Ever since being accepted into the Royal Guard alongside that of Shining Armor, what was once a young boy lost and alone in the Everfree… had now become part of something he felt that he truly belonged in. In the time since the initiation, Rain and Shining had not only served alongside one another, but also trained alongside each other as well. Their friend, Sunset Shimmer, would come see them whenever she was not studying forms of magic or helping to tutor Shining’s sister. Not to challenge them to a duel or see how their training was, but to spend some time with them… despite how much Shining disapproved of it because of how strict he followed the rules early on in his time in the royal guard.

The longer they were part of the guard though, the more that they saw it as a home for them rather than a job to do or a obligation to fulfill. And slowly, days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and months turned into two years of service to the people of Equestria and Princess Celestia. Personally, Rain had seen his time in the guard as a way to pay back the princess for her kindness and for letting him live in Canterlot… and he wasn’t planning on letting her down anytime soon. Which in turn had caused the alicorn to notice his dedication to the position that he held, even though there were times where she would agree with him on the fact that even a knight of Canterlot would need a break from the usual routine.

Yet… today was different. For a certain reason. Which, was why Celestia had called Rain and Shining Armor to meet with her in the throne room of the palace in Canterlot. Today was a very special occasion after all. “Hello there,” She addressed both of them as the human and the unicorn entered the room and approached her. “Thank you for answering my summons on such short notice.”

“We came right this way shortly after we heard from Sunset that you wanted to see us,” Rain replied to her, looking at Shining before redirecting his attention back to Princess Celestia. “Was there something you needed to speak with us about?”

“Why yes actually,” Princess Celestia nodded her head, looking around the room before focusing her attention back on both of them. “Do you remember what today is supposed to be?”

Shining himself just raised an eyebrow and looked back at the princess as he took the chance to speak. “Forgive me for sounding bold, princess, but is that a trick question? Today’s the start of the Annual Summer Sun Celebration.”

“That is true, but for the celebration, today’s rather different…” She said, looking back at the two of them before explaining. “Today’s the thousandth annual summer sun celebration and with it… I’m going to be going to Ponyville for the opening ceremonies. It’s a momentous occasion and with it, requires a lot of preparation… In years past, I’ve had Sunset take care of the celebrations and festivities with Twilight here. But I believe this may prove to be the best opportunity to have Twilight put my teachings to the test.”

Both Rain and Shining looked at one another, puzzled by what the princess was trying to say to them. Until… Rain then asked her something out of clarification. “Wait… are you saying that… You’re wanting to have Twilight make the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville?”

“That I am,” She replied, looking back at both of them with a confident smile. “I think it would be for the best to have Twilight try to practice my teaching in places other than Canterlot and I think that Ponyville would be the best place for her. As for the both of you though, I will be having you two escort her to Ponyville along with bring some of the royal guards that will be serving as security for tonight. I just want to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch, so to speak.”

“What about here though,” Shining then asked. “Aren’t there preparations that have to be made in Canterlot as well?”

“Princess Cadence has volunteered to help fill the role that Twilight would normally have when preparing for the festivities here.” Celestia assured him. “There’s no need to worry about anything for right now, Shining. Let me assure you of that.”

“I understand princess,” The unicorn responded back to her. “It’s just only natural for me to be sometimes concerned for my little sister’s safety. I am her older brother and I feel that part of my duty as a royal guard is to protect everypony from anything that would do them harm. Including Twilight.”

“I understand your concern, Shining Armor,” The alicorn then told her, before saying something else. “But I believe you should give Twilight a chance to prove herself to you. She has grown a lot in the time that she’s been my student and I think that the best way to prove how much she has grown is giving her these kinds of responsibilities. Both you and Rain showed to Night Light and I that you can handle yourselves the moment you were accepted into the royal guard. Now it’s Twilight's turn to show us that she can handle herself.”

All Shining did in that instance was close his eyes and sigh for a moment before looking back at Celestia. “If that’s what you think is best, princess.”

“I’m positive that it’ll all work out just fine,” She assured him before focusing on both of them now. “Now, your transport ship should be ready for departure as soon as Twilight has everything that she needs with her.” Knowing Twilight though… both of them had a feeling that this might take a while.

Shortly after their conversation, it did not take long for both Shining Armor and Rain to find Twilight and Spike. The unicorn was already at the docking platform and waiting for the transport ship that was going to take them to Ponyville… while also checking with her assistant to make sure that she had everything that she needed for the trip from the makeshift list on the clipboard the unicorn was holding.

All while the dragon was unfortunately asked to do the heavy lifting. “Uh, Twilight. May I ask why are you having me carry our stuff here?”

“Well, in terms of roles for the small social group we have here, I’m the smart one, Shiny is the big brother, Sunset is the funny one, and Celestia is the one who does her best to teach me important life lessons,” They heard Twilight reply, trying to sound all professional while she’s speaking. “Which, right now, designates you as ‘the muscle’.”

“One more step and I might be a pulled muscle.” Spike grumbled to himself, setting down the bag before looking back at the unicorn. Only for Rain to soon speak up.

“Would you like some help with that?” His response caught both the attention of the unicorn and the dragon as they turned around to see him and Shining standing right behind him. Twilight’s first reaction was to gasp and leap onto Shining Armor and pull him into a deep hug. While for Spike, he was just breathing a huge sigh of relief as he looked back towards Rain.

“Thanks for the assist… Twilight’s going a little bit overkill in terms of preparing for her first trip outside of Canterlot.” The dragon panted in response as he looked back at the unicorn.

“Uh… you might need to explain what you mean by ‘Overkill’.” All Spike did was hand Rain the clipboard that he had in his hands in order for him to inspect for himself… and what was on there was rather surprising. “Okay, do you really need two huge bags of just books?”

“She calls one of them her emergency kit while the other one being her research kit.”

“And are they really necessary?” Rain then asked. “You guys are going to a town filled with ponies for a celebration, not a recreational expedition.” All Spike did was just shrug before he began to start loading each of the bags onto the ship that they were going to be using to travel to Ponyville. The knight soon pitched in and began to help him while Shining Armor was making sure that Twilight could be able to take care of herself while she was on this.

