A Forgotten Legacy

Word spread like wildfire about how Sunny and her friends were going to help Silver Lance rebuild the E.U.P thanks to Pipps latest broadcast and within hours, Lances hut had recruits all lined up and eager to join the new guard regiment from earth ponies for Maretime Bay to unicorns from Bridlewood and everywhere in between.

"Okay everypony, line up and wait your turn! No shoving or pushing please." Hitch said with authority as he gave his signature grin that made some of the mares swoon while Sunny just rolled her eyes.

"You are such a showoff."

"Jealous much Sunny?" Hitch joked as he was given a playful shove.

"So where's Lance? isn't he supposed to be in charge of this event?"

The crowd began to murmur amongst themselves as Lance stepped out of his cabin in full royal guard armor and had a serious glare that made some of the ponies nervous, even a few pegasi were starting to break sweat as he walked passed them with that stone cold stare.

"So you lot want to join the E.U.P huh?" Lance asked but was met with silence before stomping his hoof hard on the ground.

"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION ROOKIES!!"

"YES SIR!!" The ponies shouted in unison while Sunny and her friends stood in shock.

"Whoa. Nice pipes." Izzy said as he paced back and forth in front of the recruits.

"Yeah um, he was in charge of training the new recruits when he was in the guard." Zipp whispered while her sister began recording.

"Listen up newbies, If you wish to become a member of the E.U.P you need three things: Strength, Determination and above all Cooperation. In this training course, you will learn to work with partners from the other races so it does not matter of you are Earth Pony, Unicorn or Pegasi! Here we work and act as one! DO YOU GET ME?!?"

"YES SIR!!"

"Whoa, talk about loud!" Pipp whispered to the camera as the recruits followed Lance to a forest clearing where a large corral had been built.

"This is a simple exercise rookies. In groups of three, you will all attack me. I will be playing the part of a criminal who needs to be captured. So who's up first?"

It came to no surprise that most of the recruits were unwilling to work with any pony outside their own race but like any good leader, Sunny stepped up and volunteered along with Hitch and Zipp.

"Ooh check it Pipsqueaks! My friends and my sister are gonna go hoof to hoof against a former guard! By the way, he's single and likes sweets."

"PIPP!! You swore to keep that a secret!!" Lance blushed as some of the recruits giggled.

"Okay so how does this work?" Hitch asked while doing a few stretches while some of the mares in the crowd took pictures.

"Simple. You three must try and pin me down within five minutes and if you win then congrats, you'll go on record as the first team to do it on the first try."

"Any rules?" Zipp asked while giving her wings some practice flaps.

"Magic is allowed so long as it's not lethal along with any form of force required such as tackling or submission but no dirty fighting unless under extreme circumstance. Anything else?"

"What happens if we can't pin you in five minutes?" Sunny asked as she felt a bit nervous.

"Then you fail. Simple as that. Izzy, you ready with that hourglass?"

"Ready!" Izzy cheered while standing next to a small hourglass.

"On my mark...BEGIN!!"

Hitch was the first to try and pin down Lance as he charged in but missed when the pegasus took off like a shot into the air, Zipp saw this chance and flew straight at him but her attack was also evaded as Lance flipped backwards before landing in front of Sunny who froze up the second he was in her sights.

"Boo."

"I GOT HIM!" Hitch said as he charged again, unaware Zipp was closing in from above

"Rookies." Lance smirked as he rolled out of the way and the two friends slammed into Sunny just as the sand in the timer ran out.

"Time's up!" Izzy shouted as the three groaned in pain.

"How did I beat you?"

"Uhh you're too fast?" Hitch replied in the form of a question.

"You have more experience than us?" Sunny replied in the same manner.

"It's because we didn't work together." Zipp answered correctly as Lance pointed his hoof at her and nodded.

"The key to being a good squad is to work in sync with one another. Each squad must function like a machine with all it's parts working together to make it work." He lectured as Izzy prepared to start the timer.

"On my mark!"

"Psst. Sunny, you know any spells to freeze this guy?" Zipp asked while keeping an eye on Lance who was doing some stretches.

"Um one but I didn't really have time to practice."

"Can it at least hold him for a few seconds?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good. Hitch, you're with me."

"Roger that." Hitch said with a confident smirk.

"GO!!"

This time, when the trio attacked they were more in sync and Lance was starting to get a run for his money as Hitch and Zipp coordinated with each others moves to keep him on his hooves while Sunny focused her magic.

"They've adapted, good." Lance thought to himself while dodging Hitch and Zipp who were doing well to keep him away from Sunny.

"Not bad farm boy, You'd make a decent captain."

"Why do you keep calling me that?" Hitch asked as be became annoyed with his nickname.

"Well Earth Ponies are known to be great farmers. It's why the other races think you used to have tiny brains since most ponies thought farmers only knew how to grow plants." Lance replied before using his wings to make a dust cloud that blinded them.

"cough! cough! okay, now I get it but why are pegasai depicted as brutes?" Hitch asked just as Lance used his wings to disperse the cloud.

