Entrance – How Did I Get Here?

I've had this dream every night...
In it, I see four fillies laughing and playing...
An Earth Pony...
A Unicorn...
And two Alicorns...
They built up a powerful bond, but they were separated, as friends usually are...
Why...?
Why am I seeing this...?
And who's Vale...?
That name...
It sounds...
Familiar...

"Come on Azure, she's descending over here!" the young hyper Earth Pony shouted. She had a yellow coat and a red mane and tail.

"I'm... coming..." her slightly older friend panted as she ran. She was a unicorn with a blue coat (matching her name) and a light blue mane and tail, "Honestly, you forget... I don't have as much stamina... as you..."

They galloped up to the top of a hill, where a bright light was seen shining from the sky. Out of the light they saw a white filly descending down onto the ground. She was about as old as they were, and she had a long, straight deep blue mane and tail. This filly was what they found out was an Alicorn, a special pony with the strength of an Earth Pony, the magic of a Unicorn, and the flying abilities of a Pegasus. She opened her eyes when she elegantly landed and looked around.

"Vale!" the Earth Pony shouted. Vale smiled brightly and turned to the Earth Pony and Unicorn.

"Bayonet! Azure!" she cried out happily running over to them. The three of them embraced and then galloped around laughing. Anyone who saw them could tell they were best friends.

After playing tag for a while, the three friends walked through the forest talking.

"Azure learned a new spell today!" Bayonet said happily.

"Really? What sort of spell?" Vale asked eagerly.

"I-It's nothing major," Azure said blushing, "It's a simple transfiguration spell. Anypony with a horn could do it."

"Aw, you're too modest, Azure," Vale said, "I bet it only took you a day to master it."

"Uh, duh, Azure is the greatest magic user in the village," Bayonet bragged, making poor Azure blush even more.

"Bayonet..."

"Could you show me?" Vale asked, "All I can do with my horn is shoot light out."

"Show her, Azure," Bayonet said, "Please."

It looked like Azure didn't want to. She hated putting herself in the limelight, but she didn't have much of a choice anymore. Not with both of her friends watching her. In the end, she sighed and walked over to a rock, both Vale and Bayonet cheering. She made her horn glow, and she was about to do turn it into a turtle or something, but she stopped when she heard something.

"What's up Azure?" Bayonet asked, but Azure shushed Bayonet and listened closely to the sound.

It was crying.

Vale walked into the bush a bit in front of Azure, and peeked inside, shocked by what she saw.

"Guys," she whispered, "it's a filly."

The two of them ran over to Vale and looked as well. In the bush, they saw an adorable little filly with a lavander coat, long dark purple mane and tail, both with the same pink highlight, and like Vale, she was apparently an Alicorn. She looked to be around their age. She was in the distance, surrounded by flowers, and she was crying.

"Who is she?" Bayonet asked, "Do you know her, Vale?"

"Nu uh," Vale shook her head, "She's not from Elysium."

"She's pretty, but she looks so sad," Bayonet said, "Azure, what should we do?" Azure was silent, "Azure?"

Before anyone knew it, Azure was trotting over to the filly. She knelt down in front of her and nudged her lightly, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I'm... lost..." the purple filly sobbed, "I was... curious... about... the... outside... but when... I left... the... door... closed... and now... I... can't... go... home!" she continued to sob loudly, not even trying to hide how upset she was.

"That's horrible!" Bayonet said as she and Vale walked over to the crying filly, "I got locked out of the village once. I cried all night until Vale came. That was how I met her."

"What's your name?" Vale asked.

"M-M-Midnight..." the filly sobbed.

"You're not from Elysium like Vale," Bayonet said, "Are you from another village?"

Midnight shook her head, "Tar...tarus..."

"Vale..." Bayonet said turning to Vale, "What's Tartarus?"

"I don't really know. My mom tells me that it's a dangerous place, filled with monsters, but Midnight doesn't seem like a monster to me."

