Prologue

The Princess whipped around at the sound of the ominous voice to face the door, her eyes flashing with worry. "I don't remember leaving the door open," She thought, staring out into the inky black hallway beyond. "And it's the middle of the night!" "Who are you and why have you come here? Announce yourself." She said, trying her best to remain calm. "Oh, you know who I am."The voice replied.

A gooey-looking purple substance began to ooze into the room through the open doorway. It stank like death and moved in unnatural and erratic ways. The Princess started to back away, her eyes widening. "Guards! GUARDS!" She yelled, backing into her desk. "That won't help you." The ooze said plainly. Its deep and sickly-smooth voice made her want to vomit. "Why?" Princess Celestia asked, the slightest bit of fear creeping into her voice. "They're always there for me." At this the ooze formed a tentacle on one side and shook it playfully.

The Princess gasped and stumbled backwards, accidentally tipping over her chair. "How could you!?" she whispered in horror, her pupils contracting as fear overtook her. "And...What are you!?"

At this the ooze began to change shape. It spiraled upward toward the ceiling, writhing and jerking in wild movements as it formed into...

But this was no ordinary pony. As soon as it finished forming the Princess wished that it had remained in ooze form. The pony was of an ungodly height, even taller than her. It was black and shiny as oil, and leathery dragon wings grew from its shoulders. Its mane and tail were made of strings of ooze, which dripped and stretched and moved as if they had minds of their own. The pony wore dark gray armor which looked to be made of iron, and it had sharp white teeth like a dragon's. Two metal-gray ram's horns jutted out of its head. They looked as sharp as knives. But the most frightening thing about the creature was its eyes.

They were pure purple--the same shade as the ooze. They had no whites, no pupil...Just...Purple. The solid orbs stared at the Princess, and Celestia felt as if they were examining her very soul.

Princess Celestia tried to run, but found that she could not lift her hooves from the ground. "Don't try to escape. I cast a petrifying spell on you." The monster said. "You...You still have not answered my question!" Princess Celestia retorted weakly, her legs shaking and her heart beating fast. The beast just smiled menacingly. "I am Kwos. You may know me, and you fear me for a good reason. As you know I plagued your family once before, when the world had just been created. Thousands and thousands of years ago. Oh, your great great great grandfather defeated me and trapped me in the Crythis star, but that was not enough. I waited and waited for an opportunity to come back and exact my revenge. My opportunity came when you sent your little sister, Princess Luna, to the moon for her thousand-year exile. By doing so you broke the magical barrier that surrounded the earth. You thought I was dead." Princess Celestia grimaced and nodded. "You speak the truth. I was a fool." "Of course. Anyway, I couldn't go back by myself, of course. I needed help from a living pony. But you provided that as well."

Kwos stepped closer, never ceasing to stare at the shaking princess. He lowered his head until their noses nearly touched, chuckling evilly. "I befriended your sister. She thought that I was only a star with a soul that was lonely and wished to be her friend. Of course I encouraged this. It was so easy. All she needed was someone to listen to her and sympathise with her--someone to help her turn into Nightmare Moon and encourage her to return home and defeat her uncaring and selfish sister." At that the creature lifted his head and laughed. "She cried when she decided to return home because she couldn't take me with her. But I showed her a way." He said with a wink. "Oh, I showed her a way. I told her that she could seal me inside her tiara and that I could be with her forever. She did, of course"

"Why didn't she tell me?" Celestia whispered, her expression changing from one of fear into one of agony and sorrow. "Oh, I told her not to." Kwos answered, leaning in closer. "Didn't you ever notice the extra diamond on her tiara?" The pony stared intently into the Princess' eyes. "Come to think of it I don't remember you talking much to your sister ever since she came back. You're always pushing her away and saying you have something else to do, someone else to talk to. Do you even care about what she has to say?"

The Princess' eyes filled with tears. "Oooh, I see now that I WAS right. You really DON'T care enough about her, do you? Not enough to notice that she had brought another pony home with her. Hah! It's quite funny, actually, when you think about it, isn't it?" He said with a giggle. "But of course, you wouldn't understand." Kwos absentmindedly trotted over to the window and looked out at the night sky. "I do believe she had a bit of a crush on me." He mused, staring steadily at the moon. For a moment he looked almost peaceful.

Kwos turned his head back toward Princess Celestia and grinned. "But now it's time for me to do what I came for. I have waited this long to wreak havoc upon you and your family and now I must do it. It really is a shame that you didn't pay enough attention to your sister. You could have prevented all of this if you had."

With that the abomination reared up and a ball of magic began to form between his horns. It grew and grew until it was almost the size of a foal's head. "Time to send you to the moon." He sneered, lowering his head to touch Princess Celestia.

When the ball of magic touched Celestia it began to envelop her. She screamed and tried once again to run, but to no avail. At that moment Kwos grinned wickedly and leaned even closer to whisper in the Princess' ear.

As soon as the ball of magic finished enveloping Princess Celestia she was teleported away. Kwos, looking satisfied with his work, trotted out of the room back into the night-black hall.

Little did he know that Princess Celestia had had just enough time to magically write a short letter and zap it over to her favorite studen't house.

Chapter 1: The Letter

"Where do you want these, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked from where she was standing on one side of the library, pushing around a stack of books. "Those go over in the non-fiction section under 'history,' Fluttershy." The lavender mare answered before turning to help Applejack and Rainbow Dash move some heavy dictionaries. "I'm so glad that you all came to help clean up the library today!"

"It was no problem, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, waving her poofy tail like a flag as she bounced up and down. Suddenly, Spike walked into the room, holding his stomach and looking like he was about to be sick. "Oooooh!" The pink mare said loudly, rushing over to the dragon. "Are you sick, Spike? Do you need help?" "No...Just...Letter!" He cried before coughing up a ball of green flames which quickly evaporated, revealing a rolled-up scrolll.

