The Legacy of Harmonyby overlord-flinxChaptersPrologueChapter One: Kinship.Chapter Two: SevenChapter Three: Legacy.Chapter Four: Ban Dragonheart. Part 1.Chapter Five: Surprise. Part 1Chapter Six: Ban Dragonheart. Part 2.Chapter Seven: Worth.Chapter Eight: Whooves. Prologue.Prologue"History? Nay left to the old and brittle... 'Tis our fate to not outlive what we've been promised, but to live long enough to promise what will outlive us. The act of magnanimity, to accept ones fate with nobility and grace; this being our final challenge. So I pose you this: Do you posses the heart of endless fire that can fuel the fate of others? And if'n you do, will you part with it when the winds call for it?" You do not decide your fate, those before you give you the fate that they have earned you. To deny fate is to deny everything that your ancestors had sacrificed for. Once you draw breath and open your eyes to the world you have been born into, your fate is given to you. The fate you are given is final and unchangeable; to change it would be to change the past. To change the past would be as an easy a task as having fire not give light or heat. You cannot change your fate, the past, or your birth... But you can change your destiny. You have control over what you leave behind, what fate you give the next in the legacy. All it takes is for one being to accept fate and forge it to the mantel for destiny to forge a new fate; not a fate for them, but a fate for who will come next. The choice of legacy is what you have control over. What one does with this choice lays solely with that one. Once that is embraced... one will experience Harmony. Venture forward, the grace of light bestow, Nobility crafted his armor... Regality forged his resolve... Destiny granted his will... The proud and mighty guard of the Royal Family, though the title was long since buried along with the Royals. With a mane of blistering fire, a coat of shielded brown, and tassels of beaten red; those that saw him would claim they bore witness to the horse of War. Those that knew him would know he was no harbinger of war... And was as regal as the fowl perched against his gold plate. Few spoke words with this being, which made it a wonder that so many could know his name on sight. He was Fenix the Dragonslayer; a stallion who was never without his Philomena. His brow was weighed down with as many honourable recounts as it was failures. The greatest of those failures was the one he had to bury along with the Royals he swore his allegiance to... Though his will remains unbroken and his fire as bright as ever. The fire of life that has kept him alive for too many years to bare count to. Through spanning plains and mounted snow, The drums of celebration... The thumping of passage... the banging of war... With each step against the earth; against the mud; against the air; the rhythm of the world around him would tell him a new story. Be it the wind dancing against the stones to hark a tale of a fresh harvest within reach; or of the trickling of water into fresh dirt to alert that the road ahead was well covered in rain. The world told him everything, and he would honor the world by listening. The hooves he planted against his partner, though large and hefty, would go against the land as if it were a bed of flowers at each step. Actions spoke louder then his booming voice would ever tell; and what they told was of great truth. He was Ban Dragonheart; a buffalo chieftain and father of the fatherless wild. There is no measure to the lands he has walked across; the terrains he has bared. Each heirloom adorned across his body, from his paint to the beads around his tail, told of perhaps a thousand steps he took beyond any living creature took themselves. The steps he took he told were going to be someday the steps that his grandchildren, and his grandchildren's grandchildren, and his grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren would someday walk... And perhaps many generation after. Hear the trees stirring under their bark, The willow's wisdom... The oak's resilience... The meadow's calm... Peace and serenity, pride with no prejudice; in truth: nature. To ask the wind or the trees for anything is not foolish, but brash. You need only be patient, and be humbled by what the world grants you for your patience. That is what he believes. A belief that has brought upon him the blessings of nature and the nectar of sweet life for all his calm. To not take, to not ask, to not expect... But to be thankful alone. Thankful for what has been, may be, and will not. He was Pallanen Lifekeeper, the last of the ent deer. Where his hooves have rested, life has grown; streams have been reborn or made anew. Each stride, small or large is a stride of new life. From his antlers, the antlers that birds and butterflies nestle against in moments of calm, seeds and spores of unborn possibility are clipped against the passing wings. Through this, his gift to a waiting world can go even further. Not because it was stolen, not because he was asked, not because it was expected... But because he sees no greater kindness. Bones here do rattle against the dark, To err is not easy to avoid. Those that see this being, this being of inky garbs and a ghostly presence with a bleach white complexion and empty sockets for eyes, they know that to err was that being's greatest mistake. None ask, and few wish to even hazard a guess. Is it bound by dark magic? Is it a construct of chaos itself? Does it exist for any greater purpose outside of cackling and making jest out of near everything? Not one soul could say... But one skeletal pony could tell the tale. For it was their's to begin with. It was Surprise, a name befitting such an astonishing creature. Bound by no tendons or muscle, no skin or blood, but only by linen and bone. Surprise has never been a creature to lay on the idea of its own being, but rather being more inclined to make light of everything. "Jesting jovial is just just gents!" It would cackle and chatter with its bony body rattling at every word. Though many call Surprise an 'it', the few that have braved the question know in truth Surprise is no 'it'... But a she. Against the time, the heart beats prime, What was he? No one knew. Who was he? Not a guess. How did he come to be? A curious question. Why was he? Why was he indeed... Taverns far and wide told tale of 'the travelled colt', or 'the apothecary of passing'. He was beyond any sort of strange notions or anything. From nowhere, a stallion of tan coat and ragged clothes unknown to any pony's eyes came from town to town. This stallion regaled of stories from all across the world, of worlds that no one ever knew. Upon his back, he carried with him sights that clattered and clanged like no armor had ever done before. He was a marvel in so many ways; a stallion before his time. He was Whooves... No one knew his real name honestly. They only called him 'The Apothecary', or 'The Traveller'. When one would ask "Who was that stallion?" The answer would always be the same. "Who?". In time, the joke became that when someone would ask in the tavern, all customers would raise a mug and slam it back down yelling "Who's hooves? Whoove's hooves!" Why was this? Not one truly knew... Not even Whooves himself. But, if you asked him his name yourself, the answer would not be as mysteries as the tales would like you to think. The heaven above here, life gifting spark. Crown-less with a kingdom... A throne with no mountings... glass with no design... But the royal name exists without those. Years ago, the royals were slain in a charge led by their great enemies. Though they fought valiantly and in the end banished the heinous usurpers, only one of the royal family still stood. She pleaded that though her sisters were slain, that there could be hope found somewhere in this troubled time. That plea was answered... The plea's answer was Celestia and Luna... Before Equestria was founded, before the three pony tribes fought for supremacy, before Discord drew breath, before the Everfree forest had even a sprout, before the sun and moon were controlled by ponies... There existed a caravan unlike any other. They carried no bags; they had no carts; and they brought nothing but what clothes they wore when they started. They followed but one stallion; a stallion garbed in gold armor. Motion my motion, the five made little sound as their hooves tapped against the dirt trail. Only on a rare chance would one speak, and in that rare moment, it was usually the same phrase. "Bloody swear, Surprise... One more pun and I'm lighting your robe ablaze..." Author's Note The poem is done in the segmented tune of this. Edited it to add a few more lines. Chapter One: Kinship.The path ahead was well beaten and softened by the test of travelling hooves against it after so many years. It served as the main road between Stablehearth and Trothelme, two mildly prospering pony settlements. The road itself stretched for near ten miles; an fair travel for wagon to do business between the two towns. However, on lone hoof in a collective group, it was a much trying passage. This made all the more trying should you have found yourself with a sort that doesn't meet the traditional travelling requirements. "Fickle as a fury, Fenix, friendly friend forsooth; for true!" the skeletal revenant clacked his jaw soundly as it started to laugh at its own words. Trailing ahead of the skeleton garbed in an inky black robe was the one it addressed as Fenix. Fenix's head lowered down as the helmet around his head made for his sigh of anguish to echo with a metallic tone. Fenix pressed on none the less, shaking his head and dismissing the creature who was still laughing. "Surprise, surprise. Sure as shower shine! Surprise's shrew seems sullen as you!" the skeleton continued to laugh at a high pitched cackle; its bones rattling against the air like rain against stone. Finally, the tallest of the caravan, if only by his antlers height, moved beside Surprise and gave the skeleton a small nudge with one of his branching blue stems leaching out from his side. "Surprise..." his voice well soft and soothing as he offered a single glance down to the still chuckling revenant, "Perhaps your humor would best lighten our spirits once our wills have been hampered. For say, once we reach a tavern?" Surprise seemed to gnaw the idea over while the jilted mandible of his jaw clacked against the white of her top teeth. As perhaps the rarest of moments, Surprise nodded her bony head and remained quiet outside of escaping snickers from her absent maw. The near silence from Surprise instantly had an effect on Fenix as he put his head back up and strode against the road more clearly. Both Ban and Whooves let a passing sigh move out from them and they exchanged knowing glances. "Fenix, my friend," Whooves started up in this new moment of calm, "Would you put any coin on these hopes of yours?" Fenix gave an eye back to the pony, also taking in a small look to the bird perched against his own back that seemed to be mimicking Fenix's every motion. "Coin? Coin nay cover how sure I am on this one, lad. Put me own soul on this one, I'd'a say..." Fenix mused the notion back to Whooves as well to his own self. For days, their caravan had been moving between town to town looking for someone. By chance, the five of them had been brought together as it was already. Fate brought them here as one team. And yet... One seemed to be missing. They all could feel it flowing through them. An invisible desire and knowledge that something was missing. Someone... "If'n we don' find what'n we're looking for here... I will lick the dirt planted on Ban's thumping hoof!" Fenix laughed a bit, soon joined by his bird squawking along with him. Ban frowned at the comment, though seemed to only do so with a friendly entail. "If that be your wish, I would have Pallanen whip stinkweed to my hooves before you dine..." Ban's voice, though thundering, still held a friendly note to it. "Gladly I'd eat it, gladly I'd eat it. But only should I be wrong... Only if'n that happens." Fenix returned. A feeling of