Once upon a time, there was a land far away from Equestria called Greavania. It was a land not unlike Equestria, with earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi. Unlike Equestrians, though, Greavanians were a warrior culture with a rich military history. The inhabitants were masters of every weapon and fighting style. One of their best schools, in fact, was called the Element Sword School. True to its name, it taught ponies how to fight using elemental swords.
One night, the grand master of the school, a unicorn named Furious Bellows-better known to his students as Master Fury-paced up and down, waiting for his elite guard. His scarlet red coat and jet black mane and tail shimmered in the moonlight. His dark orange eyes darted left and right.
He heard the door open, and grabbed his sword, Ignis. It glowed a bright amaranth as he swung it. "Who's there?"
Four cloaked ponies leapt into the room, each wielding a sword. They charged at Master Fury, but he easily parried each of their blows.
After a few minutes of fighting, Master Fury sheathed his sword. "So, I see even the elite guard holds back when fighting, huh?"
The first pony-a unicorn stallion-removed his hood, revealing his jet black coat, dark gray mane and tail, and blue-violet eyes. "We would never hold back against an enemy, Master." The other ponies nodded and removed their hoods as well.
"I see....state your names and the swords you wield."
"Shadow Cleave, wielder of Umbra." The black-coated stallion started.
"Frost Meteor, wielder of Terra." added a pegasus mare with an arctic blue coat, steel gray mane and tail, and azure blue eyes.
"Lila Sunlight, wielder of Lumini." put in a unicorn mare with a macaroon yellow coat, paprika red mane and tail, and coral pink eyes.
"Jackpot Thunder, wielder of Fulminus." finished a pegasus stallion with a navy blue coat, ebony black mane and tail, and hunter green eyes.
Master Fury nodded. "Good."
Shadow looked confused. "Why have you summoned us, Master?"
"I have had an interesting thought. Have you heard of Flora?"
"The Sword of Nature? Indeed," answered Frost.
"But no one in Greavania has been able to wield it," added Lila.
"No one in Greavania," repeated Master Fury. "But, perhaps....maybe an Equestrian might wield it well?"
Jackpot snorted. "Rubbish! Those friendship-loving diplomats couldn't know the difference between a sword and a knife!" The other three looked shocked.
"You do realize that Equestria has its own royal guard, right?" Frost asked him.
Jackpot scoffed. "Which hardly does anything these days. And let's not forget that princess of friendship-"
Master Fury gave him a disapproving look.
"Sorry, Master. You were saying?"
"As I was saying, an Equestrian may be able to wield Flora better than a Grevanian. Let us write a letter and send it to Equestria via arrow."
"But how will we know who is the right pony?" questioned Shadow. "For all we know, they might not even know how to hold a sword properly."
"Let's just write the letter and hope for the best," replied Lila. "If they don't know how to wield a sword, perhaps we can teach them."
The next day, the elite guard crowded around Master Fury as he wrote the letter.
"Dear Sir/Madam.....what should I say next?" he wondered.
"Perhaps," suggested Shadow. "you should explain why you're recruiting them."
"Maybe they're multi-talented?" added Frost.
Master Fury nodded and wrote down the words. "What else?"
"Not everypony is privileged to be invited to the Element Sword School. They should consider themselves lucky." grumbled Jackpot.
"This letter must be kept secret, so they should memorize the directions and destroy this letter," finished Lila. "We will be waiting for them."
"Sincerely, Element Sword School," finished Master Fury. He finished writing and used his magic to wrap the letter around an arrow.
Master Fury headed towards a tall tower. Here, one could see Greavania from a great distance. He took the bow and shot the arrow. It disappeared in the sky.
"Go forth, dear letter, and find our new wielder of Flora." said Master Fury. "They're our only hope..."
Author's Note
I haven't seen a lot of stories here on Fimfiction that have a Petunia adventure story. So I thought to myself, why not just write one?
Chapter 1: A mysterious letter
It was a sunny day in Hope Hollow. The sky was blue, and the birds sang sweetly in the trees.
Petunia Petals, a pink earth pony with a two-tone purple mane and tail and ocean blue eyes, was organizing books in the library of Hotel Hope. She was the wife of Sunny Skies, the mayor of Hope Hollow.
Petunia looked out the window and sighed happily. It was hard to believe that just two years ago, the town was devoid of color due to the townsponies'-and Sunny's-loss of hope. But thanks to the efforts of the Mane 6, the town got back its color.
Suddenly, without any warning, an arrow flew through the window and landed between two boards on the floor. Petunia was surprised. “How could an arrow have landed here? And who shot it?” she wondered. Then she saw a letter on the arrow. With her teeth, she carefully removed the letter from the arrow and opened it. The letter said:
Dear Sir/Madam,
Due to your unique set of skills, we have recruited you to be a part of the Element Sword School. Not everypony is privileged enough to be invited to this school, so consider yourself lucky. This letter is top secret. Memorize the directions and destroy this letter. We will be waiting for you.
Sincerely,
Element Sword School
Petunia was confused as she reread the letter. “This must be a mistake. Why was I invited to this school? On the other hand, they were right about my ‘unique set of skills’! A sword school....how interesting! Maybe I should go...but not until night. I don’t want Sunny or anypony else to ask questions.”
So she packed up some food, water, camping supplies, and a few books in her bag. Then she waited until nightfall. After she memorized the directions, she then put the letter in her bag, hoping to rip it up later. She closed and locked the door to the hotel.
Before she left, Petunia entered the house where she and Sunny lived. She went to their shared bedroom and found him sleeping. His puffy white mane and blue coat sparkled in the moonlight.
Petunia kissed him on the forehead. "Sorry, Sunny. I won't be home for a while. But don't worry, I'll come back." With that, she left the house.
Petunia headed out towards the town entrance. She sighed. "Goodbye for now, Hope Hollow." With a smile, she trotted off towards the unknown...
