Chapter 1
--Chapter 1--
Silence was never quieter. The wind rustled against the trees which, in the darkness, appeared blacker than a raven’s feather. The smell of smoke filled the moist air. The sky was darker than the rest. There were no gleams of the jewels, usually sewn into the black fabric. The big button, the moon, was not there to make the fabric seem lighter. It was just dark. The wind got stronger, pushing the tops of the trees to a certain extent. The sound of the wind, sounded like a thousand angels humming some unfamiliar tune.
But the humming stopped. And the hard drumming of the thunder came. The clear silver droplets of water fell from above. The small sounds out their patter hitting against the ground was quiet.
A snapping sound came from behind the black dust. Her eyes cracked open. She lifted her head to take a quick awaking glance of the rain, and realized she was soaked. She grumbled, she wouldn’t bother to put up some sort of magical force field around her. The last droplet of the silver blue rain landed on her nose, creating a new era of silence.
She didn’t move, not one bit. She knew somepony- or something was there, watching her. It couldn’t be an animal. This part of the Everfree was blackened, burnt, not living. The soil couldn’t grow plants anymore. It wouldn’t be an animal, she doubted it. The scent of fresh rain water mixed in with the smoggy thick smell of smoke.
Her pink ballerina shoes were soon brown with mud covering every little patch of silk. Her silver pink coat was wet with a mixture of rain and dirt as well. She stood up on all four mud covered hooves. Her baby blue eyes flickered over her surroundings. She was prepared for something. She waited, for as long as the moon was awake in the night.
A vociferous scream, as if it was a young filly yelling for help, shattered the silence. The pink mare looked up, hearing the signal. She soon started to trot, then gallop at full speed into the night.
Several sets of midnight blue hooves slammed against the white marble floor. Three stallions and a mare, all wearing armour of some sort, galloped through the hallway louder than a stampede. Two of them had bat like wings while the other two were blessed with a horn for the use of magic. They had no time to stop to open the door politely. They smashed into the door, breaking it down into small wooden pieces. The buffest of the four scanned the room, trying to unlock a chest using his magic. Clank, he looked inside, and then furiously threw it away.
“She isn’t here! It isn’t here!” He yelled loudly. He quickly turned to the winged ponies who were watching him with fear. “Nightlong, Eclipse! Go and find the Princess of the Night!” He ordered harshly. The two ponies saluted him respectfully.
“As you wish, General Kage!” They spread their black wings to flap away. The angered general turned to his comrade, who was gazing at the beautiful scenery beyond the princess’ window.
“Incognito!” General shouted to snap the mare out of her gaze. She looked around and noticed the General glaring at her. She saluted him, shivering from fear.
“Yes General?” She stammered as he walked over to her. Her dark auburn eyes tried to avoid his piercing glare.
“Stay focused on the mission.” He spat in her face. She nodded, frightened by her own general. “We need to go and search town, every village, every patch of area of it. You are quite aware of that, I am correct? Or did you fall in love with the window again?”
“I understand we have to search, General. But… you’ve never told us what to search for exactly.” She explained to the General. He grunted furiously, stomping one hoof to the ground.
“You never pay attention, do you?” He looked at her, peeved by her words. “I’ve been saying it every single session. We have to get that little gem. Luna has done nothing for us. We have to get it. Do you understand?” Incognito nodded quickly. He took a few deep calming breaths in and out, before he relaxed. “Now come along, we have to find it.” He ordered, more calmly this time.
The moon was always asleep, along with its stars. But there were none tonight. The black thundering clouds filled the sky. The water droplets slammed the ground harder than a metal band would pound it’s drums. The howling song sung by the wind made the song complete. The audience, were the classical music critics. They hid away from the storm. No houses were lit up except three.
A whoosh of wind swished away a pink envelope from a gray pegasus’ hooves. Her gold eyes tried to focus to see where it had gone. She flapped her wings harder than the blow of the drums and reached out for it… and caught it. She grasped it tightly and the wind tackled her to a purple wooden door. The door of Carousel Boutique slid open and out came a porcelain white pony with a tidy purple mane. She looked down and saw the gray Pegasus, trying to scrabble back up.
