“Yes, my little ponies,” Celestia said with a smile. “I shall bring back a power long forgotten in Equestrian history. In well over a thousand years, you five will be the first Knights of Harmony.”

Lightning Dash’s eyes widened, “I thought the Knights of Harmony were just a fairy tale!”

The other ponies, even Blaze, looked at Lightning Dash puzzled. It was Ice Sapphire to ask, “Are we missing something?”

Celestia just nodded at Lightning Dash. The pegasus then sighed, “Well… You know, my sister and I had some things in common. We didn’t like those lame stories to put foals to bed. Mom and dad had a collection of histories especially for us. One of them was ‘Crimson Heart and the Knights of Harmony’. Each of the Knights of Harmony, in the book a total of a hundred knights, had their powers well above standard Royal Guards and they were often called the ‘Swords of Equestria’, entering in battle when the ponies of our land were in danger.

“Each Knight of Harmony represented a virtue of ponies; things like leadership, hope, purity, and so on. Of course, the top five Knights of Harmony were blessed by the virtues of the Elements of Harmony: Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness and Loyalty. The Element of Magic never personified into a Knight, though…”

“There are a few corrections to be made. First thing is that a Knight named Crimson Heart never existed. That history is an embellished version of Star Crystal’s life as the Amazon of Kindness,” Celestia continued after Lightning Dash finished. “The pretty details were, of course, let outside, but if you read it, the story is almost a diary of Star Crystal’s adventure, which, at the time, Luna and me allowed her to publish if she agreed in turning her experiences into a fairy tale.”

“And why would you do that?” Scarlet Boulder asked.

“Public values,” Blaze answered, again gathering the attention. “Pay attention. We’re just common colts and fillies from other towns and cities all around Equestria. However, in our very first day, we managed to be tested by Princess Celestia herself no less and our powers can, already, be compared with some high trained soldiers. If common ponies can hold this much power, what will stop ponies from discovering these powers themselves and using against other ponies?”

“It… It makes some sense…” Golden breeze agreed.

“But it’s also not the whole truth either,” Celestia looked at them in their eyes. “Beings with powerful magic, like my sister and I and now you five, tends to get closer to each other. Our magic can feel other magic around us and, as usual to any pony, it seeks comfort of others that shares similar properties. No matter what personal reason brought you here. In the end, it was a wish of the magic within you that called you closer to me.

“Returning to the main subject, though, the Knights of Harmony are only called in the situations the common guards are ineffective or cause more harm than good. As Lightning Dash said, they were nicknamed the ‘swords’ of Equestria, but you will found out that they may need to be the land’s ‘shields’ and even the ‘hidden daggers’, so to speak. Sometimes, the late Knights of Harmony had to execute stealth and otherwise deceptive missions. In the past, it fell over them missions of thievery, spying and even assassination.

“Many of these missions are never known by ponies, so making Star Crystal turn it into a fairy tale was not a way to just protect Equestria and its relations, but the Knights themselves as the individual ponies they were.

“There is a small vow you must make to the rulers of Equestria before you can actually be called Knights. But even before those vows, there are trainings you must pass through. You will join the other recruits’ training, physical, mental and even more importantly, magical. All of you must learn how to properly control your magic so you won’t accidentally hurt other ponies.”

They all nodded at Princess Celestia, which said, “I’ll give you the training you’ll need as Knights of Harmony. As tradition, it befalls the elder Knights to train the news, and as there is no other Knight available, I’ll have to do that myself, as the Amazon of Leadership. Whenever you see me in armor during training, I’m not your Princess, but a superior Knight only. All the respect you will show me is that of my rank as a Knight of Harmony, so I expect you to really attack me with all your strength as if your life was in danger.”

“Wait… You are a Knight of Harmony, Princess?” Golden breeze asked in surprise.

Celestia nodded, “Once upon a time, countless years before even the first of the wars, the world had plenty of races living in harmony. Unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, griffons, zebras, minotaurs, dragons, and even some creatures that are just legends nowadays, like the changelings, fairies, merponies, you name it, they all filled the whole world with joy and happiness. Every race would then choose a champion to insure the peace and the equality of every race in face of all others.

