Guardians of Equestria

by Silverwind Blade

Memory

The blackness of a long-dark chamber was rudely disturbed by the unwelcome intrusion of a shaft of light as great doors, mounted on rollers, slowly split apart. The groans and creaks as they moved echoed through the underground storage chambers, and the inrush of clear air chased out musty air and eddies of dust as the sunlight spread over the stored materiel inside, stored away just in case it was needed, but in the hope it never would be.

With the glow of magic, rows of mage-lights on the ceiling flickered to life, their metal holders and the glass tubes pinging as they warmed up, and casting a sterile glow over the ranks of machines and equipment beneath, shrouded in protective wraps. Hulking machines, all slab-sided angles of thick armour, drab colours, and tapering, menacing cylinders clustered together with racks and crates, filled with the stuff of war-fighting.

At the entrance to the storage shelter, buried deep in the Appaloosan Desert, a team of ponies checked mark off of a clipboard, while others moved loading ramps into place, moving to and fro around a train requisitioned for the task.

The same scene was repeated around the country at strategic locations; in the San Palomino desert, Ghastly Gorge, Dodge Junction and a small number of other places, other caches had been broken open. Trains loaded with the machinery of Equestria’s dormant army made their way to strategic locations, while from other directions, trains full of volunteers closed in.

In the North of the country, the first groups of rapidly equipped forces marched into position, blockading the railway and roads leading to Manehattan; it had taken only the slightest of reconnaissance by pegasi to find the Hollow Things forces. Of the group of ten volunteers from the local weather team, only three had made it back. And of them, one had already succumbed to their wounds.

Equestria prepared for war.

The Pony of Shadows mulled over information that flowed through the collective stream of information gathered from the Hollow Things prey. What had sent him to this state was the most recent captives gathered and consumed by the Hollow Things. In the midst of their gathered life force, mana, and energy were also a swirling mass of memories and thoughts, stripped from their consciousness, and the underlying unease they had spread throughout the Hollow Things shared memories and collective thought.

Princess Twilight and her friends, the ones who had defeated him before, were on a quest to a far off land, searching to find something to stop the Hollow Things. To a place far across the oceans, on the other side of the world from Equestria. And that idea, that far-off land, was what put the Hollow Things on edge. There was something there that could stop them, or hurt them. And it was something that could not be allowed to return.

There was another place, far to the South, where they would stop first. A site known to the Pony of Shadows as well. It needled at part of his mind and consciousness, poked long-dormant memories and thoughts of a life once lead into the light and exposed them to examination again. He struggled to grab hold of the thoughts, to process them and remember; they were so long lost and forgotten that it was difficult to even remember what they were, how he had lived them. It was… so very long ago; before the Pillars and before he had become one with Stygian. He had been something else, long ago.

The inky-black, hulking being of magic and technoflesh turned his energies and attention inward, searching back through his own past

* * *

Onyx Star struggled up another slope, picking his footing carefully. Nonetheless, his hooves dislodged another cascade of rocks as he picked his way, precariously, up the side of the plateau.

The shadow grey unicorn had been climbing for hours, walking for even more. After he’d seen the lights circling the top of the towering rocky plateau that rose high above the jungle, he’d been enthralled. Other ponies working in the orchards and groves that surrounded the village, or that had been working in the rivers had fled or cowered, seeing it as some kind of sign that spirits were unhappy with them, that harmony was unbalanced, or some other such superstitious tripe. But Onyx had wanted to see more. He had argued that, if it was spirits or other supernatural forces, then if they were there, surely going to them would be better, to communicate with them and learn more of them, rather than simply… guess what they wanted based on what they may or may not be doing. But, his words fell on deaf ears. Angry and fed up with being ignored, and wanting an answer, he had set out on his own.

It was always the same. The second son of one of the villages’ farming families, he had been passed over for virtually everything of interest. He was unconcerned with the life expected of him; to follow in the hoof-steps of his father and brothers in working the family farm, despite his burgeoning interest and impressive talent for magic - something that had, in fact, earned him his cutie mark. With the life he lead, that mark seemed like a cruel joke. He had no opportunity to show or test his magic, no way to expand his skills beyond what little he could struggle to work out himself, or copy from watching the villages’ elder mage performing his own spells on the towns’ behalf. Though, the mage of course already had an apprentice, and the stubborn old bastard refused to take on a second apprentice. Fed up with the village, with ponies, and with his life, Onyx had wandered out into the jungle, heading for the plateau in search of anything better than the miserable stagnation he felt at home.

