Chapters The Quest for the Solution Begins
A few hours had passed after Luna and Celestia passed out. When they awoke, they saw that the church they were in was in ruins, but all the ponies inside were perfectly ok, as if nothing had ever happened…
“What happened in here?” Celestia asked.
“I don’t know. I think we’re still in the church,” Luna replied.
“Wait, where’s mom and dad?” She screamed.
“Your parents are gone,” Stan said as he walked up to Celestia.
“What do you mean?” Luna asked.
“They sacrificed themselves to save you and everypony here. They used every bit of magic they had in them, going as far as to use their own life energy to fuel their magic even further to make sure the windigos around here are gone with them. They did this so I can take you to the location of the map. We must hurry before it’s too late.”
“I don’t understand. Why would they do this?” Luna asked.
“Your parents understood that in order to ensure prosperity came to this world of ours, sacrifices had to be made. Even if it meant giving up their own lives, they were willing to do it. We can’t delay this anymore; I’ll answer any other questions you have as we go back to the house.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Present Time
“So what did y’all do?” Applejack asked.
“Luna and I did as he said. We followed him back to our house to find the magic safe our parents told us about. He told us everything we needed to know. He told us that though our parents were gone, it wasn’t the last time we would see them. At that time we didn’t understand what he meant, but we would learn in three days’ time…” Celestia replied.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Past Time
The three ponies walked through the cold and frozen land that used to be their home. Everywhere they looked; homes and markets were destroyed by what the windigos left. As they continued walking, Stan told Celestia and Luna everything he could. He told them that Princess Platinum had went out to look for a new place for all the unicorns to live, but as that was going on, the two sisters had to find the safe in case that didn’t work out. With the windigos from the other parts of the world realizing that some of their brethren had perished, the ponies only had very little time before they returned to ensure that the entire world would be covered in ice. Stan explained that unicorn guards that went up to check on the windigos had reported and estimated they only had three days before would have a huge crisis on their hooves.
The rest of the walk was quite. None of the three spoke a word to each other as each of them were paying to the sacrifice Horntail and Valentine gave. As they entered the house and went up to where the safe was, they started to hear a magical hum emitting from their parent’s closet.
“Here it is you two. The safe your parents were talking about. As you must know, I’m unable to unlock it. Only the power of one of your family members will be able to unlock it.” Stan said.
As Celestia walked up to the safe, the magical hum started to become louder. The closer she got the more dangerous and powerful the protection spelled seemed to become.
“How am I supposed to unlock this? If this really is protected by magic, how am I supposed to know the single spell to unlock it without destroying the safe?” She thought to herself.
“Wait sister, I got it, I know the spell,” Luna said.
“It’s as simple as it gets. It’s the disrupter spell. That’ll take away the magic protector around the safe. Then all you need is to use pick the lock with your magic and unlock the lock.”
“Ok, I’ll give it a try,” Celestia replied.
Celestia knew this spell like the back of her hoof. She would always use this spell to unlock her parent’s cabinet so she could get her hooves on the toys they took from her when she was grounded. All it took was for her to create a wave to disrupt the flow of magic on the safe so it became unstable and disappeared. With the spell dispensing the shield, it would allow her to pick the lock. After, she performed her spell and the shield disappeared, Celestia simply used her magic to pick the lock. After a while she heard a click as the safe opened and revealed a small map inside. As Celestia pulled out and opened the map, Stan and Luna went over and took a peek.
“Well this is interesting,” Stan said.
“It seems like you two are in a small situation. From this house, it only takes two and a half days to reach the book. Unfortunately this means that we’re going to be spending five days or more to reach the book and come back. This means we’re going to lose everything we have here. The other bad news is that even though it’s not as far as I believed, I fear that you two will have to face many dangers throughout your adventure. Pack up your bags and bring anything you need. Only bring food, water and a couple of stuff you cherish and leave everything else. We’ll the go to mount chilli to take out the windigos at their source.”
“What are we going to do then?” Celestia asked.
“Yeah, what’s the point in getting the book if we can’t even make it back on time,” Luna added.
“Hmmmmm. I got it,” Stan said.
“I can get some unicorn guards to set a barricade around our area and hopefully one around the windigo lair. With that, it just might buy us some time. At most, it can only last a couple of days, but if we set up a defence back here, we can maybe defend ourselves long enough for us to come back. It’s a stretch but it just might work.”
“Sounds like a plan. You ok with that Luna. Luna?” Celestia said.
Luna nodded.
“Then let’s head out,” Celestia said.
“Hey you two, I can only help you two so much. After we reach the entrance to the place where the book lies, only two people can enter. Anymore and it will disappear to a new area, possibly out of our entire region,” Stan said.
“That’s ok Stan, we can take care of ourselves,” Celestia replied.
“Ok, let’s go then. We need to first head to the forest at the edge of the border between the land of the pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns.” Stan said.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Present Time
“I’m sure you ponies know what forest we were headed to,” Celestia said.
It’s none other than the Everfree Forest. Back then, the forest covered most of Equestria. Any land that could be found back then was used to further that tribe’s power. Of course because the forest was bigger back then, it was also more dangerous. Every tribe knew going into those woods was suicide. When we went in, we had to face many trials in there, making sure we didn’t disturb anything that could kill us.”
“Too bad it was actually much harder and longer than we anticipated,” she thought to herself.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Past Time
“Ok, here we are. The border of the three tribes. We just gotta endure all the forest can throw at us and make it to the entrance to the book,” Stan said.
Luna sighed. “If only it was as easy as you make it sound. Celestia and I still have to endure whatever challenges the journey to the book will throw at us…”
“And here I thought my little sister was excited to go on a little adventure,” Celestia said playfully.
“Then again, you aren’t as brave and magically powerful as me,” she teased.
“Stop that. It’s not that I’m scared! It’s just, the fact that no pony will ever enter these forests. That and the fact that anypony who was brave enough to enter, never came out the same, or didn’t come out at all.”