“I was the chosen champion from the unicorn tribe of the pony race. And it came as no surprise that Luna was chosen as the champion of the pegasus tribe. Our father was a unicorn and our mother a pegasus, so we’re still sisters besides belong to the different tribes. But if you decided to count, one champion for each tribe would not allow many champions to cover the whole world, so each champion was then instructed to teach their ways to two other disciples of their choice. As those disciples also became masters, they would choose two others and so on, to keep a good proportion between the ‘civil’ populations, let’s say, and the Knights. And since our main duty was to keep harmony across the whole world, not only among our tribes, we were then called the Knights of Harmony…

****

A very young white unicorn mare was studying hard. She was adamant about using magic to make the Knights of Harmony more efficient in their functions. Her pink mane and tail already showed the results of long hours, days actually, without even getting out to a bath. Her white coat, once gorgeous, was now a reflection of her lack of care with her own body.

She sighed hard and looked at the mirror in her room. The first look she gave was to her cutie mark: a stylized sun. Then she took a deeper breath and coughed. “Oh my… what died in here?”

“Thou sense of time, dear sister,” a gently voice replied from her room’s door. Turning around, Celestia saw a cute dark blue pegasus with light blue mane and a crescent moon for a cutie mark.

“Hi there, Luna. And what dost thou mean by that?” Celestia asked, returning her focus to her projects.

Luna chuckled, “That thou art in thy room for three full days now. The Sun Conclave is getting mad at thee already.”

“Those old ponies… Let them think they can stripe my title. I earned my right as Knight of Harmony.”

“And I not doubt thee, dear sister,” Luna sat down at Celestia side. “However, they can dispose thee from your place at the Sun Raising circle.”

“Ha. I am the pony that fills more magic in that circle. They can do whatever they please, but they will get a lot tired without my magic to aid them.”

“Changing subjects, sister, what is this project thee art working so hard on?” Luna asked.

“While exploring the ruins of Myridia, I came across this old book,” Celestia said pointing a hoof at a very dusty old-looking book, which had a horseshoe with a horn in front and wings behind. “It tells about a tribe of ponies long extinct that were awfully powerful. They had magic of all three pony tribes and could use that magic without a horn.”

“Are thou saying that it is not only the unicorns that have magic?” Luna asked, somewhat shocked.

“Come on, Luna… Look at thy wings, size and mass. Such small and relatively frail things cannot lift your body of the ground by itself!”

“Well… Now that thou mention it…”

“And the book said that there is a way to focus this magic into a very particular spell.”

“What spell?”

“They call it the Divine Armor spell. A magic armor strengthened by the user’s heart and desire to protect.”

“A very interesting spell… The Knights of Harmony could really use that!”

“I am afraid of turning it public though,” Celestia admitted. “I only know that ponies can use it, but and about griffons, dragons and the others? Maybe zebras could, they are very like us for just small changes to be enough, but…”

“Anyway, there’s a meeting of the Knights in three hours,” Luna said, finally getting to the point of her visit. “Better thee close that up for now and go take a bath and maybe eat something other than cakes and muffins?”

Celestia shot a glance at her giggling sister, but follower her suggestions same way.

Three hours later, they were joined by all the chosen champions of races, the original masters of the Knights of Harmony, on their round table. Each champion sat on a special chair which reflected their race someway: Celestia’s chair had a unicorn horn pointing straight up and was made of hard stone, only able to be cut by magic, while Luna’s was made of clouds and had pegasus wings shaped as the details of both leg rests. The earth pony champion sat in a mahogany chair crafted manually by his own tribe, the stallion proud of her sire’s craftsmanship.

The one to start was the griffon champion, not much elder than the others, with deep brown feathers on her eagle body and golden fur on her lion body. He was always bold and feared nothing, but was also loyal and just. “My friends! Knights! I summon your swords for the enemy has come! Between reports of civil griffons and guards, I was able to notice that there is something sowing discord among the subjects we swear to protect!”

“And doth it cause trouble enough to bring this subject to our attention?” asked the champion of changelings, actually under the form of a unicorn mare.

“Actually it affect us directly!” answered the minotaur champion. “I was informed, and I truly believe it was a lie, that the ponies are developing protective magic that only they can use!”

Celestia ad Luna’s eyes both widened as they looked at each other, a motion caught by a curious champion in the table. The dragon looked at the sisters and asked, “Dost ye know something about it?”

Celestia was the one to rise and speak, “It is true we… I am searching a protective magic and my current development says it is impossible for other races to use it, save maybe for the zebra, merpony and changeling.”

Everyone then looked at Celestia. It was the zebra Knight the first to recompose herself: “Care to explain yourself? Why would ye study something only your species can use?”

