The Awakening

The old royal palace was once the greatest piece of architecture Equestria had ever seen; it stood both as a testament of the power and grace of the Princesses and a monument. The royal sisters themselves oversaw the building of their home, handpicking each worker and designer.

It was said that the castle would shine in the sun like a jewel and at night it would glow like a beacon, reflecting moonlight just as the moon reflects sunlight. Many poets were invited by the mischievous Princess of the Sun simply so that she could delightfully watch their wide-eyed dismay as their flowery speeches failed to do justice to the beauty they saw. The Canterlot Castle was a mere imitation of the old palace, though modernized.

Time, however, holds no appreciation for beauty; after the fall of Princess Luna and the rise of Nightmare Moon, the castle was emptied and abandoned. The magnificent walls lay now in ruins as vines of ivy and other plants grow wildly within the once beautiful hall. A crumbling tower stood in the center, once housing the hibernating Elements of Harmony before being awakened to defeat Nightmare Moon for a second time.

Twilight and her friends had visited this once majestic place and had not visited since. Nor had they planned to. Though their journey had brought them together, it was not the type of trip any of them wanted to experience, not even the adventurous Rainbow Dash.

Twilight's curiosity overpowered her anxieties and cry of knowledge became too strong to ignore. Naturally, her friends accompanied her, knowing perfectly well that while the little unicorn was well versed in magic, she was nearly helpless on her own. The sight of the purple pony hanging off the side of a cliff from their first adventure still burned in their minds.

They had arrived without incident, with Zecora's guidance, and with the rope leading to the Zebra's hut, they had no worries about getting lost on the way back.

The exhibition proved to be as uneventful as the trip.

"Agh, how long are we gonna be here for?" asked Rainbow Dash with a groan.

The rest, save Twilight, turn to her in annoyance and in unison, hushed her. Twilight meanwhile was focusing. Before them stood a giant mural. Though the image had faded, below was a inscription of an strange, yet somewhat familiar, language.

"It's Old Equestrian," Twilight had said, "It was used at the time of the three pony tribes, before the blizzard and founding of Equestria. Princess Celetria also told me it was the original language of the Alicorns"

It had been many years since Twilight had studied Old Equestrian with her mentor Princess Celestria but she was sure she could translate the inscription.

That's what the unicorn had told her friends and that was ten minutes ago.

Rainbow Dash's limited patience was at its limit. The Pegasus was born to fly, born to fight, born to action, not to sit around and watch an egghead try and read a short line of symbols. She hovered impatiently, debating internally as to take a nap or not. Before she could decide, Rainbow's thoughts were interrupted by an "Aha!".

"I got it!" Twilight shouted as she practically danced around in excitement. Her friends closed in.

"Well, good fer you Twi, I knew you could do it."

"Well duh! Twilight here is a super smarty McSmarty pants. Only she's not a doll!"

"Bravo, Twilight, bravo."

"Gasp, maybe the doll was fashioned after you! Wow, you'd be the original Smarty Pants!"

"Yay..."

"Well?"

"Well what?" Twilight asked, looking confused at Rainbow Dash, who placed a hoof over her face and shook her head.

"The message thingy, what did it say?"

"Oh, right," Twilight looked embarrassed, having completely forgotten her purpose in her excitement of the accomplishment of the goal.

"Ahem well,"

Even Rainbow Dash leaned forward.

"'Luna was here'"

The disappointment was audible as Twilight's companions made no attempt to suppress their frustrated sighs and groans.

Only Fluttershy managed to say something relatively kind: "Oh, that's...um, nice..."

Twilight made no indication that she notice her friend's less enthusiastic reactions, still jumping with excitement.

"I know, nice. I wonder what it means. Maybe I can find more information if I try translating the other engravings. Oh, I wish I had a translation spell on me but I don't even know if it would work on such an ancient language..."

"Wait, other engravings?"

Rainbow Dash turned around and before her eyes stood a massive wall, covered in scribbles and marks. Her jaw dropped a significant length.