Which… made the unicorn slightly uncomfortable in the process. “Shining, please! I can be able to handle myself out there!”

“I know you can. It’s just sometimes hard to see your little sibling grow up so quickly. I’ll not get in your way once we reach Ponyville though, I promise.” The stallion promised as both of them got on board the ship. Spike and Rain were able to get on board a few minutes after packing everything onto the ship. Unlike the chariots that most ponies would use to travel by air, sometimes a transport air ship is used to carry not just passengers, but cargo from point A to point B. Mostly crafted in Fillydelphia or other areas of the world by well qualified engineers, airships have been used for many purposes including traveling the world and warfare if it came to that point. In addition to that, there was also the factor of capacity. Chariot’s can only hold a limited number of passengers, from a party of two to a group of eight, aside from the driver. Airships could hold much more than that and depending on the quality of the ship, it also could provide other services to the passengers on board.

Of course, the major factor in all of this was also cost. Despite Airships having many features that would outclass chariots, since there wasn’t that many for normal daily commute and also very expensive and time consuming to produce, the tickets for an airship trip are much more expensive than that of a normal ride by chariot depending on where you were going. But, that was something that wasn’t entirely Rain’s main focus as the ship was taking off from it’s port. In fact, he was right now on the front of the ship, watching everything move below them from the Starboard Bow of the ship as he felt the wind blow through his hair.

As their journey through the sky was getting started, Rain was surprised when he turned his head and actually saw Shining decide to join him at the front of the ship instead of being with his sister. “Hey, where’s Twilight?”

“Below deck,” The unicorn replied back to him. “She was wanting to take a moment to study up on some things before going into Ponyville. Like social customs and such.”

“Is… that really necessary?” Rain then asked. “I mean, I think the way she’s acting right now is actually just fine.”

“That’s what I told her, but she told me that since she was being a ‘representative of the princess’ that she needed to make sure to represent the part and not embarrass herself.” Shining chuckled. “Spike agreed with me on the fact that she’s probably taking this a little too seriously.”

“Count me in on that,” The knight smirked for a moment, before remembering something on his mind as he looked back at his companion and friend. “Hey… Doesn’t this trip sort of… well, bring back old memories? I mean, when you and I first met, we were in the Everfree and also Ponyville for a short bit before coming back to Canterlot.”

“In a sense, it does…” Shining nodded, before pointing something out to him. “Remember though, that was ten years ago. It’s likely that Ponyville back then is not the same as it is right now. It’s probably gone through a few changes here and there.” That was true. It has been some time since they were in Ponyville at all. Most of the training for the guard took place in Canterlot with survival exercises that took place in White Tail Woods. They used to do exercises nearby the tunnels where the mines would be, but they were blocked off after someone said that there was the fair risk of a cave in if anything drastic were to happen down there.

“I guess we’ll just have to see.” Just shortly after he said that though did he happen to notice something… off in the distance. Something that caused him to grab the grip of the sword on his back. “Uh oh… Shining, we got company.” The unicorn himself was a little puzzled by what he meant, but was soon seeing what his friend was talking about as he unsheathed his own weapon and rushed to the main deck. They were red, bat like creatures that were coming towards the ship.

“Fruit bats? Seriously?” Rain asked himself while pulling out Crimson Saber. “Why would fruit bats come here of all places? We’re not carrying any fruit.” With that, two of the small number of bats were soon driven away after Rain struck them with his blade. As for Shining, he also did the same thing as he fought off a couple of the ones that were attacking them.

“What concerns me more is why they come this close to us. Normally, airborne creatures like these stay away from airships. Not to mention that those bats in particular don’t normally attack Equestrians.” He added on. Part of their training in the guard was to be up to date on the current almanac of Equestrian creatures, no matter how big or small they are. Which is why seeing some of them go after them of all ponies was rather weird.

“Do you think something is going on that’s causing them to get all… aggressive?” Rain asked, looking back at Shining just as he finished off another one of the monsters and was beginning to clean the juices off of his blade.

“That… may be one possibility. But I don’t know what else could explain it.” The Unicorn replied as he sheathed his weapon again and so did Rain. It was then though that after fending off their attackers did something else occur. But it wasn’t a monster or anything going after the ship.

It was the voice of somepony crying out for help. “P-please…”

Just moments after hearing that was when Rain soon turned to Shining and asked him a question. “Did you… hear something?” Shining Armor shook his head in response. Pointing out that they were in the middle of the clouds and that most of the other crew members were below deck, so it would be impossible for them to hear something.

That was… until they heard it again. “P-please… help me…”

“Is that somepony calling to us? There’s nopony out here for miles and Cloudsdale is in the opposite direction.” The Unicorn then asked, confused at this point as both of them looked over the railing of the ship to see if the voice was coming from somewhere on the ship. Only when they did realize where it was coming from, both of them were not expecting what happened next.

Along the starboard side of the ship… looked to be a young girl encased inside a crystal. She looked like the night sky with a horn and small pair of wings. But the sudden appearance of this person caught both Rain and Shining Armor off guard. “What the-!?”

“P-please… You must… help me…” They heard the girl's voice and saw tears from her eyes, but her mouth was not moving from inside the crystal. “Hurry… to the Everfree Shrine… t-the crystal will be shattered…” After saying that part of the statement, the crystal began to shimmer in front of them and disappear. But not before they heard one last thing from her. “Y-you are our only hope… without you… this world will be lost…”

As the crystal disappeared and everything was back to normal, Shining himself was blinking a few times, just so he could process everything that he had just seen. “Rain, did you see that? I feel like my eyes are beginning to play tricks on me.” The unicorn asked, which only lead to Rain nodding his head a bit before walking from the edge of the ship.

In doing so though, the unicorn said the first thing that came to his mind. “Rain! Have you lost your mind, we have our orders that the princess gave us.”

When Rain turned back to face Shining, the first thing that he said was in response to that. “And I have not forgotten them. But I can’t ignore a plea for help, Shining. You know that… It’s part of my duty as a knight of Canterlot.”

