Once upon a time, the magical land of Equestria was ruled over by two princesses.

Each day Princess Celestia brought forth the life-giving sun so the ponies could work and play.

And at night, when the ponies rested, they were protected by the watchful moon and stars of Princess Luna.

If ever a threat arose in the land that was too great for even the Princesses to handle, there was always the greatest power of all to protect it: the Elements of Harmony, the very guiding principle of the peace that Equestria knew.

But in that peace the ponies grew complacent.  A new danger arose in the land, corrupting all that it touched.  The plants, the animals, even the weather itself was ripped from their control.  The world was becoming wild and dangerous.

The Princesses could do nothing to stem the chaos that flooded into Equestria.  With no options left, they sent forth the Elements of Harmony to bring an end to the threat...

Purple.

Nothing but an endless expanse of purple sludge all around her.  Twilight Sparkle squinted, struggling to see the outline of her own violet hoof in the strange gel that now held her and her friends.  All around her the young unicorn could hear nothing but the strange, garbled mutterings of the mass of chaos.

That and the screams and cries of her five closest friends.

The lilac unicorn bowed her head, feeling the weight of the crown she wore bump against her horn as she did.  She could feel energy coming from the jewel situated in the crown.  The only thing that was protecting her from whatever madness this thing was inflicting on the others.

The tears fell, absorbing into the monster around her.  A spark appeared at the tip of her horn, magical energy rushing through her body.  The purple around her seemed to try and pull away from her.

"I'm sorry girls..." She said, unsure whether any of them could even hear her.

No!  

Can not!  

Must not!

The voices around her lifted together, but Twilight felt her power stretch out from the crown she wore.  Beams of magic sliced through the gel-like flesh of the creature around her.  For a moment five other ponies were visible, surrounded by bubbles of amethyst magic that forced the ooze away.  None of them were conscious, but the gem hanging around each of their necks seemed to be sparking as though trying to reach toward Twilight.  As though sensing what she was about to do.

"If nothing else, I can at least save you," she whispered, five orbs of light flying upward even as the cacophony of voices rose to a scream.

Amidst the screams though, five voices seemed to be calling out to her.

"Twilight!"

"Twi!"

"Twilight don't - !"

"Nooo!  Twilight!"

"Twilight you can't!"

The world around her was burning away into a shimmering mass of silver and purple.  One voice seemed to be gaining volume though as the others faded away.

"Moonbeam!  Moonbeam, wake up!"

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Shards of Hope

Prologue

Once Upon a Time

The purple eyes of a teenage pony shot open, dazzled for a moment by the silvery light that was filling the room.  Moonbeam began to blink frantically against the spots now dancing in her vision as she looked around the room.

The first thing she noticed was the fact that her horn was dangerously close to scraping the ceiling.  The dark blue filly gasped, feeling a crackle of magical energy over her scrawny body that was both lifting the bed and causing her short, aqua-blue mane to stand on end.

"Oh-no!  Not again!" she muttered, pressing her fore-hooves to the sides of her head, concentrating for all she was worth.

"Sounds like she's awake now," the voice that had stirred her from slumber spoke up.

"Moonbeam?  You're not hurt are you?" asked a second voice.

The teenage mare could see a gentle yellow glow peeking over the edge of her bed, slowly overpowering the silver light her own horn was emitting.  The bed trembled a bit before she could answer, shaking her covers off and revealing the full-moon mark on her flank.

"Woah!" she gasped, bracing herself as the golden light worked its way around the bed.

"Alright!  I'm bringing it down now," the second voice said.

Moonbeam tried to keep her breathing calm as the bed slowly lowered to floor level.  Her freckled face turned toward the source of the magic: A yellow unicorn stallion.  His orange mane and tail were freshly trimmed and a cutie mark showing a cloud being pierced by three sunbeams sat on his flank.  Strong and confident looking, his solid build suggested a lot of physical training.

Moonbeam smiled nervously, before gasping as her horn sparked more.  Bits of silver and purple magic, now unable to touch the bed, reached out and grabbed other things.  The sheets being closest, they flew off toward the stallion's face.  He quickly ducked, the rogue linen only sticking for a moment before he shook it off.  A yelp of surprise from the doorway and heavy thud indicated that the sheets had found someone else to wrap around.

"Sorry Talon!" Moonbeam shouted more magic peeling from her and landing on various other objects around her room.  "Oh no - Ray, watch out!"

As the figure in the doorway struggled to get loose of the semi-sentient sheet, several books and a small lantern picked themselves up from the floor.  The stallion didn't seem worried though, deftly bowing his head and tapping his horn against hers.  In a burst of purple and yellow light the silver glow covering the room sputtered out.

"Well, glad we've got that out of the way for the day," Ray said, the glow of his horn extinguishing.

There was a sudden noise from the doorway of the bedroom, like cloth tearing.  Both unicorns looked over with a start and were greeted by the sight of a gangly, two legged reptile a smidgen taller than Ray with bits of Moonbeam's bed sheets hanging from his claws.

His body was covered in blue scales, except for the purple over his chest and stomach.  A ridge of purple spines ran from his head down his back, shortening as they went until they were barely more than bumps at the tip of his whip-like tail.  His half-raised wings shook off the halves of the sheets to reveal violet membranes.  He turned to the unicorns, a sheepish grin on his pointed muzzle revealing his fangs.

