"So why did the Princess have us come here?" Rainbow Dash, a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane asked, as she lazily floated above her five friends.
"She mentioned us greeting an 'old friend,' so I could only assume that it's another powerful enemy she dealt with a thousand years ago, like Discord or Sombra." Twilight Sparkle, a purple unicorn, answered, as her horn glowed, scanning for any life in the ruined castle.
"I hope it's not scary." Fluttershy, a yellow and pink animal loving pegasus squeaked out.
"Well if it is, we can handle it!" Applejack, an orange pony with a cowboy hat on, replied.
"I just hope we can get out of this dreaded castle soon. Who knows what this dust is doing to my complexion." Rarity, a white unicorn fashionista complained.
"Maybe the creature is just an old friend of the Princess, like she said in the letter!" Pinkie Pie, the monstrosity of nature replied.
As the six mares continued exploring through the ancient castle, they kept on wondering, 'why did Princess Celestia send us here?' Eventually, the mares' questions were answered when a large burst of magic was felt throughout the entire castle. All the enchanted torches in the castle quickly faded away, as a powerful wind picked up.
"Whoa nelly! What was that?!" Applejack was the first to speak, as she gripped onto her hat for dear life.
"That felt like a massive spell was being cast! Come on girls, follow me!" Twilight yelled, as she quickly ran forward, and made a sharp turn, running to the room where the spell came from. They eventually reached an ancient bookshelf, and the power surge was coming from behind it. "GAH! How are we supposed to get to it now?! This is the only way to get to it, but it's blocked by a bookshelf! We can't destroy the books of the shelves!"
As Twilight was freaking out, Rainbow Dash quickly floated over to the bookshelf, and looked at all the books for a second, before smiling, as she tipped over one, which made a metal grinding sound be heard. "Alright! Nailed it!"
"Rainbow Dash! What did you do?!" Twilight seethed, not wanting the precious books to be hurt.
Rainbow Dash let out a small laugh. "Oh Twi, haven't you read the Daring Do series? There's always a secret book in a bookshelf that opens a secret door."
Twilight's eyes widened, before she blushed. "Oh... right. I forgot about that." Twilight quickly looked back to the bookshelf, to see that it was about halfway opened, and seemed to stop, it's ancient gears not working as well as they should.
"Come on you stupid thing! Open!" Rainbow Dash yelled, as she bucked it as hard as she could, making the bookshelf rattle, before it continued opening. Once it was all the way opened the six mares quickly rushed down the dark hallway, until they came across the room they were looking for.
The room was a giant circle, with strange markings on the floor, and several pillars with strange blue gems sparking with blue electricity, and that electricity was being directed to the large white glowing object in the middle of the room. The six ponies looked at it shocked. "Twi, do you have any idea what that is?"
Twilight shook her head. "It's unlike any kind of magic I've ever seen! It seems to be somehow using the markings on the ground and the strange crystals are giving it power to do something! This kind of magic has never been recorded in history!"
The six friends kept on watching the light get bigger and bigger, unsure of what to do, until the light finally took some kind of shape, and emitted one last burst of magic, before a strange figure was shown. The figure appeared to be wearing a large brown cloak that covered it's entire body, except for a strange claw-like appendage that was wrapped around a long silver staff that was a bit taller than the figure. On the very top of the staff was one of the same kind of crystals on the walls.
The creature quickly looked around, surveying it's surroundings, before keeping it's gaze on the six mares. The mares felt unsure in the strange creatures gaze. Eventually, Rainbow Dash decided to make a bold move. "Hey you! Stop staring at us like that you monster!" She started to quickly walk forward, getting ready to fight this 'monster' but Twilight stopped her with her magic.
"You shouldn't fight the creature, Rainbow. We don't know what it could do, and what it's motives are." Twilight whispered.
"I'd pay attention to your friend rainbow one." The creature's voice rang out, and the mares noticed it sounded female. "I don't like getting into fights with those that have good hearts. Now, may I ask where Celestia is? She told me she'd meet me here after the spell."
The mares were still unsure of this creature, and what it's motives were. "Why do you want to see the Princess?!" Applejack asked.
"Because I just said. She told me directly that she'd be here. I'm assuming she's still alive, as you recognized her name." The voice spoke again.
"Who exactly are you?" Twilight asked, taking a cautious step forward.
The creature lifted it's staff, and spoke. "Identify." Suddenly, the staff glowed with a white light, that quickly surrounded all six mares.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Rainbow Dash yelled, not liking this one bit. The glow quickly faded, and the creature stayed quiet for a second.
Then to the surprise of the ponies, the created reached it's other claw-like appendage, and pulled back it's hood, showing a strange face. The creature had long golden locks of hair, which she quickly pulled out of her robes, and let flow down her back. Her face seemed similar to a monkey's, except it lacked any fur. The eyes were a icy blue, and showed that she had wisdom beyond her years. She gave a small smile. "Sorry about that. Had to make sure I could trust you. I don't always go around revealing my identity, as monsters could track me down, and it's always such a hassle fighting them." She then bowed her head slightly. "My name is Kelenthine, and I'm the Legendary Wizard."
Five of the ponies looked confused, except for Twilight, who gasped in surprise. "You, the Legendary Wizard?! But that should be impossible! Why wouldn't it be a pony?! The stories never mentioned the Legendary Wizard not being pony!"
"Are you saying that a human isn't able to be a wizard?" Kelenthine asked accusingly. "Lots of creatures had the same problem before I left. They would always assume I was a pony. Now, can you please tell me the year?"
"1003 AD." Twilight answered.