“Well, we gotta do it anyways Luna. Think of all the sacrifices ponies made for us just so everypony else could live in a world where all ponies will treat each other fairly. Think of our parents. They gave us a chance to make that dream come true. Their dream come true,” Celestia said.
“Listen Luna. I’m as heartbroken as you are right now. But we need to do this before it’s too late. Otherwise, everypony’s sacrifice will be in vain.”
“Your sister is right Luna,” Stan suddenly said.
“As hard of a crisis we have right now, all the ponies who believe in a world of peace, whether it’s pegasi, earth ponies or unicorns are working together to ensure that dream comes true, and we are a part of that team.”
Luna nodded. “Ok then, let’s go in.”
It was only a few hours after the three ponies entered the forest. But something didn’t seem right. It was too quiet for way too long without something happening, and if there were something those ponies knew, it was anything as dangerous or scary as this wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.
*snap*
“What was that?” Celestia asked.
“I don’t know, but keep your eyes open. Anything is possible in here,” Stan said.
The sound of howling filled the pony’s ears all around them. The retched green breath of a creature surrounded them, and the look of horror on Stan’s face was a signal to run.”
“Hey you two. When I say split up, we go in three different directions. Use a fire spell when they are far, and a dismantle spell when they get close. We’ll use the telepathy spell to communicate our location, and how many we are dealing with,” Stan whispered to the sisters.
“What are they?” Celestia asked in a hushed voice as a pair of eyes locked onto her.
“They’re timberwolves. They attack in large packs, using their toxic fangs to poison their pray and kill them from the inside out. They can also shoot poison from their mouths which will paralyze you and eat away at your body. And if you’re thinking of using fire to burn them at once, don’t. They’re bodies are enchanted so it doesn’t spread the fire if they die. Don’t let them bite you,” Stan replied.
As Stan finished speaking the first timberwolves pounced towards Stan. Unfortunately for the wolf, it was burned into ashes as Stan fired his fire spell at it.
“Split up NOW!!!” He yelled.
The three ponies split up, going their separate directions, as the pack of at least a hundred timberwolves divided to hunt their pray.
“Alright ladies, let’s hold our ground and take out as many as we can. If too many start to attack start running and use a protection spell. Lay down an ensnare spell to trap and hopefully immobilize them. Just don’t die.”
“Gotcha,” the sisters said.
After splitting up, the three ponies started to engage in the battle with their enemies.
Luna dodged and rolled whenever a timberwolf attempted to pounce. Whenever she successfully dodged out of the way, she would use the dismantle spell on them.
“Come on you ugly wolves, I’d have an easier time beating up a tree.”
“Of wait, these things are made up from trees…” she thought to herself.
One after another Luna burned and dismantled the wolves. Unfortunately, there was one big issue preventing her from taking them out as fast.
“Hey Stan, I’m they’re too many. My magic is going to drain really quickly if I don’t get rid of these things,” Luna said.
“It’s ok Luna. I’ll come over as soon as I can, but whatever you do, don’t use anymore magic if you’re drained. If you do, you’ll be tapping into your own life force to support your magic. The magic you use will be enchanted with incredible strength, but with each successful us, you risk killing yourself. Don’t do it unless you need to understand?” Stan said.
“I gotcha,” Luna said.
Back with Celestia, she was fairing quite nicely against her pack of wolves. At least for the moment…
“Come on you mangy mutts, I have a harder time beating up on a rock.”
Just like Luna, Celestia was doing her best to take out the wolves, yet they seemed to be coming out of nowhere. Whenever one died, another would take its place.
“Ughhh, I can’t take these guys forever, my magic is being drained too quickly. If I don’t be careful, I could kill myself,” she thought.
“Stan, how are you doing on your end? I can’t go much longer. Last thing I need is to go into my magic reserves,” Celestia said.
“Please make it quick. I’m too young to die!!!” Luna said.
“I got it. Meet back in the center. All I need is for all of them to be decently together,” Stan said.
“Gotcha,” the sisters said.
Back in the middle, Celestia, Luna and Stan lured the wolves together into a bunch. The sun had set and the three unicorns knew they only had a few minutes before they were completed shrouded in darkness.
“Ok what’s the plan?” Luna asked.
“We’re going to launch their toxic poison back at them. It’s true that if it hits us, it will paralyze and kill us. If we use a deflection shield spell however, the poison will reflect back at the wolves. The only problem is we’re going to have to get them scrunched up together for the poison to spread. If we don’t, we’re going to die,” Stan said as he was fighting back any wolves that tried to attack.
“Is there any other plan?” Luna asked as she burned a wolf down.
“One, preferably without a chance of death,” she added.
“This is our best opportunity. The wolves will combine if we take them all out at once without completely destroying them. We’re going to be dealing with something beyond what we can take. The poison will paralyze the wolves and slowly kill them, but because they have no body parts, the poison is going to burn through their bodies, leaving them completely destroyed and unable to regenerate,” Stan said.
“It’s ok Luna. We’re going to be casting a deflection spell and shielding spell. Let’s just make sure we put enough strength into it so the poison doesn’t penetrate it. We only get one chance to leave this area,” Celestia said as she burned a pack of wolves herself.
“Let’s do it then,” Luna said.
________________________________________________________________________________________
Present Time
“So what happened then? Them timberwolves are mighty strong and dangerous. It ain’t easy taking them down,” Applejack said.
“Yeah Stan seemed like a very intelligent pony. He must have known a lot about everything back then,” Twilight said.
“Yes. Stan was a smart pony. One of the smartest I’ve ever known. He was a very close friend to our family and he was always there for us. Luna and I trusted him completely. In fact, he was one of the ponies you could trust in our town. Most of the other unicorns didn’t really care for each other. Star Swirl, Stan and our parents were the best know ponies in town. It’s too bad it wasn’t like that for long, but I’ll explain that later. Now where was I?”
________________________________________________________________________________________
Past Time
“You two ready?” Stan asked.
The two sisters nodded and prepared as the onslaught of attacks continued. They baited their time until a wolf would try and shoot poison at them. Until then, they were facing any wolf that was trying to scratch them or pounce on them.
