Twilight had always wanted to know who her father was. Her mother knew, but she was trapped in the moon. The only other pony that might know was her aunt Celestia, but Twilight would not ask her. She could never forgive her aunt because it was her aunt who had sent Luna to the moon.
Celestia ran to the castle of the two sisters, hoping that she was not too late.
As she was running, she was thinking about how it had come to this. She thought of Canterlot a couple of months ago.
Celestia was a white coat alicorn with a sun cutie mark. She had a pink, purple, aqua, blue, and green mane and tail which had an elegant flow.
The Princess of the Sun had always been adored by her subjects and failed to notice how all her subjects treated her sister.
The only time Celestia paid attention to her sister was at Twilight's coronation.
"This is the very first born alicorn," said the Princess of the Sun. "Who knows how everyone will take the knowledge that there are three alicorns to protect the land of Equestria."
"They will probably like that," said Luna. "But what use is a nation when its very citizens ignore some of its rulers?"
"Luna, l---"
Save it, Celestia! You know well that the ponies pay more attention to your day than my night. I mean, look at night court. No one ever comes! No one ever has a problem that concerns the night! They only care about your precious sun, don't they?"
"Luna, can we talk about it later? This is your daughter's coronation."
"Can we talk about it later?" Lune repeated angrily. "Later!? We never talk! You're too busy looking perfect for your subjects and pay hardly any attention to your actual family."
Celestia was sad thinking about what Luna had said that day. "She is right. I do pay more attention to my subjects than to my actual family. l have to make things right."
She entered the throne room and stopped when she saw her sister.
“Not another step.”
Her sister was a dark blue coat alicorn with a half moon cutie mark and a mane and tail that looked like the night sky itself.
“Luna, you must lower the moon. It is your duty.”
“Did you think I would do nothing while you ponies celebrated in your precious light? There are two princesses of Equestria and NEITHER WILL BE YOU!”
Luna stomped the ground which cracked up to the window and shattered it. Her horn glowing a bright blue aura and the moon moved over the sun. A black magical ball surrounded Luna, transforming the Princess of the Night to Nightmare Moon, a black coat alicorn with razor sharp teeth lining her mouth, a gas-like dark blue mane and tail, and blue, dragon-like eyes.
“Luna?” Celestia said, a tear in her eye.
“Luna?! I am Nightmare Moon and I have one royal duty, AND THAT IS DESTROY YOU!”
As she said this, she fired a beam of magical light. The Princess of the Sun quickly deflected the spell and sent it to the ceiling which made a new hole. Then Celestia flew through the hole.
“And where do you think you’re going!?”
The Princess of the Sun was caught off-guard. Nightmare Moon fired several beams of magic. Some hit, others missed. They flew through and over the castle of the two sisters, damaging one tower after another.
Then, Nightmare Moon got a lucky shot and hit the Princess of the Sun between her wings.
Celestia screamed, falling towards the castle. Then Nightmare Moon flew to the moon, laughing.
The Princess of the Sun got up and said, “I’m sorry, Luna, but you leave me no choice.”
And with a heavy heart, she went to the elements chamber and levitated six gems. Red, orange, green, blue, pink and purple. And with the power of harmony, Celestia flew up and started to charge the elements.
Nightmare Moon fired a beam of magic.
But Celestia’s elements fired a rainbow beam of harmony.
Nightmare Moon’s beam evaporated. She tried to flee the inevitable. The next thing she knew, she was in the moon.
The Princess of the Sun slowly glided down in the elements chamber.
“Celestia, what did you do…?“
The Princess of the Sun turned around and saw young Twilight, a purple alicorn filly with a starburst cutie mark and lavender coat, and with a dark purple mane and tail, which had a pink stripe. Twilight had anger in her eyes.
“Niece?” Celestia said with a sad tear.
The young alicorn said again, “Why did you take away the only mom I have ever had?“
Silence filled the room. Celestia spoke.
“I did it to save Equestria.”
Then Twilight broke down. A feeling of dread filled the chamber, but the dread feeling was coming from Twilight. Dark shadows poured out of her eyes and her form started to change, creating a large shadow mountain with two purple, staring eyes. But a bright light shown, and two magical beams, one orange and one white, circled the shadow mountain in a bright ball. Then it disappeared and what remained was a statue of Twilight with a shocked look on her face.
Celestia turned to see Star Swirl the Bearded, a gray stallion unicorn with a white and gray mane, tail, and beard; a blue robe; and a wizard hat with stars and moons. His cutie mark had four stars in a swirl.
Celestia also saw Clover the Clever, a butter yellow mare unicorn with a brown mane and tail. She also had a brown cloak. Her cutie mark was three four-leaf clovers.
Celestia stood up, walked to the two unicorns, and said with a worried look, “What happened to my sister and my niece...?” The two looked at the statue filly, then looked to the moon.
Clover spoke first. “You were sad when you used the elements, and they knew you didn’t want to kill her, so the elements did the next best thing. They banished her to the moon. But it won’t last forever. In ten thousand years, she’ll come back.”
Star Swirl spoke next. “As for the filly, she was turned into a statue thanks to Clover the Clever and me. We used a spell to stop her from killing you. But the spells burned away and we used a lot of our magic too. The spell was to be saved for another unicorn but he has yet to appear.”
Celestia asked, “Where did you come up with this complicated spell?”
“Well,” Star Swirl responded, ”I got the idea from you and Luna when you two used the elements on Discord, the Lord of Chaos.”
As they talked, far in the corner a small, a shadow with two green eyes stared at the statue of Twilight.
Several months later, Celestia woke up and lit up her horn to raise the sun.
As the Princess of the Sun walked down the hall, she yawned, for she did not sleep well.
In the middle of the night, a pony had woken up Celestia. It was the captain of the Lunar Guard, a pony named Blue Dawn, who told the Princess of the Sun that Star Swirl and his commrades had disappeared the night before and no one knows where they are. Later, Celestia found a letter from Star Swirl telling her that he went to stop a great evil, one that could spread darkness to all of Equestria.
"So," the alcorn said, "he left to stop this great evil. Seeing as how the world is still bright and colorful, he must be holding this evil back."
Life in Canterlot soon returned to normal, or as normal as it gets.
Celestia decided to visit Clover the Clever, her court wizard. She walked past a maid cleaning a row of stained glass window showing past heroes and legends of the castle. Celestia remembered Clover the Clever telling her about one of the heroes who had apparently managed to hold back half of the griffin army. There was once a time when ponies and griffins got along. But one pony managed to inspire all of Equestria to defend their borders from the griffins, and the pony hero’s name was Odysseus Hooves. From what Clover the Clever knew of him, Odysseus had killed at least 3000 griffins.
Odysseus’s picture on the stained glass window depicted him wearing light armor and holding two short swords. His mane and tail were buttery yellow in color, his coat was dark green, and his cutie mark was a shield and a yell of “Hey.”
Clover the Clever also remembered reading about a city that just couldn't exist. It couldn’t possibly exist because it sounded too ridiculous. But the books said it was an empire filled with crystals, incredibly beautiful and majestic. The book also said that the residents of this city could spread good emotions all throughout the entire land. It just sounded ridiculous. But it had disappeared. There was a reason it disappeared and his name was Sombra, the tyrant king, the lord of shadows, the bringer of fear. He had banished the entire empire so that when the time was right, he could conquer all of Equestria. She knew he was real because her teacher Starswirl the Bearded imprisoned him in a seal deep in Canterlot. At least, he imprisoned his body.is There are many ways he could see through his imprisonment because he is an umbrum. He doesn't really need his physical body because he can move his consciousness to any form of shadow.
She entered the library which was filled with several bookshelves. The Princess of the Sun found Clover the Clever and walked over to her.
The court wizard was looking through a book that had several complicated spells that Celestia couldn’t believe existed.
The Princess of the Sun saw that Clover the Clever noticed her.
Clover the Clever turned around and bowed to Celestia, who said, “Rise, my court wizard, for I wish for you to join me for lunch. If it is alright with you.”
It looked like the court wizard had to think about it. But then she saw how sad Celestia became and said, “I would like to have lunch.” As they walked out of the library, Clover the Clever noticed that Celestia looked happy.
During the following walk through the hall, the maids would bow and the Solar Guard would salute, but Clover the Clever knew what the Princess of the Sun had lost and thought maybe she needed a friend. So, they talked while walking and before long they reached the castle dining room.
Once they were seated, Celestia said to one of the waiters, “I’ll have the Canterlot salad.“
The court wizard said, “I’ll have a daisy sandwich with a side of grass.”
As they waited for the cook to bring their lunch, Clover the Clever broke the ice. “How are you doing as Equestria’s new ruler?”
“Truth be told, it’s boring,” the Princess of the Sun said. “At first, I didn’t know how the subjects would take going from two princesses to one.”
“Well, it looks like you’re doing very well.”
Then, the Sun court wizard said with a dreamy look, “I think in three years time, I would like to retire.”
Celestia looked up and said, “So soon after Star Swirl disappeared? What made you change your mind?”
But as soon as she said this, she realized what the dreamy look was. “Are you in love?”
The court wizard blushed as soon as she realized her secret had been revealed.
“You met somepony. How?” the Princess of the Sun asked.
Clover the Clever cleared her throat and said, “We met in the castle library, and it’s a funny story. I was levitating twenty books. And he was levitating one large history book of Equestria, and we crashed into each other and the books flew all over the library. But afterwards, we talked to each other and soon we became more than friends. He is a stallion named Sun Blast. His mane and tail are red and yellow, and his coat is maroon. His brother is the captain of the Solar Guard. Does it bother you?”
“Are you kidding!? When is the wedding!?“ Celestia exclaimed, asking one question after another.
The Sun court wizard said, “We plan on having the wedding in five years time.”
They talked for half an hour as they ate lunch.
Soon, lunch was over and the Sun Princess and the court wizard went back to their duties. Clover the Clever was in charge of the Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns, and Celestia was in charge of day court where ponies or nobles came to the Princess of the Sun to tell her their problems, but usually, it was just nobles.
Celestia was barely listening to a noble named High Blood as he complained about something, for she was missing her sister and her niece.
When day court was over, Celestia decided to pay a visit to the Canterlot garden.
As she walked out of the day courtroom, somepony stopped her, saying, "Where are you going, Princess?"
Celestia turned around and saw High Blood, the pony with the long complaint and the richest noble in Canterlot. He had a crush on Snooty Blue the pony. His coat was as white as snow, his mane and tail were blue with gold highlights, his cutie mark looked like a fair deal,with two hooves shake and he was a pegasus, which was unusual because most nobles are unicorns. Celestia had no complaints about that, though.
"I'm just going for a walk to the Canterlot gardens."
"Well, do you mind if I walk with you? I have some business nearby."
Celestia thought about it, then said, "Well, are you coming." As she said this, High Blood nodded and started to walk with her.
As the two exited the castle and entered the Canterlot gardens, High Blood said, "Are you doing all right? I know you lost a sister and I have no right to tell you but the leadership of Equestria is all on you and-" But he saw how Celestia was looking at him. Her eyes seemed to be full of anger and he realized he had crossed the line.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I shouldn't have said that."
Celestia kept her death glare on High Blood for a good hour but eventually, she got curious and said "What business could you have this late?"
"Well, not all business is done in the day," said High Blood, "because someponies stay up all night and they sleep through the days. The pony I have business with is a night walker."
They reached the edge of the Canterlot garden’s hedge maze and High Blood turned and said, "Have a good night, Celestia." And with that, he walked in the opposite direction as she walked to the entrance to the gardens. She had a feeling that this pegasus had another reason for coming there, but she did not know why."
High Blood continued walking and then turned. He found the place he was looking for and pushed the gate open. He continued to walk towards a passage that went underground. He stopped and started to tap the stone path with his hoof. He did this for a couple of seconds until he finally found what he was looking for. The stone he lifted was hollow and underneath was a hoof lock. He turned it and the hollow stone opened. High Blood pulled out a black cloak and put it on. He then entered the underground passage.
The doors closed behind him and he continued to go further down. These were the Canterlot catacombs. For centuries, ponies that had died during wartime for a better Equestria but couldn't pay for a proper burial were laid to rest here. High Blood was not here to remember the fallen, though. He was here for a meeting and the catacombs were the best place to meet in secret.
He finally found the meeting place, for there were three ponies in black cloaks standing and waiting for him and two others to show up.
High Blood hated lying to the Princess, but lying was necessary, for it was this Order that helped ponies in dying towns. This was the Order of Time, founded by three ponies: War Path, Shadow Strike, and Mystic Coat. These ponies were legendary. There were ponies that were inspired by them. The order was big, but when the time of Discord came, he really brought the chaos, and thanks to that chaos, the Order of Time was nearly destroyed. When Discord was defeated, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna told the Order that if they had any powerful artifacts they should give them to the Princesses.
The artifacts were not, in fact, handed over to the Princesses. The Order of Time only had a couple of magical items in the meeting place, like a double-sided axe with magical runeson the blades. The axe was connected to a mighty helm and armor set. Apparently, the armor itself was magical but the axe could not be moved from it because they had not yet found a wielder of the armor. If any pony tried to grab the axe and separate it from the magical helm and armor, the magic in the axe would turn the pony to a pile of ash.
A couple more hours of waiting passed and finally two other black-cloaked ponies came into the meeting place. The meeting could now begin.
"So you think this plan will work?" a deep-voiced pony said.
"Well, it’s that or risk our lives." A french man voice said.
"One thing is for sure," a raspy female voice said. "We need a champion and one is yet to be found."
"We have to play it safe and hope that Celestia does not get curious," said High Blood.
"Speaking of the Princess of the Sun, how is she?" a commanding voice asked.
"She is mourning the loss of her sister and niece," said High Blood. "And I don’t think she was listening to my complaint."
"Well, she is now the ruler of Equestria and the last line of defense, so if she falls we need a backup plan, a champion," said a female voice with a commanding tone.
"Exactly," said High Blood. "And I prefer to find a champion before the next enemy comes knocking on our door. Even if it means taking a small piece of the great War Path armor, leading a random pony to pick it up, and hoping it glows, letting us know we have found the heir of War Path.
As they talked to each other, one member checked his watch and said, "I'm sorry, but we're out of time. We must close this meeting and get out." All agreed and one by one, the six ponies left, hid their black cloaks in their hiding spots, and went back home.
Celestia arrived at her destination. There is a spot in the Canterlot hedge maze where several statues stood. Most were statues of great ponies. Others were not great ponies, but were enemies of Equestria. The elements of harmony took care of them by cursing them into statues, like Discord. Celestia found the statue she was looking for.
“I’m sorry, Twilight, I wish you could be here.” Then Celestia remembered Star Swirl the Bearded’s words: She is a power house and who knows; perhaps an event could free her.
The Princess of the Sun thought on those words. She then realized it was time to lower the sun and raise the moon.
After she finished lowering the sun and raising the moon, she paused for a couple of seconds. Then she spread her wings and took off, heading towards her sleeping chamber.
In the corner of the hedge two green eyes glowed. A figure walked out of the shadows, a gray stallion unicorn with a red cape and a steel crown. He had a black shadow, a flowing mane and tail, and a red horn. His eyes were venom green, his fangs were sharp, and he was covered with pieces of steel armor.
His name was King Sombra. He looked up and saw Luna in prison. He said to her, “Oh, Luna, you should have destroyed the elements. But you lost yourself in victory and now you’re trapped in the moon. Kind of like me when I banished the Crystal Empire. Who knew that Star Swirl the Bearded had a special seal that imprisoned umbrums?”
To prove his imprisonment, he tried to pick up a rock nearby, but his hoof went right through the rock. A sad look came upon his face and he looked at the statue of Twilight.
Then, after an hour, Sombra turned and looked at the statues of three other ponies. One looked like a great Mighty Helm warrior earth pony stallion with armor and a double-sided ax. Another pony was a thestral mare in light armor, holding a spear. Right in the middle was a unicorn umbrum mare in a cloak. On the stone slab, three names shone: War Path, Night Strike, and Mystic Coat.
Then Sombra said, “These three are my heroes. Back in my day, they knew what real power looked like and knew what to do with it. It was not used to throw parties for their ruler."
He looked at the moon one more time and, with a sad expression, walked back to the shadows.
Five years later, ponies came from far and wide to the wedding of Clover the Clever and Sun Blast.
Celestia, presiding, said, “Do you, Clover the Clever, take this stallion to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do,” she said.
The Princess of the Sun smiled at her and turned to the other.
“And do you, Sun Blast, take this mare to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
“I do,” said Sun Blast.
Celestia said, “By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
And with a roar of cheering from the audience of ponies, the newly married couple ran out of the reception hall followed by all the other ponies. Celestial couldn’t wait to follow, but she knew she had to. She would get to the reception eventually.
When Celestia arrived at the reception, it was in full swing and she went onto the dancing floor. Someponies danced with her and some of the nobles started feeling weird that their ruler was dancing. One noble named Snooty Blue, a light blue unicorn with a golden mane and tail and a cutie mark of a question mark in a talking bubble, said, “Your Majesty, why are you dancing on the floor when you should be on the throne making important decisions for Equestria?”
Celestia’s mood went down as she walked off the dancing floor. Then a “HEY!” rang out. The Princess of the Sun turned to see an angry mare unicorn named Twilight Velvet, who said, “Just because she’s an alicorn and our ruler does not mean she cannot enjoy a wedding reception!”
Funny, that mare and my niece share the same name, The Princess of the Sun thought.
Snooty Blue couldn’t come up with a good comeback and backed off. Celestia’s mood went back up and she rejoined the others on the dance floor.
Some hours later, the Princess of the Sun and some other ponies walked off the dance floor and sat down at the nearest table.
The Princess of the Sun saw a piece of cake all ready to eat, and after one bite, her eyes widened and she realized that she loved cake. She thought that cake was to die for and thought about having a piece of cake later with her afternoon tea.
Then came the time for the bride to throw the bouquet of flowers into the air. The lucky mare to catch it would be the next to marry. A whole crowd of mares were ready to catch the bouquet. Clover the Clever threw the bouquet and the mares dive bombed in the direction it was thrown and created a marepile.
Eventually, the marepile disappeared and the lucky mare with the bouquet was Twilight Velvet. She galloped over to a stallion unicorn and Celestia wondered who he was.
“That pony’s name is Night Light,” said Clover the Clever. “I heard those two got along with each other, and they look good together.”
Celestia was not aware of two ponies lurking deep in the crowd of wedding guests.
”It seems that our Princess has moved on." A frenchman voice said. The voice belonged to a pony named Quiz Lamoni, a unicorn with a taste for style. Quiz Lamoni had a dark blue mane and tail, his coat was green, and his cutie mark showed two balls, one of fire and one of water, circling each other. The pony next to him was High Blood.
"As long Clover the Clever is alive, she’ll be fine,” said High Blood. ”But the reason I asked you here is because I did some research about War Path, which was not easy. I found his tree and I think the Order should look closer at the apples."
Quiz Lamoni gave High Blood a serious look and said, "We’ll talk about it at the next meeting."
"Are you crazy?? We need to do it now!" High Blood said in a fearful voice.
"Did you forget why we have these secret meetings?" asked Quiz Lamoni. "The reason we play it safe?"
Flashback
Ten years after Discord chaos.
The city of Manhattan.
Cantorlot may be the capital city but Manhattan is the biggest city in Equestria. Usually, the ponies there are friendly, but that day the ponies were looking for the Order of Time because, allegedly, their leader killed the mayor of Manhattan. The Order leader didn't mean to kill the mayor, but what was done was done, so he let the ponies of Manhattan find him, and he accepted the punishment..
Several ponies called for the leader of the Order of Time’s head and they formed a pony mob with makeshift weapons. The Order of Time’s leader said, "They want blood, so I will give myself to them, unless one of you has a backup plan."
The other cloaked ponies said nothing, so the Order leader removed his cloak. His name was Gold Blood. His mane and tail were black with gold highlights and his coat was brown. His cutie mark looked like a blueprint plan.
As he walked to the door, a small pegasus colt ran to his hind leg, squeezed it, and said, "Don't go! Please! How will I tell mom that you’re not coming back?"
Gold Blood sighed and said, "She does not know, so if she sees me, if she is part of that violent mob, she will know I was the leader of the Order. But she does not need to know of our little secret. So let's keep that secret between us, my little High Blood."
And with that, Gold Blood walked outside and readied himself for death as the mob got closer and the door behind him closed shut.
Later, young High Blood heard that his dad had suffered a bloody death but his remains were yet to be found. The colt hoped his dad was still alive, but as he grew up, he lost that hope.
Present day
"I don't need to be reminded of that day." High Blood said with quiet rage in his voice.
"I'm just saying, you’re almost in the same position as your father was then," said Quiz Lamoni.
Seventeen years later, Celestia and an older Clover the Clever were enjoying a picnic. The Princess of the Sun was having some tea and cake while her guest was having fun with her daughter Sunset Shimmer, a firey unicorn with an orange coat and a yellow and red mane and tail. She and her mom were playing hide and go seek while the ruler of Equestria watched them. Eventually, Clover the Clever got tired, but her daughter was still full of energy. Seeing the signs of her mother’s weariness, Sunset Shimmer decided to play with a colt named Shining Armor. He was Twilight Velvet and Night Light’s son. Together, they played imagination war.
Celestia was thinking about a wedding that she really what to forget because it was the wedding of Snooty Blue and High Blood as she was trying to forget it a certain pegasus enjoyed that memory as he watch his son Blue Blood he is a white unicorn with a blonde yellow color for the mane and tall and he was haveing fun playing chess with his mother.
Flashback
Five years at High Blood and Snooty Blue wedding they notice that the Princess of the Sun was nowhere to be found and of course the only pony's at the reception was nobles the food served there was up class foods followed bye up class music and if there is any dancing at the reception it was the waltz of course after a hour or two High Blood with Snooty Blue and a pegasus name Spit Fire walked outside and fly to a cloud Snooty Blue have to get on her husband back as they fly and once on the cloud she used a spell that a loud her to stand on the cloud and she said "These clouds are really soft and I see why you get comfortable on them." They could get started Spit Fire gives a serious look and said in her recipe voice "Are you sure about this?"
Snooty Blue answered with "Yes I'm sure about it."
"I,m just asking because this has not been done even back in a hundred years?" Spit Fire said and Snooty Blue look back to her husband and said with a gren. "It time to break tradition."
And with that the yellow wonderbolt cleared her throat and said "Snooty Blue will you pledge to uphold the code to be there when one of the members is in parrot?"
Snooty said "I do."
Spit Fire continue by said "And if a member goes rogue will you hunt them down and bring them to justice and not shed a tear if you have feelings for them?"
Snooty said again "I do."
And when Spit Fire heard her answer she said "Welcome to the order of time." And when they went back to the ground High Blood gave a rock to his wife and she had no problem charitie it for it is hollow the rest of the night was spend at the reception but it was getting late and the husband and wife got into the carriage and they went to there honeymoon.
Present day
High Blood was thinking of the days he spend with his dad and he also wish he had more time with him.
Then he saw a very exhausted Clover the Clever walking to Celestia and he heard the Princess of the Sun say.
“Tired already?” Celestia joked.
“Ha ha. When you have children of your own, then we will see who gets tired,” she said back. “But you know, I was wondering, what will you say to your niece? When your niece wakes up, she probably won’t be in a good mood.”
Celestia thought about it and said, “I’m going to say, ‘I’m sorry for what happened to you, but I would like to be together again.’” A tear ran down her cheek.
Her guest went to put her hoof on the Princess of the Sun’s shoulder and said, “I hope it works.”
As she said that, Celestia’s eyes glowed bright white. Clover the Clever knew what was going on.
She called the Solar Guard and told them to get the Sun court wizard.
