There are many myths about how Equestria came into existence. This is one such tale:
The Tiger, whose powerful legs allowed him to move mountains, began to create a world where all forms of life could coexist. He rolled together a large hunk of matter he collected from different parts of the universe. Sadly, he could not seem to get life to assimilate on this "planet" as he called it. The other three elemental spirits, saw this and were rather surprised by these actions, for they had, up until that point, thought the Tiger to be selfish and to not care about other life. They ask if they can help and the Tiger, desperate for his creation to be a success, accepts their offer.
The Phoenix, with his will over flame created the sun, and warmed the ball of rock so that it could be more livable. The Turtle, with his liquid soul, placed water on the world, which pooled in the deepest areas to form the oceans. And the Dragon, who, without wings, caused wind to circle the planet and clouds to take shape. Almost immediately, they saw life begin to take shape. But only one form of life was sentient enough to alter Equestria, as they decided to call it, for the sentient race was ponies.Each spirit took a liking to a particular species.
The Tiger preferred the earth ponies, for they had no advantages and were still able to get by. The Turtle had a fondness for the unicorns who were able to move from task to task like water in a river flowing to the ocean with use of their magic. The Dragon marveled at the way the pegasi moved the clouds effortlessly. The Phoenix, however, loved the alicorn species, who, with their regal bearing, were able to rule the others fairly.
Now, that is not to say he thought of himself as better than the other spirits, but the others certainly thought this. They confronted the spirit of fire, and soon, war broke out. After years of fighting, they realized they were about to tear the world they created together apart. The fighting drained them, so they decided to give their power to each of the four pony species. To see which ones would be worthy of wielding the power of the elements, they looked carefully at each pony and discovered that each of the four most worthy also happened to be friends with each other. They appeared to each of them in a dream. The next day the four friends met up and discussed what they saw, as instructed by the spirits.
They went to the clearing the spirits said they would meet them at. As soon as they got there, the spirits appeared to them in a physical form. They explained their destinies. With that, they used the last of their strength to create crests that housed their total powers. Each crest was made of a special gem said to house the elements of these four spirits. The Amethyst Tiger, the Ruby Phoenix, the Emerald Dragon, and the Sapphire Turtle were given to these four friends. They used their powers to guard Equestria from all evil.
Suddenly, the alicorn race was afflicted with a mysterious sickness. Up until this point, all four species had both males and females. Male alicorns began to fall ill. No one knew why only males were affected. When the friend of the other elemental guardians became ill, crests were empowered further. They had been friends for so long they began to have the feeling of protecting each other as though they were a family. They tried everything,but sadly, their friend passed. they tried to find a successor to the phoenix crest. None was found. Then one day the remaining three guardians vanished without a trace. The ponies began to worry when disaster would strike, but it never did. Soon, the fear of attack faded, as did the memory of the spiritual elements themselves. All was well in Equestria. Some say the disappearance led to the creation of the elements of harmony, but that's another tale. The essence of the spiritual elements traveled to the other worlds that the four spirits had created. This story faded with time, quickly becoming a shadow of what it was. Equestria had never seen the spiritual elements again.
Until now.
None of them had any recollection of being anywhere near a beach. The landing left them dazed and confused. Blade was the first to regain consciousness on Horseshoe Bay Beach.
"Ugh..my head..." Blade groaned. he looked around and noticed his friends lying nearby. "Guys! Are you alright" he asked as he shook them.
"Where are we?" Chroamatikz asks looking around.
"Stay where you are!" Ordered a silver coated unicorn said . they were quickly surrounded.
"Well,that answers that." Nightwave said
"Come with us." the unicorn spoke once more.
"Ok" Blade said,knowing that the only way these ponies to realize that they were no threat was to cooperate with them. With that, the unicorn casts a mass teleport spell and transports them to the steps in of Canterlot Castle.
"Don't try anything funny." he said to them before hoofing them over to a pegasus with a much kinder attitude than the last pony.
"Be respectful to her highness. She's not as lenient during these troubled times." he said before opening the throne room door to let them in. he closes the door behind them as they enter. inside was princess celestia, who looked extremely tired.
"Who are you and where do you come from" she asked them barely able to keep the exhaustion out of her voice.
"Your highness, I'm blade crysto and these are my friends Chroamatikz, Nightwave , and Twinkleshy. we don't know how we got here or how to get back to our own world, but-" he said, and would have said more but right then the throne room door burst open and a lilac coated earth pony runs in.
" Your highness, the leaders of the defensive lines have been captured" he exclaims.
"Luna..."celestia mutters fearing, for her sister's life. hearing this Blade jumps at the chance to help.
"Your highness, let us rescue them!" Blade remarks with such confidence that his friends are shocked by the sudden change in him.
"Are you sure?" celestia asks, him surprised by the offer of help by the newcomer.
"Yes" he says to assure her.
"Very well"celestia says knowing that she can trust this strange biped pony thing.
"Thank you." He says before turning to the pony and asking:" which direction were they taken?"
"To the south,but-" he got no further, for Blade thanked him beckoned to his friends.
"Come on,guys!" he said before running out of the throne room with his friends, less than pleased about their new situation, right on his heels.
"Do you really trust them with something like this?" The earth pony asks celestia after they left.
"Yes"
After running through a small forested area Blade and his friends come to a cliff at the base of which there are massive craters and rocks strewn everywhere.
"Blade, what is wrong with you?!" Chroamatikz yells at her friend.
. "Did you see any other way out of this?"blade retorted calmly before turning to look at the battlefield " jeez whatever their dealing with it must be bad..."
"Wait so you have no intention of helping them?" Chroam said shocked by her friend's remark.
"Oh I intend to help them, I simply meant them thinking we were whatever caused this" he motioned for them to look at the lower area.