"Simple because we pegasai are proud-WARRIORS!!"

POW!!

Hitch was sent tumbling across the dirt as the other recruits and Sunny gasped while lance smirked as he turned to Zipp.

"Next?"

"Why you!!"

Zipp was furious after witnessing how one of her friends was just beaten to the ground and engaged lance in an aerial battle making it very difficult for Sunny to get a fix on him as they dashed around the sky with the clock still ticking.

"One minute left!" Izzy shouted over the excited cries of the crowd, making Sunny's horn start to flicker as it became harder to concentrate.

"Sunny! Stay focused!" Zipp shouted just before Lance began pushing her towards the edge of the arena.

"I'd be more worried about yourself!" Lance shouted as he charged towards Zipp but missed his target.

"NOW!!"

Before he knew what hit him, Lance was blinded by a flash of light and felt his whole body freeze up as he tried to escape but was slowly frozen in place when the last of the sand ran out.

"TIME!!" Izzy shouted when everypony saw that Sunny's spell had worked and gave a round of applause.

"It worked?" Sunny asked herself when she saw Lance trapped in a magic aura.

"It worked!! THIS IS SO COOL!!"

"Great job Sunny." Lance said through his clenched teeth while his eyes darted around, trying to look behind him.

"Now that you know how to use that spell, perhaps you can unfreeze me?"

"Oh right so um how do I..."

"Just take a deep breath and relax!" Izzy shouted from across the sparring ring.

Sunny did as instructed and took a deep breath to calm her nerves before deactivating her spell. For the rest of the day, many of the recruits tried to do what Sunny's group had done but with little to no success and as expected, most were sent home after failing the test with only a few passing but Lance had anticipated this since ponies had not done any fighting for the past thousand years.

"So? how many did we recruit?" Sunny asked with anticipation in her voice.

"Ten." Lance deadpanned while sipping some coffee.

"It's to be expected though, most of the recruits spent their time trying to one-up each other instead of working as a team."

"Yeah, guess we still got a few kinks to work out in getting the three tribes to get along again." Sunny said sheepishly while looking back at the old guard armor and the crests they bore.

"So Lance, can you tell us about these strange symbols?"

"Yeah. Like what do they represent?" Hitch asked after pouring himself a cup of joe.

"Those are the crests of the four great princesses of Equestria." Lance said with a nostalgic smile.

"For over three-thousand moons, they watched over our land and kept peace an harmony between the tribes." He explained while pointing out the crests.

"The first princess; Princess Celestia whose magic was powerful enough to raise the sun, the second princess, Princess Luna was her sister who raised the moon and watched over our dreams, the third princess was their niece Amore Candeza or Cadence as she liked to be called and finally perhaps the one who succeeded them all." He paused to look at a purple star on one of the breastplates.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle. Princess of Friendship and keeper of harmony."

"Just like my dads stories!" Sunny gasped when she grabbed her journal to show lance a page of the same star and several other symbols.

"My dad said these were the cutie marks of the guardians who helped Princess Twilight during her reign but we could never figure out their names! Please tell me YOU know them?" Sunny begged when Lance went to fetch the manuscript from his trunk again and scrolled through the pages to find the symbols.

"Here we are. Chapter 50, The Guardians of Harmony."

"Whoa!" Izzy said in astonishment as the group found themselves staring at a picture of ponies from different races standing together and smiling for a picture along with a little dragon.

"Is that them?"

"Yup. Applejack, The Element of Honesty, Rarity, The Element of Generosity, Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, Fluttershy, Element of Kindness and Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter. In the center is Twilight Sparkle herself; The Element of Magic."

"Hold on." Pipp said when pointing at Twilights picture.

"I thought princesses were Alicorns like Sunny, why is she a unicorn?"

"She didn't just become a princess overnight. She and her friends had to face many trials together and battled their fair share of baddies." Sunny said while Lance gently closed the book.

"So...what happened to them?" Zipp asked as Lance tucked the manuscript back in the trunk.

"That is the saddest part actually." Lance sighed.

"The one thing no pony can beat is time. Eventually all of Princess Twilights friends passed away from old age and while it took some time, she too would pass on but not before leaving a parting gift for her subjects."

"You mean the crystals?" Sunny asked.

"Yup. It was her hope that those three crystals would serve as the new elements of harmony for all Equestria but then came the division. Races that were once united turned on each other, friends and neighbors were turned into bitter enemies and soon each tribe decided to keep one crystal for themselves."

"And no pony knows how it all started." Zipp added with an approving nod from her friend.

"Well enough history lesson. It's getting late and I gotta get these recruits outfitted for their armor tomorrow."

"Night Lance!" Izzy said with a friendly wave goodbye.

"Night guys, see you in the morning." Lance said as Sunny and her group left.

While turning in for the night, he found an old photo of him as a colt standing next to his grandfather who was still in the royal guard at the time and with a nostalgic smile, he looked at the photo and whispered.

"We did it grandpa...we did it."

End.