“This isn’t working. It’s taking too long,” Luna said.
“Just wait for a good moment. It only takes one wolf to start the chain reaction,” Stan said.
“DO IT NOW!!!!” Celestia yelled as a wolf shot a deadly gunk of poison at the trio.
As quick as lightning, the three ponies casted their spells as the poison neared the deflection shield. As the poison hit the shield, the poisonous shot bounced right back the timberwolf that shot it, starting the chain reaction.
“Perfect. Now we wait until they’re completely killed. Let’s just hope our magic stays so we don’t get exposed to the poisonous gas the wolves release when they are completely dismantled and stay down,” Stan said.
One by one the wolves were slowly leaking out poison as wolf’s poison continued to spread to the other wolves around them. As the chains continued, the three ponies slowly backed up before their magic was completely depleted. Soon, the wolves they faced were all killed and stayed down. And as Stan said, the wolves did not regenerate into a bigger problem. With a sigh of relief, the three ponies got set for the night.
“Good work today you two. Let’s get some sleep and continue tomorrow. We’ll leave just before noon and we should reach here as our next camp sight,” Stan said as he pointed to the spot on the map where they would end up tomorrow.
“Finally. I need a good night sleep to get my magic back. I was on the verge of completely running out. Isn’t that right Luna? Luna?” Celestia said as she looked around for Luna before noticing she was already asleep.
As Celestia gave herself a little chuckle and added more wood to keep their campfire going for the night, she herself soon found herself closing her eyes, until she drifted into a very deep slumber.
Hours into the night were peaceful for the trio of ponies. The full moon the team of night ponies worked together to put up was a beautiful sight and a wonderful source of light to beat the darkness. As it would seem all three ponies seemed to be having wonderful dreams…
“Ughhhhh, my head hurts. Where am I?” Celestia asked.
“Ahhhhh, you’ve awoken,” a mysterious voice said.
“Who are you? Where am I?” Celestia asked.
The mysterious voice chuckled. “Why you are dreaming Celestia. To answer all your questions you must see the history of time. The time where ponies did first learnt of the sun and moon. Come now, we have no time to lose.”
“Wait who are you?” Celestia asked.
“My name is Luminous. I was a pony just like you. Now we really have no time to waste, we must hurry.
When Luminous disappeared, a portal opened in front of Celestia. Confused and curious, Celestia decided to follow. After entering the portal, Celestia couldn’t help but notice she was transparent. Looking next to her she could she luminous in her pony form. She was a gorgeous mare with a golden yellow mane and coat.
“Celestia do you know where we are right now?” The Luminous asked.
Celestia couldn’t help but say no to her; yet, she couldn’t help but feel like she did know where she was. It was as if it were just a distant memory brought forth after being forgotten for so long.
Luminous smiled. “So you do know. We are in the chamber where the sun and moon were first created, but what you don’t know is what happened. Watch closely at what happened.”
“Can we really do this? We don’t know what will happen if we do this. The results can be catastrophic,” a pony with a black robe wrapping his body said.
“We must Forge. This could be the biggest discovery in pony history. If this works, we can finally see the light. This world will no longer just be the permanent dark and scary world we live in. The light will get rid of all the monsters we fear, all the problems we face every minute of our lives. If we don’t do this now, we will never move forward,” another pony wearing the same robe replied.
With a look of fear yet interested look, Celestia watched as the two ponies started to conjure up a brew. It was bubbling and emitting with magical power that rivaled even her parent’s final blast. Looking next to her she saw luminous with a smile, as if she knew exactly what would happen. As the ponies continued to worked, the brew started to emit more power than it could handle, until it blew up.
“Ughhhhhh, Phil, are you ok?” Forge asked.
“Yeah, what happened though?” he replied.
“Who are you two? Where are we?” A pair of mysterious voices asked.
Phil jumped in surprise at the book and turn. “Wh-who are you two is a better question. No pony knows about this chamber but us.”
“We don’t know. We just woke up and here I am but I don’t know who or where I am,” one of the voices replied.
“That’s you isn’t it?” Celestia asked.
“Yes. The other pony next to her is my sister Daze. We were born on this very day. At that time we did not know our purpose in life. Phil and Forge raised us like children. When we grew older, they died because of an incident outside the town. One day, they left to go get us some more hay to eat. They never returned. Worried, Daze and I left to go find them. We did, but not in the way we’d hoped. We found them in the forest. They were killed by timber wolves. They were poisoned beyond belief and yet, we kept going deeper into the forest to find the truth on what they were doing. We found a cave, and upon entering we learned that we were born from a powerful spell. One that was so complex, no pony could understand it. No pony but them. They knew what we were and what we were supposed to do yet they never told us. We are the original ponies to control the power of sun and moon and no one has been able to control the full power of both for millennia, until now that is. Your sister should be Luna dreaming as well. My sister Daze will be telling her this same story and will eventually teach her how to control the moon. As a warning, I am only able to teach you the power of the sun,” Luminous asked.
“Am I able to learn it though? Will I be able to handle the knowledge?” Celestia asked.
“I will not lie. For you to learn to control the moon, you must either learn on your own, or have your sister teach you. As for learning the power of the sun, I’m sure you already know that anyone can read the spells. What you don’t know is not anypony can perform the spell. To use them, you will be taking a test that the book provides. It is almost impossible for you to know the answer. If you cannot figure the answer to the test, you will die. Answer correctly and the book will bestow power like you never seen before. I will not ask you to do this if you don’t think you can. However if you wish to and are ready, you will wake up to the morning now. You must continue your trek to find the book. There I will meet with you again and Luna will meet with Daze. So Celestia, I must ask. Are you prepared to take the test, to learn some of the most powerful spells in pony history?”
Celestia was trembling. She knew deep down that this decision would change her life and everypony else’s life for better or for worse. On the other hand, she was scared that she will not be able to save everypony even with the power, even if her body was able to handle the change. Considering all the possibilities that would happen from this decision Celestia finally made her choice. With a nod, she sealed the deal.
