> Secret of the Silver Dragon > by The Psychopath > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The whistle > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As of late, several mysterious dissappearances had been occuring all around Equestria, and nopony could figure out what was the cause. Several detectives and other researchers had been put on cases, but none of them returned with any clues whatsoever.. Princess Luna has also been having nightmares about the mare in the moon coming back to reclaim what was rightfully hers. Nopony is even capable of understanding this strange events that could be the definite call of ruination upon the world once and for all. However, as Celestia went down into the forbidden chambers to search for something that could be of use in explaining what these strange occurrences are, her eyes caught glimpse of a small glowing object in the corner of the chamber. She rummaged through the tight spaces to find a glowing , grey whistle. She felt in her gut that she shouldn't use it, yet something else told her to do so. Celestia preferred to know what this thing was, and why it was in the chambers. Apparently, it's arrival had preceded the birth of Luna by a few days. Certainly a coincidence. All Celestia's research uprooted nothing, especially with her limited window of free time. Her best chance was to send it to her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, to have it examined. As for her, the princess would have to leave Canterlot for a special meeting with the gryphons and porevores. The porevores were a type of plant-like creatures that were elongated like a red caterpillar, but with only six legs. They could walk quite well on just the two hind legs, as all six actually turned out to be arms and legs. As for Twilight, well, her adventure was about to begin, and that adventure would lead to her to an incredibly frustrating situation. Twilight was busy in her lab. She had several hundred books pertaining to whistles and mystical objects opened up and scattered throughout the lab. Spike was busy just watching her panic and try and figure the contraption out. Several "computers", objects given to Twilight a long time ago, were on the fritz, and every result came out the same: It is a whistle. It is composed of an entirely unknown alloy. The object possesses no particular traits. This infuriated Twilight horribly. Why then, would the princess send her an object that is just a normal whistle? But if it truly was normal, then it wouldn't exactly be glowing, now would it? "Ugh! Why can't I figure this thing out?" "What's wrong Twilight?" "I just can't find anything on this whistle! I've looked up several books for something that could resemble it, but nothing! Not even the symbol is referenced in the oldest books of Equestria!" "Can I see it?" asked Spike. "Sure, just don't don't blow in it." Spike took a closer look at this "mysterious thing". It just looked like an ordinary whistle, but, etched upon it was what looked like a backwards "Z" that was stretched far to the left. Two dots adorned the "inner portion" of the corners. He didn't know what it meant. "Soooo...what does the princess want you to know about his thing?" "I don't know! She just put in her letter that she wanted me to figure out why this thing has only started to glow since the dissappearances started." Spike started to look scared. "You don't think the one whose responsible for those dissappearances is going to come here, do you?" "Spike. I wouldn't ever let anything happen to you. Besides, it's not like the culprit could just pop up without anyone noticing." "I hope you're right." "I'm going to Sugarcube Corner. Maybe Pinkie Pie knows something. She does seem to know alot about whistles and things that seem to be related to parties." "And other things too." Twilight levitated the whistle into the air and exited her home. Spike followed her. He wanted to taste some of those jewel pies that the Cakes had baked for him specifically. Twilight was seriously frustrated. However, today was the day that the pegasi were training for the storm that was planned for tomorrow, and Rainbow Dash was the one leading the flying party. As for Pinkie Pie, well, she was at the bakery and was taking care of the babies while the Cakes were dealing with their job. They had an order for a few dozen chocolate cakes and peach pies, and if the babies were left alone, they would never finish by the end of the week. Twilight opened the door to the bakery, a bell announcing her entry. The two bakers were busy with wrapping up the cakes that they already made. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Cake." "Oh. Hello Twilight." said Mr. Cake. "Pinkie is upstairs with the babies in case you're wondering." "Thanks alot." Twilight continued her up the stairs and into the room of the babies, only to be assaulted by flower. Spike stayed downstairs to "sample" his new treats. Upon her welcoming, Twilight coughed up a white cloud. "Pah! Blagh! Pinkie Pie! What did you do that for?" "Woops! Sorry Twilight. I was just playing with the babies. They just LOVE it when I mess around with flower. Hey! We can color our manes purple now and look like Rarity!" "This isn't the time for playing Pinkie." "Sure it is! It's always the time for playing. Even when you work!" Twilight hadn't noticed it, but the entire room was covered in a white powder. The only unaffected portion was the part holding the babies crib. Pinkie Pie even managed to created a snowpony out of it by who knows what means. The flour wasn't even wet. "Okay Pinkie. But I need you to check out this whistle for me." "A whistle? Cool! What kind of whistle?" "I don't know. That's the problem." "Alright then. Lemme have a looksee." Pinkie Pie grabbed the whstle and started to spin it around and seemed to analyze every portion of this metallic thing. She stopped and had a confused look on her face. "Well, besides the fact that it's glowing, I don't see what's so special about it." Twilight rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah. I thought that much. I'll take it back and-" "The best way to know what it does to whistle with it!" "PINKIE DON'T!" But it was too late. The whistle's sound was already screeching through the air. It made the babies cry, to which Pinkie stopped whistling and attended to. Twilight was holding her head under her forelegs, expecting a catastrophe, but nothing happenned. Pinkie Pie walked back up t her and asked: "What are you doing? Oh! Is it a new game?!" "Wha? Nothing happenned! I thought something would've happenned if we used that. Wait...why isn't it glowing anymore." "Huh?" Pinkie lift the fallen whistle back up and took a gander at the thing. Twilight was right, it shone no more. "I guess it was just to make it lou-" JIRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" A massive roar echoed throughout the town, and it certainly echoed throughout all of Equestria. It was so loud that everypony's ears were ringing. "What was that?" asked Twilight, who was still suffering from the roar. "Let's go outside and see!" Pinkie Pie started to hop out of the bedroom and downstairs as the cakes ran up to check on their babies. Pinkie would be the investigator. It seemed that the roar did not go unnoticed, as everypony had left their homes and were looking around and gossiping at what the source of the sound was. Even Rainbow Dash and the other pegasi who were training had stopped in the air to investigate. Applejack had stopped right in front of the bakery. She was pulling a cart full of apples. "Hey Twi!" "Hey Applejack. Did you hear that roar?" "Are ya kiddin' me? I plum jumped outta mah boots! If I had any that is..." "I know! It scared me too. Pinkie just blew into this whistle that Celestia gave me and-" "Wait. Ya LET her blow into it?!" "No! She just took it and then-" "Hey everypony! Look in the sky!" yelled Pinkie Pie. She had somehow reached the roof of the bakery and was holding binoculars. Everypony looked upwards to see that there was some sort of distortion. A black swirl. "Oh no. This is bad." said Twilight, as she started to step back. "Quick Applejack! We've gotta get out of here!" "Why? It just looks like a hole in the sky. Maybe it's an...oh wait...that's because of the whistle?" Twilight nodded. "Horse apples." The hole burst open to show a swirling world of golden yellow lights with white beams traversing them. But the most bizarre was not the portal itself, it was the being coming out of it. It was too fast to get a clear look at, but it burst immediately out of the hole and jet down towards the far ground. "WATCH OUT!" yelled Rainbow Dash. The being missed her and the other pegasi by just a hair, and the wind tunnel it created dragged them downwards, causing a few to bump their heads against eachother. The bright creature continued to fall down like a meteor, and it wouldn't slow down. It plowed through a cloud formation a few other pegasi were making, and turned it into a white tunnel. Unfortunately for everypony in Ponyville, it was heading straight for their little town, and many started to panic and run away. Twilight calculated it's trajectory in her mind and realized that it was going to flatten Applejack if she didn't move. "Applejack, you've got to move! It's going to fall on you!" she yelled. "Ah can't abandon mah apples like that!" "You've got to. Otherwise it's not the only thing you'll lose!" Applejack looked upright to realize that Twilight was right. That thing was was about to fall right on top of her. She quickly got out of the harness and galopped out of the way. The creature seemed to rotate before landing. A loud "BOOM" followed by the launching of every nearby pony a few feet away from the impact was met, along with a huge cloud of dust and smashed apples being flung in all directions. The landing point even turned into a small crater. Everypony got up to see what the cause was. Even Applejack's pupils shrunk as a gigantic being rose from the dust. It wasn't discernible through the dust, but shadow could be seen. Itt seemed to be looking for something, but stopped immediately once it saw Twilight Sparkle. What was now certain to be the eyes seemed to have "ignited" through the dust cloud. It's right eye followed a different color combination than the right. Starting from the pupil, it went "black, white, black". The opposite of this scheme followed on the left. Twilight couldn't help but stare at this towering being as it stared at her through the cloud of dust. What was that thing? And what did it want? > Dark dimension > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two very strange beings stood atop Floating dark cliffs, completely opposite from eachother. They were in a very frightening place. It looked like an apocalyptic area. Several destroyed buildings here, the sky made of nothing but red and dark purple, both swaying like waves of a current there, and the worst part was the effects this place had on all the uninvited creatures there...well...all but one. This dimension was made of pure darkness and antimatter, and the Silver Dragon controlled that element. He was the one who sent everyone there. Underneath him stood a battle between demons and warriors. They were not paying attention to the corrosive effects of the atmosphere on their bodies and armors. The being opposite of the Silver Dragon was lying down on one knee and grasped the left side of it's chest. This being was a giant, even surpassing the Dragon by a few feet. It had bat-like wings that looked like they were composed of two seperate segments. It's hands and arms were very big and bulky. It's fingers ended in very sharp but short claws, and the hands seemed to have some sort of star surrounded by runes burned into them. This creature's head had an elongated maw and very long horns that curved upwards halfway through, and then back again. They formed a type of sideways "U". It had it's left eye closed, and the entirety of the left portion of the face seemed burnt. It's legs were that of a type of wolf of immense size and power. The creature was colored a charcoal black, and it's eyes looked like the twilight of the sky: blue iris with the rest being black, except for the randomly sparkling dots that appeared every now and then. "Give it up,Belforay. Just because you are a level 4 demon doesn't mean I can't destroy you." said the Silver Dragon. "Hmph. Boasting early, are we? Pitiful creature. You claim to have immense power in our world, yet you come from another. How does this form of "fleeing" get you anywhere?" "Lemme see...I can return to my own dimension, where more of my kind lives, I have spatial and dimensional rendering powers, and I control the elements of light and darkness..." the boasting Dragon through his right arm out with it's hand open, and an immense ball of darkness formed. The same happenned with the left. "...so I think you're pretty screwed." "I still cannot believe that anything like that is possible! I'M A DEMON LORD! Yet I cannot wield light! How is it that a being like you can wield both? A pathetic... coward." "Because the elements side with noone. You think that light is the opposite of darkness, and that darkness consumes and destroys all...well...that isn't true. Light can do the exact.Same.Thing." "That still doesn't explain how you can wield both." The Silver Dragon sighed in annoyance. "For something that is over fifty-thousand years old, you sure are unenlightened." "I believe that my army is gaining a victory of that order you joined." The Silver Dragon looked down to see that the warriors that were on his side were starting to suffer the effects of the dark dimension. He took it to himself immediately to deal with this himself. He jumped down from his perch and landed on two demons, crushing them outwright. A stabbing motion with his right arm, and a few spears came out and impaled the demons, lifting them slowly into the air. He looked towards the wounded warriors standing behind him and, with the formation of a ball of light, opened a portal to the "regular" dimension. "Go now. I'll finish this myself." "But sir!" yelled a paladin. "No buts. If you want to survive to fight another day, then you'll have to leave. You cannot help anyone in death." "...I got it. Good