Lost Colour

by Star Crest

First published 29th of August, 2012

A Demonic Force eliminates colour by removing one key factor, Harmony.

A force of great evil which despises colour and the ponies who wield it, eliminates colour entirely, leaving equestria in ruin. The only way of stopping this evil is by breaking the Wall of Dimensions itself, and sending one weak message...

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Credit goes to EuTytoAlba of deviant art for use of his image of the Rebellion Logo, and ClusterBuck also of deviant art for allowing open use of her OC, Princess Hope.

1-The Message

She had done it. The Wall of Dimensions was open, but she had to be quick. It wouldn't be that way for long. She nodded to the small dragon on her gray back, who hopped off in response and pulled out a scroll and quill. The pony spoke, and the dragon wrote it down quickly. He then walked towards the large, glowing hole, which was closing rapidly. He blew flame from his mouth, which made the scroll disintegrate and vanish into thin air, while the flame traveled through the void on the other end, and as it went through, it turned... green. The first sighting of colour in ten-thousand years. The pony collapsed and the dragon rushed over to the exhausted mare,

"The spell," she said weakly, "It was too much..." She closed her eyes. A final tendril from the Wall reached out, and restored what was lost to her. The dragon swore he heard whispers;

Colour will be restored,

The Universe Anew,

Colour will be found again,

Dear Princess of the Moon.

Luna glowed colours unseen by the dragon's eyes, and again whispers;

The deepest blue,

The brightest white,

The darkest black,

Colours of the skies at night.

A tear fell to the ground from her eye, and she spoke for the last time, “Good luck, dragon, and may the colours be with you.”
He then realized he had no way of returning home. So he sat and waited staring at the Wall, crying softly.

Spike's cheeks inflated and he burped out a letter from the princess, six mares were dancing to party music. Twilight picked it up and Pinkie stopped the music as the Unicorn's expression went grim,

"Sorry to stop the party, Pinkie," Twilight began

"No Problem," she interrupted loudly.

The lavender pony spoke once more, "Princess Celestia needs us immediately."

The Mares darted into Canterlot palace to see Celestia casting a spell, mouthing words as she did so,

"We're here Princess," said the rainbow-maned pegasus, "we'll go 110% to save Equestr-"

her speech was halted by a purple hoof in her mouth,

"Ssh!" whispered Twilight, "can't you see that she needs full concentration?"

Rainbow Dash almost snorted, "well, sorry I'm not the master of magic,"

Twilight glared at her instead of answering. The Princess then stood and all six of the friends looked up her, unsure of what she had to say,

"My Little Ponies, I fear something far worse than anything has fallen upon Equestria."

"Ah can guarantee, Princess, whatever it can be, we will handle it," proclaimed the orange country pony

"It seems its much worse than that, AppleJack, you see," she finally turned to look at the group, "It isn't our Equestria."

Shades darted by while the holding place of King Discord sat in the background. The shades were wearing hooded cloaks, and they entered the tree library hopefully unnoticed. The last one in was a short one, thought she heard rustling and turned to see what it was. Seeing nothing, she followed the rest inside quickly. They all hurried down to the basement, where a flag hung with a circle and the fabled Elements of Harmony drawn on it, making a six-pointed star,

"Scouts, report," said the pony with the name Grey Dash, leader of the scouts and it is rumored that her distant relatives had a mane of all colours. A dragon hopped off one of the ponies' backs,

"The message was sent succesfully," replied Round Spike, the only dragon in the rebellion,

"and where is Night Mane?" questioned Streak Light, head of studies and sciences,

"The spell to open the wall was too strong. The Princess of the moon... has left us," The dragon lowered his head in sadness, and all the others did the same.

Triple Diamond, the spy leader, broke the silence, "We found a pony sneaking about, and we believe her to be one of Discord's spies. She is an earth pony with the ability of flight, spiral eyes, and she apparently wears a... a beanie," She had a confused expression in her long-lashed eyes for a split second, which faded quickly.

Discord danced the tango with his wife in his arms, "Ah, ten-thousand years of rule. Yet we're still not tired of it!"

A Unicorn with a white streak in her dark-grey mane spoke back, "its truly amazing how long these pathetic ponies will put up with captivation, especially with their precious 'princess' behind magic-proof bars," Discord looked into the Unicorn's eyes,

"Must you use that wretched disguise?" The Unicorn cast a spell and her very skin burned which revealed black holed legs with bug like wings and a jagged horn matching the hooves,

"Oh," said Chrysalis, stretching while still in the grasp of her husband, "It feels so much better to be myself again, that body is just so, so tight." Discord picked her up and held her in his mix and matched arms, bringing his face down to her's,

"I'm so glad we agree," he kissed the changeling and carried her into the garden, now ruined and disorganized. Once they got there, he snapped his fingers, and clouds of an unusual shade appeared above them and rained chocolate milk,

"Hm, hmmm hm mh hm mh," Discord began humming a tune, and Chrysalis started singing along with it,

"Oh, I'm singing in the milk," her multi-toned voice echoed throughout the empty courtyard, the clouds followed them along. A mare with spiral eyes and wearing a beanie came up to the two of them, "Mommy, Daddy," she said to each of them,

"I found them."