Luminous smiled. “I see. You will face many challenges continuing on. You will face many deaths and loses in this journey and it will definitely be a hard ship for you. I know you are not scared of this task Celestia. This is why it is your destiny. You are not far from your destination now. Just don’t lost sight of your goal and what you’re fighting for. I have no more time left. You will wake up now, but don’t be afraid. I am sure that you and your sister are indeed the chosen ones.
With a sudden shake, Celestia woke up startled. She felt her hooves still trembling from what Luminous had said to her. Looking next to Luna she could tell Daze had in fact told her the same thing Luminous told her.
“We have to tell him,” Luna whispered to Celestia.
“We can’t. Not until we find the book. If we tell him now and we aren’t the ponies chosen to have that kind of power we’ll have worried him for nothing.”
“What are you two whispering about?” Stan asked.
“Nothing important. I think we had enough time to eat and everything. We should get going to our next camp spot. We should reach Mount Chilli in another day and a half.
Celestia knew Stan wouldn’t fall for an excuse as bad as that.
“That excuse will only work for so long you know,” Luna whispered.
“You got a better one? As long as it keeps him less suspicious then we can keep going without worry."
The day dragged on longer than the three anticipated. Their feet were starting to ache and the pain they had from their fight with the pack of timberwolves were still taking their toll. The heat from the sun grew unusually hot and they felt as though they were being followed by something or somepony… Whatever it was, they knew something wasn’t right.
“You hear that?” Celestia asked.
“Hear what?” asked Luna.
“Shhhh, I hear it too,” Stan said.
Celestia looked around as if expecting something to come out. “I have a bad feeling about this. Something tells me we’re in for a long night. Let’s keep moving and hurry to our next camp sight. I don’t want to be here when night falls.”
It was a beautiful morning at Canterlot castle, with birds flying all around and the Canterlot elite enjoying the beautiful day the weather ponies had set up. Everypony except for one. Inside Canterlot castle, Celestia was busy thinking of what she was about to do when suddenly, a purple alicorn stepped into the very empty room.
“Princess Celestia. You wanted to see me?” the strange purple alicorn asked.
Celestia smiled as she looked up from her work at the purple alicorn. “Yes. Thank you for coming here on such short notice Twilight. I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything important.”
“Oh, nothing too important,” Twilight said as she started thinking about what happened back in Ponyville.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
4 hours ago
“Ohhh, where is it where is it?” Twilight said as she panicked.
“What are you doing now Twilight? Shouldn’t you be out with your friends?” Spike asked, as he walked down the stairs into the library.
“Oh Spike, it’s terrible!!! I’ve lost Star Swirl the Bearded’s book with his secret spell!”
“What now?” he asked as a book crashed into his head.
“You know. The book with Star Swirl’s cutie mark on it.” She replied as she dumped another shelf of books onto the floor.
“Huh?” Spike asked with a confused look on his face.
“You know, the book I received from Princess Celestia while you were taking a seven hour bubble bath?”
“…”
“UGHHH!!! The book that changed my entire life!” Twilight said, rather annoyed.
“Ohhhhhh!” Spike said in realization “What do you need it for?”
Twilight sighed. “As the new princess of Equestria, I need to be a fair and noble ruler, so I thought that I could find that book, sent it to Canterlot and publish it so I can share it with the rest of Equestria.”
“Well, at least all the spells other than the one I fixed.” She thought.
Just as she finished explaining to Spike what her plan was, Spike belched up a letter with a royal symbol on it. As Spike grabbed it he read it out to Twilight in the most proper manner he could muster.
“Ahem. My dearest Twilight. Congratulations on your spectacular performance at this year’s summer sun celebration. We couldn’t have made the celebration more memorable without you and we hope to see more from you in the future. Now for the real reason I’ve sent you this letter. I need you to come to Canterlot immediately for something very important. I cannot give you all the details until you arrive, but I assure you it’s nothing to worry about.
“Oh my gosh,” Twilight said with a bit of enthusiasm. “Spike, go pack my bags, I’m going to Canterlot!”
“Its fine, I’ll finish looking for it later, but do you think you could clean up this mess in the meantime? After that, I need you to come to Canterlot and meet up with me and Princess Celestia. Make sure no pony follows you,” she said as she put her saddlebags on.
“Wait Twilight, what about your friends?”
“I don’t think we need to concern them. Besides, this could be something dangerous and I don’t need to involve my friends just yet. What you can do is, if I send you a letter or something concerning this matter. That’s when you can tell our friends. Until then, don’t say anything,” Twilight said as she teleported away from the library.
“Ok Twilight…” Spike said quietly.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Present Time
“Twilight?” Princess Celestia said.
“Sorry, sorry,” Twilight said blushing, as she came back to reality.
“That’s quite alright. Anyways, I did not call you here for work. Instead I’m here to tell you that you will become my successor when I pass.”
“Pass?” Twilight said with a hint of concern in her voice.
“Because Luna and I are no longer connected to the elements, we are starting to lose our power to time, and I needed a pony who could become my successor. That’s why I decided to open up my academy for gifted unicorns. It was opened not only to teach unicorns about magic, but to also find a unicorn I can trust as the new ruler of Equestria. That’s when you came, and made me decide it would be you.”
“Me? Why not anypony else” Twilight asked with tears in her eyes.
“Don’t cry Twilight. Everypony will soon pass away. Even you know this. As for why I picked you, I told you the first time we met. I’ve truly never met a unicorn with your abilities in my whole life. I know you will make a great leader. You have shown me this in so many ways; I can’t even keep track of them anymore. And don’t worry, it’s as I said. The lessons you have learned in Ponyville have prepared you for your new role as a princess.”
“But what if you pass and I’m not ready to lead? What if you give me too much to study? What if-----“
“You won’t,” Celestia said.
“But what if-----"
“You won’t,” Celestia repeated.
Twilight paused to regain her composure. “Then what do I need to do first?”