kinship went through the caravan and they started to move along with one another more briskly. All except Surprise who slithered up beside the group, her hooves refusing to touch the ground as they seemed to fold into her skeletal body. Trothelme was a simple, rustic village beside a river that ran through the spanning land. The settlement had no mayor, jarl, or village leader. To the same akin, very few settlements in the area had any of the sort. Instead, they were only governed by peacekeepers. It was a simple way of living for a simple land of living. But, unlike many other rustic settlements in the area, Trothelme was much well known and regaled as something special. To that day, Trothelme was one of few settlements that welcomed Earth pones, unicorns, pegasi, even gryphons within its grounds. For this, the structures were mostly made of stone and wood; well crafted and well put together to weather any storms. For any traveler of the realm, Trothelme was known to be a primary checkpoint or destination. Not only for the peace and equal nature of the town itself, but for the myth that the town promised. "Trothelme: The Town of Harmony". As the dirt roads of Trothelme ran clotted with rushing ponies this way and that, a young filly watched curiously from the crooks between two homes. The frazzle of her pink tail brushed against the floor she sat upon as she continued to watch the village ponies like a dog would its master. She mused glances this way and that with tilts of her white coat head, so interested with these ponies. Behind her, the darker and younger looking filly seemed far less interested in what the villagers were doing, and more so in what was tightly guarded in her hooves. The darker filly looked at the shimmering gold she protected with her whole body, trying to piece it out as her eyes looked it over moment by moment. For hours, perhaps even days, the two fillies had not broken from where they were. Nothing kept them there except a compulsion to remain in that village... Something telling them that in this town of 'harmony' they had to remain. And as the Celestia watched the ponies and Luna eyed the curious gold trinket, they waited for that reason to arrive. "Trothelme... Anything special about it, Ban?" "Legends say that any caravan that passes through the village is promised good fortune and fair winds in their coming travels. However, those caravans are only gifted with the maker's blessings by offering a spell of their own water to the sprout in the center of the village. In time, they say, that sprout will bring harmony to every reach that the roots shall spread." "If'n that's true, lets give it a good spritzing." Chapter Two: SevenTrothelme: The Town of Harmony. Rustic, quaint, and a key spot for any traveler looking to cross the land. The realm was vast, yet never as vast as the warmth Trothelme offered travelers. Many towns and settlements in the realm still, sadly, acted in harsh discrimination towards outsiders or 'lesser races'. But Trothelme was born on the backs of all races from across the realm. However, as diverse as they were, it still came as a curious sight to anyone in the village when they saw that most peculiar group of travelers. Mixed caravans were not at all strange to any citizen of Trothelme; but there was a limit to how mixed a group could be until it seemed abnormal. That is why when Fenix led his group in through the main gates of town, murmurs of interest and wonder fluttered against one and all's ears. Looking about the masses huddled against the path of the town, Fenix felt a scoff escape from his armor hid mouth. "Bleats. Act right they nay ev' seen a royal guard..." he paused a moment, using that moment to register his team behind him, "...or a buffalo... or an ent... or wot'ev' Surprise is." Both Ban and Pallanen couldn't help but laugh a bit to themselves as Whooves dropped his head dejected. Surprise, however, clacked her teeth against one another and whisked herself across the ground towards Fenix at the head. As she moved, ponies off to the side staggered and muttered of witchcraft and much akin, yet Surprise seemed to pay it no mind as she looked her empty socket eyes into Fenix's 'face'. "Rude remarks rake around," Surprise chanted with her usual eerie cheer, "Forget frumpy frumps for fifty flicks. Looking looks loose lost locket lead!" Another flow of confused chatter went through the onlookers, befuddled by this 'creature's' words. However, the confusion of those watching only grew when Fenix nodded his helmet covered head and gestured for his group to follow him. Once more, this strange group of mixed travelers moved through Trothelme, drawing to them more and more attention with each corner, house, bend, or stone they passed. It was only at some rare passes that some pony would remark remembering one or perhaps two from the group. Once claims of recognizing arose, the murmurs of interest died down and rose again as tales of the past. Thankfully or not, once ponies started to recognize members, the groups of followers started to trickle away and left Fenix and his party to their own. At the leaving of the final few of followers, Whooves huffed once in his following path. "Twenty..." He grumbled halfhearted. "Pardon?" Pallanen craned his head down to Whooves, curious to know what was bothering him. "Out of sixty ponies, only twenty knew who I was. One third. That's not as many as I hoped..." Pallanen tapped his antler against Whooves head playfully, noticing the joking smirk he was now putting on. "It'll be three out of three soon, Turner," Fenix called back to Whooves, "Promise ya' that. History's 'bout to be written in gold fer' us. But it's a history written in six inks." Fenix looked ahead of himself before suddenly coming to a halt. Once Fenix stopped, so did Ban who tailed just behind him. It being such a sudden halt, Whooves bumped his muzzle against Ban along with one of Pallanen's antlers. Surprise herself had no trouble with bumping into anyone as she kept herself floating above Fenix like a dark cloud. Normally the would have expected Fenix to call out his orders to them; a habit formed from years of being a general. However, Fenix did not speak a word and stopped in his tracks. Within his eyes, he spotted a lone alley; an alley tucked between two average homes. An alley where, to his interest, two shimmers of gold held his attention. "...Or perhaps seven inks..." was what left Fenix before he stalked forward with a fixed intent. Once Fenix took that first step forward, his team took a step back. With the arc to Fenix back and the incline of his neck, they could feel the intent he had. If they were needed, Fenix would signal for them; but for now, they stood behind the massive form of Ban. Surprise on the other hand slithered away from the overcast of Fenix and draped herself over Ban's back, keeping her own eye-less voids stuck to Fenix. Fenix ventured alone for a few feet, keeping his attention on the curious glint holding his eyes. Finally, his hooves clacked cold against the dark alleyway's shadow and he loomed his gaze downward to two fillies looking back at him. The one with a white coat looked at him with a tilted cock to her head while the darker of the pair seemed to be inching away into darker seclusion that the alley had. Fenix made no sound or noticeable movement as he remained tall and strong at the mouth of the pass. Yet, beneath his helmet, his eyes looked between these two fillies and the gold crest spaced between them both. Unmistakable. Calm and slow, Fenix bent his legs in, causing the bulk of his armor to clatter against itself before sounding dull against the stone. His neck still put him a length above the fillies' own size, but he made due with what he could. Still, he did not speak; simply looking to the white filly that stood before him. She studied him inch by inch so close to him, yet did not show at any point a sign of fear in her eyes. Unmistakable. Finally, Fenix spoke in a soft, warm tone that touched to the two fillies as kindly as his own shape would allow. "Gifted with magic an' flight, are ya'? Yer' differen'... So're we..." For the first time in hours, perhaps days... Celestia felt warm and Luna felt safe. Chapter Three: Legacy.Drawn. Perhaps that was the word for it. Celestia and Luna were drawn in by this Fenix and his words. When he offered a hoof to them, they followed him out from the darkness. Their hooves, soft as rain drops against the stone, were somehow enough to draw in all of Fenix's group to look their attention to them. No words were exchanged at the first meeting between the band and these two new little fillies; only silent studying eyes. Fenix nodded to his lot and charged them to return to following him, which all did without a sound. All except Ban who watched as his team departed out through one of the village gates. Alone, he marched himself through the streets of the city until he came upon a lone sprout guarded by a thin wire of a garden. Ban looked at it a moment, a look of compassion going about him before he tugged a string to his side. The string led way to a horn of water that was strapped against his side. As the water poured out, Ban led it to sprinkle against the sprout and dampen the soil around it. As soon as his water ran dry, he bowed his head and replaced the cork on his horn with a nudge of his strong head. The group had traveled a great distance out from the city, so much so they no longer could see the pastures of the farmland near the outskirts of Trothelme. Once they had, they all settled out in the hill side. Luna and Celestia stilled seemed confused by the events, but stayed near Fenix all the while; as if drawn only by him. Fenix did not mind at all, feeling a kindred tie with the two as well; much like he felt amongst all his travelling partners. Yet, Surprise, hanging off the side near Fenix, felt to herself a need to jostle the young ones. Slithering across the ground, she joined to Fenix's shadow and chattered her teeth near the two fillies' ears. "Sly silly shadows slip silent... SURPRISE!" Surprise's screech at the end sent Luna and Celestia bolting out from the cover of Fenix, making Surprise laugh more and more. "Surprise! Ya' daft?" Fenix scolded her just before swatting her bone-head in the back. As her head rattled and even spun about, she kept laughing and kicking her hooves out against the air. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. Surprise should surely stop scaring...!" as silly as her words were, her genuine nature came through enough for Fenix. Slowly, Fenix followed the two fillies who decided to take cover behind a large rock. The two shivered against one another, petrified with fear before Fenix took a knee next to them. "Now don' you mind the banshee for a second. As you'll learn, we're all just as differen' as you. For better 'er for worse," Fenix's tone returned to the soothing gentleness he presented the two before, "But, if'n yer gonna see that, you'll need ta' harden out." Celestia, stilling herself and attempting to be the 'big sister' she had to be for Luna, looked up into Fenix's helmet. "Why...? Why are you... troubling yourself with us?" she asked as clearly as she could. "'Cus a' that..." he gestured a single hoof to the golden object Luna continued to protect, "We each have one a' the same. Do ya' know what that is ya' got there, by chance?" seeing the two fillies shake their heads, Fenix had a mix of relief and worry go through him, "They're... keys, we'll say. Keys to a future, a new an' bright'un. But, not jus' any one can use it. Fact, takes six... er' more. Ya' got to understan', held in yer' hooves right now is a mighty legacy. A legacy ya' cannot hold alone. Aye. Fate gave that'un to you both fer' a reason." "What reason is that...?" Luna spoke for the first time. "Not fer' me to know er' say... But'n we're gonna find out the answers together..." Fenix assured the two before looking back at the rest of his team, "The two of you, Ban, Surprise, Whooves, Pallanen, an' me," suddenly, Fenix felt a light weight fall against his back, bringing him to laugh a bit, "An' a'course Philomena." Fenix stroked one of his hooves to touch against the phoenix that had landed itself against his back. While stroked his mighty pet, he caught Celestia looking at Philomena with wonder. "Pretty one, aye?" Celestia only nodded, mesmerized by the majestic form of this bird, "You'll get a better look at her much more once ya' go through my lesson." "Lesson?" Celestia parroted, coming out of her mesmerized state. "That's right. The two of you are younglings... If'n ya' plan to carry out the legacy yer' to take on, you'll need to take on a little bit a' lessons from yer' elders," Fenix said. "What kind of lessons?" Luna urged. Fenix stood to his legs and sent Philomena to fly away across the hills. His metallic clad head turned to look among the ranks of his group. Each one had a great deal of wisdom, experience, and history they could pass on to these two fillies; but not all at once. For now, they had time to train these two as they traveled the roads ahead. In time, Luna and Celestia could very well be the keepers of the legacy... But they would indeed need to first be taught. "Ban! If'n ya' got time ta' water plants an' trail behind the rest of us, maybe ya'd like ta' filly-sit the young ones first?" the lot snickered at Fenix's call out to perhaps the strongest and most sizable member of the group. Ban, mighty as he was looked over to Fenix with an air of humbled embarrassment. "I would be most honored to..." his hooves thundered against the land as he made the small journey over to Luna and Celestia. Towering over them and casting the darkness of his massive shadow over them, he warmly smiled and bowed his great, dressed head to them as if he was in honor to them. "Shall we begin?" Chapter Four: Ban Dragonheart. Part 1.Am I mighty? Yes. Am I grand? Yes. Does the earth shake when I stomp? It does. Do monsters fear me? They do. Could I challenge a manticore do a bout and be victorious? Without question. Am I at all modest? Not in the slightest. I would boast my greatness and display my grandeur whenever I so could. Yet now, ask me instead these questions. Am I gentle? As sand. Am I meek? As well as shy. Does the earth strike me when I stumble? I stumble quite strongly. Do I stray from the path of monsters? Whenever I may. Could I handle with care a flower bed more so than strike down a tree? The tree has done nothing to me. Am I humbled by my grandeur? Beyond belief. I was gifted with greatness and a standing honor with this form the ancients allowed me. Now, look back upon all my answers. Each set is vastly different, yet no answer was a lie. We are layered; all of us are. We may be vile, yet display kindness to one. We could destroy but wish to preserve beauty. These are not contradictions, mind you. This is honesty. Would you care to know the greatest honesty of all? Bravery and integrity. "Um... Ban, sir?" Celestia coughed a little bit, trying not to burden her 'elder' too much. Ban Dragonheart slowly opened his eyes and absorbed the sights around him for a moment. The green of earth waved against the black cuffs of his hooves when the soft turn of the mountain winds swept by him and his two charges. The headdress atop his head fluttered along with the wind, matting down the curled hair of his brown coat. Against his back, the drums and horns he adorned and hung against his form sounded dry taps and whippings against him, following with the winds orders. It took him a moment to regard the two ponies standing behind him, long ago forgetting that he had even brought them with him. Nearly an hour ago, Ban had taken Luna and Celestia along with him to the lower peak of a nearby mountain after Fenix had left the two in his care. The trip was not easy on Luna or Celestia, both being forced to groan and whine along the way by their crying hooves and aching legs. Yet, Ban persisted with the two and kept them going along with him until they reached the base of the mountain. There, after a half day's worth of walking, from sunrise to sunset, Ban let them have a momentary reprieve. While Luna had collapsed in on herself, gasping for air and letting her legs throb out their pain, Celestia stayed close to Ban. Ban finally regarded Celestia and looked down at her with his imposing size casting well over her. "Would you ask something of me, little one?" For such a giant, imposing buffalo, Ban surprisingly possessed little command in his natural tone. Suppressing her tire, Celestia nodded and moved to speak, "I would. My sister and I have been following you for hours. We're tired, drained, and far away from the rest of the group. To add more issue, you have yet to say anything to us," perhaps Celestia did not mean it, but her voice started to reflect a deal of distaste for Ban. "Yes, you're tired and hungry, I can understand that very easily," Ban started to smile a playful look at the young filly as he looked back to the path they had taken, "If you wish, you may venture back to our camp. I am sure Fenix would humbly give you a share of what food he and the others have gathered. Yet, to do that... You would need to walk back." Perhaps Celestia felt patranized by Ban's words, fueling her to stomp her tired front leg against the dirt and scoff at the larger being. "Are you trying to be funny? Fenix trusted us with you to teach us, and you decide to mock me?" Celestia's rage started to seize up inside her, causing her muddled pink mane to start to prickle. In spite of Celestia's anger, Ban continued to smile down at the pint-sized filly. "A lesson or two will be taught to you. To the fact, you should be aware of one now," the mix of Celestia's rage moved more into confusion at Ban's words, "Listen well. When I had you follow me, what did I say to you?" "...Nothing. That's the problem, you didn't tell us what we were doing or where we were going," said Celestia, holding to her ground that Ban was at fault. "That is right. I said nothing at all to you. No rules, no reasoning, nothing of the kind. So, answer me this: why did you not fly?" Ban's simple question staggered a blow against Celestia, sending her to silence, "Or why did you not switch between flying and walking? Even more, why had you never asked me to carry you upon my back?" There was no reply from Celestia, "I see you will not offer me an answer. So allow me to voice my own idea. Were you perhaps frightened by how I may react?" Silence. Ban let out a deep laugh, making Celestia look back to him and send Luna into a small stir as she slowly regained her strength. "You must learn first this, my young ones: beneath all our bodies resides one similar force. The zebras call it essence, the buffalo call it spirit, the goats refer to it as chakra, and the ponies call it soul. In the end, it is the life force that makes us all one. We may look different, but our spirits -or souls- share a likeness beyond any manner that we as mortals can see." It took a moment for Celestia to take in everything Ban had told to her. Her wings furled against her, showing signs of a deep shame she was now holding. Along with her wings, her head drooped and she sighed in her shame. "I am sorry, Ban Dragonheart..." "There is no reason to be in regret of your actions," Ban assured Celestia with a light tap of his front hoof against the top of her head, "you will continue to judge me as well as others for as long as you live. This is something to be proud of," suddenly, Ban started up a nearby path that wound around the mountain they stood at the base of. Once more, Celestia was left confused by the buffalo's words and tried to follow him. However, mid-way after him, she stopped herself and looked back to the still tired Luna. Celestia spared no hesitation in going to her sister's side and hoisting her to be placed on her back. Now Celestia felt an even greater strain in her legs, but she pressed on and followed in Ban's steps. Once Celestia was back within earshot of him, Ban continued to speak as if Celestia had never left his side. "Yes. It is my hope that you will judge others with a mindful heart and spirit -or soul- as Fenix and the rest of us had done for you. However, I do not wish for you to judge and be resentful of what you deem as dark or mischievous. I wish for you to judge and accept regardless of what you may think of the one you have judged." "But... I don't understand, Ban," Celestia's tone had changed a great deal from the harsh nature she had used before, she now sounded unsure as well as careful on what words she would say, "Judging others, isn't that wrong?" "Yes, it's very wrong. Yet, you would be lying to yourself if you said you would never judge another," Ban spoke frank as he continued up the winding mountain pass, "To move my point along, answer me this, young one. What do you think of my travelling partners?" The road ahead grew more steep with each step Celestia and Ban made, bringing more strain into Celestia's little body as she fought the weight of the land as well as the burden of her sister against her back. "Fenix... Fenix is a kind pony. Like the rest, I can't say much to his deeper levels, but I can feel he has a deep nature to help others," Ban snorted once, urging Celestia on, "Surprise seems... seems... different." a little chuckled from Ban lifted Celestia's spirit just a bit, "Whooves would appear to be a stallion who does not much care to speak often on items that don't seem too important. I don't know him well, but I think he may be a pony of action rather than words," Celestia could have sworn that Ban muttered something about 'seeing', but she let it pass, "finally, Pallanen... by appearance alone, he's nothing I have ever seen before. I can't really say much for his character..." "A fine assessment, young one. Very fine," Ban's legs trudge his form along the slooping path further and further until he drew to another stop mid-way up the incline, "Now, look back on your words. I am to believe you spoke not one lie to me in your assessments. Yet, in honesty, you know nothing of any of my friends outside of what little you have seen. Still, you speak highly of them -on one exception-, which is what I wish for you to do. Do you understand?" Celestia adjusted her sister against her back, letting Ban's words sink in. "I... Think so. You want me to judge for the good in everyone before I let any thought of evil can come to me?" "Very good, Celestia...! For one so young, you seem to possess a great deal of understanding. Perhaps you are due for a more challanging lesson?" Ban snorted a gruff chuckle out while also noticing Celestia's nervious smile in return, "No, no. I shall not test you too gravely. As sure I am that the land is strong, so too am I sure that Fenix and Whooves will have truly grave challanges for you upon your return. Fenix believes with all his spirit that you and your sister are the ones we have been searching for. I will hope with my own spirit that he is right..." for a moment, Ban's tone of voice fell sullun and he began to trek up the path ahead. Silence fell onto the group for some while, both Ban and Celestia moving up the mountain pass with their waight starting to burden them more and more. The land far bellow seemed so vast to Celestia, grass and hills spanning as far as the eyes could see. There was even a few pockets of lakes here and there intermixed with the lush land. When Celestia beheld it, a thought came to her; one that she thought Ban would be able to answer. "Ban...? What do you value most?" Celestia's words were meek as they left her dry throat, but they struck Ban all the same. Deep from Ban's own lung, a harsh sigh went through him and caused his fur to muddle against his face. From where Celestia stood behind him, she could not see that Ban's eyes had shut in a silent reflection. "If you ask that now... You are willing to know my final lesson for you," starting up the trail again, Ban moved with a greater haste. Celestia struggled to keep pace, her breath straining against her and her wings beating against her body in an attempt to keep up. The trail started to cloud with Ban's hooves beating great mounds of untouched dirt into the air at his one