Shining walked back over to where he was and just smirked a little bit at first. “You haven’t changed a bit since when we first met, have you?” Rain nodded in response… but his friends compliment also happened to have something surge in his memory as he looked back at the Unicorn, scratching his chin. “What? Was it something I said?”

“No it’s just…… When you said the part about when we first met… I think I know what that girl means by the Everfree Shrine.” The knight told his friend as he looked back at him. It took a few seconds, but soon Shining was catching on about what he was talking about.

“Do you think it’s… the old castle you were in?”

“Most likely,” the human replied back. “From all those Ponytales the princess told us when we were kids, the Everfree has remained uninhabited for the longest of time and the only actual landmark that’s there is the castle where they found me.”

“But where would a crystal like the one she’s talking about be located?” Shining now posed a new question for him. “When I was there with you, there didn’t seem to be any floating crystal or anything from what I remember.”

Then… the answer clicked inside of Rain’s head the moment his mind began to dwell on it. “The old basement…”

“What?” The unicorn asked, puzzled by the simple question.

“The old castle had a basement level inside with a secret hatch. Originally, it had a lot of the books and other items I moved up to the floor and I kept it’s entrance blocked with a heavy crate, but that’s the most likely of places it could be.” He told him, just as he was noticing something in the distance. “Hey, that must be Ponyville right there.” Shining turned around, surprised about the fact that they were coming up on their destination so quickly, but then thinking of something else as he looked back at Rain.

Which, also tied into Shining’s next question. “Okay, so what exactly is the plan here?” Just before Rain could reply though, the ship was beginning to touch down and the moment that the docking platform extended outward, Twilight was already off to the races and eager to get her belongings… while for Spike, he was trying his best to maintain his energy.

Which, ironically worked out in Rain’s favor. “Hey Spike, can I ask for your help on something?” The dragon himself seemed rather confused by Rain’s sudden interruption as he then walked over to them for a short moment as everypony got off the ship.

“Sure, uh… is everything alright? You guys look a bit tense.” He pointed out, causing both knights to look at each other for a moment before looking back at the dragon.

“We’re alright. It’s just that Shining and I need to check on something not that far from here,” Rain replied back, trying to find something in his pockets. “Could you do us a favor and send us a message if there’s anything going on here that requires our help? It’s so we can get to you as quickly as possible in an emergency.” Spike… looked to be still thinking about it in his head for a moment. Or, at least that was until Rain found what he was looking for in his pockets and pulled it out. “I got a couple of gems if you want them.”

“Deal!” Spike said, catching the two gems that Rain had tossed to him before eating one and beginning to help Twilight with her bags.

“Since when did you carry around gemstones in your pockets?” The unicorn next to Rain asked, surprised a little bit.

“I thought it would be good to keep them on hand just in case,” He responded to Shining before turning around and beginning to make his way towards the path that was not far from the entrance to the Everfree forest. “Now come on. The longer we stand around here, the more time we’re wasting.” The Unicorn could only nod his head in agreement on that part as he joined up with Rain and soon began to follow him through the woods. However, it was while they were walking that Shining now actually had a question for him.

“Hey… this just dawned on me now, but when you were living inside the castle, how did you not have to worry about monsters just freely moving in and out of there?” It was a valid question, and one that Rain himself did not know the answer for at first.

“I… don’t really know how to answer that. When I was there, it seemed like there was some kind of barrier in place that wards off any of the creatures in the Everfree. Of course, it’s been ten years since I’ve last been there, so I don’t know if that is actually the reason behind it or not.” The knight replied back to his friend as they began to cross a bridge across a river. “Hey… about this crystal that girl mentioned… Do you think that it may be the reason why the creatures are acting so differently?”

“It’s a possibility, but right now, there isn’t enough evidence to support that claim,” Shining told his friend in response. “Besides, we only know a little amount of information given what that girl said. Not to mention that we have no idea why this ‘crystal’ is so important.” The two of them had progressed farther into the forest by this time, going through a rocky cavern and across a rope bridge that was put up from one side to another as they got closer to the old castle.

However, it was upon reaching it that they found that it was much different than before. Though, there wasn’t a lot that was inside the castle the last time that Rain was there. But right away, he could tell that something was wrong. Some of what remained of the castle’s exterior was badly damaged and the arch that served as a doorway many years before was broken off like someone… or something had rammed through it. “What the hell happened here?” He asked, staring in disbelief.

Shining himself… did not know how to answer to that either, but he did make an effort to try and speak. “Rain, are you sure this is wise for you and I to go alone? For all we know, what we could’ve seen was just an illusion.” Despite this though, Rain looked back at his friend and comrade in arms as he cleared his throat in order to speak.

“Whether it was an illusion or not, the tears on that girl’s face were very real to me. Not to mention the fact that whatever came through here left a path of destruction in its wake,” He tried to reason with Shining as he got closer to the broken down entrance. “Besides, if this really is a threat, they could go for the townsfolk in the village next and Twilight. We can’t risk their lives if this whole thing is some flight of fancy.”

Before Shining could respond on the matter, Rain himself darted through the entrance to the old castle and left the unicorn behind. Causing him to scramble and try to catch up with him. “Rain! At the very least, could you please wait for me!?”

Once both of them were inside though, the two knights began to inspect their surroundings and look around the area. Because of how thick the trees were outside as well as the fact that the sun was beginning to set right now, a large shadow loomed over the inside of the ruins, which in turn made it difficult for them to see at first. After a few moments though, Shining thought that his eyes were adjusted enough to where he could see clearly. “Well… nothing seems out of the ordinary… to my eyes at least…”

Yet… Rain had a different response to him as he looked in front of him. “Then you may want to look again…” Taking a second, Rain conjured a small fireball in his hands and threw it along a nearby wall, lighting a stick that would normally be used for a torch of some kind. Yet, when the new light began to shine throughout the room… it also caught the attention of what else was lurking inside as they saw numerous different inhabitants of the Everfree Forest… whose gaze was now in their direction.

“What the-!?” Shining gasped, caught off guard by the sudden sight. “What are they doing in here?!” Some of the creatures now stepped forward as Rain now looked back at his partner and spoke up.

