Story One: Sphere of Chaos
Hoofbeats echoed on stone as somepony trotted through the cave, light illuminating the cold, damp walls. The pony slowly looked through the cave, noticing the caves architecture grew more and more complex as he went farther in, already nearing impossibility. He smirked, clapping his hooves. “Surely there must be an artifact here! I’ve never seen anything like this!” He searched several adjacent chambers but could not find an artifact, not even a trace of civilization. He stumbled into the main chamber, dejected, looking up.
Upon a cold limestone pillar in the center of the chamber, sat a dark orb. The stranger, a grey unicorn with blue eyes, wearing a typical archaeologist outfit approached it, his horn glowing and letting off light. The cave walls appeared to absorb the light, leaving the illusion of an endless room. As the unicorn approached the orb, it began to shimmer and shift, seeming to feed off the darkness. The stallion marveled it, admiring the shimmering, noting the magical nature of the artifact as he neared it.
When the unicorn reached the orb, he reached a hoof out to touch it, but hesitated. He started scribbling a few notes about the orb, noting it’s dull grey color and incandescent aura, the early-equestrian architecture of the pillar and the way the walls absorbed the light like a sponge. When he reached to touch it, clearly enthralled by it, the orb let out a blast of pure energy. The unicorn screamed, and the cave went pitch black.
Across Equestria, in a small hamlet south of Manehattan, a different grey unicorn with green eyes shot awake, sitting up and panting "What in Celestia's name was that?" she exclaimed, her mane all fussy from her tossing and turning in her sleep. She glanced at the clock, groaning at the time. "1 am? Why couldn’t it be later? “ She tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t, the nightmare fresh in her mind. She sighed and slipped out of the covers and softly onto the floor, trotting to her desk and lighting her desktop lamp.
Her horn glowed a soft green as she grasped her papers in her magic and started reading them slowly, contemplating what has caused her nightmare. “Probably stress,” she mumbled softly. “Such a big gamble, and for what, the chance to potentially have a large gain?” A few hours later, she put her notes down and stumbled to bed, asleep before she hit the mattress. In the light of her desk lamp, a passage about an ancient orb lay, forgotten by the mare in her exhaustion.
The next morning, the mare shot out of her bed, opening her window and watching the occupants of her small town bustling in the morning sun "Ah, such a wonderful morning!" she exclaimed, basking in the warm glow. A stallion stops under her window, his blue eyes locking onto her as he waves. She notices and waves back. The stallion smiles, "Hey Alexander! Wonderful morning, isn't it?"
Alexander smiles down at him, her mane fluttering softly in the morning breeze. "Sure is, Red! What brings you here this fine morning? I'm just about to leave to catch my train to Appleloosa, so we will have to make this quick."
"Well, I was dropping by to see how you were before I left town before I went to go keep looking for my sister." He blushes a bit and waved, trotting away. "See ya later, Alex!"
She waves back. "Bye Red!" She dashes back, shutting the window as she grabs her suitcases and her train ticket with her magic, her grey flank shimmering, revealing her skull and archaeological brush cutie mark. She hastily brushes her mane into a style similar to Fluttershy's and rushes out the door, trotting through town.
Several of the occupants waved at her, wishing her luck as she waved back. Soon, she arrived at the train station, panting. “Damn,” she said, exhausted. “I really need to get back in shape.” She trotted up to the conductor and gave him her ticket, and he waved her aboard. She laid down on her seat and fell asleep, the train rolling out of the station.
The next day, as the train rolled into the station, Alex woke up, her mane a mess again. She slowly stumbled to the front of the train, mumbling unintelligibly about nightmares. As the train came to a stop, she fell face first into the floor, waking her up completely. "Celestia Dammit! How long was I asleep for...." She slowly gets up and stumbles out of the train, sitting on a bench on the platform. She yawns, mumbling more about an orb. "Why do I keep seeing that dream?" she pondered, glancing over the equipment in her suitcase one last time. "What is so important about this one particular orb that makes me dream about it constantly?" As she said this, a blue and green unicorn, flanked by two metal creatures, overheard her and quickly sent one of the creatures to keep an eye on her. The unicorn smirked, "Soon, the Sphere of Chaos will be found, and it will be mine."
Alexander got up and trotted into town, smiling, her coat glistening softly in the light under the hot midday sun.g She absentmindedly nibbles on an apple as she trots out into the open orchards that border town. As she passed through the orchard, a crashing sound began to emanate through the area. Alexander crouched. "What is that?!" She exclaimed loudly as she ducks behind an old warehouse. "Appleloosa is not an earthquake zone!" As she said this, the ground began to crack and the trees in the orchards began to warp into indistinguishable shapes. She looked at the orchard in horror, as several ponies ran past, fleeing for their lives. "What in Celestia's name is this?" She quickly ran into the orchard, ducking as several branches started moving down on her, rapidly closing in as if to trap her. It looked like the end was nigh as Alexander started jumping over the branches that were appearing in her path out of the orchard with increasing frequency. As Alexander neared the exit, the ground beneath her hooves began to shift and warp, tripping her up. She landed face first in the dirt, bruising her muzzle from the impact. As she looked up, branches wove together to block the exit, trapping her inside. She quickly got up and cursed loudly. Her hooves hit the branches before she recognized the futility of such an endeavor. "Help!" She cried out. "Somepony, anypony, help me!"