CH.1. The Dream
When Lord Tirek had come and destroyed half of Equestria, there had been a lot of trauma that had been left thanks to the centaur. Buildings were destroyed, and Ponyville took the most damage.
Discord, the lord of chaos’ betrayal had been heartbreaking and confusing since he had been the one to be tasked with apprehending Tirek. Interestingly enough, after the main six managed to defeat him, he smiled and said; “Some things need to happen for better things to happen,”
The sentence didn’t make much sense, but it was obvious that the lord of chaos knew something that the others didn’t.
Repairing Ponyville had been long and difficult but Discord did help and did apologise to every pony. Most did forgive Discord but a few were rightfully suspicious of him since he had now shown signs that if he was offered something great, there was a big chance he’d take it.
But then again, if it wasn’t Discord who would have helped Tirek maybe there would have been some creature else, perhaps someone far more dangerous than Discord.
Every pony had celebrated the defeat of Tirek and the return of their magic. The party had been long and hard and Discord had been there while sending winks towards Princess Celestia and the Alicorn of the Sun would simply playfully roll her eyes.
The main six and Spike enjoyed each other's company and partied late into the night until they decided it had been time to return home.
A lot of things happened when they defeated Tirek. One of the things was that Princess Twilight Sparkle and Spike had lost their home and library which had exploded during Tirek’s rampage. But they were lucky because Twilight had received the final key to a box that belonged to the Tree of Harmony. With that power, they defeated the centaur and sent him back to Tartarus where he will rott for the rest of his miserable life.
However, as if sensing that the element of magic didn’t have a home, Twilight received a castle made from crystals. It looked like something belonging to the Crystal Empire. Inside the castle was a throne room where there were chairs for the element bearers that had their cutie marks on the thrones. The thrones were spread over a map of Equestria that would show their cutie mark which meant that there was a friendship problem that needed to be solved.
They had gone on countless journeys after that.
The friendship problem wasn’t the same every time. On one quest, they need to be together as a group while on another time, Applejack and Pinkie go on one. The map in the throne room decides which pony or creature is needed.
Speaking of Applejack, the farmer has been having trouble sleeping lately.
It isn’t that she has trouble falling asleep, it’s more so that she’s been having nightmares. They were tame at first, nothing terrifying just jumpscares here and there but then they became so much worse. She started dreaming about the day Tirek had captured her and her friends except Twilight because he wanted to negotiate with her.
The apple farmer then started dreaming about how Twilight didn’t care about them or that they were put out of their misery.
Those were the worst ones.
But tonight it felt different. Applejack didn’t know why, she hadn’t even gotten into bed yet, but she had a feeling that tonight would be different. Or she hoped so, otherwise, she would need to go to therapy. She might have been dealing with PTSD.
Applejack took off her cowboy hat and placed it on her bedside table where she had a lamp and got into her bed and thought about everything that had happened. She remembered when Twilight and Spike first came to Ponyville and were checking out the farm and making sure everything was prepared and stayed for food. Later that same night Princess Luna returned from the Moon in the form of Nightmare Moon who was believed to be a legend and myth from ancient times.
Then there was the Canterlot Wedding. Applejack cringed at the memory. Ever since her betrayal to Twilight that day she had felt guilty. Siding with Queen Chrysalis who was pretending to be Princess Cadance while the real one was imprisoned beneath the caves of Canterlot castle. Twilight did say that she forgave them, but she did always wonder if it was genuine forgiveness or just in the spur of the moment.
Then there was the Crystal Empire, believed to be a myth that had been banished alongside King Sombra, a tyrannical King over the empire. He had enslaved the Crystal Ponies and used them for labour and soldiers. While Applejack and her friends played an active role, they all agreed that Spike was the rightful hero of the Crystal Empire.
And now, Tirek’s escape from Tartarus had the entire kingdom of Equestria and Crystal Empire on high alert. Discord had been asked to apprehend the centaur but had betrayed them and sided with the centaur instead but regretted it afterwards. Taking down Tirek and restoring Equestria’s magic to the rightful creatures and ponies felt amazing.
While thinking over these feats, Applejack couldn’t help but wonder how her life would have been without Twilight.