"And lets not forget the inner palace, I'm sure there could be more information there too! Oh, what fun! Applejack, did you pack parchment and a quill?"

"Hold it, Twilight," intervened the cyan Pegasus quickly, "you mean you're gonna stand around and stare at the wall for a couple of hours."

"Actually, I'll be translating and it won't--"

"And then you'll go into the castle to look for more rocks to have staring contests with?"

"No, I'll translating,"

"And we're supposed to just lay around, waiting for you to finish?"

"Rainbow," Twilight looked hurt, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause trouble. Is there a problem?"

The cyan flying pony opened her mouth only to encounter the glares of her friends and the sad eyes of Twilight. Rainbow sighed.

Twilight may be an egghead, but she's my egghead. She still a awesome friend...

"Nah, no problem, just a little tired,"

"Oh good," Twilight's cheerfulness returned. "If you're bored maybe you can help me take notes,"

Ponyfeathers.

"...and this means, uh yeah, it means 'six', probably indicating some date. And and here...."

Rainbow nodded in agreement, hoping to at least appear interested. The glares she received from Rarity, however, told her she had fooled no pony, though Twilight had become far too absorbed with her interpretations to notice.

In Dash's hooves there was a piece of parchment and a quill. The parchment had a crude doodle of what was suppose to be a Pegasus fighting a hydra (it had been a dragon before Rainbow gave it one too many limbs).

Pinkie Pie meanwhile was explaining how high quality the stones creating the castle wall were to Applejack. The sight of Pinkie acting quite knowledgeable and professional in any subject was a little disturbing to behold.

Rarity attempted to interpret the faded images themselves, hoping to capture the appearance of the ancient times as inspiration for a line of dress. Fluttershy followed her timidly.

Rainbow Dash slumped down, listening not at all to Twilight's linguistical discoveries. Ugh, this is sooo boring. I'd do anything for something exciting. Anything.

As if on cue, a horrible idea wormed its way into Dash's brain.

"Hey, Twi, you mind I go do some exploring too?"

"Nope, go ahead."

"Awesome!" With a great flap, Rainbow Dash lifted herself into the air and speed off.

"And that's how Equestria was changed forever!"

"Huh?" Twilight looked up from her work; behind her stood Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Rarity arrived soon after, chatting with Fluttershy.

"Hi Twilight! I was telling Applejack super-duper these rocks were and how valuable they must have been. I bet the rock farmers who harvested them must have made a fortune. I wonder if they were related to the Pies. Then maybe they had a giant party afterwards for the rocks, like a rock party."

"Twilight dear," Rarity exclaimed suddenly after giving the purple Unicorn a look over, "how long have you sat there? You're covered in dust."

Twilight got up and shook the dust of her body, much to the disgust of Rarity. "Oh, I must have lost track of time. Rainbow Dash and I have been having so much fun translating these inscriptions. I'm mean, must of it is just nonsense but I'm sure something of use will pop up."

"Speaken of RD," Applejack said, looking around, "where is that filly?"

"Oh, she went off on her own just a little while ago."

"In that direction?"

Everypony followed Applejack's hoof toward a rainbowed streak in the sky.

"Isn't that toward..." Twilight squinted.

"The end of the castle..." Rarity finished, becoming unnaturally whiter.

Zecora's story and warning burned fiercely in their hearts.

"We need to hurry," Twilight spoke between pants, "Who knows what could happen."

"Look!" shouted Applejack, ahead of the rest. "A clearing up ahead!"

"That...must...be the...place," wheezed Rarity, the fashionista unaccustomed such rigorous activity.

"Wwait!"

The ponies skid to a stop and turned toward Pinkie Pie, who was shaking from head to toe.

"Is it, the Pinkie Sense?" Fluttershy asked cautiously.

"And a doozy, by tha looks of it."

"Then we really need to hurry," Twilight ran ahead, worry and fear replacing weariness.

If anything happened to Rainbow....

The clearing was quiet, and eerily so; birds did not chirp nor did insects buzz. The only sound was the soft sobs of a certain cyan Pegasus, covering her head as if trying to protect herself from incoming blows. Tears flowed freely from her face.

