Dream Valley is destroyed after a horrible villain returns. Now it's up to the little ponies to decide whether to stay or leave and find a safer home. However, more than just unicorns are disappearing now.
While Grogar was a feared tyrant, he was also one with a heavy weak spot. After the little ponies defeated him by ringing the bell, he should have been gone for good.
However, Grogar has other plans, and now he's returned with a new power that threatens to destroy not only Dream Valley, but everything else in it's path. There does exist a sorcerer who might just be powerful enough, but the journey is long. At what cost would they reclaim their home?
Shattered fragments of enchanted metal lay in waste on the ground. What had once been a stone floor was now gone, and grass poked up between the heavy shards. Cheerful voices rang loud and clear, the stomping of delighted hooves thundering across the open meadow. The warm sun seemed stronger than ever in the excitement, and no cloud seemed able to block it out.
"Grogar's gone!" a young blue unicorn was raised up on her back legs, kicking the air as she called out, "No more Tambeleon!" Other ponies all spoke their agreement, joy and laughter filling the once cold space.
"Grogar?" a lime green unicorn hurried over, multicoloured tail waving in the wind, "Grogar appeared?" The other ponies stared at her for a moment, as if confused, but then realization filled their eyes.
"Oh, you were off at that magic show, weren't you, Mimic," Buttons commented, "How did it go?"
"Well more importantly, what happened here?" Mimic responded. She stepped forward anxiously, as if unsure and trying to get a better look at everything. As she did, her hoof made contact with some of the pieces of the bell the ponies had used to defeat the tyrant Grogar. For a moment, her horseshoe flashed, but then nothing.
"Did you see that?" a small pink filly with a bib for a symbol nudged her friend, "It lit up like a glowstick!"
"You're always thinking of toys," the lavender filly beside her retorted, flicking her teal mane from her eyes, "It was just twinkling. Gold is very twinkly!" The pink filly pondered for a moment, then nodded agreement. As each pony spoke over the other, eager to explain what had happened, the green unicorn looked around in worry. Her once glittering eyes now seemed glossy with unease.
"Is something the matter?" Buttons finally asked, but Mimic shook her head. She seemed to be hiding something, but none of the other ponies wanted to ask about it. They all guessed she was just tired from the long journey, as the magic show had been all the way in another kingdom. Eventually, everypony dispersed and that was the end of that. Baby Tiddly-Winks, the pink filly with the bib, also forgot of what she had seen and left with the others. Baby Half Note was right, it was probably just the twinkling from the horseshoes she wore.
"Bray!" A harrowing shout echoed through the darkness, the voice as cold as ice. A scraggly donkey-like creature stepped out of the shadows, head bowed in politeness, legs shaking in fear.
"Yes, O'Grogar?"
"Why is it that those ponies were able to reach the bell?"
"I do not know..."
"Because you were too useless to pay attention!" the deep voice bellowed through the eternal black, and Bray began to shake even harder. The creature shouting was a ram-like figure with blue fur and deeper blue horns. His eyes shone red in the few flickers of light that made it into the Realm of Darkness. Bray was but a mere rabbit, stunned as it gazed into the eyes of a hungry fox.
"I'm sorry, O'Grogar! I really am!" Bray sobbed. He hadn't wanted to let himself cry. As much of a coward as he was, he tried to still hold some dignity. But Grogar didn't care, and the jingling of his remaining bells accompanied his sadistic chuckling.
"You think I care if you're sorry? You failed, Bray. I entrusted you with my biggest source of power, and you broke that trust! Do you really expect me to forgive you?" His voice was edged with a sinister tone, and Bray gritted his teeth.
"I didn't mean to... The ponies tricked me!"
"Because you were stupid enough to fall for their tricks!" Grogar shouted back. Bray looked up, any sign of hope gone from his eyes.
"But you also fell for their-" he was cut off as a giant blue hoof made contact with his cheek. Grogar growled as he always did when frustrated, and Bray instantly regretted what he had said.
"You dare to speak back to me!?" now Grogar was in a rage. Bray tried to back away, but was struck once again in the nose. He winced at the blood trickling down onto his lips, but there was nowhere to run to. The Realm of Darkness was infinite, and he knew Grogar was much faster than him. All he could do was accept what punishment was given to him, for failing such a tyrannical leader...
A fluffy yellow pegasus was hovering beneath a tree, holding a basket in her mouth as several woodland creatures dropped hard-to-reach cherries into her basket. Other ponies were all doing the same with various other fruits. Pegasi would pick what they could and collect the rest from squirrels in the tall trees, earth ponies would buck the fruits into padded baskets so as to not bruise them, and unicorns what use whatever powers they had to get the fruits down.