“Well, to be honest with you, all you need to know is a little bit of history. I’m going to tell you what life in Equestria was like thousands of years ago. Back when Luna and I were only young fillies. After that I’ll let you know what to do next.”
“OHHHH A STORY!!! I LOVE STORIES!!!!” A high pitched pony said.
“Pinkie Pie? When and where in Equestria did you come from? And why are you here alone?”
“And why did Spike tell you about my letter from Princess Celestia?” she thought, rather annoyed.
“Oh. I arrived about five minutes ago. I was actually up on the beams, watching you two talking from the shadows,” she said.
“Ok…” said Twilight.
“Like a NINJA.” She whispered to Twilight as she leaned over to her very quickly.
“Ok…” she said again.
“As for the answer to your other question Twilight, I didn’t come here alone. I came here with our friends. Cupcake?” Pinkie said as she smiled and offered Twilight a box of cupcakes she had pulled out of nowhere.
“And don’t worry about little Spike. He wasn’t the one to tell us anything,” Pinkie added as Twilight’s friends came out from behind her.
Twilight sighed with relief.
“Wait, what…?” Twilight said.
“Well shucks, sugar cube. Why did y’all not tell us that you were leaving for Canterlot? We were worried sick about you,” said a pony with a southern accent.
“Applejack! It’s so nice to see you…” Twilight said as she put on the best fake smile she could muster.
“It’s good to see ya too Twilight, but that don’t answer my question,” replied Applejack.
“I’m sorry Applejack. I just didn’t think that I needed to involve you and everypony else in this,” Twilight replied.
“Well we’re your friends, and we’ll always stick with you no matter what,” Rainbow Dash said as she flew around and landed right next to Twilight.
“Rainbow Dash is right, darling. There’s no reason to be afraid to tell us anything. After all, aren’t we just the best of friends? By the way, what are we doing here? Pinkie told us that you got an important letter and were leaving for Canterlot. As soon as she told us, we all boarded the next train for Canterlot to see what was wrong. But everything seems normal, doesn’t it now?” Rarity said.
“Oh, well-----” Twilight started.
“Well it was important because Twilight here got a letter from Princess Celestia and I just ‘happened’ to wander by and saw the royal seal on the letter and I just couldn’t keep it in and I just had to tell the girls that you had to leave for Canterlot so the Princess could tell you all about Equestrian history.” Pinkie said extremely quickly and cheerfully.
“How’d you guess?” Asked Twilight.
“Meh… just call it a hunch,” Pinkie replied quickly, as she bounced off in another direction.
“Oh, I hope we weren’t interrupting anything. I’d hate for us to be interrupting your discussion if it’s private.” Fluttershy said meekly.
Suddenly, Celestia spoke up in the middle of Twilight’s reunion. “It’s no problem at all, Fluttershy. I was actually hoping you ponies would show up and listen to what I have to say. Just sit down and get ready for the entire story of how Equestria was made.”
“HEY!!!” yelled a familiar voice.
“Don’t start without me,” Spike said as he ran up towards the ponies.
“Spike, so glad you could make it. Please take a seat with everypony else. I’m about to start,” said Princess Celestia.
“Gladly,” Spike replied, out of breath.
“Ohhhhhh this is going to be sooooooo exciting,” Pinkie Pie said as she burst into joy and brought out a bowl of popcorn out of nowhere.
As the ponies and Spike sat down, Celestia began to tell her story.
“It all started over a thousand years ago, back when Luna and I were just young fillies. As you know, a long time ago there was a major dispute between the three different pony tribes. At that time, the unicorn, pegasi, and earth ponies did not know about harmony and trust. Of course you already know this, but keep in mind that that’s not the only thing that happened. Oh no, there were much worse things that neither Luna nor I would ever write in any book that’s currently in existence. The tale we tell during Hearth’s Warming Eve is not entirely true. Though it IS true that ponies did discover harmony and peace, it came at a heavy price, and was not as easy as it seemed.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Past Time
“Celestia, Luna. It’s time to head off to school,” yelled a mare unicorn with a yellow coat, a red, yellow, pink and orange mane and tail, and a cutie mark with a judge’s gavel on it.
“Your mother and I have to get to an important meeting with the other tribes, and you two need to get to school,” added a pony with a black coat, a blue, green and purple mane and a cutie mark with a dragon’s head.
“We will, we will,” yelled Celestia. She had a pastel coloured mane, a white coat and a blank flank.
“Celestia and I are just getting ready.” Luna said. Luna had a night blue mane and coat and had a blank flank as well.
As Luna and Celestia prepared, they couldn’t help but overhear a quiet conversation between her parents and a strange pony they never heard before. Whatever the case, they could tell it wasn’t a conversation of love, sunshine and rainbows…
“Horntail, Valentine, it’s good to see you both. The other pony tribes are set to arrive and we’re going to start the meeting soon. The Princess is expecting you to arrive at any minute to help prepare and keep order during the meeting if anything gets out of hand,” said the strange pony.
“Look Stan, we have two children. We can’t just let them know that we’re on the verge of war unless we can keep order between pony tribes,” Horntail said.
Horntail sighed and looked at his cutie mark in sorrow. “Roger told me that the pegasi are training up their squads and the earth ponies are getting barricades set up. At this rate we might need to start training our own war team.”
“Look, I know what the situation is. It’s just; we need to ensure that all the other ponies don’t provoke each other. After all, it is being held in our church, and we can’t exactly have a squad ready in a few weeks. Besides, isn’t Valentine an expert on this matter?”
“Not when everypony wants to kill each other I’m not. It’s not the easiest job keeping order and justice between all three tribes, especially when the three tribes are trying to get at each other’s throats,” Valentine spoke suddenly.