buffalo stampede up the trail. He spared only a glance to be sure that Celestia was still close and safe before he continued his words. "You are but one being. That is all anyone can ever be. Fenix, myself, Luna, the orphan mare that wonders the street? We are one and the same, as I have told you. At the same time, we are nothing but that one," from Ban's headdress, a faint twinkle started to contrast against the setting sun off against the horizen, "Distrust and fear would twist your spirit -or soul- into the belief that you are more than any other; more than all the rest. But, I shall tell you the truth I have accepted and has granted me light in the darkness..." Suddenly, Ban came to a halt, startling Celestia. It took Celestia a moment to stop her legs as they wobbled and whimpered for rest. Her hoof falls came to a stop a few feet ahead of where Ban had stopped, leaving her to look over a massive edge. As if at once, Celestia felt all her tire flow out from her as she looked out against the golden hue of the world. From the highest cliff in this land, Celestia looked out onto all the world stretched before her. From Trothelme to the vast mountain range far to the north. From where she stood, she saw all of the land bathed in the golden splender of the sun's last shimmer. Caught within the beauty, Celestia did not notice as Ban stepped beside her and looked out over the world as well. "The bravery to accept reality is a grand step into seeing the beautiful truth of our world..." down from Ban's headdress came a golden emblem that hooked around his neck and tossed just so in the evening mountain breeze. The emblem had not much too it aside from the orange and green crystalized design that decorated the middle of it. Author's Note I'm doing two parters for each lesson so they don't take too long. Unless you would rather have longer chapters so we can get both lessons in but take longer to get them out. Chapter Five: Surprise. Part 1Here is a riddle! A riddle, a riddle, Hi-Diddle-Diddle, Surprise has a riddle! Eh-heh-heh-heh-heh! Fiddle the riddle and twiddle-twiddle-twiddle an answer for my riddle! Eh-heh-heh-heh! A riddle I say? The riddle I'll lay! Here is the riddle little-diddle-diddle, here is your riddle! What can not see but has eyes? What can not laugh but always smiles? What can look so different, yet always be the same? What is as white as snow but as strong as steel? What knows the joke but just doesn't say? Eh-heh-heh-heh! Love! Lovely long lasting! I love this riddle. True is true if you only knew; the riddle has only been solved by two. Two tragically trifled thralls of chances twisted tale of tethered ties. Oh-why, oh-why? Why must these two be tied? Eh-heh-heh. A lie, a lie. Surprise is sorry to lie. The tie not tragic. It's beautiful by chance. Chance is a lance that rings through any trance. The trance of delusion and confusion, I mean. Do you delude the confused with loosed lewds of rudes? Eh-heh-heh. Two of those were not even words! Silly-silly-silly surprise for Surprise she says. Eh-heh-heh. Surprise will shh now, sleepy silly filly... Little Luna lost leg long-long leaps leading to the ledge. Little sleepy head Luna needs shh if little lost sleepy Luna will linger a long needed learning. I know. Surprise knows. Surprise... That's me. Surprise. That's my name. Eh-heh-heh... Silent upon the peek of the grand mountain top, two little fillies curled a warm touch into the side of Ban Dragonheart as he rested his massive form against the cool stone. Soft crickets from far, far below the mountain's top barely reached to sound against the soft, young, twitching ears of Luna and Celestia as they slept off their fatigue. Against one another, curled within the other's own softly rising and setting chests, the two sisters slumbered at pure, blissful peace within this late hour. Aside for the slight stirs each shared in from the passing moments, not a soul awoke as night cradled the cooling land. Luna herself huffed gently against her older sister and fidgeted against Ban, disturbed just a bit by the heat coming from the two. The younger filly fought to keep her eyelids shut, desiring nothing more than to not awake at this late hour. Efforts fell in vain, sadly, when her eyes twitched open and the dim nightlight greeted her sleep filled eyes. Luna spared a glance to her caretaker, Ban Dragonheart, then to her sister Celestia. Neither one seemed to have noticed her awakening at the point, much to her small relief. The side of her sister was a place she love to remain at, but Luna declined the notion with a shake of her head and proceeded to walk out near the edge of the cliff they had camped on. From where she stood, the soft currents of the nightly gales tossed against her curled mane and her eyes were treated to the beauty of a moon kissed world slumbering in a collective peace. So soothing was the sight of all the lands below. The beauty and calm of it, before Luna had noticed, started to weigh against her eyelids and caused her legs to wobble. In that moment, Luna stumbled forward, meeting her eyes to the vast, perhaps bottomless abyss under the cliff face. Her eyes squeezed shut and she quivered against herself, fearing her fall. Yet... She felt something stop her... A force as light as the gentle night air; yet she could feel it holding her up and stunting her fall. Luna's eyes opened to the sight of a velvety cloak wrapped around her body while also lifting her up and setting her back upon the edge of the cliff. Silly-silly filly! Luna leaps along the ledge and lands lopsided along the land? Not a narrow nibble of a naked chance. Luna was stricken with shock. From nowhere a voice was speaking to her. It seemed to follow with the wind, but at the same time it felt as if it was moving the winds. Luna felt her hooves scrape against the surface of stone and watched as the cloak slither away; virtually disappearing or perhaps returning into the night itself. Little Luna? The voice sounded almost familiar... A faint voice Luna remembered was mixed among Fenix's travelling partners. At that moment, by some force that seemed to make her beyond her control, Luna shuddered out a meek answer. "W-What do you want?" To chit. "...Chit?" To chat. To chitter-chat. To talk to you, little lost Luna. Do you know who I am? Oh please! Tell me you do! It'd surprise lil' Surprise if you knew Surprise's name! "Is it... Surprise?" A sharp gust of wind lashed against Luna, as if the sky itself was laughing at the answer. Wha-wha-what!? Surprise surprise, Surprise! You knew my name! What a-- Luna couldn't help herself. She smirked oh-so slightly and looked off into the winds around her. "Surprise?" She finished the voice's statement. Gasp and gasp again! Smart, swift, and short, shrimpily-shrew! She surely has one up on Surprise... Me! Eh-heh-heh-heh-heh! I really, really like you. Surprise wants to slip some secrets swift -so- only for you. But if you want them, you need to answer Surprise's riddle... "A riddle?" An echo! Yes, a riddle! Up for a little riddle, fiddle-de-diddle? "Let's... hear your... riddle?" Luna felt so very confused, but at the same time excited. What can not see but has eyes? What can not laugh but always smiles? What can look so different, yet always be the same? What is as white as snow but as strong as steel? What knows the joke but just doesn't say? Can you answer my riddle? Only one-- The winds died at a sudden second. Despite how mighty a gale could be, or how high they could reach upon these tops, the single word spoken by Luna rang beyond any sort of power. A word that crushed Surprise and left her unable to even laugh. ...That's... Right. Luna... I'm... Impressed... Come speak to me once you return to Fenix and the others. I will pass on my lesson then. Yet again, Luna was surprised. Surprise's tone had shifted so dramatically. From laughter and joy to a soft tone. Luna moved to speak, but was buffered by a strong gust as Surprise started laughing again with a greater force. Eh-heh! Little Luna loops lightly a right answer! Sleep soft, Little Lost Luna. Sleep soft so soon sleep sweeps. Just like that, the winds died once more and the presence of Surprise faded along with her chattering laughter. Luna felt all her being drained from such an encounter and went to lay her head against the invitingly cool cliff floor before falling right back into a blissful sleep. Chapter Six: Ban Dragonheart. Part 2.Fenix tells me stories of his home land when we go together to collect water. What a remarkable land he hails from; much more so than the cloth teepees my people were accustomed to from what I can tell. Homes, stores, roads, all made from beautiful white stones Fenix called "marble" and "limestone". These buildings, as high as your eyes could see, he would say. I admit, they were tall tales to accept. But... The pain in Fenix's voice, the bitter-sweet remembering of those cities he voiced when he tells me these stories rang true. In their time, I am certain those buildings were astounding to the eyes as much as they were to the ears. I truly believe that. Surprise is a "reserved" sort when it comes to matters of her own life. Your personal life or the lives of others she has to trouble passing the stories around; but her own is a different story. It had only been recently that she allowed me the smallest glimpse into the world she came from. From what I could derive from her chattering rhymes, her home was nowhere. What that means is... between she and I alone. As I would tell her something painful of my own past world, she would never speak of it herself. I truly believe that. Whooves, or whatever name he decides upon being called at this given moment, I truly tend to ignore from time to time. I mean no grave offence to him, but it is only so far that I am willing to accept his talks of "metal structures" and "future advancements". Surprise humors him a great deal ever since he told this story of a tool that disposes waste. It is not that I don't believe his stories; he has shown me a great deal of strange artifacts that support his claims. It is only that his stories worry me. That the unknown is best left as it is; unknown. I truly believe that. Pallanen is a true dear to the soul. There exists no mystery or misdirection with him. When we speak of our pasts, he will never withhold a detail. The land he called home was without buildings, roads, or any sort of construction. All was borne of nature, and borne of love for nature. When he speaks of it, you can almost hear the woodland sprites and singing words. It had truly sounded like a paradise for the most serene of spirits. That is why it feels all the more tragic when his tone shifts to sorrow when he remembers what happened to his homeland. He is a gentle, peaceful spirit... But there is a hatred deep within him that yearns to have a moment to spend its wrath. I truly believe that. Now... I say all this, all of these remembrances of my cohorts, because the enlighten the point I wish to say. Pain, sorrow, acceptance, anger... They dwell within us in the forms of walls that stop us from advancing within our lives. Yet, you have a choice when these walls form before you. You may fight it and try to break it, or you may stand idle and allow it to stop you. As strange as it may come to you, I would rather stand idle and allow it to be there. I bravely accept what comes before me and do not fight it. Why would I? Because fate has given me the path with these walls; and it is my duty to prevent these walls from forming before the younger ones that will come. I truly believe that... The moment Celestia had woken from her sleep upon the mountain's cliff, the glint of the morning sun greeted her along with the colossal form of Ban Dragonheart standing near the cliff's edge. The young princess searched about her surroundings, finally able to see it within the morning light and truly see what was really here. To her, the most important thing she took note of was her younger sister curled up against the mountain's face still draped in a small shadow; sleeping. Celestia herself got to her hooves and walked