Celestia opened her eyes and saw a white void. She saw that she and Luna weren’t always the alicorn princesses of Equestria. The only reason they became the alicorns that the ponies knew and loved was because Star Swirl the Bearded had casted a spell. He didn’t know what to expect, but as soon as he realized what happened, he asked if he could use another spell on them. Luna didn’t want to but Celestia said yes. He casted a second spell on her, explaining that he needed strong leaders. Celestia wanted to meet others like her and Luna, and the reason was to make sure that no other alicorns became enemies. This meant a new alicorn would soon ascend. Celestia saw her then in her vision.
A pink Pegasus with purple wing tips and purple eyes. Her mane and tail were purple, pink, and yellow, and her cutie mark was unusual; it was a crystal heart.
“Hello, my little pony. What is your name?” Celestia asked.
The Pegasus said, “My name is Cadance. I don’t know what’s happening to me. I just talked to a mare about the true meaning of love and I said her way was not the right way, and then I woke up here.”
“Well, Cadance, you have proven yourself." As the Princess of the Sun said this, something magical appeared on Cadance's head.
The other mare asked, “What do you mean?”
Celestia pointed with her hoof to Cadance’s forehead.
Cadance felt the horn on her head.
She then looked at the Princess of the Sun and said, “I’m an alicorn?”
“Yes, and I will send a chariot to the town that you live in,” said Celestia, “and it will bring you to Canterlot for your coronation. We will tell all of Equestria that there is a new princess.”
And then Celestia woke up. She saw her court wizard and Clover the Clever and then said, “We’ve got work to do.”
The coronation of Princess Cadance went smoothly and she spread her love to all of Canterlot, but she noticed that Celestia seemed lost in her heart. Princess Cadance decided she would ask her about it later.
Five years passed.
The sun rose and woke up Sunset Shimmer. It was the day of her test exam for the School for Gifted Unicorns. If she failed to pass, she didn’t know what she would do. All of her hopes and dreams would be lost if she failed.She was looking for a book she was studying before she fell asleep. Somehow, she had misplaced that book.
“Breakfast!” Her mom called.
She found the book. It was titled The Complete Work of Magic, Book 26.
“Coming!.” she called back.
After breakfast, Sunset and her mom went to the School for Gifted Unicorns.
The School for Gifted Unicorns looked more like a wizard’s tower with white stones which made it sturdy. It also had golden roofs. In a way, it was a wizard’s tower because Starswirl the Bearded made it. The council of Canterlot saw a new way to use the building after it was made by turning it into a school for gifted unicorns.
After going through the open gate, they approached the main office. The mare at the desk look up and said, “Oh, Clover the Clever! what brings you here?”
“I’m bringing my daughter to the testing exam,” she said.
“I heard that the test is hard,” the pony at the desk said while handing over the papers.
“You heard right. The new court wizard is trying to make sure the students have more cutie marks, so the test is to challenge the students’ talents.”
Sunset Shimmer finished writing her name on the paper and handed it to the pony at the desk.
Then the pony at the desk said, “Head up the stairs and wait for your name to be called.”
Sunset and her mom made their way to the tower staircase.
As they entered the waiting room, they saw another pair, a colt unicorn and his mother. The reason there weren’t a lot of other ponies there was because the test was brutal and the magic they taught was next level and very complicated, so the unicorns needed to have perfect scores on the test which did not always end well.
Sunset looked at the pony that was there for the test. He had a green coat with blue and turquoise stripes in his mane and tail. His eyes were red, and his horn didn't look normal. Most unicorn horns are straight, but his was curved to a sharp point, and if he were to use it as a horn, then it could surely pierce through acoat.
"Hello?" said Sunset with a smile. "My name is Sunset Shimmer."
The colt turned and said, "Hello, my name is Crystal Shade."
He gave her a smile that made her uncomfortable and she said, "Are you new here?"
As she looked up at his horn, he chuckled and said, "What makes you say that?" He laughed and Sunset glared at him. He recovered from his joke and said, "I'm sorry. You just cracked me up. To answer your question, yes, my mother and I just arrived last month."
Sunset lost her glare and said, "Well, welcome to Canterlot. Seeing as you’re here, you are probably going to get your cutie mark, right?" He nodded his head.
"Well, good luck with that," said Sunset as she heard her name called by a voice behind the door. She and her mom walked to it.
Meanwhile, at Canterlot, the Princess of the Sun decided to have afternoon tea and cake, She invited Princess Cadance to join her. While they were eating and talking, a loud explosion caught their attention. They looked up and saw a magical rainbow wave. Then, a second explosion erupted, this time coming from one of the towers in the School for Gifted Unicorns. The tower had flames in the magic and bright light, and seeing this, Celestia acted quickly. She spread her wings and flew to the tower.
An hour later, Sunset Shimmer’s name got called. She and her mom walked to the door that led to the staircase to the testing room. As she walked up, she saw a colt unicorn with a light blue coat. He was crying on his way downstairs. She guessed that he had failed to pass. She hoped that she didn’t end up like him. She finally reached the door and pushed it open. She saw one stallion and two mares, all holding clipboards. She walked to the center of the room and her mom stood by the open door. One of the mares said,
“Bring in the egg.”
A pony came in with a cart full of hay, and in the hay was her test. It was a phoenix egg.
Sunset Shimmer was not prepared for this but she had to succeed. If she didn’t, she didn’t know what she would do.
She tried casting a heat spell because phoenixes are known as the sun birds and she figured they needed heat to hatch, but when the magic faded away, the egg had not hatched. She tried several other spells; a levitation spell, a cold spell, and even a fire spell, but still the egg didn't hatch. She was about to give up, but then a loud explosion sounded and a magical rainbow wave appeared and filled up Sunset Shimmer with ten times the limit of her normal reserves. She could not control it and the entire tower blew up with her magic. Flames shot out and burned for several seconds before dying down. Soon, the flames disappeared. Sunset Shimmer opened her eyes and saw what was left of the room. Fire cinders were on the floor and the walls, as well as broken glass. But next to her, a baby phoenix was looking at her. But she didn’t notice it, for she is looking at her mom’s burned body. “MOM!” she cried, galloping to her mom’s body. “Please, mom! Please don’t be dead!” As she looked at her mom’s burned body, the floodgates broke open and her tears flowed freely down her face.
The teachers judging her exam had been saved by Princess Celestia And the princess was saddened by Clover the Clever’s death, so she made funeral arrangements for her best friend. As she looked at Sunset Shimmer, Celestia saw her cutie mark. It was a red and yellow sun and Celestial knew that Sunset Shimmer would forever blame herself for the death of her mom.
Far away, in the middle of the garden maze, several cracks appeared the statue of Twilight Sparkle. Smoky shadows began pouring out of the cracks. Through one of the cracks, a venom-purple eye glowed.
Twilight tried to move but she could not, so she used the shadow in the corner to see what was holding her and she saw her petrified stone state. She knew it would be nearly impossible to break out but she also knew that the spell was starting to shatter. She figured it would take nine years to fully shatter, so she used a spell that she had learned from years of study of her father’s book of shadow spells. She brought her conscience back to her stone body and sent several black wisps to all the shadows in Canterlot and she also sent four of them to possess empty suits of lunar guard armor to come to her aid in case everything went south.
Three days later, the funeral of Clover the Clever took place. All in attendance knew her to be the founder of friendship magic, the most powerful magic in Equestria, as well as a great friend to the Princess of the Sun. It was raining and so the unicorns conjured umbrellas with their magic while the earth ponies and pegasuses had to hold actual umbrellas to keep dry.
Celestia noticed Sun Blast and his daughter with the phoenix on her back. She was crying openly. Clearly, she was mourning her mother.
The Princess of the Sun said her goodbyes then walked up to Sunset and said,
“I’m so sorry for your loss. If it makes you feel any better, I know what loss feels like, so if you need to talk, my door is always open to you.”
Sunset didn't say anything, but her father said,
"Thank you, Princess, but I think my daughter and I will need a few days to adjust to my wife being gone."
As they talked, the other ponies went back home. Sun Blast and Sunset then went back to their home as well. As for Celestia, she turned around and saw Cadence.
She and the Princess of Love remained silent for several minutes. Then Cadence said, "Auntie, you seem relaxed about this."
Cadence had claimed the title of Princess of Love because she could make an arguing mare and stallion stop bickering simply by walking to them and casting a mending spell. The two ponies would forget the argument and go about their day.
Cadence started to look at Celestia as an aunt because, in her old town, when her parents were away, she would go to her aunt and uncle, and they treated her like family. Until recently. But Celestia was always there for her when times got tough.
Celestia responded, saying,"I have dealt with this loss before."
Cadence, with a concerned and questioning look, asked, "What do you mean by that?"
The Princess of the Sun sighed and said, "It’s a long story that happened several years ago."
The Princess of Love said, "Do you want to tell me the story in a place that less crowded?"
Celestia nodded her head and said, "Meet me at the Canterlot gardens."
With that, he Alcorns headed towards the Canterlot Gardens.
As they trotted away, a black wisp with purple eyes peered at the two Princesses and saw where they were going.
A couple of hours after entering, the Canterlot Gardens started to become a hedge maze. The two Princesses of Equestria trotted through them, one listening hard as the other recounted a night at the castle of the two sisters.
"So, you have a second niece that is encased in stone and she will only come out on a certain event?" With a look of concern, she continued, "And you don't know what kind of event will free her?"
Celestia sighed and said, "Yes, I know it sounds crazy, but Starswirl knows things that we don't know. I was a mess when it happened, but I believe in him. I just hope she is in a talking mood when she is released. The last time I saw her, she was mad, and not only that, she had become a tall shadow mountain with purple venom eyes. Who knows what she could of done in that state! I was so full of dread. I think it comes from her father."
After a few minutes of silence, Cadence asked, "What was she like before that?"
The Princess of the Sun said, "Well, she was kind of like you, but more into books. She also meditated like her mother, and from my own dreams that she visited, we would just talk. Then Luna would say it was time. I miss the good times." She started to tear up and Cadence placed her wing on Celestia; to comfort her.
Sun Blast and his daughter were with her fire bird named Philomena. Sunset went upstairs and, once they were in her room, the phoenix flew to its bird perch. Sunset went to her bed and cried into her pillow.
Back downstairs, Sun Blast walked over to a picture of him and Clover the Clever and said, "How would you handle this?"
A few hours later, Sun Blast was making breakfast, Sunset’s favorite oat pancakes. He remembered that she loved them, but he couldn't remember how to make them, so he bought a cookbook. He was confident that he was not going to burn the pancake as he flipped one to the other side. Then he was ready to call his daughter.
Meanwhile, up in Sunset’s room, all was not well.
"You killed her. This is your fault. If you had not become so fixated on getting your cutie mark, she would still be alive and you would still have a mom."
This dark voice continued to tell her that she was to blame. She started hearing the voice the day after the funeral and it wouldn't stop telling her dark lies. It was like somepony was inside her head. She planned to tell Celestia about it on the day she started school.
Back at Canterlot, in the hedge maze, Twilight was asleep, dreaming.In her dream, she saw her mom. Twilight wanted to go to her, but she knew it was a dream, so she said, "Mom, are you trying to contact me in the dream world?"
Luna looked up at her daughter and said, "Twilight, I don't have much time. I know you are trapped too.but I ask you to claim your birthright when you break free. Go to the far north, beyond the border of Equestria and find your father."
"But who is my father?" Twilight asked.
“I'm sorry, my daughter, but I'm running out of time. Just remember, go far north and find the umbras.”
As Luna said this, the dream faded away and Twilight woke up to the sound of snapping twigs, telling her that someponies were close.
Twilight had to act quickly and, using her magic, cast an illusion spell so that those who came upon the statue would only see it the way it was.
Celestia and Cadence walked through the hedge maze.
"So," the Princess of Love said, "just to get this straight, your sister became Nightmare Moon?"
"Yes," said Celestia. "I noticed how you looked at me at the coronation, and after hearing what your magical ability was, I knew I would have to come clean sooner than later."
As they walked, the Princess of Love said, "You're worried about Sunset?"
The Princess of Sun remained silent for a few minutes of their walking, but finally Celestia said, "Her mood troubles me, for this is not the first time something like this has happened. I was blind to it the first time, but I learned my lesson and I won't let Sunset suffer, so I will be there if she needs me."
Cadence wanted to say something, but couldn't because the Princess of Sun said, "We're here."
In the middle of the Canterlot hedge maze was the statue of Twilight. The Princess of Love started to get a feeling of dread, but it was not the kind of dread you have when you’re feeling down. This dread feeling is something way worse, like how you’d feel if all happiness, love, and compassion was just gone.
"You feel it, don't you?" Celestia said. "The dread, loneliness, hate, and inpony existence?"
"I have never felt this much negative emotion in one pony," said the Princess of Love. "Tell me the truth. Is there any hope for your niece?"
Celestia simply said, "I thought that rain boom in the sky was the event I was waiting for, but it appears that the rain boom only brought misery and death. Clover the Clever paid the price, and her daughter is in a hard place."
With those words, the Princess of Sun broke down in a full cry, one tear after another pouring down her face. Then, to her surprise, she felt an embrace, and Cadence said, "You were alone for so long, but no longer. I promise to be there for you no matter what happens."
The two were in this hug for a good two hours before Celestia broke the embrace. "Thank you, Cadence," she said. Then, Cadence and Celestia spread their wings and flew towards Canterlot castle.
In the middle of the night, Twilight finally dropped the spell that hid the cracks on her statue. She said, ”Well, I will need a better warning than a snapping twig.”
Her stone horn glowed with green, purple, and black magic. It started going inside the hedge maze. This spell would tell her if somepony was in the hedge maze, where they were, and, if needed, they could be delayed by having the maze change, making it harder to reach the area she was in.
Meanwhile, at Sun Blast’s house, Sunset kept turning from one side of her bed to the other.
In Sunset’s dream, she saw the most terrifying thing. It was Canterlot castle going up in flames and the streets of the capital city flooded with bodies of ponies. She saw an empty armor army marching over the piles of ponies, and she thought they would see her, but they didn't.
"No," Sunset said in her sleep. "Not like this.”
"Sunset, are you alright?" a voice said, but she did not see who it was.
Then Sunset saw a cloaked pony, but it looked like this pony was the leader of the Invaders of Canterlot. She heard the mysterious voice again telling her to wake up, and she did.
On the other side of Canterlot, Crystal Shade was asleep when all of a sudden a strange glow woke him up.It was his horn. Before he knew it, his mother came in. She had a curved and sharp horn, and she had a turquoise coat with a green mane and tail. Her eyes were yellow and her cutie mark was of a camouflage blanket. But her horn was glowing black just like his. She said, "You know what this means?"
"No, what does it mean?" Crystal Shade asked.
Snow Trail just face hoofed and said, "Of course you don't know, you are too young to know what it means. She looked at him seriously. “A royal umbrum is trying to break out."
Silence filled the room while the sun rose.
Crystal Shade said, "What do we do now?"
His mother sighed and said, "Well, you go to school and I'll think of something, ok?"
Four shadow wisps went out and possessed the lunar guard armor. Four smoky legs formed and, in the helmet, there are two purple eyes. On the back of the armor, two smoky wings formed. All four possessed sets of armor looked the same.
The four sets of armor from the lunar guard made their way to Twilight’s statue in the Canterlot gardens. When they got there, the wisps that controlled the armor all bowed down. The shadow form of Twilight appeared and, on command, all the suits of armor went and found a place to put the armor. Twilight got surprised when she saw Warpath armor, and she smiled.
Sunset woke up. She was breathing very heavily and sweat was on her forehead. She looked at the pony that woke her and realized it was her father.
“Dad, what are you doing up here?"
"I saw you twisting and turning, and," her father paused for a couple of seconds then said, "I want to know - were you having a nightmare?"
Sunset thought about it and said, "Yes, and it was terrifying. Like, it showed me all the worst things that have yet to happen."
She told her father all that she saw in her nightmare. Her father listened to her, and when she finished, he said, "Sunset, I think we should go to Celestia and tell her about your nightmare."
Celestia got up from her bed and started to walk towards the Canterlot kitchens. As she walked, she bumped into the captain of the Solar Guard. Red Dawn was a yellow Earth pony. His mane and tail were red mixed with blue and his eyes were brown. He straightened his armor then looked at the pony he had bumped into.
"Princess Celestia! I'm sorry about that!"
The Princess of the Sun just look at him and said, "Why are you sorry? It was an accident. I'm sure you didn't mean to bump into me. If you were watching where you were going, I'm sure you would have stopped."
"Well, of course. I just-" He tried to finish his sentence, but Celestia didn't give him the chance. "There is no need to be red around me," she said. And before he realized it, he was blushing. To keep her from teasing him, he said, "I noticed last night you and Cadence flying back from the Canterlot gardens. Does this mean...?"
Celestia sighed and said, "She knows all about that night."
Red Dawn gave a serious look and said, "So this means that there are three ponies who know the secret?" The Princess of the Sun nodded her head.
Red Dawn said, "I better get back to my duties. But I think you should know that there is a new recruit aiming for my job."
He showed her the recruit folder, and Celestia said, "Shining Armor."
Red Dawn said, "Yes, and I saw him looking at Princess Cadence with dreamy eyes." Celestia rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, ponies today, I tell ya."
The captain of the Solar Guard said, "Well, I do believe the Princess of Love is waiting for you in the Canterlot kitchens?"
"Oh, right," said the the Princess of the Sun. "I guess I got lost in conversation." And with that, she started making her way to the kitchens.
Red Dawn continued his duties, but he felt guilty because of his brother. So, he tried to keep away from Celestia. He knew she had the hots for him, but he didn't want to make his brother feel like garbage. What made things worse was that he actually liked the Princess of the Sun too, but he would never tell her.
Meanwhile, at Canterlot’s School for Gifted Unicorns, Sunset and her father sat in the court wizard’s office. They were on one side of the desk and on the other was an elderly unicorn stallion with a white coat and a blue mane and tail. His face held a concerned look because they had just told him about Sunset’s nightmare.
"So, Miss Sunset, were you in the dream or were you just an observer?"
"I'm think I was the observer in that nightmare," she said, a little confused at the question.
Then her father said, "Look I'm worried about my daughter and I just want to know what is happening to her."
The court wizard said, "You're right to be worried about her dream. I think Sunset is connected to the dream dimension. It is a place that only the ponies Luna and Twilight could reach. Unfortunately, I myself have never seen this dimension, but there have been three books written about it."
The court wizard lit up his horn and POOF! Out of thin air, three books appeared. Sunset and her father looked through them all. One was titled Magical and Dream Theories by Starswirl the Bearded. The second title was The Way to Tell the Difference Between Nightmares and Prophecies by Luna Moon, and the last book that Sunset held was purple, and the title was The Effect a Dream or Nightmare Can Have on a Pony’s Psyche by Twilight Sparkle.
"Can we borrow these?" asked Sunset.
"Well, you are the personal prodigy of Celestia," said the wizard. He continued with a serious look, saying, "Yes, but under one condition. You must bring them back the way they are. That means no food on them and no ripped pages. Keep them in the condition they are in right now."
Both Sunset and Sunblast said, "Yes."
The wizard said, "Good. Now, Sunblast, you can take the books. Sunset, you better get ready for the visitors that are coming."
"Wait, what?" Sunset said. "Who is coming? Is this because I missed a week of mage study?" The wizard did a face hoof and said, "Curse my age. Well, to put it bluntly, Canterlot is hosting the Equestria History City Tour, which means that all the other schools in our nation are going to have a field trip to Canterlot to see our museums of history and our gardens. You get to help the fillies and colts who get lost in the maze."
Up in Cloudsdale, the pegasus city of the sky, there was a light blue pegasus filly with a rainbow main and tail. She had maroon eyes and her cutie mark was a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt. Her name was Rainbow Dash.
“Come out!” said the staff pegasus. But Rainbow Dash said, Oh, come on! I don't want to go down to Canterlot to see history. I want to race! In fact, I bet I could beat this whole class if I wanted to." If she did, though, the bullies would pick on Fluttershy, the only pony friend she had in Cloudsdale.
Fluttershy was a butter yellow pegasus filly with a pink mane and tail. Her cutie mark showed three butterflies who looked shy.
"Is that everyone?" the staff pegasus asked. "All right, before we go down, we need to go over the rules. First off, we need to have a buddy system." Rainbow was quick and zoomed over by Fluttershy. The staff pony saw it and continued, saying, "Don't get separated down in Canterlot. If you want to buy a souvenir, you’ll have to bring your bits because the school will not cover you." Then she decided to let Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stay together for she knew Rainbow would help Fluttershy. "So, who will be next to buddy up?" asked the staff pony.
Down at the Canterlot train station, the Ponyville group walked out. In the group was a white filly unicorn named Rarity. She had a stylish purple mane and tail, her cutie mark showed three diamonds, and her eyes were light blue. She was looking at the great design of Canterlot’s shops and homes, and in amazement, she said, "Oh, my my, the ponies here have great heart in designing their buildings with so much decoration! I can't wait for the day when I become a designer in other towns much like Ponyville."
"You know, it's just a building. It's not like it’s made of gold or, heaven forbid, diamonds," said her buddy Applejack, an earth pony filly with an orange coat, and a yellow mane and tail. Her mane and tail were tied into ponytails and an oversized cowboy hat sat on her head.
"Yes, yes, darling, but we're here and for the time being, I just want to live in the moment," Rarity said.
"Well, if you want us to get lost, then you’re the perfect pony to make that happen," said Applejack as she dragged Rarity by the tail away from the buildings.
Sunset, in the Canterlot gardens, said, "This is a statue of the great Lord of Chaos Discord, and believe it or not, he could rip through reality itself."
Both groups from Ponyville and Cloudsdale uttered a small, "Oh?" But Rainbow Dash said, "He doesn't scare me! Let me at him!" Sunset heard but ignored her.
The two groups moved on and soon Sunset’s job was done. Shining Armor took over leading the two groups.
Sunset started to walk back to her home but she saw four fillies heading straight into the hedge maze. She rolled her eyes, for it was her job to make sure no pony got lost. So she ran to them.
Before she could stop them, they went deep into the hedge maze and she lost them. She then wandered in the maze herself, hoping to find them.
"Rarity, why in the world are we following?" asked Applejack.
"Hush, darling." Rarity said. "I'm being expired by, well, I don't know what it is, but I’m sure it can help me to be more inspired, and I think it went this way."
The farm pony said with a worried look, "Well, I hope you know a spell to get us out of here because I think you got us lost."
Before Rarity could say anything back to her buddy, she and Applejack entered the part of the maze where Twilight’s statue was and before the farm pony knew it, Rarity was appreciating the lifelike statue. But Applejack was getting uncomfortable just looking at it.
"Uh, Rarity? I don’t think we belong here." She continued, saying, “And I don't like that statue, so do you think you can stop admiring it?" Rarity gasped and said, "What? It’s just a statue of an Alicorn filly. And why would princess Celestia keep a good statue from the public? I mean, it’s not like..."
But she stopped suddenly, because she started to feel the dark and stormy emotions that were coming from the statue.
Rarity said, "I think it would be wise to move along now." And with that, the two fillies ran back the way they came. But in the shadows, two purple venom eyes were watching them.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy where following a pony with an unusual look on his face. He looked very worried.
They followed him, but not too close, for if he saw them...well, Rainbow hated to think of the punishment she and Fluttershy would get. They were not supposed to be this far from the group. Rainbow suddenly stopped, because the pony known as High Blood had stopped.
The place where he stopped was unusual. They were in front of a building with words above the door that said Canterlot Catacombs, but he wasn't going into them. Rather, he was talking to another pony. This other pony spoke in a French accent. Both Rainbow and Fluttershy remained silent and listened to the conversation.
"This is just great! We lost the only thing that could stand up to an invasion! So now what?" exclaimed High Blood.
