Within her dream, Twilight Sparkle looks at the vision of the past that involves her young self and the colt who saved her. What bothers Twilight though, is that she is unable to remember when this event happened, nor recall fully who the colt is, except for his name. But for some reason Twilight is able to feel the warm emotion her young self is feeling, and that raises more questions about what is going on.
She then notices that the scene paused on itself. Before Twilight could ponder what is happening...
"Twilight!" a familiar voice called out. Twilight turned around and saw Princess Cadance running towards her.
"Cadance!" Twilight responded as the pink Alicorn came to a stop in front of her, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, for now." Cadance replied, "But why are we in Canterlot?"
"I think we are in my memories," Twilight said, "but I'm not familiar with this one." She looked back at her young self and the colt, only to see to her confusion that they disappeared. "Huh?"
"Is something wrong?" Cadance asked.
"Uh, nothing." replied Twilight, looking back at Cadance, "We gotta get ourselves out of this spell Chrysalis put on us. It showed me my memories of certain parts of my, not so bright, moments."
"That happened to me, too." Cadance added in, "Until I heard your voice, and a golden door appeared before me."
Twilight gasped at this. "Same here!" she said, "except for hearing your voice. I think that door led us to this memory to get us away from those ones torturing us."
"I can even sense the good magic emitting from this memory." said Cadance, "Maybe if we can control that magic with our own and think about waking up..."
Twilight's eyes lit up. "Our combined magic can break Chrysalis's spell on us and we'll wake up!" she finished.
"It might take some time, and it may be strenuous," Cadance cautioned, "but it's worth trying."
"Then let's do it!" said Twilight.
Twilight and Cadance then close their eyes, and their horns light up in their magical auras. Then, golden ribbon like strands of magic flow from the area around the two Alicorns, and it surrounds their horns. Twilight and Cadance grunt from the pressure of their magic combining with the memory's magic, but they keep their focus as they try their hardest to break Chrysalis's spell, for the sake of their friends and the citizens of the Crystal Empire.
Inside the Crystal Castle, Starlight Glimmer runs down the stairs as Spike rides on her back while the Changelings chase after them. Starlight uses her magic to blast the Changelings in front out of the way, while Spike blows out large bursts of fire at the Changelings behind them.
As they get to the base of the stairs, Spike and Starlight notice the main door. "There's the exit!" Spike shouted. "Hurry!"
"I'm a hurrying!" Starlight yelled. As Starlight galloped for the exit as fast as she could...
ZAP!
A blast of red magic is shot at Spike and Starlight. The dragon and Unicorn yell in pain as they are sent flying and land hard on the floor. Evil laughter is heard, and Spike and Starlight look to the opened doors and see to their horror, Queen Chrysalis and Azerrad entering as the Changelings surround them. Spike and Starlight notice a baby Alicorn panting heavily and in pain while being held in levitation by the black Unicorn's magic.
"Well now," Azerrad said, glaring gleefully at the shocked dragon and Unicorn, "I was wondering what all the ruckus was about, and here I see the cause of it. A pair of uninvited guests."
"Chrysalis!" Spike barked.
"That's 'Queen' Chrysalis to you!" Chrysalis barked back.
"Then, who is that Unicorn?" Starlight asked.
"Who? Me? Oh, silly me. Where are my manners?" Azerrad walked up to Spike and Starlight while carrying the baby Alicorn, "I am Azerrad, and Chrysalis and I are here to take this Alicorn offspring to her new master."
Despite being afraid, Spike looks at the baby Alicorn in awe. "An Alicorn?" Spike wondered out loud.
"Yes, and a very young one at that." Azerrad replied, "But I'm afraid this will be the first and last time you will see one alive." Azerrad then lifts his hoof up, and to their shock, Spike and Starlight start to feel their throats being choked while floating up in the air. Even Chrysalis is surprised by this, along with the Changelings.
"Ack! I- I can't- breathe!" Starlight gasped as she grasped her throat with her hooves.
"Starlight! Ack! Who-whoever- you are- Ack! You- you won't- Ack! get away- Ack! with this!" Spike choked while glaring at Azerrad.
"Oh, I think I already have." Azerrad demurred, "Good night, you young foals, forever."
Azerrad's choking ability gets stronger as Spike and Starlight's throats are squeezed more tighter. As Chrysalis looks amusingly at the fading glints in the dragon's and mare's eyes...
"KYU-JU DO HIRYO!"
BOOM!
A sudden shockwave blows in from the doors, knocking the surprised Chrysalis, the Changelings and Azerrad off balance. This results in Azerrad losing control of his chocking ability, as Spike and Starlight fall to the floor, coughing for some air. Azerrad gasps, for not only does he recognize the voice, but he also senses somepony's presence outside the castle, and a very familiar one at that.