Not that she disliked her Alicorn friend or anything, she loved her, but sometimes she wished she would have lived a simpler life, bucking apple trees and selling them to the ponies of Ponyville. On one hoof, she would have lived a simple and easy life while on the other hoof, she wouldn’t have gotten the friends she loved and adored with all her heart. She wouldn’t have saved Equestria the amount of times she did and she wouldn’t have been the element of honesty.
Applejack yawned and decided that it was time for her to sleep. She pulled back the covers and got into bed before falling asleep into what she hoped would be a blissful one.
~~The Kingdom Of Darkness~~
This was the strangest dream by far that Applejack had ever had. Normally her dreams were about her family and taking care of the farm, but she wasn’t at the farm. Turned her body to look in all directions, but she couldn’t find any civilisation for miles.
She wasn’t in Ponyville which confused her to no end. Her dreams always had something to do with her town.
Scratching her head, she shrugged. Maybe she was lucid dreaming? She had heard some ponies naturally had lucid dreams and that every pony had at least one lucid dream. Maybe she had succeeded? Well, she did if she can think and… feel? She was unsure about the last one.
Looking around, she saw that she was in some kind of desert with nothing but flat lands for miles on end. There was sand underneath her hooves that she didn’t feel, because she was dreaming… because she didn’t feel normal so it had to be a dream.
Her entire face started resembling a question mark. Where was she?
“Where the hay am I?” Applejack rhetorically asked and began to fidget with her hooves in the sands making small hoof-craters.
“You are in the dream world miss Applejack,” a voice suddenly spoke which made her jump, not anticipating a response.
She saw a bright light in front of her that was shaped like a circle and slowly began to fade slowly and revealing five ponies. Two stallions and three mares. The first pony who appeared was a stallion who was as big as Big Macintosh if not bigger. He was a light blue-coated pony with an orange mane, tail and beard.
The second stallion was a pegasus who wore armour that looked old, not like anything Applejack had seen the royal guards have. He was a yellow-coated stallion with a red mane and tail. He stood beside his comrade.
The first mare that appeared was a light lilac-coated pony who had a light darkish green mane and tail that was flowing in a non-existent wind similar to Princess Celestia and Luna. She gave a small smile at Applejack.
The second mare was a blue-coated pony with her mane pined up. Her mane and tail were reddish orange with stripes and wore a green dress to suit her perfectly. Similarly to her friend, she gave a smile towards Applejack
The last mare stood out the most to Applejack because she looked sad, her head hung low but did meet Applejack’s gaze. She was a light orange-coated pegasus with dark and light green stripes in her mane and tail.
Together they stood and smiled at Applejack who looked confused.
“Uh, I’m gonna forget in the morning but who are ya’ll?” She asked while scratching her head in confusion. The biggest pony there chuckled before responding.
“I’m Rockhoof, and this lad and lassies with me are my friends,” Rockhoof said while motioning for them to introduce themselves.
“Names Flash Magnus,” Magnus said while giving a small salute.
“My name is Mistmane young one,” Mistmane spoke while smiling.
“I am Meadowbrook, nice to meet you,” she smiled while waving slightly.
“My name is Somnambula, It’s lovely to meet you,” the mare attempted to genuinely smile but it looked forced. It didn’t reach her eyes, her mouth had only twitched slightly.
“Uh,” Applejack could have sworn to Celestia that those names were familiar like she’d heard them somewhere. “Howdy, I’m Applejack but I reckon you already knew that cus you said mah name earlier,”
They nodded together in confirmation.
“Indeed we do, miss Applejack. We know not only you but the other element bearers as well. You are the first we have ever talked to.” Rockhoof spoke on behalf of his friends who were watching Applejack’s facial features.
“Yah know mah friends?” Applejack felt a little guilty, but she felt a little defensive of them because she didn’t know these ponies other than that the names were familiar.
“Indeed we do,” Mistmane replied this time. “This might be very difficult to understand and to believe, but my friends and I are the original element bearers. We were once known as the Pillars,”
Applejack’s eyes widened. So that’s why their names sounded familiar. She had heard their tales from when she was a little filly! These are Starswirl the Beardeds friends!
“Wait, so ya’ll are saying that you’re Starswirl the Beardeds' friends?” Applejack asked, making sure that it was them. They smiled warmly at her and nodded.
