Chapters Chapter I: Bonding and Bump-ins
In an alternate universe far from the Equestria you know and love, lies two worlds within. One of these worlds is not known to all but 5 special ponies chosen in each generation. It was about that time when the Amulet of Crestlin was passed down to the last barror's daughter and four of her closest friends. It all started on the day that every teenage mare and stallion fears each and every September...the first day of school. It was also the first day in town for a young 7th grade mare named Willow Star, er me. Nervous, I looked up at the towering academy. "You will be fine Will, I'm sure you will make lots of friends and have exciting adventures as you become accustomed to this land" my mom, Crescent Heart, reassured me. I rolled my eyes and looked at her.
"Yeah 'cause doing algebra and physics is totally an adventure" I said sarcastically. Sadly, my mom however, doesn't get sarcasm and can't tell whether or not I, or anypony else for that matter, is using it. She happily agreed and I hit my forehead with my hoof is frustration. As I was about five steps onto the grounds, four unicorn mares go skating right by me, knocking me down onto my flank in the process. They turned to see me on the ground and helped me up. The four mares were vastly different; One had an orange coat with even oranger hair and purple streaks running through it, another having a grey coat with a dark purple and black mane, then there was one that was forest green and pink, the last of the group had a purple coat a little darker then mine and a two shaded seafoam-green mane color. The purple one trotted towards me.
The un-named pony looked me seriously in the eye and said "Sorry! We didn't see you there. I mean, of course we saw you but we just didn't have enought time to react. I'm Indigo Crest by the way. Let me introduce you to my friends." I was shocked that she had so much energy going through her that she could muster that whole sentence in one breath. She continued "The living flame over there is Terra Flame but you can just call her Terra, the one with the pink mane is Candy Leaf, and Ms. Droopy over there is Hollow Wind! Say hi everypony!"
"Hi" Hollow Wind said. Indigo was right, she is kinda a downer I thought to myself.
"Salutations" Terra Flame said right as some books fell out of her saddlebags.
Candy Leaf was so quiet at first that I couldn't hear her. Then after a little while, she finally spoke like a normal pony. "Hello"
"Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, what is your name new mare?" They all closed in on where I was standing. I slowly stepped back a few steps to keep a good distance. I looked from side to side to try and play with them a bit. I came up next,
"Can you keep a secret?" I asked as if hiding something. The mares moved there heads in closer to hear me. The group nodded. I continued sneakily, " I am actually a secret agent working for the mayor and supposedly there is a criminal on the school grounds."
The mares looked frightened and shocked at the same time. "WHAT!!!!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the day went on, the mares and I had grown to be great friends. Turns out that they were in fact very friendly ponies. The classes were pretty fun with them around and I even met some young stallions. But like all other days, that day had to end. As I waved bye to my new friends, I trotted home. I was about halfway home when a strange blue portal opened up in an alleyway in front of me. Not long after, a gray-blue stallion with a black mane and brown eyes fell through it...right onto me. I was startled, for he had bruises and cuts all over him as if he had been through a terrible ordeal. He unmounted me and stood up. Then he faced the portal as if expecting something to pop out. Sure enough, a strange and hideous grey-green skinny gargoyle-looking thing came flying through. At first glance, I knew exactly what it was; a Mogrif, a strange beast that can steal the shape of any living thing and take on their abilities and knowledge as well. Stumbling to my feet, I slowly crept towards the mysterious stallion. "STAY BACK!" he warned as he flew up and kicked the beast with his back hooves. I stood in shock. How is this pegasus so strong? I've never seen a pegasus fight like this I thought. Then I caught sight of something that I hadn't noticed that he was wearing a glowing blue pendant around his neck. As he got knocked back, the pendant fell off; for the string was snapped by the Mogrif's claw. I used basic levitation magic to lift it towards me and mend the string. He looked over to me in shock as the pendant started glowing super bright. It transformed me into a pony sorta like the Breezies but just wings. They were teal, dark blue, and light blue; as well as the shape of mechanical pegasi wings. My power instantly felt amplified 10 times.
"Don't worry, I got this" is what I said to the stallion, who just stared at me in awe. My other friends had gathered in the alleyway as well and saw me shoot the Mogrif right back into the portal to a place I didn't know of as of yet. It shut on impact. Now everypony was in shock as I landed and transformed back to my unicorn self. I walked towards the odd stallion among us and asked, "Ok, enough funny business; who are you and where did that portal lead?"
Indigo turned to him as well. Frightened, she asked "and WHAT was that thing!?" The stallion just laughed and put up a blue hoof up to silence us all.
"Don't worry little fillies, I will tell you everything, but not here." With that, I led everypony to my house, for my mom wouldn't be home for another hour and my little sister wouldn't be home.