over to Ban, joining her teacher and caretaker in looking over the waking world. The afterglow of sunset left Celestia with a peaceful image before she drifted off to sleep last night, but seeing the world now as it was seemed like an entirely different sight. Small caravans could be made out moving down dirt roads, flocks of birds were seen stretching their wings against the warm sunlight, and off to the distance she could hear the small town life of Trothelme. "Celestia..." Ban spoke softly, "All you see here... The waters, the stones; the beasts, the mares; the living; the green, the blue... How long do you think they will all live?" The question sank like a stone in the young heart of Celestia and she could not answer. Perhaps that was what Ban had intended. The old bull sighed with a heavy heart himself and moved to answer his own question. His face moved out against the strong mountain wind, letting his braided mane toss against the wind. "Days, months, hours, years, decades... I can't be the one to say for certain. But, would it ever be my place to say so either way? I would say no... What about you, Celestia?" "I... I think it's wrong to even think about anything living or dying..." Celestia answered honestly while looking over the vast world below them. Ban gave a surprised grunt and turned to look at his young pupil. "Wrong? Why would you say it would be wrong?" Celestia herself seemed to consider it herself. The winds danced at her shimmering pink mane and brushed against her hooves as she consumed herself into a moment of thought. When she finally did speak, Ban's ears were all hers to do as she wished. "Because... Nothing ever dies... It just goes away so you have to remember it. As long as you remember it, it'll never die... It just won't be here or there anymore..." Celestia tried to explain what her thoughts were bringing to her, but she failed herself and looked to Ban for reassurance, "Do you know what I'm trying to say, Ban?" "...Yes..." Ban's low, bellowing voice grew even more softer as he shut his eyes and turned himself back to the winds, "Yes, Celestia... I truly believe I do." From one spirit, the soul of bravery had found another to touch against... Ban smiled to himself at this event and looked far off into the distance until Celestia called for his attention. "Ban?" "Yes, Celestia? What's wrong?" Celestia turned away from the cliff, the wide world, and Ban in exchange for the view of the massive mountain face just behind her. A small, hopeful smile came to Celestia; and for the first time since this trip, she started to laugh. "This is a beautiful mountain... Wouldn't you agree?" Ban had to turn around and examine the mountain himself now, joining Celestia in the appraising of the massive stone wall before them. The great bull huffed a bit and let out a gravel churning chuckle. "A beautiful mound of rock indeed... Fit for a queen..." Chapter Seven: Worth.The hour of the coming high noon set upon the convoy headed by Fenix Dragonheart. The leader and watchman against the dwindling night, Fenix, kept his front and back legs folded under his armor clad body while he watched tirelessly over the vast plains. The sockets of his helmet that led to his eyes rang empty of nearly any life aside from the small periodic bats of the stallion's eyes blinking. Not a muscle of his body moved while he watched over his partners, his senses heightened by the possible threat of trouble. His nerves were steeled and his attention made to a fine point. To this end, it only took him a fraction of a second to break his stance, stand with a wide gait, and finally cast his iron strong glare in the direction of the first thing that caught his attention in his whole time of keeping watch the already passed night. Fenix stature was very much imposing; by overall size of the stallion and the sharp decoration of his signature armor. So much so, even his partners would let out a yelp from time to time when he went into a protective stance or was switched into an alert. By no means had they ever expected him to even think about hurting any of them; but fear is fear. Fear which Whooves was now filled with as Fenix bared down at him. Fenix immediately resigned his threatening stance and shorted the gap between his legs. "'Ooves... Nay'ya should be sneakin' up'n the watch..." Fenix huffed, the metal around his muzzle causing every word he said become echoed and slightly distorted. "Right. Sorry, Fenix. I'll try and tie a bell around my neck so you don't snap it next time I walk up behind you," Whooves answered with a genuine manner of speaking. A very odd thing for any pony to say, but something Fenix would have thought as criminal of Whooves didn't say it at all. Fenix turned back to watching his post, in turn also looking back towards the mountain that Ban had taken the princesses for his lesson to them. Part of the stallion worried that the princesses weren't safe, but the other half assured him in these moments of worry that Ban was trustworthy if nothing else. "...Think Ban's lesson sunk in on the small one or the older one?" Whooves asked out of nowhere. "If'n Ban did a rightful job, both of'm will learn the lesson..." Fenix answered with a solemn nod. They both looked to the mountain absent of visible life aside from a few thriving bushes or trees against the mountain side. "...I'd say that little Celestia filly got the message loud and clear," Whooves spoke up once again, "That Luna bird won't understand 'bravery'. Nope," Fenix turned to say something to his partner, but Whooves had already turned back to the small camp and was heading off. "Why'd'ya say that, Doc?" Fenix called after Whooves. Whooves sure enough stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder, smiling at his armor wearing friend. "Well it's simple, Fenix. You said it yourself, these two are the ones who'll set the future... Right sure both of them can't absorb each lesson. Six 'powers-that-be', six lessons. Three for each bird." "Aye? An' what does the goo' doc say'll be the lessons each lass will learn?" Fenix said flatly. "'Thinking' isn't knowing..." Whooves shot back, still smiling a rather complex smile at Fenix, "If you ask what I think, I'll tell you I don't know because I don't know. If you ask what I know, I'll tell you to remember what you know. Because my know isn't what you know even though I know you know the know I know is a no-no..." As impossible as it is to see Fenix's face, Whooves could tell he lost him, "Look... Complexities cut short: You'll know what I know when it's time for you to know. That's as simple as I can make it," Whooves bowed his head and started back towards the camp again. That was, however, before he heard Fenix spout an order from behind him. "Get your affairs in order, 'Ooves. You'll be takin' the lass off'a Ban's 'ooves when'n'if they come back..." Fenix's voice, though still dulled by his metal armor, came clear to Whooves. The young doctor spun around and shook his head frantically at his leader. "Oh-no-no-no-no-no-no-no! Na-uh! Not happening." Fenix stepped around Whooves and went on towards the camp while ignoring Whooves' words. "Happenin'. Like it er' not." An unmistakable chuckle came from behind Fenix helmet as he passed the doctor by. "But... But... Fenix, I'm no good with tykes! Why not Pallanen? He loves children," no matter how he pleaded, Fenix kept shaking his head and cemented his choice, "But... I don't even have a planner for what I'll tell them. I bet Ban had them do some sort of buffalo rite-of-passage with fire, and coal, and war paint... I can't compete with that!" "Turner..." Whooves froze when he heard that name spoken. Fenix looked over his shoulder, scraping his metal helmet against his breast plate in the process. "Did ya' not jus'a momen' ago say they'll learn 'all six lessons'? Thinkin' that counts a lesson from ya'as well..." Fenix voice was both firm and friendly when he laid down the law for Whooves. Fenix allowed Whooves a moment to collect his thoughts and left the doctor alone while Fenix himself walked away. Alone with his thoughts, Whooves started to scowl and bucked his back hooves against the dirt under him. "Wankers... He's right. Guess I'll... Make something up..." Doctor Whooves, the travelling apothecary and weaver of tales-of-interest sat himself down and started to ponder on just what he could impart on the two future rules of what he would come to know as 'Equestria'. Chapter Eight: Whooves. Prologue.Buggeration... Fenix, honor his soul and bless his tactical mind, has no idea how horrid I am with these little sprouts. Dash it all if I would just dump the rug rats on Pallanen if Fenix wasn't watching me. If these two could just as well be like every other child in the world, I'd lecture them and have them off on a cheery way in two winks of a jammer's wig. But, no! Whooves can't have it his way, that way, free-way, half-way, all the way, or mid-way intersection. No. He has to teach the only two ponies that--. Buggeration... Fenix understand my problem, I know... Curse it, he's a sharp one. Probably why he wants me to teach the little things in the first place. Seeing as we three'll be spending an eternity together... Hm? Sprockets and pears! Guess nobody really knows much about what keeps me with this pack of mismatches in the first place, huh? Suppose somebody could say I'm the realest and strangest oddity in our mixed bowl of nuts... Has the bowl been invented yet? Yes... Yes, it has. Of course. You see, unlike Surprise who is alive by her 'Faustian pact', or Pallanen's eternal bond with nature, or Fenix who feeds off the Sun, or Ban and his spiritual hold... I can't die. No. Honestly. Try it. Chances are I've probably experienced the exact way you're thinking of killing me. It's not dark or macabre to think of it; I just can't die no matter how hard the world tries. I won't tire you with the wiggle-woggle or oogy-boogy of how it works, but just understand that I'm old, young, middle age, and whatever else all at once. I see the past, I see the future, I've walked with the centurions as much as I've danced with the descendants. I'm as old as dirt but as fresh as a daisy. And, for as long as I've lived, died, and watched this world go back and forth... I've never met anything that can live with me. That was until Fenix came to me and offered me this chance... The bloke was crazy I thought. Elements of Harmony? That wouldn't solve my problems. But... He solved it, didn't he? He found the only two creatures in the world that will live as long as me... ...I don't want to go and meet them. I'm scared... Author's Note This is a prologue because Whooves story will be very, very long...
