What's going on, my dudes? Count Kleiffen, Reporting for duty!
Now, what is this, you may ask? Well, I've never really liked the Ponyverse, to be completely honest. I've always found it a little too cheerful.
...Which is why I'm making this fanfic. I'm going to destroy it all.
This chapter is mainly just for an introduction of both myself and my own elements that I created. At least, I haven't found any other fanfic out there that has something this intricate. If so, I implore you to let me know so that I can throw a disclaimer in here saying that they aren't the same thing.
Anyways, on with the chapter!
"YOU CANNOT BEAT ME, CELESTIA! NEITHER CAN EXIST WITHOUT THE OTHER! THERE MUST BE A BALANCE IN THE WORLD!" a loud, thunderous voice boomed over the Dark Woods.
High above the kingdom of Edonarch, to the west of the Smokey Mountains, a battle of fourteen alicorns took place, seven on either side. Each alicorn on one side of the battle had a band of gold around the base of their manes with a single jewel on the bands, seems to be mirrored by their opponents silver bands with their own jewels.
In the middle of one of the sides of the war flew Princess Celestia, the most powerful Alicorn to ever wield good magic, and her side held the six Elements of Harmony. Her opponent, an alicorn named Count Kleiffen, had eyes clouded a dark purple, the alicorns beside him had similar eyes thought clouded slightly to the shade of their jewels, the Elements of Discord.
"Your powers have known no bounds. Even after the terms were struck thousands of years ago, saying our powers should be restricted to the boundaries of our territories by our father, you still invade my country with your darkness. This ends now, Count! You cannot stand up to the Power of Friendship!" Celestia yells back at the Count, causing a scowl to appear on his face.
Suddenly, the six Elements of Harmony unsocketed themselves from their golden bands, and floated towards Princess Celestia, making a hexagon around her.
The Elements then swirled around her, making a perfect circle, and sped up with every second, starting at a snail's pace, and quickly speeding up.
Count Kleiffen snarled in anger, and then summoned the Elements of Discord to his side, forming a magical shield around himself as he tried to protect himself from the energy blast.
Princess Celestia released the energy collected from the Elements of Harmony and shot it at Count Kleiffen via a destructive, rainbow-colored beam of energy.
The beam of energy collided with the shield and forced him back in the air, the shield splitting the huge beam into a bunch of smaller ones that shot off in almost every direction, killing the other six Discord Alicorns, and causing their bodies to disintegrate immediately upon impact.
Upon their death, his shield weakened, and Count Kleiffen was pushed back even further before stopping once more, his face full of concentration as his voice boomed over his land for the opposing princess and her alicorns to hear.
"YOU MAY THINK THIS OF A VICTORY, BUT YOU HAVE JUST SEALED YOUR DOOM. BY KILLING MY ALICORNS, YOU HAVE SIMULTANEOUSLY WEAKENED THEIR ELEMENTS, AND SEALED YOUR OWN FATE."
His shield started glowing a rainbow color, and by the time she realized that he was absorbing the energy from the beam of destruction from the Elements of Harmony, she found it impossible to cancel the attack no matter how much she willed them to stop.
"MARK MY WORDS, ONE DAY, WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT, YOUR KINGDOM, YOUR LAND, YOUR FRIENDS, WILL FALL, AND YOU WILL EITHER BOW BEFORE ME AND ACCEPT ME AS YOUR RULER OR PERISH AT THE HOOVES OF MY CHAMPION!"
Suddenly, the beam cancelled, and the shield was turned into a sphere of rainbow energy before shrinking to a diameter of half an inch before exploding in a multi-colored firework, blinding the Harmony Alicorns from the sudden explosion of light as, unbeknownst to the Harmony Alicorns, a beam of light hit each Element of Discord and Element of Harmony before the lights died down.
As Celestia opened her eyes, she saw that the land of Edonarch started to visibly wilt and crumble, the trees dying and the empty castle crumbling into ruins as the six Elements of Discord fell towards the ruins, glowing a dark, evil purple before they vanished from sight.