Right now, she actually seemed quite harmless. Azure was looking at Midnight intently as she cried. It looked like it hurt her to see her cry. She then looked at the flowers around them as if she had an idea.

"Midnight, watch this," Azure said getting up. She then made her horn glow, and the flowers instantly turned into butterflies. Bayonet jumped up and down in excitement laughing. Vale gasped in amazement. Midnight stopped crying and looked up at the butterflies with mesmerized expression.

"I told you she was amazing!" Bayonet said.

"Wow... that was cool!" Vale said, now smiling. Midnight walked over to Azure and stood next to her.

"That was beautiful..." Midnight stated. Azure looked over at Midnight with a smile.

"I don't ever want you to cry again," Azure said, shocking Midnight a bit, "If you ever feel like crying, I'll use my magic to make you smile."

"Y-you will?" Midnight asked. Azure nodded.

"My name is Azure Sky," Azure said.

"I'm Bayonet, and she's Vale. She's from Elysium," Bayonet said.

"Azure, why don't you take Midnight back to the orphanage with you? I don't think I can bring other ponies with me to Elysium," Vale stated.

"Yeah, and we don't have any room in my house," Bayonet said, "But there's plenty of room there, right?"

"Yeah. Okay Midnight, until we can get you back to Tartarus, you can stay with me."

"You'll... really... let me stay with... you?" Midnight asked slowly, looking like she was ready to cry again. When Azure nodded, Midnight did cry again, but she was smiling, "Thank you so much!"

"Aw.. it's nothing... really..." Azure looked away blushing. Midnight then embraced Azure in a tight hug, making Azure blush even more, "I-I-I-I said no more crying!"

"But I'm so happy right now! Can we... be friends...?" Midnight asked, still hugging Azure. Azure looked at Bayonet and Vale, hoping for support, but both of them were giggling looking at the scene.

"Ugh... sure. If you'll let go of me, then fine. We can be friends," Azure said. Of course, hearing that made Midnight cry even more. Azure shook her head, wondering how somepony from Tartarus could be such a crybaby.

"Mmm..." Rarity stirred a bit before she sat up. She didn't recognize her surroundings. She was standing on a ledge outside of a large golden tower, the skies around her were bright blue with white clouds, and it was really windy. As she got up she noticed that she was wearing the Element of Generosity around her neck.

"This isn't an ideal place for a nap," Rarity scolded herself, "All of this wind will mess up my beautiful mane." She turned around and was about to walk off, but stopped when she saw how high up she was. She couldn't even see the ground below. Rarity wasn't afraid of heights, but being up this high would unnerve anypony.

But how did she even get here?

"Now think, Rarity," she began pacing around, "You were on your way to the spa. You got the full treatment, and then you were on your way back home, when..."

That life doesn't belong to you...

"That's right!" Rarity said suddenly remembering, "That ruffian in the white cloak! I was ambushed, surrounded, and," overly dramatic gasp, "Ponynapped!" she looked around suddenly in fear, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, HELP ME!" she called out, "HELLO?!" she felt hopeless looking around. Her heart was racing. The thought of being ponynapped, actually ponynapped, it was by far the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!

"O-o-o-oh dear, I have no way of reaching anyone," she said to herself, "And I'm so high up that I can't get down. The only thing I can do is..." she looked back at the tower. The door was open, but something was telling her that if she went inside there she wasn't going to get out. Perhaps she could get some answers as to what the hell was going on though.

She looked at the necklace around her neck. At least she wasn't defenseless. Rarity closed her eyes, and allowed the power of the Element of Generosity to fill her. A second later, there was a bright glow and the necklace was replaced with sapphire blue and white armor. She then ran into the tower, the door closing behind her as expected. Well, at least she knew she was going in the right direction.

But with no way out, was that such a good thing to in the "right" direction?

Short, but this is just the prologue.