Now, partway up the plateau as he considered those thoughts, it only resolved him further, even as rumbles like monsoon thunder and flashes like lightning and fires swathed the top island of rocky land that thrust hundreds of feet above the jungle canopy. There was so little distance to go, and the clashes, booms and other cacophonous sounds that rained down only made him more curious, not less. Thrills chasing in his chest, he summoned up his telekinesis and levitated himself higher, bypassing a narrow, perilous ledge in favour of a wider one. Another short hop and leap took him higher, followed by some scrambling across rocks and chasms.

Finally, as all went quiet, he emerged onto the top of the plateau, and felt his breath catch in his throat.

It was a scene he could barely comprehend.

Structures five, six, ten times the size of the villages tallest ones. Made of what looked like the smoothest stone, worked into smooth, flowing shapes. Light that glowed as steadily as any magelight or horn, but brighter. Smooth ground under hoof, coated or fashioned with some kind of stone-like coating, and everywhere; more metal than he had ever seen. Glowing runes decorated many of the buildings, and constructions he barely even had an idea of hunkered within them, sleek shapes of metal, glass and other substances, all blended in with the forest around them.

But it wasn’t right; something was amiss. Some kind of accident had occurred here. Or some kind of incident. Perhaps a confrontation with a jungle predator; though how any mere creature could be a threat to such godly creatures as must live here, he had no idea. But fires burned, structures were damaged or toppled. Burned-out hulks of whatever the sleek constructs were littered the middle of the plateau. And, as he trotted closer in fearful, morbid curiosity, he could see…

Bodies.

They weren’t ponies, but they weren’t that different. Taller, more slender, and with two graceful, curving horns. Slimmer, longer muzzles and short tails. And their manes were only short ruff along the middle of their backs - the ones he could see, anyway. And they certainly bled the same colour.

Some kind of markings or tattoos ran all across their bodies and their vibrantly bright tan/brown/rust/black/white coats, outlined in gold and green.

They looked to have been engaged in some kind of struggle, from where they had fell, and the violence that surrounded them. Was this… some kind of attack? Did even these magnificent, advanced creatures fight with one another.

Cautiously the young stallion trotted closer, desperate for answers to the questions building in his mind. The closer he got, the more he began to piece things together. Males and females of the species, noting the differences in their build and size - and the obvious differences, not too dissimilar from ponies. The big, hulking yet sleek constructions had spaces for them to ride in - like carts or wagons, but full of things he didn’t really understand, but looked like rune engravings or language.

He moved past the site of the conflict, the heat from the burning fires hotter than any campfire or bonfire he’d been around, and the acrid smell so much it made his eyes water and his nose prickle into a fit of sneezes. As soon as he let rip with the convulsive motion, an eerie wailing drifted from the largest standing building.

Throaty cries mingled with it, along with more explosions and thunderous reports, and he broke into a gallop, spurred on by the sounds of conflict.

As he crossed the threshold of the building, he was alarmed further. Doors had been thrown from their hinges or bent aside like folded dough. Lighting inside flickered and jumped, and again the acrid smells of burning assaulted his nose. Runic images flickered and faded or swam in the air, blinking insistently in shades of angry red or yellow. Rumbling crashes came from nearby, and he suddenly felt a pang of fear as the red-lit darkness closed in around him in this alien place. He was reminded of a particularly bad storm, of being trapped in the millhouse, alone as a foal and of the lightning spearing down through the skies in jagged fingers casting shadows of monsters unseen on the walls, of hissing torrential rain pinging, dripping, and sloshing through gaps in the old buildings’ ceiling and walls to creating eerie reverberations, echoes, and sounds in the darkness, and of the swell of relief he’d felt as his older sister had come for him in the darkness and how he’d thrown his hooves around her at the relief of seeing somepony familiar in an alien place.

