The Calm Before The Storm
Chapter One
There were three countries upon the continent of Equestria. There used to be a great number, but they were all taken over by one country in particular, except two. Those were the Solar Kingdom, The Crystal Empire, and the Lunar Empire. The Solar Kingdom was run by Princess Celestia, the Crystal Empire was run by Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armour, and the Lunar Empire was controlled by Empress Luna. It was a land of many creatures, like Ponies, Griffins, Buffalo, and various other, rarer races. The land may be mostly peaceful, however there are a great number of threats that come to threaten that peace...
Twilight Sparkle awoke. She was a student at Princess Celestia’s School for Talented Unicorns, and in the top classes for almost everything. She was even occasionally tutored by Celestia herself! “Sunset! Wake up!” Twilight shook her only friend awake. Sunset Shimmer slapped Twilight away, grumbling as she attempted to return to her sleep. “Come on! The princess wants to see us!” Sunset sat up, her mane an uncontrolled mess.
“Was that today?” She asked, rubbing her eyes.
“Yes!” Twilight said excitedly as she prepared herself for the day.
Twilight was relatively short and thin, with a purple coat and a purple mane with a dark purple and pink streak through them. She wore a blue shirt with a pink six point star above another six point star, this one white, with 5 stars around it. She also wore black trousers with large trousers, and brown boots. Sunset, on the other hand, wore a black leather jacket, and a blue dress. She had a red and yellow mane, with a yellow coat.
The two grabbed their book bags, and left the room, to make their way to the Princess’ room. Twilight and Sunset shared almost every class they were in. They quickly began studying together, and grew to be friends. Celestia noticed this, and must have decided that they were a pair of good enough students to be tutored personally. Twilight immediately researched this with Sunset, and discovered that this wasn’t incredibly uncommon. It happened every one hundred years on average. There had even been a time where Celestia had 3 seperate students at one point! Twilight had been thinking of this as they entered the Princess’ room.
“Ah, Twilight, Sunset. Are you two alright?” Celestia smiled as she saw her students. Celestia had a flowing multicolour mane, with a white coat. She wore a golden dress, something presumably made hundreds of years ago with a classic royal look, possibly with her making the stereotype herself. She had wide, white wings resting and occasionally stretching them in her relaxed position.
“I am.” Twilight said excitedly, bouncing over to Celestia, who quickly pushed files away, one of which Sunset noticed was labelled ‘THE NIGHTMARE ACCORDS’. Sunset made a mental note to research that later.
“What do you want to talk to us about?” Sunset inquired. Celestia gestured to sit down.
“What do you know of the Lunar Empire?”
“Not enough.” Twilight admitted.
“That makes sense. I assume you understand that almost all of the Solar Kingdom’s knowledge on my sister’s kingdom come from an outsider looking in?” Twilight and Sunset nodded, “It means that a lot of textbooks treat my sister as some kind of barbaric monster.” It was true. From everything the two had read, they had grown to believe that Princess Luna was something of a beast. It was somewhat common knowledge that Luna used executions to deal with great threats instead of imprisonments, and that her citizens and government was a lot more authoritarian compared to Celestia’s kingdom. “It isn’t true. She may have her own opinions on how to deal with threats, but she still leads a stable populace, and they do like her. Luna recently told me that her history books and textbooks consider me a complete pushover and a weak ruler. It’s a similar scenario.”
“Why are you telling us this?” Sunset inquired.
“Because we have detected that a powerful threat that could very easily threaten all of the world.” Celestia said gravely.
“Really?!?” Twilight yelled, “What is it?”
“We do not know. However, I do have a job for you two to do.”
“What is it?” Sunset asked seriously”
“I wish for you to go out and locate the Elements of Harmony, so we can have a foolproof means of defeating this new threat.” The Elements of harmony were an 8-piece superweapon, which were intentionally lost to time, from most recounts. Celestia had at one point explained that each Princess knew the location of 2 parts, and the last 2 were in incredibly guarded locations. The Elements were Magic, Laughter, Kindness, Justice, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, and Redemption.
“Why don’t you do that, Princess?” Twilight inquired.
“Because I need to make sure that we could defend the cities and evacuate the smaller towns. Luna presumably will have the same issue, but I have ensued that you will have safe passage into her empire, where you will meet up with her personal student, who will also assist you in finding the elements.”
“Which crossing do we take?” Twilight asked.
“Take the southernmost crossing, you’ll get through, no questions asked, then you can get a carriage to the royal palace where Luna and her student will wait for you.”
“And what about the Crystal Empire?” Twilight inquired.
“Cadence will meet up with you at the Lunar Empire.” Celestia informed the duo.
“Okay. Can you tell us where the elements you hid are? We can go after them after we meet Luna’s student.” Sunset asked.
“Yes, sorry. I know of Magic and Kindness. Magic is hidden in the Canterlot archives, where it is under the ground beneath the Alicorn Amulet in the back. Kindness is under the library in Ponyville.” Celestia told them.
“Why?” Twilight explained.
“Because the Canterlot Archives are very heavily guarded and no-one would look under a tiny library in a tiny town for a superweapon, would they?”
“Fair point.” Twilight nodded.
“Now, go!” Twilight and Sunset ran out.