"There's no way that Celestia did it," said Quiz Lamoni, "and there's no thieving pony. They’re too busy grabbing useless, shiny Items in museums." He thought for a second and continued."But we got some weird reports in several smaller towns; someponies complaining about nightmares."
Most likely on the same night the armor suddenly disappeared. High Blood thought about it. snap
Without warning, Fluttershy accidentally stepped on a twig from the hedge. High Blood and his companion started to walk over to where the two pegasuses were, but Rainbow Dash thought quickly and grabbed her friend, bolting away. They got several miles away before slamming into Applejack and Rarity in the maze. Rainbow Dash was the first to shout, "Hey! Watch where you’re going!"
Applejack promptly replied with, "Don't you pegasuses know to look to make sure you don't go crashing into other ponies?"
Rainbow retorted, "Not when I’m flying so fast I can't see! When I'm going that fast, everything becomes a blur! So you tell me when you go as fast as me and manage to not see things in a blur! You call me when that happens!"
But as Rainbow helped Fluttershy up from the ground, she realized that she had gotten her and her friend completely lost.
"So, do you know how to get out of here?"
Applejack said, "I was trying to figure that out myself. Do you think you could just fly up and point out the way to the exit?" Rainbow scratched her head and said, "Yeah, about that, I used a lot of my magic for my dash and for carrying another pegasus." She used her wing to give Fluttershy a pat on the back as Applejack helped Rarity. Applejack said, "But I thought you pegasuses could move clouds and manipulate the weather and fly into the sky with no problem?"
Fluttershy replied, "Well, the adult pegasuses can, but as fillies, we have a limit to our magic. I mean, it would be like me asking you to do all the spells that an adult unicorn could do"
"Well, went you put it that way," said Rarity. "I didn't think to see it that way."
Then Fluttershy continued, "We pegasuses need to learn the techique used by the adults." Then the yellow pegasus went to hide behind Rainbow’s back.
Applejack said, "Well, I guess we should walk back together."
As soon as they got out of the area, they became even more lost. A couple of seconds later, Sunset made it to where the four fillies had crashed into each other and saw no ponies there, so she made her way to where Applejack and Rarity ran out and came to where the statue of Twilight would be.
She entered the clearing and saw a couple of statues she did not recognize.. She was wondering who these ponies were and why they were hidden away, but she sensed a feeling of dread in the air and she didn't like it. She saw the statue of Twilight. How did she know that name? She read the plaque on the base of the statue.
"Well, it looks like they’re not here, and I don't blame them. I mean, who in their right mind would stay here around all these creepy statues?" She then started to walk out, back into the maze.
However, as soon she got into the maze, the world got dark really quickly, and it wasn't long before she was in complete darkness. Sunset lit up her horn and saw six sets of armor that she had never seen before. They looked like Celestial Solar Guard armor, but with a color mixture of dark purple and dark blue, a small highlight of silver, and on the chess piece where the sun would usually be, there was a full moon.
Sunset tapped on the armor lightly, but as soon as she did, all six of them suddenly started pouring out smoke from inside, smoke that took the former of a pegasus. Sunset looked into the helmet of the armor she had tapped on. There was no pony inside it, but instead, there glowed two purple venom eyes which stared at her. She backed up quickly and the smoke suits of armor drew their swords and prepared to attack her. She tried to run away and out of the maze, but her exit was cut off by a wall of bones of ponies. She backed away from the wall even more quickly than she had backed away from the smoke suits of armor, for in the wall of bones were many pony skulls with the same purple venom eyes glowing magically in the skulls sockets.
Sunset used her defense magic, creating a ball of fire and shooting it at the smoke suits of armor. The smoke cleared and the suit that got hit collapsed into a pile of regular armor. She prepared to cast an ice spell, but stopped because the other suits of armor were backing away as if they were commanded to. Then, from the area she had walked out from, she saw a cloaked figure emerge.
"Who are you!?" she yelled, but the cloaked figure just zoomed by Sunset. She turned around and saw a dagger poking out from the bottom of the figure’s cloak, dripping with blood. She then looked down and saw that her side had been gouged by the dagger. The cloaked figure started to remove its hood, but then, quite suddenly, Sunset woke up, sweating profusely. She knew she had been having another nightmare.
Sunset then remembered the reason she was out there in the first place and she continued her search for the four fillies that had gotten lost.
As soon as Sunset got out of the area filled with shadows, Twilight said to herself, "So, Celestia has a prize pupil. Oh well, it does not matter. Be assured, Sunset Shimmer, we will see you again.." And she lit up her horn and the magic aura went over Warpath’s ax. Twilight did a magic scan on the ax, but it was just an ax with a disintegration spell on it. She felt that if she were to hold it, she would be gone forever. However, the magic that had cast the spell on the ax seemed to be similar to the magic of an Umbrum.
It was long search, but Sunset finally found the filies. She walked up to them and said, "So, what was this about?" The first to speak was Rarity. "Well, I believe it's my fault, for you see, I thought I saw something and chased it into the hedge maze. But I ended up getting myself and my friend lost."
Then Sunset look at the pegasus with the rainbow mane and tail.
"We were acting on a dare, and it was stupid, and before we knew it, we were lost," said Rainbow Dash.
Sunset looked at the pegasus, not believing her story, but it didn't matter. She took a deep breath and said, "Well, if you’re done playing and being daring, I will bring you out of the maze and back to your school group."
The four looked at her, confused. It was Fluttershy who said, "How are you going to do that? Even with your horn, you couldn’t lift us all out of the maze."
Sunset smiled and lit up her horn. A bright yellow light started to emit from the horn, flowing in a line along a path. The four fillies said at the same time, "Wow."
Then Sunset said, "This light will bring us out of the maze."
The five fillies began to make their way out of the maze, following the magical yellow line.
After they had been walking for a couple of minutes, Applejack said, "Good thing you found us, because I think Rainbow and Rarity got us even more lost than we already were, and the last thing I wanted was to stay lost with Rarity."
Sunset responded with "Thank you." She glanced at Rainbow and continued,, "I think Rainbow Dash was lying to me when I asked her why she and her friend were back there."
Applejack replied, "Of course she was lying. First off,I know when somepony is lying. Seriously, who goes into a maze to settle a dare? I mean, who does that? But also, she did tell Rarity and me why they were out here, and it certainly wasn’t to settle a dare." Sunset smiled as they continued walking through the maze.
When they finally got out of the maze Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy saw two Solar Guards waiting for them. Sunset and Rainbow were deep in conversation as they exited the maze, but they stopped when they bumped into the other three fillies. Sunset looked more closely and saw one familiar Guard. "Hi, Shining Armor,” she said, “how was the museum?"
Shining Armor was a white unicorn teenage colt with a blue, light blue, and dark blue streaked mane and tail. His eyes were light blue and his gold Solar Guard armor hid his cutie mark.
He replied, "Fine, but Cloudsdale and Ponyville are each missing two ponies. And Celestia is waiting for you to start your weekly task."
Sunset exclaimed, "Oh! I completely forgot! I saw these ponies going into the Canterlot hedge maze, and I thought they might get lost, so I went in to get them out." She then turned around and said to the fillies, "I hope to see you all in the future."
The four fillies hugged Sunset. When they broke the embrace, Sunset lit up her horn. It glowed brightly, and then poof she was gone.
"Show off," said Shining Armor.
"Wow, she must be getting very advanced lessons for a unicorn," said Rarely.
"You don't know the half of it," said Shining Armor. "She is Celestia’s prize pupil and she’s in the Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns. They teach really advanced magic there." Then, for a moment, Shining Armor looked on with guilt and a little hurt in his eyes. He wiped the tears that had started to come out and said with a sniff, "She has a rough life, and I think it will only get rougher. But she is my friend, and by the looks of it, she has four more friends?"
"Well, yeah, who wouldn't want to be her friend?" exclaimed Rainbow Dash with a confident grin.
"Well, I suppose your classmates are getting worried. We will bring you to them." They started walking towards the train station.
Back at the entrance of the Canterlot hedge maze, Crystal Shade walked into the maze. As soon as he walked in, he felt the umbrum magic pulsing. He knew he had to tell his mom. He quickly walked out and teleported back to his home.
In the middle of the night, Sunset was busy reading after her first lesson from Celestia. They had a chance to talk and she told the Princess of the Sun about her nightmare. Her teacher’s first task to Sunset was to learn all she could about the dream realm. And her homework on magic was to study and read these books about dreams. She started with the book by Starswirl the Bearded. It was tiring, to say the least, but her father soon came up with her supper, daisy sandwiches.
Back at Crystal Shade’s home, his mother had just come inside. Crystal Shade hugged her and said, "Did you figure out a plan in case things get out of hoof?"
"No,” Snow Trail replied. “I don't even know where this Royal Umbrum is."
Then Crystal Shade said, "I think I know who the Royal Umbrum is. I think it could be King Sombra, and I think he is inside the Canterlot hedge maze."
His mother looked at him questioningly, and did a magic scan. She then said, "No, you didn't find Sombra, but you did find his heir. We need to wait for the heir and answer if they call.
Ten years before nightmare moon eclipse.
Twilight misjudged how long it would take to break free, but it finally began happening. One final crack made its way to connect to another crack and crunch! As soon as that final crack connected, all the cracks glowed at once, a beam of light shot into the sky, and the stars grew brighter.
Then, four more beams of light went up into the night sky, caused by magic crystals; one at Canterlot barracks, one behind the entrance to the catacombs, a third at the Canterlot museum, and the final one at Canterlot train station.
Twilight’s beam died down and an explosion of shadows surrounded her. She absorbed the shadow cloud, and said, "Yes, I am free, Celestia, I'm coming for you."
As she spoke, several empty suits of armor started to rise up, and along with them rose several piles of pony skeletal remains. The suits of armor and the skeletons started to come together, forming an army of undead ponies. They then began to walk out of the maze.
There was nothing but chaos as several ponies made their way to the barracks, believing them to be safe. As the group entered the building, they noticed that their attackers had left them. The group stood on the training ground. Eventually, the ponies saw a solar guard walking toward them.
"Oh, thank you for coming to lead us in! I think we lost them," said a purple unicorn with a yellow mane and tail.
But no response came from the guard. The unicorn became uneasy with the silent treatment and continued.
"It appears the capital city is overrun by hollow ponies and skeleton ponies. The only places not overrun are Canterlot castle, Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns, and this barracks. Do you think you could escort us to the castle? I mean, I would like to know more about the Solar Guard, but the barracks looks a little creepy with no torches to light it up."
Then, she saw the beam of light and recalled that the other places with this light had been hit hard by the hollow ponies and skeleton ponies. She turned to look at the group she had come with and saw them on the ground with arrows piercing their sides. In horror, she looked back to the guard she was talking to, lit up her horn and saw the guard face mainly on the chess. Terrified, she saw that the guard pony was dead, his throat sliced by a sword, his eyes rolled up. But she also saw that his coat looked very smoky, as well as his armor. But before she could do anything, she fell down. A sword had been plunged into her chest, and like the ponies in her group, she quickly died.
Red Dawn, Sunset, and Sun Blast made their way to the castle where they saw a lot of fighting going on. Red Dawn suddenly remembered something he had said the night before, something he was not supposed to say. Thinking back on it now, he was glad he had said it.
Last night at Sun Blast’s home
"Thanks for supper," said Red Dawn as he finished his sundae dessert.
"No problem. Just remember to do your own dishes and try not to break any of them! They’re specially made from Los Pegasus, and I don't want to have to go back and gamble some more.”
The two ponies laughed. As soon as they calmed down, they made their way to Sun Blast’s living room where Sunset was looking for a good book. Sun Blast looked at his brother and said, "Ok, what’s going on? You usually go back to your place right after dessert, but you’re hanging back tonight, and I want to know why that is."
For a couple of seconds, there was silence. Finally, Red Dawn broke the silence. "There’s going to be an enemy. I cannot tell you what I know about them, but I need to tell you two the truth about what I’ve gotten myself into."
Sunset and her father looked at him seriously, and Red Dawn continued. "Do you remember what we went through to get here?"
Sun Blast said, "Of course. We came from Rainbowfalls, home of the Equestria Fair Trade Event. That’s where we got enough bits to ride the train to Canterlot. When we first got here, you and I settled in the louder part of the city, but then you joined the Solar Guard and things got better. The next thing I know, we moved up to the common pony section of the city, and then we barely ever saw you because you didn't stay with us. I guess you had to go on Solar Guard duty a lot, but I did find your constant absence strange."
Red Dawn said, "There was another reason. You see, when I got the Solar Guard job, I was approached by two ponies. One was hiding under her cloak, but she had a commanding voice that made me want to follow her orders. The other was a pony named Quiz Lamoni. He was wearing a suit that probably should not be in the lowest part of Canterlot. They had helped us, but the help came at a price. They had seen how loyal I had been to my follow ponies and they wanted me to be loyal to them. Or, to be more specific, they wanted me to be loyal to their organization, The Order of Time. This order was aiming for one thing and that was to control all of ponykind. They planned on doing this with magic artifacts that are believed to have been owned by three very old, but very powerful, ponies. One of the artifacts is War Path’s axe and armor."
Sunset asked, "How do you know who is part of this order?"
Red Dawn said, "Each member has a cloak. And they also have this." He took out a silver amulet with an hourglass and old pony-ish symbols all around it. As Sunset tried to read the symbols, Red Dawn said loudly, "The power to vanquish enemies needs to be worshiped and feared."
"So, you got us here by getting in bed with this Order, is that right?" asked Sun Blast with a serious look.
Red Dawn sighed and answered, "Yes, but I never believed in them. I just wanted you to be happy, living the dream."
Sun Blast walked up to his brother and hugged him. Red Dawn knew then that all was forgiven. Sunset joined in the hug too.
Suddenly, several explosions and screams were heard. Red Dawn, Sun Blast, and Sunset ran out the door and towards the castle, the only place they knew they would be safe.
Present day
As the three ponies entered the noble section of the city, two hollow ponies saw them. The contacted Twilight and told her they had found the pony she had been looking for.
The princess replied to them, saying, "Set up a trap, but don't kill her. She needs to understand why I am doing this, and when she finally knows, Celestia will be broken." And with that order, the hollow ponies started to call together all of the other hollows that were in the noble section.
What made Canterlot castle safe was Cadence’s bubble shield of light, for if any hollow ponies or skeleton ponies tried to enter, the shadow magic that made them would be cut off and they would fall into a pile.
Inside the throne room stood Celestia, Shining Armor, Spitfire, and a pegasus stallion Solar guard named Flash Sentry. Flash Sentry had an orange coat and a blue mane and tail.
Shining Armor said, "They’ve killed who knows how many ponies and you want to call the E.U.P., the last resort?"
He couldn’t believe Spitfire had even suggested it. The Wonderbolt adjusted her goggles and replied, "You think it’s that easy? You know my Wonderbolts and I can take the flying hollow ponies out, but there are still a whole bunch of skeleton ponies, and when they notice all of the hollow ponies are gone, they will try to kill any ponies they find."
Shining Armor said, "But they’re so reckless, not even caring for the city they level! And it’s up to the princess and the nobles to get the city back in working condition, you ca-”
”Enough!” said Celestia, using the Canterlot voice.
The other three looked at the Princess of the Sun and she continued, saying, "Flash Sentry, fly to them with this scroll."
The stallion saluted and grabbed the scroll with the orders inside. He flew to the E.U.P. fortress.
Then Spitfire said, "Thank you, ma'am. I will have two Wonderbolts escort him." And with that she flew from the balcony.
Shining Armor, frustrated, said, "How can you do that? How can you just throw away your beloved subjects like that? They won't evacuate the ponies! They’ll just level the city! And you sit here and do nothing!"
For a couple of seconds, Celestia didn't respond, but then said, "A choice had to be made, and if we did it your way, it could end worse."
Then Shining Armor said, "I hope you made the right decision, because there is no turning back now. In the future, you should look for different solutions, because there is always a good choice and a bad one." Celestia looked up at the moon and a tear ran down her face.
Down at the nobles’ level, Blue Blood was hiding in his room inside his parents’ house, for he thought he was safe there. But the constant booms and the sounds of the fire burning suggested otherwise.
Blue Blood started to hear hoof steps walking up to his room. He was going to open his door but then jumped back, for the door was suddenly hit with an ax. As he watched the blade of the ax start to break through, he saw it had glowing orange runes on it.
After withstanding several hacks from the ax, the door began to give, and then it fell to the floor, revealing a mighty suit of silver armor and a helmet that had golden wings on the sides. The armor had shoulder plates with spikes, and the armor radiated with glowing orange runes with golden highlights. Inside the armor helm, two venom purple eyes and a smoky body could be seen. Blue Blood saw more closely the ax the hollow pony was using. It was a double-sided ax made from steel, and it had silver highlights and three runs on each blade.
Before the hollow pony could do anything, it got tackled but Blue Blood’s father, High Blood. But High Blood looked different than usual, for he was wearing black armor with glowing red runes, and he wielded two short swords. High Blood saw his son and shouted, "Get out of the house and head straight to the castle!" Blue Blood immediately ran out towards the castle.
The hollow pony used its rear armor hoofs, sending High Blood flying down the hallway. High Blood quickly got up and used his wings against his opponent. He tackled the hollow pony’s armor and they both went crashing through the walls of the house and out into the streets of the noble section. Both High Blood and the hollow pony got to their feet while, from inside the armor, the voice of Twilight spoke out. "Very clever. I was wondering why you didn't become a pile of ash, but now I see those runes on your armor protect you from harm. I think, though, that it is just a spell you placed on the armor. The question is, how long can it remain?"
"Long enough to beat you!" shouted High Blood as he flew up and zoomed by the hollow pony. As he passed, his swords cut the hollow pony’s coat. Then he flew around and charged again, this time cutting the hollow pony’s hind legs. After doing this several times, the hollow pony managed to get a hit in, causing High Blood to fall out of the sky. As the hollow pony went in for the kill with his ax, High Blood rolled out of the way, just in time. As the hollow pony began to charge again, boom!
They paused, having heard several blasts of magic and the clashing of swords. Both High Blood and the hollow pony turned and saw Sunset, Sun Blast, and Red Dawn making their way to the castle.
The hollow pony took his chance and used the ax to chop off High Blood’s left wing.
"Aug!!" shouted High Blood. Then the hollow pony kicked him to the center of the street, and as the hollow pony raised its ax, several skelton ponies appeared on the rooftops with bows and arrows.
They aimed and fired at High Blood. He managed to deflect two of the arrows but three of them found their target, one hitting him in the chest, two hitting him in the legs. High Blood looked at the War Path armor, used some kind of magic, and when it was done, lightning blue runes appeared on the ground right where he was standing.
Then High Blood heard a rumbling in the sky. A mixture of purple and light blue lightning bolts came down and struck High Blood. A cloud of dust appeared and then faded away. The War Path armor walked up to High Blood, who was covered in burns.
The pegasus grabbed the hollow pony’s armored leg but his foreleg started to disintegrate.
He said in a weak voice, "You will never win, and Celestia will not lose."
Then the War Path armor used the ax to choke High Blood, and the disintegration on his leg stopped. Then Twilight said through the hollow pony, "We shall see, but unfortunately, you will not see it." Then the hollow pony ran to help with the trap.
A ball of ice was fired at a crowd of armed skeleton ponies. When the ice ball hit the middle of the crowd, it blew up and several ice shards flew out, hitting most of the skeleton ponies in the vicinity. The bones of the skeletons that were hit turned into ice.
Then came a beam of heat which melted a path through the skeleton ponies. But two of the skeleton ponies were able to raise their spears. But Red Dawn ran out and cut down both of those skeleton ponies.
Sunset and her father then walked through, and Sunset said, "I think we are almost there."
Red Dawn replied, "You are correct. It's my job to know where the castle is." And then they saw it, Canterlot castle in all its glory.
But what they didn't notice was the rope that slowly moved on the ground towards them. It quickly wrapped itself around Sunset. She tried to yell, but the rope got tighter. Then, Sunset tried to focus her magic around her neck, loosening the rope and giving her the chance to yell, "Dad! Uncle! Help me!"
But the rope pulled her away so fast that all they heard her yell was “Dad” before she disappeared. They began to run after her.
Sunset saw that the rope was taking her somewhere, but she didn’t plan on finding out where. She teleported out of the rope, but she was low on magic. She needed to find a place where she could recharge her magic. Suddenly, a net was thrown on her and several hollow ponies ran to secure it. One of the hollow ponies placed a magic ring on her horn, a ring that cancelled out her magic. Sunset remembered reading about these rings. They were called Imprison Rings, for once they were put on, there's no way to take them off, unless some other pony takes it off.
When she saw the ring, it looked very dark. In fact, it looked like it was made of shadows.
Then, a mighty helm armor hollow pony walked up and a voice in the armor spoke, sounding as old as Sunset herself. The voice said, "Hello, Sunset Shimmer. I imagine you’re surprised?"
Sunset replied, "Yes, and who are you? I would like to know who is behind the cloak and why you are not killing me."
Sunset asked this with a brave face, and the hollow pony that was using the War Path armor laughed and said, "You should know by now. But you will see me soon enough." Then the armor turned around and ordered the skeleton ponies to make sure that no pony could come in, and when Sunset saw a hollow pony use a green crystal to draw a teleport circle, the runes started to make sense to her.
The hollow pony turned back to her and said, "See you soon, I will not kill you, this time." The hollow pony walked away.
If some pony didn't come soon, then she would certainly meet the pony that was attacking Canterlot.
Elsewhere, Red Dawn said to Sun Blast, "Brother, go and find your daughter. As for me, I am going to get help."
“You can’t just run away like this! Your niece needs you!" Exclaimed Sun Blast.
Red Dawn shouted, "And the last thing she needs is a dead father and uncle!"
After a minute of cooling down, Red Dawn said, "If I know anything about military tactics, then the enemy will be waiting for us and it will be a blood bath. But if one of us got some reinforcements, then we might have a chance of getting Sunset back alive."
Sun Blast nodded and went after his daughter, while Red Dawn ran into the castle.
As Sun Blast ran through the ruined streets of Canterlot, he started to slow down. He felt some magic residue in this area, and began to sniff the air. He thought to himself She must have used a teleporting spell. He reached inside his saddlebags and pulled out a magic powder, which he spread around him. As it fell onto the ground, it started to glow and form a line.
Sun Blast made sure his brother could find it by building up a small tower from a ruined building. Then he began to follow the glowing line.
He saw several skeleton ponies positioned at what used to be the Canterlot barracks, and in the front of the barracks entrance, he saw Sunset with a black ring on her horn and a net over her.
Four hollow ponies were also there. One of them was making a ground spell the old way, by drawing it. The progress was slow, but it was halfway done.
Then Sun Blast heard something far away. He recognized the sounds. It was the thundering horse shoes of the Solar guard. And then he heard his brother yelling, "Charge for Canterlot!"
Red Dawn appeared, drawing his sword. Three Earth ponies and three unicorns were there too, bearing torches. They approached the ruin of the barracks while two pegasus flew over it. Several skeleton ponies and three hollow ponies were there to meet them.
The two pegasuses dove down to pick off one or two skeleton ponies, and the Earth ponies took on three skeleton ponies, one on one. The skeleton ponies on the roof of the barracks let loose a barrage of arrows, but the three unicorns lit up their horns to make magical shields.
Once the barrage stopped, Shining Armor yelled "Fire!" The unicorns dropped their shields and fired several beams of magic at the skeleton ponies. Some of the magic beams missed, but others hit their targets, which collapsed into piles of bones.
Then Red Dawn got tangled with a hollow pony. He got the upper hoof, and the hollow pony lost its weapon. Red Dawn went in for the kill, stabbing the smoking shadow face. The hollow pony fell, crumbling into a pile of armor. Red Dawn just hoped they would be victorious.