One of the alicorns flew to the ruins before she was halted by a purplish-black force field, electrocuting her for a couple seconds before blasting her backward into the other Alicorns, who managed to catch her before any of them lost balance, finding that the alicorn that shocked her was unconscious.
Princess Celestia tore her look of worry from the downed alicorn to the crumbling castle, and towards the horizon, finding that the withered land stopped at the borders of Edonarch.
An alicorn on her left looked up from the withered lands, and looked at Princess Celestia before asking "What now, Milady?"
The Princess thought for a few moments before saying "The Kingdom of Edonarch is no more. Its elements have no Alicorns to take hold of, and all her citizens have either gone over to Equestria or have gone further West to start their lives over again in a new land. This land shall now be named The Undiscovered Lands, this forest shall now be called The Dark Woods. This land is forbidden to wander into for the rest of eternity, and shall forever lay barren to the world. No one will ever speak of Edonarch, and both this land, her people, and her rulers shall be wiped from all memories aside from myself and those that carry the Elements of Harmony. This Kingdom shall be forgotten about, never spoken of again, and life will remain as it should; good, happy, and full of life."
Suddenly, the Elements of Harmony gathered together, and touched each other in front of Princess Celestia, their powers combining before a shockwave of energy blasted off of them, the shockwave reaching the farthest corners of the world, erasing the land, the evil alicorns, and anything to do with the Elements of Discord from every pony, pegasus, unicorn and alicorn's memory aside from the those closest to the Elements themselves.
For the next ten thousand years, Equestria has been a land of peace, aside from the occasional threat to their happiness that they've quelled. Celestia has gained many friends since then, and the Elements of Harmony have chosen several other alicorns to wield them, now in the hands of a new team of alicorns; The Element of Loyalty has chosen Rainbow Dash, the Element of Honesty has chosen Applejack, the Element of Kindness has chosen Fluttershy, the Element of Magic has chosen Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Laughter has chosen Pinkie Pie, and the Element of Generosity has chosen Rarity.
The land seems to be at peace and has been for the last seven hundred years.
At least, that's what the Elements of Discord want you to think.
For deep beneath the earth, in the lowest dungeon of the Edonarch Castle ruins, lies six coffins, each with different names, and the stone outline of six sleeping alicorns with their wings folded over them. Each of the coffin's alicorns was unique in one way or another, with a light color shaded onto them to resemble what they looked like in life.
The coffins themselves held nothing inside of them, and everything seemed eerily quiet.
That is until the stone eyelids of the coffin made for Count Kleiffen opened, the irises glowing a bright violet as an evil laughter echoed throughout the land of Edonarch, causing a dark wind to blow throughout the land.
The Elements of Discord have awoken.
And through them, the spirit of the one who held them last plans for revenge.
"ARK, DINNER'S READY!" I hear from my room.
Pressing the mute button on my controller, I yell back "I'll be down in a minute!"
Unmuting myself from my party, I tell them "Sorry guys, dinner's ready. I'll be back as soon as I can."
I hear several moans and groans from the other players in my party, and I say "Hey, c'mon guys. There are several other players in the clan that are better than I am; let one of them take my spot. At worst, you'll lose five minutes of gameplay. And besides, it's pizza night. So I'll see you guys later."
After hearing several other goodbyes from my clanmates, I shut off my Xbox One, turn off my TV, and make my way downstairs.
Heading into the kitchen, I see, big surprise, two large pizzas, one with Canadian bacon and pineapples while the other had mushrooms and olives, a pack of 18 barbecue wings and a pack of 18 boneless chicken wings, along with a 2-liter of Dr. Pepper.
I'd be happy if it weren't for the fact that we get this every damn time its pizza night.
Which was kinda why it was moved from a weekly thing to a monthly-at-most thing.
I grab a plate from the cupboard, load it up with two slices of the mushroom and olives, and grab some boneless wings before setting it down and pouring myself a glass of soda, to which I then grab both, and carry them into the living room to set them down on my collapsable table that we got a few months back from a friend who was living out here in the middle of nowhere.
