Season 10: Dawn of a new generation of Harmony

He was waking up to a beautiful morning, refreshed and ready to begin his day. Hero got up to go and wait out in the meeting room for the others to gather. An uneventful morning on an otherwise bright and beautiful one. "Now, where is everybody?" His thoughts were cut off upon seeing the opening doors to the meeting room to reveal Celestia of all ponies.

"Good Morning to you, Hero. Why're you in here?"

"I suppose I could ask you the same question, Celestia."

"I suppose you could, could you? Well, I guess I figured I'd find somepony in here."

"Same here. I was hoping that someone would join me in here soon."

"Well, I suppose you're in luck then 'cause I'm an early riser myself," Celestia said with a strange bit of pride in herself as she stretched her limbs and yawned. "There's something truly wonderful about the daytime and, of course, the nighttime, too."

"Yeah, I agree; they're both pretty cool. So, what was it like to have once served as a princess for so long? I can't imagine that ever being easy to do."

"Oh. You don't know half of it, Hero. At times, being a princess had become very cumbersome and unbearable. But knowing that I was doing my best for the future of my little ponies, it was a position that I felt privileged to have." Celestia then looked back at him as she said, "Does that satisfy your curiosity, Hero?"

"Yeah, it does. So then, when's everyone else going to wake up?"

"Well, I'll tell you who isn't going to, Luna. She hates being an early riser. Believe me when I say you do not want to make Luna cranky." Celestia stated that no sooner than that, the doors opened to reveal Twilight, then both Starlight and Fluttershy. "Well, good morning, ladies."

"Good morning, Celestia. Morning, Hero." Twilight greeted both of them.

"Good morning, guys." Starlight greeted with a yawn.

"Yes. Good morning, everypony." Fluttershy told all four of them that we were here now. "Hero. I don't think I've ever had the chance to get to know you. I'm sorry about that."

"Hey, it's no problem." Hero brought out his hoof to shake hers as she returned the gesture. "So, where's everyone else?"

"I think they're all still sleeping." Fluttershy then asked. "So then, if you want to open up to me, I'd be happy to listen."

"I-I mean sure. But didn't everyone already inform you about me?"

"Nope." Fluttershy shook her head, affirming that she knew some but not everything of Hero's beginning.

"Well, to keep it short: My home was destroyed by darkness, I was cursed by some strange guy who caused that darkness, and now I'm Equestria's last hope. So I'm doing fantastic right now." She backed away some from his sudden attitude. "Hey, I'm sorry if I raised my voice."

"N-No, it's okay. I understand why you're upset. That's an awful lot to have to worry about." Fluttershy then decided to console Hero by giving him a hug with her right wing and both forearms to help him relax. This worked incredibly well as what she was trying to accomplish; she managed to do. "There, there, Hero. You'll always have our friends here to help you through this. You have my promise on that."

"Thanks, Fluttershy. You guys are nice, you know? And I promise to be the best I can be as Equestria's defender." Hero proclaimed as he was met with the approval of everyone in the room. "But there's no guarantee that everyone will be in here of all places, you know? What if we went out while everyone else still rests up?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. A good walk to help get the blood flowing to these old bones." Mused Celestia as she giggled a bit.

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad, Celestia," Twilight said, looking over at her equal.

"Twilight, I'm over two thousand years old; that is old."

"Yeah, I know that, but why do you have it make it sound so... well, bad?"

"I can assure you, Twilight, that wasn't my intention."

"Yeah, I know that- Forget I mentioned it; let's just go and enjoy our morning walk."

"Man, this hippogriff place is pretty big and all, but I'm not exactly able to blend in with the crowd and not look suspicious. Hmm... what to do?" Grubber arrived at the crack of the morning at the Hippogriff Kingdom to retrieve that black box that Chrysalis wanted. "I'll see if I can get her on the wire quickly." Grubber walked off to a private area and was unnoticed as he then used the magic crystal he took from his left pocket and signaled for Chrysalis; her holographic image had shown to Grubber- the usual snarl on her face told him that he was interrupting her 'me time.

"What is it, Grubber?"

"Your Highness. This might be the wrong place, but you said many creatures were here, right?"

"There isn't a problem, is there?"

"Well... funny, you should ask. There are only hippogriffs here."

"What!? I thought that Princess Twilight had made a peace treaty with this kingdom or something. Are you sure you're in the Hippogriff Kingdom, Grubber?"

"Well, that's what the sign said, at least. I wonder what's going on here?"

"Never mind that; your job is to retrieve that black box. If you do manage to find out what's happening, we may be able to capitalize on this."

"And how to pray to tell are we going to do that? I can't imagine the residents here taking too kindly to me, especially after they recognize me from what I did while working with The Storm King."

