Changelings are attacking Equestria again, but this time, shadowed forces are lurking behind.
Radiance Bright, ex-member of the council of Canterlot, has to find a way to deal with the attacking changeling swarms. He's short in time and must find the solution quickly before the war becomes unavoidable. With the help of Twilight, Radiance will have to find the truth under these attacks. But unknown forces are lurking in the shadows... not willing to let their masterpiece fails because of a mortal...
The night was quiet and calm; the moonlight softly lighted the city of Canterlot. A cloaked figure walked down the castle corridors. It stopped in front of a massive door and opened it. The room it stepped into looked as a smaller version of the royal library; huge bookcases were filled up to the ceiling. The only difference was a staircase on the left which leaded to a private apartment.
The figure climbed the stairs. The apartment was a mess, a huge mess. Books, scrolls, schemas; anything readable was on the floor or on the furniture. A tall and thin colt was barely visible in the dim room. As moonlight invaded the room through windows, the unicorn became more visible: his coat was light gray and contrasted the dark-crimson of his long mane. A dark silver four-pointed star surrounded by two folded wings was on his flank.
The figure approached him and putted down its hood. It was Princess Luna.
“Radiance, we need to talk,” Luna said.
Radiance looked up to Luna; a scar was across his left eye. While his face radiated with peace and wisdom, his eyes were filled with burning anger.
“With all the respect I have for you, Luna, if you’re here to hold me back; you should go away,” Radiance harshly said. “I’m not meant to be here anymore.”
“I’m not here to hold you.” Luna kindly smiled and sat next to him. “If you want to leave, leave, but I need explanations.”
“Oh…I thought you knew. Let me show you something.”
Radiance stood up and walked over saddlebags. His horn glowed with a metallic aura and he opened them. The unicorn lifted many scrolls for the bags until he took one with the royal seal on it. Radiance opened it and hanged it over Luna.
The princess raised an eyebrow. “It’s a deployment act for the royal guard. What does it mean?”
“Read the motive.”
As Luna read, her jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe it, it was an act of war.
“Why in the name of the night, the council would have decided to declare war?” Luna asked.
“What the act doesn’t say it’s who… I mean, what is targeted by it,” Radiance explained.
“And what is targeted?”
“The changelings.”
“I can’t believe you haven’t told me earlier!” Luna shouted.
Princess Luna and Radiance were running down the castle, seeking for Princess Celestia. The council leaders had never told the two alicorn princesses the conclusion of their reunion.
It’s been for months that the changeling swarms were at the frontiers of all Equestria. Unlike their planned attack during the wedding of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, they seemed unorganized, chaotic. Their intrusions were weak and predicable but grew in number. Radiance knew something was wrong with them, something was somehow missing.
While Radiance wanted to find a peaceful way to deal with them, the other members of the council thought it would be ‘ineffective’. War; the way Radiance had considered as a last resort, the council would use it right away. That’s why he was leaving. He quitted the council.
“I’m sorry Luna; I thought the others had told both of you their decision. I shouldn’t have trusted them on that,” Radiance shamefully replied.
“It’s seems you’ve learned something useful.” They arrived in front of a delicate door leading to Celestia’s apartment. “Here we are.”
The door glowed under Luna’s magic and opened. The atmosphere of the room was soft, warm and kind of motherly. Few candles were floating in the room, slowly moving up and down. The princess of the sun was lying down on a purple cushion; a scroll floating in front of her.
Celestia frowned at them. “Archmage Bright, Luna, why are you here?”
Radiance gulped. “Sorry to disturb you, your Highness, but we have a ‘tiny’ problem out of hoof…”
Luna shook her head in disappointment. “Only if an Act of War is a ‘tiny’ problem to you, Radiance.”
Celestia’s eyes went wide. The scroll slowly felt on the ground and she stood up. Celestia walked over a window. She lost herself in her thoughts as she watched at her sister’s jewelled sky. It took a moment before she sighed and turned over Radiance.
“It’s an act of war against the changelings, isn’t it?” she softly asked.
Radiance nodded.