Suddenly, another pony made its way out onto the battlefield and the Mighty helm armor went straight to Red Dawn with it ax raised.
Shining Armor jumped forward and tackled the hollow pony, then drew his sword trying to kill it. However, the hollow pony managed to block his attack using its ax. The hollow pony pushed the exhausted Shining Armor back, and then turned around to use its hind legs to kick him through a wall. Shining Armor lay on the ground, out cold.
As Red Dawn took down another hollow pony, he looked up and saw Shining Armor on the ground. The hollow helm standing over him started to raise its ax, but Red Dawn tackled it, causing them both to roll downhill. When they stopped tumbling, they got up and readied their weapons.
The hollow helm said in Twilight’s Canterlot voice, “You think Celestia will see you in the way your brother and niece see you? Well, you better think about that again.”
Red Dawn replied, “I know what I did. I lied to her and betrayed her trust. And truth be told, I don’t deserve to be Captain of the Solar Guard. But as the years went by, I got to know her, and I’ve seen her lose so much. I know she wants me, but I have always distanced myself from her when I should have gotten to know her and fall in love with her."
The hollow pony just yelled, “You don’t know anything! You don’t know what all of this destruction is about! You will die here, and Sunset will see Celestia in a different light when the E.U.P. flattens the City with their machines of war!”
As the hollow pony said this to Red Dawn, they swung their weapons at each other. Red Dawn easily dodged the ax swing then he sliced back. The armor swung its ax again and Red Dawn didn’t move fast enough. The ax cut off his shield hoof, which fell down to the ground. He struggled to get up, putting the bulk of his weight on his good front leg. The battle raged on for what seemed like hours. Red Dawn got a few good jabs in with his sword, but the hollow helm cut off both of his hind legs. He fell down again, and this time he did not get up.
He looked up to the hollow helm, expecting the killing blow, but the hollow pony just said, “It’s more satisfying that you can’t walk on your own, so I won’t kill you. I’m going to leave you here. They, however, will not be as nice.” As the hollow pony said this, several skeleton ponies appeared with spears and rusty old swords. Red Dawn knew that he is done for as the skeleton ponies came closer.
Meanwhile, Sunset watched as the portal neared completion. There was one symbol missing. As the hollow pony that was completing the final rune neared the end of his work, Sunset heard a scream that belonged to a pony who was either dying or being killed. Just then, the hollow pony completed the rune and all the runes glowed bright green together. The light became so bright that Red Dawn couldn’t see Sunset. Then, the light died down, and Sunset had vanished altogether.
On the other side, two hollow ponies walked up to Sunset and untied the ropes that bound her. They also took off the net, but they left the prison ring on her horn. They then went to block the only exit to the room, which looked familiar to Sunset. Sunset soon realized it was familiar because she had been here before. She was in the Canterlot hedge maze. A feeling of dread came over Sunset as she looked to where the statue of the alicorn stood. But it was not there. Instead, there were pieces of stone scattered all over the ground. She saw a mountain of shadow with two venom purple eyes looking at her. The shadow mountain began to shrink down soon took the form of a purple alicorn. The alicorn walked up to her. Sunset noticed that this pony was about the same size as she was.
The alicorn said to her, “Hello, Celestia’s prized pupil. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I wanted to talk to you.”
The battle at the barracks continued even after Sunset was gone. However, the hollow ponies and the skeleton ponies that were not fighting ran away. The hollow helm was still in combat with a Solar guard pegasus. The hollow helm was winning, but then Shining Armor woke up, shaking off the beating he had taken. He saw the fight ,and with a quick healing spell, he got to his feet and picked up his sword. He used his magical aura to levitate several pieces of loose debris, hurling one piece after another at the hollow helm.
Two pieces hit the hollow helm, doing some damage to the armor, but the hollow helm used its ax to destroy the other pieces of debris that had been flung at it. It then tried to run at Shining Armor, but Shining Armor slowed its progress by continuing to throw pieces of debris. The hollow helm finally got close enough to attack Shining Armor, but Shining Armor blocked the ax and threw more pieces of debris at it causing the hollow helm to be pushed back. Then Shining concentrated on two large pieces of debris with the goal of crushing the hollow helm. The debris came to the sides and tried to crush the hollow helm’s armor. “Slam! Slam! Slam!” Shining Armor used the two big pieces of debris to crush the hollow armor several more times before he was finally satisfied that enough damage had been done.
Then he let the debris to fall. The hollow helm was still standing, but barely. The hollow pony wasn’t gone entirely though. The pegasus that was fighting the hollow helm before Shining Armor had intervened went charging at it. The hollow helm managed to grab the pegasus’s leg and it slammed her to the ground.
The pegasus tried to get away from the hollow helm, but it was too late, for the ax came swinging down right in the middle of the pony. cutting him in half.
Shining Armor saw where the magic core was. He acted quickly, charging at the heavily damaged hollow helm and, using his sword, he cut the hollow’s head off. The armor collapsed into a pile of armor, but the black smoke coming up from the armor started to go straight to where the helmet had fallen. Shining Armor got there first and, using a Smith hammer, he destroyed the helmet.
The magic of the hollow helm faded away, leaving behind a crumpled pile of armor and he ax, which had lost its glowing orange runes.
Shining then took off to look for Red Dawn.
Shining Armor and what was left of the Solar Guard had searched for what felt like hours before one of the guards yelled, “Shining, over here!”
Shining Armor ran towards the voice of the guard. As he ran, he saw four other Solar guards, one unicorn, two Earth ponies, and one pegasus standing together. All had removed their helmets and placed them on their chests. At first, Shining Armor was confused at this. Then he saw in the middle of the group a pony he recognized as Red Dawn. But Red Dawn’s body had spears and rusty swords sticking out of it, like a porcupine’s spines. As he got closer, Shining Armor slowed down to a walk. He prepared to do the same thing as the others, removing his helmet. But a bloody hoof stopped him from doing so, and the weak voice of the captain said, “Shining Armor, it is good to see you.”
Shining lied, “It’s good to see you too,”
The captain laughed weakly and continued, “Let’s not fool ourselves. I know that I will die here. But the reason I stopped you from taking off your helmet is because I believe you have earned that promotion you have been asking for. Throughout the year, I have seen you care both about Canterlot and Celestia. So as my final act, I, “cough cough” Red Dawn of the Solar Guard and "cough cough" commanding captain, raise you Shining Armor to captain of the Solar guard "cough cough.”
As he took off his purple helmet and pushed it towards Shining Armor, Red Dawn spoke his last words. “Protect Equestria and beware the snakes.” With that, Red Dawn lost the color in his eyes.
With a heavy heart, Shining Armor used his hoof to close Red Dawn’s eyelids. Turning around, he saw the other four ponies. He said to them, “We’d better get someone to look at the big glowing purple crystal. And as he began walking toward it, the other four followed him, knowing that he was their captain now.
Shining Armor reminisced as he walked, remembering his first day with Red Dawn.
Flashback to ten weeks ago.
Shining Armor stood alongside three other ponies, all wearing leather brown armor that was used for training and never for combat. Each Solar guard had to go through this week of training, and Shining Armor was one of the best, at both magical training and all weapons training. No matter what weapon he used, Shining Armor was a master at using it. But the training was on hold, for the captain had said that Shining Armor and the other three needed to break for lunch. And truth be told, Shining Armor was getting a bit hungry.
His favorite spot was just outside the barracks where he could catch a glimpse of the Princess of Love. He went there for lunch, and when he saw her, Shining looked at her dreamily, gazing at her pink coat, her purple-tipped wings, her long mane.
He was so lost in her loveliness that he didn’t notice when his captain came up next to him.
Red Dawn threw a bucket of cold water on him, and Shining Armor yelled, “Yikes!” and, “Wow! That water is cold! Did you have it in a cooler!”
Red Dawn, controlling his laughter, said, “Nope, I got a unicorn to cool it down, but the fact that I got you of all ponies is the best thing about this!”
Red Dawn then offered a hoof up and Shining accepted it. Red Dawn said, “You should have fun once in a while.”
Shining Armor said, “One day, I will get even. By the way, when are you going to retire so I can get your job?”
They both laughed and Red Dawn said with a grin, “The only way for that to happen is if I go down in the heat of battle.”
Present day
“Well, you got what you wanted, retirement by death.” And Shining Armor shed a tear for his friend.
As soon Twilight said this, Sunset asked, “Who are you?”
For a couple of seconds, no one said anything, then Twilight said, “Of course she erase anything about me and my family. Celestia is always keeping others in the dark.” Then she looked at Sunset and asked, “Do you know how the ponies won the Battle of the Crystal Empire?”
Sunset gave a blank stare and said, “The Battle of the what now?”
Twilight looked at her and said, “How about Discord’s chaotic rampage?”
Again, Sunset gave her a confused look.
Then Twilight did a facehoof and said, “So Celestia refuses to let anypony know about the past! She is playing a dangerous game. I just hope you don’t fall in with her.” Twilight walked past her.
Sunset said, “I was wondering...why are you attacking Canterlot? It’s just not the pony thing to do.”
For a couple of seconds, Twilight said nothing. But then she said, “Equestria used to be a different place. A thousand years ago, ponies fought to survive one monster after another. This peace-loving land is one that I don’t recognize, so I thought I would put Canterlot in the kind of danger it was in back in the age that I am used to. It appears that all ponykind is doomed.” And with that, her horn lit up and consumed Sunset with its light.
Back at the barracks, Shining Armor walked towards the crystal. But the Sun Court wizard appeared in front of him. Shining asked, “Do you think it’s wise to destroy such a powerful and magical crystal?”
The court wizard responded. “From what we know, these crystal are what are keeping the skeletons and hollow ponies up and fighting. I would rather see these things destroyed. Who knows how many lives will be saved when these crystals are destroyed?”
“But aren’t you curious!?” asked Shining Armor. “Just think about it. An undead army for Celestia to command. I mean, if we found out how this magic works, we would not have to worry about threats of any kind.”
The wizard looked at him seriously and said, “Are you crazy? This kind of magic is god-like in its power. It would be impossible to achieve this kind of magic without a century of study. I don’t think the Princess of the Sun would risk her ponies like that anyway, so I will destroy this crystal whether you like it or not.”
Then the court wizard lit up his horn and four elemental balls appeared. One ball was of fire, another was made of ice. The third was a lightning ball, electricity bouncing off of it. The fourth was an earth ball with crystals inside of it. All of the balls headed to the crystal and detonated.
As the dust cleared, the court wizard said, “It is done. And now you and your ponies can go through the portal.” Shining was about to say something to the court wizard, but then a portal opened and his ponies ran into it, picking up the Captain of the Solar Guard’s helmet as they ran. Shining entered the portal after them with the court wizard following him.
Sunset was standing in a white void. She looked around and heard Twilight’s voice saying, “If you really want to know, then I will tell you.”
The void changed and suddenly Sunset was in the middle of a coronation party where she saw several ponies she didn’t recognize. But then she found one pony she did know. It was Celestia. Celestia was in her full glory, and next to her was another alicorn with a dark blue coat and a flowing blue mane and tail. The mane and tail appeared to contain a whole galaxy. Next to the adult alicorn was another younger, purple alicorn that Sunset recognized as Twilight. By the looks of it, young Twilight had just gotten crowned Princess of the Stars. But she had a look of disappointment on her face, for she saw that her mother and aunt were arguing again.
Out of nowhere, the voice of Twilight said “Celestia may have hidden the truth about Equestria‘s history.You notice that she enjoyed being the one in the spotlight? She paid little if any attention to my mom and me. She didn’t see the problem with how she acted, and the problem got worse and worse. Then my mom snapped and challenged Celestia by raising the moon over the sun. But Celestia used the elements of harmony and banished her to the moon.
My mom is still on the moon. That was also when I was imprisoned in stone.
But eventually, I broke out, and here we are, all thanks to Celestia.”
Then a bright light engulfed Sunset, and she found herself back at the Canterlot hedge maze. Sunset looked towards Twilight. The Princess of the Stars said, “Now you know about how much she keeps from you and all the other ponies. Do you really think you can truly trust her?”
Sunset was lost for words. She was about to answer, but a light suddenly appeared, bright as the sun. The light made its way in front of Twilight, then dimmed down. Princess Celestia was revealed, in all her glory, looking at Twilight with kindness, for she had believed she would not see her niece ever again.
*A few hours ago*
As Shining Armor and the court wizard walked down the halls, Shining said, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking. It’s just, so many ponies are gone now, and I was so angry that I just came up with crazy ideas. It was so stupid of me!”
The court wizard put is his hoof on Shining’s shoulder and said, “It is important to remember the fallen, but don’t linger on the past. Instead, look to the future.”
Shining looked at the wizard, who continued, saying, “I know what power does to ponies, but I don’t let that knowledge consume me. The very fact that you apologized for your actions speaks volumes about your character. We do what we think is best to help our Princess.” Then he removed his hoof and continued walking to the throne room. Shining quickly followed him.
When they arrived, they found Celestia there. She listened to what Shining Armor was telling her about the failed attempt to rescue her prized pupil. When Shining told her about Red Dawn’s fate, Celestia shed a tear.
Then her court wizard said to her, “While I was waiting by the crystal for Shining Armor, I did a magical scan. This is as powerful as you, Princess, so I grabbed it.” He levitated what was left of War Path’s helmet, and Celestia did a magical scan of her own. She recognized the alicorn magic surrounding it.
She called one of Spitfire’s Wonderbolts and said, “Tell the E.U.P. that I am canceling the written order. The Wonderbolt saluted and flew away.
Celestia then looked at Shining Armor and said, “You are right about the good and bad decisions. I want you to protect Cadence with what is left of the Solar Guard.” Shining Armor saluted and ran out with the other four ponies. But before he was gone from the room, he heard Celestia mumble, “Oh, Twilight, I will not fail you. Not again.”
Celestia also noticed that Sunset was there and looked at her very strangely. She started to think - how much did Twilight tell her? Did Sunset know the truth? her She refocused on why she there.
Celestia said joyfully, “Twilight, I’m so sorry about what happened to you. I want to be a family again.”
For a couple of minutes, Twilight said nothing. But then, Twilight responded.
”Are you serious? Why would I want to be a family with you, the mare that banished my mother to the moon?”
As she spoke, the darkness of the shadows wrapped around her and then became solid as steel. On her chest, an orange gem appeared.
She continued. “Or did you forget what you did? Because I didn’t! And you didn’t tell anypony about me or my mother! Oh and then I found out you didn’t tell anypony about the past, which makes me think you don’t want anypony to know about it. But I’m already giving little Sunset reason to doubt you.”
As she said this, her horn glowed with sickly green lightning. Thinking fast, Celestia used a bubble shield to block the dangerous spell. As an extra precaution, she placed a second bubble shield on Sunset. The Princess of the Sun dropped her shield and flew up into the air. Twilight followed her.
Back on the ground, Sunset thought, Is it true? Did Celestia do that? And if it is true, then what else has she been hiding?
The next thing she knew, her phoenix Philomena flew down to her. Philomena looked at her as if to say, why are you having doubts about Celestia? Sunset got up and said, “It may be true, what happened, but Celestia is still the ruler of Equestria, and I will not abandon my beliefs.”
As she said this, she dropped the shield spell. Her phoenix got her prison ring, and she felt her magic coming back. She got to work casting spells.
In the sky, the two Alicorns flew around Canterlot castle. Celestia fired magic bolts hoping to stun Twilight. But Twilight fired deadly elemental magic. Fire, ice, sickly green lightning, and dark blue lances. The Princess of the Sun’s plan was to try to outfly her, but every time she thought she had outflown her, she nearly got hit by an ice shard. She had to try to continue flying and firing stunning spells.
Down at Canterlot castle, Shining Armor and Cadence stood as Cadence held the shield of light spell, knowing that if she dropped it, the hollow ponies would go inside the castle and slaughter them; All the staff, all the guards that had survived, and all of the ponies that had managed to get here. As for Shining, he was helping anypony like Blue Blood, and Shining was surprised that he had made it across the battlefield.
Then he saw Cadence struggling under the spell. He approached and asked, “Is there anything I can do to help you?” The Princess of Love said, with pain in her voice, “No, I just need to be able to concentrate.
Shining knew she was losing a war in her mind, and he said “You actually need help.”
He and one other unicorn came together and connected their horns with the shield spell. Surprisingly, Shining Armor held the spell well, even better than his comrade.
Then a bright light appeared behind him, and on his blank flank, a cutie mark appeared. It was a purple shield with a pink star, and above it were three silver stars. Cadence then understood that it was his destiny to hold up the shield.
BOOM!!!
Cadence looked up and saw that Celestia was in trouble. She said to Shining Armor, “Can you hold up the shield around all of Canterlot?” He replied, “Yes, ma’am.”
Then Cadence flew up to Celestia with the knowledge that Shining Armor could manage the sheild wihtout her. Hold on, auntie, she thought.
Celestia was trapped by a binding shadow spell, and Twilight was about to deliver the final blow to her with two spells: the sickly green lightning spell and the spell of black flames. It would have been the end for Celestia, but a light blue lightning spell sped past her, combining which hit her green lightning spell and the black flame spell. The combined spells hit the train station. Then, the light blue lightning got absorbed by the orange gem on Twilight’s chest.
Twilight looked to where the attack had come from, and said, “Well, well, well. What do we have here? A pegasus that got her horn by spreading love. How sweet.” Cadence said, “Twilight, you don’t have to do this. You can be a better pony. Just stop this and get to know the world that you are new to.”
But Twilight’s form started to get smoky, and she said, “Of course you would say that! Tell me, do you like this peace-loving land, or are you curious as to who your parents are? I am curious about how much magic you have.
Twilight then changed into a dark shadow cloud with two purple eyes. Several shadow tentacles reached out and tried to grab Cadance. Cadance managed to get out of the way by using a teleporting spell. She then fired a stunning spell at the shadow cloud, but the spell just passed right through it.
Several purple bolts then zoomed by Cadence, and she got ready to throw a counter spell. But then she saw a whole bunch of Twilights, and the black shadow cloud was gone. Two of the Twilights announced, ”I, Twilight Sparkle, present the shadow cloning spell. I welcome you now to your doom.”
Then four of the clones used the sickly green lightning spell and three other clones used the black fireball spell. Cadence closed her eyes and concentrated.
All of the Twilights fired at the same time, which created a massive explosion. As the smoke cleared, there was Sunset with Celestia and Cadence in an orange fiery shield. As Cadence looked closer, she saw Sunset, but her body looked different, or maybe it was the new fire wings that made her look different.
Sunset looked up at Twilight, who had a surprised look on her face. Sunset said loudly, “You will not kill her. You need to let go of the past. If you continue this attack, I will stop you. I will stop you at any cost!”
Celestia flew back to where Sunset was. When she arrived, she saw Sunset working on some high level magic. Before her were four white, magical circles. One was formed around a shadow wisp and was keeping it imprisoned. The second magical circle was around her phoenix. The third was around her book of spells, and the fourth circle would be around, Sunset but her high level magic spell was not yet complete, for she had to connect each of the circles.
Sunset noticed Celestia when she landed, but she continued on with her work.
Then, the Princess of the Sun said, “Sunset, what are you doing?”
Sunset replied, “I’m making a spell that will help save Canterlot and clean up your mess!”
In that moment, Celestia realized that Sunset knew her secret, yet she didn’t want to kill her. Instead, she was doing her best to save the day.
Sunset finished. “That should do it. All that is left is for me to stand in the empty circle.”
Celestia asked, “Are you ok? You seem to be really focused.”
Sunset turned around and said, “After this is finished, we need to have a conversation about your sister and whatever else you’re hiding.” The Princess of the Sun nodded as Sunset walked into the empty circle.
One by one, each of the circles began glowing brightly. There was a bright yellow flash of light, and suddenly, Sunset looked different. Her mane and tail had a flow like Celestia’s, but in the flow, there was a magical flame coursing through, almost like electricity. On her back, two firey wings had appeared. She didn’t expect anything less from Philomena; she and her pet had merged together.
Sunset then said, “Let’s stop this violence.” And she took off to the sky as fast as lightning.
Twilight shook her head after her. Then her shadow clones faded away into a black dust, and the wind blew them away into the sky, leaving only one Twilight, the real Twilight..
She attacked, hitting Sunset then Cadence at lightning speed. Sunset and Cadence fell onto a cloud below, and Twilight flew up again, lighting up her horn with shadow magic to form a sword made out of black fire and sickly green lightning. For the first time, Celestia feared that she would not make it, so she closed her eyes and waited for the blow.
But it didn’t happen.
Did this mean Twilight was willing to bury the hatchet?
She opened her eyes to see Twilight’s magical blade blocked by another magical blade, except the other blade was glowing with orange, yellow, and white fire. The firey blade was being wielded by none other than Sunset.
Twilight and Sunset swung their swords several times, blocking each other’s strikes each time, until the magical swords shattered into a million pieces.
Twilight said to Sunset, “It seems we’re evenly matched in magical strength.”
Sunset asked, “Why are you doing this?” She looked up at Twilight’s horn, she saw it was glowing with a purple aura.
Twilight said, “Do you really think you can save Celestia and Canterlot?” She pointed up with her hoof, and Sunset looked up and saw that the stars had started to glow orange. Sunset then realized what she had done.
She flew down to Celestia and said, “Twilight is going to flatten Canterlot! I need you to come with me!”
Celestia nodded and flew with Sunset directly over the shield of light that was protecting Canterlot. Celestia and Sunset connected their horns. With their combined magic, they created an even more powerful second shield over the first one. It looked like the same shield that Sunset had made when Twilight had tried to kill Cadence.
As the magical shield blazed orange in the sky, the five stars came out. When each star hit the shield, the impact created an explosion as big as a mountain. Sunset grit her teeth as she screamed, “Hold together! Just hold together!"
Higher up in the clouds, Twilight’s face glowed with glee.
Cadence got up and asked, “What happened?” She looked down and noticed that Canterlot was gone, reduced to nothing but a cloud of dust.
Cadence looked at Twilight and yelled, “Was it worth it?? You’ve got your revenge, so what now? Are you just going to rule over Equestria or are you going to enslave us and trade us for bits? Why won’t you answer me!?”
Twilight replied, “This wasn’t about you, or Canterlot, or Sunset. No, it was about Celeste lying. And now that she’s gone, I can disappear. I will go look for my father and his ponies up North.”
Then Cadence looked down, and found reason to smile.“Well, it looks like you failed. Canterlot is still there.” Twilight glanced down and saw that Cadence was right; Canterlot was still standing.
Then Twilight saw Celestia, and in a blind rage, she charged at her at lightning speed, preparing a deadly spell of shadows.
Slash!
Twilight was hit with a magical sword, the same sword that Sunset wielded. She landed on a cloud then got up and used her hoof to feel her face. There was a deep cut on her cheek. She looked up at Celestia, Sunset, and Cadence.
”It doesn’t matter how many allies you have, Celestia, for I know when the time comes, my mother will not show you mercy!”
Cadence asked, “What do you mean by that?”
Suddenly, Twilight turned into her shadow form and zoomed up to the cloud line. When she broke through the clouds, her cutie mark spread through the sky.
As her cutie mark disappeared from the sky, two forks of lightning struck. One hit the crystal at Canterlot Museum and the second hit the crystal at Canterlot Catacombs. The crystals shattered into millions of pieces and suddenly, all the hollow ponies and skeleton ponies collapsed into piles.
Sunset landed on the Canterlot castle balcony and then fell to her side as a bright light shone from within her. Cadence, acting fast, went to catch her before she hit the ground. When the light disappeared, Sunset looked like the same unicorn she was, and her phoenix was lying on her back looking worried.