luck." "I'll be back eventually...don't fret." With a salutation, the paladin followed his comrades through the portal, that the dragon soon closed and reabsorbed. Belforay struggled to stand up and a loud bellowing echoed throughout the dimension as the Silver creature dropped the now drained emons onto the floor. They were quickly grabbed by firey portals that closed soon afterwards. "How will you fight us now?! You are all alone!" "Hmph. I may have not yet encountered a demon of the apocalypse, but you will certainly not survive me." "Hahahaha! KILL HIM!" The smaller demons moved slowly forward as the Dragon did not move. He only showed an expression of boredom on his face. One of the lesser demons struck at it's enemy, the blade being made of a jagged black material. It broke on contact. The demon pulled it's sword back and looked at it then the Silver creature in shock. "Awwww. What's the matter? Did your wittle toy bweak? SHOCKWAVE FOR YOUR THOUGHTS?!" A rapid follow-up of manoevres and a gigantic wave of light flew over a large portion of the demon army, causing them to quickly desintegrate. This infuriated the others, who started to attack their enemy with vigor and fury. The Dragon used a variety of techniques with the darkness and the light. From forming some type of spiked gauntlet over his right forearm, to literally created an explossive with the light and throwing it into a large group of the demons. The ensuing explosion blew a massive hole in the demonic legion. Belforay raged in anger. He tore his double-headed axe from the ground, as well as his rune cannon from his leg and jumped off his cliff. The smaller demons in his way were swept aside with a swing of his weapon. He stopped just to aim his one-haned cannon at the Silver Dragon, who noticed and faded out of view before the projectile could hit. The explosion became a blue ball formed of cursed spirits who grabbed the demons around them and drained them of all lifeforce. "STOP MOVING!" "As if. For a demon of your calibur, you sure are weak." "How dare you. You pitiful worm. I will stomp on you then devour your soul." "I'd like to see you try." The Dragon had gotten to about the same height as the demon. His smirk exhasperated the gargantuan, who striked at the dragon with it's axe. The axe cut the dragon, but by only a bit. Instead of blood, dust started to come out. The demon stepped back in confusion as his enemy just watched the wound close. "Intriguing. A demonic metal that I have not yet assimilated." "Why do you bleed dust and ash?" "My age. Anything from me that separates from my body, except for my scales, instantly turn to dust." "You are irritating." "You're not the first to say that." Belforay and the Silver Dragon began to sprawl with eachother, each miss destroying a portion of the land they stood on. However, the sound of a whistle screeched throughout the land they were fighting in. Both fighters stopped, as the Dragon tried to discern the sound's location. "No. I thought I destroyed them all." "Hm?" While Belforay struggled to stand up, using his melee weapon as a holding cane, a portal opened up right behind him. The Dragon shrunk to his basic size, just to see the demon startng to get some form of scent from the portal. "Ahhhhh! The sweet scent of innocence and magic! I will retreat for now. We will meet again, and this time, I will be the victor of this outcome." "No! Don't go through it!" But it was too late. The demon had already gone through. The Dragon sprinted to get into the portal before it closed. The only thing he could see was that bastard slowly descending through the tunnel they were in. He tried to grab the demon before it could dissappear, but it turned around and saluted the Silver creature before distorting and dissappearing. The dragon roared in fury: "JIRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He kept fury in his mind. Whatever world they had gone to, it was too innocent to have demons flying around in it, and it's magical capabilities were immense! However, his left arm reacted to the patches of concentrated darkness dotted all around whatever that world was. There was something particular about it for this phenomenon. There was also an immense amount of light coming from what could be mountains, yet they were slightly tainted. What could be the source. Staying invisible would be the best thing to do, except for the opening of the portal, and the floating above a populated area. He was falling in too fast, and, as a consequence, the Dragon could barely discern anything properly. During the descent, he barely noticed anything flying in the air, if not for a rainbow-colored...thing. A narrow dodge, and he was descending directly towards the ground. But what was this? After plowing through a cloud, he noticed that there was a town down there. Shhiiiiiiii-crap! He didn't notice the cart nor the creature that was pulling it. He did notice a golden colored creature jump out of the way before twisting himself so that it was his legs now facing the ground, and not his face. A loud *BOOM*, and he had come to a stop, much to the dismay of the land around him. Tons of dust had thrown itself into the air, and he couldn't make out anything threw it. "Where is this? Nothing there...nothing there...no-what is this? Immense magical buildup in such a tiny area. Let's see what these beings are." > Attempt to communicate > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight felt greeat chills and warmth flowing throughout her. This creature didn't seem to be all too friendly, nor did it seem to care about everything it fell through. The only thing going through Twilight's mind were: What is this thing? I need to stay away from it. Whatever this creature was, it was staring directly at her, and it started to move forward. Twilight couldn't help but move away on instinct. The creature waved it's hand, causing the dust in front of it to blow away in all directions, causing some ponies and a certain baby dragon to cough as they inhaled the thick particles. Twilight continued to back off, but the creature continued to stare at her seriously. It did NOT have any good intentions. It was very tall actually, certainly surpassing Celestia by atleast two heads. It was silver in color, except for the eyes, that seemed to have an opposing color scheme to eachother. Around the eyes was a portion of the same symbol that was carved on the whistle. It had a dragon-like face, although it was more round, and it's teeth did not poke out randomly. Two horns adorned the head. They started near the forehead, but as they reached the back of the skull, they suddenly curved upwards for a few centimeters. It had no real details for the rest of the main body, but it's configuration was the strangest thing yet. On the outer parts of it's forearms rested what looked like blades. They started near the wrists, and extended to the elbows of the creature. They were extremely shiny and looked very, very sharp. The fingers seemed to be only claws, as the "nails" started at nothing, but were cylinder shaped and seemed flexible enough to actually be called "fingers". It had ten digits in total on both hands. Strange, as Spike only had eight. The feet were even wierder. Even though it had three "toes" (also mostly claws) on the front, and one in the back for balance, it also had one on each side too. What were those two extra toes on each foot for? It's tail was the strangest part yet. Even though it was rather long, it was of basic length. It was the END that freaked everypony out. Imagine a claw with four fingers, and these fingers were placed on each side, as to form a type of pyramid. That was what was so disturbing about the tail. The silver creature seemed to adore swaying it's tail around and to constantly open and close the end. Another trait about that thing was the spinning. The creature seemed capable of spinning that portion infinitely in both the left and right directions. It would occasionally stop it then start spinning it around in the opposite direction again, giving off a "clank" with each stop. The silver being did not seem to have any wings. So, if it was a dragon, it was a wingless one like Spike. It lift it's right arm and opened it's hand, as to grab Twilight Sparkle. However, Spike gathered his courage and stepped in front of the giant while holding a piece of plank that was blasted off the wagon that Applejack had been pulling. "Y-y-you st-stay away fr-fr-from her! I-I won't let you hurt Twilight!" The being lowered it's arm and stared at Spike in confusion. "Spike, what are you doing? Stay away from it! You don't know what it can do!" "Ah'll help ya there,Spike" said a familiar country pony. "Thanks Applejack." "Now listen here, you. Ah ain't 'bout ta let somepony hurt Twilight, especially with what ya did when coming here." The creature continued to stay silent, but grabbed Spike with incredible speed. The screaming of the baby dragon and his attempt to hurt the creature by hitting it on the head with the wooden planks were pointless. It seemed to be analyzing the reptilian creature it was holding. This "aggression" angered Applejack: "Hey! Let go of him! Take this! *THWACK* AHHH!" Applejack tried to buck the creature in the legs, but she fell back in sudden pain after hitting the Silver creature's stomach. "What's it made of?" she yelped, while trying to figure out what had happenned. Twilight became furious and yelled at the creature: "Hey! Let go of Spike, or else." Twilight's horn started to glow wildly. The dragon looked at her for a brief moment, then back to the "lizard" it was holding. "I warned you!" A purple bolt flew from her horn and was going directly for the dragon's head. It lowered Spike and, with a back-handing of it's left, the bolt was deflected towards the ground, leaving everypony who knew Twilight quite well to be left in shock. The dragon lowered it's "specimen" gently towards the ground. Spike shielded himself, expecting to get smashed, but the creature ignored him and went directly towards Applejack, whose orange hindlegs had now turned into a swollen purple. "Stay away from me! Tryin' ta get a mare while she's down?" It ignored her words and, before Twilight could react, had already grabbed hold of Applejack's broken legs. She yelped in pain as the contact hurt her tremendously. The dragon hummed a tune that indicated frustration. It's left arm started to glow in a mixture of yellow and white as an aura started to surround both the arm and farm pony's legs. She winced a bit, but the dragon soon finished and removed it's arm. To the cowpony's surprise, her legs were no longer purple or wollen. She hesitated to stand up, but did so anyway with the silent insistance of the creature she attacked. Her legs had never felt better. "Wow. Ya got a great trick there, but ah still ain't gonna let ya harm Twilight." It ignored this and "faded" out of existence. When it "fades" a strange vibrating noise is heard, and three images of it appear. Two of them move slowly to the sides while the central image blinks rapidly, almost unnoticably. When the dragon reappears, the images recentralize in another location, and it did just that, but right in front of Twilight Sparkle. It didn't move, but it noticed the whistle near her hooves. Before it could do anything, Pinkie Pie yelled from the roof of the bakery: "Twilight, look at his eyes!" "What about his eyes?!" "Just look!" Twilight didn't understand at first, but upon closer inspection, the symbol that was etched on the whistle was on it's face, more specifically, around the eyes. Twilight lift the whistle with her magic and looked back and forth rapidly as to try and understand the current situation. The creature before her extended a hand out. This confused Twilight Sparkle even further. "What are you? A dragon?" she asked. The dragon nodded. "Are you evil?" It shook it's head. "How can I trust you on that? You nearly crushed Applejack and almost smashed Rainbow Dash and the other pegasi." The dragon tilted it's head slightly in confusion. Twilight pointed to the sky, and as the silver dragon looked upwards, it seemed to joly back in shock. It had obviously never seen pegasi before. It "hmmed" in interest, but looked back at Twilight and insisted on having the whistle. Twilight refused. "No. Until I know who or what you are, you won't have this thing." The dragon slowly turned it's hand into a fist and squeezed, causing a crackling noise, but it decided to just leave them be. Besides, it's not like they would start again, right? The dragon turned around and started to walk towards the Everfree forest. By curiosity, Twilight followed it. She wanted answers. So did Pinkie Pie, but she had to help the cake babies, and Applejack had to deal with her destroyed wagon. Leaving Twilight with that thing felt like a bad idea, but it didn't seem hostile. The dragon walked past a bridge and went slowly towards the school of Ponyville. Twilight was galopping closely behind him, with Spike on her back. "Wait! Hold on! I just want to know who and what you are." "Forget it Twilight. I don't think he can talk." "Of course he can. He understood me earlier. Are y-oomf!" Twilight hit her head against the creature. It had stopped to look at the little ponies playing in the school yard. It was recess apparently. It took a few minutes, but everypony stopped what they were doing and stared right back at it. A few back away in fear, while others yelled "cool" and tried to get closer to the fence, but before they could, the creature moved on, a small smirk on it's face. "Wha-? Why won't you talk to me? I could help you with whatever is wrong." The dragon stopped, turned around, and looked at Twilight frightingly. There we go. I got his attention. Now to convince him. "Yeah, I can help. I work at the local library. Perhaps I can help you find what you are looking for? Or help you deal with a certain problem?" "Yeah. Twilight's REAL good at organization." The dragon put it's right claw on it's chin and started to think. The other smaller ponies were on the fence. Some were hanging on the bars of this blockade, while others just looked at the silver being through the holes. The creature stopped pondering and stook his hand out. Twilight knew what this meant, and slowly backed