“Whatever came through here recently must’ve broken the barrier and let them in…” He said, noticing one of the creatures move its head up and down a bit as the knight pointed it out. “Not to mention the fact that I think that Timberwolf is nodding ‘yes’.”

“I think the time for subtle humor has passed at this point.” Shining Armor deadpanned as he reached for the grip of his blade and grabbed hold of it firmly. Rain also did the same thing with his blade as he looked back at the monsters and creatures of the Everfree Forest that just happened to invade what was once his former home.

“I couldn’t agree more… I believe this also proves that what we heard earlier from the girl was true,” He said, unsheathing his weapon as he held his greatsword in front of him. “Wasn’t it the Captain that told you that you could always trust a pretty face?” Shining, upon hearing that groaned a little to himself as he held his katana firmly in front of him.

“Hmph… That was some terribly well hidden wisdom from him, that was for sure,” He spoke up, looking towards the creatures that were in the room and looking around the area. “Rain, where would the entry for the innermost chamber be? The one you were mentioning earlier.”

“The only likely possibility is that it’s on the opposite side of all these monsters,” Rain answered his question. “We better hurry though. I got a bad feeling of what would happen if we don’t reach that crystal in time.” With that, both of them began to fight through the hoard of monsters that they were facing. Using their weapons to cut open a path forward with each swing. However, the more that the two of them kept fighting through the remains of the old castle, the more that Shining noticed that Rain was being rather hasty and reckless. Almost like he didn’t care about what would happen if he got harmed by an incoming attack.

“Rain, don’t be so hasty. All the other members of the guard back in Canterlot look up to you, so it would be ill-advised to rush in so quickly,” The unicorn told him while they were slowly pushing through the pack of foes in front of them. “Sometimes, I feel convince that I need to watch you like a hawk.”

“Could there be anything I can do to convince you to watch our foes instead?” He simply replied back to Shining before defeating another set of monsters with another attack from his sword. Which, in Shining’s mind, meant that he was ignoring him. They kept on pushing through the hoard until something new blocked their path forward. A creature that neither of them have seen or encountered before. “Well, maybe this one will put up more of a fight.”

Unlike Rain though, Shining proved to be more cautious about their opponent instead of eager. For more than one reason. “We must watch it’s moves closely and be careful with how we engage. I don’t think this opponent would be as easy as the other foes we have faced.”

“Since when were they ever ‘easy’?” His friend rhetorically asked him. After he had said that was when Rain had tried to charge up and attack the beast head on. Only to realize that doing so was not exactly a good idea. His attack did little to harm the monster, especially with the horns that were sprouting from his head, shoulders and nose. Not to mention that the beast lashed out by slamming the ground and causing the floor to surge with electricity. “Okay that… was unexpected.”

“So it tries to shock those who try to physically harm it…” Shining thought to himself, jumping off the ground and onto a nearby rock as he began analyzing the enemy they were facing before coming up with an idea. “In that case… let’s see how it does against magic.” As the Unicorn thought about this and began conjuring some magic in his hands, that was when he caught Rain’s attention.

“Shining, what exactly are you planning?”

“I’m testing a theory. It unleashes electricity when you try attacking it with your sword, but what would happen if you tried using magic against it.” Shining’s idea… was actually something Rain didn’t really think about until the unicorn pointed it out to him. So, instead of trying to attack his opponent with his weapon, he now began to have a ball of fire take form in his hands. Releasing his fire spell shortly after Shining let his ice spell strike their opponent.

The monster itself, was not prepared for what the two knights in store. Upon getting hit by their combined forms of magic, the beast soon fell to the ground, before turning into a mass of shadows that soon disintegrated within seconds. As for Rain and Shining, they were lucky to find what they were looking for shortly after destroying the beast, since it seemed to be unknowingly guarding the hatch to the lower levels of the temple as both knights soon went over and opened up the hatch.

“Well, that’s one thing that’s still in one piece,” Rain commented to himself before slowly descending down the stairwell to the temple's lower chambers. “Come on, Shining! Let’s go!”

“I’m right behind you.” The unicorn told him as both of them made their way down the stairs and into the next room. From there, they could be able to make out exactly what was going on because of the amount of light that was radiating from the glowing crystal in the back of the room. However, it was when both knights got closer that they realized that both of them were not alone down there.

In front of the crystal… was a tall figured that was covered in armor that was as black as a starless night. It’s helm covered the figures face and when he turned to see the two knights, they saw that the front of the helmet looked to take on the form of a demon as both Rain and Shining cautiously approached him with their swords ready.

“Hey!! Whoever you are, step away from the crystal!” Shining ordered, but the individual did not move an inch. Just only looked directly at them for a few moments before actually saying anything. But when it did speak, the words sent a cold shiver down Rain’s spine.

“…… If ignorance is a sin, then your sins are beyond intolerable…”

It was then that Rain has slowly lowered his blade for a moment before glaring at the strange figure. “What the hell is that supposed to mean!?” All the figure did was not respond as it slowly lifted an arm into the air and began to conjure something. The magic itself was… unknown to that of either Rain or Shining. But it was dark in nature and power as the armored figure continued to speak.

“Ten long centuries of sin… and now, it’s time you atoned.”

Now… was when Shining was also confused. “Atone? What in the world are you rambling on about?!” However, in this moment was when Rain had realized that what the figure was conjuring was a sphere of dark magic.

And one that was about to be thrown at them. “Oh crap-! Shining, watch out!!” Before either of them could be able to defend themselves, the stranger threw the ball of dark magic at both of them, detonating upon impact as it sent both Shining and Rain to the other end of the room where the entrance was while also weakening them considerably.

In the stranger's mind, since the pests were dealt with… he now was free to complete the task he came to do. “And so it begins…” He said to himself, conjuring a massive claymore that he held onto effortlessly with one hand. “Now… my hammer of vengeance shall crush this eternity of lies!!”

Rain could only watch helplessly in his weakened state as the armored stranger raised their blade and brought it down on the crystal, shattering it into pieces as the entire place around them began to violently shake in tremors as some rocks from the ceiling began to fall down and break. All while the knight could only move himself a few feet before collapsing on the ground.