Kelenthine blinked in surprise. "A thousand years? Celestia had me teleported a thousand years into the future?" She sighed, holding her head in her hands. "These crystals better be important. I don't want to stay here longer than I need to." She muttered, before lifting her face back up. "I'm sorry for having to do this, but I'm in a hurry." Before the ponies could ask what was going on, Kelenthine grabbed her staff with both hands, and gently tapped it to the ground. "Teleport."
A bright flash of light later, and the six ponies along with Kelenthine found themselves inside Canterlot Castle, in the very room Princess Celestia was currently having tea in. The ponies all looked surprised at this, and quickly bowed to the princess. Celestia stood up from her seat, a smile forming on her face. "Kelly, is that you?"
"I'm back Tia. Now can we-" Kelenthine was cut off by Celestia tackling her with a hug. "Gack! Tia, you're choking me." Celestia let go, and blushed a bit.
"Sorry. it's just that it's been about a-" Celestia was cut off.
"Don't tell me. I don't want to spoil my future. Now, can we please get to business? I don't want to be here longer than I have to." Kelenthine said with a smile.
Celestia giggled at this. "You always did focus on your work a lot." it was at that point, that both Kelenthine and Celestia turned around to see the shocked faces of the six ponies. "Oh, I almost forgot, allow me to introduce these six."
"No need. I used identify. Interesting to see that the Elements have chosen six regular ponies for their bearers. I would have suspected another alicorn, or six different races." Kelenthine gave a small shrug, and quickly turned to the door when it was torn open.
"Tia! We have sensed a tremendous power source arriving here! Art thou okay?! Is it the Wizard?!" The blue alicorn, Princess Luna yelled, before she noticed the human in the room. "Monster! We will not let thee harm our subjects and sister!"
Luna quickly charged and fired a powerful offensive spell at Kelenthine, who merely lifted her staff up, and spoke a single word. "Barrier." A faint green light each of the six mares, Celestia, and Kelenthine herself. The beam hit the barrier, only to blow up, and spread smoke everywhere except for inside the barriers. Luna then used the smoke caused by the explosive to her advantage as she charged forward, and slammed against the barrier that Kelenthine was being protected by, only to be bounced back. "Disperse." The smoke was quickly blown away, showing the shock on Luna's face.
"That's impossible! My attack should have shattered your shield! How?!" Luna asked, clearly surprised at this.
Kelenthine shrugged. "It's a strong shield. Now, do you mind?! You're attacking without reason, while there are innocents nearby. I have no idea who you are, but you do not endanger non-combatants in a fight." Kelenthine's glare turned dark. "Now, I suggest you stand down, before I decide to start attacking." Luna snorted, as she pawed the floor with her hoof, about to attack again, when Kelenthine just sighed. "Sleep." A pale green aura surrounded Luna, who started blinking rapidly, as she yawned, before she collapsed, snoring like a baby. The barriers all disappeared.
"Princess Luna!" The six mares cried out, as they ran over to the sleeping princess of the night, before looking at Kelenthine, preparing for a fight.
"It's okay my little ponies." Celestia spoke up, as she walked over to her sister. "Luna is just asleep. Now I haven't introduced you to my old friend. This is Kelenthine, the Legendary Wizard. She appeared a few years after I banished my sister, and greatly helped our country. We sent her to this time period, as she needed to obtain a certain artifact to save the world, and that artifact is in this time period." Celestia then turned to Kelenthine. "I'm sorry for Luna's rudeness. I told her about how you would be arriving today, and she thought you would be a pony."
Kelenthine laughed. "It's okay. I figured it out from when she called you sister. That's way I barely used any magic at all." Her face suddenly turned serious. "Now, can we get back to work? I'd rather not be far away from my time for long."
Celestia nodded, and walked over to another door. "Just follow me. We've been trying to track it down, but the dungeon it's in is heavily fortified, and we've lost many guards trying to get in." As the two walked, the six mares quickly caught up to them, staying silent, as they didn't want to interrupt these two powerful beings.
"I am curious though. Why wasn't this dungeon around a thousand years ago?" Kelenthine asked.
Celestia held her tongue, as they entered a room with a table that had a large map on it. All eight of them walked up to it, and Celestia's horn glowed, as a mini-sculpture of a cave showed up in the north. "The reason why it wasn't around was because it was part of the Crystal Empire, which disappeared a year before you arrived."
"The Crystal Empire?!" Twilight exclaimed. "But I don't recall ever coming across a dangerous dungeon when we went to the Crystal Empire!"
"That's because they are all cleverly hidden." Kelenthine answered, before looking back at the map. "Darn. It feels like this dungeon will be a tough one. I wish my team could still be with me. We could easily do this."
"You may not have your team, but we have something close." Celestia responded, before turning to the six mares. "My little ponies, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to accompany Kelenthine as she goes through a dungeon. You need to all do what she says, as she has more experience at this than you, and can save your lives. I'll give you all three days in Ponyville to prepare for the quest. Kelenthine will be staying with you, making sure you are all ready." Celestia turned back to Kelenthine. "Are you okay with this?"
Kelenthine nodded. "Yes. It will give me a good chance to get to know my temporary team. The most important part of a team is trust, and if we don't have that, we'll fail quickly."
"What's this?" A tired, rumbling voice muttered, as it awoke from it's slumber. "A high energy source?" The creature quickly shot awake. "She's back." The creature had a demonic smile on it's face. "I was wondering when you would show up." The creature turned to another smaller one. "Go gather Captain Smoke, and have him take small team to take down the Wizard. I want her kneeling in front of me, and I want it now!"