“Oh dear, Miss Hooves, are you alright?” The white unicorn spoke out, helping the Pegasus back up. The gray mare smiled thankfully.
“I am fine, Miss Rarity.” She dusted herself up and gave the envelope to the mare. “It’s an emergency, apparently.” Rarity took the envelope and looked at it, analysing it. She finally saw the seal on the back. She ran over the golden sun shaped C.
“Oh thank you…” She stared down at the envelope, and then looked back up to see the Pegasus spreading her wings. “Miss Hooves, you must get home.”
“I have a delivery to make!” The Pegasus stated, taking a small colourful package, covered with stickers and glitter out of her small saddle bag.
“And whom is to for?”
“Umm…” The Pegasus looked at the package trying to focus her goggled eyes on the address and name, messed up as if two foals have tried to. “Dictionar- Oh Sweetie Belle.” She looked up with a satisfied smile on her face.
“Sweetie Belle is my sister…” Rarity stated with a blank face. She held out her hoof and smiled. “I’ll give it to her, don’t worry. Just get home to Dinky and stay safe.” The Pegasus gave her the package, gratefully.
“Thanks Miss Rarity.” She started to flap her wings and zoomed off into the battlefield, fighting against the wind. Rarity walked into the warm well lit boutique, staring at the envelope.
“Whatcha ya got there Rarity?!” A squeal came behind the mare as she closed the door. Rarity jumped from shock and turned to face a smaller unicorn with a pink and lavender mane. Rarity gave a slight growl away and trotted over to the fireplace, placing down both the envelope and package on the glass table. She then levitated a small tea cup and sat down next to the fireplace. The filly sat next to her and smiled. “Rarity… What are those?!”
“The weird looking package is for you.” The filly smiled and grabbed the package with excitement and wore up the wrapping into tiny little shreds. Rarity’s eye twitched as she saw the mess made by her own sister. The filly then pulled out a humongous black book with yellow stripes. “Sweetie Belle, what is that book?”
“Oh! This?” She squeaked. She lifted the book up, so the mare could see. “Something Apple Bloom got for me and Scootaloo. It’s supposed to help us with our cutie marks!” Rarity leaned in closer to the book and tried to focus on the text.
“Cutie marks for Dummies?” Rarity looked at it surprised. The filly nodded with excitement and opened the book, her eyes scanning the content fast. Rarity took another small sip of her tea. "Sweetie belle, be a dear and give me the envelope.”
The filly looked and tossed the envelope on the table to Rarity. The envelope flew over and landed in Rarity’s hair. Rarity sighed and put down the tea cup, and took the envelope out of her hair. She opened the seal and pulled out the piece of paper.
My dearest Rarity,
I have just been informed that my sister, and Princess of the Night, Luna, has disappeared once again. I have sent letters to all six of you, to tell you. This must be a secret. I wish you six would take the train to Canterlot the next morning to discuss your mission. Thank you very much.
Princess Celestia.
Her eyes widened in shock. She put the letter back in the envelope and placed it back on the table.
“Rarity… What was that?”
He fought the wind with his wings. He was supposed to know how to fly in this weather, but not tonight. Tonight was the worst of all nights he had woken up to guard his sacred princess. His dual swords, cooperating to defeat his villain, swung back and forth, beating on the wind’s battle axe. The rain banged on his black uniform. The crashing and smashing sounds of water droplets beating his helmet did not help him focus.
“Hey! You! Come back!” His head turned to see a flock of black ravens chasing him. He flapped harder, trying to escape. “Traitor! You were one of us!” They crowed. As they got closer, they were no longer ravens. They were ponies of the night, like him. His bat like wings beated faster, gaining speed.
“You are traitors of the night!” He yelled back at them. Then suddenly, the ponies came to a stop. He looked at them with confusion. ‘Why did they stop..’ He wondered then shot a quick glance at what was in front of him, and smashed into the cloud of lightning. A shock travelled through his armour and body. His gray, almost lifeless body fell downward.