away with a "are you serious?" look on her face. "I told you no. You won't have it until I learn more about." What happenned after slightly disturbed everypony around. The dragon clenched his teeth as he squeezed his fist in anger. The entire right side of body became covered in an aura of darkness which spun wildly and rose high into the sky, but only for a few seconds. It calmed down and continued it's path in the opposite direction of the lavender pony. Twilight followed. "I'm not going to leave you be until you tell me atleast WHO you are." The dragon sighed. He stopped suddenly. He seemed to be trying to push something out, as he was stretching his back. Two lumps started to form right near the shoulder blades. "What is that? What's he doing Twilight?" "I don't know." Two giant wings flung out and stretched widely. The sudden appearance of these wings threw Twilight back and caused Spike to roll on the ground. The wings looked like any normal dragon's wings, except for the feathers on what should have been the "fleshy" part. Underneath these feathers stood even more scales. Twilight was now sure that this creature was a dragon of a yet unknown species. It deployed it's wings and threw itself high into the air. The "WOW"s and "AWESOME"s started to fill the air. Twilight got back up and insisted that Spike get back on her back. "Come one Spike! We'll never catch him if you stay there on the floor!" "Do you mind Twilight? You tossed me on the floor and had me rolling all the way to Ponyville." complained Spike as he struggle to get on Twilight's back. The mare rolled her eyes. "Don't exaggerate." "Shouldn't you be following him? He's getting away!" "Oh no!" Twilight galopped as fast as she could, but the dragon was a fast flyer. It didn't seem to be overexerting itself, especially with it flying at such a low altitude. Certain ponies on the path either stared or ran away from the dragon as it flew in their direction. "C'mon Twi! We're losing him." "I know. But I can't go any faster." "*sigh* If only I had wings." "Wait...that's it! We'll go get Rainbow Dash. She is a really fast flyer after all. " "Um...Twi...I don't think you'll need to call for her." "Why are you say-? Uh-oh." Spike had been staring a what look like a rainbow colored laser. The laser was coming down like rocket and slammed with full force against the dragon, causing it to fly into the ground and throw much dust and dirt into the air. It had fallen further away, and Twilight was going to see what had happenned exactly. > Fluttershy's dissappearance > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight galopped as fast as she could to reach the impact point of the dragon's descent to the ground. Upon arrival, she saw that it had fallen in front of Fluttershy's house, and that a massive crater now sat where the front yard used to be. Rainbow Dash was flying above the crater as the creature stayed in it. "Who do you think you are? You almost killed me and the others. You think I'll let that pass?" The dragon just stood back up and wiped the dust off of it's scales. It stared at Rainbow Dash very plainly, and it didn't seem to care about her assault on it. It was about to move, but Rainbow Dash slammed into it again, but, this time, with less speed. The lack of speed is what caused the fiesty pegasus to bounce off the dragon, and to see it laughing at her attempts to hurt it. The voice wasn't at all deep, nor was it too high-pitched. It was...normal. Twilight just stared at it as the dragon continued to laugh at Rainbow Dash who was already starting to tire. She took this opportunity to sneak into Fluttershy's house and see if she was alright. "Alright Spike. Help me look for Fluttershy." "Okay, but she isn't exactly the best hider." They both searched high and low as to find some clues to her location. Surprisingly, they had both ended up in her room, only to find that the place was singed black and that Angel was lying down on the bed. "Oh no!" yelled Twilight. She ran to the bunny to help it up. The poor thing was...Twilight dared not think about it. Angel was gone, and she couldn't do anything about it. She levitated the poor creature's body as Spike just stood in the room with shock at the charred remains of the place. Was even Fluttershy... Exiting the "treehouse", Twilight saw the dragon rubbing Rainbow Dash's mane against her consent. She was panting on the ground and using what was left of her strength to swipe the dragon's hand off of her everytime it touched her mane. "Stop...Doing...That..." she panted. The dragon ignored her and continued with a large smile on it's face. Rainbow caught glimpse of the limp body of Angel, as he was placed gently on the floor. Rainbow stood up and walked slowly towards Twilight, who looked horrified and saddenned at the same time. The smile etched upon the silver creature's face faded away almost immediately as it saw the bunny. "What happenned to him?" "I don't know. Spike and I went into Fluttershy's house to see how she was after you smashed into that thing and landed in front of her house." "Well, I had to teach him a lesson." "I think he just found you hilarious." "*sigh* How about we deal with Angel first? A decent burial would be good." "....How are we going to tell Fluttershy when she gets back? What?" The dragon looked apologetic in a manner and move RD out of the way. "Hey! What are you doing? Leave him alone. No!" yelled RD. The dragon pushed Twilight away and slammed it's left arm on the fluffy critter. The silver creature's left arm started to glow in a blinding amount of light. What the two ponies didn't see, as they shielded their faces, was the appearance of a robed character behind the dragon. It seemed to tip a balance of something, and the light quickly faded. The dragon stopped, got up, and stepped back. The two mares stared at it, and they then saw Angel twitch and cough as he got back up. Twilight and Rainbow Dash couldn't help but stare in awww at this improbability. "But...But that's impossible! Life and death can't be controlled! How did he even do that?!" "I know that it's shocking Twilight, but shouldn't we be, I don't know, tending to him?" "You're right. That's more important right now." The two ponies grabbed a weak Angel and placed him on one of Fluttershy's many couches. He tried to tell them something, but he just couldn't communicate like he should have been able to. The visitor followed them inside while avoiding the low level of the door entrance. The two mares ignored him, but he poked Twilight's back to show her something. He had his right hand out with one of the "fingers" up. He was showing the number one. He clasped his hand shut and then showed the number zero. The lavender pony was confused. "What? What's that supposed to mean?" "..." "You are really annoying. Why won't you talk?" "..." "UGH!" As Twilight complained, Spike ran back downstairs with a piece of charred bed sheet. "Hey Twi, maybe you could check this out and we could see what exactly happenned to Fluttershy." "That's actually a good idea Spike. That's why you're my number one assistant. Could you do me one more favor?" "What?" "Could you get Angel here some water?" "What for? Isn't he de-" Twilight cut him off as she showed him Angel, who was now sleeping on the couch with a small cover over him. "But? How? I thought?" "HE revived him by someway that I've never seen before." Twilight said as she pointed towards the hulking behemoth. "Woah...cool! How'd you do it?" "..." "He won't talk to you Spike. I think he wants trust or something." "That's wie-HEY! Let go of my arm! OOMF!" The dragon had grabbed hold of the arm Spike was using to hold the charred textile. Rainbow Dash had soun around with a glare in her eyes and was about to attack the dragon until Twilight stopped her. "What are you doing?! Let go of me. He tried to attack Spike." "Shhh. Look. Whats he doing?" The dragon had his right arm hovering above the piece of tissue. His right hand was surrounded by a dark aura that vibrated with every movement. He clutched the cloth and moved outside. The two mares followed him, while Spike was told to stay behind in the house. Spike complained and mumbled, but did as told. He still went to a window to see what was happening. "What do you think he's doing?" asked RD. "I don't know. Maybe he's trying to find Fluttershy." CRACK "What was that?" yelped RD. The dragon seemed to react to something, and he started to become surrounded by both a black and white aura. While the left sight ondulated with a calm and serene white aura, the left side spike and exploded in a dark fury. The dragon looked at the forest it's pupils had shrunk. It was now showing it's imprseeive set of spiked teeth. "Quick! Grab his tail." whispered RD. "Are you crazy? I'm not going to grab his tail." "I don't think you have a choice. Look up." "Why...oh." Dark clouds had started to swirl right above the dragon's position. "It's now or never Twilight. Either we grab his tail and get dragged to wherever he's going to go, or we lose him and may never see Fluttershy again." "Well...I prefer the choice with Fluttershy. I just hope you're right, and he's really going to get her." They both discreetly grabbed the dragon's tail, obly to have to cover their ears after it screamed in an ear-piercing yell: "DEEEEEEEEMOOOOOOOOOOONS!" "I guess that answers your question Twilight." "Just keep yourself on his tail. He might be calling the culprits of her dissappearance like that. "Well, we'll see. WOAH!" The dragon jet off into the woods, plowing through tree, hill, and boulder alike. While Twilight was absolutely terrified, Rainbow Dash was having fun. This thing was very fast on land. She definately wanted to try and race it in the air when it went full speed. Everything was flinging by too fast for them to manage to distinguish anything, but they came to an abrupt stop. Instead of being flung far away, the mares stayed hooked onto the dragons tail. "Ommf!" they both yelled as they let go of the tail. "That was totally supercool. Let's do that again!" "What? What's wrong with you? We're here for Flu-" Twilight was cut short as she saw strnge ponies that seemed...out of place. They had...features that no normal pony had, and she dared not try and describe them, but they had Fluttershy in the middle of a rune. There was some sort of ritual going on, and they were nearly done. Until they could drop whatever was in some pot one of them was holding, the dragon blasted the thing into oblivon with one of it's dark beams. The beam stayed in the air, until it spread out and grabbed the five ponies, then lift them into the air. They struggled to get out of their situation as they stared at the creature walk casually towards Fluttershy, pick her up and hold her gently in his left arm. The dragon walked away from the scene until Rainbow Dash stopped him. "Hey, what about them?" "Ahhh yes...the demons...I forgot." "So you CAN talk!" exclamated Twilight. "Let's see how you stupid demons deal with a dark funnel." A strong aura envelopped the whole area that the ritual was being performed in, and a gigantic tornado of darkness formed. It stretched WAY past the forest tops and a writhing screaming could be heard. The dragon stopped the funnel and reabsorbed the darkness. Nothing was left, not even the "demons". "I believe this is Fluttershy?" "Y-yes." stuttered RD. "That was incredible. You must be a powrful magician." "Nope. It's not magic." he said, a wide grin on his face. "Grab hold of me, I'll teleport us back to that tree house thing of her's." Although Twilight already knew how to teleport, she was curious at what it was like to experience this creature's version of this ability. The two mares grabbed hold, and with an exhale, they were teleported back to Fluttershy's house. Fluttershy was taken care of first. It would seem that she had some sort of light shade of darkness within her, that the silver being extracted from her body and absorbed. He had alot of explaining to do. > Learning > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The creature was bent over Fluttershy's now repaired bed. He was healing her with his left hand. Every now and then, he would stop and look at another area, then send another beam of light there to repair and heal. He didn't seem all that scary, especially with his strange powers. He entered the yellow pegasus' room for two seconds, and everything that was damaged was back to itself again. Twilight had borrowed a notepad and a quill, as well as a jar of ink and was writing everything the creature was saying. Rainbow Dash was outside, watching for anything suspicious. SD started to speak as the mares had gained his trust by taking good care of the bunny he had saved along with the winged pony he was carrying. "So...who are you?" asked Twilight. She was eager to learn more about this species of dragon who voluntarily explained itself. "You can call me Silver Dragon, or "SD" for short." "But, aren't you a already a silver dragon?" "Yes." "Then why the name?" "Hold on." He stood up and grunted as his wings returned inside his body, then bent back over Fluttershy and continued his work. "That was...Wierd and Intriguing at the same time." "Didn't you want to know why the name first??" "Oh yeah! So?" "I believe you noticed that I am not from this dimension." "What? I just thought you were a dragon who could control magic." "Nope." "Then how did you...Come...to our world." "Because someone blew in that damnable whistle. I still don't remember sending one here." "You mean this?" Twilight hovered the whistle in front of his face. Before SD could grab it, the pony swept it away from his grip. "That was unnecessary." "I won't give it to you until I get answers." "Fine. So, as I was saying, my home dimension has many dragons like me, but I will go no further in that subject except to say that the allies of my people, the silver dragons, are called the gold dragons. While we are a terrestrial race, they are an aerial race." "Then how come you have wings?" "Because my friend, the leader of the gold dragons, taught how to grow them. They aren't a normal part of my body, so it hurts like ten thousand blades when I get them out. As for my name, every leader of each dragon tribe takes the name of their species." "So your friend