And then he felt shame. Shame because he’d gone to the millhouse to be alone, to escape from his dismissive, uncaring father and mother. Shame because he’d told them he’d show them what he could do on his own, and that his magic would make him more powerful than them, or anyone in the village. Shame because he’d silently walked back in his sisters’ shadow, exchanging no words with her and listening as she tried to cheer him, tried to turn the misery and dead-ended nature of their lives into a positive.

The humiliation burned in his cheeks, and he strode forward, hooves ringing against the strange substance of the flooring. There was power here, and he’d find a way to access it, find a way to make these creatures teach him their talents and share their knowledge.

The wall crashed inward, throwing him to one side. He landed in a heap of aching bones and muscles, ears near deafened by the ringing in them. All noise sounded like it came from underwater, and he blearily looked onward, blinking the double-vision out of his eyes as he tried to understand what he was seeing.

One of the creatures fought. It moved with grace and agility, leaping and prancing with powerful twitches of muscle in its’ legs, pivoting on a single hoof with ease and flowing like smoke around the… thing it fought. That was another creature. Not dissimilar to those he’d seen dead, and the one now fighting it, but it was warped. Twisted. Half-composed and wracked with tarry black that seemed to adhere to or blur the lines of its’ coat and features. Parts of its’ original body were still visible, but rapidly they were being overtaken by the tarry black, a substance that seemed to ooze and ripple in an almost organic way, while yet looking technological. Occasionally, as it rippled, patterns of red lights or smoky grey chased each other across its surface. The two creatures screamed at one another in voices he couldn’t understand, their tones musical and fluid; it sounded like singing in an alien dialect.

The uncorrupted one wielded some kind of device, suspended in a field of sparkling motes of light. As the blackly corrupted one lurched toward it, that field collapsed. With a last gasp of power, bright bolts of light that seared his eyes volleyed out, like razor-straight lightning, and tore through the body of the corrupted creature. Something exploded behind them both, and Onyx felt the concussion smash into his body, blackness swimming over his vision.

He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, but there was the sensation of movement. He was being moved; dragged from his hind legs across a smooth, grassy surface. Wet dew kissed the side of his face, the organic smell of plants and the familiar scents of the jungle overlaid the background scents of acrid burning and chemical smells.

He slumped to the ground, and had the wherewithal to roll onto his front. His body ached, singing out a chorus of pain, and he couldn’t put any strength into his hooves to stand.

Blearily, he opened his eyes. The pre-dawn skies were lit with a deep purple glow as the sun crept below the horizon. A glance over his shoulder showed the skies lit with a demonic orange glow as the unearthly, heavenly ground he had stumbled into burned.

A heavy thump to the ground. He looked ahead of him once more, and felt faltering, stuttering breath ruffle his mane, ripe with the stench of corruption and illness. The copper scent of blood competed with singed fur and charred flesh, and he looked into a pair of mis-matched eyes, one hollow and unearthly white, the other an empty amber pit. The slender muzzle of the creature moved, and he tilted his head, trying to work out its’ bubbling, oozing words, mingled with the discordant song he’d heard earlier. He shook his head.

“I don’t understand,” he slurred weakly. “I don’t know what you’re saying”.

The voice tried again, all the more frustrated and angry, before convulsing in a hacking heap, some of the black mass falling away into pools of sludge that rapidly formed solid chunks on the ground. As Onyx looked on, he noticed that one side of the creatures’ muzzle was filled with short, regular and neat square teeth. The other, where the blackness had taken root, was a nightmare of jagged black spikes that swam in inky black.

With a hiss, the creature lurched forward. He scrambled back, but was too late; too uncoordinated and too concussed. He sprawled in the grass as inky tendrils from the things back and chest, where they formed a kind of mantle, wrapped around him.

Do you heeer ussss nowwww, it hissed into his mind in a discordant, demented lullaby voice. Succhhh angurrr, suchhh envvyyy. Yuuu wannt ourrr knowledge, ourrr powerrrrr….