Grunting in frustration, Azerrad gallops to the entrance with the baby Alicorn in his magic, with Chrysalis and her Changelings following in tow. As they got outside, Azerrad and Chrysalis see to their shock that a lot of the other Changelings outside are knocked out, and in front of them is a white hooded pony breathing lightly from attacking them.
"My babies!" Chrysalis cried.
The pony named Zenith notices Azerrad and Chrysalis looking at him, the former in frustration and the latter in anger, until Azerrad gasps upon recognizing him.
"You!" Azerrad blurts out.
"You will pay for what you've done!" Chrysalis shouts angrily, and she then lunges at the hooded pony.
"No! Wait!" Azerrad yelled.
POW!
But it was too late.
Before she knew it, Chrysalis's face is in shock and pain, and she notices that Zenith is underneath her head. He punched the Changeling Queen in her barrel so hard that she nearly stumbles from the impact.
"Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings, huh?" Zenith wondered out loud. "So far your arrogance is not as threatening as they claim you to be."
Insulted by that remark, Chrysalis charges up her horn with her magic, but Zenith quickly pushes her down to her back. He then grabs her horn between his hoof and wrist tightly.
"Hold it!" Azerrad shouts.
Zenith and Chrysalis looks to see Azerrad holding Flurry Heart with his magic above him. "I'm warning you," Azerrad said, "one false move and this baby Alicorn's life will end up being a very short one!"
"Dang." Zenith muttered.
"But, Azerrad," Chrysalis struggled to break free of the pony's grasp on her horn, "Your master wants us to bring that Alicorn to him alive! Isn't that what's imperative now?"
"Unless that pony complies with us," Azerrad snarls loudly, holding the baby Alicorn tightly with his magic, "if I can't have this little Alicorn, nopony will!"
Zenith grunts in frustration.
"Azerrad!" a voice calls out.
Zenith, Azerrad and Chrysalis look to the castle's right and sees Shining Armor, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash galloping towards them. "Give me back my daughter!" Shining Armor yelled.
"Yeah! Give Flurry Heart back or you'll get it big time!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"FOALS!" Azerrad furiously hoisted his hoof up, and immediately the white stallion and the five mares stop in their tracks while feeling their throats getting choked. The hooded pony and Chrysalis are shocked at what they are seeing.
"Ack! What's- happening?!" Applejack gasped.
"Feels like- Ack! I'm- choking on- Ack! a crumb- of a- Ack! daisy- sandwich!" Rainbow Dash coughed.
"Or a- Ack! little- piece of- Ack! cake!" Pinkie choked.
Rarity and Shining Armor try to gasp for some air, but they then notice to their shock, that Fluttershy isn't putting much effort. The poor yellow mare Pegasus's tears roll down both her cheeks as her face shows sadness and fear like she woke up from a really bad nightmare.
Seeing the shocked and choking ponies in pain, Zenith angrily looks at Azerrad. "Oi! Let them go!" he shouts.
"That's all up to you." Azerrad replied, "You either let go of my acquaintance there, or you can witness these ponies choke to death, including this little Alicorn."
Shining Armor glares at Azerrad as he smiles gleefully. Zenith desperately ponders on what to do.
As all of that was going on, back in the cave where a Pegasus stallion and two Alicorns lie on the ground, both mares stir a little bit from the dream they are having. Within the dream, Twilight and Cadance combine their magic with the one the dream is emitting, and try to make themselves wake up. Twilight starts to pant from keeping it up.
"Don't give up!" Cadance yelled, keeping control of her magic, "We must get ourselves to wake up!"
"I'm trying as hard as I can!" Twilight stressed, "But I'm almost at my-"
"Don't think like that!" pleaded Cadance, "Think about your friends and family and everypony you know! For their sakes, you gotta give it everything you've got!"
"Okay, I'll try!" Twilight then grunts more in giving her magic all the energy she can muster, while thinking everypony she knows.
From her parents, to Shining Armor, Cadance, Spike, Princess Celestia, her friends, and everypony up to Starlight Glimmer and her niece Flurry Heart, Twilight thinks of them to give herself assurance that there's no spell that's too difficult for her to break. But for some reason, one silhouette stands out among the others in her mind, one that is a little blurry for her to make out. But Twilight paid no mind to that, "Come on, just one more inch." Twilight grunted.
Even though she's thinking of all the ponies that impacted her life, that silhouette is still there, like it wants to be remembered. At first, Twilight is confused about that silhouette. But, she then thinks that it has something to do with those memories involving that colt. Thus, she starts to think about the colt.