“Ye got it wrong!” Celestia said, her hoof slamming on the table. “I am looking for magic to increase our efficiency on protecting others! With this armor, our defenses would be greatly improved and anything that helps us also helps the ones we protect indirectly! My studies, though, are focused on creating a magic the whole order of the Knights can use!”

“Can you prove that?” asked the minotaur that brought this up. It was now clear the annoyance in his voice.

Luna though got up and stretched her wings menacingly, “My sister is not selfish enough to put herself before others! Ye should know that already for how many times it was her defensive magic that saved those precious horns of yours!”

“Luna of Pegasi, behave yourself!” the merpony called. She was a wonderfully pink-coated mare sitting in a modified chair, with a build in thank under the table’s level. “We are having a civilized discussion here.”

“More likely a civilized accusing in my opinion,” the earth pony stallion answered. “Just because a magic cannot be used by other races does not mean we are developing a magic exclusively for our race. We all know about how easily a newborn magic merpony can bend water to create massive waves, but not even a full grown adult studying for years long can create even the weakest flame.”

“Crimson Gold is right,” the Knight speaking for the changelings agreed. “It is also well known that no matter how long unicorns study, our transformation magic is unmatchable.”

“I am really looking in a universal magic to help all the Knights of Harmony,” Celestia said. “If the council votes for this, I can even give you what I have developed so far, so you can look onto it. Maybe your magic studies can have a better success at developing it for your races?”

“Then ye do that, Celestia of the Unicorns,” the griffon Knight surprised everyone by how serene he spoke. “No need to keep the whole council of the Knights in the shadows about such an important matter. We all will help you develop the spell.”

“That still do not answer the question, though,” the minotaur Knight said. “Why had you started this research without the knowledge of the council?”

“And where ye found that spell anyway?” a female voice asked from a different chair. She was the Knight of a magical race called kitsune which lives in east lands. Basically, she was a white fox with red paws and tail tips, with nine long bushy tails swinging behind her. “It is not something you can come with out of the blue so suddenly, even more when we are at peaceful times.”

“It was fou--”

“Where it was found is not of your concern!” Luna intertwined, surprising even Celestia. “The three tribes have their reasons for not telling.”

“So you admit to be hiding something?” a stallion asked. However, he was not a pony but a horse. His build was strong and he was one of the tallest being on the reunion, standing almost double the height of Celestia and Crimson Gold, Luna still not so grow up was a few inches smaller than her half-sister.

“No. We admit that the council shall not intertwine with the discoveries of the ponies,” Crimson Gold said. “Anyway, we’re evading the original topic. There’s someone or some group that is spreading lies to damage the Knights of Harmony.”

“And we know nothing about them,” commented another Knight, a bipedal creature, like the minotaurs, but adapted to live in the water. The sahagins and the merponies share the seas of the world in harmony since ancient times.

“We know that they can be very close to the Knights of Harmony and have ways to spread news extremely fast,” Celestia said, getting their attention once more. “The first time I commented about this spell with anyone was today, three hours before this reunion starts, and even so, it had reached the ears of the minotaurs.”

That made murmurs starts all around the table. Then it was the dragon to speak, he being so large that only his head appeared through an opening in the wall, “At least it proves the enemy is not of us. Not even the fastest of all our races could reach from the ponies’ lands to the minotaurs’ in that time.”

“Also, that excludes any means of physical movement,” said another Knight that, at first seemed just like a normal griffon. However, truth is that she was a hippogriff: eagle from chest up and pony from chest back. They were in two tribes, winged and terrestrial, the first able to move with speed and grace, also with nice stamina, the second able to use magic and with more strength and resistance to damages. She was the terrestrial kind and, at her left, stood a male winged one.

He was the next to speak, “They must be teleporting or using some kind of magic communication system.”

“Possible,” the dragon agreed. “Dragon magic can send messages to whomever they know by burning it. This message can cover that much distance in that time.”

“We shall keep our eyes and ears wide open,” said another female Knight. She was a centaur with a white fur coat on her horse torso and human chest covered by a leather jacket. “Our enemy is aiming to divide and conquer us. Be always at full guard and never assume you’re alone. Ever!”

All other Knights agreed and they turned to safer subjects, as possible rebellions in isolated areas. However, a thought never left Celestia’s mind, ‘Mom’s wards never failed before and she has enough wards to prevent things like that… I wonder…’

“Celestia?” she was brought back to herself by Luna’s call. Looking around, only Celestia, Luna and Crimson Gold stood in the meeting room.

“Sorry, sister… I was a bit carried away,” Celestia admitted. “It just couldn't leave my mind... How someone would be able to pass through mom's wards with intention of using the knowledge to spread chaos?”