Chapter II: Information and Transformation
Fifteen minutes and a short walk; the group, mysterious stallion, and I arrived at my house. I was practically scared to death when my mom opened the door. I was sure that her work went till five. That is when I layed eyes on the sitting room clock...which said 5:10 pm. I had never realized that the fight scene had taken so long. My mom looked at my friends, then to the stallion with us. Then her eyes fell upon his pendant that was still hung around my neck. She ushered all of us in and quickly shut the door. Then with her magic, she moved us to the dining room table. "Mom, what is going on?" I asked her as she studied the stallions pendant. Then Mr.Strange spoke up. "Mrs. Cresent Moon, may I please have the Amulet of Crestlin back please?"
I looked from him to my mom and then back to him. How do you know my mom... I thought, then I heard mom reply. "Why? What were doing with it in the first place...not to mention, how do you know my name?"
"Please let me explain. First, I was actually trying to find you to give you that so that awnsers one thing. As for how I know who you are, you and your four friends are legends in Gleamly; everypony has heard of your heroic efforts for this world. Oh, and my name is Comet Fist; Leader of the Rebellion against Prince Demon Sky." I looked shocked at Comet Fist and then at my mom. I was still trying to grasp all that he said. "you and your four friends are legends"~~"Gleamly"~~"everypony has heard"~~"heroic efforts" It was all to much for my brain to handle.
"What does he mean mom?" I ask her.
She sat down right in the chair between me and Hollow Wind to explain. "Mares, our world is one of two, the second not known to most here. Only a few carefully selected mares of each generation gets to know the secrets of the mythical world of Gleamly. I-"
"Ooh! I know this story from a old ponie's tale, Gleamly is supposedly a mythical and whymsical world where the flora and fauna flourish and the palace is made out of pure gems. The villagers never go hungry and the Royal Family is the nicest" Indigo interrupted. Mom shot her a look of annoyance. Indie than shut up.
"As I was saying, I was one of the selected few to be deemed the title of 'Guardian of the Vail' and know those secrets." Mom continued.
Then Comet spoke up. "Now your friend has most of it right but the Royal family is not nice at all. At least, the Prince isn't. He took over the land and turned it dark. The flora stopped growing and the fauna ran and hid. It is a total wasteland, the rest of the royal family is no where to be seen, and the true heir hasn't been seen since her birth...she hadn't even been named before somepony took her away." Mom grew silent. "Now, your mom's job as a guardian ended long ago but her job was to close the portals that appeared here to stop the monsters or evil beings from crossing the boarder from my world to yours. As for my job, well, I took the title after my father died last year at the hands of the prince. I design plans to get us into the palace to find info and to try and take down the prince. We know that the only ones who are able to fully stop him are the guardians and his sister, the princess...but she is nowhere to be seen. Demon Sky is looking though, and soon, he might start looking for her here, on this world. All the ponies are starving because of the prince and they are really hoping that the true heir will return soon." I sat utterly still trying to process that while my BPFFs were all chatting instantly. I hadn't noticed that my mom had disappeared during the talk about the missing princess.
Coming back several minutes, mom saw me talking to Comet. I was asking him questions that he hadn't answered in his earlier speech like "How old are you?" and "What does the Amulet of Crestlin do anyway?" He was happy to answer. He said that he was 15 and the Amulet of Crestlin was a mysterious stone found in a cave far from the palace over 200 years ago and it held the powers of the elements; Water, Fire, Earth, and Air. When worn by the correct wielder, it would transform her and four of her friends that resembled the elements into their guardian form. He even said that if I wanted, he would help me and any of my friends that did happen to acquire this power to control it and make it stronger. Then, in the back of my mind, a spark of realization went off and I looked at my four friends. I tried to recite the words that my mom had told me to activate the amulet. "GUARDIANS UNITE!" I yelled and my friends looked at me for a split second before we all became different colored balls of light. When we touched back down on the ground of my dining room, we had transformed into our guardian form. Every other pony was giggling and gawking over the design of their wings. They all were excited to try out their new powers. Then, Comet Fist, the mares, and I flew to our first practice session with Comet. I am starting to like having bumped into him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, in Gleamly, the evil Prince Demon Sky was planning to do two things; #1 find his sister and #2 find and take down the rebel leader and his group of followers. Pacing around in his room, Demon called two of his guards to him. The gruesome looking pony-troll hybrids came as fast as they could. "You called our prince" trolny number 1 asked as both bowed.
The prince turned towards them suddenly. "I think searching for my lost sister here is pointless. We have searched every nook and cranny of this kingdom yet no sister. I think we have to look somewhere else."
"Uhhhh...but where your highness? This world consists of this kingdom and you certainly don't mean-"
"Yes guards, I mean Morlanta--the lost world. Luckily, I have found a way through by using the portals and this time, the guardians or rebels won't know what hit them. My sister's powers WILL be mine ! Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaa!"
"Haha nice one our prince" Trolny number 2 said.
The prince used a burst of wind to stop them from laughing. He looked at them seriously. "I WASN'T JOKING! NOW GO FIND A PORTAL AND FIND MY SISTER! I WILL HAVE HER POWERS IF IT IS THE LAST THING I DO!!!"