However, as he was beginning to lose consciousness, he could hear someone speak to him. “You… can’t fall now…… take this power… the power of visions… The power to stave off the darkness.” In mere moments, he felt something rejuvenating flow through his body. Healing his wounds and returning the strength that was once deprived from him along with the strength of his comrade.

When they were getting up, all they could see in front of them… was the same girl in the crystal from mere moments before. “Who… W-who are you?” Despite Rain’s question though, all they saw was a brief flash of light as they heard the girl say one last thing.

“Live… Live and save this world.”

When light died down around both Rain and Shining armor, both of the knights found themselves outside of the ruins that they just had entered a few minutes earlier. There were some cracks in the earth and the trees around them began to falter a small bit as both of them looked back at one another. Both of them rather shocked and also puzzled by the events that had just happened… and also where they are.

Getting back up off the ground, both Shining and Rain took a moment in order for them to sheath their weapons and try to contemplate everything… before the Unicorn decided to just ask the question instead. “W-what just happened?” Rain himself couldn’t even form the words to speak right now as he just looked back at Shining Armor with the same look of shock and confusion like before.

That was… before they heard a scream and the sound of something going off in the distance. Which, had Shining on edge as he turned in the direction of the noise they heard just now. “What was that?!”

“That… came from Ponyville-” Before Rain could fully be able to finish his sentence, Shining bolted from where he was at across the wooden bridge that was hung across the ravine in front of them. “Shining, wait!!”

“I can’t wait, Rain! Twilight’s there, she may be in trouble!” Shining told him as he made it across to the other side.

“Then could you at least wait for me to cross the bridge-” Before Rain could even finish his question, he felt a powerful gust of wind from directly in front of him. But this wasn’t just a simple light breeze. No, the wind that blew in his face was strong enough to slice up the rope at the ends on his side of the bridge. Making it now impossible for him to cross. “ …… Or not. Damn, now this isn’t good at all.”

Shining himself, did not like the looks of things either as he looked back at Rain on the other side. “Oh dear Celestia, this is just brilliant… Now what are we gonna do?”

“Shining, just go and hurry to Ponyville! If there really is any danger going on there, then you should hurry and help the civilians.” Rain told him, looking back at him firmly. “I’ll try to think of another was to cross and catch up.”

“Oh no… No, I’m not leaving you out here. Especially with what just happened in there. We need to alert Princess Celestia about what we saw.”

“And we can do that after you help them,” Rain countered firmly in response to Shining’s statement. “If you help them first, then you can find somepony that can help tie off the bridge-” However, as Rain was speaking, he noticed Shining’s eyes widened as he looked back at him with a confused look. “Shining, what’s wrong?”

“L-look out! Behind you!!” However, by the time Rain had turned around to see what it was, a gigantic hand made out of magic and looked like the night sky grabbed hold of him and yanked him back into the Castle of Twin Sisters. Vanishing without a trace as a cynical laugh was heard throughout the forest. “RAIN!!!”

The moment that Rain felt himself land back on his feet wasn’t quite exactly a pleasant moment. The knight felt as if he had been violently thrown around like a ragdoll because of the pain when he felt when he collided against a wall. Luckily, he had a potion on him to restore some of the injuries that he had sustained from these blows as he tried to make sense of what happened…

And more importantly, why was he back in the Castle of the Twin Sisters again? “Oh joy… this day just keeps getting better and better.” He muttered sarcastically, not knowing what else he should be looking for. Going as far as to check what was in front of him, behind him, to the left and right, and even above him just in case something were about to fall on him. Luckily, there wasn’t anything… but he rather not take any chances.

He did however… hear a voice as he turned to see where it was coming from. “So… You are the one who was an uninvited guest in my home…” The voice echoed as he turned to see more of the starry night mist take form into what appeared to be a black alicorn, same size as Celestia, but with a mane and tail of stars, a darkened robe covering it’s body from head to hoof and a glare that would intimidate most ponies.

However… Rain was different. “Uh…… can I help you, Miss?”

The figure blinked a couple of times, honestly surprised by the lack of fear in his statement. In fact, there was no signs of him being afraid at all. “Excuse me? Do you even know who I am, worm!?!”

“Uh… should I?” Rain asked, confused as he looked back at the alicorn.

“I’m NIGHTMARE MOON!! Ponies fear me!! I was banished 1000 years ago by that dastardly Princess Celestia and now I’m back for revenge!! Why aren’t you afraid of me!?!!” She shouted, almost blowing the doors to the room off of their hinges because of how loud this pony was being.

“I survived in the Everfree for almost a year on my own, it takes a lot to get my attention.” He sighed, before going to the doors. “Now if you excuse me, I need to find a way back to ponyville on time so I don’t miss the Princess’ arrival-”

Now that statement in particular… really caught Nightmare Moon’s attention. Not to mention that right now, one of the things she was seeing on this figure’s clothes was an insignia of the Canterlot Royal Guard. “Oh really now? You really think that your princess is still in that cheap excuse for a village?” She said, causing Rain to stop walking away as he then heard the next thing that Fina was telling him. “Why do you think that the town citizens are screaming and panicking right now… and Celestia is nowhere to be seen in order to calm them?”

It was then that the black Alicorn got a better reaction from that of the knight than she had gotten moments before. “What…… did… you do?” He boldly asked in a deep and demanding tone as he glared at Nightmare Moon.

“Listening now, are we?” She spoke in a mocking tone, laughing maniacally as she smirked at the knight. “I kidnapped Princess Celestia. With her unable to raise the sun, it shall be eternal night forever!! And if you honestly think that you can be able to stop this from happening, then you have no idea what you are up against.”

Rain thought that she was trying to mess with his head… and break his focus. Something that he was not going to let her do. “If you think that I’m just going to let you get away with this…” He now told her fiercely, arming himself with his Crimson Saber as he looked back at her. “Then you got another thing coming.”

“Oh how hilarious… You honestly think you can beat ME with that cheap toy of yours? Why do you think that I, NIGHTMARE MOON, should even consider taking you on?” She taunted him. However, what the alicorn did not expect at all was when the ‘toy’ that she had called Rain’s sword was soon lit ablaze. Humming alive with his magic as fire began to burn all around the knight that stood in front of her. “What’s this? Is this… the magic of old? How can a cretin like him learn something as ancient as that!?!”

