Disclaimer: I do not own MLP FIM or the legend of Orochi.
A fiery phoenix gave up his power to a dark griffin and they saved a mare's spirit. Then a pink unicorn stallion with a white feathered hood floated down the mountain to the mouth of the cave. "Brave griffin, you cannot open the barrier with the strength you have now, you must take the 8 chosen ones to the Celestia Shrine and look for the Lunar Crystals. Each pony must defeat its darker self and receive a crystal. Once the crystals are assembled you must break the barrier before the festival so the maiden will not be sacrificed to keep the 8 headed beast's appetite at bay. The pony of Brotherhood with the strength of the Earth, a pony of Loyalty with the gales of Wind under her hooves, a mare of Flame with the Fiery passion of Justice, the stallion with the ego and the Bravery of a thousand Lightning bolts, the pony that has lost himself to Darkness and will only find his way out with Wisdom, the Knight who lost his Honor and will find it in the Light, a gentle pony with the Integrity and calm of Water, and finally the stallion with a strong sense of Duty and a heart of Ice."
Backlash's pov
I felt groggy, sleepy, and like someone ransacked my brain for information. I shook my head and got up warily from the couch. I checked the date and the Ponyville Festival was just 4 days away. My legs were shaky and hooves tingled when I walked but I promised I would help decorate for the festival.
I started into town, with a basket of various ribbons and fabrics. Everypony greeted me with dull eyes and smiling faces. I wondered if I had the same dull look to my eyes. Quick Hooves the only pegasus with more ego than Rainbow Dash was flying around putting up banners and setting tables. His eyes were alive with spirit. I wondered why his were and no pony else's were. He landed beside me.
"Is this the ribbon and stuff for the poles?" he asked.
"Yeah, I brought everything," I replied.
"Well, get your unicorn magic to work and start tying them up into bows, I have more important things to do," he zipped off and talked to the Mayor. I snorted, that pony was no more special than any other pony in town.
As I tied bows and hung streamers with Rarity and the other unicorns, two pegasi and a griffin flew down into the festivities. They went around talking to ponies and probably… Hopefully seeing if they could help. The Mayor called Rarity and I over to her.
"Yes, Mayor?" I asked.
"You know the most important part of the festival is when we pick a mare to dance to the melody of the spirits that left Ponyville and Equestria in peace," the Mayor said.
"Yes, Ma'am but why did you… OH, I would be honored to be that mare," Rarity bowed.
"No, Rarity, I already have a pony in mind for the mare, what I need you two to do is make her dress," the Mayor said.
"O-oh," Rarity blushed looking at her hoofs.
The Mayor unrolled a scroll with a dazzling young Princess Celestia on it, in a pure white and gold dress the train was long and the red designs swirled around like wind and water but the overall design of the dress was rather simple.
"We would be honored to make her dress," I took the scrolled from the mayor and used my telekinesis to look it over. "Well, it should be fairly simple Rarity," I smiled at her. Her eyes went dull as everypony else's and then she perked up and walked over.
"Yes, it will be a wonderful dress," She smiled. A mint pegasus mare walked over to us her wings looked strained and her cutie mark was marred.
"Umm… May I borrow him for a second?" The mare asked Rarity.
"Oh, sure, no problem..." Rarity walked away and took the scroll with her.
"Hi, I'm Sky Watcher, umm your eyes look brighter than everypony else's," She said, she seemed shy.
"Yeah, so do yours, I guess we're getting enough sleep," I joked.
"Y-yeah… Or you know we are special and chosen to… Oh… I don't know… DefeatAnEightHeadedDragonWhoWantsToPullEquestriaIn toDarkness… But then again I have had a lot of sleep lately…" She blushed. I didn't quite get the second part of what she was saying, I looked at her quizzically. She sighed, "Just… Follow me."
I walked over to the griffin and pegasus mare from before.
"Have you found someone?" The griffin asked Sky Watcher.
"Umm, Racing Spirit, Solar Chaser this is… I'm sorry, I didn't get your name," She gestured to me.
"Oh, I'm Backlash, it's nice to meet you," I said holding out a hoof. The griffin shook it with a mechanical arm and the other pegasus mare with dragonfly wings, also shook.
"You might find this hard to believe Backlash, but there is an eight headed dragon named Orochi in the Dragon Kingdom, and he is the dark being of legend who cast Equestria into darkness a century ago, He wants to complete what he started back then, and the only way for us to defeat him is to gather eight ponies with elements and virtues that the heroes had," the griffin explained. He's right I felt like he was telling me the sequel to the old legend.
"Right, excuse me, but I have… Stuff to do," I walked away and decided to look for Rarity. Even if those ponies and the griffin were telling the truth what could I do? I was just a normal stallion.
Silent Wind's pov
Hello, Silent Wind…
Inside my home was a shadowy figure with multiple heads. The head in the middle had what looked like the kanji symbol for fire.
"Who are you?" I demanded. The heads laughed and then the fire one focused on me.
"It does not matter who we are… What matters is what you are and what your past has done to you," He had a deep menacing voice that sounded like a growl and his eyes glowed red.