Onyx felt his terror subside, mingling with curiosity as the thing showed him power, feats of magic and ability he couldn’t dream of. Flight, teleportation, energy beams, controlling hordes of creatures, controlling other ponies, and taking revenge. He would be able to take magic as he wanted it, read the abilities of others! This was the kind of power he had imagined, much more than that washed-up old fart who called himself a mage could show. He would make them all tremble in his wake, rising from the shadows he’d been thrust into, becoming a creature made of shadows.

“Yes!” he cried out enthusiastically. “Give me your power!”

The creature howled an unearthly sound, all discordant, unreal notes. It rose into a wailing screech of notes blurring into one that battered at his ears, even as the blackness consumed him, ravaging through his body, corrupting his flesh as it dove into him. He felt indescribable agony as it tore his senses apart, mingling with the core of his very being, flaying his memories and identity into nothing and combining them with everything it was. It gorged itself on the innate force of his life, the connection that was his through birth to the Harmony that pervaded Equus. It drank deep of the fountain, consuming that energy along with his body as it reshaped him, rebuilt him, and rebirthed him into the thing he was.

The hollow ache of hunger for more power, more magic and more knowledge burned at the core of his being, but he was no longer the creature he had been, the leech living on the remnants of a refugee from a far-off land. The last whispering thoughts of his old self lingered, burned into his mind, and as he opened glowing white eyes, he spoke from a mouth of inky otherness.

“I am a pony… of shadows”.

With a cackling howl that split the night and reverberated down to the village he had left behind, he spread great wings of inky black, and launched into the twilight skies.

* * *

The Plateau, he thought as he opened his ember-glowing orange eyes into the depths of the fortress. It was only natural. The place where he had become what he was, and begun the journey on this path, where the last Lemurians had tried to make a stand, only to be chased by their creations. It could be exactly what Princess Twilight and Equestria needed to learn more about the Hollow Things, lead them back to where they had, by the most slight of slivers, been imprisoned and defeated.

A chorus of mental voices howled in anguish at the thought of being imprisoned in the unending limbo once more, in that void where only nothing and hunger existed, side by side, for an eternity of no-time. He chafed along with them; the prison he had been exiled to with his tormentors had been no better. He refused to go back, to be returned to less-than-nothing in a meaningless nothing of time and space.

Commands and orders rippled out through the network that ethereally linked the Hollow Things. Under his guidance and authority, the newest, sleekest, and fastest of platforms were awakened from their cradles within the fortress. They burst to life, launching into the skies on plumes of stolen thaumaturgic energies, thundering into the stratosphere at speeds that only the fastest of pegasi could dream of, and leaving unearthly cries in their wake as they went on the hunt, heading for Equestrias’ equatorial southern reaches.

Rarity emerged from her tent at the ruins, blinking as she stepped into the sunshine. A cool breeze wafted her purple mane and she gave a sigh of pleasure at the relief it granted from the jungles’ incessant and inescapable humidity. It was doing no favours for the care of her mane or coat. Suppressing their desire to frizz or go limp had been one of her greatest challenges. That was one small victory she was proud of, but the oppressive heat bought with it constant sweating, which was just so incredibly unladylike. But, nonetheless! She would persevere, as it was all of Equestria at stake. If it must be that her personal comfort would be secondary to things for a short while, then so it must be.

Besides, the Sun Chaser had showers and air conditioning.

Tossing the still-elegant curls of her glorious purple mane, she trotted across the open clearing of the site atop the plateau to where they had so far managed to break through the layers of material to a cavern beneath. Twilight and Daring Do were positively exploding with excitement at the discoveries, and even she felt some thrill at the idea of a civilization so long-lost that it had never been encountered or heard of by Celestia or Luna. The alicorn sisters were so long-lived that it seemed difficult for her to imagine a time when they hadn’t walked the surface of Equestria, nor knew everything about it, so vast was their knowledge and experience. But here it was, a whole new chapter of Equestrian history, waiting to be discovered and deciphered. And with it, perhaps a clue to saving their people.

She leant over the lip of the wide rectangular hole descending into the earth and peered down. Lighting her horn made little impact on the gloom, but she could see the mage-lights set up below for working by the party now down in the cavern. With a huff, she scrunched up her muzzle. It seemed, inevitably, that she would have to endure the dust and must of the ruins below as well - but no matter; she did worse for recovering jewels. With a short burst of magic, she charged the mana-powered motor alongside the hole, and the winch began to creak and rattle, pulling the elevator back up to surface level.