“I’m not going to back down,” Rain boldly shout back at her as the flames around him began to burn wildly and he prepared to charge at her. “Because one way or another, you are the one who’s going to lose!”

“You fool!! What in Equestria do you think that you’ll accomplish by facing me!?!” Nightmare roared, to which, the knight only had one particular response to this.

“By beating you and rescuing Celestia, I am following the creed of a knight of Canterlot!!” He said, before charging at the alicorn as that first move originally caught her by surprise. “Prepare yourself!!”

It had only been a few moments after Shining began to make his way back to Ponyville, but it was right now that he just felt something that was… most definitely not normal. He felt a flux of magic that didn’t belong to that of any normal unicorn or anything like that, but felt magic that was specific to Rain. Which, to him, only made him try to get to Ponyville faster. The quicker he would make it, the sooner he would get somepony to help him fix the bridge and the sooner he could help Rain.

However, what he did not expect was to be running into an all too familiar face. “Shiny?” Instantly, the stallion turned around to see his sister… accompanied by five other mares. Two earth ponies, two pegasi and one other unicorn. Something that was much of a surprise to him, but also a relief to see that his sister was okay. “What are you doing out here? Don’t you know what’s going on!?”

“Twilight, you know this guy?” One of the pegasi with a rainbow mane and tail as well as cyan fur asked, glaring at him for a moment like he was suspicious. She was wearing a blue and white jacket that was most commonly used by high endurance athletes along with a matching pair of pants as Twilight began to speak up.

“Shining Armor here is my older brother and also a knight in the royal guard Rainbow,” Twilight told them, to which each one of the ponies behind her were equally surprised by that statement. “Now, back to my question… What are you doing out here?”

Shining himself took a deep breath, looking back at them before speaking up. “That may take a bit to explain… Rain, another knight, and I got a distressing message about something that was going on out here in the castle of twin sisters… something that’s making the creatures of the everfree a lot more hostile. However, as we were trying to hurry back to Ponyville when we heard somepony screaming and a loud noise, the bridge that lead to the old castle was severed and my companion and I got separated. I was trying to hurry back to Ponyville to see if I can get some help, but that’s when I ran into you.”

For a moment, some of Twilight’s companions looked a little… skeptical despite the fact that Twilight believed what her brother said. Then, one of the earth ponies, who had a collared shirt, jeans and a stetson hat along with a blond mane and tail, soon spoke up. “Girls, he’s telling the truth.”

“Wait, how can you tell that Applejack?” The same cyan pegasus from before asked, confused.

“Ah can easily tell if somepony isn’t entirely being truthful or not. From what he just said, there wasn’t any hint of trying to deceive us in it.” The earth pony replied, before looking at the stallion. “How far away is the bridge you were talking about?”

“It’s not far. I can lead you girls to it,” Shining volunteered, leading the six mares back the way he came to the severed bridge that he was referring to earlier. All the while, the pegasus that Twilight referred to as ‘Rainbow’ volunteered to retie the bridge for them.

As she was doing that though, Twilight noticed that Shining’s coat and clothes from before had received some damage. Leading her to be concerned for her brother. “So what exactly lead you two to be out here in the first place?”

Shining took a deep breath as he looked back at his sister, recalling everything from what happened on the ride on the airship to what happened once they got to the castle of twin sisters. How they were unsuccessful at trying to protect the ‘crystal’ and how it’s destruction lead to the whole castle in itself to not only become unstable, but also cause the creatures of the everfree to become extremely hostile to them. It was something that sounded too good to be true, but Applejack again said that Shining wasn’t lying either.

It was also during this conversation that he got to learn the names of Twilight’s new friends, so to speak. There was Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity and the pony that was almost close to tying off the rest of the bridge was named Rainbow Dash. He also found out that Spike, the one that Rain had asked to try and alert them in case of an emergency, had fallen asleep and began suffering from Nightmares because of everything that was going on… and the pony behind it was something that he honestly thought was just a ponytale.

Nightmare Moon. “So let me get this straight… Nightmare Moon crashed the opening ceremony for the Summer Sun Celebration, kidnapped Princess Celestia and also blew up the airship we came here on as a way to prevent anypony from escaping…”

“That’s… pretty much everything in a nutshell.” Applejack replied to him, before Shining added one more thing.

“And the only way you say that you can stop Nightmare Moon is by finding the Elements of Harmony to bring the light back to Equestria…” The unicorn then added on. “Geez, and I thought my job was tough. That’s… a lot to take in.”

“Oddly enough, some of us thought the same way.” Rarity then spoke up, while Shining noticed that the pony named Pinkie Pie was bouncing in place while also giggling to herself. Shortly after saying that though was when they all noticed that the bridge was fastened once again as some of the mist cleared up and it showed Rainbow Dash with a smug look on her face while folding her arms and leaning against a tree.

“See? Piece of cake!” The pegasus boasted, causing some of her friends to roll their eyes in response to her. It was as they all got across though that they heard something loud go off nearby from within the ruins of the nearby castle that startled all of them.

“What the hay was that?” Applejack asked.

“I have a bad feeling on who it might be…” Shining sighed before noticing something move across the top of the ruins as he reached for the handle of his blade. “Twilight… get to cover, now!” Before the unicorn could respond, Shining already had his weapon out as a stone golem soon crashed in front of them and began to attack the unicorn.

“Twilight, what are we gonna do? We’re wasting time like this!” Rainbow shouted. But before she could answer her friends question, Shining soon shouted to them.

“Let me handle this! You six get inside and find the elements, quickly!!” The Unicorn told them as he casted an ice spell to trap one of the golem’s arms. Providing an opportunity for them to slip inside while he was facing the massive stone behemoth. In the back of his mind though, he knew that they were going to be okay.

He was more concerned about if Rain was okay right now.