“And are you in disagree with it?”
“Yes, your Highness. It’s why I’m leaving.”
“You’re leaving the council? I’m disappointed. May I ask why?”
As a flow of memories came across his mind, Radiance did his best to keep control over his emotions. War isn’t and will never be the answer, he thought.
“Bloodshed is the last thing I want to create.”
Celestia frowned. “I’m sorry, Archmage Bright, but you’re wrong. Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to in the name of our people.”
Luna was shocked. “You can’t be agreeing with that!”
“There’s no other way—”
“I’ll find another way, your Highness,” Radiance said.
“That’s the reaction I wanted from you, archmage. I’m going to give you time to find an alternative but if you fail… I won’t be able to prevent war to happen. Now return to your apartment, you’re leaving tomorrow,” Celestia explained. “Luna, I still need to talk with you.”
Radiance left the room and headed to his apartment.
Luna walked over Celestia. “Have you manipulated him?”
Celestia turned over her sister. “I had to. I wanted to hear his true intentions; why he was leaving and not fighting against the tide to change the council’s mind. Since he had entered in my school and became an archmage, he hasn’t grown close to my light. But when you returned from you banishment, you’ve became so close with each other. I’ve never understood why…” A serious look grew on Celestia’s face. “There is something I should know?”
Luna looked away. “No… There’s nothing to say about it.”
“You know you can—”
“Anyway, what did you plan for the ‘Archmage Bright’?”
Celestia sighed and lifted the scroll in front of her. “You’ll see tomorrow.”
The throne room was bathing in sunlight. While Princess Celestia was sitting on her throne with a green unicorn, her advisor, on her side, Luna looked at the stained glass related to her downfall. The day Celestia had banished her to the moon; Luna’s heart was filled with anger. It was until she has been purged by the elements; only guilt was left.
Luna had the guilt of having been cruel, having been selfish. She totally understood why her sister had to banish her, but would her sister and Equestria forgive her one day? Even if Celestia had already turned the page when Luna had returned, it took time before the populace had stopped to fear Nightmare Moon.
The only pony who was enough kind, or mad, to talk to Luna was Radiance. He was the only friend she had out of her sister; her first friend and now, he was leaving.
“May I ask you where will you send Radiance?” Luna asked.
“I’ll tell it to you in the appropriated time but don’t worry, Luna.” Celestia kindly smiled at her. “I’m going to keep him close to Canterlot; he stills an archmage after all.”
Suddenly the doors of the room opened, revealing Radiance escorted by two royal guards. The saddlebags on his back were overfilled by scrolls and books.
Celestia stood up and walked over him. “Guards, leave us alone.” She turned over her advisor. “Leave us too, Ink.”
The green unicorn nodded and followed the guards, closing the doors behind them.
Radiance cleared his throat. “You wanted to tell me in person where I’m going, your Highness?”
Celestia nodded. “Yes but I need to ask you something. What is the knowledge you have about the elements of harmony?”
“The elements of harmony? Well, they are the strongest artifacts in all Equestria.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow. “I don’t want an obvious answer. What do ‘you’ know about them?”
Radiance nodded. “Embed with the pure power of Order; those artifacts are bound with the destiny of their bearers,”– both princesses’ eyes went wide opened as the unicorn spoke –“only the ones who their fate is to wear them will even reveal them. The bearers are the embodiment of Order, the pure opposite of Discord, the embodiment of Chaos.
“All the elements, except the Magic, are represented by a necklace. The Magic being the strongest element, the catalyzer, is represented by a crown. The crown also being the most ancient symbol of royalty, it was obvious that the bearer of magic, in that case Twilight Sparkle, was going to become a princess. Twilight’s powers also were speaking for themselves … But I am drifting away from the main subject: the elements themselves.
“Someponies say they were created by Starswirl the Bearded himself, but I’ve another point of view. I think the elements are too powerful to have been created by a ‘mortal’. I think they are the physical representation of Order and they were created along or after Discord’s arrival; Order and Chaos together in balance. It’s like both of you represent the Day and the Night; again in balance with each other. Is it something wrong, princesses?”