The Princess of Love then exclaimed, "Auntie! Is she…? You know?!" The Princess of the Sun used a scanning spell on Sunset. A smile spread over her face and she said, "She’s not dead. She’s just exhausted. That was a whole lot of magic she used, but she is still alive and that’s what’s important. She’ll be out of it for somewhere between 40 and 80 days. I know that’s a really rough estimate, but it’s my best guess for now. I'm surprised she lasted as long as she did! That was the highest level magic she could have possibly used! It’s really complicated stuff! Let’s her sleep; she deserves it. I will tell her father about what happened."
Four days after the event, the city of Canterlot was undergoing some major reconstruction. The attacker tried their best to leave no building standing, but Celestia had sent letters to Cloudsdale, Manhattan, and Los Pegasus; those cities responded promptly, all sending ponies to help with the reconstruction. Most of the population of Canterlot, however, was at the Canterlot gardens, attending funerals for a great many ponies.
There were three different funerals and burials; one for the nobles, one for members of the Solar guard, and a third for the pony citizens that had gotten caught in the crossfire.
A sad Blue Blood attended the nobles funeral, and way in the back stood Snooty Blue and Quiz Lamoni. An Earth pony stallion with deep voice, a coat as blue as the ocean, a pink mane and tail, and purple eyes, spoke to them.
“When last I heard from High Blood, he said that he was close to finding out how the Order could use the armor, or at least what’s left of it.”
Snooty said, “I think he had the answers in this.” As she spoke, she revealed a journal that was partially burned and had rubble on it. As she gave it to the Earth pony stallion, she said, “I trust you know what to look for?”
The deep-voiced pony said, “Of course,” as he looked at Quiz Lamoni.
Quiz said, “I’ll show you how to do the spell later.”
As Snooty walked back to her son, Quiz looked at the deep-voiced pony and said, “Did you, Hard Stone, manage to get the armor out before the construction ponies found it?”
Hard Stone replied, “Yes. It should be in the cave near Ponyville.”
Then Quiz asked quickly, “Are you sure its location is secret?”
Hard Stone replied, “The cave entrance has a cloaking spell over it, and the area is almost never visited by ponies. Would you just relax?” Then Quiz released his breath, which he did not know he had been holding in.
Blue Blood went to hug his mother, and asked, “Why didn’t he run away? I mean, why did he challenge that thing?”
Snooty Blue lied, saying, “I don’t know, my son, but there is one thing I do know, and that is that he loved you, even when you gave him a hard time.” Then Snooty Blue said, “C’mon, let’s go home." And both Blues left the Canterlot Gardens.
At the Solar Guard funeral, all remaining guards in uniform attended the burial of the fifty-five fallen Solar Guards.
Shining Armor, in his new captain’s armor, got up and said, “I remember how some of them would always be trying to make us laugh. I think it was their way of saying we were friends to the end. I think we should remember that in some way, they’ll always be here, watching us.”
Then Shining lifted his hoof to signal both the Wonderbolts and five unicorns. The Wonderbolt each flew around in the sky displaying some crazy acrobatic flight skills. At one point, each of them flew straight at each other; as they collided, they managed to make the Wonderbolt symbol, a lightning bolt with two wings.
Meanwhile, on the ground, the five unicorns charged up their horns. When Shining Armor said, “Fire!” the unicorns simultaneously fired their horns, creating a loud “Bang!” Afterward, the Solar Guard funeral broke up. Some of the Solar Guards went back to guarding duty; others went to get a drink, like Shining Armor. He planned to get drunk.
At the edge of the Ever Free forest, two ponies made their way into the cover of the trees. Crystal Shade asked as they trailed through the forest, “Are you sure about this? I mean, she is responsible for what happened at Canterlot.”
Snow Trail levitated the letter from her saddle bag and said, “Well, we got called here by a letter, and it has the Umbrum seal in it, so that means she reaching out to us. I’m hoping this is the beginning of good fortune."
They entered a clearing with some boulders and a small pond, then looked at a purple alicorn wearing black armor, two hollow ponies at her side.
Snow Trail and her son bowed low before her, but Twilight shook her head and said, “No need to bow before me.”
Getting up from the bow, Snow Trail said, “I’m sorry but you are a royal Umbrum. We just want to go back home to the Kingdom of Shadows. You see, we got banished from there for a crime that both my son and I failed to commit, and I miss that place.”
Twilight gave them a serious look and said, “You know who my father is.”
Snow Trail responded, “Yes, he is the King of Darkness, the Terror in the Night, the one who enjoys seeing other ponies’ fears. His name is King Sombra, and you, Twilight, are his heir. We are hoping that you will allow us to come with you.”
Twilight said to them, “I will allow you two to lead me to the Kingdom of Shadows, and when we get there, all charges against you will be cleared.”
Snow Trail and Crystal Shade replied, “Then we will lead you to your kingdom.”
But before they began their journey, Twilight commanded one of her hollow ponies to keep Sunset safe. Upon receiving its order, the hollow pony ran off.
Four years had gone by and Sunset was still in Canterlot Hospital General, in the private wing of the hospital. She lay there, twisting and turning in her bed. Her father held her hoof and prayed that everything would be alright. “I just hope you pull through," he whispered.
Inside Sunset’s dream, things were not good. She was looking up at herself, but this second version of herself had firey wings and a flowing, flaming mane and tail. In this terrible dream, she was fighting herself.
She dodged spell after spell that had been cast by her firey reflection. It almost felt like she was going through a training session as her double said, “You know, it’s a miracle you didn’t lose control. Who knows? Maybe next time you will.”
A white hot magical blade shot forward to stab her, and she nearly escaped the blow. Sunset said, “You’re right, I could have lost control, but thanks to my years of research and studying of the magical arts, I will never lose control. By the way, I think it’s high time you disappeared!”
With that, Sunset fired an ice beam at Fire Wings Sunset, who was covered in ice. Fire Wings Sunset fell down to the ground and shattered into a million pieces. Sunset was about to walk away when a dark purple smoke figure towered over her. The tower slowly shrank down until, standing right in front of her, Twilight Sparkle was revealed.
Sunset prepared to attack, but as she started to charge, her horn disappeared. She felt her forehead, and there was no horn. Twilight laughed uncontrollably.
As she calmed down, the Princess of the Stars said to Sunset, “This is a dream. Even if it’s your dream, I can make anything happen. From raising an army,” she said as an army of purple armor ponies with swords and spears appeared, “to making a fortress.”
All of a sudden, a fortress appeared, bigger than any Equestria fortress that had ever been made.
Sunset said, “How are you doing this?”
Twilight answered, saying, “This is the dream realm. In here, I can make anything happen...like this!”
At her words, Sunset began to shrink. The good news was that she got her horn back. The bad news was that she was suddenly no bigger than a newborn filly. She looked up at Twilight Sparkle who was as tall as Celestial herself.
Sunset then said, “I don’t understand. Why am I a filly?” Twilight picked up Sunset and said, “It’s because I deemed it to be so. You do look adorable this way.”
Sunset searched deeply in her mind, trying to remember what she could about the dream realm from Twilight Sparkle’s book. From what she recalled, if somepony had entered the pony dream realm, then the pony whose dream it was could control what happened in the dream, not the pony who had entered their dream.
All of a sudden, Sunset grew back to her normal size and two fire wings appeared on her back.
As Twilight backed away, a rainbow missile hit her in the jaw. Twilight looked back at Sunset and she noticed that she was not alone. With her was Shining Armor, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Cadence.
Sunset exclaimed, “Twilight Sparkle, I am not a filly! And I am not alone, because I have friends to trust in!” Then all five ponyies ran at Twilight.
Before the massive battle of Canterlot, Blue Blood was always cheerful and generous, and he cared for the ponies around him; not just the nobles, but the lower classes too, and he always laughed at jokes he heard. But the battle of Canterlot came and went, and he found out about his father’s fate. He changed. Instead of being cheerful all the time, he was cold to others. Instead of being generous by giving bits to the ponies that needed them, he wouldn’t give a single bit. He would only go to high society events, and he never laughed at jokes anymore.
“I’m worried about him,” said Snooty Blue. “Whether he knows it or not, Blue Blood has changed for the worse.”
Snooty Blue continued, “He treats everypony like dirt and keeps company with the wrong noble ponyies.”
The pony Snooty was talking to was Spitfire. She considered what Snooty had said before answering. “Look, I’m the last pony to talk about this kind of thing, but I think you need to let him figure out his own problems.”
Snooty Blue replied, “He’s not getting better. He’s getting worse and…,”
Spitfire stopped her in her tracks by shouting, “Whether you like it or not, he is going to change! He may stumble, and it is up to you as a mother to help him get up when he stumbles!”
Spiritfire calmed down then and said, “I’m sorry to cut this short and for yelling at you, but I have to get going. I’m late for reporting in.” After putting on her Wonderbolt goggles, Spitfire flew up through the clouds, making a Pegasus-shaped hole in the clouds.
Snooty thought to herself Maybe you’re right, and I need to be there when he stumbles.
As the fight raged on, Twilight triggered her shadow form before Shining Armor and Cadence casted a spell together, shooting a beam of massive destruction that leveled the fortress. But it didn’t affect Twilight.
Twilight created a ball of black fire, but she did not have time to use it, for a beam of white flames destroyed the ball. Then a rainbow blur circled around, creating a rainbow tornado.
As Rainbow Dash zoomed to Sunset’s side, the rainbow tornado continued for a few seconds before disappearing. On the floor lay a very dizzy Twilight.
Applejack ran to her and used her rope to tie her up. As Twilight struggled to get free, Applejack gave her a strong buck of her hind legs, causing Twilight to go flying a good couple of miles.
Then Twilight got free and said, “ Bravo, Sunset, bravo. You’ve managed to master your dream world.” As Twilight said this, she lit up her horn, and Shining Armor, Cadence, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash all disappeared, along with Sunset’s fire wings.
Then Sunset said, “You were testing me. That’s the only reason you did this.”
Twilight answered, “Yes, I needed to be sure you could handle anything my mother throws at you, especially in the dream realm. She is better at this than I am. I know you read all three books about the dream realm and what to expect.”
Sunset said, “If you come back, Celestia and I will stop you.”
Twilight looked at her seriously and said, “Is that a threat? Because if it is, then you need better material. And is this the thanks I get for all that I did for you? Oh well. I guess this will do. Oh, and goodbye...for now.”
Sunset saw Twilight’s horn brighten before poof! Sunset looked around to find that Twilight was gone.
“Good riddance,” Sunset muttered.
80 years later, inside the Canterlot hospital
Sunset’s eyes slowly opened. She saw her father Sun Blast holding her hoof. Then she looked around to see Blue Dawn, her uncle. He saw that she was awake and quickly went to shake his brother awake.
“Get up, sleepyhead! Your daughter is up.”
As Blue Dawn worked to wake up her father, Sunset realized that this was the first time she had probably ever seen him. He was a pegasus with a dark blue coat a mane and tail that were silver in color with a white highlight in each, and his cutie mark was a white lightning Bolt crossing a silver sword. Finally he succeeded in awakening his brother.
Sunset then felt the embrace of her father. Sun Blast said to her, “Don’t scare me like that, kiddo! You hear? Don’t scare me like that!”
Sunset replied, “No promises, but I’ll try my best to stay out of trouble. Though, that may require me to use my phoenix.”
As she said this, Philomena sat on the hospital window ledge, while Sunset secretly thought Not again. I will not use you like that ever again.
A few days after Sunset’s recovery, she was summoned by princess Celestia and princess Cadence for a talk.
Pushing open the door to the throne room, Sunset saw both princesses waiting for her. The Solar guard stationed in the throne room grabbed the door behind her and closed it with a loud Clunk.
As Sunset stood in front of her, the princess came forward and asked, “What did she tell you?”
After taking a deep breath, Sunset said, “Is it true you have a younger sister? And that she has a daughter? And as time went by, you guys didn’t get any time alone or even try to talk about it? Why keep all of Equestria’s history from the pony population? What’s with all the secrets?? What are you hiding!?”
Celestia said, “It’s true that I hide things that I shouldn’t. But if all ponies knew of this history, it would cause chaos in our peaceful land. If that chaos broke loose, all ponies would pay dearly. Therefore, I look at it in a different way, more like a half truth. By writing false history I hope to keep Discord in prison. As for my younger sister, I have a plan to hopefully show her the error of her ways.”
Then Sunset asked, “Does your plan include me as your student?”
Cadence said, “It does, but it won’t work if you do not make friends, which is why we are hoping in two years time, you will agree to go to Ponyville.”
Sunset answered, “I will agree under one condition: you two must show me the real history of Equestria. I’m assuming you have the actual history written down somewhere.”
“Yes,” Celestia answered. “I will allow you to see it. But you must swear that you will not tell the real history to any other ponies.”
Sunset walked up and shook hoofs with both princesses. “I do swear.”
Snooty Blue was walking through a dark hallway when she bumped into Spitfire.
“Spitfire, where did you come from? Do you know where we are?”
Before Spitfire could answer, they both heard a French voice yelling, “RUN! Run for your lives! They’re chasing us!”
When the pegasus and the unicorn looked to where the voice was coming from, they saw Quiz Lamoni and Hard Stone running away from something. As Spitfire and Snooty Blue began to run, they suddenly saw what they were running away from.
They were being pursued by a mountain of shadow with two purple venom eyes. Sickly green lightning shot out from the shadow mountain, zapping at them as they ran.
Snooty Blue and Spitfire ran alongside Quiz Lamoni and Hard Stone as they tried to get away from the giant shadow mountain. Suddenly, a purple horn appeared in the mount of shadow, shooting out pure black flames that narrowly missed their targets.
Snooty yelled to Quiz, “What is it!?”
Quiz replied, “It’s something very powerful that is not interested in making friends with us!”
A voice rang out, “Oh, I wouldn’t say that. I saw what you were all trying to hide in plain site. You hid the armor right under Celestia‘s nose, and you willingly sacrificed your members.” As the voice said this, they stopped running, and three ponies appeared in front of them.
One had several stab wounds on him. He had a brown coat and a black mane and tail. He said, “Why didn’t you come up with a plan? Why did you forsake me and leave me to fend off violent mob? You did that to me, and judging by the other two ponies here with me, you haven’t changed the way you run things in the Order.”
As he finished saying these last words, he fell to the ground and his wounds started to gush out blood. Spitfire and Quiz looked fearful.
Then Snooty Blue said, “Enough of this!”
A familiar voice said, “You’re quite right, my dear. But we all know the Order will sacrifice anyone, including your very own husband.” At these words, the second pony came forward, but his head was missing. The pony’s head was in his hoof where he was holding it.
The second pony continued, “However, my son is not the pony he once was, and I think it’s because I died. He secretly blames you for acting like your mother.” When he finished speaking, his body fell down and his head rolled in front of Snooty as a pool of blood started pouring out of his head and body.
Then Red Dawn, looking like a porcupine with spears and rusty swords sticking out of him, walked up to Hard Stone and said, “Look at me. This will be your future. If you want to change it, then I have a message for you from Twilight Sparkle. She says to leave Sunset and the princesses Celestia and Cadence alone. She does not need you. She has a destiny to fulfill and she needs to do it alone.” As he finished saying this, all of his stab wounds started to gush out blood.
Just then, Snooty Blue awoke, breathing very hard with cold sweat running down her face.
One day before Nightmare Moon broke free from the moon
“Sunset, it’s time for you to go to Ponyville,” said Celestia. “I just want you there to make sure that the Summer Sun festival preparations are in order. Here is a list of things to go through.”
But Sunset knew why she going to Ponyville, for she knew what Celestia knew. ”Of course I’ll make sure everything on this list is done. And who knows what will happen?”
Then she got on a golden chariot being pulled by pegasi of the Solar Guard. The pegasi took off and the chariot went as high as the pegasi would allow it. Sunset took in the view she had and enjoyed it.
A few hours later, the chariot began to descend and Sunset saw that they were landing. Once on the ground, Sunset went to the Solar guards and said, “Thank you for the ride. Now go and enjoy the day.”
The guards left, and Sunset went to the back of the chariot. She opened the birdcage holding her phoenix which came flying out into the sky, enjoying the freedom from the cage. Sunset levitated her saddlebag onto her back, then whistled, and her phoenix came down, landing on the saddlebag where her perch was.
As she entered Ponyville, Sunset saw the town hall, but it looked as if it had been decorated. Sunset could only guess that the ponies of Ponyville always decorated their buildings during the Summer Sun festival. She was just about to look at her list when a pink Earth pony saw her and gave a ”Gasp!” The pink Earth pony took off so quickly that Sunset had barely enough time to duck as she zoomed by.
Sunset looked in the direction of where the pony had run off and said, “That was odd. Are all the ponies like this?”
A voice answered her, “Well, not every pony here, no.” As Sunset turned around, she exclaimed, “Applejack!” Applejack waved as Sunset walked forward to greet her. Applejack continued, “At least, not every pony is as odd or random as Pinkie Pie.”
Sunset said, “Oh, Applejack, how long has it been? You look good in that hat!”
Applejack said, “It’s been a while since we’ve talked, that’s for sure. I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you come out and I’ll introduce you to my whole family. You and I can catch up as we walk to the apple orchard.”
Sunset replied, “I am actually here to go over the celebration preparations, but I’d like to hear what has been going on in your life over the last few years. Let’s go.”
As Twilight, Snow Trail, and Crystal Shade walked through the snow in the frozen north, the Princess of the Stars asked, “How far away is this Kingdom of Shadows?”
Snow Trail said, “It is deep into the north, but the entrance itself is inside a cave somewhere around here. I just hope we find it before-” [izap!
A blue lightning bolt came at them from out of nowhere, but Twilight raised a magical shield to block the strike. Then several unicorns emerged with the same horn as Snow Trail and Crystal Shade, and they were wearing black armor.
The leader of the group said, “Snow Trail and Crystal Shade! You were both charged with the murder of Dark Phoenix, and you were to be executed, facing the consequences and justice of your actions. And now you bring a stranger to the doorway of our land? Why, I have the right to kill you all right now. This would be a good time to say you prayers!” And he lit up his horn, changing into a shadow pony. His cohorts did the same thing.
Then Snow Trail shouted, “We found Sombra’s heir, and we will bring her here!”
All of the Umbrums changed back to their pony forms, and the leader said, “We’ll just see about that.”
He looked at one of his ponies who then ran off. A couple of seconds went by before the pony returned with a cloaked pony. The cloaked pony walked up to Twilight. The closer she got, the more her horn glowed black. All of the Umbrums gasped and bowed, with the exception of Snow Trail and Crystal Shade.
The cloaked Umbrum asked, “What is your name?”
Twilight replied, ”My name is Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of the Stars and the daughter of Luna and King Sombra.”
The other Umbrums rose and their leader said, “My name is Nightcrawler and this is my squad of Umbrums. We protect the doorway from ponies who seek it.”
The cloaked Umbrum mare responded, “My name is Nightshade. I help the Shadow Guard by keeping the cave entrance hidden.”
“Do you know where the cave entrance is?” Twilight ask.
Nightshade lit up her horn and the mouth of a cave suddenly shown right behind the Shadow Guard.
Twilight, Snow Trail, and Crystal Shade walked forward into the cave. As soon as they were inside, Nightshade lit up her horn, activating the cloaking spell again.
They were walking deep into the cave. Twilight figured they were in the main tunnel. Then Twilight suddenly stopped, for she saw the doorway. Tt was in the middle of the Cavern and it looked very old. It had silver steel on its side. As soon as they began to approach the door, one of the side ruins started to glow green, purple, and black. Soon, all of the ruins were glowing.
Then, in the blank space within the doorframe, a smoky black shadow veil appeared. Snow Trail and Crystal Shade walked through and disappeared behind the smoky veil. Then Twilight walked through. It felt weird, like walking through water and fire, but it didn’t burn her or get her wet. And then, she was on the other side of the veil.
“Gasp! She didn’t do that, did she!?” Sunset exclaimed.
A laughing Applejack replied, ”She did! And not only that, but the whole town knows she did it.”
Sunset said, “Rarity hates mud, and she takes several showers when she gets mud on her?”
Applejack couldn’t control herself and laughed uncontrollably as they walked through the apple orchard on the trail leading to the farmhouse. Soon, Applejack was able to pull herself together. “Yeah,” she said. “I mean, I know there are some ponies that don’t like to get dirty, but Rarity takes things to the next level.”
As they entered the front door of Applejack’s home, Applejack said, “I feel like I should tell you that Pinkie Pie will definitely be setting up a surprise party for you, so expect that to happen.”
“Alright, Applejack,” Sunset said. “I’ll keep an eye out for that. But for now, it’s back to the celebration preparations.”
Applejack walked over to a triangle hanging near the doorframe, grabbed the accompanying metal pen, and rang the triangle, yelling, “Soup’s on, everypony!” As she said this, an army of ponies came stampeding through the door, bringing Sunset with them. Sunset found herself seated at a table with several different apple-based food options. Each type of food that was brought up was handled by a pony with that same food as their cutie mark.
Applejack pointed out her family to Sunset. ”Over there is big Macintosh.” As Sunset looked to where her hoof was pointing, she saw a big red stallion with an orange mane and tail. He had a harness around his neck. His eyes were bright green and he was covered with freckles. His cutie mark was a light green apple.
“He doesn’t say much,” Applejack said, before continuing. “And here is Apple Bloom.” Sunset looked at the filly with the yellow coat and red mane and tail. In her mane was a big pink bow. Her eyes were orange, and she did not have a cutie mark.
“She is a real troublemaker,” said Applejack, quickly moving on.
“And last but certainly not least, good old Granny Smith.” Sunset took in the elderly pony with the light green coat. Her mane and tail were white and tied into buns. Her eyes were reddish orange and she had a blanket draped around her neck. Her cutie mark was an apple pie.
Applejack yelled out, “Wake up, Granny, we got a guest!” And the elderly pony woke up from her nap, exclaiming, “What soup is on?“ And then she walked to the table as slowly as she could go.___________________________________
As Twilight went through the doorway, she found that she was inside a Northern dimension where the sun and the moon rose and fell on their own. As for land, she saw that there were several pieces of floating islands.
Some of the floating islands had small villages on them. Other islands had nothing on them except for what you’d find in the wilderness, like small forests. Some of the islands had livestock, like pigs. In one of the villages, there was a small store for anything a pony could need. These floating islands were connected through teleporting beams. Once you stepped into the beam, you could think about where you’d like to go and, just like that, you would get there.
As Twilight walked into a beam with Snow Trail and Crystal Shade, they were teleported to the Umbrum’s castle. This castle looked as if it had been made out of stone and crystal.
“It’s good to be home,” said Snow Trail.
”Is the castle always like this?” asked Crystal Shade, as Twilight and her friends walked into the throne room. “Who’s in charge now!?”
Before Snow Trail could answer, the voice of an Umbrum said, “That would be me.”
The Umbrum who spoke got up off the throne and walked over to them. She had an orange coat and her mane and tail were black with red and blue mixed in. She had a silky silver rope which is around her neck. Her cutie mark was covered.
The Umbrum bowed and said, “My name is Mayor Tex.”
She rose up, then turned and looked at Snow Trail and her son. “I was hoping not to see you two again.” A little anger was present in her tone as she continued. “But you found the next heir to the throne, so it’s my duty to welcome you back and tell you that you can go claim your house, as is your right.”
Snow Trail said, “Still quite the charmer, aren’t you?” She and her son then walked out of the throne room.
“You’ll have to excuse my manners. I have a history with Snow Trail,” said Mayor Tex.”
“Of course,” said Twilight, then continued. ”But I want to know, how did all of this come to be?”
Tex replied. “Long ago, before the founding of the pony tribes, there were the changelings and the elemental senator, the Sphinx, the east ponies, the minotaurs, the Mighty Helm, the zebras of the west, and us, the Umbrums. Back then, there was a war going on. It didn’t matter who or what you were. If there was a war, you had to fight. It was like this for generations.”