“Thundaga!!” The dark alicorn shouted, causing Rain to tumble out of the way as powerful bolts of lightning way too close to him as the knight tried to hold his own against her. Despite his earlier thoughts of his opponent being not that much of a challenge, he soon realized the fault in his thinking when the battle first began. Both of them knew powerful spells that were equal in strength, but Rain was more of a physical fighter in terms of combat. While Nightmare Moon was a full on mage. So unlike the knight, the dark alicorn had more mana at her disposal and a lot more spells for her to use. But not many ways to defend herself if he got too close. “Why you… Why don’t you just GIVE UP AND DIE!!! AEROGA!!”

“Oh crap!” He cursed mentally. He was very aware of how lethal air spells could be used in combat because of the number of times that Shining Armor had used magic when they would be training. But, unlike his version of the spells, this one was MUCH more powerful… and Rain was on the unfortunate end of it, causing for him to get blown back through a crumbling stone wall and skid out on the other side. “Gah! O-okay, that hurt…”

Unknowingly though… He was blasted out through the wall mere seconds after a certain group of mares entered the room. However, he did not see them through the dust that was coughed up from him landing as he ran back into the fight. Trying to see what he could do to get close enough to Nightmare in order to actually land a hit. So far, every attempt at trying to get her with magic did not go very well. He had even tried to use the surrounding terrain and the fallen pillars and beams to hit her, but all that did was make him an easy target for Nightmare Moon to pick off mid leap. “Okay, I need a new plan and everything I have tried before has all but failed. I’m out of options!”

“Give it up!!” Nightmare Moon cried out hysterically. “There’s NOTHING you can do to stop me!!”

Yet… her taunts were blocked out by something else. “There is something you can do.” Rain recognized the voice. It was the voice of not just the girl that warned him and Shining of the crystal and also saved them from having a lot of rock fall on their heads. “I have given a gift to you and your companion. The power of Visions.”

“V-visions?” Rain asked himself, trying to understand what he was hearing.

“Yes… The memories and emotions of warriors whose dreams transcend even death… given life by the crystals they are housed in…” The girl’s voice spoke to him as Rain felt something surge and tingle through his hands. “And they are your allies to call upon. Call on their strength now… and succeed in this battle.” The knight himself thought that what she was telling him sounded like a longshot. He wasn’t even sure if doing what she said could somehow help him.

But it doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t try. “Okay, here goes nothing.” The knight told himself, closing his eyes and picturing the crystal in his hands. As he did this, a shining blue crystal slowly began to take form, confusing those who were watching the battle unfold... except that of Nightmare Moon.

“No… T-that’s impossible.” The alicorn gasped at first. “H-how do you-?”

Rain himself, wasn’t listening to her… and instead focusing on the task at hand. “Visions… If you can hear me… please, assist me!” As he said this, Nightmare herself tried to channel a spell in order to disrupt his focus and stop him from completing the summon. But just as she was about to saw the name of the spell, the crystal in Rain’s hands cracked as a bright light shined throughout the room. Blinding her as a new figure now stood not far from the knight.

Standing right next to the knight was now a bipedal pegasus mare. She had cerulean blue fur, a black mane and tail and what appeared to be a scar above her right eye. Equipped was a silver chestplate, hoof guards around her ankles and gauntlets around her hands. Rain himself… was honestly surprised that it worked. Before the mare actually turned to notice him.

“Wait a minute, who in Equestria are you?” She then asked, staring at Rain. “Do you need help or something?”

“Uh… My name is Rain,” He said, before looking in the direction of the alicorn at the other end of the room. “And I need a helping hand with fighting a powerful mage and rescuing a princess. Think you're up for it miss…?”

“Nimbus. Nimbus Dash,” She replied back, before noticing the insignia that Rain had on his clothes, showing that he was a member of Canterlot’s royal guard. “Member of the Cloudsdale Royal Legion and here at your service. Ready to kick some flank?”

All Rain could do was smirk and nod his head as he took up arms with his weapon as he and Nimbus looked back towards his opponent. The pegasus herself adopting a combat stance as Rain then spoke up. “Let’s go!” Both of them immediately charged at Nightmare Moon shortly afterwards. The knight was focusing on going straight at his opponent, dodging incoming attacks and avoiding the spells that could do harm, while also being a distraction.

Because even though she could see Rain in front of him… Nightmare was unable to see Nimbus attacking from above and knocking her upside the head, before landing at striking the alicorn with a jab kick that sent her flying through a wall. Personally, Rain did not expect for the vision that he summoned to be rather quick and versatile. Not only had Nimbus caught Nightmare Moon by surprise, but also send her flying through an old and deteriorated wall.

It was during this though that he also heard something that caught his attention. “Rain!” He turned around for a moment, surprised at seeing Twilight along with a few other ponies that he couldn’t recognize as the unicorn went over to him. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. Just a few scratches, but I’m okay,” He said, before noticing everypony else moving to the opposite end of the room. “What are you doing here though? It’s not safe and Shining-”

“He told us to hurry on inside because he was concerned for you,” Twilight replied before he could finish. “My friends and I came here because if the old tales on Nightmare Moon are true, then the only way we can really defeat her is with the elements of harmony.”

“The what now-?” Rain asked, shortly before they all soon heard a furious cry of rage from where Nightmare was thrown into as the unicorn looked back at Rain.

“J-just buy us some time! Keep her distracted as long as possible!!” Twilight told them before looking back her friends and teleporting over to them. All the while Rain noticed a rather… confident look across Nimbus’ face as she took up another stance.

“This is going to be too easy,” Nimbus smirked, pounding both of her fists together as she looked back at Nightmare Moon. “Sooner or later, she’s going to run out of mana for her to cast anything-” Before she was even able to finish her boast though was when the pegasus saw a sphere forming from shadow magic all around an outstretched hand as she aimed it at her and Rain.

“Graviga!!”

“Oh sh-! Move!!” Nimbus yelled, causing her and Rain to barrel out of the way before getting hurt. The pegasus though, decided to try something herself as she channeled some energy around one of her legs before launching it out in a powerful kick. Which landed directly in Nightmare’s face. “Okay, that should definitely work.”

“What was that even?” Rain asked as he got up off the floor.

“Aura Strike. Something I came up with back in my training days,” The pegasus vision replied. “If applied correctly, the attack has a high chance of making it unable for spellcasters to channel magic-” However, as she was saying that, both of them then witnessed the alicorn conjuring something completely different.