Celestia and Luna couldn’t believe what they had heard. Such a young unicorn explaining like if it was nothing the concept of balance. Balance, they thought it was forgotten by their people… until now.
“Where did you learn that?” Luna asked.
Radiance left out a nervous laugh. “I shouldn’t know all of this, should I?”
Celestia softly said, “Don’t worry, Radiance. We are rather proud of you. Understanding the concept of balance is important fulfil your task. If you didn’t have known it I would have thought you.”
“I’m honored, your Highness. May I know where I’m going?”
Celestia stood up and walked over him. “You won’t be so far from Canterlot. Today, you, Archmage Radiance Bright, are leaving for Ponyville.”
The first rays of sunlight came through the window and Twilight Sparkle slowly woke up. She yawned and jumped out of her bed. She spread open her wings and softly flapped them; she brushed her mane and shyly putted her crown on it. Even if it had been two months that Twilight was crowned Princess of Magic; she hadn’t gotten used to the title. Even though she knew it was important, a high honor, she hated being putted in front of everyone.
Twilight, deep in her thoughts, didn’t notice Spike who entered in her room, holding a scroll in his claws.
“Umm… Twilight, you have received a letter from the princess,” said Spike.
“A letter sent that early? It must be important,” Twilight replied.
The scroll glowed in a magenta aura and lifted in front of her. She was surprised by the length of the message.
Dear Twilight Sparkle, Today, you will receive an important guest but don’t talk about him to any of your friends before he arrives and talks with you. Princess Celestia.
Twilight turned over the letter, looking at every part of it. Finding that no more information was written on it; she frowned.
“Something’s wrong?” Spike asked.
“No spike, everything is —” Twilight shivered “—fine.”
Twilight felt something in her mind, a presence. It was dark and cold. She tried to repel it but its touch was only getting stronger. The presence tried to reassure her, to convince her that it was friendly. She let it entered in her mind and it said that Spike had to leave.
“Y-you can go and see Rarity. I give you your morning,” Twilight said.
Spike showed a puzzled look. “Are you sure everything’s alright?”
Twilight lifted him with her magic and she climbed down the stairs. She opened the door and slowly dropped Spike outside.
“I’m sure. Take all your morning.” Before Spike could reply, she closed the door.
Twilight looked behind her to see shadows swirling in the middle of the library. They quickly took the form of a pony and faded away; revealing a crimson-maned grey unicorn. He was few inches taller than Big Macintosh and slimmer than any stallion she had seen before. The most interesting was his eyes; they were in a dark shade of purple. All of these made the unicorn’s stature imposing.
“A-are you the important guest sent by the Princess Celestia?” Twilight shyly asked.
The unicorn bowed and spoke with a husky and low-pitched voice, “Yes, Princess Twilight. I’m Radiance Bright, archmage of the council of Canterlot.”
“Why does Princess Celestia have sent an archmage to talk with me?”
“Simple, Equestria is about to live its darkest hour. The Nightmare Moon incident, Chrysalis’ invasion, even Discord’s reign will be nothing compared to what is going to happen,” Radiance explained.
Twilight blinked. “W-what will happen?”
“War, Princess, war. Since few months, there are changelings swarms that attacked our borders and the other archmages want to declare war against them. Princess Celestia gave me four months to find a pacific way to deal with them but if I fail… war will be unavoidable.”
“Why do they want a war to happen?” Twilight asked.
“It’s why Princess Celestia has sent me to you. You’re a clever mind, aren’t you? Together, I sure we will find out why the others want it and how to deal with the changelings.” Radiance walked around. “But nopony must know the true reason why I’m here; even your friends, Princess.”
“But why?”
“Because if the council members learn I’m here, they would try anything to stop me. That’s why I teleported here instead of taking the train or another transportation system.”
“Talking of it; what kind of spell it was? I’ve never read or seen anything like it before,” Twilight asked.
“You have the thirst of knowledge, it seems. I could teach you that spell one day… But for now, may I ask where I could sleep, Princess?”