"A letter from Princess Celestia!" Twilight Sparkle cried with glee, running over and starting to open it. "Funny, I wasn't expecting one today. I wonder what she has to tell me? Gather round, ponies!" Her five friends eagerly trotted over to see what the Princess had said. Twilight rolled the scroll open and was surprised to see scratchy and unusually sloppy writing. "Strange..." Twilight said slowly, narrowing her eyes. "Princess Celestia's letters are usually written very neatly. Maybe she dictated it to someone else this time for some reason..." "Ah guess so..." Applejack said quietly. Shaking her head, the lavender pony cleared her voice and began to read.

Twilight Sparkle,

I am in terrible danger right now. The royal family's greatest and most powerful enemy has come back to exact his revenge. I only have a little time to write this.

I know that this enemy cannot be defeated with ordinary unicorn magic, no matter how strong the unicorn. This enemy was defeated using a different kind of magic before, and that same magic must be used again. Unfortunately, the magic that I speak of has died out and been lost.

The magic is called dragonlore. It is the magic that was once used by dragons and the few ponies close to them. Now, you may be wondering why I never told you about this before. The simple answer is it never came up, and even I know only one spell--and thank goodness I know it. It is one of the five magics that Equestria once held--unicorn, alicorn, pegasus pony, earth pony, and, of course, dragon or dragonlore magic. Yes, I realize you think that pegasi and earth ponies can't use magic, and certainly not dragons, but trust me. Please.

I am attaching a paper that explains the five magics. Scribbled on it is a spell that will allow you to go back in time. Read the paper and then take your friends--and preferably their pets--and go back 10,000 years. Learn the ways of dragonlore and then come back home to save us. You are our only hope.

Princess Celestia.

P.S: Cast the "Beast" charm on your pets when you get there, and Spike too!

Twilight Sparkle dropped the letter and let it drift to the floor, shocked. All of the ponies and spike stared at each other with their mouths wide open. "How..." Rarity whispered, shaking her head. "But how can this be?" Fluttershy added, trembling in fear. Twilight only swallowed. "I...I don't know." She said after a moment of silence. "But as loyal subjects of our princess, it is our duty to help her, even though I don't know how I'll even begin." She closed her eyes a moment and then opened them again, an expression of grim determination settling on her face. "Yes, we have a duty. Come on--we must read the next note."

The Five Mages:

Many, many centuries ago, when magic was young, five mages, all well-versed in the powerful art, created the five different forms of magic. Only two of these are open today, and two have been forgotten, even though traces of them remain. Only one has been lost completely.

The first, unicorn magic, is one of the two still known today. It is used by every unicorn in existence and was developed by Branwyn the Blue. She was known as a kind, sweet, and caring blue unicorn with a pure white mane and tail. She was a teacher and loved to help young unicorns refine their talents.

The second, alicorn magic, is still used today, though on a much lesser scale than unicorn magic--it is only used by the royal family, who are now the only alicorns in existence. This was not always the case, however. Gareth the Green was a renowned traveling healer, known for being silent and wise. His fur was green as the forest and his mane was brown as oak wood.

The third type of magic, pegasus magic, has been forgotten. Traces of it still remain and can be observed when pegasi control the weather and walk on clouds, but it comes so naturally to them now that they do not realize that it is magic. It was developed by a fiery, competetive, brave daredevil pegasus pony named Rozen the Red. Her milky white fur was accompanied by a blood red mane and tail, and ponies used to say that she was ferocious as a roaring bonfire when she was angry.

The fourth type of magic is earth pony magic. All that remains of it today is the earth ponies' connection to the earth and a few ponies that know how to create potions and grow magical plants. Yoland the Yellow, a traveling bard, developed it during his travels. He was well known for his yellow coat and his beautiful golden mane and tail.

The fifth type of magic, and the type that has completely died out except for one spell that was found in an old diary in the most remote corners of the royal library was dragon magic, more commonly known as dragonlore. It is the most powerful and arcane of all the magics, and it was developed by the wild unicorn mare Peorth.

Peorth was raised by dragons who stole her from her cradle after her parents died when she was a newborn. The dragons had powerful magic in them, but they were too disorganized and focused on attacking each other to refine it. After many years of studying, the light purple mare with a black mane and tail took up the job. The dragons taught her all that they knew, and she honed it and created new and better techniques. After several years the most powerful magic ponykind has ever known was created.

Here is all that remains of it--a time travel spell. As far as we know the mage must already be well-versed in magic to do it. It will transport up to thirty people, but will not transport inanimate objects. The ponies that wish to go must be in a circle.

Here and there and back again,
I wish for time to be my friend.
Present, future, now and then,
Hakst'ed'a ornêm.

Spirits high and souls down low
When's the time we wish to go?
(Number of years) ago!
Hakst'ed'a ornêm.

Now we really need to go!
Present day we'll miss you so.
But we will be back, we know.
HAKST'ED'A ORNÊM DAËA!

As soon as Twilight Sparkle finished reading, she put the paper back on the floor and looked back up at her friends. "Ah guess we HAFTA do this, don't we?" Applejack said, looking down at her hooves. "The Princess is in trouble, after ahll." "Yes Applejack, we most certainly do." Twilight answered with a smile and a nod, trying to hide her nervousness. "You'll be doing the magic part, right?" Fluttershy asked. "I mean, you're the best at magic and everything..." "Yes, Fluttershy." Twilight answered, her tail twitching. "I will. Just...Go get your pets. We'll meet outside in ten minutes.

Everyone in the room quickly nodded and quietly went out the door, leaving Twilight standing in the middle of the library with a distraught expression forming on her face as she realized the magnitude and importance of what the six friends were about to do.