At that moment, the silhouette starts to become clearer. In her mind, Twilight sees that the silhouette is the colt who saved her from long ago. This surprises her a bit, but Twilight keeps her focus. With everypony she knows mind, somehow including that colt, her magic gets stronger.
Then, the aura on Twilight's horn glows pure white with a mix of gold, and it gets brighter every second. Everything in the dream turns white.
In the cave, the two Alicorn's bodies glow white, Twilight's glowing the most out of the two. And then, the magic flows out of them and lashes out at the walls of the cave, and the enchanted bars of the bar door. The bars disappear at the magic's energy, and the magic then flows into the injured Pegasus. Twilight and Cadance then wake up, and see to their surprise and awe that the bar door is gone, and the magic appears to be healing the Pegasus. Eventually, the magic fades away from the three ponies, and the Pegasus stirs and gets up onto his hooves, like he slept well from a nap.
"Flash!" Twilight runs up to the gamboge Pegasus and puts her hoof on his shoulder, "are you alright?"
Flash looks at the right side of his barrel and sees that the slash wound he received disappeared. "Yes, your highness." he grunts, "There's just this throbbing in my head-" He then gasps. "Oh no! The baby Alicorn! I failed to protect it!"
"Calm down, Flash Sentry," Cadance said, "and tell us what happened."
"I was guarding the baby Alicorn that Sir Shining Armor told me to," Flash explained, "then I heard something outside crash into the outside wall. It was a foalish move, but I opened that window to check what it was. I then saw somepony on the wall and tried to alarm everypony, but that pony grabbed me...and injured me and my wings. That's all I can remember. I'm terribly sorry, your highnesses."
"That doesn't matter now." Cadance replied, "But it isn't your fault."
"That's right," Twilight agreed, "Chrysalis and her minions are to blame. Can you fly?"
Flash flaps his wings a bit to check if they're fully healed, and obviously they are. "At first I couldn't, but now I think I can." said Flash, "Thank you for healing me and my wings, your highnesses."
"Uh, that wasn't our magic," said Twilight, "but we'll talk about that later. Right now we got some ponies to save!" Twilight then took off to the air and flew out. Cadance and Flash Sentry followed suit and they flew to the Crystal Empire as fast as they could.
At that time, in her bedroom at Canterlot, Princess Luna sleeps comfortably in her bed, though what she witnessed of the Mane Six's feelings trouble her a bit. Luna did promise her sister Princess Celestia to discuss this matter with Cadance, unfortunately she didn't get around to that due to her duty of raising the moon for the night. One confusing thought did run through her mind though. Twilight and her five friends felt lonely in a sense of needing somepony to love at the same time. It couldn't be a coincidence for a group of ponies to be thinking the same thing, could it? If it isn't, then could it be a foretelling of something unexpected to come? Luna decided to ask Celestia and Cadance these questions once she has the time.
But then, Luna starts to struggle in her sleep, for her dream suddenly feels...horrifying.
In her dream turned nightmare, Luna sees that most of the houses in Canterlot, in its state one thousand years ago as she remembers it, is on fire. Smoke rose into the air and ash fell to the ground, and mysterious creatures are attacking the buildings and houses, while the ponies flee for their lives. What Luna notices though, is that her coat is in a lighter tone than her new one, and the creatures seem familiar to her. That must mean she must be dreaming of her past, yet she can't seem to recall this part, and for some reason...it feels so real.
"Help!"
A stallion's voice snaps Luna out of her thoughts, and she looks to where the voice came from. She sees the creature about to strike a stallion hanging onto the edge of the cliff. Luna then somehow recognizes the creature and the stallion, yet she couldn't put her hoof on it.
The stallion then looks at Luna, and his eyes widened. "Master! Help!" he cried, "My magic isn't working! I can't hold on much longer! Master Luna, please! Help me!"
Luna is taken aback by how the stallion recognizes her as well, along with him calling her his master. But he is in danger, so Luna puts her thoughts aside and gallops to the creature. Before it can strike the frightened stallion, Luna blasts a magic beam from her horn towards the creature. The beam hits its back, and it sends the creature over the edge. Luna sighed in relief in saving the stallion...
But an unexpected and frightening noise cut through her thoughts like a knife through an apple.
The cliff starts to break apart around the area the stallion is holding onto. He looks up in fear. "Princess Luna! Help! Please, save me!" he called out.
Luna tries to speak, but all that came out of her was silence. In fact, she couldn't move her body at all. She desperately tries to break free of what is holding her place and attempt to save the stallion...
CRACK!
But it is too late.