Twilight shook her head. “If we’re going to work together, you should drop my title and just call me Twilight.” She raised a hoof over a closed door. “I’ve a spare room over there where you can sleep until you find a better place, but we still have a small problem.”
Radiance frowned. “What do you mean, Twilight?”
“Well, I can’t hide you from my friends forever!”
“Just summon your friends and say I’m an old friend. Don’t worry; I’ll take care of the more technical parts.” He walked few steps away before looking back at Twilight. “You little dragon is going to knock at the door in few seconds so I’ll be back later.”
His horn glowed and Radiance vanished within shadows. As he predicted, someone knocked at the door.
Twilight sighed, “Spike, you can come in."
He opened the door, his mouth hanging open. “H-how did you know it was me?”
“I guessed?” She smiled at him. “Spike take a quill, we have requests to send.”
~~~
“Is your ‘old friend’ comin’? It’s like if we’re forever waitin’!” yelled Rainbow Dash.
Twilight sighed, “Ugh… Be more patient, Dash. He will arrive soon.”
They were all six at the sugarcube corner. Twilight explained them Radiance was an old comrade from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns and he wanted to see her after her coronation. It wasn’t the truth and she wasn’t at ease with it, but it would explain his presence until she should be able to tell them the truth.
Radiance teleported outside of the bakery and looked around to be sure nobody had saw him arrived. He brushed his mane and walked inside. As her friends’ eyes widened, Twilight stepped next to him.
“I present you Radiance Bright, my school friend”
Radiance bowed. “Ladies.”
“So ya’re tellin’ us ‘that creepy colt’ is a friend of yours from Canterlot?” asked Applejack.
“Y-yes, but he’s not creepy; he’s…special,” Twilight replied.
“Nah, he’s creepy, Twi,” said Rainbow.
“Applejack, you have to admit that his eyes are in marvelous shade of purple.” Rarity sighed. “He’s kind of handsome too.”
“Kinda ‘handsome’?” Applejack shook her head. “Ya like him just ‘cause he’s from Canterlot.”
Before Rarity could reply, Pinkie Pie jumped between them. “Creepy or not, we have to throw a massive party for him!”
Radiance frowned. “Sorry Miss Pie, but huge parties aren’t my cup of tea. I’m more the quiet type do you see. But I’m still open to a more private kind of party.”
Fluttershy, who remained silent until now, walked towards Radiance. “What kind of ‘private’ are you talking about?”
“What do you—” Radiance realized the double meaning of his declaration and sighed. “Not that private. What I meant is a party with only all of us; just to introduce myself to all of you.”
Pinkie joyfully nodded. “Oh, you’re the shy type. Okie dokie lokie, Rady!” She bounced to the back store.
“Hold on. Did she just call me ‘Rady’?” Radiance perplexedly asked.
“Yeah… It seems she likes you,” answered Rainbow.
“Funny, it sounds like radish in fancy talk…” he sarcastically said.
Twilight gave him an annoyed look. “Sorry, but we must leave. There’s few things a need to clarify with Radiance. Good afternoon, girls.” Twilight waved a hoof at her friends and pulled Radiance outside.
“It went better than I expected,” he said.
“We have to talk, but we should be inside my library first.”
They walked towards Golden Oaks Library. They remained silent until Twilight stared at him.
Radiance raised an eyebrow. “Why do you look at me like that?”
“I was just wondering… Do you always speak formal?” Twilight asked.
“Not always, ‘often’ is more appropriated. You know that old habits die hard,” answered Radiance.
When they entered into the library, Spike was cleaning and dusting around. As he saw Radiance, Spike dropped everything he held and bolted upstairs.
“It was… something.” Twilight sent a death glance at Radiance “What’s the problem?”
Her eye twitched. “What’s the problem? What’s the problem?! You must be kidding me!” Her horn glowed with high intensity. “First, you made me lie at my friends! And now you scare to death the one I consider like my little brother!” She flared her wings. “You are the problem!”