Mom and dad already had their plates loaded with food, no big surprise that pops had a bud light instead of the soda, and were in the middle of watching yet another pointless football game.
Uninterested in the game or the conversation my parents were having on why a Master Chief in the Navy had to have yet another full-body Star Wars costume for the 501st Legion that he was a part of, my phone vibrated in my pocket. Pulling it out and reading the message, I almost choke on my food as I read it.
**Ark, I'm at the north shore in my casual clothes, and I was wondering if you wanted to do some late-night skinny-dipping with me. It'll be fun, promise. Don't keep me waiting ;)
I then go from eating my food to shoveling it in my mouth, finishing everything in about a minute and a half, something that my parents had no concern over.
I quickly make my way to the kitchen, wash my plate and glass, and set them in the sink along with the other pile of dishes containing the previous two days worth of cooking pots, pans, utensils, and plates. I groan, knowing that I'd be the one to clean them up.
Heading upstairs to grab my bag, I text one of my clanmates that I'd be busy for the rest of the night, and to wish him luck in the raid against Aksis while I grab my key and my bus pass. I put on my jacket, sling my backpack over my shoulders, and walk down the stairs finding that dad's already retired for the evening while mom was watching NCIS: LA while stitching on another project for her friends.
"Carolyn wants to meet with me at the North Shore, said something about camping out with a bunch of her friends. Yes, there's going to be other adults there, and no, it's not going to be one of those kinds of things. It's just a friendly meet-up. Evidently, she's going through a lot and she needs a shoulder right now. I might not be back until tomorrow, but I gotta go."
"OK, sweetheart. See you tomorrow," she says before the door closes between us.
I take a deep breath and start walking down to the bus station.
A few minutes later, I pass by a children's park with a guy in a black car parked in front of it.
"Hey kid," the driver says when I pass by. I stop and turn to face him as he gets out of the car, recognizing who he was almost immediately.
"You shouldn't be traveling alone at night. You never know what kind of ugly mug you might come across."
"What, like yours?" I retaliate. He stops his advance, and for a moment, everything gets tense.
My mouth can't stand the seriousness any longer, and it cracks into a smile as we both laugh a little bit before giving each other a bro-hug.
"So, where you off to, Archer?" he asks me.
"North Shore, Kev. I was just about to call you. She's ready."
His smile completely fades away. "Wait, you're serious?"
I grin, saying "Absolutely. Ready to return to the world we were banished from?"
He laughs out loud, and says "Absolutely! Let's do this!"
"Goddamnit, I hate this game!" I yell.
"C'mon, man. That was your own fault," Kevin says.
"Screw that! How was I supposed to know that the guide we were following would eventually kill us all? I just got back from being banished to another dimension, and suddenly my character dies? What the hell, man?!"
Walter takes a huge sigh, and says "Do you wanna use your last life, or are you gonna retire for the evening?"
I sigh before standing up and saying "Face it, I'm better at video games than I am at tabletop games. I'm gonna go for a walk. I got my stuff with me if you need me, and my phone's fully charged. If I don't return in twenty minutes, call 911."
I reach for my backpack, get up off the sandy beach, and walk away from the board game they have set up on the sands itself next to a fire pit with a small fire coming out of it for some extra light.
I continue walking down the beach, enjoying the breeze coming off the ocean, and the combined smell of the outdoor woods from the nearby trees and the waters itself.
I may not know how to swim, but holy shit, I love the beach.
Looking up into the sky, I'm able to see a few stars in the sky, most of them covered by the fact that we're still close enough to a city to be able to see a lot of them. That and the air pollution might be affecting my sight.
One star, in particular, seems to be shining the most. Throughout my life, I've never been more content than when I'm looking at the stars at night.
Suddenly, someone grabs me from behind, holding something sharp to my throat, and asks "Empty your pockets, or you're dead."