“I’m sorry, I truly am. But you know as much as I do that everything that goes on today could influence the fate of our entire existence. We all have our own responsibilities in this debate, but as long as we play our cards right and don’t provoke the other tribes, we may finally have peace in this godforsaken world.”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Present Time
Celestia sighed. “The world we lived in at that time was nothing but hell. Everypony couldn’t afford the luxuries we have today. No. Everypony could only live in houses made of stone that could, at most, fit three ponies. My family was wealthy enough to get a house that could fit up to ten ponies inside, but their jobs weren’t easy. No pony’s jobs were easy then. Everypony had to live with what little bits they could get to fix all the leaks, short circuits and fires that would occur each day. Everywhere, ponies were struggling to survive, but it didn’t matter…”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Past Time
As Stan finished his speaking, everypony in the room couldn’t help but hear a disturbing howling that shook everypony’s nerves to the core.
“Hey Horntail, you hear that?” Asked Stan.
“Yeah, we haven’t heard that howling before,” Horntail replied sarcastically.
“Let’s hurry then. We can’t wait any longer, and we certainly don’t want those things catching us” Stan said suddenly.
“What about Celestia and Luna, Horntail? We have to make sure they leave the house alright,” Valentine said.
“They’re young fillies now. I’m sure they’ll make it to school without a problem. You said it’s in the south, right?” Stan asked.
“Yeah, what about that?” asked Horntail.
“Then they’ll be safe. Those things prefer the northern areas rather than the southern areas. You two have nothing to worry about. We have to hurry now. If we don’t leave now, those things will catch our scent. If we lead them to the church it won’t matter if the war is stopped or not. Those things will cause everypony in this world to be nothing more than forgotten memories.”
Valentine gulped. “Ok. We’ll go. We better leave out the back then. We need to make sure Celestia and Luna don’t find out what’s going on. Not yet.”
“Ok let’s go,” Horntail said as the three ponies started walking to the back door.
“Hear that Celestia? Do you know what I’m thinking of?” Luna asked.
“I don’t know Luna. They sounded pretty serious. Maybe we shouldn’t follow them; it could actually be very dangerous.”
“Come on big sister. Where’s your sense of adventure and fun? All we need to do is call in sick. Ms. Butterscotch will ‘understand’ if we call in ‘sick’ right?”
“Luna, I’m serious. This could be a very bad idea. They mentioned something about a war. Doesn’t that concern you even the tiniest bit?”
“Not really. If anything, it’s making me even more curious about what the hay is going on.”
“I know that look, big sis, but I still stand by what I said. I’m going and that’s final.”
Celestia just continued staring at Luna with her menacing eyes.
Luna sighed. “Fine. What do you want from me if we do this?”
Celestia smirked. “First of all, you’ll do any and all homework we miss for the day. Second, you’ll do whatever I say for the next month and a half. Do we have a deal?”
Luna sighed. “Fine. I’ll do our homework that we missed and I’ll be your servant for the next month and a half.”
“Excellent. We have a deal,” Celestia said, still smirking.
“Oh, and Luna.”
Luna turned with a very peculiar look on her face. A look that she could only show when she was alone with Celestia.
“Don’t say a word to mom or dad. We wouldn’t want anything, how should I say, ‘unfortunate’, to happen to you” Celestia said menacingly.
Luna could only stare at her big sis with disbelief as Celestia left for the door, with Luna finally following.
Author's Note
Big thanks to my friend Duncan, or as he's known here, Mr-Jurassic, for editing this chapter so I could post it out to you. This being my first fanfic, I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing out this first chapter. I'd also like to thank the entire brony fandom for inspiring me to make a contribution of my own :). Be sure to expect more from me in the future. Also feel free to leave a comment, whether it's to correct my grammer, or for any other reason.
You can email me at williamchow_98@Sympatico.ca or PM me on fimfiction
-Bronyman1000
Present Time
“Wait, so what really happened at the debate then?” Twilight asked.
“It must have been dreadful to have to watch all the hateful comments being passed between the three tribes,” Rarity added.
“Well, to be honest with you, we only went there for a few minutes. It was a good things too because what happened next still hurts Luna and I so very much up to this day,” Celestia said.
“Princess, you don’t need to tell me about anything you don’t want me to know,” Fluttershy said in a sad and soft tone.
“It’s ok Fluttershy. If Twilight is to become my successor, she must know everything she can. It is imperative for her to know about even the tiniest detail about the history of Equestria,” Celestia replied.
“And because it’ll make it easier for her to understand what needs to be done and why,” Celestia thought to herself with great sadness.
“Ok Princess. Please continue with your story,” Twilight said.
“Well, as I was saying. Luna and I finished debating on what we were going to do. We decided it would be best to leave out the back and follow our parent’s hoofprints in the snow. Before that though we needed to think of a disguise so no pony would recognize us,” Celestia said with a smirk.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Past Time
“Hey Celestia, how about this one?” Luna asked.
“No, that one is way too obvious. We need something big enough to cover our faces without it falling off us because it’s too big,” Celestia replied.
“Besides, you already have a cloak that fits you perfectly. It also covers your face, but no, you need to be the next princess of our land and be all spiffy when you go out…” Celestia said sarcastically.
“Come on Celestia. We have to find something better for us. The nicer the cloaks are, the harder it’ll be for ponies to recognize us,” Luna argued.
“But let’s remember that our family is there. If we wear something that we don’t normally wear they might recognize us. You and I both have cloaks we barely wore and yet you still insist on wearing something you wear all the time? Besides, we’re only going long enough to get a little information. If we’re only going to be there for a few minutes, what’s the point in dressing fancy? If anything, it’s going to make us stand out even more, even without our parents recognizing us,” Celestia argued.
“Come on sis, I’m wearing my tacky cloak, why can’t you wear yours? This is your idea after all. If you wanted to go so badly, you would put that cloak of yours on and leave right now.”
Luna sighed and gave herself a minute to think of a rebuttal. After a few minutes, she still didn’t have any rebuttal, so she did the most reasonable thing she could…
“PLEASE SISTER, I’M BEGGING YOU. PLEASE FIND ME A CLOAK I CAN WEAR THAT’S NOT TOO OLD AND OUT OF FASION. PLEASE, BE A PAL!!! Luna begged.
“No. Your silly begging antics won’t work on me this time…” Celestia said with a bit of sympathy in her voice.
“PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!” Luna said as she got on her knees and put on the most amazing sad puppy dog face she could muster.
“If I say yes, can we leave immediately?” Asked Celestia.
“Maybe…” Luna said with a smirk.
“Luna,” Celestia said sternly.
“Ok fine,” Luna replied.
“Finally,” Celestia thought to herself.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
It was a quiet and cold day in the land of the Unicorns as Celestia and Luna trekked through the snow and icy cold wind until an all too familiar sound was heard from all around them.
“Hey sis, did you hear that?” asked Luna.
As Luna asked her question she noticed the scared expression on Celestia’s face as she was facing what seemed to be a pony ghost.
“Sis, what do we do?” Luna asked with a scared look on her face.
“I don’t know Luna. We can’t out run it, and these things have magic that can cause a whole region to freeze in a span of ten minutes. We might just become a couple more frozen statues that have fallen prey to these things,” Celestia said.
“What are they anyways?” Luna asked.
“They’re a mysterious creature known as windigos. They feed off of hate and fighting. That’s why they’re here. With all the bickering going on in the church, it’s the perfect place for them to have a buffet.”
“Well if we can’t do anything shouldn’t we try something?” Luna suggested.
Suddenly, both the sisters heard a strange voice. It was the voice of an old pony. As the two sisters turned around to see the pony, they were met with dangerously serious eyes and a horn starting to blaze with magical energy.
“Young fillies, if you wish to continue to live then duck,” the pony yelled.
Celestia and Luna ducked as they heard a hum of a strange and powerful spell blasting forth from the unicorn’s horn. It hit the windigo, not killing it, but knocking it out cold.
“Thank goodness I arrived here when I did. You two seemed like you needed a little magical help,” the old pony smiled.
“Hey sis, do you know who this pony is? I’ve never seen him in my life,” Luna asked Celestia in a whisper.
“Be quite Luna. This is the most wise and powerful unicorn as of this generation of unicorns. Most ponies never get to see him because he works on perfecting new spells, formulas and improving old ones every day. Luna, this is the great Star Swirl the Bearded,” Celestia said as she bowed before the great unicorn that stood in front of the sisters.
“Hahaha. No need to bow Celestia. It was a pleasure to guard the two fillies of Horntail and Valentine,” he said.
“You need not worry about what I’m doing right now. All you need to know is I’m leaving this region to explore a secret spell that may help us keep balance between the tribes.”
As he finished speaking, the fainted windigo had the slightest hint of movement in his joints, signaling that Star Swirl’s spell was fading.
“You best hurry to the church. I fear that many tragedies will soon follow after today’s meeting. I don’t know what this journey I’m going on will lead to, but I’m willing to take that gamble if it means bring peace, balance and harmony to us all. I must bid you two, adieu,” he said.
“He’s right Luna; we better hurry to the church. I have to agree with Star Swirl’s bad feeling. Whatever is going down at the church, it’s what’s causing these windigos to show,” Celestia said.
“What about Star Swirl?” Luna asked.
“We don’t need to concern ourselves with what he’s doing. He’s able to handle himself just fine; after all he is the one who saved us from this windigo.”
Once again, the windigo twitched its leg more effectively, showing the two ponies that Star Swirls spell only had a few minutes to go before it wore off completely.
“We need to leave now,” Celestia said.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Present Time
“So you knew Star Swirl the Bearded?” Twilight asked.
“Not much. I knew he was a pony that anypony could trust. He was wise and powerful beyond imagination. You should know this already; after all you did fix his secret spell didn’t you?” Celestia said.
Twilight blushed as she looked at her wings.
“So that’s how y’all got away from those nasty windigos. I didn’t believe those vermin could be capable of that kind of magic,” Applejack said.
“Oh but they are. Windigos aren’t creatures you should mess around with. They have more magical capabilities than that. They can freeze ponies in place then feed of their hatred, they can become invisible and they can cause unnatural storms,” Fluttershy said.
“What did you become such an expert on these creatures?” Rarity asked.
“I kinda snuck into Twilight’s library and found a book on ancient and extinct creatures. I put it back into place I swear,” Fluttershy said, quite frightened.
“It’s ok Fluttershy. I’m sure it was for a good reason. Besides, a library is a place where anypony can be,” Twilight said
“Get to the part where you got the church already. I’m interested in what happened there,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Calm down Rainbow,” Twilight said sternly.
“Yeah, we can’t rush Princess Celestia. Not when we need popcorn refills,” Pinkie Pie yelled from across the room, standing near a popcorn machine that was somehow on a table that no pony seemed to have noticed.
As the pony’s jaws dropped as they tried to comprehend where and when the popcorn machine came from, Celestia gave a quick chuckle and continued her story.
“Well Rainbow Dash, you’re lucky that I’m almost at the part that you’ve been expecting. I’ll get to what happened to the church but you might not believe what happened next,” Celestia said.
“I still can’t believe it myself,” she added with a hint of sadness in her voice.
“Anyways, as I was saying, Luna and I walked after our conversation about the windigos and what we thought was going down at the church…”
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Past Time
Luna and Celestia continued their walk towards the church. What felt like hours in the cold and icy wind, was only a ten minute walk. The sisters had to endure more unnatural weather as they got closer to the church, making sure that whenever they saw a windigo, they would hide until it disappeared. Finally they arrived at the church. When they walked inside however, the two sisters could only watch in horror at what was happening. Everywhere, pegasi, earth ponies and unicorns were attacking each other. Unicorns firing any offensive spell they could use, earth ponies using signature hoof kicks and pegasi using the advantage of flight, ponies everywhere were being thrown like rags.
“What the hay happened here?” Celestia asked.
“What are you two doing here?” A pony cried.
“Stan!!!” Luna said as she pointed to the pony she just named.
“I thought your parents told you to go to school?”
“Well ummm, we called in sick?” Luna said.
Stan sighed.