"Rainbow!"

Rainbow Dash slowly lifted her head. Her friends quickly approached, horrified to find their friend who was normally so strong in such a position.

My friends...my awesome friends...

The sight of them caused Rainbow to release another sob.

"R-Rainbow, what's wrong?" Fluttershy asked before she heard it too.

They all heard it.

A song, a lamentation so beautiful on a subject so dark and depressing. It was as if angels had gathered to mourned the loss of another.

The song told a story of companions, of great friends. The song praised their abilities of working as a team and through each other, they grew.

The song told of the adventures these friends had, of how they became closer after each exploit. How they overcame obstacles, both tangible and within their friendship. How they were able to conquer each other's fears and resolve their differences.

The song told of how it all ended, by the betrayal of a close friend, motivated by his own desires.

The beginning of a friendship, the maturation of a friendship, the sudden murder of a friendship.

Rainbow Dash wept long and hard. The welder of the Element of Loyalty could not understand how one could be so false, so treacherous, to their friends. What was the point of loyalty, then, if one could betray another so easily? If it was a decision between herself and her friends, what direction would she follow?

Next to her laid the welder of the Element of Kindness. As Rainbow Dash sobbed into her wing, Fluttershy used the other to cover her own tears. The sensitive little pony wept. In her kindness, she wept for the traitor, who had returned his friends' kindness with treason. But mostly, Fluttershy wept for the friends who were betrayed, who were lost. They had blinded themselves with their kindness and failed to see a traitor, only a friend that needed love and compassion.

Rarity leaned onto Fluttershy. Tears flowed freely and though her eyes would become red and puffy, she did not try to hold them in. The welder of the Element of Generosity may have had many ambitions but she would never sacrifice her friendship to achieve them; her trip to Canterlot had tested her resolve. To be so selfish as to throw away one's friends, all those years of being together and all those experience, the thought sickened Rarity to her very core.

The representative of the Element of Honest stood some distance away, hat covering her face as tears streamed down. Lying never suited Applejack and to her, deceiving one's friends was a crime. She had made an exception when planning Pinkie's surprise birthday but to lie and deceive a friend simply for one's own desires. Trust, a friendship needs trust and a friend needs trust but the thought of using that trust against a friend forced the strong farm pony to to weep like wounded filly.

Pinkie Pie laid next to her, her puffy mane deflated. No comical fountains of tears, no over-the-top cries. The ponified Element of Laughter wept with sincere solemnness. Laughter and happiness are one of the greatest gifts of friendship and to return such gifts with anger and sorrow, the pink pony's heart broke. To her, all problems could be solved through laughter but this, this song, the only response Pinkie could create was one of equal sorrow and guilt.

Twilight stood apart. Friendship reports and lessons she heard throughout the ballad and she listened in horror as each was crushed before her ears. Tears fell like a raging waterfall as the friendship the song had described fell apart violently. Magic makes it all complete, but if the magic disappears... The welder of the Element of Magic suddenly felt very lonely. My friends wouldn't leave me. This could never happen to us!

Everypony shared the thought and together they shared the doubt.

Right?

Before the sobbing ponies was a giant tree, the largest anypony had seen before. Its branches spread toward the heavens, though near the center was one unusual appendage, sticking out of the tree like a gray needle in an empty brown pincushion. The center of the tree had a large lump of bark, much of which was dead and had been grown over. Despite its diseased center and mutant branch, the tree stood majestically. Before the weeping ponies stood the great tree Zecora had warned of.

The tree that sang subconsciously of a group of friends that were lost, forever separated. The tree sang of Ash's story.

The lump in the center stirred.

Ash had been sleeping for a long time. A millennium had passed while he had slumbered. Nature and time, however, did not sleep and the tree he had been pinned to grew over him.

Ash had been dreaming. For every moment he was tormented by images of his friends and the adventures they had had. How he missed them. Nostalgia soon turn to rage and sorrow as Ramth's betrayal replayed in his mind. He was stabbed over and over again and felt the pain every time. He watched in horror as his companions were slaughtered before him.