is called Gold Dragon?" "Exactly." "And what about your powers? You literally brought a dead creature back to life! That goes against-" "-the laws of chaos and order. I've heard that before. Consider it an advantage of having the power of light at your disposal." Silver Dragon stared at his left hand as he clasped it several times and stood up, stretching his back in the process. "That should be about it. It you want to know more, come with me downstairs." Twilight nodded and followed him downstairs as she slowly and gently closed the door. The dragon went to work on a still sleeping bunny. "You remember the hand language I did earlier when I healed this little guy?" "Yeah." "There are very strict rules to reviving. One, there is a twenty-four hour delay. Past that, and each hour contributes to a higher percentage of one of the following to happen: the creature is turned into a zombie, the creature is revived, but without their soul, the creature does not revive, or, in the slimmest of chances, the procedure goes well and they are given life again. "Those are very stri-" "Number two." said SD, staring at Twilight as though annoyed.:" The creature in question must consent with returning to their body. If they refuse, the creature is not revived, and the soul stays in the after-life. Those who have killed themselves have no choice, and a curse prevents them from being able to kill themselves again." "Are there anymore rules?" "Two, actually." "Oh Celestia." "Who?" "I'll explain after." "Mkay. Three: in order to revive a creature, they must have died of non-natural causes." "So, if they die of old-age?" "It's a no-no." "That's very interesting. In order for you to revive somepony, you've been a strict set of rules. I suppose this counters that law against nature." "Yes. And four, the creature can ONLY be revived ONCE." A dark and disturbing aura filled the room as the eyes of SD stared directly into Twilight's soul at these words. Twilight gulped. Even if, with him, you had a chance to be revived after dying, you only had a second chance, and you should take good care of that second chance. The dragon stopped healing the rabbit and decided to go outside for some air. "Hey,wait! You can't go!" "I'm not leaving. I just need a quick breather and a quick rebalancer." "Rebalancer?" "Yeah. You see, and I know I can trust you as my light tells me so, I control the powers of dark and light. The darkness is concentrated on the right side of my body, while the light is concentrated on the left." SD showed is bit, and then finally pointed towards the middle of his chest.: "And the middle is where they intertwine and work together. Whenever I use the powers, one tends to get the upperhand over the other, so, sometimes, I need to stand in the sun or in the shadows and absorb the energies from both. "But I thought darkness represented evil, while light represented the greater good?" SD laughed as he sat in the grass. Rainbow Dash was watching him closely, but continued to circle around the area. "You couldn't be more wrong." "But that's how I've seen it. Even my friends! We had to fight somepony called Nightmare Moon. She tried to bring eternal night to our world." "Eternal night? What kind of half-baked attempt of world destruction is that?" "What? But that's terrible! Imagine all the things that could've happenned!" "Dying plants? The atmosphere freezing up? Things like that?" "Well, yeah." "Meh. I've seen worse. Tell the king of the Zill Omphatons...I really hate that name...That he shouldn't try and rule his people with a diamond hard fist, and he'll end up creating an eternal blizzard in the world he lived in. He had a frost king revived from it's eternal slumber. That idiot thought he could control an ancient lord of ice, he was wrong. Heh. He got frozen in the end. The world was lost, even when I came. Nothing left but frost monsters and ice demons. I was forced to destroy the world. *sigh*. One of the few I never managed to save." "That's horrible." "I know. No matter how powerful you are, you aren't omnipotent. I suppose you want to know about my powers too?" "That would be nice, yes." "Then you tell me about your world, and who blew into that whistle." SD said, while pointed firmly at Twilight. Twilight straightened herself up and nodded. She eagerly levitated her notebook and quill closer to her face as curiosity began to fill her. "Hmph. Eager to know, eh?" "Well, I mean , you are a new species of dragon, and nopony has been able to commune with one directly. "Hey!" yelled Spike "I meant one who grew up in the wild." Spike was hiding behind the door to Fluttershy's house. SD tilted himself a bit more to see him better. It was the reptile from before. He rubbed his chin in intrigue. "I was sure that he was a dragon." "Yeah. He's my assistant." "Assistant? Are you a scientist or something." "No. I just work at the local library." "Libray?!" The Silver Dragon jumped up and bent it's knees to look at Twilight directly in the eyes: "Yes. But tell me about your powers." "Ugh! Fine! As I already told you, I control the power of light and dark, but I can also control the other elements of nature...ehhh...to a much lesser extent. I wield the ability to control time and space as well." "Wait, so then, you could go back in time and prevent the princesses from ever being born?" "Princesses? They're your leaders?" "Yes..." "I suppose I could. You wouldn't dissappear though. I would just create another continuum in the spatial entity. Another timeline if you will. Luckily for me, I never "hook" to one. So when I go somewhere, I can visit the different alternate realities of it. Although this requires some spatial manipulation as well." "That's amazing! Then you could...um...say... find a dimension where I'm a stallion?" "Of course! Or one where you are a dragon. Or a griffin. Or one where you never existed! The possibilities are endless. One day, I could take you to the one of your choosing." "That would be nice. Any other powers?" "Hm? Oh yes! I can communicate through telepathy. This is how I communicate mostly." "What? I didn't notice! How come your voice can echo to everypony here?" "It's called wide-sheet mind speaking. It's like yelling outloud so everyone can hear it. Sometimes, I go into a crisis and use my mouth to yell singular words." "Like?" "Whe I yelled "Demons" earlier.' 'Oh." "I can shape-shift as well. I rarely ever do it though. There were a few incidents where I had to...ah...Turn into the female version of a certain species..." Rainbow Dash came crashing down in laughter. Luckily for her, there was a patch of hay that she fell in. It was certainly there for the animals. SD pointed at her and yelled loudly: "That isN'T FUNNY!" "You have to admit that it is kind of funny." said Twilight, a little chuckle happening her and there. "You try and deal with being the opposite gender and live like that for ten whole years! Worst ten years of my life." "Wow. That's fabulous! Pahaha!" mocked Rainbow Dash. "Imma strangle her..." "Anything else about...pfff...your abilities?" "I'm immortal, but not invincible." The laughing quickly died down, as even Spike looked at him in shock. "Im...Immortal?" "Yes. I'm over five point three billion years old." This age was IMMENSE! How could such a being cope with that? "How can you deal with losing all your friends and family and continue living on like that?" asked Twilight, sadness in her voice. "Yeah. I couldn't deal with that. I'd know nopony and I'd soon be...no! I can't think of that!" The silver being chuckled as he crossed his arms. "Hahaha! Let's just say that I have a special ticket that allows me to come and go from the afterlife whenever I please...but...only once a month...and they don't stack..." "I guess that counters the problems with immortality. Do you have a profession?" "I have a base one, yes. It is what the basis of my powers are for, but I can only tell this to the ruling party. Perhaps you can tell me of this place I'm in, and how you got ahold of that whistle? AND WHO BLEW IN IT?!" That last yell threw everyone away, even the returning animals. "Uhhh...sure" replied Twilight, her mane flinging about in a mess. "Wait. Who is gonna take care of Fluttershy?"" asked Rainbow Dash. "There's no point. She's perfectly fine now. I even placed runes of purity within her while I healed her. Nothing evil will be able to touch her anymore. I also suggest that you watchout for anymore of those..." "Demons?" finished Twilight. "Yes. Now about everything I asked you..." "We'll have to talk about that at my home." Silver Dragon sluched in dissappointment. "Aww. I wanted to go to the library." "The library...is my home." "Awesome! Then let's go there now!" "Uhhh, sure. Let me call Spi-" Twilight stopped before she could yell as Spike was already standing in front of her with a smile on his face. This left Twilight in an awkward position. She had her mouth open and a hoof near her mouth, as if about to yell. SD poked her shoulder and went slowly closer to her face, a large grin tattoed on his face. "Perhaps we should get going? Unless you want to turn into the first every pony-flytrap." Twilght lowered herself in embarassment, but continued on towards the library. Rainbow decided to stay a bit longer. She still didn't trust that character, and she was far too loyal to her friends to believe in simple words. However, Twilight came to an abrupt halt. "What's wrong?" asked SD. "If you have morphing powers, why don't you turn into a pony? It would bring less problems and less attention to yourself." "Why? He looks so cool like that!" exclamated Spike "I won't transform unless I have to. And the only things I can't change are my eyes. I'm pretty sure that only a dolt would not notice unusual eye coloration, especially in someone the have known for quite awhile." "Fine. But don't draw any attention to yourself." "I won't as long as you tell me about everything I asked of you earlier." "Will do." answered Twilight. They were off to the library, much to the displeasure of the ponies who had gotten to meet this creature in person. > Teaching dragons > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silver Dragon had been rummaging through the several rows of books and occasionally took one out. He was given a gem to keep, but he didn't eat it. He, in fact, decided to keep it for his gem collection, and opened a dimensional pouch to place it in. Twilight forgot to ask him about the way he lived, as well as his diet. "So...you're leaders are these princesses who move the sun and the moon?" "Yes." replied Twilight. "That's preposterous. Although I suppose another dimension has it's rules." "What do you mean?" "Every dimension, including my own, has nature dealing with all of those things, such as celestial rotation. I suppose you "clean up" snow when spring nears?" SD started to laugh. "We do, actually." SD's laughter died down. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" "No." "...fine. I'll have to talk to your princesses about an urgent matter concerning that whistle." "Why?" "Your friend brought something that I cannot speak of into your world. It jumped through the portal the whistle created and detached from me within the tunnel we were going through." "Is that bad?" "You betcha. When I go in those tunnels, I have a time constant that surrounds me, allowing for ample movement within the timestream. However, when someone other than me goes in, they have a chance to appear in different times of the dimensional reality that the tunnel is connected to." "That all sounds very complicated. How do you travel through dimensions anyways?" "That's a secret." "Then...could you explain what this whistle is for?" SD got up after sitting down to read a historical book and looked tiredly at Twilight. "That whistle is one of the few I forged and handed out to those who I believed would need my help eventually. I usually only handed two of them out at a time. When you blew in them, a portal would open near my location, allowing a direct travel from my current point to the precise location of the whistle." "That's pretty cool. But why is there one here?" "That's what I don't get. If I analyzed the elements here correctly, there is no need for me in this place...something about elements." SD looked creepily at Twilight:" You wouldn't to know anything about that...would you?" "N-no." "Hm. Fair enough. When can I meet the princesses?" "Well, first, I have to send her a letter to tell her about you." "Then I'll finish reading this." Twilight took out a parchment and a quill and handed it to Spike, who had been waiting for something from the Silver Dragon. She started to narrate what she wanted written down, with an occasional miscomprehension from the little dragon. The lavender pony finished and, with a magical belch from Spike, the parchment flew out of the window in white sparkles. "The heck was that?" asked SD. "Spike is somewhat linked to the princesses. When uses his fire, it usually sends something to them. But it's mostly sent to Celestia." "I'm guessing that this Celestia is a more important figure-head." "Yes. She did rule by herself for one thousand years." "Mhmmm. Do I have to wait?" "Sure. I just want to...run some more tests with your whistle." "Fine, but you're wasting you're time. It can't be replicated. Only through my scales can you make one, and only my species knows how to forge them." "They're that difficult to manipulate?" "Mine in particular. One innate ability is that of absorbing metals and creating a new one with it. That is why you're friend broke her legs earlier. She is your friend, no?" "Yes. That was Applejack. A farm pony." "Interesting. Do your thing with the whistle, but you won't get anywhere." mocked SD. Twilight descended into her basement, the whistle in tow, and slammed the door shut behind her, then locked it. Durrr. I can manipulate space. I'z can go throughs thar. No point in locksing it. SD thought. A few minutes had passed and there was still no answer. Spike had gone near the dragon in a nervous way. He was fiddling with his fingers. The silver being caught glimpse of him and lowered the book. "Something wrong?" "Well...you are another dragon...even if you are different. Could you teach me to breathe fire like most dragons?" "What for? It