Prologue"History? Nay left to the old and brittle... 'Tis our fate to not outlive what we've been promised, but to live long enough to promise what will outlive us. The act of magnanimity, to accept ones fate with nobility and grace; this being our final challenge. So I pose you this: Do you posses the heart of endless fire that can fuel the fate of others? And if'n you do, will you part with it when the winds call for it?" You do not decide your fate, those before you give you the fate that they have earned you. To deny fate is to deny everything that your ancestors had sacrificed for. Once you draw breath and open your eyes to the world you have been born into, your fate is given to you. The fate you are given is final and unchangeable; to change it would be to change the past. To change the past would be as an easy a task as having fire not give light or heat. You cannot change your fate, the past, or your birth... But you can change your destiny. You have control over what you leave behind, what fate you give the next in the legacy. All it takes is for one being to accept fate and forge it to the mantel for destiny to forge a new fate; not a fate for them, but a fate for who will come next. The choice of legacy is what you have control over. What one does with this choice lays solely with that one. Once that is embraced... one will experience Harmony. Venture forward, the grace of light bestow, Nobility crafted his armor... Regality forged his resolve... Destiny granted his will... The proud and mighty guard of the Royal Family, though the title was long since buried along with the Royals. With a mane of blistering fire, a coat of shielded brown, and tassels of beaten red; those that saw him would claim they bore witness to the horse of War. Those that knew him would know he was no harbinger of war... And was as regal as the fowl perched against his gold plate. Few spoke words with this being, which made it a wonder that so many could know his name on sight. He was Fenix the Dragonslayer; a stallion who was never without his Philomena. His brow was weighed down with as many honourable recounts as it was failures. The greatest of those failures was the one he had to bury along with the Royals he swore his allegiance to... Though his will remains unbroken and his fire as bright as ever. The fire of life that has kept him alive for too many years to bare count to. Through spanning plains and mounted snow, The drums of celebration... The thumping of passage... the banging of war... With each step against the earth; against the mud; against the air; the rhythm of the world around him would tell him a new story. Be it the wind dancing against the stones to hark a tale of a fresh harvest within reach; or of the trickling of water into fresh dirt to alert that the road ahead was well covered in rain. The world told him everything, and he would honor the world by listening. The hooves he planted against his partner, though large and hefty, would go against the land as if it were a bed of flowers at each step. Actions spoke louder then his booming voice would ever tell; and what they told was of great truth. He was Ban Dragonheart; a buffalo chieftain and father of the fatherless wild. There is no measure to the lands he has walked across; the terrains he has bared. Each heirloom adorned across his body, from his paint to the beads around his tail, told of perhaps a thousand steps he took beyond any living creature took themselves. The steps he took he told were going to be someday the steps that his grandchildren, and his grandchildren's grandchildren, and his grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren would someday walk... And perhaps many generation after. Hear the trees stirring under their bark, The willow's wisdom... The oak's resilience... The meadow's calm... Peace and serenity, pride with no prejudice; in truth: nature. To ask the wind or the trees for anything is not foolish, but brash. You need only be patient, and be humbled by what the world grants you for your patience. That is what he believes. A belief that has brought upon him the blessings of nature and the nectar of sweet life for all his calm. To not take, to not ask, to not expect... But to be thankful alone. Thankful for what has been, may be, and will not. He was Pallanen Lifekeeper, the last of the ent deer. Where his hooves have rested, life has grown; streams have been reborn or made anew. Each stride, small or large is a stride of new life. From his antlers, the antlers that birds and butterflies nestle against in moments of calm, seeds and spores of unborn possibility are clipped against the passing wings. Through this, his gift to a waiting world can go even further. Not because it was stolen, not because he was asked, not because it was expected... But because he sees no greater kindness. Bones here do rattle against the dark, To err is not easy to avoid. Those that see this being, this being of inky garbs and a ghostly presence with a bleach white complexion and empty sockets for eyes, they know that to err was that being's greatest mistake. None ask, and few wish to even hazard a guess. Is it bound by dark magic? Is it a construct of chaos itself? Does it exist for any greater purpose outside of cackling and making jest out of near everything? Not one soul could say... But one skeletal pony could tell the tale. For it was their's to begin with. It was Surprise, a name befitting such an astonishing creature. Bound by no tendons or muscle, no skin or blood, but only by linen and bone. Surprise has never been a creature to lay on the idea of its own being, but rather being more inclined to make light of everything. "Jesting jovial is just just gents!" It would cackle and chatter with its bony body rattling at every word. Though many call Surprise an 'it', the few that have braved the question know in truth Surprise is no 'it'... But a she. Against the time, the heart beats prime, What was he? No one knew. Who was he? Not a guess. How did he come to be? A curious question. Why was he? Why was he indeed... Taverns far and wide told tale of 'the travelled colt', or 'the apothecary of passing'. He was beyond any sort of strange notions or anything. From nowhere, a stallion of tan coat and ragged clothes unknown to any pony's eyes came from town to town. This stallion regaled of stories from all across the world, of worlds that no one ever knew. Upon his back, he carried with him sights that clattered and clanged like no armor had ever done before. He was a marvel in so many ways; a stallion before his time. He was Whooves... No one knew his real name honestly. They only called him 'The Apothecary', or 'The Traveller'. When one would ask "Who was that stallion?" The answer would always be the same. "Who?". In time, the joke became that when someone would ask in the tavern, all customers would raise a mug and slam it back down yelling "Who's hooves? Whoove's hooves!" Why was this? Not one truly knew... Not even Whooves himself. But, if you asked him his name yourself, the answer would not be as mysteries as the tales would like you to think. The heaven above here, life gifting spark. Crown-less with a kingdom... A throne with no mountings... glass with no design... But the royal name exists without those. Years ago, the royals were slain in a charge led by their great enemies. Though they fought valiantly and in the end banished the heinous usurpers, only one of the royal family still stood. She pleaded that though her sisters were slain, that there could be hope found somewhere in this troubled time. That plea was answered... The plea's answer was Celestia and Luna... Before Equestria was founded, before the three pony tribes fought for supremacy, before Discord drew breath, before the Everfree forest had even a sprout, before the sun and moon were controlled by ponies... There existed a caravan unlike any other. They carried no bags; they had no carts; and they brought nothing but what clothes they wore when they started. They followed but one stallion; a stallion garbed in gold armor. Motion my motion, the five made little sound as their hooves tapped against the dirt trail. Only on a rare chance would one speak, and in that rare moment, it was usually the same phrase. "Bloody swear, Surprise... One more pun and I'm lighting your robe ablaze..." Author's Note The poem is done in the segmented tune of this. Edited it to add a few more lines.
Chapter One: Kinship.The path ahead was well beaten and softened by the test of travelling hooves against it after so many years. It served as the main road between Stablehearth and Trothelme, two mildly prospering pony settlements. The road itself stretched for near ten miles; an fair travel for wagon to do business between the two towns. However, on lone hoof in a collective group, it was a much trying passage. This made all the more trying should you have found yourself with a sort that doesn't meet the traditional travelling requirements. "Fickle as a fury, Fenix, friendly friend forsooth; for true!" the skeletal revenant clacked his jaw soundly as it started to laugh at its own words. Trailing ahead of the skeleton garbed in an inky black robe was the one it addressed as Fenix. Fenix's head lowered down as the helmet around his head made for his sigh of anguish to echo with a metallic tone. Fenix pressed on none the less, shaking his head and dismissing the creature who was still laughing. "Surprise, surprise. Sure as shower shine! Surprise's shrew seems sullen as you!" the skeleton continued to laugh at a high pitched cackle; its bones rattling against the air like rain against stone. Finally, the tallest of the caravan, if only by his antlers height, moved beside Surprise and gave the skeleton a small nudge with one of his branching blue stems leaching out from his side. "Surprise..." his voice well soft and soothing as he offered a single glance down to the still chuckling revenant, "Perhaps your humor would best lighten our spirits once our wills have been hampered. For say, once we reach a tavern?" Surprise seemed to gnaw the idea over while the jilted mandible of his jaw clacked against the white of her top teeth. As perhaps the rarest of moments, Surprise nodded her bony head and remained quiet outside of escaping snickers from her absent maw. The near silence from Surprise instantly had an effect on Fenix as he put his head back up and strode against the road more clearly. Both Ban and Whooves let a passing sigh move out from them and they exchanged knowing glances. "Fenix, my friend," Whooves started up in this new moment of calm, "Would you put any coin on these hopes of yours?" Fenix gave an eye back to the pony, also taking in a small look to the bird perched against his own back that seemed to be mimicking Fenix's every motion. "Coin? Coin nay cover how sure I am on this one, lad. Put me own soul on this one, I'd'a say..." Fenix mused the notion back to Whooves as well to his own self. For days, their caravan had been moving between town to town looking for someone. By chance, the five of them had been brought together as it was already. Fate brought them here as one team. And yet... One seemed to be missing. They all could feel it flowing through them. An invisible desire and knowledge that something was missing. Someone... "If'n we don' find what'n we're looking for here... I will lick the dirt planted on Ban's thumping hoof!" Fenix laughed a bit, soon joined by his bird squawking along with him. Ban frowned at the comment, though seemed to only do so with a friendly entail. "If that be your wish, I would have Pallanen whip stinkweed to my hooves before you dine..." Ban's voice, though thundering, still held a friendly note to it. "Gladly I'd eat it, gladly I'd eat it. But only should I be wrong... Only if'n that happens." Fenix returned. A feeling of kinship went through the caravan and they started to move along with one another more briskly. All except Surprise who slithered up beside the group, her hooves refusing to touch the ground as they seemed to fold into her skeletal body. Trothelme was a simple, rustic village beside a river that ran through the spanning land. The settlement had no mayor, jarl, or village leader. To the same akin, very few settlements in the area had any of the sort. Instead, they were only governed by peacekeepers. It was a simple way of living for a simple land of living. But, unlike many other rustic settlements in the area, Trothelme was much well known and regaled as something special. To that day, Trothelme was one of few settlements that welcomed Earth pones, unicorns, pegasi, even gryphons within its grounds. For this, the structures were mostly made of stone and wood; well crafted and well put together to weather any storms. For any traveler of the realm, Trothelme was known to be a primary checkpoint or destination. Not only for the peace and equal nature of the town itself, but for the myth that the town promised. "Trothelme: The Town of Harmony". As the dirt roads of Trothelme ran clotted with rushing ponies this way and that, a young filly watched curiously from the crooks between two homes. The frazzle of her pink tail brushed against the floor she sat upon as she continued to watch the village ponies like a dog would its master. She mused glances this way and that with tilts of her white coat head, so interested with these ponies. Behind her, the darker and younger looking filly seemed far less interested in what the villagers were doing, and more so in what was tightly guarded in her hooves. The darker filly looked at the shimmering gold she protected with her whole body, trying to piece it out as her eyes looked it over moment by moment. For hours, perhaps even days, the two fillies had not broken from where they were. Nothing kept them there except a compulsion to remain in that village... Something telling them that in this town of 'harmony' they had to remain. And as the Celestia watched the ponies and Luna eyed the curious gold trinket, they waited for that reason to arrive. "Trothelme... Anything special about it, Ban?" "Legends say that any caravan that passes through the village is promised good fortune and fair winds in their coming travels. However, those caravans are only gifted with the maker's blessings by offering a spell of their own water to the sprout in the center of the village. In time, they say, that sprout will bring harmony to every reach that the roots shall spread." "If'n that's true, lets give it a good spritzing."