The cliff cracks, and everything seemed to move slowly around the stallion and Luna. What the princess of the moon saw shocked her. She saw the stallion's face having a mix of fear, shock, and sadness, like he was betrayed. Time then resumed, and the stallion fell down out of Luna's sight, screaming her name.
"LLLLUUUUUUUUUUNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Everything around Luna starts to distort in darkness as the stallion's screams fade out. The darkness closes in on the frightened princess of the moon who struggles to wake herself up. And then...
"VISION!"
Luna sat straight up from her bed, eyes wide open as she woke up, her hoof out in front of her. She breathes hard, still startled by what she saw in her nightmare. Luna then glances at her hoof. "What was that?" she asks herself, "Was that a memory of some sorts? And how do I know that pony...from so long ago? That pony called...Vision?"
Suddenly, Luna gasps, for she senses something evil. She gets out of her bed, goes to her window and opens it, getting a view of the land in the night sky. Luna looks to her left, where she sensed the evil presence. "What's going on?" she wondered out loud, "I sense this presence that I know of...and two others...one that I don't recognize, and the other that seems familiar...yet it seems not."
Luna then glares in determination and flies out of her room. She pauses a bit to look back at the castle of Canterlot. "Forgive me, sister." Luna said, "But there are certain things even you and I can't do. Right now, I must do something that I can do, as a princess of the night." Luna then resumes flying to the north, wondering what is going on and what those living beings she sensed could be.
At the Crystal Castle, mostly everypony is in a predicament. Shining Armor, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack are suffering from the choking ability of Azerrad, who is holding Flurry Heart with his magic, and Zenith is holding down Chrysalis.
"Tik, tok, pony," Azerrad mockingly says, "we don't have all night. It's either their lives or the little Alicorn's."
Zenith glares at Azerrad while keeping his hard grip on Chrysalis's horn. The Queen of the Changelings did want to blast this pony off of her, but his grip on her horn feels like he could break it off anytime. If there's another thing Chrysalis hates the most, it's being afraid of getting beaten at her own game.
"Hey! What's going on out here?" a voice called out.
Everypony notices that the Crystal Ponies have gathered to see what is happening. Most of them are sleepy, but the others look frightened by what they are seeing. They start to mutter amongst themselves and ask question after question about the situation in panic.
"What?" Azerrad said in shock. "How could this happen? My spell of putting all the Crystal Ponies to sleep was supposed to last the night!"
"That would be me." Zenith stated, grabbing Azerrad's frustrated attention, "I noticed that this land had an unusual magic veil covering it, so I countered it will my own spell as I got here and fought the Changelings off."
Chrysalis growls at the explanation. Even the white stallion and the five mares are in disbelief of what the hooded pony said.
"AZERRAD!"
Everypony looks to the eastern night sky at where the voiced shouted. Three figures fly down to the ground in front of a group of Crystal Ponies, and upon landing, they see Twilight, Cadance and Flash Sentry glaring at Azerrad as he kept his hold on the baby Alicorn and still choking their friends. "You have a lot to answer for your actions!" Twilight yelled.
"There is no place for you to run!" Cadance said angrily. "Let my husband and my friends and my baby go and surrender now while you still can!"
Flash notices that the hooded pony is holding down Chrysalis, and he can't help but wonder why he looks familiar. But he kept his focus on Azerrad, who is pretty ticked off at what is happening.
"I don't think so!" Azerrad yelled back. "Changelings!"
Suddenly, lots of Changelings fly from nowhere into the air, surrounding the ponies. Even some of the Crystal Ponies turned out to be Changelings and surrounded the two Alicorns and Pegasus while the other ponies panicked. Even Shining Armor and Twilight's friends are surprised despite being choked.
"There's no point in struggling, Azerrad!" Twilight said furiously, "Don't make this more worse for yourself!"
Azerrad looks at everypony present, and smirks. "It seems nopony will be budging from this outcome." he says, "Too bad you didn't expect this!"
As he said that, Azerrad's horn glows bright red and what flows out of it and onto his hoof is a magic white blade twice as high as himself surrounded by a red aura. Flash gasps at the sight of it. "Hey!" he says, "That's what he used to injure me!"
Twilight and Cadance look at Flash in shock. "Is that true?" Twilight asks.
"Indeed!" Azerrad answers, getting everypony's attention, "Hope you don't mind if I rush this, because of how pathetic you ponies have shown me to be, you have earned the privilege of seeing this baby Alicorn...BE CUT IN HALF!"
Everypony gasps at what Azerrad said. He then starts to laugh maniacally while wasting no time raising his magic blade to swing it down on the helpless Flurry Heart. Chrysalis growls in anger and desperation to get the hooded pony off of her, but to no avail. But then...