should come with practice. And, as I said, I'm not too good with the other elements of nature." "Well, let's just say that I'm not too good with fire when it comes to other dragons." SD started to think. "MMMMMM...alright then. Let's get out and start with the basics. You're lucky I knew some very powerful fire dragons." "Awesome!" roared Spike. SD set the book down on a nearby table and opened the small door of Twilight's house, only to see a rather stunning white pony that was about to open the door herself. She stared at the gigantic being with her mouth gaping wide and her eyes in shock. "Pardon me." said the giant, struggling to fit through the tiny opening. "Hi Rarity." said Spike. She just watched them as they moved a bit further away. The silver giant stopped and started to stretch a bit. Rarity ran into the library. "Okay Spike. You want to learn how to breathe huge gusts of fire?" "YEAH!" "Then you have to learn how to breathe in normally." "YEAH! Wait, what?" "You heard me. If you want to breathe fire at a super level, you must learn how to properly harness the compliment of fire, which is wind." "Yeah, sure." "Not convinced? Watch closely then." SD took in a large inhale and closed his eyes. He got into a long pose until he opened his eyes and expelled a GIGANTIC torrent of flame from his mouth. Everypony nearby stopped their paths as their jaws dropped in horror. The dragon stopped and wiped his mouth as a smile formed. "HA! I still got it." "That...Was...AWESOME! And I can do that just while breathing?" "Eeyup." "Can you do anything else." SD poked his jaw a bit and then snapped his fingers. "Which side?" "What?" "Which side? Left or right?" "Uhhh...right?" "Muahahaha!" An evil look started to form on Silver Dragon's face. He clenched his right fist and opened it again. A dark aura started to spin wildly around his arm. "Watch what happens when darkness is given it's full potential." "I think I've changed my mind." The sky had already started to darken, and storm clouds started to threaten everything under them. SD looked at Spike's worriedness and stopped immediately. The sky quickly became itself again. "Awww. Fine. Tch! I never get to have fun with darkness." "That's okay. So what about that breathing?" "Just breathe in and out calmly until you feel some sort of ball form in your throat. When that happens, yell, and you'll start breathing huge amounts of fire. It'll take awhile, but if you manage thhat, I'll teach you how to breathe fireballs." "Alright." Spike started his "training". Silver Dragon's word wasn't exactly irrefutable, but he didn't seem to lie. He returned inside the library, where Rarity and Twilight were sitting at a table. Rarity shakily drank her cup of tea as her eyes followed the dragon closely. SD stopped and looked around in confusion. "Twilight, where's my book?" "Uh-oh. "What do you mean "uh-oh"?" "I put it back in the shelf. I thought you had already finishied it." The dragon looked annoyed. "You're lucky I know much about time." He reached to the location of Twilight's teacup, and seemed to reach through it. A little sparking and he pulled the book out. "What? How did you? That doesn't even...?" stuttered Rarity. "Temporal echoes. Given a certain time, I can cancel an event that happenned. I only do it for stupid things like this." he shook the book. SD layed down against the bookcase ans, with one arm supporting the back of his head, continued to read where he left off. "So...Twilight tells me you are from another world?" "Yes." "Then have you, by chance... encountered any rare gems?" Twilight looked at her friend with a " what the?" face. SD put his book down, sighed, and rubbed his eyes. "I suppose you want to see a gem that can only be found in what is now a non-existant dimension?" "That means it is-" "-Impossible to find no matter where you go." "Wait, but I thought you said dimensions can't be destroyed." complained Twilight. "Only those that YOU create. Others, that are natural occurences, cannot be destroyed, no matter how hard you try." "Can I see the jewel?" asked RArity. She was bouncing all over the place...figure of speach. SD used one finger to tear a rift. He then reached in to grab the jewel he was looking for. Out came a magnificently carved purple-wine gem. It seemed to have some type of aura inside as it twirled like fog. It matched Rarity's mane perfectly. "Here you are. It's called a Dasberry. It was the last jewel I could get out of that dimension before it's collapse." "It's positively stunning." Rarity's eyes sparkled at the gem as she started to reach for it. SD swiped it away, threw it quickly back into the ortal, then closed said entity. "No! I haven't purified it yet." "What do you mean? It looked to be of the purest purity!" "To the untrained eye. That thing was surrounded by a very dark evil. If you touched it...well...let's not talk about it. I have others that are purified and those that are of white-light." "N-no. I think I'm good." said the fashhionista as she backed off. A burp was heard, along with a massive explosion, and Spike came in all singed and blackened. "Paha! What happenned to you?" "I was doing what you told me, and then a letter came." SD took a peek outside. A black scorch mark lay where Spike had been standing. The dragon started to exhilirate himself. Spike handed the parchment to Twilight, while he went off to clean himself. Twilight's mood went from amused to distraught. "What's wrong Twilight?" asked Rarity. "It's princess Celestia. She's left and has gone to a private meeting. Luna is in charge now, and we can only get a meeting with her in a week." SD stomped the floor, causing a minor earthquake. "That naive IDIOT! Tell her that anything strange happening recently has had it's answers found. Have you been having recent problems that you can't explain?" "Well, there have been someponies who have been dissappearing as of late. We haven't found the cause." "Kidnapping? And if I deduce from what happenned earlier with your friend, they have been "harvesting" sacrifices. But why? He can't get any more powerful. Unless..." "Unless?" the two mares asked. " There could be another here that is going to be revived." "I don't understand what you're saying SD. What are you talking about?" "Send a message to your precious princess and tell her that you have found the answer to the dissappearances. In the meantime, I'll be staying here." "What? But you can't-" "-I nver said that I would eat anything. I have my own means of doing things, which is why I'm so clean." This last statement brought up the eyebrows of many in the room. "I'll only stay here and read these books." "What did I het myself into?" thought Twilight. "Oh, and if the the "audience" is still more than one day away by tomorrow, then I'll be forced to fly to the castle.And any opposition will be met swiftly. The catastrophe that your friend wrought with that damnable whistle might destroy your world." > Lighting the night > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight was tuck snuggly in her bed. She apparently seemed to be having a very good dream. Besides a few clouds outside, the night sky was bright and beautiful. However, all good things must come to an end, as a small explosion and the screams of mares resounded throughout the night air, causing Twilight and Spike to jump five feet into the air. Twilight quickly left her bed and ran outside with Spike. Another explosion rang through the air. It came from the middle of the town. Twilight believed this to be the work of Silver Dragon. Several other ponies came by to see what was going on, even the pegasi. Twilight was horrified by what she saw when she followed the looks of the pegasi flying in the air. Apparently, two ponies that she knew to some extent, namely Berry Punch and Lyra, were on the floor behind SD. They seemed to have some wierd semi-transparent chains circling around their feet. SD was blocking any attempts to reach them, and two buildings near them were on fire. However, there were four creatures she didn't recognize standing in front of the dragon. Apparently, by judging his face, he didn't know what they were either. The three smaller ones looked like ponies, although they seemed to sport a few traits of the night sky, namely their coats being black and their manes sporting flashing white dots. The creature in middle, however, was about the same size as SD, but it was red and yellow. Bipedal, but too bulky to properly use it's legs, it was the epitome of monster. It had a gigantic mouth and seemed to be exhaling in excitement. Three yellow eyes that were blodshot, and two horns gave the creature it's truly fearsome appearance. It's skin looked like it was made from crystallized magma, if that was even possible. SD was having some trouble with them. She listened in on the conversation they were having. "What the hell kind of demons are you?" "We are the new breed! We are the nightmare! We will plunge this world in eternal darkness! We will harvest the eternal night as our king and queen rule over you all!" said one of the smaller demons. "Eternal night? But...that's..." thought Twilight. "And what do you need these two for?" yelled SD as he pointed to the two ponies behind him. "Sacrifices. MORE sacrifices. The revival of our queen is what we need, and what we shall have. You will not stop us, Silver Dragon." "Then try and get them. I'm sure my light can easily burn you away." "We'll see about that. Why don't you show him just how powerful we've become?" said the small pony to the gigantic counterpart. It roared and charged with great speed at the Silver Dragon. He only had the time to eject the two mares behind him into the group that was watching as he was thrown through a few houses. "Haha! Now then, where are our willing candidates? Speak up now, or you will be taken in their place." Several ponies had hesitated and many were shaking in fear as the one who had been speaking started to form a spiked smile on her face. They all spread apart while a few stayed in front to oppose them. What these creatures didn't know was that Twilight had already started working on dispelling the charm that kept Berry and Lyra from moving. "Foolish creatures. You oppose us?" "Yeah. What're you gon' do about it?" said a yellow stallion. "Hmmmm...maybe...this?" The pony cracked it's neck, causing the stallion opposing her to fall to the grown while writhing in pain. He was clasping his next as if trying to stop the bites of something. The three ponies walked past the five others that were blocking their path and walked towards Twilight. A small laughter and, before the lavender pony could react, the demons had already surrounded her and traced runes on the ground. "Hm. A pony with great magical prowess? You will become a fine addition to our queen." Twilight couldn't dispel the shield was in, no matter how hard she tried. As the demons starting chanting, one of them got blown away by what looked like confetti, while another was swiped away by a rainbow. "What?" yelled the remaining demon. The barrier surrounding the three mares dispelled, and Twilight finished up dispelling the chains. "Now get far away from here. Quickly! I'm not sure if we'll be able to hold them off." Berry and Lyra nodded, running as far from their current location as possible. Twilight confronted the shocked emon as it spun around to see one comrade being attacked by what looked like a pink pony, while the other was being pummeled from all directions by a rainbow maned pagasus. "I believe you said something about hurting us?" asked Twilight. The demon turned around, panic on her face. "Wh-what? How dare you! A mere mortal cannot fight us! We-we're-" "ROTTEN FLESH UPON BONE!" yelled a familiar voice. The Silver Dragon walked back out from the shadows of a building, flexing his arms. He seemed to have quite a few wounds, but they glew yellow. He was healing them. "You're friend there was quite the prodigy, especially for a level three. I had quite alot of trouble. You, however-" SD faded out of existence then behind the demon pony."-are an incomplete demon. I won't fiuht you, but I want to see what Twilight is capable of, and if she would be enough to fight your kind off." SD jumped out of the way with a hop back. "Well, I don't approve of his methods, but if you're the cause of the dissappearances, then I must learn how to fight you." "Just try it!" Twilight started to gallop around the creature that seemed to be panicking evermore. It charged at Twilight, hoping to pound her head into the dirt, but the lavender pony dodged and blasted a bolt of magic at the demon, who screamed in pain and flew a few feet away. It struggled to get up until Twilight blasted it again. She walked slowly towards the burnt body. "Will you leave everypony alone now?" asked Twilight. "N-never...I would...rather perish..." "Yeah? Well then I could help you with that." SD was standing right behind Twilight and was staring directly at the demon without lowering it's head. "Wait, we can't...do that. That sort of thing is bad in our world!" yelled Twilight. "Because they let your friend's rabbit go unharmed?" "No but-" "-But what? Just know that she is an incomplete demon." "Demon?!" "Yes. I will explain everything to you and the princess if we receive audience tomorrow morning. You have all shwn yourselves to be more than a handful for them. However, the pink one must learn to control herself. For now, I'm going back to that yellow pegasus' house to check on her. I want to see if she's healed properly." "Than I'll go with you." yelled Rainbow Dash. "I appreciate loyalty, and she IS your friend, so I can't dissuade you from coming." The demon started to crawl away after realizing that she was the only one left. But SD stopped her and gave a menacing glare and smile. "If I didn't know any better, I'd have to say that you're master is Belforay. I'd think that he would have healed perfectly now. Why do you need sacrifices?" "To revive our queen. She will take over all of you as her night lasts forever!" "Hmph. I'll stop you before then, but, as a measure of pity, tell Belforay that I'm here, and that he has no choice but to submit, or I'll destroy him. I'll let you live for now. Don't cross my path or those of anymore inhabitants here." The demon nodded nervously and galopped away. As SD was about to repair the damages, Spike ran to Twilight with an open parchment. "Twilight! Twilight! Princess Luna answered." "Really? What does it say?" "The letter says that she will be bringing you and the other elements to the castle, first thing in the morning." "Great!" yelled SD. "Won't they panic when they see you?" asked an unfamiliar voice. "The pink one?" "Yup! My name's Pinkie Pie. Nice to meet you. Thanks for helping my friends. I'll have to make a BIG thank you party. What should I put? Gems? Dragons love gems, don't they?" "I like gems, yes, but I don't eat them like the others of this world." "Then what will you eat?" "You have chocolate?" "Ya!" "I LOVE CHOCOLATE!" "YES! I'LL MAKE TONS OF CHOCOLATE THEN!" "GOOD! YOU DO THAT!" "I WILL!" Pinkie Pie started hopping off after what looked like a short passive-aggressive fight. "What was that?