"What do you know…" I asked, this thing made me uneasy, no one in Ponyville should know what happened back then.
"You were a proud knight of Princess Luna's guard, you were full of hope and honor, but it was all taken from you," he hissed. I glared back at him; he needed to keep his mouth shut. He smiled as if he was mocking me. "Don't get mad at us, we are not at fault, but we can undo what happened, all you have to do is give us your word as a knight of the Royal Court that you will guard and protect us…"
That fateful night passed through my mind. I was on wall patrol that night. While patrolling, I found a fellow guard with his head smashed, not much older than I was at the time, freshly out of the academy. A siren wailed and guards came from all around accusing me of the crime. I was dishonorably discharged and imprisoned for 5 years never allowed to return to Canterlot.
The night was gone and I was ashamed, my honor and dignity as a knight was gone I was nothing now just a broken stallion. I was trying though and I had already made friends in Ponyville, Fluttershy, the old pony, and others. I didn't need the guard any longer. As I came to this realization, the shadowy figures disappeared in a roar of anguish.
I sighed in relief that he was gone and someone quietly nocked on my door.
"Hello… Umm… Silent Wind… Do you want to see how the festival is going?" it was Fluttershy she was hiding behind her mane and I could barely hear her request. I smiled at my new friend.
"Yes let's go see, the activities," I said. Her dull eyes seemed to glimmer for a second and as we landed in the midst of the festival she told me about the 8 purification cider and how her friend Pinkie Pie was the Pony who was going to play Rice River in the legend the 8th mare that was to be sacrificed to the evil being a century ago. The festival was just 4 days away now. I listened quite intrigued by the Legend remembering that Canterlot had the same festival when I was a foal. That was when a griffin swooped down in front of me.
"Hello I am Racing Spirit… May I speak to you?" he asked.
"I'm Silent Wind, yes of course," I said, nervous because he seemed urgent. He pulled me aside.
"I don't know if you've noticed but almost everypony here looks dull and lifeless, like they're just putting on this festival because it's what they need to do. Now, I'm enslaved to the Dragon Kingdom, my job is to watch for potential dangers and strike deals between neighboring kingdoms. Well a few weeks ago, a great darkness was released from its seal in one of the caves of the Dragon Kingdom, it is an evil 8-headed dragon named Orochi, and he has been getting into everypony's head and feeding them secrets and lies. He is the same evil being from a century ago who tried to bring darkness into Equestria… I'm telling you this because I think sense you're the second pony I've met with shine and glimmer in their eyes, who may be able to stop him. We only have 4 days until the festival begins and he will claim the 8th he was supposed to devour," the griffin explained.
"You think I am a pony with that much destiny," I asked skeptically. He looked me dead in the eye.
"I know you're a pony with that much destiny," he said.
I looked at him wandering what he was thinking. I was just a stallion with nothing left but a few friends, trying to get a start on my future. If this pony was right though who was I to draw Equestria into darkness?
"Okay what am I supposed to do?" I asked. The griffin perked up.
"Meet me and hopefully the other 7 at the gates of Ponyville tomorrow morning, we are going to collect the tools needed to break the barrier on the cave," the griffin flew off to find the other ponies. I walked around trying to learn as much as I could about this Orochi. I had a sinking feeling he was the one trying to recruit me for protection.
Ink Blot's pov
"Ink Blot help!" a speaking bubble appeared by her picture and the illustration moved.
"How'd you get in there?!" I asked. Twilight shook her head warily and started to look drained of color and power. I had to find a way to help her escape!
I ran to her library hoping to find a spell or anything to help rescue the mare. Spike came into the library in the midst of my searching.
"Who are you? And why do you think you can just tear Twilight Sparkle's library apart?!" he asked. I looked around it was true the library was in shamble but I had finally found what I needed. The book talked about the Lunar Crystals that had define power and were guarded by the Crimson Wing. I needed these crystals to get Twilight out of the book.
"Twilight Sparkle has been trapped in this book," I used my telekinesis to have the book float over to Spike. Surprised by the Twilight illustration he dropped it. I quickly used my magic to catch the book before it hit the ground. "Careful! If you harm the book, Twilight Sparkle may never be able to escape!" I sighed.
"Sorry, Twilight," Spike apologized. She was fine; I needed to know how to get to the shrine to obtain these crystals. I told Spike to watch the book for me, I needed more answers.
I walked around town the annual festival was starting to come around and I saw a griffin and two pegasi mares flying around frantically from pony to pony. I saw the griffin stop and talk to another pony whose accent was hard to understand.
"-Right, so tomorrow morning we going to meet at the gates and go to the Celestia Shrine and gather the Lunar Crystals," the griffin confirmed.
"Right, Mate," the stallion agreed and they bother went their separate ways. I could follow these ponies and get the crystals! I only hoped it wasn't too late by then.
A/N: Kay well I actually decided to break this chapter up into two different parts, Leave a review of what you think about it, any predictions you might have or just tell me I'm doing a good job or if I'm doing awful… Lol hopefully more of the latter than anything. I'm going to go now, the kitten we saved just passed away this morning and it has brought my mood down immensely.