"Heh...Oops," the young dragon grunted, Ray shaking his head as he levitated the shreds of cloth off to the side.

"It's not your fault Talon," Moonbeam sighed, sliding out of bed onto all fours, feeling even skinnier than she looked standing next to her more solid-looking older brother.

"Maybe if you didn't read so many of these old fairy-tales right before bed, you wouldn't be sleep-spelling so often," Ray commented, scooping up the formerly flying books but never taking his blue eyes off his younger sister.

The younger unicorn lowered her head, her shame apparent until Ray gently rustled her tangled mane.

"On the other hoof, now I don't need to worry about waking up in time for the knighting ceremony," he said with a grin.

Moonbeam's eyes went wide as a huge grin came to her face.

"Oh my gosh that's right!  The Day Guard's initiation is today!" she cheered.

"Were you even asleep in the first place, little bro?" Talon asked, his smile revealing the tips of his fangs.

The sun-colored stallion found himself with Moonbeam's front hooves wrapped around his neck in a hug before he could answer.  He chuckled in response, Talon moving forward to pry their sister off him.  As the two separated a knocking of hoof on wood echoed through their small home.

"Solar Ray?  You awake yet?" the voice of a mare called out from the front door.

Ray raised an eyebrow at the sound of the voice, but made his way toward it.  Opening the door revealed a pure-white unicorn about his age with a cutie mark shaped like a balance scale and an immaculately groomed black mane and tail.  Her gray eyes were bright and alert, driving Ray to try and rub away the bags under his.

"Justy?  You're here early...Well, earlier than usual," Ray said, noticing the stars still visible in the sky outside beyond a shimmering shield of gold and silver.

"Well someone has to make sure that we're not late to our own knighting ceremony," the white mare responded as Talon and Moonbeam entered the room.

"Ray, you said that wasn't until noon," Moonbeam pointed out.

"The ceremony itself isn't - " Ray started to explain.

"But all the preparations, final armor and readiness inspections and last words from the commanders get handled way before then," Justy finished.  "Which means your brother and I need to be heading up to the castle."

"I could cook up some breakfast before you guys go," Talon offered.

Justy shook her head in response, "We really aren't gonna have the time if we don't want to miss the inspection."

"Right.  Thanks for coming to get me then," Ray said, giving her a smile.  "You go on ahead?  I'll be right behind you."

Justy smirked as she headed out the door again.

"Don't think I'm covering for you if you're late, partner," she warned, starting out into the moonlit streets.

Ray breathed a sigh of relief as she wandered out of earshot and turned to his siblings.  Moonbeam had her hooves around him before he could say anything causing him to chuckle.

"Guess I'll have to trust you two to finish cleaning up in there," Ray said, nodding toward moonbeam's room.  "And Moonbeam, when you show up at the ceremony - "

"I know," the younger pony sighed.  "Stay close to Talon, stay calm so I don't spin out and try to find you if something bad happens."

"Relax, Ray.  You know she's in good claws with me," Talon spoke up.  "There won't be any accidents today.  I promise."

"Well, more importantly, you two have fun and I'll see you there," Ray said with a grin, nuzzling his sister.

With that Ray was out the door cantering after Justy.  Moonbeam looked back to her bedroom, noting the shredded sheets and the books and such still scattered around inside.

"So since we're up anyway how about I take care of breakfast while you put all that away?" Talon asked, putting a clawed hand on Moonbeam's shoulder.

"Sounds good," Moonbeam answered with a small smile.

"So what sort of dream were you having this time?" Talon asked as he crossed behind a small counter and began rummaging around for plates and such.  "Must have been something.  You haven't lifted the whole bed for almost a year!"

Moonbeam's forehead creased as she concentrated.  A blur of amethyst passed through her mind, voices calling out a name that wasn't hers...

"I can't really remember," she admitted, scooping up the story book from its resting place on the ground.

The book had landed open to a familiar image.  A drawing of a massive wave of purple liquid bearing down on a village of fleeing ponies.  Moonbeam traced a hoof over the words under the picture.

With its victory assured the terrible will behind the chaos made itself known.  It simply called itself Smooze, a name that had no meaning for a creature that spread chaos for no reason.  With nothing to bind it and no way to stop its advance, the ponies of Equestria fled in droves to Canterlot, begging the Princesses for aid.

Moonbeam continued to the next page, its picture showing a beautiful white castle with a sparkling circle drawn around it.  Two regal ponies, one a deep midnight-blue and the other pure white, both with wings and horns hovered over the castle.  The purple wave seemed unable to cross the circle, and gathered at the foot of the mountain that the castle stood on instead.

Celestia and Luna did all they could, using their mighty magic to erect a barrier around Canterlot.  No matter how hard Smooze or its wild beasts tried they could do nothing to the city.  So the ponies of Canterlot remained safe, guarded once more under the watchful eye of the princesses.

Moonbeam closed the book, laying it down on her bed absentmindedly.  Even though she was as familiar with the story as any school-foal something felt odd as she read it this time.  Like there was more to what had happened.

"Whole-grain pancakes for you, a bowl of sapphires for me?" Talon's voice called from their home's kitchen area.

"Yeah," Moonbeam called back, shaking herself from her daydream.

The filly hurriedly put the rest of the books away and straightened out her pillows before leaving her bed room.  This wasn't a day to worry about strange dreams or old fairytales.

This day was going to be perfect.

Next Chapter: It Takes a Spark (Part 1) Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 26 Minutes