Most ponies found the weather unbearable and would rather have their sunshine. But one pony didn’t. She enjoyed the weather. She loved the rain as it helped her concentrate. Her wings shifted her to the right. Several books glowed magenta and so did her horn. She flew over to her small desk, lit by a candle lamp. A small baby dragon slept in a basket, not far away from the desk. She hummed a small melody as she sat and placed the books down on the table. She opened one and began to read. The baby dragon opened his eyes in tiredness.
“Can’t you turn off the light…?” He whispered and she sighed. She blew the candle out and studied in the small light the window had let in. He smiled and closed his eyes again. The alicorn stared at him for a few moments with a small smile on her face. Soon enough, he began to snore. She looked back at her book. The only sound that could be heard was the small sounds of pages being flicked. She flipped through one book after another. Anthropology, Climatology, Toxicology. She didn’t move her eyes away from them.
A smashing sound coming from below the stairs broke her silence. She stood up on all four hooves and galloped down the stairs. Books were thrown on the floor by the wind. The alicorn grumbled at the mess and trotted towards the library door and closed it. She then took the books and slowly rearranged them back to where they were. Suddenly, below the books, there was a grey-pink mare with wet ballerina shoes and a light lavender mane. The alicorn’s jaw dropped. The mare’s eyes were wide open. The alicorn slowly helped her up.
“Ow…ow…ow…” She murmured as she stood up.
“How are you awake?” The alicorn asked her with confusion. “No one could stay awake after that crash! You should have blacked out-” The pink mare shook her head and sighed.
“I can’t black out. Sorry to disappoint you, Princess Twilight. ” She snapped. “Oh…Wait…. You wouldn’t know.” The mare limped towards the door before the alicorn stood in her way.
“I’m not telling you go out injured.” Twilight stated with a serious and worried look on her face. “You have to say and heal. That crash must have been really hard.” The mare stood for a moment, glaring at the alicorn then sighed and nodded.
“Fine. I’ll stay.” She sat down and hung her head down. The lavender alicorn brought a small white kit with a red cross labelled on it. She quickly started to treat the pink mare’s broken leg.
“So, what’s your name?” Twilight asked as she continued to treat her. The mare sighed.
“I don’t remember.” The alicorn stopped for a moment, looking at her in confusion.
“What do you mean, you don’t remember? It’s impossible to forget your name like that-”
“It’s not if you haven’t slept for two years and forgot most of your memories.” The alicorn stared at her in disbelief.
“Oh… How are alive-”
“Don’t ask.” The mare snapped before the alicorn continued her question. “Sorry, that was rude… Um…It’s a long story you probably don’t need to hear.” Twilight nodded and wrapped a bandage around the mare’s leg.
“Do you have a place to stay? You can’t walk around on that leg or anything.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t.”
“You don’t remember your name, you don’t have somewhere to stay-” The alicorn murmured to herself then stopped. “Stay here for the night. I could provide you with pillows and a mattress-”
“No thanks…” The mare shrugged and got up once again. “Thank you, but I must leave.”
“I can’t let you do that.” The mare stared at the alicorn and grumbled. “Look, we can help you remember those things… I’m going to Canterlot in the morning. We could take you along, find a suitable memory spell...”
“There are things I don’t want to remember.”
“Why are you so negative? ‘I don’t remember’ ‘No thank you’ ‘I don’t’. I need to help you.” The mare looked up in thought for a few seconds then sighed.
“Fine, Princess. Just… Okay.” The alicorn smiled gleefully and the pink mare sat down in front of a window. “I’ll wait here. You should go sleep.” The alicorn nodded and trotted up the stairs. The baby dragon yawned in his bed and opened his eyes.
“Tw-Tw-Twilight… Who was that?” He whispered sleepily.
“Just a mare…. Get some sleep, Spike.” He nodded and closed his eyes once again.
Just a mare….. I don’t believe she’s just a mare…