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Nothing. I just love chocolate." SD turned towards Twilight Sparkle and lowered himself while his hands stayed behind his back:" well Twilight, it seems that you and these "elements" will be able to learn a bit more about me and these demons." Silver Dragon repaired the damaged houses and tended to the wounded, although everypony still stayed away from him. He didn't exactly have a face that said :"I saved you. Now you can like me and trust me." He didn't care. Once he destroys Belforay, he could go home, and take that blasted whistle with him. > The King and Queen > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The demon pony ran into the mountains near Ponyville, constantly looking back to make sure that SD and the others weren't following her. She had the ominous feeling that those eyes were following her. She stopped near the top of the mountain after climbing it frantically. She stopped for a quick breather, then took a piece of her man and slammed it into the mountain wall. The portion that the mane touched began to shake, causing small pieces of rock to tumble down with a trail of dust. A piece of mountain dissolved to show a red and orange portal. Walking figures could be seen behind the watery surface. The demon pony galopped right in and blasted through everything. Several giants and other pony-shaped demons were near buildings made of a strange, bony-black material. Besides an orange aura floating about, there was a metallic door lined with warped statues. Whatever they represented before, they represented no longer. Two tripedal giants in blue armor blocked the door. They both threw their claymores at the ground to stop the demon. They spoke in unison: "What do you want, Eelis?" "I need to speak to our king and queen immediately!" "Tell us why we shouldn't chop you up here for seeking an audience with our lords?" "I have a message from Silver Dragon." Their armors clanked at the sound of that name. "He is finally here? Belforay shall be pleased. Come in." They backed up and pushed the doors open with one arm, while keeping the claymore in hand. As Eelis moved forward, she couldn't help but look at the giants towering over here by several feet. They were the exact same size as those gigantic doors, and the dark opening of their helmets showed a yellow circle following her. As she passed throug the door, the demons stretched out and slammed them shut behind her. She jumped. The interior of the palace was the direct entrance to the throne room. Gigantic demonic armors with agonizing faces etched about them. A long twilight ornated carpet stretched across the room and led to the the throne. Upon it sat Belforay. He was in much better condition than with his encounter with the Silver Dragon in the dark dimension. He seemed to have grown in power as well. He layed down sideways on his throne made from the skin of disobediant demons, letting his head lay down on the arm which, itself, rested upon the arm support. He looked bored. He truly looked like a king, yet, another creature stood next to him. This one preferred to stay up than sit on a throne that seemed to have been made of pure darkness and stars. This one seemed to be having trouble keeping it's existence intact. Several portions of it's tall, slender black body looked like they had been torn off, and the entire body seemed to spasm out of existence. It looked like the ponies of this world, although it wasm uch taller. It also sported both horns and wings as it's main features. However, it's eyes looked like turquoise dragon eyes that pierced directly into Eelis' soul. In fact, the demon pony's existence was due all to this powerful, although dramatically weakened creature, which would explain the similarities in appearance, such as the mane, except for a single exception regarding this aspect. Although Eelis' mane was simply black with sparkling white dots in them, the creator's mane and tail seemed to have been of a smog of twilight. It was frightening and amazing at the same time. The demon pony bowed almost immediately as she reached the throne as she shaked tremendously in fear. Belforay just looked at her with a "Hm?", while the character next to him looked at her creation with intrigue. "A thousand pardons for this intrusion my queen but-AGH!" Belforay was torturing the demon with a simple movement from his hands. He seemed to sport no emotions on his face. "What about your king? Do you forget your place, inferior one?" "N-no....My liege..." "Then you should apologize to your king." "Ugh..." Eelis was shaking highly in the air. She was in tremendous pain, as her face showed. The black pony next to him put her hoof on his hand, extreme discontent on her face. She glared darkly at Belforay. "That is enough, Belforay. I still need my creations. Unlike you, I do not have infinite supplies." "Hmmm. I don't understand your obsession with your own creations." he released the demon pony who fell to the grown in coughs:" Just don't forget that, without this dimension, you would still be a floating cloud of dust, Nightmare Moon." "Hmph. And YOU best not forget that it is thanks to me that you were capable of existing without the two alicorns discovering your prescence." "I will not. I follow my contract to the letter. I will honor it, but do not push me." Nightmare Moon gave the demon an amused expression, then spoke to her still agonizing demon: "Speak then. What have you come to us for?" "I have...a message for...Belforay..." "Tsktsktsk. I wounded her. Speak more clearly or I will do more then wound you, incomplete one." "Quiet! Come to me Eelis." The demon pony hesitated to move forward. While she loved her "mother", and had a great respect for her, Eelis only feared Belforay. Without the contract, he would simply wipe her off the plane of existence. She lowered herself after reaching her "mother", trembling greatly at the power her king emitted. The mare of the moon placed her hoof over her "child" and injected darkness into her. The demon pony was suddenly ejected back to the front of the throne before Nightmare could finish. She looked slightly irritated. "Good. You are better now. Who is this message from, and what does it say?" "It is from the Silver Dragon." Belforay slammed his hands on the arm-supports of his throne, breaking them. WHAT?!" he yelled. "Y-ye-yes. He-he said that he would let you either su-su-...submit; or that he would...would d-d-d-destroy you." Belforay started to laugh. The giant armors of his throne room seemed to turn their heads slightly towards him. "That is amusing. So he finally showed up? Let's see what happens when he has to deal with two greater demons. Shall we begin the preparations queen? For your...revival shall be soon." Belforay got up and walked towards the exit. However, a few steps and he stopped to turn at the Nightmare. "What is wrong?" "If the Silver Dragon is as you say, he'll try to get the most powerful allies he can." "So? You told me that Celestia was far away." "Perhaps, but my previous recipient, Luna, is at the castle. She might have been given a seal by the things that destroyed me, but I can still have an influence on her." "Then why worry?" "She is still an alicorn and, therefore, possesses tremendous amount of magical power. Until I manage to influence her, she will be a thorn in our side." "Then we shall assault the castle. Don't forget that time passes slower here. So your revival, which should take around three days, should only take about six hours over there. I shall alert our army and then add in my support for your revival." "Perfect. I hope that he is as weak as you say." "He already had trouble with me in my original dimension. I think that demons of our caliber can fight him if we are together." "The let's commence the sacrifices." A silent chuckle, and Belforay was off, nearly stomping on Eelis on his way out. The small pony demon sighed as she realized that everything went better than expected. > Luna's surprise > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everything had gone back to normal, yet everypony was having trouble sleeping now. Even with SD here, and the proof that Twilight could fight off the demons herself, she always thought that she was about to be kidnapped. However, she was sitting next to SD who was lying down against a bookcase while reading another book. Twilight decided to catch up on her studying as she couldn't sleep. However, noone noticed the sun rise up. Almost immediately after it started to illuminate the sky, knocks resonated on the front door. "Someone at the door." said SD. "Okay, don't say a thing and don't make any noise." "Pfff. Ask me to be invisible while you're at it." "Well, you could do that...or mor-" "NNNooooooooo...." hissed the Silver Dragon."I'll just use basic science and physics and distort the light around me." A little movement, and he dissappeared. His "cloaking" wasn't perfect, as distortions could still be seen if close enough. Twilight hastily galopped to the door, opening it just a midge. There were four royal guards waiting for her. Twilight could barely distinguish the carriage in the back that held her friends. She had just noticed that these royal guards were actually those of Luna. Creepy bat wings and gray coats, they definatly stood out from the crowd. "Miss Twilight Sparkle?" said one of the guards. "Yes?" "Princess Luna has accepted your call for emergency and will be recieving you now." "Okay. Just let me ready a few things and I'll be right out." Twilight shut the door gently as to not cause any suspicion. She hastily wrote a note and placed it near Spike's bed. SD wasn't holding his book anymore. Twilight couldn't see him, and he didn't make a sound. "Pfff. I bet she can't see me right now. I guess fourty years of training in stealthiness was worth it." Twilight decided to whisper "out loud": "Silver Dragon, if you're still here, follow the carriage outside. It's going to the castle. Hopefully, I'll see you there. I have absolutely no idea what's going on, and I won't be able to convince the princess if you aren't there." With a final look around, Twilight exited her house and entered the carriage. As the guards "suited up" and flew the carriage away, SD peeked out to see the wheeled creation being pulled away into the air. He scratched his head in confusion. "Why would the put wheels if it was meant to fly? I still don't get this world. Might as well follow them..." SD concentrated and let his wings out. Allowing them to flap twice for stretching. "*sniff* It hurts so much...I hate you Gold Dragon." SD soon go over his dilemma and flew towards the carriage, keeping ample distance between him and those guards. SD knew quite well what the faults of his "camo" were, and decided to keep anything from discovering them. A few minutes and they had already reached the white castle of Canterlot. Wow. That was fast. I thought it'd atleast take an hour. The carriage stopped right in front of the entrance of the massive walls. The guards opened the doors, allowing the passengers to exit. Rarity seemed to thank the guards for their gallantry as two more, waiting at the doors, invited them inside. After passing, the giant wooden doors closed. SD was locked out...or so others would think. "It's a good thing my feet are like this. I would make too much noise flapping my wings. Time to walk on the walls!" SD placed his right foot first on the wall, allowing his claws to seep deep into the stone. After the right was properly placed as well, he started to "walk" on the walls. He kept his arms behind his back as he escaladed the stone. Reaching the top, he flipped back into the normal direction of gravity. He was standing on the outer walls, a guard coincidentally next to him. He uickly jumped down as the guard started to notice the distortion next to him. A loud *thump*, and SD was running through the garden. He sensed Twilight's power as well as Luna's, and was "converging" on their position. =he quickly escaladed a tower and jumped through the opening. He was too high. Twilight was two floors lower. She hadn't reached the throne room yet. He ignored the details of the room and blasted through the door. Running through the halls, he reachedthe stairs and decided to jump through the opening between them. He hung onto a rail to make the least noise possible before touching the bottom. He peeked around a corner after reaching said floor...errr...crater...and saw Twilight and the group entering the throne room. A quick double jump forward and one high jump sideways and he was in. Twilight and her friends bowed respectfully to princess Luna as they did to Celestia. Luna wasn't close to the throne. In-fact, she had been walking around anxiously in circles. "You do not need to bow down in our prescence Twilight Sparkle. We believe you have news for us?" "Eheheh. Well, I did figure out the cause of the dissappearances thanks to somepony...but he isn't here yet." Luna lift an eyebrow. "What do you mean by "hasn't arrived yet"? If this is a joke, it is not funny." "But-" "Oh noes! He isn't her yet. Wut 're we ta duu?!" said an ominous voice. Luna turned around to see something distorted in front of her. "What manner of-" SD eliminated his camoflauge. "BOO!" "AH!" Luna bounced back a few feet. Surprise on her face. Both SD and Pinkie Pie started to laugh. "Twilight, did you bring