”Until, that is, a most unique group emerged in the form of three heroes: the Earth Mighty Helm pony War Path. who could cause entire armies to tear each other apart. A thestrals mare called Shadow Strike who had a spear that could come from anywhere. And lastly, the Umbrum Mystic Coat, who could cause the most powerful of foes to rethink their course of action.”
“Together, they were an unstoppable force and they showed us all the right way to change the world. The ponies thanked them by building several structures, like this castle, and improving our homes. But the three legends suddenly disappeared without a trace.”
“As time went by, the ponies and the Umbrums lived in peace, but then an empire rose up. It was made from crystals and ruled by an alicorn named Princess Amore. She saw one of the Umbrum’s shadow forms and believed it was unnatural and evil.”
”So she got her empire to raise an army that asked no questions. To make a long story short, the Umbrums almost got wiped out. The ones inside our kingdom remained safe, but the Umbrums outside were hunted down.”
“And so we remained here.Every once in a while, we send one of our own to get supplies and food, just as long they don’t use their Umbrum abilities.”
As Sunset walked out of the apple orchard, she looked at her list and read, “The celebration requires clear skies.”
She looked up and saw the sky was full of clouds. She stopped on a small bridge and looked around. She found the pegasus who was supposed to be clearing the sky, spotting her on top of a nearby tree.
Using her magic, Sunset picked up the lazy pegasus and dropped her down in front of her. Only then did she recognize the light blue coat with the rainbow mane and tail, the maroon eyes, and the famous can do attitude.
“Rainbow Dash? You’re in charge of clearing the skies?”
The pegasus dusting herself off and said, “Well, yeah. Hey, what was with the magic grab and drop? You know you could’ve just called out and I would’ve heard ya.”
“I’m sorry, I just didn’t think you would have heard me. But I’m still stuck on that you of all pegasuses would be in charge of anything.” Sunset said with an unsure look.
Rainbow gave Sunset a big grin and said, “Apology accepted.” Then she gave Sunset a friendly hit to the shoulder.
As Sunset rubbed her shoulder, she said, “I was told that Ponyville be hosting the celebration. I’m curious, what were you doing?”
Rainbow smiled widely and replied, “I was practicing my flying so as to accomplish my dream.”
“And that dream is,” Sunset asked.
“To join the Wonderbolts! I heard they’re looking for the best flyers in all of Equestria!”
Sunset laughed loudly and Rainbow frowned. As soon as Sunset was able to control her laughter, she said, “They would never hire a Pegasus who cannot keep the sky clear for one lousy day.”
Rainbow yelled, “Hey! I can clear the sky in ten seconds flat!”
Sunset replied, “Oh, yeah? Prove it.”
Then Rainbow got up and started to bust clouds. And to Sunset’s amazement, she got it done in ten seconds.
As Rainbow flew down, she said, “See? Ten seconds flat. I never leave Ponyville hanging.”
Sunset didn’t realize her mouth was hanging open until Rainbow inquired, “Is there anything else?” Sunset closed her mouth and said, “Nope.”
Suddenly, Sunset felt like her mane was on fire. She looked at her reflection on the water and saw that her mane was on fire. She then jumped into the water. When she emerged and climbed out, she noticed her mane was drenched. Rainbow smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I got just the thing for this. I call it the Rainbow Dryer.”
As Rainbow said this, she flew up and around Sunset in a circle, flying faster and faster until she created what was essentially a tornado that dried Sunset’s mane. As Rainbow flew down, she said, “No need to thank me, and-”
For some reason, Rainbow started to laugh uncontrollably. Philomena then flew down and landed on Sunset’s back. The phoenix took one look at Sunset, her eyes widened and then she tried to hide her beak, for the Sun Bird was laughing as well.
“Let me guess,” Sunset said. ”My mane is a mess right now, isn’t it.”
Sunset thought about it a bit more. Philomena must’ve accidentally caught my mane on fire.
Sunset then walked down the road to continue checking things off of her list for the celebration.
Snow Trail and Crystal Shade were walking toward their home, but as they walked, some Umbrums gave them the stink eye.
Snow said, “Just ignore them. They want us gone.”
Crystal Shade asked, “What crime did you claim to have committed?”
As they neared a teleporting area, Snow said, “I’ll tell you when we’re home. I promise.”
Crystal nodded his head and continued walking. They arrived at the teleporting area and were teleported out of the castle. They reappeared in the furthest village. Each village was unique in some way. This Umbrum village was less populated; there were six Umbrums living here. As Crystal and Snow walked, no Umbrums came up to them; they just did their job and nothing else.
They continued on to a building that was not close to the village. It was closer to the small forest that covered part of the floating island.
Crystal Shade asked, “Is this is where we live?” He took a good look at the building. It looked very rundown, with holes in the roof, busted windows, and a door that was open and making squeaking noises every time the hinges moved.
Snow Trail answered, “Yes, but I believe I have a tale to tell.”
Crystal listened as his mother turned to him and began. “You have to understand, if there was another way, I would’ve taken it. The crime I committed was stealing personal items from inside the Kingdom of Shadows. As you can imagine, it was against the rules set by the Umbrum ruler.I didn’t get caught, so I did it again, and again. As time went by, life continued on. I met your dad, and let’s just say he caught me doing it. For some reason, he didn’t tell anypony how I earned a living. We had a long conversation about it. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, we fell in love.” She said this with a dreamy look.
“So, where is he now?” asked Crystal Shade. Snow shook her head and said, “I don’t know. The last time I saw him, he was going to get supplies for the Umbrums. He was also going to get me a ring, but he never returned. As the weeks went by, I found out I was pregnant with you. I did what I do best. I lifted an Umbrum saddlebag. But it was Mayor Tex’s saddlebag.”
Snow continued. “Mayor Tex called the Shadow Guards. I didn’t know what to do, so I ran away. But as I ran, I accidentally knocked over a wooden beam which held up several barrels of nails, nails that are used to keep a house from falling apart. As the barrels rolled down the street, all of the Umbrums got out of the way. All except for one. One of the barrels hit him and exploded, the nails piercing his coat, and the other three barrels hit him in the head hard. His neck snapped, and from what I heard, he died instantly.”
“When the Shadow Guard caught me, they brought me to the king himself, King Sombra. After hearing what crimes l had committed, King Sombra told me that I was banished from the Kingdom of Shadows. He said that if I tried to come back, the Shadow Guard would kill me where I stood. The only way I could return was if I had the word of the ruler that I could come back.”
On Island Nowhere, Nightcrawler and Twilight had just finished their runs around the island, about 50 laps each, getting a good body build.
Nightcrawler looked at Twilight and said, “Now that that’s over, Twilight, show me your shadow form.”
In the past, Twilight had to concentrate on feeling mad and angry at Celestia, but this time, when she called her shadow form, it felt like a muscle that she could command. However, her form looked like a small mountain.
As she turned back into her regular self, she looked at Nightcrawler, he said to her, “That’s a good start, but you need to understand the rest of it. Unfortunately, I don’t know any more about it.”
Twilight asked, “Do you know who might know about the mind form?”
Nightcrawler said, “Why, that would be Nightshade. I think she’s in the castle library.”
Twilight went to the castle library where she saw shelves and shelves of books that she didn’t recognize. In the middle of the library was a fireplace, and above the fireplace was another painting, but it was not of Sombra. It was a painting of an Umbrum with a black cloak and a silver coat. Her mane and tail were dark blue and in one of her hooves, she was holding a staff with a red gem in it. In her other hoof, she held a spell book. Her eyes were blood red.
Then Nightshade said from the corner, “That’s Mystic Coat, the greatest Umbrum magician of her generation.”
Twilight said, “This library is incredible. I barely recognize any of these books, and trust me, I have read a lot of books.”
Nightshade put a bookmark in the book she was reading and said, “You may have an eye for books, but that’s not why you’re here. You’re here to learn the way of the mind, and seeing as how we are inside a library, the home of knowledge, let’s start your education with Mystic Coat’s very first book, TheWay of the Shadow Travel.”
As Sunset walked into the town hall, she saw a sea of ponies.
Sunset squeezed through the crowd until she figured she was somewhere in the middle, but when she turned to look to her right, she saw Pinkie Pie looking as energetic as ever.
Pinkie Pie, excited, asked, “Are you excited, because I am! In fact, I’ve never been so excited! Well, except for how excited I’ll be at that party I throw at your library, and I mean, who wouldn’t be, right? Right.”
As Pink said this, she was invading Sunset’s personal space. Not that there was much room to begin with. Sunset said, “Um, Pink? Personal space, please. And yes, I am excited for the celebration.”
Then Pink said, “Is this the one where I’m secretly a superhero and use my power for the good of ponykind?”
Sunset looked very confused by the question and glanced at the place where Pink was looking. “Pink?” she asked. “Um, Pinky, what are you talking about?”
Pink replied, “Oh, it’s not that story. Sorry for confusing you.”
The ponies then looked at the Mare Mayor as she began her speech about how Equestria started the Summer Sun Celebration. It was a good speech, good enough to bore all the other ponies. The Mayor ended her speech by saying, “And now, without further ado, I give you our benevolent ruler, the kind bringer of harmony, Princess Celestia.”
The bird choir sang out a harmonious song and the curtains on the balcony above the stage pulled back to reveal Princess Celestia.
As soon she started to raise the sun, however, a black and blue magical form flew straight at Celestia. Upon making contact with her, it started to wrap around her. Celestia used her magic to teleport herself and the mysterious magical being away from the celebration.
Celestia and the magical form reappeared in Cloudsdale, the City of the Sky. As soon as they reached a cloud, Celestia used her magic to separate herself from the magical form. The form then changed into Nightmare Moon with her jet black coat and blue dragon eyes. Her mane and tail were flowing blue and black and containing with a galaxy. She was wearing dark blue armor.
Nightmare Moon said to Celestia, “So, after ten thousand years, you still care about the ponies more than me or my daughter.”
Celestia replied, “You are not my sister. You are a monster, and I will put an end to your evil once and for all.”
Celestia then charged her sister, using her speed spell. As she zoomed by, the Princess of the Sun managed to hit Nightmare several times. She tried to charge her once again, but didn’t manage to hit her this time. Instead, she crashed into a blue shield.
Nightmare cried, “Did you think you could beat me with a speed spell? Or has you forgotten that I am better at magic spells?”
As Celestia got up, Nightmare hit her in several places.
Nightmare then fired a beam of magic at Celestia, which gathered all sorts of electricity made from the weather factory for lightning strikes. The lightning hit Celestia in the same several places, one after the other. As she struggled to recover, she became trapped in darkness.
Nightmare flew up to her and said, “I have a special place to put you in,” and they teleported away.
Back in the Ponyville town hall, everypony was concerned about Celestia. Then, suddenly, the black and blue form returned and transformed into Nightmare Moon. She said in the royal Cantorlot voice, “Hear me, ponies of Equestria, for I am your new ruler!”
Several ponies gasped, and Rainbow Dash flew up and said, “Yeah, right. Shouldn’t Celestia have defeated you?”
Nightmare glared and replied, “I beat my sister fair and square in a magical duel.” As she said this, she used her magic to show the recent battle.
Rainbow flew down and said from right next to Sunset, “We will find a way to beat you.”
Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Sunset then ran out of the town hall.
Twilight had read straight through seven books before Nightshade convinced her to take a break.
“I did not know Umbrums could do that.” said Twilight. “ I mean, it’s amazing what you can do.”
Nightshade responded, “Yes, Mystic Coat did a lot in her life. She created some very powerful spells, but the spell to move the Kingdom of Shadows from one side of the planet to the other has not been done in centuries. And it’s supposedly all theoretical, but I think it was done once a long time ago.”
Twilight and Nightshade are on top of one of the towers of the shadow kingdom. Too test Twilight ability of shadow form.
She turned to Twilight and said, “The reason I brought us out here is to see your shadow form.”
“Alright.” Twilight responded. “Here I go.”
She triggered her shadow form and it was as easy as the last time she did it. What was different was her shadow form itself. She looked like a shadow pony with purple eyes but the eyes didn’t drop venom inside. They looked like regular purple eyes.
Nightshade said “You have mastered the knowledge side, but there’s one thing you haven’t mastered yet, and that’s the soul side. No Umbrum has mastered it.”
Twilight returned to her alicorn form and asked, “Why?”
Nightshade turned around to look at Twilight and replied, “Because all of the Umbrums that knew the technique mysteriously disappeared and have never been heard from again. Eventually, we Umbrums came to believe that the soul side was cursed and so we never practice it.”
As Twilight thought about this, she said, “I know somepony who knows about Umbrums and meditating. Is that how to master soul? Through meditation?”
“Yes.”
“Then I know who can help. I need my mother.”
Sunset and her friends ran for the Golden Oak Library. She hoped the way to defeat Nightmare Moon could be found there.
But all of her hopes were shattered when she stopped to see the library burning down. Sunset fell to her knees. The others tried to make her feel better and it seemed to be working.
But then they all heard the sinister laughter of Nightmare as she appeared before them with a big grin.
“Did you think I did not know about the knowledge place here?”
Sunset looked up at her with fiery eyes.
“I mean, if you’re going to have a library here, you should not make it so easy to burn down. It was very easy. Just one fire spell was all it took.”
Nightmare Moon teleported away, laughing as she went. When she was gone, there was nothing but silence.
Then, a hooded figure walked up to them and said, “She thinks all the knowledge in town is gone, but she is wrong.”
Sunset peered at the hooded figure and asked, “What do you mean?”
The mysterious pony began to walk away. “Follow me and you will find out.”
Sunset and her friends had a brief discussion, then decided to follow him before he disappeared.
They walked for hours. Rainbow knew where they were though, for she was able to fly overhead. The place where they were was known as Gesley Gorge. All of a sudden, the stranger’s front hoof raised, letting the six mares know to stop.
He went to a nearby boulder that was as big as a pony. He hit it several times, and each time he hit it, the rock made a different humming noise. When he was done, a piece of the cliff disappeared, revealing a secret library inside a cave.
Sunset’s hopes began to rise and she started to go through books, one after another. The others got busy going through the books too.
The stranger then asked Applejack to follow him deeper into the cave, and she went with him.
As they walked, Applejack said, “I don’t trust you. In fact, I don’t know your name, so unless you tell it to me now, I will not humor you any further.”
As she started to walk back, the hooded pony said, “It’s Hard Stone, if you must know. And I do have a reason for bringing you here.”
He put his hoof on the side of the cavern and several crystals lit up to reveal a set of damaged armor with a double-sided ax.
As Applejack approached it, Hard Stone said, “This was the armor of War Path, but now it’s just scrap metal.”
But Applejack was barely listening to him. She was listening to the voice coming from the damaged armor, the voice that was trying to get Applejack to wear it. She began to approach the armor, not even realizing what she was doing. The armor started to glow orange.
“What in tarnation!?” Applejack exclaimed, for she suddenly found herself floating in the air. The armor magically blew up, and the pieces with magical runes flew onto Applejack and became different, according to their wearer.
The chest piece now had an apple on it. The armor was now silver with orange and red colors on it. There was no helmet. As for the ax, instead of a double-sided ax, it split into two one-sided axes.
As Applejack was floating in the air, inside her mind she could see Apple Acres barn house where she and her family lived.
In her mind, she walked to the barn house. She saw Apple Bloom’s club tree house where her little sister and her friend would have meetings about anything and everything. The one meeting topic she could guess at was about ways they could get their cutie marks.
Applejack walked closer to the barn house where she saw a mysterious pony in the mighty helm armor, looking as it used to look. The pony wearing the armor had a coat that was dark blue. He removed his helmet, and as he walked over to her, and she saw that his mane and tail appeared orange in color.
Actually, she thought his mane and tail looked gray, as if somepony had tried to burn it. The pony had scars all over his body, like he was a war hero. His eyes were yellow. He stopped in front of Applejack.
“So, you’re the next in line to inherit the armor,” said the scarred and armored pony.
“I think so. I’m really confused though. Who are you and where am I?”
“My name is War Path I am the armor’s guardian. As for where we are, I guess we are inside your mind.”
“Well, I guess that makes sense. I mean my strongest memories are of Sweet Apple Acres. It hurts me to leave, and when I saw a sign that led me home, I knew there was no other place I wanted to go. So in some ways, it makes sense.”
Applejack looked at the barn house where she saw the almost translucent versions of Big Mac and Granny Smith appear and quickly disappear.
“I'm sorry, you were saying your name is War Path.”
Instead of answering, the pony in question said again, “You have been chosen by the armor, and as the guardian of the armor, I will answer any questions you have about it.”
Applejack asked, “Will the armor always be activated or is there an on and off switch?”
“Yes, you just have to concentrate and the armor will disappear, but when you’re in danger, the armor will activate. You will learn to work with it and in time, you’ll discover unique powers about the armor.”
Applejack’s consciousness was pulled back to the here and now.
The glowing runes on the armor and the axes started to fade away, and Applejack stopped floating and crashed to the ground.
Then she remembered what she needed to do. As she concentrated, the armor started to glow bright orange. Once the color faded away, Applejack looked at herself and saw she was wearing an amulet with red apple jam on it.
She turned around and saw a shocked Hard Stone. She turned away from him and walked back to her friends.
Hard Stone said to himself with a smirk, “I think we have found are Champion.”
Twilight had started to pack her saddlebags for the long journey back. She brought all the things one needs to survive a long walk, including books, camping gear, books, food, and books.
The door to her room opened and Mayor Tex came in. For a while, no pony said anything, but then Twilight spoke.
“I assume you know I'm leaving.” She turned around and looked at Tex, who had a look of concern when she replied.
“I just got word about it, and I can’t lose another heir, so I brought you this.” She gave Twilight a black and silver tiara with three magic crystals.
“I know you’re not queen of the Umbrums yet, but there’s no harm in you wearing this. If you are wondering what magic is in the crystals, know that it will help you with your Umbrum form, making it more powerful. But it’s useless without mastering all three sides of the Umbrum form.”
Twilight said, “Okay.” Then, as she walked out, Twilight said, “You know, the first time I slept here, I felt like I was being watched from far away. That’s why I’m leaving. I believe somepony is taking the Umbrums that have mastered the third Umbrum quality. I’ll tell you that I am going to the last place that felt like home, where it all started. The castle of the two sisters.”
Then Twilight levitated the tiara into her saddlebag and said, “I will only wear it when I have the right, and that means mastering soul.”
She placed her hoof on Tex’s shoulder. “Lead our people well in my absence.” Then she left the castle.
Twilight made her way to the gate of the shadow kingdom, and as she walked, the rune on the side lit up in dark green, purple, and black.
Once on the other side, the doors glowing runes faded away and Twilight was greeted by several Umbrums, Nightcrawler, and his shadow guard.
Nightcrawler said to Twilight, “I and my Umbrums will escort you back to Equestria’s borders. From there I assume you know where to go next?”
Twilight replied, “Yes.” And with that, she and the Umbrum party made their way to the border.
When Applejack got back to the others, she saw them swimming in several piles of books.
“This is hopeless! We went through tons of books and still no mention of how to beat an Alicorn! I thought I was onto something in a book called The Elements of Harmony, but it doesn't say what power they hold or if the magic is safe to use,” said a very exhausted Sunset. “I mean, it’s not like the Princess of the Sun left a reference guide to all magical items.” Sunset layed on the floor, about to give up.
Pinkie Pie exclaimed, “Well, if you’re so down, I could cheer you up with this random book I found called The Reference Guide to Magical Items.”
Sunset got up, looked at her, and said, “Pink, I was looking for that very book! Why didn’t you tell me you had it and where you found it!?”
Pink answered, “I just did, and it was under R.” Then Pink bounced away.
Sunset used her magic to flip through the book. After a minute, she found the part about the elements of harmony and began to read out loud.
“There are six elements in total, five of which are known as Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness, and Laughter. The sixth element is a mystery. As for how to use them, you just need the meaning of each said element. Their location has been moved through history, but the last time any pony saw the elements was inside a castle called the Castle of the Two Sisters, which is located in...” But Sunset stopped and looked up at her friends.
Applejack had a serious look on her face. The others had looks of confusion, and Rainbow said, “Well, don’t stop there. Where is this castle?”
Sunset was about to say where, but Applejack beat her to it. “It’s inside the Ever Free Forest.”
As the Umbrum party walked through the snow, Twilight asked Nightcrawler, “Why are you doing this?”
“What do you mean by that, Princess Twilight?” he asked, as he looked around for threats.
“I mean, this whole party of Umbrums. It’s not that I don’t appreciate it, but this seems like overkill. I mean, I am half Alicorn and half Umbrum, so why the escort?”
Captain Nightcrawler adopted a hurt look and replied, “Let’s just say you are not the first royal Umbrum that’s received my help. Each time I’ve helped a royal, I didn’t want to see them go away.”
“Ah, I see. You wish to come with me.”
The shadow guard captain replied, “Yes, to this place you call home.”
Twilight was about to say something, but then the party saw a canyon in front of them that spread through the winter tundra for miles. A shadow guard said, “Well, this is new. If my memories serve me well, there isn’t supposed to be a canyon here.”
Nightcrawler said, “Well, it looks like we have an easy way through it.” He raised his hoof, pointing at a wooden bridge with a rope on it. It was mostly covered in snow.
As the party crossed the bridge, Twilight and Nightcrawler were thinking the same thing. This is too easy.
As soon as the last Umbrum crossed safely, BOOM!
Several explosions went off on the bridge and it fell into the canyon.
They then heard a commanding mare voice yelling, “You’re surrounded! Drop your weapons, and we will decide if we will spare you or kill you.”
As she said this, countless ponies came marching up with polished spears and clean swords, all wearing the silver armor of the E.U.P. Then a bright yellow pegasus glided down on a huge Rock.
Twilight then got a better look at the leader of this army as she removed her helmet. Her mane and tail had a multicolored theme, with orange, red, white, and yellow. Her eyes had a sky blue color, and her armor was silver E.U.P. armor with gold highlights.
The leader announced herself. “I’m General Thunderclap, and it is my job to kill anypony that wishes ruin to Equestria. And you, Twilight...” She pointed a hoof at Twilight and continued. “You certainly have caused many lives to be lost, and have also caused lots of damage, which proves to me that you are an enemy of harmony!”
Twilight walked up to her and said, “I’m planning to live in the castle where I grew up, and I will not be stopped by an army of ponies.”
The General replied, “You have ten minutes to rethink your decision.”
Nightcrawler said, “Twilight, you realize we’re hopelessly outnumbered?”
Twilight replied, “Yes, in numbers.” She looked at him with a smile. ”But in power, we can claim victory.” Every Umbrum then listened to Twilight’s plan.
“So, we all agree on the plan?” The Umbrums all nodded their heads, and Nightcrawler said, “We all agree. Let’s do this.”
“Your time is up. What’s your answer?” yelled Thunderclap.
As soon as her question was asked, all of the Umbrums created a giant smokescreen through the battlefield, and the General drew her sword, yelling, “Charge!” All the E.U.P. soldiers ran into the black smoke.
Sunset walked into the town hall, hoping to find a saddlebag to use, since her old one had gotten burned up in the Golden Oak Library. As she looked around, she saw a portrait of Celestia. She looked at it for a long time before Rarity entered the building.
Rarity saw Sunset looking lost in the painting, and she said, “Sunset, darling, what are you doing here?”
Sunset replied, “I could ask you the same question.”
Rarity said, “I’m not the one who was looking at a painting of our princess.”
As she said this, Sunset looked down and said, “I should’ve known that Nightmare Moon would go and burn down the library.”
“But I assume there is more to this tale.”
Sunset answered, “Have you ever been drunk? You know, like, late at a party, and the next morning, you wake up in a strange and unfamiliar place?”
