddenly, powered by the unicorn guard's magic. Valiant was blinded by the sun in which he was deprived of for far too long. Before him stood a group of ponies who came to hear his trial's verdict. Some were friends that were concerned about him, while others were rougher folk looking to witness an execution. The atmosphere was a grim one, meaning bad news was in store for Valiant. Drops of water fell upon his face as a light rain began. Those weather ponies just had to schedule rain for today, of all days.

“Valiant,” Princess Celestia spoke, “You have been my loyal assistant for a long time now. I find it difficult to believe that the crimes against you are true, but the evidence is overwhelming.” Valiant closed his eyes and cringed as he waited for Celestia to declare his punishment.

“You shall be banished to the Everfree Forest for the rest of your life. You have not only broken the law of Equestria, but you have also broken my personal trust. For that, you will be punished severely and fairly.” Celestia's expression remained mostly unchanged, quotidian for her personality, but it was obvious that this punishment afflicted her. nopony else had been banished in this fashion for as long as Valiant could remember.

A guard behind Valiant prodded his flank with the dull end of a spear, and guided him toward the dark forest. A single tear slowly ran down Valiant's face. Banishment was equivalent to death, only far slower and more painful. As per tradition, he was given a saddle bag with minimal supplies, but he was not permitted to enter any city of Equestria. Anypony caught assisting him would receive the same fate as he. There was no hope for survival in the forest, especially not for an inexperienced unicorn such as he.

“Daddy!” A young colt's voice interrupted the slow-moving procession. Valiant recognized it immediately.

A young crimson colored colt pushed through the legs of the crowd. He tried to hug his father, but was met with the chains that bound Valiant. Normally, the guards would have stopped anypony from approaching the prisoner, but this was an exception they all silently agreed to allow.

“Where are you going daddy? You can't go into the forest, there are monsters in there!”

Valiant's vision blurred as uncontrollable tears welled up.

“I...I have no choice...your uncle will take good care of you,” Valiant said, briefly noticing his brother in the crowd.

“But I don't want him, I want you! Why do you have to leave?” The colt cried, not understanding the situation at all.

“Here,” Valiant said, “Take this. Remember me by it.” Valiant removed a golden necklace from around his neck, and put it around the colt's. It very nearly dragged on the ground, but Valiant didn't care.

“But...this is the locket with mommy in it-”

“And that is why you should take it. When you are lonely, look inside and remember your mother; then remember that it is a gift from me. We'll both always be with you so long as you have this.”

A poke from the guard behind told Valiant that it was time to move.

“Goodbye son.”

- - - - - -

Shining Heart could tell Rainbow Dash was pleased with the city. It was sunny and warm; the perfect setting for a look around. Shining Heart felt relieved to be away from the depressive attitude of Samgus and was happy to give the friendly cyan mare a tour.

As small as it was, Samgus' designs for the city were quite genius the way they utilized every inch of space. Buildings were multistory, and many of which were built into the walls surrounding the city. The main street wasn't so much a street as it was a large area of compacted dirt and stone for ponies to trot upon; there were no vehicles or carts for the most part.

“Are those lamps powered by electricity?” Rainbow Dash asked Shining, pointing a hoof at one of the many tall black lamps that populated the city. It was the middle of the day, and the lamps were off, but Rainbow Dash still noticed that there was something different about them.

“Indeed they are. Don't you have electricity in Ponyville?”

“Not really. The hospital uses it for some things, but other than that we rely on magic and fireflies.” Shining Heart walked over to a lamp and placed his hoof on it.

“These lamps draw power from our city's generator. Beneath our hooves at this very moment is an underground waterfall that powers everything electric in the city. It's another invention that Samgus came up with.” Rainbow Dash nodded in amazement, not truly understanding what Shining had just said. Electricity was one of those things that really only eggheads studied. Rainbow Dash thought about how much Twilight would love to see these things in action.

A menacing boom sound enveloped the city. The ground shook as Rainbow and Shining struggled to remain on their feet.

“What the hay-?” Rainbow Dash yelled out, but was cut off by the cries of a group of ponies running through the city gates. They appeared to be some explorers that had been sent into the Everfree Forest.

“Close them! Close the applebucking gates!” One of the explorers cried out, eyes wide with terror. The guards obeyed, rotating the large crank that controlled the gates.

“What is it? What's going on?” Shining asked the one that appeared to be the group's leader. Another ground shaking boom hit them like a shock wave before Shining Heart could receive a reply.

“HYDRA!” A guard yelled from above, pointing a hoof at something that was outside the city walls. Even though it was outside the city walls, it was not out of their view. A large three-headed green creature shook the ground with each step it took.

Rainbow Dash had heard of a Hydra before, as one had previously attacked her friends a while back, but nothing could prepare her for this encounter. Her first instinct was to fly away and be safe from harm, but she didn't feel right about leaving the city to be destroyed.

The monster crashed through the city gates; not even giving the castle walls or wooden barriers a second thought. At that moment, Samgus came out onto his balcony. He shouted to one of the guards.

“Well?! What are you waiting for?!” The guard replied nervously,

“But it's untested-” The guard was cut off by the loud roar of the three headed beast.

“I don't give a flying feather! Don't let that monster destroy my city!” The guard gave Samgus a quick nod, and signaled to the guards atop the city walls.

“FIRE!”

Rainbow Dash looked around frantically as she heard the strangest sound in her life. It sounded like a magical spell charging up, but there was also a, ear-piercing mechanical ring to it. The noise came to a climax, shaking the ground almost as much as the Hydra had, and then it fired.

Rainbow Dash wasn't sure where it had come from, but a large magical bolt of energy struck the Hydra just moments before it took another step into the city. After impacting with the creature, large bolts of electricity surged through its body. The beasts's eyes rolled into the back of its three heads as it fell to the ground, landing on a large section of the city wall. Luckily it had not fallen forward, or else it would have caused extensive damage to the city and would have crushed dozens of ponies.

Samgus came running out of his castle to see what damage had been done. After scanning the area, he smiled at how effective the energy gun was. The Hydra was dead.

Rainbow Dash let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She sure didn't enjoy witnessing a living creature being killed, but she also knew the city would have been destroyed otherwise. She looked up at Shining as he smiled weakly at her.

The ground shook. Wait, what was this? The monster was dead, what was- suddenly, a large crack opened up in front of Rainbow Dash and Shining Heart. Every expression in the market quickly changed from relief to terror. A crack ran from under the Hydra, right between Rainbow's hooves, and stopped near the center of the market. The crack slowly expanded as dirt and other items were seemingly sucked into it like a black hole.

Before Rainbow Dash had a chance to take to the sky, a jet of water shot out of the crack and hit her, knocking her over. In that moment the crack widened suddenly, and wide-eyed Rainbow Dash fell through, all the while screaming in terror.

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