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Surprise was flying through the air, enjoying herself. All of a sudden, a green flame flew right back towards her. Now of course the natural reaction is to turn around and run for the sake of living. That's exactly what she did. The flame rolled towards her all the way back to Dream Valley, where she hit her pink friend head-on. They both started falling, the flame copying the action,

"What are you doing, you foal!?" shouted Firefly angrily,

"Now's not the time to argue," The white pegasus replied, going headfirst towards the ground, "look up, or, down, or, Grrahh!" she tilted Firefly's head while the blue mane attached flapped wildly in the wind. She was now looking towards the fire racing after them. She reacted quickly by grabbing Surprise under her forelegs, pulling up and out of the way just before they hit the ground. Surprise's yellow, untangleable mane relaxed at the slower speed, and she released herself to land on the ground, while a loud *pomf* was heard behind them. Firefly and Surprise walked over to the source of the sound, under the exact path of the green flame. Laying in the grass, surprisingly without scars or burns was a torn piece of paper. Firefly picked it up and gave it a confused look,

"What?" asked her friend curiously,

She held it up for her to see, "this is all it says"

The ripped parchment had two words on it, the ink smudged and crooked as if the pony who wrote it hadn't written anything in a hundred years,

'is lost'

2-The Questions

Princess Hope, the ruler of Dream Valley lifted the paper with magic that glowed like fire and read it carefully,

"Intriguing.." she said in her calm soothing voice, "and you found this, where?" The alicorn had a golden coat with a flowing mane and tail which was bearing the colours of fire and a lit candle for a cutie mark.

"Just outside of Dream Valley," Firefly said, Surprise standing next to her, "in the meadow."

The white Pegasus spoke, wings extended, "I bet something awesome is where that thing came from, if only we knew where.." the princess nodded slowly,

"I will study this with Twinkle later, to hopefully discover its origin," she set the parchment aside, "now, why don't you two gather up the rest of your friends?"

The ponies nodded and flew out of the building to find the others.

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"Not our Equestria?" said the lavender pony, a greatly confused expression on her face, "what in the hay does that mean?"

Princess Celestia closed her eyes, "I do not know. However, this paper arrived in fire like your dragon, Spike's. Yet, when I cast an origin spell it told of a world without colour and ponies without Cutie Marks and with evil in rule. Wherev-" she was interrupted by a bouncing pink pony shouting happily,

"Ooh!Ooh! Hide and Seek, oh, I lovethat game, no matter what I am, the Hider or the Seeker, I also find or hide from them, I'm like a Hidey-Findy-Sneaky-Seeky pony! Pinkie Diane Pie th-" she couldn't finish her tangent as a light blue hoof was jammed in her mouth, but she finished it anyways in muffles.

"Pinkie Pie," groaned Rainbow in annoyance, "you are so random,"

Twilight looked back to the princess, "I'm sorry, you were saying?" Celestia cleared her throat,

"Wherever these ponies are, they are living in an exact copy of our Equestria," she stood in silence, thinking, "If only we could learn why it is so different from ours." Twilght stared at the princess in disbelief, then her eyes widened,

"you mentioned a paper, and an origin spell? I think I know that spell, may I see the paper?" the ruler of Equestria nodded, and magically lifted a piece of parchment to her pupil. She took it from her with her own purple magic and brought it down so the six of them could read it. On the paper was a single word, a tear beneath it,
'Colour'

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Bunnies with giraffe-like legs trotted by the Library while pies slowly fell from the sky. Streak Light looked out the window solemnly,

"I fear for our victory, Round Spike," she sighed, "without Night Mane, how could we ever defeat Discord and Chrysalis?"

the baby dragon sat on her back, "you shouldn't be. If your calculations are correct, help will arrive from the other side of the Wall of Dimensions."

The unicorn closed her eyes, "yes, but even then, what if the help we get is nothing. What if they won't be able to help?"

The dragon hopped off her back and went up the stairs to retrieve the several papers she used to find the location of the Wall. When he found them, he came back down and handed it to her. She used magic to lift and bring over a quill, and she made a couple adjustments to her equation. Her brow furrowed and she went to her desk and worked on it furiously, Problems always have questions, and every question has an answer, she thought as she worked, and every true answer is clouded, only once this clouding has been cleared can the true answer be seen. she looked over her math several times, each time finding one more mistake and fixing it. She finally finished and gasped,

"Round Spike! Call a meeting Immediately!"

In the basement of the tree, the meeting took place, ponies in hoods gathering, startled by the sudden ad urgent calling,

"What in the hay is going on?" asked Grey Dash impatiently,

"What in tarnation ain't you tellin' us?" queried Apple Black,

Streak Light stepped up on to the table and cleared her throat, "everypony," they continued chatting, she rose her volume,

"everypony, please," Triple Diamond then got up next to her and took a deep breath,

"HEY, LISTEN UP!"