“There's a loophole there somewhere that we must look for,” Luna said. “Better we hurry, though. We have to return home.”

Celestia agreed and rose from her chair, following Luna and Crimson Gold outside the meeting hall.

****

“As you may have guessed, from there things got complicated,” Celestia said looking the five ponies in front of her. Somewhere in her tale, they had sat down in the grass of the maze. “All races then began their own secret researches of ways to increase their strength, not sharing those with the other knights.”

“And you have developed some too?” Ice Sapphire asked.

“Yes and no,” Celestia answered. “We did start a project that only the ponies should know of, but that spell was a pony-exclusive spell, so there was no point in sharing it with others. The three of us, Luna, Crimson Gold and I, developed a spell to intensify our strength beyond the boundaries of any living beings, or so we thought.”

“What was that spell about?” Scarlet Boulder asked.

“Alicorn spell,” Lightning Dash and Blaze said together. Blaze was the one to continue his thoughts: “A spell to combine the power of the most powerful pegasus, unicorn and earth pony.”

“Also intensifying the power beyond the boundaries of any other living being…” Lightning Dash commented as well. “I can’t think of anything else but an alicorn to meet that description.”

Celestia nodded and sighed, “But it wasn’t long before we decided the spell was ready to start testing when the news arrived. Our enemy had begun its attack. All the Knights of Harmony kept their guard high, but they never stood a chance. Quickly, our numbers began to drop and there was nothing we could do about it.

“The Knights of Harmony protecting the ponies were the last to be engaged in combat, and then we knew who our true enemy was: Discord, the God of Chaos. Against him and his chaos magic we had no chance at all, so we three agreed we had only one chance to stop him. We then made the first test of that spell, first and last, by the way.

“The three of us became alicorns, our powers almost the triple of the sum of our powers separated and our body instincts were perfect, so we know exactly how to reach the magic of each other tribe infused in ours. Of course, we were more specific in our original areas, but even so we were stronger than we ever thought anypony could ever be. But when we fought with Discord, we discovered our new powers weren’t enough. We needed even more power.”

“The Elements of Harmony!” Golden Breeze said.

With a short nod, Celestia continued, “Back then they were known as the Elements only, but yes. We made a run for the Elements, but Discord came after us. Crimson Gold gave his life so we could reach the Elements and triumph over the God of Chaos. And so we did. Since then, the Knights of Harmony became a hidden force of the ponies only, all other races having lost theirs and erased most registers they ever existed. And, as the saying goes, the rest is story. After defeating Discord, Luna and I were turned into the rulers of Equestria and so on.”

The five ponies looked among themselves. Ice Sapphire was the one curious enough to ask, “If it was a spell that turned you into an alicorn, Princess, why haven’t its effect been exhausted? No matter how powerful a magic is, it has a lifespan like ponies do.”

Celestia nodded, “And it has passed greatly the time of this spell to wear off. However, for that, the earth pony magic which Luna and I absorbed should be returned to its original owner…”

Golden Breeze’s eyes widened, “So… with Crimson Gold dead, you were stuck like alicorns…”

The Princess nodded once again, “An eternal reminder that no matter how long we live, our scars will remain and some of them will always be visible to others. But we’re evading from the subject here. At night fall, I want all of you in this labyrinth’s center,” Celestia said in her serious face, already getting up again. “Just remember that you have to cross the labyrinth. I want all of you in the center at the exact time the moon is raising in the sky.”

“Yes, Princess!” all five of them got up, chorused and saluted.

“Good. You have the rest of the day free to yourselves. Those which try to get to know the labyrinth will be sorry. I’ll be changing the walls every day, just to let things interesting.”

Author's Note

There it is, Chapter 02! I know... a 3K story without too much of action, but with a few bits of important information for the future of the history. The characters which names were mentioned, you should keep their names, or you shall be sorry in a distant (or maybe not-so-distant) future. AAAAAAAAND... Today's narrator is Twilight Sparkle:

"Princess Celestia is taking five more students? I thought that was something exclusively for me! Oh... They're guards... *sighs* Well, I still don't know what the Princess could be teaching to new rookies at the guard, but if she says so I can't say anything against her. But... Why can I fell such a powerful magic emanating from all of them? Something is not right around here... The next chapter of Knights of Harmony is: Lightning Fault"

PS.: Chapter still to be revised! I finished it recently and decided to post sooner rather to delay to make sure it was fine, But I'll be making a few readings over it in the close future.