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing you’re here. Your parents are taking care of business right now. What happened here, well, the three tribe leaders were debating on a new issue that had been arising in this world, and it seemed that it became a debate on insults. In a rage, the leader of the pegasi, Commander Hurricane, leader of the earth ponies, Chancellor Pudding Head and our own Princess Platinum left the meeting. After that, this is what came. Star Swirl the Bearded left because he found a potential way to create harmony and peace between the tribes and that left the three tribes to fight. Your parents took anypony who believed in the idea of making peace between the tribes to the back where they’re discussing compromises and ideas right now. They knew doing this would leave these ponies defenseless so they put me in charge of making sure we have minimal damage, death and violence.”
“What can we do?” Celestia asked.
“You can leave before any more windigos come in. We can’t afford to lose you two. You have to hurry now,” Stan said.
Suddenly, the howling of windigos rushed through the open doors of the church. What followed was about fifteen windigos flooding into the room, freezing everypony they could get their hooves on.
“WINDIGOS!!!” Celestia yelled.
“Hurry to the back, your parents should be done by now, I hope. We’ll be safe in there at the very least.”
“Luna lets go,” Celestia yelled over the wind the windigos were creating.
“O-ok,” Luna stuttered.
“Let’s hurry,” Stan said.
In the back, Horntail and Valentine were talking with the ponies that weren’t battling each other.
“If we unicorns keep the weather going, all we asked from the rest of you is a little more food. We will give the pegasi extra aid in weather control to make food easy to grow. This should help everypony,” Valentine said.
“Look honey, we have company,” Horntail whispered.
“So if everypony is in agreement on these conditions, we will all speak with our leaders about this and try to convince them about this plan. If you are ok with this, say Aye."
“Aye," everypony in the room said.
“Dismissed!!!” Horntail yelled.
“NO!!!” Stan yelled.
“NOPONY MOVE!!! WE GOT WINDIGOS OUT THERE,” Stan yelled out.
As Stan warned everypony, they panicked. As everypony was panicking, Horntail and Valentine trotted over to Stan, Celestia and Luna.
“What are you two doing here? Now is the worst time for you to be here. Your mother and I specifically told you not to come here,” Horntail said, quite angrily.
“Nooooo, you told us to go to school. You never said anything about not coming here,” Luna said.
“Luna, watch your mouth,” Valentine said angrily.
Horntail sighed.
“Look Valentine. We need these two to help now more than ever. We can’t get it. Not now. It’s not our path in life and you know it. With Star Swirl going on his own quest. We need them to retrieve the book.”
Horntail sighed again.
“Long long ago, back before the ponies of this world knew about the other tribes, there was a mysterious underground ruin where two unicorns lived. They worked day and night, creating a spell to control the most life sustaining creations to be gifted to us. The sun, and moon. They created this spell knowing that there was more to the sun and moon. It’s true we unicorns have the power to control them, but only TRUE unicorns, pure of heart, noble and courageous could harness the full power of these spells. They say the magic in this book can only be read by the chosen ponies.
“How will anypony know who the chosen ponies are if they can’t read the book?” asked Celestia.
"The good thing is that anypony can read the section at the back of the book on who the two chosen ponies will be. They’re two chosen ponies. This book will enable the users to harness the energies both sun and moon at will. They would be blessed with unique spells only capable of working with the energy of the sun and moon respectively. This book may help us in overcoming the threat the pegasi and earth ponies may send. This book is only a last resort though. The journey will be filled with danger. Your mother and I know you two are old and smart enough to overcome these obstacles. The map to the spell is in our room. It can only be opened from a member of our family. You’ll know the spell when you see the lock. Hurry, get the map and find the book, return it to our home. Then we can decipher who the two ponies are," Horntail said.
Just as he finished speaking, at least a dozen windigos barged into the room they were speaking in. They had hunger in their eyes and were ready to freeze everypony in the room until Horntail’s horn sparked.
“Everypony, get behind me NOW!!!” He yelled.
Horntail tried to fend off the windigos, but he knew in his heart he could not defend everypony in the room and church unless he did one last thing.
“Valentine, we have to try to stop these things. We have to give it our all,” Horntail whispered to Valentine.
“But you know what will happen,” Valentine whispered back.
“I know. But it’s the only way we can protect everypony here, including our children,” Horntail said.
“If we really do this, will the ponies here really thaw out?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but we got to pray that it does. It’s better than nothing right? So if you’re ready, we’ll begin.”
“What are two about to do?” Luna asked.
Celestia looked up at Stan and saw that he had tears in his eyes, as if he knew what they were planning.
“Take care of them Stan. They’re our last hope for peace and prosperity here,” Horntail yelled with tears in his eyes as he charged up his horn.
“Remember you two, we love you,” Valentine yelled, also welling up with tears as she charged up her own horn as well.
“Stan, get them prepared and make sure they leave all right. We’re counting on you,” Horntail said.
“You two don’t have to do this you know,” Stan said.
“No, we must. It’s our duty to do this if we want to ensure peace will reign in our world. We are willing to do whatever it takes,” Horntail said.
“MOM, DAD!!!” Celestia and Luna yelled.
“Stay back!!! Stan said while fighting back tears. Your father is right. This is the only way we can save everypony here, including you. We can’t stop them; just let them finished what they started.”
“We have to help them!!!” Luna yelled.
“Please, I’m asking you. Don’t help them. They can take care of themselves. I don’t want it to end up with me having to do what I need.”
“I don’t care. I’m helping them,” Celestia said.
As she finished speaking Celestia tried to jump into the fight to try and help, but she couldn’t help but stay stuck in place. As she looked left, she noticed Stan had cast a freeze spell on both her and Luna. All Celestia could do was watch as Horntail and Valentine fired the energy blast they charged. As they fired the spell Celestia could only watch in horror at the terror that unfolded. The hum of the spell got louder and louder, the room started to radiate with a powerful energy, far beyond any magic a unicorn should be able to perform with their limit on magic. The energy blast was felt throughout the entire church. As Horntail and Valentine turned their heads to see their fillies one last time, all Celestia could say was “nooo” before she collapsed and blacked out into nothing…
Author's Note
Well I guess this is the official start of the fanfic. Enjoy