Streak Light flinched at her volume,

"thank you, now, I have gathered you all on such short notice because of a discovery I made." everypony there leaned towards her intently, "I have discovered that our message, may have gone farther than we expected. We thought it may go to one dimension, and they would come and help, well... we were right." excited and hopeful banter filled the room, which quickly stopped as they all remembered the strength of voice within Triple Diamond,

"Our message may have gone to... another one."

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Discord put his changeling wife down,

"The rebels," continued their daughter, "I found their hideout. Its the library, home of the unicorn Streak Light."

"Excellent!" exclaimed the draconequus king, "have you learned of the progress they've made on their ever so futile plans?" the mare nodded,

"I have. They've found the Wall and sent the message. Clearly they weren't aware of the third dimension,"

The couple smiled, the rule over Equestria was just getting better and better!

3-The Origin

White Coat sat in captivity. The magic proof walls and bars prevented any kind of escape, and she spent all of her ten-thousand years doing one thing, thinking. Thinking of how she got here, how she was the ruler of Equestria, how Colour became lost, and how she could possibly escape, and help her little sister with the rebellion, as she had helped her with the moon so many years ago. The moon... she had almost forgotten what it looked like, she remembered her sibling once more, and how she herself had banished her, how she... tears poured down her face, it hurt, it hurt to remember the moon, her sister, or anything from her time. Her real name was forgotten, she could remember the events before this ever so clearly, the day they lost colour.

Princess Celestia battled with her lifetime rival, Discord,

"You won't get away with this," she shouted angrily at the draconequus, who laughed in return,

"Oh my dear Princess, I believe I already have," he turned and raised his arms, "Your world is mine! everything you hold dear will belong to me for centuries, millenia, even!"
The alicorn growled, and her horn started to glow a powerful white, with a heat like the sun itself, and a rainbow of colours appeared from it, the full power of the Elements of Harmony was unleashed upon him, and he panicked as the rainbow light enveloped him, turning him to stone on the spot, his body froze with a mouth open, and his arms outward, as if it could at least slow the process.
Celestia exhaled, and turned around,

Several buildings floated upside-down, and the dirt roads were made of a slippery blue material which ponies were constantly slipping on, bumping into one another, and trying to find balance,

Order must be restored before I can get some rest, I will st- her thought were interrupted by a loud explosion, a large line of orange, tendrils projecting from it in a thousand places, passed quickly overhead, and the brilliance of the sky turned a dull grey, as did the ground, and the buildings. Cracking was heard, and she turned around to see the statue crumbling, and Discord emerged, showing shades of grey, rather than the normal mismatched-ness of the spirit.

The Princess stood in shock, "but wh- how can it be?" she said with fear in her voice, not only has Discord returned, not a day after his defeat, but colour seemed to have disappeared entirely,

"Hm.. well that seemed rather," Discord said confused, then he noticed the alicorn staring at him, "well, what are you gawking at?" he pointed, and then noticed his normal orange paw is now grey, as with the princess' mane, and the rest of the world!

"Well, this was rather unexpected, no matter though, what does matter is, I'm back!" he laughed and then snapped his fingers, and glowing, magic proof chains appeared around the princess, he flew over to her, picked her up and carried her to Canterlot, her mouth still gaping, and her eyes unblinking.

She had broken out of her chains a long time ago, and overheard about the rebellion that her sister had started to regain colour, to bring back the names, and the Cutie Marks, and the Equestria as they knew and loved it, if only she could be out there, if only she could help. A strange smell entered the room, the smell of.. of magic, a smell she has not felt in a long time. But this wasn't magic.. no, not anymore.. this was...

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Gilda walked down the halls of Canterlot casually. She had no idea how colour disappeared, she just knew that this is what she wanted, she liked being in charge, it felt good. She walked up to the throne, where King Discord, Queen Chrysalis, and their daughter, Princess Screw Eye stood. She and Screw Eye never really got along, they just acted like they did in front of the true rulers of Equestria, so she wouldn't get locked up with the faulty one, White Coat. She had earned quite a high status among them, captain of the army, which really made no difference, as Changelings would obey the orders from a rabbit, if it could ever even happen. she reached the throne and lowered her front body and extended her wings in a bow, she hated bowing.

"Ah, Captain," said Discord, leaning in to make sure he could hear what news the captain had brought, "anything new from the griffons?"

Gilda stood from the demeaning bow and nodded, "they'll help,"

"Yes! Excellent, with griffons running through Equestria, our power is assured," Discord's cheering was stopped by Gilda raising her claw, who got a scowl, "oh, I'd teach you manners, but whats the point with griffons anyway?"

"The griffons will help so long as you return what they own to normal," her voice raised without her realizing it, "you've made it impossible to do our daily routine, with the buildings inside out, and the roads made of ice, its hard to tell if its even daily, with sun and moon raising falling and random times, some of us don't even know the term 'day' anymore,"

Discord was fuming through the ears, "you dare to question MY rule? Go tell you little griffons that they will join us, or nothing will change, and nothing will ever be normal again, do you understand me?"
Gilda gulped before nodding, "yes, my liege," she turned around and flew off, her every will struggling to show it had not affected her, she didn't care, and that she was stronger than that. it had been a long time since she had cried, and that sure wasn't going to change now.