With Twilight’s eyes burning with anger, Radiance was ready to fight. He though the faster he could to find a spell that would defeat her without harming her. His horn shone with a bright silver aura and a circle of energy was drawn around Twilight. Tendrils of light went out of the circle and surrounded her; they caught every of Twilight’s members and restrained her on the ground.
“Let me go!” Twilight screamed.
“Princess, calm down!” Radiance shouted.
Spike slowly climbed down the stairs to see what was happening and Radiance quickly noticed him.
“Stay upstairs, Spike. She’s out of control, but don’t worry… she’ll be fine.”
The alicorn was fiercely fighting against the spell, but more she fought; more she was weakened. It took few minutes before she calmed herself down and her horn’s glow faded away along with the tendrils that restrained her. Once the anger had left, Twilight cried.
Twilight said, “I-I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have lost control… It’s all—”
Radiance hugged her, slowly brushing Twilight’s mane. “Shh… It’s not your fault. There’s something I should have shown and I didn’t.” Releasing his hold, he looked into her eyes. “Do you want to see it? But I must warn you, it’s really awful.”
Radiance eyes weren’t filled with his usual harshness and coldness. He was worried for Twilight. She knew she might regret her choice, but there was no turning back.
“Yes I do,” Twilight answered.
“Be ready.”
As Radiance held Twilight’s shoulders, shadows rose around them. Soon, they were totally wrapped in the shadows and they vanished. The scene witnessed by Spike only made his worries grew. Suddenly, he heard Radiance’s voice in his mind said, ‘Don’t worry, She’ll be fine.’
“Hope you’re right…”
The archmage and the alicorn arrived in a place that used to be a town square. A fog was surrounding them and the buildings were either set on fire or crashed down. There was a strange smell in the air; a smell Twilight wasn’t able to put a hoof on. While they walked down the street, she stepped into something wet.
She raised her hoof to see what it was; the liquid was glistening red. She froze when she realized what she had stepped into was blood.
Twilight asked with a shaking voice, “W-where are we?”
“Exactly? We are in the shadow realm,” answered Radiance. “This realm is in the spaces between our world dimensions. There are few individuals who have a grip on it strong enough to be able to use it as I do.”
“Do you mean that what we are looking at isn’t real?”
He closed his eyes and sighed, “No, it’s real. What we are looking from the shadows is… was Fillydelphia.”
“What happened? When did that happen?”
Radiance raised a hoof over glistening goo. “Changelings attacked the city few hours ago and the council had sent the royal guard to fight back. The result: bloodshed as usual…” They continued to walk across the destroyed town. Twilight couldn’t believe what she was looking at; spells had been fired in every direction from both parties and many corpses were left behind.
Before Radiance could stop her, she rushed to a pile of rubble. She lifted debris and searched through the pile in hope to find survivors. Suddenly, Twilight stopped and stepped back. A young foal was in the rubble, open wounds and burns were all across his body. She sat on her haunches and cried.
Radiance sat next to her and shyly pulled her closer to him. They remained silent while Radiance slowly brushed Twilight’s mane.
Sobs still cracking her voice, Twilight asked, “Is that the result of war?”
She turned towards Radiance to see that he was also crying; not as heavily as she was, but tears were spilling down his cheeks.
“N-no, Twilight… It’s nothing compare to the… the result of war.”
Twilight caught him off guard as she tightly hugged him. “Even if I have to lie at my friends, I will help you. No matter what, I don’t want that to happen all over Equestria.”
Twilight released her hold and Radiance dried the wetness over his eyes. “T-thanks Twilight, I know how hard this will be for you. Let’s return to your library and we will start tomor—”
“I want to start once we arrive.”
“A-are you sure?” Twilight nodded. “Fine then.”
Radiance horn glowed and they disappeared, wrapped into darkness.
Not so far from where they had been, another unicorn was lurking in the shadows. A cloak covering its entire body, it walked into the light.
With a voice roaring with power, it said, “It occurs that you’ve got help from the Order, archmage Bright.” The unicorn grinned. “But now, I know where you are and I will throw you into pure… despair.”