Moments later, the white unicorn descended into the gloom below, the square of blue sky and thin white clouds above growing smaller as the glow of mage lights grew brighter, along with the sound of voices carried by an echo through the cavern.

“Hello~!” she called in a sing-song voice. “Twilight darling? Rainbow Dash? Spikey-wikey?”

“Down here, Rarity!” Spike’s voice answered. “Twilight and Daring Do think they’ve found something important”

“It had best not be a pottery shard,” she muttered to herself, her magic powering the lamp on the hard-hat she wore. One from her own collection, it had a touch of loveliness added to it by the pink bow at the back. Her finely manicured hooves rang hollow on what they had all been amazed to discover was some kind of metal-plated flooring in the vast chamber as she moved toward the source of the light. A set of temporary stairs had been erected, letting her climb up to a platform overlooking the main chamber. The three ponies and dragon were clustered around on the platform, the area lit by the glow of a pair of hovering will-o-the-wisp-like balls of magical light that matched the colour of Twilight’s magical aura.

“Rarity,” Rainbow Dash said with a smile as she approached. “At least some other pony is here. I’m getting lost in what Twilight’s talking about here”.

“Well darling, unless this is all some kind of elaborate catwalk, I doubt very much that I’ll have much to add either, I’m afraid. And I imagine that’s most likely not the case, hmm?”

Twilight grinned at Rarity, while Spike shrugged in confusion as he flapped in the air at Twilights’ shoulder.

“I almost wish it was, Rarity - at least then it’d be easy to figure out. Not to mention, I imagine if we were going to save the world with fashion, you’d be number one mare to help.”

“I only wish it were the case, dear,” she answered with a chuckle. “Do you have any idea what it actually is, though?”

Daring Do followed up, pointing to the alcoves they’d already pinpointed around the walls of the cavern. “I think it all has something to do with what’s stored in those. We’ve already seen a few of the machines they kept in them, but haven’t managed to get anything started yet. I think this is some kind of control panel for the place. Maybe a way to get them outside”.

“You think they’re some kind of vehicles?” Rarity asked, looking into the dimness at the sleek shapes hulking in a smattering of the alcoves. Out of twelve spaces, three were occupied with wreckage, five were empty and only four held the machines that seemed a natural fit for the facility - as, she thought to herself, that’s what it seemed to be.

“They’ve got room for someone to sit in,” Rainbow Dash pointed out, before grinning and holding a hoof to her chest. “And I’ve got dibs on getting in one first, as soon as we get them working!”

“Darling,” Rarity said with some amusement, patting her on the side. “They’re thousands of years old, you don’t really think they’re going to work? I mean, I had a sewing machine I’d left in the back of a closet for four years, getting it to work took a miracle. I think these are a lot more complicated”.

“Well, you say that,” Daring Do said with a sidelong look at the unicorn. “But, there’s an awful lot of temples, pyramids, ruins, and castles I’ve been in that still have working booby traps. Although,” she murmured, putting one hoof to her chin and rubbing it thoughtfully. “I do wonder who goes around and lights all the torches and candles in those places”.

“Well,” Spike said with a frown, leaning closer to the curved pedestal that bordered the platform. It was mostly smooth, aside from a few raised surfaces, and came to just above the height of their barrels. “Maybe it’s simple enough and there’s an ‘on’ switch? Or maybe it all needs a jump-start to get working again after being switched off so long. You know, like a hand-held game where the mana talismans have gone flat and need to be recharged with a zap from a horn”.

Twilight considered that, pacing along the platform and twitching her ears as she looked out over the cavernous space.

“Star Swirl did say that it felt like the magic had been ‘drained’ from this area. Maybe it was the same creatures we’re fighting now. We know they ‘eat’ magic to get more powerful, what if this technology was powered by magic, like my portal machine, and the Hollow Things drained all of the magic out of the place. Maybe there’s a big battery somewhere that just needs juicing up before it can start again?”

“That sounds almost too reasonable,” Rarity agreed, “and like it’s something we could do to get everything working again. But where would we find such a thing?”