a...dragon here?" "Yes. Let me present Silver Dragon. Princess Luna, Silver Dragon. Silver Dragon, princess Luna." SD bowed down. "It is an honor to me...what is this joke?" SD had stopped suddenly, his face demonstrating disgust and fury. "If you want to live, I suggest you explain to me why you possess the aura of a very powerful demon." "Demon? Ah...We was once possessed by our jealousy and anger..." "Oh." SD calmed down. "You were affected by a demon of greed." "What?" Twilight jumped in front of the princess. "Princess, he knows about the dissappearances. I think it would be best if you listened to him." "Hmmm...fine...but make it quick." "If you want a story you can understand, then I suggest you listen to it all." "Then carry on." SD cleared his throat and explained to Luna everything he told Twilight. But he added in more, as he promised Twilight Sparkle: "-so you know a bit now. However, I had reached a dimension that had demon hunters, like myself. However, the initial purpose of my powers was to fight demons. A little fight, and I was admitted within their ranks and, thanks to my powers, managed to jump quite a few grades." "What about the dissappearances?" asked Luna irritatingly. "I'm getting there. Me and my regiment were dispatched to a city that was currently being destroyed by demons. A few battles and we met their leader, Belforay. He was the second most powerful demon, a level four. "Level four?" "Yes. I usually leveled them all by power, but the demon hunters gave me a better and more precise level. They go from one to five. The first are the weaklings. Anything can fight them." "Like the ponies we met at Ponyville last night?" yelled the Pink pony. SD facepalmed. He should've told them to keep the incident a secret. "*sigh* Yes, althogh they were the result of a drastically weakened creature. This caused them to be "incomplete". Level two demons are just the basic leveled demons. They are the most common and don't really have anything special about them.. Level three demons tend to be more feisty and create fancy ways to fight, especially with their physical appearances. They can be considered sub-generals. Level fours are unique in that they need a specific object to destroy them or weaken them drastically. They love to posess intelligent and otherwise "innocent" creatures." The six mares stared at eachother. "So that's why she feared the elemens of harmony." said Rainbow Dash. "I thought it was just 'cause they were strong." replied Applejack. "I assume you were posessed at a young age and banished somewhere?" asked SD while looking at Luna. She nodded. "...And finally, there are level five demons..." SD paused for a long moment. Rarity stepped up: "What's wrong? Certainly if the level fours can still be fought, the stronger ones cannot be that hard to counter." "Are you kidding me?! The level fives are demons of the apocalypse. There are seven on each world, excluding the big boss himself. The only species in MY world of origin that can fight them are the dragons of the eigth and ninth isles." "What?" asked Twilight. "Shiiiiii- ignore what I just said. There are some creatures that you shouldn't know about. Also, princess, you said something about being posessed, princess?" Luna nodded. "Wait..then that means...CRAP!" "What?" "That's why there have been dissappearances. Belforay plans on sacrificing the ponies to revive your demon." "WHAT?!" everypony yelled. "We don't have much time, get those "elements" and ready to-" A red laser blasted through the wall and threw Silver Dragon through the walls. A giant creature flew through the wall opposite of the incident and followed his enemy. As everypony in the room tried to adjust to what happenned, a familiar figure stepped through hole leading outside. "Hello Luna." > Power of harmony > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everypony in the room stood in shock at the sight of Nightmare moon standing there with a grin on her face. Behind her, in the open, a war was raging on. Several pegasi royal guards were fighting demons in the air. A few of the behemoth demons were stomping slowly towards the castle walls, forcing the unicorn royal guards to combine their magic to dispose of these monstrosities. "How have you been doing without my aid , princess?" said the nightmare. "Hey! You leave the princess alone, or you'll have to deal with all of us!" yelled Rainbow Dash. Nightmare turned around slightly as she heard these words, then burst into laughter. "You really think you can defeat me that easily? You do not have the elements as far as I can tell. I also have a few more...tricks under-hoof." "What do you mean?" asked Twilight. "No. Really. It is under-hoof." The mares didn't understand at first, but by the time they figured out what Nightmare moon meant, it was too late. They were wrapped in their own shadows.A short chuckle, and Nightmare moon walked back to Luna, who was frozen in place by sheer misbelief. "Luna, my darling. How about we become one again? Noone would be able to stop us, and you're sister would not dare to stand against the king and queen of Equestria." "King and queen?" "Yes. That creature that blasted your friend away will be the new king of Equestria." "Then you two are...?" asked Luna, a small mocking tone in her voice. "W-what? NO! We shall simply rule over all of Equestria. Celestia will have no choice but to submit to the Cascade Empire! HAHAHAHA!" Her billowing laughter broke the concentration of a few demons outside, causing them to...meh...die in a dissolving of fire and ash. "So what do you say, deity of the moon? Do you accept my friendship?" Lun thought valiantly, but not about the offer. If she refused, her new friends, Celestia, and everypony would die. But if she accepted, everypony would be enslaved and tortured. However, she was an alicorn, and alicorns wield great power. "I refuse!" she bellowed. "Hmmhmm, then you leave me no choice. I will have to-" Luna had strange star-like shapes form around Nightmare moon. These strange things started to spin rapidly and fire incredibly hot lasers at their target., who just narrowly dodged them. "What are those?" "They are a trick we learned after being freed from your grasp. We will not succumb to you again!" One of the stars fired at the shadows holding the mares behind Luna, liberating them. The moon princess held back Nightmare Moon with a barrier, although this demon was already breaking through. "Elements of harmony-" Luna struggled to speak. "-ugh...they are in the personal library of the castle...go! Quickly!" "But we can't just leave you! It would be-" Rarity tried to say, but Luna cut her off with the royal canterlot voice: "YOU WILL DO AS I SAY! GO NOW! GET THE ELEMENTS!" They all escaped hurriedly through the doors of the throne room, which slammed shut and were held closed by magic. Nightmare Moon looked irritated. "You know that you are doing nothin gbut delaying the inevitable?" said Nightmare, while looking at the sealed doors. The holes in the walls had also been sealed. "Delaying? This is only to prevent you from escaping. We will destroy you with our own power this time." "Hmph. I hope you can live long enough to last more than a few minutes." The entire castle became a warzone. Explosions shook the castle frequently, and many holes and piles of rubble dotted the hallways. Fires had broken out throughout the place, and smoke was emanating everywhere. Fluttershy was having trouble running through, but she decided to use the lessons she learned from a little adventure not too long ago, and asserted herself in this situation. "Twi, where is the library?!" yelled Applejack. "It's further down the ha-" "WATCH OUT!" yelled Rainbow Dash, who bolted right in front of everypony. There was a massive hole in the floor that reached several stories lower. There seemed to be lava flowing down there. "Woah. That's awesome!" yelled Pinkie Pie: "You think it's real?" "I...I don't know. I can feel the heat, but it might be a trap." answered Twilight. "Then there is only one way to find out." Fluttershy picked up a rock and threw it down the hole. The stone literally blew up after touching the molten stone, causing the mares to flich. "Okay. Fluttershy, you and Rainbow Dash help Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack to cross to the other side. I'll teleport over there." Rainbow Dash saluted her friend, and did as told. Both pegasi helped their friends across, although Fluttershy still had a bit of issues. When finally across, Twilght ran to the leftmost hallway, her friends following right behind her. However, three royal guardsmen were thrown through a wall from the group's right side. What looked like a slouched serpent wielding two blades came through. It had no eyes, but kept it's tongue out. "Wh-wh-what is that thing?" stuttered Rarity. "Ah don't know n' I don't care. Get it!" Applejack charged at the creature and bucked it straight in the face, causing the demon to drop a sword as it wailed in pain and held it's face. It was furious. It tried to slam it's sword onto the cowpony, but Twilight held it back with her magic. Surprisingly, it was a little firecracker that Pinkie placed in the creature's "ear" that caused it to dissappear. "Woohoo! That was fun! Let's do it again!" "Pinkie Pie, you're really random." said Rainbow Dash. Twilight took a peek through the new hole in the wall. It directed through the kitchen. "Hey, the library is on the other side of the kitchen. If we can get through it, then we'll be able to get the elements." "Then let's go as fast as we can!" shouted Rainbow Dash in proudness. However, they had barely made a step that the creature that they saw attack SD flew from the top floor and land right in front of them. It was Belforay, but the mares didn't know that yet. He stood back up, rubbing his head. He was immensely huge, MUCH bigger than SD. His weapon staying firmly in his hands. He moaned, only to see the six mares near him. "Haaa...more treats. Fill me with your purity." he said. The six mares started to feel an intense pain in their bodies as something started to drain from them. Twilight could feel her strength leaving her, and by the looks of it, so could her friends. Even Pinkie Pie, who was known to be the most energetic of ponies, seemed to be succumbing to whatver was happenning. A gigantic hand of light burst from beneath Belforay, engulfing him and burning him outwright. SD flew from the lower floor and threw Belforay into the next room. He barely had time to react that he saw a gigantic spear of darkness exploding into his face and seeping deep into his skin like shards of glass. Before Twilight could say anything, SD grabbed a massive chunk of wall and infused it with darkness, until charging back at Belforay, and causing a cloud of pure shadow to spread throughout the area with his attack. "Quick! While he's distracting that thing, get to the library!" yelled Twilight. "Right!" agreed the five other mares. They ran through the door to see that, surprisingly, everything was intact here. There did seem to be a few husks of dust, but they didn't move. Twilight used her magic to open the locked door. She just loved this place. She practically grew up here. A quick look around, and the sight of the elements being held within a case was spotted a few feet away from the door. What was disturbing, were the demons that seemd to have been turned to dust while trying to reach the elements. They stood in awkward positions, like if they they tried to grab what they could not. With a bit more magic, Twilight placed the respective elements on their bearers. They were ready to destroy Nightmare Moon once more, and they would destroy these horrible demons as well. > Crimson Black and Celestial Twilight > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Through fire and brimstone the six mares ran through the still intact halls to reach the throne room. It would seem that the elements of harmony that they wielded had some sort of "purification" effect on the demons that they would come close to. These demons would start smoldering and screaming in pain. The more resistant ones managed to flee in time, while the others simply turned into statues of ash. SD and Belforay often came acros the ponies path as they fought. Despite SD's massive power, it seemed that with each encounter of the giant demon, this one seemed to be growing in strength inexplicably. However, another encounter with the battling titans allowed for a clearing of the path leading directly to the doors. Twilight knew that the doors had been sealed with magic and, with the insistance from her friends, attempted to push them open. Imagine their horror in seeing Luna lying on the floor, with Nightmare hanging onto the steps leading to the royal "chair". She was heavily wounded and was gasping for air. The cause? A gaping hole in her chest that leaked nothing but a black aura. "She...she put up quite a fight. I have...grown rusty these past few...past few years..." said Nightmare Moon. "You killed her...how could you!" screamed Rarity. "Kill? No...she is simply...unconcious... Are those...the elements?! NO! I have...come too far to fail now!" "Girls, you know what we must do." With a nod, the elements started to activate, with Twilight at their epicenter. Nightmare Moon attempted to move out of the way, but it was no use. She was far too wounded. With a flash of light, a rainbow colored beam released itself from the group, and shot straight towards the alicorn. Something would happen that she did not expect. Another blast through the wall cast SD onto the floor, with Belforay jumping in front of the blast and standing firm. He was not affected by the beam. He laughed loudly as his voice seemed to echo to hell and back. The elements of harmony were not his bane. He swiped back at the beam, which struck the six mares and split them apart. They each flopped upon the floor in grunts and pain. The "king" stomped forward as SD struggled to get back up. "Pahaha! I may not like you , Nightmare Moon, but you are of great use to me, and our contract is still in effect. As for you, Silver Dragon, you may relish in a world of anti-matter, but in one made of purity, the souls have the greatest flavor and bring upon me great strength. As for your friends, if