WHOOSH!
A blast of fire strikes Azerrad from behind on his bottom. He yelps from the unexpected pain that he loses control of his magic blade and stumbles forward. Azerrad's aura surrounding the baby fades and the white stallion and the five mares are released from the choking. But everypony had little time to breathe, for the baby is flung a bit into the air, and then falls down, right into somepony's arms. This leaves everypony shocked, and Azerrad gets up from the surprise attack after putting out the flame on his tail.
"Alright, who has the nerve?!" Azerrad yells in anger while turning around.
What everypony sees, is Spike holding Flurry Heart in his arms while breathing hard from his fire breath attack. "I've seen bad guys doing very bad things," Spike growled, "but trying to hurt my friends and a helpless foal takes the cake!"
"No doubt about it!" Starlight agrees, appearing beside Spike.
Twilight, Cadance, Shining Armor and their friends are beside themselves in what happened. "Sweet Celestia!" Rarity exclaimed, "Spikey-wikey has saved the baby Alicorn!"
"That is like, twenty percent awesome!" Rainbow Dash added in.
Azerrad grunts viciously. "Don't think you've won yet!" he shouts. He then lights up his horn and blasts a red aura beam at the dragon and Unicorn, but Starlight lights her horn up in time and generates a mixed turquoise and yellow barrier surrounding her and Spike. The beam is simply absorbed by the barrier, and everypony is shocked at the outcome. "Whew. Nice save, Starlight." Spike commented.
"Likewise." Starlight replied.
"What?" Twilight gasped at the sight of the barrier, "What's with Starlight's barrier spell?"
"Ah think that yellow magic mixed with Starlight's must be Discord's!" Applejack deduced.
"But how?" Shining Armor wondered, "Could Discord really do that?"
Azerrad grits his teeth in furiousness. "Changelings!" he screams, getting the Changelings' attention, "Pound that barrier into oblivion!"
Wasting no time, most of the Changelings start to charge at Starlight's barrier while the others stayed on guard watching the ponies to make sure they don't try anything sneaky. Chrysalis tries again to move the hooded pony off of her, but Zenith tightens his grip on her horn in reflex. Starlight tries to concentrate keeping the barrier up, but the pounding of the Changelings' heads ramming into the barrier start to have her loose her concentration, even the magic she gained from Discord is starting to fade. The barrier then starts to break, alerting her friends.
"Spike! Starlight!" Twilight cried out. "That spell can't take any more hits!"
"My baby!" Cadance yelled out in fear.
"Spikey-wikey!" Rarity called out.
As the Changelings continued to ram their heads at Starlight's barrier, Zenith feels more angry at the sight and is getting more angry every passing second. "Stop it." he muttered.
"You wretched foal! Release me at once!" Chrysalis yelled, trying to nudge from Zenith's grip.
"Stop." Zenith loudly growls.
"You stop sputtering such nonsense and do as I say!" Chrysalis yells again.
"Stop it! Leave them alone!" Zenith cries out, but the Changelings' ramming on the barrier drown his cry out.
Chrysalis growls in anger at the hooded pony's ignoring of her. "Changelings!" she yelled out. "Those of you busy guarding the Crystal Ponies, get this ignorant pony off of-"
CRACK!
A snapping sound echoes throughout the Crystal Empire. Time seems to slow down around everything. Everypony looks to their utmost fear and shock, even the Changelings that stopped ramming Starlight's barrier, at what happened. To Chrysalis's shock, the hooded pony not only got off of her, but snapped off her horn clean off her forehead, leaving a little nudge of where her horn was.
"I SAID STOP IT! THAT'S ENOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHHH!"
As Zenith roars in anger, another unique shockwave erupts from him and flows outward in a circle quickly surrounding everypony present. This leads to everypony displaying a face of extreme shock, even the Changelings. A few seconds pass, and then, all of the Changelings lose consciousness from the shockwave and faint to the ground, even Chrysalis herself.
But they weren't the only ones. Most of the Crystal Ponies also faint from the sudden shockwave. Only the Mane Six, Cadance, Shining Armor, Flash, Starlight, and Spike stare at the hooded pony in awe and shock, so much so that they didn't notice the Crystal Ponies fainting.
Even Azerrad is shocked beyond belief.
As he finished his shouting, Zenith noticed that most of the Crystal Ponies and all the Changelings fainted, and everypony else is staring at him wide eyed. He glances at his hoof to see Chrysalis's broken horn, and looks back up, wondering what that shockwave that emitted from nowhere was just now.
TO BE CONTINUED...