“No,” Rarity said, “I have not. But I have Heard that Rainbow Dash on occasion will get drunk. I know that I complain a lot about dirt, but when I saw Rainbow Dash covered in dirt and drunk, and then she got dirt all over my boutique, and worst of all, she got me and my precious opal dirty, well, it took me months to clean all that dirt off. Why? Why do you ask?”
As Rarity looked at Sunset, Sunset started to walk out, saying as she went, “There was a time when Canterlot was in danger. I have to use some very advanced magic that, if used incorrectly, could cause more harm. And then I would have wound up like a drunk pony, not knowing if I made it worse than it was.” With that, Sunset walked out of the town hall, Rarity in her stead.
Sunset continued, “I’ve always relied on the written word to get the spell right, but now I don’t have my spell book with me, and I fear I may end up drunk with my magic not knowing if I made it worse.” Sunset kept walking, fear in her eyes.
As they came up to the edge of the Ever Free Forest, they got a very bad feeling.
“Well, y’all better get used to it, because we are going in,” said Applejack.
“Oh, that reminds me,” said Rarity. Using her magic, she levitated a yellow saddle bag with Sunset Shimmer’s cutie mark on it. Sunset was lost for words. As her friend gave her saddlebag back, Sunset looked at Rarity.
“I’m so sorry about taking your stuff, but it look very ordinary,” she said with some disgust. “I had to do something with it!”
Rainbow commented, “I think you went a bit overboard with the design.”
Sunset said, “I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, you could say thank you,” said Applejack. ”And before you ask, she did my saddlebags as well. Actually, I think she did all of our saddlebags.”
Sunset looked inside the new saddlebag, and Rarity said, “Well, I just wanted to put my skills to some good use.”
Rainbow burst out, “But you still got carried away! I mean, just look at it! It’s like you spent every bit you had for the design!”
Rarity was about to retort back to Rainbow Dash, but Sunset got up and said, “Thank you, Rarity, for saving my saddlebag. It’s the last place I have for my spell books and for Philomena’s perch. That Phoenix is a lazy bird.”
Then Sunset looked at the Ever Free Forest, and a new look of determination came upon her face. “Let’s save Celestia!” Sunset yelled.
And the other five followed her into the Ever Free Forest.
The E.U.P. charged into the black smoke which became so thick it was hard to see. Several E.U.P. soldiers fell off the cliff before the E.U.P. army began to retreat out of the smoke.
But by the time they started to retreat, they saw Twilight Sparkle, and for half of them, it would be the last thing they saw. The gem on Twilight’s necklace started to glow with a mixture of black and orange, and then fifty beams of orange light flew out and hit the E.U.P. soldiers.
At first, nothing happened, but then each soldier’s body started to get dry. Then, as they tried to figure out what was going on, the soldiers that had gotten hit with the orange light developed such a dry coat that they became mummified ponies in E.U.P. armor.
Twilight then summoned fifty black wisps, which all went inside the mummified ponies. As the wisps went in, a light orange ball came out of each mummified pony. Twilight lit up her horn, and her magic caught every single one of those light orange balls. With each light orange ball she caught, she grew stronger and even started to look stronger with more physical muscles appearing.
Then, the mummified ponies got up, grabbed their weapons, and charged at the army of E.U.P. soldiers.
Thunderclap yelled out, “Fire the catapults!” And five catapults swang massive boulders into the battle. Any E.U.P. soldiers that saw them got out of the way.
BOOM!
What happened next seemed impossible to General Thunderclap. Four of the boulders were levitating in the air, and the dust from the fifth boulder began to settle.
Thunderclap looked at Twilight and yelled, “You are unholy!" And she charged at Twilight with her strange sword, which looked like light was gathering in it.
Weapons clashed, spears were raised, arrows began flying around, and shields were shattered as the battle raged. Twilight was up in the clouds, enjoying the view.
General Thunderclap flew towards her at lightning speed, but Twilight knew she would do that, and got out of the way. Using her magic, as well as her sword, which was made of black steel and silver highlights, she blocked Thunderclap’s second attack.
Twilight then used her Umbrum form and charged at General Thunderclap.
The General swung her sword, and a wave of white light somehow hit Twilight. It hurt Twilight considerably. Twilight changed back into a pony and landed on a cloud, not believing what had just happened.
The General exclaimed, “I can’t believe that worked! I mean, it has a well-known history, but I still can’t believe Princess Amore’s sword actually works on you and unnatural magic. It means I can kilThunderclap swung her sword, but it got l you.” And she pointed the sword of Princess Amore straight at Twilight.
Twilight finally realized whose sword she was staring at. "That is Princess Amore’s sword. Where did you get it?”
"Well, I should really thank the Order of Time for allowing me to use this weapon against you," said the General as she flew around.
Twilight responded, “I’d like to see you try.” Suddenly, she used her magic to fire several bolts of sickly green lightning and black balls of fire at Thunderclap.
The General tried to dodge or deflect the magical fire, but some of it hit her.
blocked by Twilight’s magical black fire sword.
Twilight said, “I guess that sword is only deadly to Umbrum Magic. But I have my Alicorn magic too, so prepare to die.” As she said this, she swung her sword, trying to kill her opponent.
Thunderclap had to think fast. Thankfully, she was the fastest pony alive, and she easily outflew Twilight’s sword swing.
Their battle took place in the sky. As Twilight was fighting, she thought to herself I hope Nightcrawler and the other Umbrums pull through.
Down at the cliff’s edge, eleven Umbrums made their way to the catapults, and Nightcrawler said, “I sure hope this works.” They continued their mission, and the rest of the E.U.P. was none the wiser.
As the six mares went deeper into the Ever Free Forest, Rainbow Dash looked at Applejack and said, “Just out of curiosity, where did you go when we were back at the secret library?”
Applejack stopped and said to herself I didn’t think they realized I was gone.
She started to walk again and said to Rainbow, “I was just looking around, that’s all. The whole reading through books thing looked boring, to be honest.”
Rainbow Dash shrugged and believed Applejack’s story.
They walked along the edge of a cliff and Sunset got nervous. “We need to be careful,” she warned as she walked along the cliff and the others followed.
All of a sudden, the ground shook, and Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Sunset started to fall off the cliff. Thinking fast, Rainbow yelled, “Come on, Fluttershy!”
Rainbow zoomed down at sonic speed to grab Rarity, slowing her descent. Fluttershy did the same with Pinkie Pie. As for Applejack, her panicked state brought out the armor of War Path. She grabbed one of the throwing axes and struck the cliff with it to slow her descent.
Sunset, however, didn’t know how she got down safely. All she recalled was falling, and then a shadow zoomed her down to the bottom of the cliff.
When they were all safely down at the bottom, the five other mares looked at Applejack and her armor, and Fluttershy said, “Um, Applejack, is there something you want to tell us? I mean, if you’d like to?”
Applejack sighed. “I guess y’all need to know now. Back at Hard Stone’s secret library, well, I guess he’s got a whole cave network. I followed him deep inside and he showed me a very damaged suit of armor. But as I got closer to it, I suppose you could say it went inside of me, and somehow, I can control it.” To prove the point, Applejack concentrated and raised her hoof. As she did, her hoof started to glow orange, and an ax appeared.
“ Wow!” exclaimed her five companions in unison. Then Rainbow yelled, “Awesome!” and she flew closer to Applejack.
“Do you think he has another one so I can look 20% cooler?”
Rarity said, “I say the armor looks good on you, but it doesn’t look as fabulous as other suits of armor. I just need to find a way to make a good helmet for it.”
Applejack replied, “It has a helmet, but I like my hat.”
As the armor disappeared, Sunset said, “That’s a powerful artifact. I think I will look for some kind of book that explains it, just so we can be sure of whether or not it’s dangerous.”
Applejack replied, “Well, if you find anything, give me a call, would ya?”
As they began walking to find the road they had lost, Sunset thought to herself Who saved me? And why does Applejack have armor? So many questions, and no answers.
As the battle with the undead raged on, the Umbrums made their move. Half of them zoomed so fast that no pony could react in time.
As for the other half, they used their shadow magic to make five versions of themselves each. The shadow clones got to work pushing the catapults down the cliff ruining them.
A group of E.U.P. soldiers ran straight at the Umbrums, hoping to surprise them. However, the Umbrums were expecting it, and five of them got into a circle and concentrated.
The E.U.P. got closer, but then, suddenly, several black crystals came shooting out of the ground, impaling each E.U.P. in the head.
Nightcrawler walked up to the last E.U.P. soldier with his sword drawn. He studied the pony, a unicorn stallion, who was obviously scared, for he had a magical shield up. Then Nightcrawler used his shadow form, allowing himself to pass through the magical barrier.
“Such primitive techniques,” he said. “We Umbrums have fought, way tougher opponents than your army.” Then he used his sword and cut the stallion’s throat.
Up in the sky, Twilight, with the power of fifty souls inside of her, fired several beams of magic at General Thunderclap. But something was troubling Twilight. She swore she had seen several beans of magic hit the pegasus, but for some odd reason, the pony was still in the fight.
As amusing as the flight was, Twilight decided it was time to end this, so she started to use black fire balls and sickly green and purple lightning strikes. She charged at the pegasus with her black steel sword engulfed in black flame and gave the sword the swing.
But as the sword swung down, it shattered and the black flames were extinguished. To Twilight’s surprise, Thunderclap used her hind legs to kick Twilight in the chest, causing her to fly across the sky until she hit a cloud.
Then Thunderclap flew so fast Twilight couldn’t get out of the way in time. The general used her sword and slashed Twilight, leaving a deep cut on her chest. Then, ten orange souls left her soul gem and went into Thunderclap’s armor, and she looked stronger than ever.
“Now, this is more like it.”
As Twilight got up, she asked, “ Why wasn’t my attack fatal to you?”
The general held onto her sword a bit tighter and said with a sarcastic tone, “Like I’d tell you.”
The six mares wandered in the Ever Free Forest for hours, not knowing if they would ever find the road again.
Rainbow could fly up to find the road, but if she did, there was no guarantee that she would find her friends again. Plus, if she left, the creatures of the Ever Free Forest would probably attack the group.
They had been attacked by timberwolves several times and Applejack had used her magical ax to kill them.
However, Fluttershy had mixed feelings about killing creatures of the Ever Free Forest. She was hoping to ask any creature they met for the way to the road, but the creatures they found were hungry for ponies, and had to be killed before they killed them.
They entered a clearing, but the clearing was not empty. An Ursa Minor was looking for something as it slashed at everything near it; trees, rocks, and even the ground.
Sunset whispered to the others, “Let’s leave the angry Ursa alone.” Every pony agreed except for Fluttershy. She approached the Ursa.
“Excuse me, I just want to know why you are making a mess.” As she said this, the Ursa Minor turned around.
“Rawr!”
All her friends froze in fear.
Then they heard Fluttershy say, “Oh, you poor thing. You just wanted to play out here but you lost track of time, and without your mother, you might die.”
The Ursa sat on the ground, looking at the Pegasus and listening. He nodded his head. Then Fluttershy asked, “Do you know where she is? For I’m sure she is as worried as you are.”
The Ursa Minor walked into the forest and Fluttershy followed it. Her friends followed her.
They spent a good hour walking through the forest until, suddenly, Sunset bumped into Fluttershy. The pony behind her bumped into her, and so on. They looked and saw the Ursa Minor approach a cave. From inside the cave came an Ursa Major.
The two Ursas hugged each other and the ponies watched the embrace. Then Fluttershy flew up to the Ursa Major and whispered something. The Ursa Major whispered something back to Fluttershy.
Then Fluttershy waved a hoof at the two creatures as they went inside the cave. She walked back to her friends and said, “The road is three hours away from here and she was kind enough to point us in the right direction. So, let’s go!”
True to the Ursa’s word, they found the road and saw the castle of the two sisters.
As the friends walked to the castle, Sunset asked Fluttershy, “How did you know that they would tell you where the road was.”
Fluttershy replied, “I just wanted to show some kindness. That was all I did, but I did mention that we were lost, and they were kind enough to point us in the right direction.”
The battle in the sky started to come down closer to the ground. Twilight and General Thunderclap landed in the middle of the battle.
Twilight saw it was going badly, for her mummified warriors were falling down left and right. There was only one left holding a spear. The dead pony charged straight at Thunderclap and the General used her sword to break its spear. Then she kicked the dead pony towards a rock, and the mummified pony broke apart.
“Such a waste of magic to use dead ponies to fight your battles. No wonder they don’t have any unique tactics. They just charge into my army and lose, What kind of tactic is that?”
Twilight got up and looked at the General.
“The one where you didn’t see the Umbrums destroy your catapults.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. We’ve got you.”
As the General pointed her sword at Twilight, several E.U.P. came around her.
“Oh, I don’t think so!”
Twilight used her magic to create a magical shield, but the shield bubble got brighter and brighter, lavender in color. Then it exploded in a purple magical wave, sending any nearby E.U.P. soldier flying at least two feet away. Then Twilight teleported away, leaving a very angry General. The General yelled, “I will find you, Twilight Sparkle! And when I do, there will be death!”
The Umbrums had been waiting for Twilight to come. When she did come back, they made their way to Equestria.
“I have a question,” said one of the shadow guards. “Why did we do that whole battle? I mean, couldn’t you just teleport us all here, or better yet, Equestria?”
With a bored look, Twilight said, “You see these pillars on the border with images of the sun and moon? They hold a magical barrier of swords. If we try to teleport here, we could die just trying to get past.”
“But it was not necessary to go on a killing spree like that,” said Nightcrawler.
“I just used my soul gem to drain fifty soldiers, but you went on and impaled several ponies. Now that was a pony slaughter.”
“I think we should get going,” said Nightcrawler
“Right,” Twilight said, then lit her horn, and in a purple burst of magic energy, they teleported to Ponyville.
As Pinkie Pie, Sunset, and the others walk down the road, Pinkie said, “Don’t you think this is far from enjoyable? We are just walking in a forest!”
Sunset looked at her and said, “We are trying to beat an ancient alicorn of nightmares and save Equestria, but you’re worried about having fun.”
“Mhmm.”
“Just let it go, Sunset. Pink is just being, well, Pink,” said Applejack with a look that said you could lose a few brain cells trying to figure it out.
“Oh, speaking of brains, did you know that Twilight, whoever that is, will be coming? I mean, who fights an army just to get across Equestria’s borders? I’m just saying, there are other ways, like-” mumble mumble
Applejack saw Sunset use her magic to make Pinkie Pie be quiet.
As they walked, they saw the road split in two directions ahead of them. There was no sign to tell them which road would lead them to the Castle. If they picked the wrong road they would spend several more hours walking back to this area.
“I say we go right up the hill, and if there are any monsters, I’ll grab a wild storm cloud and kick lightning down on them,” said Rainbow.
“Well, that’s one way to do it, but my armor said we should take the shadier road, and if there is anything lurking in the shadows, I’ll use my ax to deal with them.” Applejack brought forth her ax.
“But we don’t have secret magical armor attached to us, now do we?” Rainbow snorted.
“If there’s something you want to say to me, then say it,” Applejack replied.
The other ponies just listened to the argument.
“Ever since you told us about your armor, you’ve been getting a cocky attitude.”
“Well, that’s rich coming from a pegasus who’s always confident in her abilities and has dreams that most ponies would call fantasies.
Pinkie Pie bounced around the two and shouted happily, “Fight ,fight ,fight!”
“Enough!” yelled Sunset, as her horn brightened the area, so much so that any living creature roaming nearby wouldn’t miss seeing it.
When the magic from her horn grew dim, she glared at the two ponies that were arguing and said, “Of all times to argue, you guys pick now. We are on a mission to save the princess and Equestria. There is such a thing as a different time and a different place for you two to bicker like two old mares, and I have-“
Rainbow and Applejack were not looking at Sunset, but rather behind her. As Sunset slowly turned around, she saw an Earth filly. As the filly walked out of the shadows of the Ever Free Forest, the six ponies noticed she was wearing a hat with propellers on top, as if it could catch the wind. Her coat was pink, her mane and tail were purple and white. Her cutie mark was of a baseball with a screw next to it. But the really weird part of her was her eyes. They were like pink swirls.
Sunset spoke. “Hello, my name is Sunset Shimmer.” When she said this, Rainbow and Applejack made an unspoken agreement that they’d finish their argument later.
Sunset continued. “What’s your name?”
The pink filly said in a low voice, a little sadisticly, “My name is Screwball.”
Rarity said, “Well, Screwball, is it? We are looking for the castle of the two sisters, where we believe-“
Screwball cut Rarity off a little angrily. “The elements of Harmony. Those pieces of rock that turned my dad to stone, just because he got a little carried away.”
Then, after calming herself down a little, she looked at Rainbow Dash and Applejack. She pointed her hoof at them and said, “And let me guess. You two are arguing which way to go. And you.” She pointed at Sunset and continued. “You say you have enough of bickering and you create that brilliant little flash. I mean, talk about going nowhere.”
Then Screwball walked back to the shadows. “Now, if all of you will excuse me, I have a father to cry about.” Her eyes started to get watery black, like soda. Then several pineapples with teeth bounced around the area she had came from.
Applejack said, “I’m thinking she won’t help us.”
“Agreed. Let’s just pick a road and hope for the right one,” said Rainbow Dash.
“Wait a minute, Writer, are you going to write it like this?” Pinkie Pie asked, looking straight at you. “Screwball here is very alone and very sad, and all of your readers know what happened. When I see somepony sad like this, then I get sad too. Nope, I will do this my way.”
The other mares just looked at each other like Pink had lost it.
“Well, I guess we see what Pink’s got,” said the writer.
Pinkie Pie approached Screwball and the pineapples with teeth bouncing around, and also biting twigs and leaves, and even small rodents. Screwball looked up to see Pink and was met with the barrel of Pink’s party cannon. Her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and she feared what might happen next.
BOOM!
Inside the cannonball, the source of the loud BOOM, there was just confetti that blasted Screwball’s face. As soon as the party cannon went off, three tables with party hats and several other party items popped out. The party began, and during the festivities, the others got to know Screwball a bit better. For the first time in centuries, Screwball smiled.
But nothing could last forever, not even Pink party.
As Screwball walked with the six ponies back to the road, she said, “Thanks for the party. It has been a long time since I’ve let loose. As for the way to the castle, it’s that way.”
Screwball pointed them to the left, then hopped back into the Ever Free Forest, humming a song.
The six mares continued down the road.
Back in the area that Screwball called home, she jumped and hovered three feet in the air. A magical image popped up showing the stone body of Discord.
“Don’t worry, daddy. Soon you will be free,” Screwball said. And together, we can spread chaos and turn the world upside down.”
The ponies ran left to right with panic written all over their faces. No pony saw Twilight. Or the Umbrums that came with her.
“Your highness, look,” said one of the Umbrums, pointing one of her hoofs at the night sky.
In the sky was Nightmare Moon. Flying around Ponyville.
Immediately, Twilight flew up to greet her mother. As she got closer, something didn’t look right.
Twilight then stretched her hoofs to hug her. But as she did, Nightmare Moon flew through her like she wasn’t there. Twilight flew back around, right next to Nightmare Moon. Using her horn, she did a magical scan.
After the scan was completed,she glided down to the Umbrums. When she touched down, Nightcrawler asked, “So, is that her?”
Twilight replied with, “No, it’s not Nightmare Moon. It’s a magical projection of her. She must be somewhere else.”
“Somewhere else. Why have a magical projection of herself?”
Shrugging her shoulders, Twilight said, “I don’t know. Maybe to cause panic? If so, it’s working. All the ponies in Ponyville are running around in town acting like their heads are cut off and screaming at the tops of their lungs. Seriously, does anypony just stop and look?"
They all watched the ponies run around. Twilight began to see a pattern, for there were seven groups of screaming ponies running around the fountain, two groups at a time. When one group ran out, another group screamed in.
Then it hit her.
She walked towards the fountain, lit up her horn, and went through the cloaked barrier to get inside the fountain. There was princess Celestia in the fountain. But she was covered in a black tar substance.
Celestia looked up and saw Twilight. Her eyes widened as she whispered,. “Twilight, is that you? Or is it really Nightmare Moon?”
Twilight gave off an angry look and said, "You’re the last pony I wanted to see. But I guess we have to talk sooner or later, so let’s talk.”
“I’m just saying that if Hard Stone has more armor, then we will not have to worry about timberwolves and crocodile,” said Rainbow Dash, as she hovered above the group.
“I think you’re just jealous that I got the armor and you didn’t,” replied Applejack.
“What?! I’m not!” replied Rainbow Dash.
“Are too” Said Applejack.
“Enough!” Using her magic, Sunset grabbed Rainbow and Applejack’s voices in her aura. Two balls of light appeared; one light blue and the other light orange.
When Rainbow and Applejack looked at Sunset, she said, “Applejack, ever since you told us about the magical armor, you and Rainbow just won't drop it. If it’s not too much to ask, stop! Stop talking about her armor, because it’s getting old. And it’s driving me crazy.”
Then, her aura faded away and the two balls of light went back to Rainbow and Applejack. They walked the rest of the way in silence.
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie said, “Oh, look! There it is!” She pointed at a ruin of a castle.
Rainbow Dash said, “Look, about the whole argument, I just want you to know that I will always be loyal to my friends. And I’m sorry.”
With a grin on her face, Sunset replied, “What was that? I couldn’t hear that last bit.”
“I said I’m sorry about me judging you instead of getting to know you!”
Rainbow suddenly realized she had shouted her apology. She flew up to the front of the group to keep herself from being too embarrassed.
The group saw a ruined archway and they stopped.
“How are we going to get past this?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“Duh.” Rainbow Dash flapped her wings to point out the most obvious answer.
“Oh, silly me.”
As Rainbow Dash flew over the deep abyss, Sunset said, “Rainbow, I see a mechanism that should raise the bridge. See if you can find a lever to raise it.”
When Rainbow landed on the other side, she looked left, then right, and eventually, she found a lever. It looked rusty but seemed like it would still work.
As she was about to pull the lever, she heard her name being called out.
A raspy voice said, “Rainbow Dash.”
“Who’s there? Show yourself!” said Rainbow, feeling the need to fight some pony.
“Oh, we don’t want to fight you. We just want you to have this,” said the mysterious voice.
Suddenly, an object zoomed past Rainbow and hit the tree nearby. Rainbow got a good look at the object. It was a dagger. The blade was as white as a cloud, and the hilt had rainbow coloring. There were several red and blue gems on it. The strangest thing about the dagger was that it was humming quietly, and a soft, warm feeling came over Rainbow which made her think of her home in the clouds.
Then Rainbow heard Sunset yell, “Rainbow Dash, can you hear me!?”
Rainbow shook her head and said, “Ok, look, I'm a bit busy with the whole Nightmare Moon thing. So, I’ll just need to raise the bridge and then we can-”
“I’m sorry, but you have a choice right now. You either join us and receive the dagger,” said the hooded figure, ”or you can pull the lever and let your friends across. If you choose the latter, we will be gone. Your choice.”
Rainbow replied, “You.”
The hooded figure smiled.
But then Rainbow said, “I mean, thank you for the offer. But I will always be loyal to my friends.” And with that, Rainbow pulled the lever which raised a stone bridge. By the look of it, the bridge was in good enough shape to cross. Rainbow flew back to her friends and said, “See, I’m always loyal to my friends.”
“You are making a big mistake. This offer will not come again,” the hooded pony said. ”But if you want to find our order, just look for the time where all ponies look for it.”
“I’m sorry for doubting you,” Sunset said to Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow replied, “You’re not the first to doubt me. I mean, when Fluttershy and I first met, she had doubts about me, but then we got to know each other.”
Fluttershy said in a small voice, “You stood up for me, that’s all.”
“Are you kidding? It took months to get your full trust!” said Rainbow Dash.