"Whoa..."Nightwave said no more.
"How are we going to get down there?"Chroamatikz asks having already seen it.
"Uh, climb down maybe?" Blade said, looking at his occasionally empty headed friend."I'll go first"
"Hold up-"Chroamatikz began but blade cut her off.
"Chroam, look, there's nothing down there."
"Not that you can see!"
"But even if there was we know how to fight."
"Can we stop arguing and start moving?" Nightwave cut in quickly.
They began to climb down the cliff face scratching against the uneven face and getting there arms cut to ribbons on it and brambles that snagged in the cliff, save for Blade whose thick coat acted as a sort of armor. Near the bottom however they heard a moan of pain.
"Huh?"Blade said turning around while keeping his hold on the rock
"What is it" Chroamatikz asks. they stop and look around.
"Look!"Twinkleshy says noticing a wounded pony slumped up against the rocks surrounding a crater.Blade immediately drops to the ground to help the wounded pony.
"Blade, wait!" Chroam calls after him, then drops herself. the rest soon follow. Blade quickly reaches the pony. It is was pegasus. He quickly realized that the left foreleg was broken.
"Can you here me?" Blade asked the injured pony. He nodded."I'm going to help you, ok?" Another nod. Then the pegasus pointed to a pile of rocks directly across from him.
"There's a...medkit...under those...rocks. Nngh!" He said with great pain before slumping back.
"Stay with me!" Blade said, "Chroam, get over hear and keep him conscious. You two help me dig out the med kit!" The moment is friends got there they set to work. It took ten minutes to move enough rocks to get the medkit loose. Blade then opened it up. On top was a medical splint, something he knew how to use. He quickly grabbed it and ran over to were the pegasus lay. He set to work applying the splint when suddenly, his hands caught fire. For some reason it did not hurt. Then Chroamatikz spoke.
"Blade! Your necklace! It's glowing." she said astonished. This event also unlocked other powers, not just within Blade but within themselves as well.
"If that's the case, then...?" Blade said. using his new powers, Blade began to heal the wounds. In no time, the pegasus was healed completely.
"Thank you," he said.
"Sure," Blade said,"by the way, I'm Blade Crysto and these are my friends Chroamatikz, Nightwave, and Twinkleshy. We had heard that the leaders of the defensive lines had been captured and offered to rescue them."
"I'm Lightning Wings," the pegasus said, "it was noble of you to offer your services. Please, allow me to accompany you."
Blade nods his approval to allow Lightning to come with them.
Further into the battlefield, Blade decides to question Lightning, hoping to get more information on what their dealing with.
"So whats so bad that you need all of Equestria's rulers commanding the defensive lines?" Blade asks.
"The Shades," Lightning explains, "They're embodiments of darkness that attack without mercy and can take the form of somepony else."
Just then, Blade notices something in the distance. "You mean like that?" he asks, for it matched the relative description he was just given.
"Yes. I think we're close to wherever these things started coming from," Lightning said.
"Hmm..." Blade says, studying the way the Shade was moving, "attentive, looks behind him every five seconds. Ah!" he says finally. He then picks up a rock and throws it into the overgrowth of the forest behind the Shade.
"Who's there?!" it yelled. Blade quickly runs up behind it and twists its head sharply to one side.
"That's that." he said. The others walk over. Suddenly, there is a high-pitched, ear splitting shriek and shades leap out of the forest. Startled by this, Blade falls back in surprise at the same time swinging his left arm outward in a desperate attempt to fend them off. as he swings his arm however, his favorite weapon, a scythe, its blade gleaming a bright silver in the sunlight, appears in his hand, decapitating three shades at once.
"Weapon summoning? Sweet!" he said, quickly going on the offensive. His friends quickly take notice and immediately linked the cause of this particular power to their bracelets. With that, Chroamatikz summons a chain flail, a twelve inch thick spiked ball connected to forty feet of impossibly strong chain. Nightwave summoned an elegant broadsword, a four foot long double edged blade. Twinkleshy, despite her sweet exterior, had a twisted mind, and summoned claw gauntlets, with four inch claws on the ends of the fingers. Lightning was without a weapon, but he managed. The fight was over almost as soon as it started.
"That didn't take very long." Lightning said, defeating an attempted escapee."your combat prowess is like nothing I've seen, but then, you're not like anything I've seen." Blade chuckled at this last bit. Lightning couldn't be more right!
"Let's get moving." Blade said. The trek through the woods was met with no resistance, something they did not expect. They made it through the forest with no problems. Exiting out the other side, they come to a massive cave, the inside of which was pitch black.
"How are we going to see in there?" Chroamatikz asks, conveniently forgetting Blade could control fire. Blade ignored her, grabbed a couple pine branches and lit them. He handed one to Nightwave and the other to Chroamatikz. He creates his own fireball torch; they enter. After some time, the path split, going three different directions.
"Oh, great!" Chroamatikz complains.
"Splitting up is the only way we'll be able to search all the tunnels and get out of here quickly." Blade said. "Chroamatikz, you and Lightning Wings take the left tunnel. Twinkleshy, Nightwave. You search the right one. I'll take the middle one on my own."
"Hold up, if you think for one minute I'm letting you go off on your own, you're insane!" Chroamatikz may not have any special feelings for Blade, but she saw him as a little brother.
Blade sighs,"Chroam,how many times do I have to tell you i can look after myself?"
"Fine." She says, turning her head sharply.
"Is he always like this?" Lightning asks Chroamatikz as they search the tunnel.
" Yeah. It can be pretty annoying.He's like a brother to me though."Chroamatikz responded. After hours of walking, they hear a voice.
"Who are you?!" it calls. Lightning and Chroam run towards the sound. Soon, the light from the torch floods the cell. Inside it is Shining Armor.
