Prologue - Dystopia
The Eternal Storm 3: Never Ending Light
A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanfiction
Written by T. Darkchylde
Prologue - Dystopia
"...You will not walk alone, to face the great unknown..."
"Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria..."
The dull orange stallion coughed as he tried to read the old tome in the dim light of the cave. "Magical my flanks... there's nothing magical about this place anymore, I swear..." he said.
A small pink filly with him whined. "Awww, Grampa, please?"
The stallion closed his eyes and sighed. "I spoil you..." His horn lit dimly, allowing him to see the words upon the pages. He started to read again. "...There were once two regal sisters who ruled together, and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the..."
The filly poked the older pony. "What's a moon? What's night?" she asked.
The stallion shook his head. "Before your time, Honey Bun... before your time," he said sadly. He looked at the pages and resumed reading. "These sisters, Celestia and Luna, ruled Equestria during its most prosperous times. Even during the millennia during which Luna was sealed away in the moon, Equestria knew peace and did nothing but thrive. The ponies of Equestria treated them as Princesses, esteemed rulers of the land."
"Of course, about a century or so ago, Luna returned," he continued. "She was freed from a corrupting influence known as the Nightmare and stood reunited with her sister. The force that freed her banished the Nightmare twice more in the following years. The Princesses stood together united, poised to lead Equestria into a new utopian age..."
"Then what happened, Grampa?" Honey Bun asked.
"Then..." the older stallion started to say as a commotion began a little distance away near their cave's entrance.
A young unicorn mare with a white coat ran towards the two, her horn glowing as rocks collapsed behind her. "I have it!" she shouted. "Run, Dad, Honey, just run!"
Before Honey Bun could even think to turn and run as the mare had ordered, the old stallion levitated her onto his back along with the old tome. "You actually found it this time, Mirage?" he asked.
The white mare nodded. "Our salvation. I had to head into Canterlot, but I found it. This long day's about to be over," she said as her magic continued to collapse the way behind them.
"Mommy?" Honey Bun asked. "Why's the ceiling falling behind us?
Mirage sighed as she kept her spell up. "Mommy ran into some bad ponies, dear, and they tried chasing me back."
"Just be glad I've known these caves since I was a colt," the old stallion said as he led the way, darting down a side path. "Otherwise, we'd catch our death of starvation down here, wandering around for all eternity. I think you've brought enough of it down, though..."
"Maybe..." Mirage said, sighing as she ceased her spell and stopped. Her horn's magic shifted to a light spell as she levitated a small black gem from her saddlebag. "I hope this was worth it..."
The older stallion stopped as well and looked at the gem closely. "I'm sure I don't want to ask about the cost especially with the L-I-T-T-L-E F-I-L-L-Y on my back," he said, shaking his head. "Where should we go to now?"
Mirage put the gem away. "Can we use the caves to get to the Everfree Biodome?" she asked.
The stallion sighed as his horn glowed again. "Almost - we'll need to be above ground for maybe ten minutes along the way."
Mirage sighed. "That won't work... ugh. Sun's really, really bad today. No clouds. Let's just go home for now and figure out our next move."
Honey jumped off of the older stallion's back and onto her mother's. "You mean it? We get to go home?"
"What's left of it, Honey Bun... what's left of it," Mirage said as she turned to follow the older stallion, who was already walking down a tunnel.
*****
But as the Princesses were set to lead Equestria into a new Golden Age, Luna went missing and Celestia became a recluse. The moon would start to be seen less and less. The nights got shorter as the days got longer. Eventually the moon stopped rising altogether as the sun stayed high in the sky. Equestria soon began to dry out and start to burn.
The legendary force that freed Princess Luna before and vanquished the Nightmare several times were rendered inert. The main factor that took the Elements of Harmony out of the game were that their former bearers had long since died. New bearers were never found.
Of course, descendants of the Bearers are said to still be out there somewhere in the desert. Even then, though, there is no enemy to point the Elements at, or at least, the enemy is completely unknown to ponykind.
It has been a decade since the Moon was last seen in the sky and time is running out.
*****
Hours later, the three ponies reached a well-furnished cave deep underground. Honey Bun was fast asleep on her mother's back. Mirage smiled as she levitated her daughter onto a mattress on the far side of the cave. "Without her," she said, "I don't know if I'd even care enough to try to do this."
"Children have a way of causing that," the old stallion said as he walked over to another mattress. "Do you honestly think this can work, though? For all we know, you risked everything and lost Rigger over a powerless little gem."
Mirage closed her eyes. "The fact that Rigger sacrificed himself to give me a chance to get here means this has to work," she said as she levitated the gem out of her saddlebag and placed it onto a makeshift altar made from rocks and rotted wood. She pulled a book from the bag and opened it.
The cover read, The Epic Power of Perfect Harmony.
The stallion shook his head as he laid on his mattress. "Just don't be too noisy," he said. "Honey's sleeping."
"Uh-huh..." Mirage said as she read the book. "I think this will work..." Her horn started to glow as she wrapped the gem in her magic. She tapped into everything she had and focused on it.
Her magic and the gem started to interact as something within the gem awakened...