“I’m sensing there’s more to this tale than you’re letting on?” said Rarity.
“Look, we should get going,” said Sunset.
When they reached the other sidek, Rainbow noticed the hooded ponies were gone, along with their strange dagger.
hr]
“It is you, Twilight?” asked Celestia.
Twilight didn’t look at Celestia, for her focus was on the black substance that was imprisoning Celestia.
After she poked it and examined it, she tried to grab it with her magic. When she tried to lift it, the magical grip she had disappeared. Then the tar expanded and it tried to grab Twilight herself.
Twilight managed to back away far enough that the tar couldn’t grab her. The tar then went back to imprisoning Celestia.
Twilight looked at Celestia and said, “Tartarus tar.”
The Princess of the Sun replied, “Yes, and it’s getting stronger. Every time I try to get out, it feels like trying to pull away from steel.”
Twilight said, “Tartarus tar basically drains all kinds of magic that touches it. It was designed to imprison one demonic centaur, Lord Tirek. He could absorb any kind of magic except for one. .” Then Twilight thought to herself, “Well played, mother.”
Celestia’s eyes went wide as she realized what kind of magic Twilight was talking about. “You mean that unnatural magic you can do?”
With a look of anger, Twilight glanced at another group of ponies screaming and running and said, “The question you should be asking is simple: why should I free you?”
“Family. For the last century, we were anything but family. If I remember correctly, you never had the time to be with us. You just ignored us, and last time I saw you as an aunt was the time you banished my mother to the moon. So, ‘family’ would be the last thing I’d call you.”
Celestia replied, “You’re right, and every time I try to bring it up, it ends up backfiring. I know that not every mistake I’ve made will be forgotten. I suppose I was living in a dream, where everything was right and forgiven.”
Then Celestia saw a small tear running down Twilight’s cheek.
Celestia continued, “That’s you are the perfect Princess of the Stars. What I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry. And if you free me, then I will give you whatever you want. Just tell me what you want.”
Twilight wiped away the tears from her eyes and looked at Celestia. “First, I want to live in the castle that you abandoned.”
“That’s simple enough. But I’m guessing there is more.”
“The second demand I have is that you not hunt down the Umbrums. If you find any of them, tell me,” said Twilight.
Celestia said, “Alright. You should know, I never tried to kill them. But some other ponies might have.”
Then Twilight said, as she changed into Umbrum form, “They will regret doing so.”
She then fired a beam of shadow magic, and the tar started to change color from pitch black to white. Then, all a sudden, the tartarus tar fizzled out of existence.
Celestia started to get up, but her legs felt wobbly. She tried to use her magic, but nothing happened.
Twilight, in her Umbrum form, said in a monsterous voice, “You just stay and recover from the tar. You will be without your magic for several hours.”
Then Twilight went back to pony form. "I hope I don’t see you for some time."
Twilight and her Umbrums began walking towards the castle of the two sisters.
As Sunset walked, she noticed a change in the road. The road was more flat, and then she saw the remains of a stone sign. Her friend looked at it.
“Uh, I don’t really know what this scribbling is,” said a very confused Rainbow Dash.
“Well, darling, it’s very obvious that the writing is old Polish,” answered Rarity. She continued. “Several ponies are trying to understand what they mean.”
“Well, I just want to know what the sign says,” said an impatient Applejack.
“I don’t know what it says, said Rarity. “I didn’t get into the class that teaches it.”
“I do know what it says, and for all of you wondering, yes, I do have several books on old Polish,” said Sunset. She continued. “Many of the written words you see here are also found in magical spells. In fact, most of the words are used in spellcraft, in case you want to know, Rarity.”
Rainbow yelled in frustration. “Can you just tell us what it says?!”
Sunset said grumpily, “it says ‘Welcome to Eclipseville.’ Are you happy now?”
Rainbow merely smiled.
“You know, you could ask a bit more nicely, Rainbow. It’s called tact,” said Applejack.
“Anyway, we should get moving. There’s no telling what kind of monsters lurk here,” said Rarity.
Well, it’s not like we can’t fall asleep inside one of those ruined houses ahead just a couple of hours away,” said Pinkie Pie.
“Wait, what?!” shouted Sunset, looking for what Pinkie was talking about.
As the fog lifted, everypony could see the ruined town. Sunset and her friends looked for a building with a roof, but no such luck. Then, Sunset saw what was left of the town hall, which looked stable enough.
“Hey, you guys! I think we should go inside this building.”
”It looks like we can’t find any other house or building with a roof,” said Rainbow Dash as she flew down to where Sunset was. Soon enough, the other ponies came.
“It’s the best we’re going to find,” said Applejack.
“But, do I have to lie down on that awful dirt?” complained Rarity.
“If it’s too much to handle, you can fall asleep on the door,.” said Applejack. She continued. “Y’know, I’m ready to hit the hay.”
Sunset started reading the town’s record book. Every town has one. This town’s book looked well preserved, considering itit was several centuries old and the town itself was in ruins.
The others made themselves comfortable and fell asleep. Soon, Sunset also started to drift to sleep.
As Sunset looked around, she saw the ruined town, and realized she was standing in what used to be the town square, which had a ruined, moss-covered statue in the middle of it.
But the statue wasn’t what she was focusing on, for beyond the statue stood Nightmare Moon. As she recognized the black Alicorn and the pony looked back at her, Sunset walked towards her. The Alicorn lit up her horn.
Suddenly, the town started to repair itself. The houses had dark purple or blue colors to them. The stone of the statue was white. The pony in that statue was standing on three hooves, and in its fourth hoof was a light, crystal-blue snowflake and a single feather. The statue pony was a pegasus.
Then Nightmare Moon said, “She was ahead of her time.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Sunset as she charged up her horn with a spell to send Nightmare Moon flying if she did any funny business.
“I mean that she made history by creating the first snowflake. But you’re wondering how I found you,” said Nightmare Moon. She continued in a threatening tone. “You should have tried to stay awake.”
Then Sunset fired her spell, but the spell went right through her opponent. Then Nightmare Moon smiled a sinister smile.
Then the world changed and Sunset fell into what seemed like an endless hole.
As she fell, she looked around and saw her friends, all of them mumbling something.
Then, she saw somepony she never thought she would see again. It was her mom, Clove the Clever.
“Mom, what are you doing here?” Sunset asked.
Her mother looked around and said, “Why, isn’t it obvious? I’m the biggest regret you’ve had in your life.” Then she removed the hood to reveal her burned face.
She continued, “Did you think these ponies would accept you? Did you tell them about how you killed your own mother?”
Sunset said nothing.
“I see you think by avoiding me you can forget that moment.”
Sunset looked up at her mother with a fire in her eyes. “You’re not my mother. She died. You’re just a twisted game that Nightmare Moon cooked up. And since we're in a dream, I think it’s time to wake up.”
Then Sunset’s horn glowed with a blinding white light that washed over her friends as well as her.
As they woke up, everypony was shaking from the bad dreams they had experienced.
Rainbow said, “What the hay was that?!”
“I don’t know. I’m just glad we’re not in that dream anymore,” said Applejack.
“Hey, has anypony noticed that Sunset is not here with us?” asked an energized Pinkie Pie.
Everypony looked around for her, but she was not in the area.
When Sunset woke up, she found herself lying on a stone castle. She also saw the elements of Harmony in front of her. Then she heard the evil laughter of Nightmare Moon, who appeared right in front of her.
“Well, it appears my daughter has taught you well how to manipulate your dreams.”
Sunset got up and said threateningly, “If it’s a fight you want, then it’s a fight you’re going to get.” Sunset ran towards Nightmare Moon and charged up her horn.
As Twilight and the Umbrum party made their way into the Ever Free Forest, Twilight noticed something off with the Shadow Guard. One of them was way too short to be a guard.
She removed the helmet of said guard, then said questioningly, “Crystal Shade, what are you doing here?”
As soon as Twilight said this, all the Umbrums turned to see Crystal Shade’s red eyes dart left to right.
Twilight said, “Ok, Snow Trail, I know you are with us since your son is here.”
Another shadow guard removed her helmet, revealing the green coated Umbrum that was Snow Trail. She said, “I know you didn’t expect us, but back in the Kingdom of Shadows, we don’t feel right. I guess my son and I got used to the Equestrian air.”
Nightcrawler said, “I thought you two looked familiar. And I did find it strange that a colt got assigned to the Shadow Guard.”
“Well, I was hoping to be able to join their ranks someday,” said a nervous Crystal Shade.
“Well, then, I think it’s time for you to learn the basics,” said Nightcrawler.
As he was preparing to tackle Crystal Shade, Twilight said, “Not now, Nightcrawler. We have a castle to get to. You can do basic training with him another day.”
And with that, the company continued on their journey.
Several magical explosions could be seen and heard in the castle. Five mares ran towards the sound.
Inside the throne room, Nightmare Moon summoned several lightning strikes to hit Sunset. As she tried to block the lightning strikes, her magical shield started to fail. There were several cracks in it.
Then a giant bolt of lightning hit her magical shield, sending her flying through a ruin wall. As she recovered from that last attack, Sunset looked around to find the various elements, but she could only find five.
“What?! Where is the sixth element?!”
She heard Nightmare yell, “Where are you, coward? Show yourself! Face me!” Then she heard Nightmare Moon’s voice again, but it was much calmer. “Or do you acknowledge your defeat, and agree to crown me the new princess of Equestria?”
Acting quick, Sunset brought her book out. And whispered “Please work.” As she summoned what magic she has left. Then the five elements of harmony started to glow. And her book of magic Studies with herself. The room got consumed in the bright glow.
As Sunset opened her eyes, she saw two Alicorns that she recognized. One was Princess Celestia. But Princess Celestia looked a bit sparkly and Sunset could see through her. The sparkles were two colors, pink and light blue. The other pony that Sunset recognized was Princess Luna. Like Celestia, Luna appeared in different colors of sparkles. Luna’s sparkles were red, orange, and purple.
Both Alicorns exclaimed, “What is the meaning of this?”
Sunset replied, “Equestria is in danger. And I need your power to defeat the threat.”
The lunar princess said, “I believe her. She speaks the truth.”
Celestia said, “But of course you believe her. When is Equestria NOT in danger.”
“Oh, don’t play that card again. It’s been a century since we got to save the world.”
“Hey, I’m not the one who try to give ponies even lasted night.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have if you noticed how angry I was getting that you got all the attention. And I got nothing. I probably wouldn’t have gone to such extremes.”
“Well, I-”
“Enough!” shouted Sunset as she fired two beams of magic, causing both spirits to submit and give their power to her.
Back in reality, Nightmare Moon was still looking for Sunset. Then a bright light came to life. And in the center of the light was Sunset. However, on her back were two wings of pure light.
“Now things are starting to get interesting,” said Nightmare Moon.
Twilight and her Umbrum party walked through the old town of Eclipse right in front of the castle.
“Such lovely memories,” said Twilight as they walked through the empty streets.
“You have memories of this place?” asked Nightcrawler.
Twilight replied, “Well, yes. You’d think you would remember your childhood turf.”
Snow Trails said, “But this place is run down. And if anypony was here, they have not come back in quite a while.”
But Twilight looked at the other Umbrums and said, “I was trapped in stone for who knows how long. Which reminds me. Maybe I should set up trade relations with Celestia. Especially if I’m going to get the town back to its former glory.”
Up at the castle entrance, Fluttershy paced.
“Do you think she’s okay?” Fluttershy asked the others.
“She probably is. I mean, we’re talking about Sunset. The Princess’s very own student,” said Rarity.
“Well, let’s not forget who she’s up against. I mean, she’s good, but can she really go up against an Alicorn?” Rainbow mused.
All five mares looked at each other, then ran inside to search for Sunset.
Sunset summoned a sword of pure light. When she opened her eyes, they glowed white, and she moved as fast as lightning, preparing to strike Nightmare Moon. But the Alicorn summoned a sword of her own with shadow magic, and used her magic to block the strike. With every swing of the swords, the magical feedback caused a shockwave which damaged the already leveled castle. But then both ponies were engulfed by a purple teleportation spell and disappeared, reappearing high up in the sky.
In the sky, the fight continued with bolts of magic being fired. Sunset started to charge the Alicorn with her magical sword, but suddenly started to feel weird. Like her strength was fading. She was able to use her sword, but Nightmare blocked it, and Sunset went down. As she was falling, she was encompassed by another purple teleportation spell.
Sunset reappeared in the old elements chamber where her friends found her. With them was a familiar purple Alicorn. The princess said to Sunset, “You foolish mare, when will you learn?”
Pinkie Pie said, "Wait. Are you new here? You must be new. Prepared to be welcomed!”
But before she could start her Welcome song, Applejack said, “How about later, Pinkie, when we don’t have an evil Alicorn to deal with.”
The five elements started to glow and float towards Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. As the elements glowed brighter the sixth element appeared. It didn’t go to Twilight. Instead, the element of magic floated to an unconscious Sunset. Then, each of the elements except magic became a necklace for the bearers.
As for Sunset, the element of magic went on top of her head, becoming a crown with a purple star on it. Twilight said to the five mares with the elements, ”Concentrate on what activates your elements and let it power you up.”
As they concentrated, the elements started to light up. Five beams of magic went straight to Sunset’s element. And then a rainbow blast shot upward towards the sky.
Nightmare Moon relished in her victory. She was in the castle throne room when she saw the rainbow beam, and a look of horror replaced her victory smile. She got off of the throne and fired a beam of ice mingled with lightning to try to prevent the magic of Harmony from touching her again. With no success.
“No! Arrrgh!!” She screamed as the magic hit her.
Then, seven ponies walked into the room. Twilight ran straight to where her mother was. Finally, Sunset woke up and said, “I feel a little lightheaded. So, what’s going on?”
Pinkie Pie answered, “You tried to defeat Nightmare Moon, but for some odd reason, you lost consciousness and that Alicorn saved you.” Pinkie pointed at Twilight.
Sunset looked at Applejack, hoping that what Pinkie had said wasn't true. Applejack gave her a look that confirmed the truth in her words.
“Okay,” said Sunset, as she got up, the sun starting to rise. Through the first rays of sunlight, Princess Celestia glided down to the throne room.
Celestia looked at Sunset and said, “Well, it could have been worse.”
Luna gave a good hug to her daughter, and the two looked back at the other six ponies and the Princess of the Sun. But Celestia lowered herself down to where she was at an even height and said, “It’s been a thousand years of heartache and sadness with loss.”
She turned her head to look at Sunset before looking back at her sister and niece. She continued. “Let’s put all this terrible history behind us and forge ahead to a brighter future.”
She then outstretched her hoof. For a couple of seconds, Twilight and her mother look at her. Then both Alicorns went to hug Celestia and Luna, saying, “I’m sorry.”
Pinkie Pie, who was crying, said, “Hey, you know what we should do?!”
“Let me guess. Have a party?" said Rainbow.
“You can go. I need to let the other ponies I came with know where I’m going,” said Twilight as she walked out to where the Umbrum party was.
In Manhattan, in front of the Statue of Pony Liberty, stood five ponies.
“Well, it looks like the Umbrums are back,” said General Thunderclap. “And Princess Twilight is one of them. Did I miss anything else?”
“Um, I think we should let the caretaker know what’s going on,” said Quiz Lamoni, looking at the wall.
A large shadow enveloped the wall of Pony Liberty, and a deep chasm formed. All five ponies walked inside.
The walk to get to their secret HQ took a while, so to break the silence, Hard Stone said, “I think the Order of Time should go into hiding.”
The other ponies looked at him, then Spitfire exclaimed, “Are you crazy? We have control over every major city and small town. If we go into hiding, we are giving in to Chaos, and you know what that would mean, right?”
“I know what that monster has done. But we have little, if any, choice if we want the order to survive.”
Before Spitfire could reply, Thunderclap said, “We’re here.”
In front of them was an ancient door with Egyptian symbols on it. One by one, each member held out their Seal of Time. As they did, the Egyptian symbols glowed in a bright golden color, teleporting the ponies away in the golden glow.
The ponies reappeared in what looked like an office, in which a pony-sized sphinx was going through some old folders about some long-forgotten pony who did something amazing a long time ago. But now was not the time to look for any leads on the legend, for she had guests seeking her wisdom. Her coat was red. Her claws and teeth were golden. One of her eyes was gold and the other was silver.
She stretched her wings, and then heard a rumbling sound around the room, like an object of some sort rolling on the floor, which, as it turns out, is what it was. Then the rumbling stopped. The sphinx picked up the object from where it landed, twisted it open, and heard Hard Stone’s voice as clearly as if he was there, saying, “Sanwa, meet us in the Umbrum section.”
Once she heard the words, Sanwa tossed the object into a basket. Then she walked to the door which led to the balcony. When she reached it, she saw rows upon rows upon rows of shelves, most holding wooden boxes and random trinkets. Some items were too big and just got placed in a cleared area. Sanwa flew above the shelves and as she flew, she recalled that some of the things inside the secret warehouse of the Order had some twisted history to it. But really, half of the stuff in these boxes were experiments gone wrong, and they were put in boxes and stored in this warehouse to keep Equestria safe.
The Umbrum section was right next to the Pyramid of Unicorn Pharaoh Dread Fall. As she began gliding downward, the sphinx recalled when this pharaoh had tried to harness the power of the sun. But what he hadn’t known was that he needed a great amount of power.
Sanwa reached the floor and entered the Umbrum section. There were several artifacts laying on the shelves, from Mystic Coat’s clock to the very first Umbrum king’s crown. The five ponies she was looking for were around a statue of the Umbrum king of terror and fear, Sombra.
“I’m just saying, we can’t give up just because of one Alicorn,” said Thunderclap.
“But we should be reckless? If she is in the presence of Celestia, then it’s more likely she will be gunning for us,” replied Hard Stone.
“Look, she’s here. Let’s just drop this conversation before somepony says something they’ll regret,” Spitfire said with some anger.
“Quite right. Let’s hear what our caretaker has to prophesy,” said Quiz Lamoni.
“Um, prophesy?” said a confused Snooty Blue.
“You don’t know.” said Quiz Lamoni. Snooty shook her head.
Quiz Lamoni explained. “The caretaker is a powerful creature, and works in mysterious ways. The caretaker is chosen randomly. However, no pony has been picked to be the caretaker, for the caretaker must have the ability to see through time itself.”
“Do you mean fortune telling?” asked Snooty Blue.
”Yes. Now be quiet,” Quiz Lamoni said as Sanwa closed her eyes. Her paws went to her necklace, and then golden electricity flowed through her body. She opened her eyes and a bright silver glow came from them. Then she spoke, and her voice was different, like several other beings were speaking in unison with her..
“I see...I see the Lord of Chaos breaking free. I see him turning the world upside down and right side up again. I see the Umbrums being welcomed back. I see the end of our Order. And there’s nothing that can stop it.
The other ponies exchanged looks of great concern. Then Sanwa closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they were back to normal. She said, “I think the Order of Time should go into hiding and wait for the right time to take back Equestria.”
Twilight walked and looked for the Umbrums, and she eventually found them inside Eclipse’s old town hall. When she went inside, she found the Umbrums trying to fix up the building. But try as they might, Twilight knew it would eventually get knocked down. because it was just too old. In fact, it was probably better that it got torn down.
Nightcrawler walked over to Twilight. “So, what happens now?”
“Well, I’m assuming you did what I asked?” replied Twilight.
“Yes, they are placed around the castle and the town of Eclipse. But I’m just asking; what are they?” said Nightcrawler.
“They are a simple protection spell in the form of rocks. Alone, one is useless. But place several of them around a small area and they create a strong barrier. To make sure no monster or evil force can attack. The Umbrums’ sanctuary,” said Twilight.
“Wait, what you’re saying is that this rundown town is a sanctuary for our kind?” said Snow Trail.
“Well, first we have to knock down some old buildings, and build new ones. Then repair the castle. But yes, I would like to make this a place where Umbrums can feel safe,” replied Twilight.
Crystal Shade was about to say something, but Nightcrawler interjected, “Sounds like a wise decision. Because we need a few more places to live in peace.”
“Well, hopefully Celestia will help with the new building part. Which reminds me, I have been invited to a party. You all can join me,” Twilight said as she walked out, seven Umbrums following her. Together they made their way out of the Ever Free Forest.
Party in Ponyville.
Back at Ponyville, the entire town was in Pinkie Pie party mood. Meaning, no matter who you were, you were partying as hard as all the other ponies in town were.
Twilight made her way to the town hall where she believed her mother to be. The Umbrums that went with her were not immune to Pinkie Pie party mood, and were soon off enjoying themselves.
Twilight finally found the town hall, and as she opened the door, she was grabbed by two pink hooves which pulled her in.
Twilight felt like she was being pulled in at hypersonic speed. Pinkie Pie dragged her to the center of the room where Twilight’s mother was.
Then Pinkie Pie exclaimed, “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie, and I put together this party. When Princess Celestia told Luna about what happened in the last thousand years, of what you did when you finally got out, which got me thinking: you missed one thousand birthdays, so I decided to have a giant party for all the parties you missed.
Twilight looked around and saw all kinds of activities, like pin the tail on the pony. She saw ponies dancing to the party music and enjoying beverages and having cake. And, of course, there were all the presents. She found herself wondering who gave her these gifts, because she wasn’t exactly friendly.
Then Twilight said, “A thousand years ago, ponies didn’t celebrate birthday parties. Instead, they would go with their fathers to hunt monsters, and if they killed one, the birthday pony would have a piece of the monster as a trophy.”
All the ponies gasped and looked at Twilight strangely.
Then Celestia got up and said, “Twilight, that’s the past. Nowadays, ponies celebrate their birthday with a party. I’m sure you can adjust to the times.”
Luna said, “This is a strange world. Why does my sister look taller than me?”
Everypony bursted out laughing. Eventually, they calmed down from their laughter and went back to the party.
Twilight then saw somepony she had done wrong and walked over to her.
Princess Cadence was dancing. When Twilight walked up to her, she stopped and walked outside with her.
“Look, I’m sorry. I was angry at Celestia, not you.”
“I wasn’t angry at you. I pitied you. When I felt your presence, you were angry and mad. But I don’t hold anything against you. And the very fact that you are apologizing and looking for my forgiveness speaks volumes.”
Then Twilight and Cadence shook hooves. In that moment, Twilight felt her magic and recognized it from when she fought that EUP general. If Cadence was anything like her, then it would cause problems, for Cadence’s magic was a match for Princess Amore.
When Cadence and Twilight came back, Sunset was sitting at a table with Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
“Well, I guess she’s not that bad once you get past the darkness inside her,” said Applejack.
“But you didn’t witness the destruction she can cause. For instance, she can create an army of undead soldiers that will follow her every command.. And she wanted to flatten Canterlot,” said a very worried Sunset.
“Whoa, whoa, Sunset, you need to settle down. So she was a little angry at her aunt. It doesn’t mean she’ll destroy Equestria,” said Rainbow Dash.
Sunset sighed. ”Maybe you’re right. I’m probably overthinking things and focusing too much on the worst case scenario. But I will not let my guard down and neither should any of you, because she is dangerous."
The party lasted the entire night and into the next morning. Twilight looked at the sunrise. a“Looks like it’s a new dawn.”
Back at the Canterlot hedge maze, the statue of Discord had an unexpected visitor. A pink earth pony with swirly eyes hovered near the statue and said, "Aw, pony feathers. That ended with much less chaos than I was hoping for. I suppose the world will get boring again."
Then she heard her father's voice in her head. "Oh, don't be such a wet blanket, my little abomination, for I think this little story is just getting started."
Then Screwball went to hug her father, though, being a statue, he couldn't hug back. "I just can't wait! I want to cause some chaos now!"
"No need to go cuckoo for coco puffs. That is what Azula is for. When the time is right, we will make Equestria our playground. Mwaha ha ha ha ha!"