“Indeed we are,” they answered in unison.
“Wow.” That was all Applejack could say. She didn’t know what to think or feel at the revelation that she was in her dream, talking to five of the original Pillars who saved Equestria countless times.
One thing was strange about the Pillars and that was that Starswirl wasn’t with them. Applejack and her friends had travelled to a small cottage on the outskirts of Yakyakistan and met Starswirl. She and her friends had been shocked. Starswirl the bearded was said to have lived over a thousand years ago and as far as any pony knew, he wasn’t an Alicorn so how the hay had he lived for so long?
The only thing he had said on the matter was that he was cursed.
“Ah met Starswirl a few months ago near Yakyakistan, he said he was cursed but refused to elaborate on how he got cursed. Imagine our surprise when we had a friendship problem near that area and came across his cottage,” Applejack explained while they listened intently.
“We certainly understand that dear, that’s why we are here. We wanted to warn you about a friendship problem that we wanted to give you, something we believe the map at Princess Twilight’s castle cannot feel.” Meadowbrook spoke with some fear in her voice.
Applejack raised a brow at that. The map of Equestria had never failed them before so why would it do so now?
“I can see you’re scepticism which is rightfully placed, but you must understand miss Applejack, so I will ask you this; do you know where the tree of harmony sprouted from?” Rockhoof asked which caused the farmer to nod her head.
“Uh, yeah, it was a form of seed wasn’t it?” She asked with a raised brow.
“Correct, through those seeds grew the Tree of Harmony as it is called. We, the Pillars, placed those seeds and they turned into what you now know as Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, Honesty and Magic. Through these seeds, you would learn the value of friendship, its true value.” Magnus sounded so proud when he spoke of the seeds but that soon turned into a distant, gloomy look.
“You see, miss Applejack there is a spell on those seeds that has slightly corrupted them towards a specific pony that will never show up on the map of Equestria.” Magnus continued, his voice cracked slightly.
Applejack was getting curious. Who could have been strong enough to corrupt the seeds of friendship? Discord? Maybe but he values friendship so he wouldn’t have done it now… but then again the seeds were planted over a thousand years ago so… wait no, he had been turned to stone at that point so he couldn’t have done it.
Applejack started to think about the villains she had faced that had existed a thousand years ago but realised that the seeds had been planted after the villains had all been defeated.
“Really? Who could be strong enough to do that? I mean, isn’t friendship stronger than all evil?” Applejack questioned but was caught in surprise when her snout was pressed against another snout and saw the furious eyes of Somnambula.
“Stygian is not evil!” She shouted with fury before she calmed herself and allowed a tear to escape. “Sorry…” she sniffed and Meadowbrook went to comfort her with a hug and soothing words.
“Stygian? Whose Stygian?” Applejack asked quietly to not set the orange-coated mare off again. Rockhoof and the others had sad looks on their faces.
“He… he was a Pillar just like us,” he replied much to the shock of Applejack. She had heard about them and read about them in myths and legends books and to an extent history books, but this… Stygian had never once been mentioned in them.
“He was? But I have never heard of him before…” Applejack mumbled and trailed off and suddenly blushed when she saw the look Somnambula was giving her.
“That’s because he wasn’t as famous as us lassie,” Rockhoof explained and sighed sadly and brought a hoof to his face as if to soothe a headache. Magnus lent a wing of comfort. “He was the one who brought us and Starswirl together. He read all he could about the villains we faced, he was a genius who knew all of our enemies' weak points. However, no pony ever noticed him and began to feel lonely,”
“He distanced himself from us and became cold. We didn’t notice at first because the fame had gone to our heads. We were heroes. The only one who noticed was Somnambula who had begun to ask him multiple questions, specifically if he was alright to which he would always respond that he was. Because of that, the rest of us never suspected anything. One day, however, we discovered that our amulets were missing and due to the fame getting to our head we immediately believed that some pony was after our fame.” Mistmane explained with a sad sigh escaping her lips.
“And the one we lashed out at was Stygian. We discovered he had taken the amulets and we believed he was trying to steal them for his selfish gain. We said so many hurtful things to him. The things I said to him, I will never be able to apologise to him.” Magnus allowed a few tears to escape and Mistmane hugged him to comfort him while having a few tears.