Chapter Two: SevenTrothelme: The Town of Harmony. Rustic, quaint, and a key spot for any traveler looking to cross the land. The realm was vast, yet never as vast as the warmth Trothelme offered travelers. Many towns and settlements in the realm still, sadly, acted in harsh discrimination towards outsiders or 'lesser races'. But Trothelme was born on the backs of all races from across the realm. However, as diverse as they were, it still came as a curious sight to anyone in the village when they saw that most peculiar group of travelers. Mixed caravans were not at all strange to any citizen of Trothelme; but there was a limit to how mixed a group could be until it seemed abnormal. That is why when Fenix led his group in through the main gates of town, murmurs of interest and wonder fluttered against one and all's ears. Looking about the masses huddled against the path of the town, Fenix felt a scoff escape from his armor hid mouth. "Bleats. Act right they nay ev' seen a royal guard..." he paused a moment, using that moment to register his team behind him, "...or a buffalo... or an ent... or wot'ev' Surprise is." Both Ban and Pallanen couldn't help but laugh a bit to themselves as Whooves dropped his head dejected. Surprise, however, clacked her teeth against one another and whisked herself across the ground towards Fenix at the head. As she moved, ponies off to the side staggered and muttered of witchcraft and much akin, yet Surprise seemed to pay it no mind as she looked her empty socket eyes into Fenix's 'face'. "Rude remarks rake around," Surprise chanted with her usual eerie cheer, "Forget frumpy frumps for fifty flicks. Looking looks loose lost locket lead!" Another flow of confused chatter went through the onlookers, befuddled by this 'creature's' words. However, the confusion of those watching only grew when Fenix nodded his helmet covered head and gestured for his group to follow him. Once more, this strange group of mixed travelers moved through Trothelme, drawing to them more and more attention with each corner, house, bend, or stone they passed. It was only at some rare passes that some pony would remark remembering one or perhaps two from the group. Once claims of recognizing arose, the murmurs of interest died down and rose again as tales of the past. Thankfully or not, once ponies started to recognize members, the groups of followers started to trickle away and left Fenix and his party to their own. At the leaving of the final few of followers, Whooves huffed once in his following path. "Twenty..." He grumbled halfhearted. "Pardon?" Pallanen craned his head down to Whooves, curious to know what was bothering him. "Out of sixty ponies, only twenty knew who I was. One third. That's not as many as I hoped..." Pallanen tapped his antler against Whooves head playfully, noticing the joking smirk he was now putting on. "It'll be three out of three soon, Turner," Fenix called back to Whooves, "Promise ya' that. History's 'bout to be written in gold fer' us. But it's a history written in six inks." Fenix looked ahead of himself before suddenly coming to a halt. Once Fenix stopped, so did Ban who tailed just behind him. It being such a sudden halt, Whooves bumped his muzzle against Ban along with one of Pallanen's antlers. Surprise herself had no trouble with bumping into anyone as she kept herself floating above Fenix like a dark cloud. Normally the would have expected Fenix to call out his orders to them; a habit formed from years of being a general. However, Fenix did not speak a word and stopped in his tracks. Within his eyes, he spotted a lone alley; an alley tucked between two average homes. An alley where, to his interest, two shimmers of gold held his attention. "...Or perhaps seven inks..." was what left Fenix before he stalked forward with a fixed intent. Once Fenix took that first step forward, his team took a step back. With the arc to Fenix back and the incline of his neck, they could feel the intent he had. If they were needed, Fenix would signal for them; but for now, they stood behind the massive form of Ban. Surprise on the other hand slithered away from the overcast of Fenix and draped herself over Ban's back, keeping her own eye-less voids stuck to Fenix. Fenix ventured alone for a few feet, keeping his attention on the curious glint holding his eyes. Finally, his hooves clacked cold against the dark alleyway's shadow and he loomed his gaze downward to two fillies looking back at him. The one with a white coat looked at him with a tilted cock to her head while the darker of the pair seemed to be inching away into darker seclusion that the alley had. Fenix made no sound or noticeable movement as he remained tall and strong at the mouth of the pass. Yet, beneath his helmet, his eyes looked between these two fillies and the gold crest spaced between them both. Unmistakable. Calm and slow, Fenix bent his legs in, causing the bulk of his armor to clatter against itself before sounding dull against the stone. His neck still put him a length above the fillies' own size, but he made due with what he could. Still, he did not speak; simply looking to the white filly that stood before him. She studied him inch by inch so close to him, yet did not show at any point a sign of fear in her eyes. Unmistakable. Finally, Fenix spoke in a soft, warm tone that touched to the two fillies as kindly as his own shape would allow. "Gifted with magic an' flight, are ya'? Yer' differen'... So're we..." For the first time in hours, perhaps days... Celestia felt warm and Luna felt safe.
Chapter Three: Legacy.Drawn. Perhaps that was the word for it. Celestia and Luna were drawn in by this Fenix and his words. When he offered a hoof to them, they followed him out from the darkness. Their hooves, soft as rain drops against the stone, were somehow enough to draw in all of Fenix's group to look their attention to them. No words were exchanged at the first meeting between the band and these two new little fillies; only silent studying eyes. Fenix nodded to his lot and charged them to return to following him, which all did without a sound. All except Ban who watched as his team departed out through one of the village gates. Alone, he marched himself through the streets of the city until he came upon a lone sprout guarded by a thin wire of a garden. Ban looked at it a moment, a look of compassion going about him before he tugged a string to his side. The string led way to a horn of water that was strapped against his side. As the water poured out, Ban led it to sprinkle against the sprout and dampen the soil around it. As soon as his water ran dry, he bowed his head and replaced the cork on his horn with a nudge of his strong head. The group had traveled a great distance out from the city, so much so they no longer could see the pastures of the farmland near the outskirts of Trothelme. Once they had, they all settled out in the hill side. Luna and Celestia stilled seemed confused by the events, but stayed near Fenix all the while; as if drawn only by him. Fenix did not mind at all, feeling a kindred tie with the two as well; much like he felt amongst all his travelling partners. Yet, Surprise, hanging off the side near Fenix, felt to herself a need to jostle the young ones. Slithering across the ground, she joined to Fenix's shadow and chattered her teeth near the two fillies' ears. "Sly silly shadows slip silent... SURPRISE!" Surprise's screech at the end sent Luna and Celestia bolting out from the cover of Fenix, making Surprise laugh more and more. "Surprise! Ya' daft?" Fenix scolded her just before swatting her bone-head in the back. As her head rattled and even spun about, she kept laughing and kicking her hooves out against the air. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. Surprise should surely stop scaring...!" as silly as her words were, her genuine nature came through enough for Fenix. Slowly, Fenix followed the two fillies who decided to take cover behind a large rock. The two shivered against one another, petrified with fear before Fenix took a knee next to them. "Now don' you mind the banshee for a second. As you'll learn, we're all just as differen' as you. For better 'er for worse," Fenix's tone returned to the soothing gentleness he presented the two before, "But, if'n yer gonna see that, you'll need ta' harden out." Celestia, stilling herself and attempting to be the 'big sister' she had to be for Luna, looked up into Fenix's helmet. "Why...? Why are you... troubling yourself with us?" she asked as clearly as she could. "'Cus a' that..." he gestured a single hoof to the golden object Luna continued to protect, "We each have one a' the same. Do ya' know what that is ya' got there, by chance?" seeing the two fillies shake their heads, Fenix had a mix of relief and worry go through him, "They're... keys, we'll say. Keys to a future, a new an' bright'un. But, not jus' any one can use it. Fact, takes six... er' more. Ya' got to understan', held in yer' hooves right now is a mighty legacy. A legacy ya' cannot hold alone. Aye. Fate gave that'un to you both fer' a reason." "What reason is that...?" Luna spoke for the first time. "Not fer' me to know er' say... But'n we're gonna find out the answers together..." Fenix assured the two before looking back at the rest of his team, "The two of you, Ban, Surprise, Whooves, Pallanen, an' me," suddenly, Fenix felt a light weight fall against his back, bringing him to laugh a bit, "An' a'course Philomena." Fenix stroked one of his hooves to touch against the phoenix that had landed itself against his back. While stroked his mighty pet, he caught Celestia looking at Philomena with wonder. "Pretty one, aye?" Celestia only nodded, mesmerized by the majestic form of this bird, "You'll get a better look at her much more once ya' go through my lesson." "Lesson?" Celestia parroted, coming out of her mesmerized state. "That's right. The two of you are younglings... If'n ya' plan to carry out the legacy yer' to take on, you'll need to take on a little bit a' lessons from yer' elders," Fenix said. "What kind of lessons?" Luna urged. Fenix stood to his legs and sent Philomena to fly away across the hills. His metallic clad head turned to look among the ranks of his group. Each one had a great deal of wisdom, experience, and history they could pass on to these two fillies; but not all at once. For now, they had time to train these two as they traveled the roads ahead. In time, Luna and Celestia could very well be the keepers of the legacy... But they would indeed need to first be taught. "Ban! If'n ya' got time ta' water plants an' trail behind the rest of us, maybe ya'd like ta' filly-sit the young ones first?" the lot snickered at Fenix's call out to perhaps the strongest and most sizable member of the group. Ban, mighty as he was looked over to Fenix with an air of humbled embarrassment. "I would be most honored to..." his hooves thundered against the land as he made the small journey over to Luna and Celestia. Towering over them and casting the darkness of his massive shadow over them, he warmly smiled and bowed his great, dressed head to them as if he was in honor to them. "Shall we begin?"