"Hmm.. amazingly, you have a point. I suppose that would gain too much negative attention for you. Then perhaps you must use the Tainted as a distraction. A little chaos from them, and nobody there will pay any attention to you."

"Hmm... yes. That would work, wouldn't it?"

"Of course, it will! Now use them and get what you came there for! Until you've acquired the black box, do not even dare bother me again, Grubber!"

"Yes, Your Highness. Oh ho ho, this will be a lot of fun." Then her holographic face disappeared as the crystal dimmed, and Grubber put it back into his pocket. "Alrighty then, Tainted. You overheard what we were saying; get to it!" Grubber laughed as two Tainted Pawns were summoned to his aid and then dispersed as their bodies sunk into the ground and went to carry out their task.

"The sunshine this morning is just great. That celestial auto-dial works like a charm, Celestia."

"Well, that's probably because it is a charm, Twilight. A mighty one, imbued with a fraction of our magic, contains the sun and moon management spells." Celestia was walking to Twilight's left while Starlight was to her right, and Hero was walking alongside Fluttershy.

"Well, it certainly is a marvel of magical technology. I can't imagine the time and effort that must have gone into its creation- I'm fascinated, nonetheless." Starlight said as she looked over to Twilight.

"Well, it's certainly useful and very convenient. I mean, not that I'd ever want my position to involve less work. It's just that I have a lot of duties and responsibilities to perform every day."

"I completely understand Twilight. It's exactly why Luna and I gave that to you."

"Well, you do know how to think ahead, that's for sure."

"Trust me, Twilight. Things have been rough for all of us. It couldn't have been easy to accept that Equestria was again in danger for Celestia. Or the entire balance of Equestria's survival hinges on Hero's survival. Or that I was nearly tormented by you know who, or that Fluttershy was tasked with helping to bring first aid to all of us when we were defending Ponyville from that gigantic metal tainted. This brings me back to you. Your job isn't easy; being a leader of anything is a commitment. But you're never doing it alone."

"I know, Starlight. And I appreciate everyone here. I'm so grateful for having everybody here, together with me. Celestia is retired. That meant she wasn't obligated to help us, nor was Luna. And yet, here they are, ready to fight alongside us again."

"Well. Twilight, retirement was and still is very nice and all. But, it did become rather dull very quickly. There's nothing to do but be pampered by the subjects I've always served. You couldn't blame Luna and me for wanting more action again. Just like old times."

"Well, when you put it like that, you sound like it's a prison, Celestia." Twilight looked over to Celestia.

"Well. No offense, but it was." Celestia replied in earnest.

"Oh. Well, I'm glad to see the both of you back again." Twilight then hummed a more upbeat tune as she walked with everyone. It was nice to see her happy, Hero could admit.

"So, you think everyone else will be awake when we return?" Hero asked Twilight.

"I do believe they would be, Hero. I can't imagine them not being awake by then."

"Hehehe, That's right, Tainted; cause as much chaos as you want. Take as many hearts from them, too. They can be as an appetizer for you." The Tainted was too happy to do this as they all surrounded the hippogriffs, some even being grabbed by a few pawns and having their hearts torn.

Their bodies were then slowly turning into more of them. You could see the terror and despair on their faces as they knew this was it for them. A stray guard dodged as many shadowy invaders as possible, heading to the highest peak of Mount Aris, where Queen Novo had resided. The doors busted open as the guard tried to catch his breath before speaking, "Trouble, Your Highness. Big trouble. We're under attack!"

"What!? Who would dare to do this?" Novo then looked out to her kingdom and saw strange shadows lurking around and picking off her subjects. "I will not allow this to happen. Make sure to get Twilight's attention. We need help. I'll do my best to keep many of my subjects safe."

"Yes, Your Highness." The hippogriff guard hugged his queen as he saluted and made way for Equestria's capital.

"May you return safely and be careful of those things," Novo warned her soldier as he flew off. "Twilight. I sure do hope that you'll be here soon."

"Well. That was a good walk. I guess now's a good time to return to the castle, right?" Hero asked as they saw in the distance, coming close was what appeared to be a very distressing hippogriff.

"Princess Twilight. I'm so glad to see you." The soldier said, catching his breath from the long flight there.

"What's going on then? What can we do to help you?"

"It's terrible. Our kingdom is under attack by these strange black monsters. Novo needs help immediately." The soldier then collapsed from exhaustion.

"Sounds like those Tainted are causing trouble again. Not good. We'll have to go there. Hero, we could use your help. Starswirl will understand."

"Yeah. I'll be there. I'll do whatever I can, okay?"

"I-It's appreciated." We helped him up as he stated his gratitude.

"The train there would take too long. We'll have to teleport there." Twilight exclaimed as Fluttershy, Starlight, The Hippogriff soldier, Hero, and Celestia gathered up to her and teleported to the Hippogriff Kingdom.