And both of them had the same response. “Oh, come on-!!”

“I have had ENOUGH WITH YOU!!!” She shouted, blasting both of them with an orb of shadow magic in retaliation for their defiance. Which, knocked Nimbus backwards and forced Rain to defend himself by switching into a guard stance and blocking the attack. With Nimbus unable to get up off the floor, Rain was forced onto one knee with the sheer force of the attack making it harder to stand his ground. “Once you give up, NOTHING will stop me from having this night become eternal!”

However, it was then that both of them noticed something glowing from the far corner of the room. “Not while we’re here, you’re not!!” Rain heard one of the girls over there boast. He couldn’t tell exactly what Twilight and them were doing, but whatever was going on had caused Nightmare to focus less of her attention on Rain… and also weaken the attack that she was channeling.

Which, in turn, provided an opportunity for the knight. With a quick slash of his weapon, he caused Nightmare’s attack to disperse. With another one, he struck the alicorn around her legs, making it so she wasn’t able to flee or protect herself before backtracking to where Nimbus was and helping her up. “Twilight, whatever you’re planning to do, do it NOW!!”

“You got it!!”

“No! NOOO!!!” Was all the knight heard Nightmare Moon say before a blinding light began to fill up the entire room and have the darkened alicorn disappear into dust and for the sun to rise once more. Rain himself could not see anything else other then that until he opened his eyes and tried to make sense of what was going on. His vision was blurry at first, but noticed how each one of the girls that was with Twilight had a distinct necklace that resembled their cutie marks… while Twilight herself had a crown that resembled hers.

As his hearing returned to him, the first voice that Rain heard… was one that was addressed to him. “Rain? Oh, thank Celestia you’re okay.” He turned around to see that Shining Armor had finally caught up with him, but also seemed to have his fair share of scrapes and scratches as he looked back at the unicorn.

“Shining? You okay there man?” Rain asked casually now that the fight was over, placing his greatsword on his back.

“Well, had to face a giant golem in order to get inside, then when things looked bleak, I heard that girls voice from before tell me about-”

“Visions,” Rain interrupted, looking back to Shining before motioning to Nimbus as she stood up now. “Same thing happened to me. Only while I was facing Nightmare Moon just now… Who helped you though-?” The knight’s question was answered when what appeared to be a tan earth pony mare with a dark mane, leather vest around her chest and leggings around the waist and carried a silver spear while her cutie mark was that of a triskelion.

The mare’s initial response to Rain though… was not the most optimal one. “Who in the world is this monkey?” The blunt response just caused Rain to sigh and for Shining to facepalm himself.

“I’m Rain, a knight of Canterlot and Shining Armor’s friend,” He simply replied. “May I ask who you are?”

“Steela Oresdotter, Captain of the Mighty Helm,” She said, looking back at him. “And I only recognize a knight when you prove it to me on the field of battle.” It was during this conversation though that both of the knights, the captain, and the royal legion member turned to see a rather surprised Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle and the other elements of Harmony.

“I apologize for interrupting your… conversation,” The princess told them, looking at Rain and Shining Armor specifically. “But could you please explain to us what is going on?”

Both knights looked at one another for a moment, before Rain sighed for a moment and looked back at the princess. “It’s a long story.”

Author's Notes:

And with that, we have chapter 1. It takes place during the time of the opening for season one, which is two years after the end of the prologue, but let me assure you that all future chapters will be separate from that of the season timeline and also the events will be different. For one thing, if you noticed at the end that one particular pony was missing when Celestia returned... that will come into play next chapter. There are also some elements to the beginning of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius in here too and personally, it was quite tricky trying to find a way to intertwine the two of them together and make something unique from it. Pretty fun if I do say so myself.

Also, regarding visions, the first two visions that were introduced into the story are based on characters in the MLP: Legends of Magic Comics. Specifically, issues two and four. Here's the breakdown on some of their abilities and traits.

---

Name: Nimbus Dash
Job: Royal Legion Cadet
Role: Physical Damage, Support
Rarity: 3* ~ 6*
Origin: LoM (Legends of Magic)
Gender: Female
Race: Pegasus
Trust Mastery: Storm Gauntlets (Equipment; Atk +94, Element: Lightning)
Current Trust: 0.0%

Innate Abilities:
-Aura Strike (3*, Special): Physical Attack with a chance of inflicting 3 random status ailments to a target (30%) (Cost: 15 MP)
-Hurricane Kick (4*, Special): Physical Attack, reduces lightning resistance to an opponent (25%) (Cost: 25 MP)
-Restoring Winds (4*, Special): Restore Health and Mana to self while also curing poison and blind. (Costs: 8 MP)

---

Name: Steela Oresdotter
Job: Mighty Helm Captain
Role: Tank, Support
Rarity: 4*~6*
Origin: LoM
Gender: Female
Race: Earth Pony
Trust Mastery: Dedication (Materia: Increase HP and Def by 25%, Increased Atk by 15%)
Current Trust: 0.0%

Innate Abilities:
-Insult (4*, Special) Increased chance of being targeted by enemies for three turns. Inflicts confuse to one target (30%) for three turns)
-Headbutt (4*, Special) Physical Damage to one target, decreases targets DEF (30%) for two turns.
-Captains Resolve (5*, Special): Increased allies DEF/SPR by 35% for three turns.
-Captain's Orders (6*, Special): Increased allies ATK/MAG by 50% for three turns. Increased Limit Burst gauge fill rate by 50% for three turns

---

Let me point out that these are SOME of their abilities. A preview so to speak. More will be revealed later on in the story.

As for a characters or visions abilities, they are broken down into four categories. Special Abilities, that can consist of physical attacks or supporting allies. Traits, which are passive buffs that happen naturally depending on if the ally is equipped with specific types of Armor or weapons. Magic, whether it's used to attack, protect or heal allies. And lastly, Limit Burst, which is a signature skill or ability that a certain character has. More will be covered later when that time comes.

I would like to thank everybody who's helped support me so far and say that I really do appreciate your guys' support. Without you, I wouldn't really know where to start with this journey. Until next time!
-Frost