View Online
Chapter III: Sneaky Enemies and Stupid Misunderstandings
Practicing was surprisingly hard but that wasn't totally unexpected for us first-timers. First of all, getting to our practice site while trying to hide our wings was super hard with how busy the city was. Second was that once we DID get to our practice site, we were terrible. Our magic was weakened when all five of us were separated and together, our magic kept canceling each other out. It honestly wasn't very fun at first. After some time and multiple accounts of useless advise from my mom and Comet, we just chose to give up entirely because we were obviously getting nowhere. Hollow Wind looked up to see it slowly turning to night. "Errr, has anypony else noticed that it is getting pretty late?" she asked. I smacked a hoof to my forehead and shook my head in like a "really" state. She shrugged in response. I used the amulet to de-transform us so we could go home. We all started to head in our own directions when I stopped dead in my tracks. I turned to find Comet Fist just standing where we all just were. Walking back, I confronted him, his eyes filled with sorrow and doubt.
My own eyes filling with confusion as I asked him "what's wrong Comet? Arn't you coming?" My mom had stopped to look back at where I had disapeared to only to find that I had gone back at least three blocks. Now it was his turned to look confused.
"What do you mean? I have no place to rest for the night so I might as well stay here"
I looked at him seriously and told him about something that my mom had said to me earlier when she had pulled me aside during practice. I said that she had told me that he would be able to stay with us in our guest room. His face lit up, mood brightened, and hugged me happily. My mom gave a little chuckle as she saw that scene. We walked together back to my place. As we arrived, my little sister opened the door to find just Comet and I. Knowing that mom had gone ahead, I knew that she had set this up. "Hi sissy! Hum, Is that your stallionfriend?" My sister asked. My face turned beat red and sensing the awkwardness between us, I could tell that his face was as well. I yelled at my sister that she shouldn't jump to conclusions but knowing how reckless I was at her age, I quickly bit back my words. With that, I just pushed my sister out of the way and entered the main room, Comet coming in not long after. I showed him to his room and then raced to my room out of sheer embarrassment. I didn't like what my sister did but I just wanted to finish off the day with sleep; peaceful, peaceful sleep.
The next morning, I woke up to my sister jumping on top of me. The first thing I said was "GET OFF!!!!" and she slowly sulked off my back. This was not a way to see me first thing in the morning; angry. Then I saw Comet and mom's heads peaked in. Apparently and without my knowing, I had woken them from their sleep and forced them to see what had made such a awful noise. I looked at my clock to see I had about two hours before school started so I pulled a pillow over my head and tried to go back to sleep. Suddenly, I felt a hoof push me out of bed. I landed on the floor with a loud *THUD* and a groan of pain. Mom laughed as I stood up, legs still half asleep. Then I slowly trudged towards the bathroom to get ready for the day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My school is a K-12 so us 7th graders are right in the middle, meaning that we are usually the ones to get picked on by older students. Comet, although he protested it, had to go to school as well. None of the sophomores even questioned why he was starting a day late and the mares from eighth grade to sophomores were all over him as if he was the only stallion alive. It was very cheesy to me. At least we all had lunch together so we could discuss after school plans. "Whats going on mares?" Comet Fist said as he sat down at our table, shooing the clingy mares away. I was the last to sit down not long after. The other mares gave us snide looks. I wonder why...just kidding. I knew why. Chewing silently, we discussed plans to visit my kingdom later that day. We thought going undercover as villagers would be best, for the prince wouldn't recognize us. I questioned in my head why he would even know what we looked like but yet again, his dark magic could do all sorts of bad and creepy things. Pushing that question to the back of my head, I took a bite of my pumpkin chocolate chip muffin as I listened in on the conversation.
"Now, the prince will recognize me for my rep on Gleamly but you should be safe if you all split up. But being with me will do more harm then good" Comet told us. The rest of lunch, we sat and ate our lunch and peace. Then he motioned me to follow him as we were getting rid of scraps. I could feel some death glares from the other mares as I was walking beside him out the doors. I followed him to the library where we had spent most of the morning, studying for fall exams. "Now, you Are you sure that's the only reason?
"Ok" I said, looking at my amulet. Then he whispered something in my ear and walked away. I stood there, shocked by what he told me. Then I shook it off and went on studying as the other mares and stallions entered in groups.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A group of Trolny solders walked aimlessly for two hours in search of portals to the other world that had been known as legend for years upon years before. Finally, they came across to a giant blue black hole of mana-or magical energy-crossing into the other world. "Finally!" said one of the Trolny, obviously happy. The rest started cheering rather loudly, disturbing the deadly screeters. Realizing what they had just awoken, the Trolny jumped through the portal one by one.
"Come on" whispered the Trolny captain as they walked through a dark hallway of some sort. The others trailed behind him while looking around at their surroundings. Well, as much as their tiny troll eyes could see. "We need to find the girl! NOT SIGHTSEE!!! Now! Lets go!!!"