I kill them now, they will not bother us anymore." Twilight struggled to get away from Belforay, who stomped menacingly towards her. He stopped suddenly and chuckled. "Oh no. You will be last. You are the cause of Nightmare's fall, so I will relish in your pain. As for your friends..." "NO! Leave them alone! Just kill me, they won't bother you anymore, I swear!" Belforay shrugged. "We both know that that is a lie. Now who first? Hmhmhmmmmm....ah! The orange one." Belforay grabbed Applejack who tried punching her captor in the face, but to no avail. "Leave them alone Belforay...I won't repeat myself..." said Silver Dragon. Belforay simply looked at him with the corner of his eye and squeezed. *CRRRRACK* Applejack flopped onto the floor. "YOU BASTARD!" yelled Rainbow Dash: "I'll get you for this! Ungh! Just wait right there." Rainbow Dash tried dragging herself towards the murderer, but he was already on top of her, the hilt of his weapon right above her head. "I wonder how a soul plans to defeat a demon?" Another crack. The rainbow had faded away. Belforay continued until he reached Twilight Sparkle. He grabbed her by the neck and picked her up. He walked towards the gaping hole behind the throne. It showed several cities from afar, but also showed the battle that was raging on. "Look you two, as my army destroys everything you hold dar, and the purity of this world that will allow to conquer many more! I will destroy your hometown, Twilight Sparkle. I will kill and destroy everything you hold dear." Twilight tried to get out of Belforay's grip as she started to cry in anger of what this beast was announcing. The king turned towards SD, who now had a furious look on his face. His pupils seemed to have shrunk, and he was starting to stand up. "And you, you are weak. You have no true power. I will relish in your anguish as yet another world falls without you being able to save it's people." Belforay laughed as he started to slowly crush Twilight's neck. However, although he didn't notice what was happening, Nightmare Moon did. The Silver Dragon was changing. His horns were becoming longer, with two more, straighter, smaller ones growing in between them. His scales started to grow an eerie gray-black. His eyes started to look like eachother, both sporting the "black-white-black" color. Two more arm blades grew, but, this time, it was the "inner" part of the arms, not the exterior, turning them into some form of "arc" if placed in the right position. The tail's four "teeth" turned into two blades, similar to a very sharp pincer. SD seemed to be consumed with rage, and Belforay felt it. "Haha! Come then! Try and save her!" The Silver Dragon tried to move forward, but he stopped a he clutched his head. Another transformation occured, but only in pigmentation. He became a pure black, and some sort of red lining appeared over his "lips", resembling some type of lipstick. This new look confused Belforay and Nightmare Moon. The Silver Dragon gave out a loud exhale as he lift his head and opened his eyes to reveal them to be nothing but a black hue except for the red pupils. He stretched wildly for a few minutes. "What...happenned to you, Silver Dragon?" asked Belforay. "Silver Dragon? I am not him. I am Crimson Black, the embodiment of his darkness. You almost had him rage and destroy everything. It's a good thing I came up too, or else... meh...you get it." "Hmph. Your tricks will not work on m-" Before Belforay could finish, Twilight was held snuggly in the arms of Crimson Black. The demon looked at it's arm to see that it had been cut off. "One does not simply defy the higher elements of nature especially darkness. It will engulf everything if left alo- WAH!" A massive bright spark shocked Crimson Black, who immediately let go of Twilight. A resounding thump echoed throughout the room, accompanied by the cursing and screams of pain being spurted from the mouth of the dragon. "DAMN YOU! Why did you have to go into another body while I was out? You KNOW how painful pure light is to me." Screamed Crimson Black. He was yelling at Twilight, who seemd to have fallen unconcious. Belforay was reattaching his arm while Nightmare Moon's wounds had almost fully healed. Luna awoke to see, in a slighlty blurred vision, the changed appearance of Silver Dragon. It also appeared that Twilight Sparkle was now glowing and was growing in size. Her coat was starting to turn white, while ornements of a golden color seemed to grow along her body like ivy. While she did not grow wings, beams of light appeared in place of this, just for a replacement. The new Twilight, now as tall as Luna herself, arose and opened her eyes, to show that it's eyes had become entirely golden, except for the pupils, which stayed white. "Do not trouble us with your petty needs Crimson. We have more important things to do. We have not reappeared in over one hundred thousand years. I would like to destroy these beings quickly and return this body to the true owner." "Owe, pfff. You're no fun Celestial Twilight. Just becaause you represent the purity of life doesn't mean you can't let yourself go every now and then." "Yes, yes. Your decadence still amuses me. Now let us be off with these demons so I can revive those five mares and you can absorb those demons' powers." Belforay stood straight up and slammed his weapon onto the ground as Nightmare Moon stepped up right next to him, fully healed. "You nearly caught me by surprise you simpleton. That mistake will not happen again. You will both be destroyed here and now." "And my night will last eternally after Celestia arrives and we...take care of her." laugh Nightmare. "Oh, I'm sorry. You had plans for tonight?TOO BAD! I take Belforay and you take the...pony...thing?" said Crimson Black. A slight nod, and the two demons found themselves being ejected into a large portion of the garden, which now stood in ruins. It would seem that the light of Silver Dragon was drastically enhanced by Twilight's care for her friends...as well as the intense magical powers which surged throughout her body. Celestial Twilight didn't notice it yet, but she still beared the crown which represented the element of magic. It wouldn't have much effect in the battle that would soon come, though. > Leaving the party > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The battle between all four beings brang the surrounding fighting to a stop. Demons and ponies alike stood side by side to watch as the four beings battled it out. The guards recognized the now white and yellow pony, but just couldn't put their hooves on who it really was. It seemed to carry a face of boredom while fighting Nightmare Moon. Her prescence here was more than disturbing. Belforay and Crimson Black were the only ones causing massive destruction to the surrounding areas. Each strike deflected or blocked destroyed a little bit more of the surrounding area, although it seemed that every hit Crimson conected onto Belforay weakened the demon little by little. "Hmmhmhahaha! It seems that such a "powerful" demon cannot continue when I drain it's darkness." "What?! What nonsense are you spouting?" "Didn't I tell you? I'm Silver Dragon's darkness in it's purest form. He never told you that he grew in strength by absorbing the power of demons that he defeated?" "That is impossible! No such thing can happen! The mere thought of a simple being aquiring our powers is completely-" "-Preposterous? Then perhaps a wide area entry into the dark dimension reality of this world will change your mind?" Crimson Black started to create an orb with his right hand, letting the energy leave from his finger tips, but, before he could do anything, Celestial Twilight stopped his hand and cancelled the dimensional anomaly. "There is no need for that." "*sigh*. WHY?!" "Look around. The paladins may have been equppied for that, but these sentient beings are not. They would die in mere moments. I suggest you just deal with the demon in the longer way." "What about your sparring partner?" "She is over there." Nightmare Moon was attached to what looked like half a golem of light. It hold her aloft with two hands and was burning her. It's face was only a helmet with a simple slit as the opening. Celestial Twilight returned to her prisoner, watching and making sure she wouldn't attempt an escape. The possessed Twilight's new mane floated in the wind as she watched over the Mare in the Moon. Something that brought the demons and ponies to awe. However, Crimson Black didn't have the same feeling about this. He hated her with his entire entity, as did she hate him with her entire entity, but it was a hatred like brother versus sister. He was having fun after waiting for so long, and he would enjoy every moment of it. Belforay struck during the dragon's distraction, causing the being of darkness to be dug into the ground. Belforay struck with the blade of his axe onto the head of the dragon. He expected him to be dead, but a shield of shadows had formed right before the impact point. The dragon looked up with a devious smile. "What an opponent! But he grows impatient. We must leave this universe at once if it is to heal properly." "What are you spew-" Belforay stopped immediately as Crimson Black's hand stretched out from his stomach. The dragon had somehow gotten behind him, and impaled him with it's claw. The dark energies that were leaving his body were suddenly converging onto the right hand that had impaled him, and he started to desintegrate. Celestial Twilight walked slowly towards the impaled demon. "Crimson Black, I will return to the throne room and revive the victims of this beast. The other demon is over there." she pointed to a heavily burnt Nightmare Moon that laid on the ground in a smoking pile of dust. She was about to fade away and return to her previous form. "Yeah, yeah. I'll get to her. Hold on." As the possessed Twilight flew to the throne room, Crimson Black had just about finished with Belforay, who was a pale grey. "I don't...understand...how...this is possible." struggled Belforay. "That's normal. You're just a demon, and I HATE demons. Now go back into the underworld." "NOOO!" A small orange portal opened in the ground, and out of it came many stringy hands and arms. Belforay found himself dragged back to his "home" despit his protests and attempts to escape his capture. It was all for naught, however, as he was sent back into the abyss from whence he came. Crimson Black walked slowly towards the dissappearing alicorn and stood next to her, a look of dissappointment on his face. Nightmare Moon attempted to speak: "I never thought...that a being like you... would be a destroyer of demons..." "There are others from Silver Dragon's world, pony. There are five other dragon species that are much more powerful than anything you can imagine, so I suggest you be satisfied that I absorb your energies." Before another reply, the alicorn had already been destroyed. The demons surrounding the castle all started to flee, but it was too late. Crimson Black had already sent them all spiraling to the dark dimension. Another version of Equestria this time. It was still too fearsome to look at. A few moments later, and a yellow sparkle returned to the body, bringing grat pain to Crimson Black once more. Silver Dragon reverted to his orginal form. He looked back once more at the damages, but things of such magnitude were impossible to revert. He tore open a rift in the spatial continuity with his claws and jumped into it. Twilight awoke to see her friends wriggling on a cloth that Luna had spread out to place them on. The princess had obviously gone through alot. "Princess? Where's SD? What happenned to all the demons?" "Read this letter. It is enough to explain everything to you." replied Luna. The princess levitated a white parchment that seemed to be wrapped over something. As Twilight reached for the parchment now placed upon the cloth, she opened it, to see the whistle that SD was supposed to take away. She looked at but soon set it aside to read the letter: Twilight, the one writing this letter is not Silver Dragon, but the embodiment of his light, Celestial Twilight. I apologize for borrowing your body, but it was a necessary choice. I have revived and healed your friends, and the demons have all been destroyed. Therefore, you should have no trouble with them in the future. However, Silver Dragon has told me that he wants you to keep it, "just in case". You are to use it ONLY in an EMERGENCY that you are SURE you cannot handle. You will certainly meet again, but not now. ~Celestial Twilight P.S. Silver Dragon didn't forget about his promise to bring you to the alternate realities of this dimension. Twilight took in a deep breath. Silver Dragon was eventually going to come back, whether it was voluntarily or by the whistle, he would return, and she would eagerly await. Who knew what other versions of her existed? However, right now, the castle had to be fixed. Who knew how Celestia would react if she saw it in this state? Silver Dragon was busy floating through the dimensional tunnel while talking "to himself". "-you had to use that?!" "Because they was no other choice. I wasn't going to stay there and fight ALL the demons. Who knows how long that would've taken?" "So? Your aim could have been off, and you could've sent the ponies to the dark dimension." "Pfff. My aim is perfect." "This why I never let you and Celestial Twilight out. You are too chaotic and unpredictable, while Celestial is too orderly and law-abiding. You need both!" "If it wasn't for us, you would have never been able to save that world." replied Celestial Twilight. "Fine. That is true, but let's be quiet for now. I need to rest, and I have much to report to the demon hunters." A few minutes later, and SD realized something: "Am I forgetting something?" "No. I didn't sense anymore demons in that world...atleast none that were a threat anyways." replied Crimson Black. "Good. Then let's go. You two will have to return to silence again. Welp, there they are." Said SD while seeing the exit of the portal. I will be making mini-adventures showing Silver Dragon returning and taking Twilight to alternate realities. I love alternate realities, but I won't put the tag for them up as this isn't significant on the main story.