My blood turned to ice as I registered his words and what was happening. I reach into my pockets and toss my phone and wallet down to the ground, as well as the pencil and couple wrappers in my pockets for the mints I've had on the trip here.
Another guy comes along and picks up the items before looking through my wallet before scoffing and saying "Dude, seriously? Just $3?"
"I don't carry that much spare change on me, dude."
The guy behind me withdrew his knife before the guy in front of me punched me in the stomach, causing me to double over and fall to my knees, only to have my face be met by a third person's foot, which causes me to bend my whole upper body backwards 180* to fall on my back, doing my best to curl up as they relentlessly kicked me.
Suddenly, the third person did something that caused the other two to stop, and the first guy was like "Dude, what the hell? Beating him is enough, but you brought a gun?"
"He's seen John's face; if he agrees to describe him to a sketch artist, then we're all going to prison. We can't let that happen, no matter what."
Silence followed for a few seconds, and then the ocean's breeze came upon myself and the trio, and I felt time slow down a bit as I heard a female voice as light as an angel's on the winds say 'Do not fear, for you will not die here.'
BANG
…
"Dude, what the fuck?" the first guy shouted.
"How did he do that?" the third guy asked.
A few more seconds of silence and John said "We don't speak of this night. No matter what got it? We'll say that we were out on a stroll when a guy jumped you, Jason, and Jacob shot his gun in the sand to scare him away."
The others agreed, and though the cops came to talk to them, they agreed to that story, and never spoke again about how the kid they jumped, along with everything that he owned, turned into the sand as the bullet passed through him.
A blinding white light overtook my vision as I continued to lie on the beach, hearing muffled voices from what seemed like miles away, becoming clearer at a snail's pace.
Eventually able to make out genders of the voices, it sounded like there were about three different voices from the tones.
A few seconds later, my vision started to clear, and I found himself lying on a beach as I stared at the sun.
'Wait… sun? Just how long have I been unconscious?' I thought.
The voices coming clearer as I'm able to make out some words.
"-bow Dash. We can't just leave him on the sands. We may not know his species, but that doesn't mean that we can't at least try to help him," I hear a female voice say.
"What if our attempts to help him only hurt him in the long-run? We've never seen his kind before, and I doubt anyone else has either Twilight." A voice replies to the first.
I rolled my head to the side and would've jumped in shock if I had the energy to do so.
Standing a few meters away were three pegasi, one with a horn, looking at each other and talking to each other.
Upon first glance, I thought 'wow, talk about fantasies coming to life. They look almost exactly like the Pegasi and alicorn from My Little Pony.'
One of them, the one with the yellow-furred body, pink tail and mane, and cyan eyes saw that I was looking at them, and said: "Rainbow, Twilight, he's awake."
The other two turned to look at me, and I tried to get up to bow to them, but as I did so, my head flared up in pain.
I brought both my hands to my head and started to silently scream in my mind from the intensity, the screams only growing as the muscles in my arms started flaring in pain as well.
I suddenly found myself unable to move, the intensity of the pain died down very slightly. After a few moments, the pain simmered down to a tolerable point where I could open my right eye to look at the mares, and I saw that both my body and the purple horned pegasus's horn was surrounded in a mystical purple glow.
My headache subsided, and when I opened my mouth to speak, I found that my voice didn't work and that only a few dried-out croaks came out instead.
The blue pegasus trotted over and said "Don't speak creature. You're still weak from… well, whatever brought you here."
The purple alicorn's horn glowed slightly, and my eyes suddenly felt sleepy as the purple alicorn said "Sleep, for now, gather your energy. We'll talk when you wake up."
My eyes shut, and darkness envelops my vision as my mind wanders the endless void.
And that's the end of the chapter. I know, it's kinda short, and for that, I'm sorry. But it's intentional, I promise.
So, how did I do? Leave a review, and I'll reply to it in the next chapter in the beginning Author's Notes.
I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update this story, nor my others. But I promise I'll update as often as I can.
Count Kleiffen, signing off.