Fizzy used bubbles to float some pears down. They were green, which she liked. Buttons simply levitated them with no other force, collecting the purple plums. Though her fur was far more pale than the skin of the plums. And Twilight wished the delicious raspberries from the bushes so that she wouldn't have to prickle her nose on the stalks.
As for the yellow pegasus, her name was Lofty. Her wavy mane frizzed at the ends, and her dark red eyes gleamed proudly. She was collecting lemons as well, which may have seemed a strange fruit, but was perfect for the occasion. Megan had told the ponies of a drink called 'lemonade', which was great for hot weather. The ingredients could all be found easily in Ponyland, and since it was Summer the conditions were perfect. In Ponyland, all the fruits grew at the same time at the very start of Summer for the special Sun Celebration. There were always fruits available, but they were never quite as nice if not picked on the exact day.
Lofty lowered the basket, the lemons and cherries creating a wonderful scent. She had collected both because she was one of the best flyers, and so it made sense to have her be in the finer trees. The lemons were just because she was nearby. As her hooves touched the ground, she heard smaller ones thud against the grass and race towards her.
"I can do a trick while flying!" a tiny pegasus that looked very similar to Lofty skidded to a halt in the warm grass, her face lit with excitement. She wore a pink ribbon on her tail as opposed to the blue one her mother wore, and her eyes were a mauve colour instead of maroon. But the curly yellow hair and long fluffy coat was all any pony needed to see she was the 'daughter' of Lofty.
"I told you, doing tricks is dangerous. Has Firefly been teaching you things again?" Lofty chided, but she wasn't really upset. Baby Lofty had been quite shy at first, so it was good she was being more active and playful.
"Firefly didn't teach me! Neither did Medley!"
"Well I wouldn't expect Medley to do anything like that..." Lofty replied in amusement. The aqua pegasus had always been quite the careful one. She certainly wouldn't teach a little filly any such tricks.
"Paradise taught me!" Lofty almost rubbed her ears when she heard that. Paradise? That lazy pegasus wouldn't be able to lift a feather if her life depended on it. Her doing a trick seemed very off indeed. But then she saw as Baby Lofty attempted to demonstrate said 'trick', and realized just how much sense it actually made.
The teeny filly flew up into the air, hooves churning to push herself forward. Then she allowed herself to fall, and had her tail cushion the landing. She puffed out her chest proudly before announcing, "If you use your tail as a pillow, you don't have to go fetch one! By landing on it, it gets nice and poofy!"
Lofty had to hold back an eye roll at that statement. Actually fetching a pillow seemed far less tedious, but she was glad Baby Lofty was having fun. She watched the filly scamper away to show the other foals, but then the sky grew dark. The pegasi flew upwards instinctively, expecting to break some clouds. But it wasn't clouds covering the sky. It was just shadows, and nothing else.
"Oh no! What if it's dragons!" a pink pony with a bright yellow mane cried, ducking down as a white unicorn rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Shady, when was the last time you saw a dragon?" She asked matter-of-factly.
"Well, Spike's right there so..." Shady was cut off by an annoyed look from the unicorn, who's name was Gusty. Everypony seemed shocked, but the panic hadn't really set in yet. Firefly, Skydancer, and North Star had disappeared into the darkness. Lofty knew she should go too, she was one of the best flyers. But there was no way she could leave Baby Lofty.
"Baby Lofty! Where are you?" Lofty filled with fear as she realized the filly had disappeared. When the other ponies heard her, they too began to panic. The pegasi that had gone into the shadows hadn't returned, even though they would have heard the commotion going on down below.
"Baby Ribbon!" a blue unicorn pushed through the all the frightened and stomping ponies, until she made eye contact with Lofty, "Have you seen Baby Ribbon?"
"I can't find Baby Lofty!" Lofty exclaimed. How could things have changed so suddenly? She had gone from such contentedness to sudden and unexplained terror. Her and Ribbon pushed through the crowd as quickly as they could, the shadows lowering to the ground quickly. Most of the ponies had evacuated by now, and Lofty knew her daughter should have been visible by now. She leaped into the air, wings outspread, feeling the shadows graze her nose. She almost let herself fall back down, but the cool wind was too foreboding to allow her to leave her baby there.
"Lofty! Don't! I can contact them-" Ribbon's telepathic voice was cut off as the shadows encapsulated Lofty. She felt herself float into the clouds, no longer needing to flap her wings. She was sure that somewhere in the distance there was a voice... Was it the voice of Baby Lofty? She was willing to take the chance...
"To think so many would fall for the same trap as last time..."
