Shining In Equestria: Prologue

A young and energetic white alicorn comes prancing through the open door of the study followed by a timid blue one. She runs up to an elderly beastman sitting in a recliner by a fireplace. Upon closer inspection, the beastman notices that there is a rather old book held in the alicorn’s magic.

“What is that you have there Celestia? It doesn’t look like any of the books from your father’s library.” The beastman states.

Slowing down as she approaches him; a sheepish smile crosses her face. “It technically isn’t from his library. At least not the main branch.”

Turning to face her more, a stern frown appears on his snout. “Did you go into the forbidden archives again? How many times has your father told you not to go in there? There are things in there that could hurt you, or worse!”

Approaching from behind the slightly larger alicorn, the blue one pulls the book from her grasp and places it on the beastman’s lap. “We weren’t going to touch anything, but then we saw this laying on father’s desk. It had a name on it that I recognized from a conversation you had with our father. Uncle Zylo…Who was Max and why was his journal in the forbidden archives?”

Finally looking down at the book, he takes notice of the words on the cover ‘Shining Force Travel Journal By: Max’. A sorrowful sigh escapes him as the memories of their adventures come flooding into his head. “That is no excuse for being in there Luna. That being said, I honestly cannot fault you for being curious about this.” He opens the book to the first page and gently runs his claws down the page. Then looking at the two young mares, he smiles. “I know you already had your history lesson today, but how would you to like to hear a story? A story that is almost as old as I am.”

Celestia and Luna look at each other eyes twinkling with excitement, when a mischievous smirk crosses Celestia’s muzzle. She lets out a giggle turning to look at the elderly man “That is pretty old Uncle Zylo!” Barely able to finish her sentence, she burst out laughing.

Scooping the little one up in his arms “And here I thought I was being nice and telling you about the man who saved all of Rune…Equestria. Sorry, I was so caught up in the past I forgot you two don’t even know that name.”

Setting Celestia beside him on the recliner, he then leans down to help Luna up on the other side. He then looks down and starts reading from the journal, answering questions when they asked, talking of friends long since past the few who are still around. As he reaches the final few pages of the journal Celestia notices that the handwriting has changed. When she asked about it, he grew silent. The silence continues for a few minutes until Zylo finally spoke up. Instead of answering her question, he continued reading from the journal.

“As Max plunged his sword into the remaining head of the foul Dark Dragon, the Chaos Breaker’s seal kicked in. As the fortress started shaking Max noticed that he could not remove his hands from the sword. No one was willing to leave him behind, but Max was a stubborn man. As soon as everyone gathered around to try and free him from the sword, he cast that damn spell. Egress. As our party took notice of their surroundings, we took notice of Max’s absence. Staring out to the fortress, we stayed silent as it sunk into the ocean. Several of our companions started to cry, Blue’s sorrow-filled roar shook the countryside, and I stood there holding onto my stomach. Vowing to not let his sacrifice be in vain, we all went our separate ways. By the time the original eight and Queen Anri made it back to Guardiana I was already showing. It was a bittersweet announcement to make to my companions, but they were very supportive throughout the whole ordeal.

Several months had passed since the Shining Force had gone their separate ways, but for the recent event, we were all gathered again. Khris, Anri, and Alef helped with the birth. The birth was smooth, but oddly enough, the child was a colt. Now he wasn’t your standard colt either. His fur was an inferno red a long brown mane. A tiny stub of a horn protruded from his forehead as well as a set of tiny wings from his back. Stranger yet was when Anri told me that he had an immeasurable amount of magica residing inside him. With Anri having queenly duties to take care of Tao volunteered to assist in teaching him how to harness that magic when he became old enough. Balbaroy had said that we could come to the birdman city when he starts showing signs of attempted flight. He may still be a colt but he got his father’s stubbornness. Keeps trying to walk and he isn’t even a week old yet. That is why I named him Solaris Maximus. I know as he grows older most will probably just refer to him by Solaris, but I want him to have something to remind him of his father…..God, I miss you Max…why did you have to go?”

Zylo closed the book and looked between the two young alicorns. They both had confused looks on their faces. He opened his mouth to speak but hesitated. It was then that a deep voice came from the doorway “The last pages were written by my mother. Her name was Mae. She would tell me stories of my father when I was just a young colt. Now it is well past your bedtime, so why don’t the two of you run off to bed. You’ll need your energy for re-organizing the library tomorrow.” Celestia and Luna both moaned and groaned about what was just said When Solaris poot a hoof up “I have told you to more times than I can count to stay out of the forbidden archives, and since you don’t want to listen you can re-organize the library as your punishment.”

As the two young mares walk out of the room Zylo looks at Solaris “You know they will never learn their lesson with how soft you are on them?”

Solaris chuckled and smirked at the elderly Beastman “So says the one who read them a story instead of lecturing them from here till next Tuesday. What happened to the old hard ass that whipped my scrawny hide into shape back in the day? You aren’t growing soft in your old age are you Uncle?”

“Hey now, I could still kick your scrawny butt. Don’t let these old bones foal you, I am still as tough as I was in my youth.” Zylo’s head then hangs a bit as a sad smile pulls on his snout “Max would be proud of you squirt. So would your mother. After the world started changing, and after the panic that fell to Guardiana when Anri fell ill with no children to take over for her. You not only took on a responsibility you didn’t need to with Guardiana but for the whole world when you started uniting everyone under one banner. And now that things are finally slowing down after what 500 years, you are finally starting a family of your own. I never thought you would find another of your generation with the same kind of magic potential you had though. Where did you say she was from again?”

Walking over and sitting on the floor by Zylo, Solaris mirrored the sad smile that his old friend had. “She was the ambassador sent over from Granseal. From what Faust has told me, her parents were both magically gifted individuals. Her mother, unfortunately, passed away during childbirth, and her father passed of old age. That was something we could bond over to an extent, but what really pulled me in was her caring nature. I wish mother could have met her.”

Along the shores of Equestria, the ocean started to bubble, and a young man crawls up to the beach. As he got to his feet, he spots a town in the distance. Looking down and gripping the handle of the sword sheathed at his side, a green light is admitted from inside the sheath. Gritting his teeth, he looks back up at the village and begins to make his way to it. “I must return to Guardiana! I must warn them!”

Author's Note

This is my first time ever attempting to write a story for here. It is also the first time I have attempted to write in the past nearly 11 years. I would appreciate any feedback, and I will add chapters as I have time (college is very time-consuming).