“Well,” Rainbow said, rubbing the side of her head with one hoof uncertainly. “I don’t wanna sound like the dumb one, but when I want to find out if something’s attached, I normally follow the wires or the pipes”.

“Not a stupid idea if it works, Rainbow Dash,” Daring Do answered, and took to the air, flying around the other side of the pedestal. A few moments later, the four flyers were all flocked around the little platform, while Rarity climbed back down the stairs to floor level and examined the wall beneath. Lighting her horn, the alabaster unicorn peered intently at the walls as she noticed something. A set of narrow, parallel lines in the wall, going up to the platforms’ height. At her head height, there was a box on the wall, with what looked like a recessed cover on top. Humming in thought, she daintily poked the tip of her tongue out of one corner of her muzzle as she strained her telekinesis against the material, heaving with magical strength. With brief shriek of metal, it came free, and exposed a set of beautifully flawless, but completely dull crystals. Her sapphire blue eyes sparkled at the sight of such flawless gems, and she gasped.

“Come look at what I’ve found!” she called out with glee. “I think you had the right idea, Spike!”

The others came down to join her and expressed coos of admiration as they looked closer.

“They look like mana crystals all right,” Twilight said with a nod of satisfaction. Her more powerful telekinesis also removed the covers leading up the wall, exposing braided cabling running to terminal contacts on the crystals. “And these are Thaumaturgic conduits, just of a design much more efficient and complex than I’ve ever seen. This must be some kind of transfer box”.

Rarity mused with herself a moment; if the power sources were gemstones, as precious and flawless as these, then the source itself would have to be a much bigger one. And if anypony knew anything about finding gems…

Closing her eyes, she concentrated as her horn flared to blinding life, a pulse of magical energy radiating out in a wave from where she stood and across the structures around her. The shimmering outlines of mana crystals showed up across the surfaces, and to everypony it quickly became obvious that what Twilight had suggested was right; they were part of a wider, incredibly sophisticated network of conduits, wiring and circuits that routed magical energy throughout the complex. As Rarity’s magic hit the parked vehicles, Rainbow gave a whistle of awe; the whole machine was riddled with gemstones and conduits of all shapes and sizes.

But it was Spike the drew everyponies’ attention as he let out a sound somewhere between a laugh of delight and a moan of hunger. Below their hooves was outline a gigantic crystal, the size of a house.

“Oh my,” Rarity said in breathy awe. “I think I’ll call you Tom Junior.”

Hours later, night had fallen. The ponies had been at work for the whole rest of the day. The guardsponies, and even most of the ships’ crew and the Wonderbolts had been drawn into the business of uncovering and understanding the elaborate facility. In honesty, Twilight knew it would take three times as many ponies five times as long as they had to really, truly start to understand everything there. All the group she was with had managed to do was understand some rudimentary workings of the place. By charging the smaller storage crystals with magic, they had determined that individual systems could be reactivated, and established what many of them did. They now had a fully working elevator to the surface, smaller personal elevators that worked via some kind of telekinesis imbued into them, opening and closing doors, lighting and - much to Rarity’s relief and excitement - fully working air conditioning that seemed to be based on weather control. Likewise, the facility had running hot and cold water too, and communications systems of some kind, that sent their voices between various parts of the facility if more systems and crystals were charged.

Finally, there was just one last thing to do: take the plunge and charge the biggest crystal of all. As it was, this ended up with Twilight, Rarity, three of the guards and four of the crew standing in a circle around ‘Tom Junior’ in the powerplant room of the facility.

“And we just fire our magic into this crystal, Princess?” one of the guard asked. A stern and sensible, yet not unkind pony, Steel Shine was the second-in-command of the platoon. “And you’re sure it’s safe?”

“She’s already said it’s safe,” snapped Gasket Head, the irascible chief engineer from the Sun Chaser. Captain Bright Skies had ‘volunteered’ the unicorn for this mission, and he’d seemed unhappy about it from the beginning, though had been nothing but polite to the princess, even as he chewed a muzzle full of tobacco.

“Gasket Head is right, I promise you Steel Shine. And if anything happens, the others will pull us clear immediately. Right, everypony?” a chorus of affirmatives and nods from firm faces followed. Twilights’ friends were in the foremost row of those standing by with stern expressions on their faces.

