Prelude: The Legend of the Seven Heroes
Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, friendship and harmony reigned over all. Famine and pestilence were naught but a distant memory, and the sound of the drums of war had been long replaced by joyous ballads and cheering. The Three Pony Tribes of Earth, Sky and Arcane lived in unity with one another, ruled over by the benevolent members of the Alicorn Tribe, who possessed the combined magic of all other Tribes and guided the astral bodies in the dance of the day and night cycle. The kingdoms of Dragons, Yaks, Gryffons and Changelings stood at their mightiest, properous and unchallanged by the monsters of the land.
This great era of peace, called the Age of Harmony, was protected by six great champions, each representing a great virtue:
Yukal-Khan, Champion of Yakyakistan and the Element of Strength;
Chitin, Princess of the Changelings and the Element of Healing;
Mistmane, Advisor to the Crystal Empress and the Element of Beauty;
Graham, Knight of Griffinstone and the Element of Hope;
Scintilla, Queen of the Dragons and the Element of Bravery;
And Starswirl the Bearded, Archmage of Equestria and the Element of Sorcery.
Empowered by a unbreakable bond of brotherhood and comradery, these Six Heroes defended the kingdom and its peaceful folk from the forces of darkness, coming out victorious against every dark being who threatened Equestria's peace. Under their protection, not even the greatest monsters could disrupt Equestria's golden age. Yet, not even they were able to prevent the Age of Harmony from being cut short by a evil beyond anything Equestria had ever seen before.
From a land to the west of Equestria, unleashed by a series of wars over an artifact of unimaginable power, a twisted creature sealed away long ago escaped its imprisonment and fled the war-torn kingdom by the sea to the shores of Equestria. It was a vile monstrosity of unspeakable power, so ancient that not even it remembered its true origins. A malevolent demon driven solely by a lust for power and a desire to rule.
Vaati.
The demon hid at first in the dark corners of the land, slowly regaining it's power, before it revealed itself, drowning the kingdom in a tide of darkness. The inhabitants of Equestria were forced to flee in terror as the cities became overrun by monsters, emboldened by their new dark master. Even though the Six Heroes fought against the demon's armies with all their might, they found themselves outnumbered by the beasts and outmatched by Vaati's vile magic, and were forced to retreat to a castle deep within a great forest.
But when it seemed that all was lost, a new figure arrived from the western ocean, bringing a bright flame of hope with him. A young champion of the descendants of the Goddess Hylia, adorned in a green tunic and cap, who had been drawn to the lands of Ponies, Dragons, Gryphons, Yaks and Changelings by the stories of Vaati's cruelty on the inhabitants. With their resolve renewed, Starswirl, the wisest of the Heroes, concocted a plan to put an end to the demon's tyranny.
Together, the Six Heroes used their mastery of the arcane to forge a new mighty weapon for the Seventh Hero: a magical sword forged within the hotest volcano in Yakyakistan from one of Scintilla's own indestructible scales, named The Dragon Blade.
Once the weapon was complete, the seven champions of their peoples goaded Vaati into a final battle inside a Unicorn temple far removed from any other sign of civilization. None truly know what happened in that temple when Vaati came face-to-face with Equestria's last hope, but once the battle concluded, the demon had been sealed away through a great magical ritual, severing his control over the monsters of the kingdom. Yet this victory was a bittersweet one, as all six original defenders of Equestria had perished in the final battle, having sacrificed themselves to stop the twisted creature.
With Vaati banished and the monster army having dissolved without their dark lord, the Seventh Hero returned to his homeland, but not before planting the seed of his allies' legacy, ensuring that even with their heroes gone, Equestria would remain protected in the case a evil like the demon ever threatened the land's peace and harmony again.
The crimson-robed Hylian put down the scroll onto a wooden table after having re-read the entire thing for the fifth time. For some time the figure stood completely still, looking at the old, slightly torn parchment with a deadpan expression, not able to comprehend his own luck. Eventually though, he started to laugh uncontrollably in pure joy, his laughter bordering on deranged.
"YES!," -- The Hylian finally shouted -- "THIS IS IT! Oh Goddesses, I thank you for finally rewarding me with this breakthrough!"
The Hylian, already pass the prime of his life and cloaked in a dark red long robe with a hood, began to frantically move around his tent, taking scrolls, various cartographic tools and a sack full of gold coins and packing them all into a couple of bags and one large chest placed at the tent's left wall. As he was in the middle of tying up one bag, a tall female Gerudo warrior ran into the tent through the entrance. She held a spear raised high as she entered, but she lowered her weapon when she noticed that the red-cloaked Hylian was alone.
"Ravik! I ran here as soon as I heard you scream. What happened?"
The Hylian turned to his Gerudo companion and put his hands on her arms with a cheery expression on his face, causing the Gerudo to tense up slightly.
"By the Goddesses, Uarsha, I finally found it! The breakthrough in our research we've been looking for! I translated one of the scrolls we found, and you won't believe what is written on it!"
Uarsha, now both intrigued and slightly worried for her friend and employer, watched as Ravik continued to pack all of their possessions with the vigour of a young man. She eventually managed to say something as the archeologist began to pack up her own armour and weapons that were placed in the north-eastern corner of the tent.
"I-Uhm... Okay, but what are you doing?"
"Preparing for our departure," -- replied Ravik -- "That scroll was the last thing of note on this site, and thanks to it I now know where to go next! We need to get to Castle Town first. I need to get the King's permission for this expedition, but I am sure he'll give us his seal of approval when I show him what we found."
Uarsha was now very interessted, and very worried too.
"Wait, we never needed the King's permission to go anywhere before. Ravik, where in the Goddesses' name are we going?"
Ravik turned to her with the happiest smile she has seen on his face since they found Princess Zelda the IXth's Tomb eight years ago.
"Beyond the Necludan Sea, where no person from Hyrule has been to in thirty years. To Equestria!"