“He ran away in tears and we took back our amulets and made our way back to our castle where we had received our quests and packed his things to…throw them out,” Meadowbrook let out a few sniffles but continued her story. “I noticed at his throne that there was a journal which I quickly realised was his. I got curious and started to read his entries and that’s when I learned about his not feeling appreciated and wanted to simply make copies of the amulets. He never wanted to steal our power,”
“We wanted to give him the biggest apology ever and that’s when the doors burst open and we saw Stygian. Before we could react he spoke in a voice that didn’t sound like him it was as if a Changeling had impersonated him. It sounded so unnatural for him to speak like that and I remember the words clear as day. ‘You banished me from friendship, I’ll banish you permanently!!’ He then cast a spell on us that sent us to Limbo which we are still trapped in.” Somnambula explained. She had calmed down and explained her peace. They all looked at her and saw tears run down her face. “I still remember the hateful look he sent me before he cast the spell. I… I love him!”
They were silent and watched their friend be comforted by Meadowbrook who did her best to not cry but was failing. Applejack couldn’t help but think about Starswirl. He said he was cursed. Was the curse that he had to see his friends be transported into Limbo?
“Rockhoof… how come Starswirl never ended up in Limbo?” The question needed to be asked and they all expected it, but it didn’t make it any easier.
“He managed to dodge the spell just in time but I don’t know what he was cursed with. However, I suspect that there might’ve been a spell of immortality that Stygian cast as punishment,” the blue-coated earth pony theorised.
There was silence once more as they heard the weeping of their friend. It made them feel so guilty for what they had done, they had not only ruined a friendship, they had also ruined a relationship between Somnambula and Stygian.
“That explains why he looked so… sad when he said he’d been cursed,” Applejack spoke to herself but the others heard. “Ahm sorry that I reminded ya,” she apologetically spoke and hung her head.
“Miss Applejack, it’s alright. You need to know this because a great foe will be heading your way,” Magnus said will raising her head and gave her a small smile.
“A great foe? What do ya mean by that?” This was starting to get confusing.
“Miss Applejack, the foe we speak of is The Pony Of Shadows. I can assure you he won’t invade Equestria but we cannot allow the Pony to walk among us. Normally, we would have left the creature alone but this Pony has attacked creatures in the most brutal way possible but not just this Pony, he also has an army on his side that follows his orders to a T.” Rockhoof spoke in a serious voice, but there was sadness that Applejack slightly picked up on.
What was that about?
“So, the Pony Of Shadows won’t invade Equestria, but is there a possibility there might be a small interest from him?” Was the question that made the Pillars silent.
Somnambula stopped her weeping. Her eyes were red a puffy from crying and her head hung low and played with the sand under her hoof while Meadowbrook hugged the mare.
“...I suppose there is a possibility…” Rockhoof looked uncertain about the question. The Pillars and him had been stuck in Limbo for over a thousand years so maybe his old friend had gotten his sights on Equestria?
Suddenly a small white portal started to open which grabbed all of their attention. Rockhoof looked panicked at this and quickly turned to Applejack.
“Miss Applejack, I need to tell you why we picked you over Princess Twilight,” Applejack felt her eyes widen, that had been her next question. “We decided to pick you because we saw the trauma you endured and we wanted to not only tell you about the potential threat but also our experience and the trauma that has haunted us for over a thousand years. I will need you to find the Pony Of Shadows and defeat him,”
Applejack showed her determination and nodded.
“Don’t worry, mah friends and I shall slay the Pony once and for all!” She spoke with pride.
The portal gradually became bigger and bigger before it started sucking in the Pillars one by one. However, Applejack saw the horror that flashed in Somnambula’s eyes at what she said.
“No don’t hurt him he’s not evil!!” Was the last words the pegasus spoke before she was sucked inside.
~~The Kingdom Of Darkness~~
Applejack woke up and began breathing heavily, her eyes were wide and felt sweat pour down her body as she shook like a leaf during a windy day.
“Ah gotta inform the others!” She jumped out of bed, only grabbing her hat and rushed out of her room and headed towards the castle of Friendship.
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Was Spike there too?
The picture is of Stygian transforming into the Pony of Shadows, right?
11648427
Yes.
11648419
Yes
11648985
Ok