“Be careful Rarity,” Spike said abruptly, fluttering out to hover near her face. The white unicorn gave a warm smile and nodded. “Of course, Spike. I promise it’ll be fine,” she replied as she gave him a brief nuzzle, and then telekinetically moved him away, gently.

“You too, Twilight!” he called as he was moved back, and settled on Applejack’s back. The alicorn in question nodded, and looked to the others around her.

“All right. I’ll start with a low level beam of magic. After twenty seconds, you all join in. I’ll keep my spell low powered after the first few seconds; I think keeping the flow steady is what we need.

“I’ll count you all down,” Rainbow Dash called out, hovering above the crowd, and with the same anxious expression as the rest of the onlookers. Holding up a timepiece she started counting back from five. On ‘three’ the hum of horns lit with magic filled the air, and on ‘one’ Twilights’ magic blasted into the gigantic crystal, a magenta glow filling the chamber. It persisted, and with a low bass hum, the crystal flickered weakly. Almost as soon as that reaction occured, Rainbow called out ‘Mark!’ and the others let fly.

At the centre of the conflagration of magical energy, the crystal began to glow brighter, the mingling auras from the unicorns feeding their magic into it swirling together into a brighter glow, taking on first the same blue hue as the airships’ engines, then glowing brighter, until it was a bright nova-white that hurt to look at. Everyone turned their faces away, closed their eyes, or shielded their faces as the glow grew brighter, casting everything into shadow as the hum grew to a rumble, and then a full throated roar.

“Just… a… little... more…!” Twilight yelled over the roar, and the grumbling shake that accompanied it. Trickles of dust fell from above until the sound drowned out everything and the flash burst into a flare that overwhelmed all senses.

Feedback burst from the crystal, knocking the unicorns to the floor. Everyone blinking spots from their eyes and shook their heads to clear the ringing.

Foggy-headed and addle-brained, Twilight shakily rolled to her belly and struggled to put her hooves beneath her. Fluttershy zoomed to her side, wriggling under one wing and quietly coaxing the princess to her hooves, while Pinkie Pie did the same from the other side. Applejack and Rainbow Dash did the same to Rarity, while Spike flitted between the pair. Twilight groaned, nodding as Fluttershy gave her a worried look.

“Twilight, are you okay? That looked pretty serious. You’re not hurt are you, that flash and the magic flashback; it could have really done some damage!”

“No kidding,” Pinkie added earnestly, looking into Twilight’s face with concern, and peering at her violet eyes. “You could have more screws loose than me if that blast scrambled your brains - and we need your brains, Twilight!”

“Thanks girls,” she said in a low, pained voice. “I’ve got one heck of a headache, that’s true, and I think I’m going to need to lie down for a long while in peace and quiet. But it looks to me like it worked”.

They turned and followed her eyes, the other ponies standing up to do the same. In the center of the room, the giant crystal glowed with a cozy, warming radiance and an angelic tinkling musical note of magic filled the air around it. Glyphs danced across formerly blank and smooth wall panels, and hovered in the air above curved dais around the room, fascinating all who looked on.

“Wow,” Spike said after a moment. “This is-”

“Awesome?” suggested Rainbow Dash, flapping upwards to pivot in place and look around the room.

“I think Rainbow hit the nail on the head,” Rarity replied, looking around with an awestruck expression, before wincing and putting one hoof to her head. “Although, I agree with Twilight too; I think that blast of feedback has switched my brains and my flank around. A good lie down in a dark room with a glass of brandy would be most welcome”.

Author's Note:

This is the story I wrote this year for NaNoWriMo. It's only the second ever fanfic I've written, and the first that isn't smut. It's a lot more like what I usually write, compared to the smut I have written, actually, and I hope you like it.
It's still a work in progress, as 50,000 words wasn't enough to finish it - so please stick with it if you're interested.

There are some AU elements, such as the Pony of Shadows back-story and origins being somewhat different to what was shown in the show. But hopefully it won't be too distracting or upsetting for anyone reading.
Positive and constructive critical feedback is welcomed.