Rage became guilt. Before Ash stood a massive being, like a dragon but grotesque. Flames flew from its pores as it began to chant in some dark language. Cerfuli the Dark One.

His friends had gotten up, their fatal wounds miraculously healed. Darlene had somehow found her head, though blood still leaked from her neck.

They approach Ash. As a unit they pointed bloody fingers and accused him. He had doomed their world to the mercy of the Dark One.

Ash attempted to reason with the bodies but to no avail. They pointed and accused and Ash was soon crushed with guilt.

If Ramth had won, he could have stopped Cerfuli.

Then he would have ruled in the Dark One's place.

Would that have been so terrible?

The sound of crying fuzzed the images. Ash's dreams became faded and as he reached out to his friends for the last time, the dream ended.

The crying grew louder and Ash became annoyed. A thousand years did nothing to relieve his exhaustion and he did not want to wake up. Ash shut his eyes but sleep was slipping through his finger tips. With a sigh, Ash opened his eyes.

It was pitch black.

Confused, Ash attempted to reach out but was stopped by the remains of Cerfuli's blade. The spirit had left the weapon, leaving only the smallest of traces of dark aura. Its black color had faded into gray.

Ash shifted himself and grabbed the blade. He grit his teeth as he began to pull it out of his body.

The lump began to glow, lightly at first, but picking up strength.

Twilight Sparkle was the first to notice the lump. Her horn tingled as magic poured out of the cluster of bark.

The light illuminated by the clump soon had the intensity of the sun. Everypony had stopped crying to watch. The song had ended anyways.

"Wh-what's going on?" asked Fluttershy from behind the safety of Applejack.

"Whoa Nelly," the orange farm pony exclaimed, using her hat to cover her eyes. "Twilight, what's happenin'?"

The purple unicorn groaned, clutching her head with her hooves, her horn glowing with magic.

Before Twilight could answer, the clump of the tree burst with light, blinding everypony. With a scream, they attempted to shield their eyes from the burning figure before them.

The figure floated in the air, fiery light hiding details. From what Twilight could tell amidst all the light, the figure was tall with four limbs, two at the bottom, two to the sides.

As the light died down, the ponies could make out more details. As the figure floated down to the ground, it stood on its two bottom appendages. Its other limbs hung attached near the head, which was covered in a thick white beard. On further notice, the being did not wear a long white robe but rather was covered by its beard and its long white mane. A dirty brown cloth stuck out in places, indicating that the figure was indeed clothed. Small brown eyes, almost hidden beneath the white mane, shone in the dying light. At the end of each limb were five smaller appendages, though the ones attached to the upper limbs were much longer, similar to claws that Spike the Dragon had. The creature held with one limb, again much like Spike, the gray deformed branch, covered in a dry red substance.

Ash's eyes took a minute to readjust and before him stood six beings, similar to ponies but of unnatural color and eye shape. He used his free hand to rub his eyes but the ponies did not leave. Ash reached out his mind to determine whether or not they were illusions. The purple one took a step, alarmed. Ash quickly withdrew, hoping to prevent panic. He felt enough to know they were real and intelligent. Ash noticed a set of blue wings and a set of yellow wings and horns that adorn the forehead of two of the miniature horses.

Pegasi and Unicorns? Where am I?

Ash began to stroke his beard only to stop, alarmed. When had he grown such a long beard? And why was it white? He couldn't been asleep for that long.

He looked toward the ponies, whom had gathered and were huddling together. Perhaps they or their owners had answers.

Ash stepped forward, hoping to communicate. The ponies all withdrew in terror. Quickly, the mage lifted his hands and walked back, hoping to show he meant no harm.

As he took a step back, Ash's foot was tangled by his immense hair. With a cry, the mage fell back, hitting his head on the solid ground. Plant and animal life may have avoided this area but rocks did not.

The last sight Ash saw before losing conscious was the face of a curious pink pony.

"Wow, I've never seen anything like you around..." Ash thought he heard the pony say.