Chapter Four: Ban Dragonheart. Part 1.Am I mighty? Yes. Am I grand? Yes. Does the earth shake when I stomp? It does. Do monsters fear me? They do. Could I challenge a manticore do a bout and be victorious? Without question. Am I at all modest? Not in the slightest. I would boast my greatness and display my grandeur whenever I so could. Yet now, ask me instead these questions. Am I gentle? As sand. Am I meek? As well as shy. Does the earth strike me when I stumble? I stumble quite strongly. Do I stray from the path of monsters? Whenever I may. Could I handle with care a flower bed more so than strike down a tree? The tree has done nothing to me. Am I humbled by my grandeur? Beyond belief. I was gifted with greatness and a standing honor with this form the ancients allowed me. Now, look back upon all my answers. Each set is vastly different, yet no answer was a lie. We are layered; all of us are. We may be vile, yet display kindness to one. We could destroy but wish to preserve beauty. These are not contradictions, mind you. This is honesty. Would you care to know the greatest honesty of all? Bravery and integrity. "Um... Ban, sir?" Celestia coughed a little bit, trying not to burden her 'elder' too much. Ban Dragonheart slowly opened his eyes and absorbed the sights around him for a moment. The green of earth waved against the black cuffs of his hooves when the soft turn of the mountain winds swept by him and his two charges. The headdress atop his head fluttered along with the wind, matting down the curled hair of his brown coat. Against his back, the drums and horns he adorned and hung against his form sounded dry taps and whippings against him, following with the winds orders. It took him a moment to regard the two ponies standing behind him, long ago forgetting that he had even brought them with him. Nearly an hour ago, Ban had taken Luna and Celestia along with him to the lower peak of a nearby mountain after Fenix had left the two in his care. The trip was not easy on Luna or Celestia, both being forced to groan and whine along the way by their crying hooves and aching legs. Yet, Ban persisted with the two and kept them going along with him until they reached the base of the mountain. There, after a half day's worth of walking, from sunrise to sunset, Ban let them have a momentary reprieve. While Luna had collapsed in on herself, gasping for air and letting her legs throb out their pain, Celestia stayed close to Ban. Ban finally regarded Celestia and looked down at her with his imposing size casting well over her. "Would you ask something of me, little one?" For such a giant, imposing buffalo, Ban surprisingly possessed little command in his natural tone. Suppressing her tire, Celestia nodded and moved to speak, "I would. My sister and I have been following you for hours. We're tired, drained, and far away from the rest of the group. To add more issue, you have yet to say anything to us," perhaps Celestia did not mean it, but her voice started to reflect a deal of distaste for Ban. "Yes, you're tired and hungry, I can understand that very easily," Ban started to smile a playful look at the young filly as he looked back to the path they had taken, "If you wish, you may venture back to our camp. I am sure Fenix would humbly give you a share of what food he and the others have gathered. Yet, to do that... You would need to walk back." Perhaps Celestia felt patranized by Ban's words, fueling her to stomp her tired front leg against the dirt and scoff at the larger being. "Are you trying to be funny? Fenix trusted us with you to teach us, and you decide to mock me?" Celestia's rage started to seize up inside her, causing her muddled pink mane to start to prickle. In spite of Celestia's anger, Ban continued to smile down at the pint-sized filly. "A lesson or two will be taught to you. To the fact, you should be aware of one now," the mix of Celestia's rage moved more into confusion at Ban's words, "Listen well. When I had you follow me, what did I say to you?" "...Nothing. That's the problem, you didn't tell us what we were doing or where we were going," said Celestia, holding to her ground that Ban was at fault. "That is right. I said nothing at all to you. No rules, no reasoning, nothing of the kind. So, answer me this: why did you not fly?" Ban's simple question staggered a blow against Celestia, sending her to silence, "Or why did you not switch between flying and walking? Even more, why had you never asked me to carry you upon my back?" There was no reply from Celestia, "I see you will not offer me an answer. So allow me to voice my own idea. Were you perhaps frightened by how I may react?" Silence. Ban let out a deep laugh, making Celestia look back to him and send Luna into a small stir as she slowly regained her strength. "You must learn first this, my young ones: beneath all our bodies resides one similar force. The zebras call it essence, the buffalo call it spirit, the goats refer to it as chakra, and the ponies call it soul. In the end, it is the life force that makes us all one. We may look different, but our spirits -or souls- share a likeness beyond any manner that we as mortals can see." It took a moment for Celestia to take in everything Ban had told to her. Her wings furled against her, showing signs of a deep shame she was now holding. Along with her wings, her head drooped and she sighed in her shame. "I am sorry, Ban Dragonheart..." "There is no reason to be in regret of your actions," Ban assured Celestia with a light tap of his front hoof against the top of her head, "you will continue to judge me as well as others for as long as you live. This is something to be proud of," suddenly, Ban started up a nearby path that wound around the mountain they stood at the base of. Once more, Celestia was left confused by the buffalo's words and tried to follow him. However, mid-way after him, she stopped herself and looked back to the still tired Luna. Celestia spared no hesitation in going to her sister's side and hoisting her to be placed on her back. Now Celestia felt an even greater strain in her legs, but she pressed on and followed in Ban's steps. Once Celestia was back within earshot of him, Ban continued to speak as if Celestia had never left his side. "Yes. It is my hope that you will judge others with a mindful heart and spirit -or soul- as Fenix and the rest of us had done for you. However, I do not wish for you to judge and be resentful of what you deem as dark or mischievous. I wish for you to judge and accept regardless of what you may think of the one you have judged." "But... I don't understand, Ban," Celestia's tone had changed a great deal from the harsh nature she had used before, she now sounded unsure as well as careful on what words she would say, "Judging others, isn't that wrong?" "Yes, it's very wrong. Yet, you would be lying to yourself if you said you would never judge another," Ban spoke frank as he continued up the winding mountain pass, "To move my point along, answer me this, young one. What do you think of my travelling partners?" The road ahead grew more steep with each step Celestia and Ban made, bringing more strain into Celestia's little body as she fought the weight of the land as well as the burden of her sister against her back. "Fenix... Fenix is a kind pony. Like the rest, I can't say much to his deeper levels, but I can feel he has a deep nature to help others," Ban snorted once, urging Celestia on, "Surprise seems... seems... different." a little chuckled from Ban lifted Celestia's spirit just a bit, "Whooves would appear to be a stallion who does not much care to speak often on items that don't seem too important. I don't know him well, but I think he may be a pony of action rather than words," Celestia could have sworn that Ban muttered something about 'seeing', but she let it pass, "finally, Pallanen... by appearance alone, he's nothing I have ever seen before. I can't really say much for his character..." "A fine assessment, young one. Very fine," Ban's legs trudge his form along the slooping path further and further until he drew to another stop mid-way up the incline, "Now, look back on your words. I am to believe you spoke not one lie to me in your assessments. Yet, in honesty, you know nothing of any of my friends outside of what little you have seen. Still, you speak highly of them -on one exception-, which is what I wish for you to do. Do you understand?" Celestia adjusted her sister against her back, letting Ban's words sink in. "I... Think so. You want me to judge for the good in everyone before I let any thought of evil can come to me?" "Very good, Celestia...! For one so young, you seem to possess a great deal of understanding. Perhaps you are due for a more challanging lesson?" Ban snorted a gruff chuckle out while also noticing Celestia's nervious smile in return, "No, no. I shall not test you too gravely. As sure I am that the land is strong, so too am I sure that Fenix and Whooves will have truly grave challanges for you upon your return. Fenix believes with all his spirit that you and your sister are the ones we have been searching for. I will hope with my own spirit that he is right..." for a moment, Ban's tone of voice fell sullun and he began to trek up the path ahead. Silence fell onto the group for some while, both Ban and Celestia moving up the mountain pass with their waight starting to burden them more and more. The land far bellow seemed so vast to Celestia, grass and hills spanning as far as the eyes could see. There was even a few pockets of lakes here and there intermixed with the lush land. When Celestia beheld it, a thought came to her; one that she thought Ban would be able to answer. "Ban...? What do you value most?" Celestia's words were meek as they left her dry throat, but they struck Ban all the same. Deep from Ban's own lung, a harsh sigh went through him and caused his fur to muddle against his face. From where Celestia stood behind him, she could not see that Ban's eyes had shut in a silent reflection. "If you ask that now... You are willing to know my final lesson for you," starting up the trail again, Ban moved with a greater haste. Celestia struggled to keep pace, her breath straining against her and her wings beating against her body in an attempt to keep up. The trail started to cloud with Ban's hooves beating great mounds of untouched dirt into the air at his one buffalo stampede up the trail. He spared only a glance to be sure that Celestia was still close and safe before he continued his words. "You are but one being. That is all anyone can ever be. Fenix, myself, Luna, the orphan mare that wonders the street? We are one and the same, as I have told you. At the same time, we are nothing but that one," from Ban's headdress, a faint twinkle started to contrast against the setting sun off against the horizen, "Distrust and fear would twist your spirit -or soul- into the belief that you are more than any other; more than all the rest. But, I shall tell you the truth I have accepted and has granted me light in the darkness..." Suddenly, Ban came to a halt, startling Celestia. It took Celestia a moment to stop her legs as they wobbled and whimpered for rest. Her hoof falls came to a stop a few feet ahead of where Ban had stopped, leaving her to look over a massive edge. As if at once, Celestia felt all her tire flow out from her as she looked out against the golden hue of the world. From the highest cliff in this land, Celestia looked out onto all the world stretched before her. From Trothelme to the vast mountain range far to the north. From where she stood, she saw all of the land bathed in the golden splender of the sun's last shimmer. Caught within the beauty, Celestia did not notice as Ban stepped beside her and looked out over the world as well. "The bravery to accept reality is a grand step into seeing the beautiful truth of our world..." down from Ban's headdress came a golden emblem that hooked around his neck and tossed just so in the evening mountain breeze. The emblem had not much too it aside from the orange and green crystalized design that decorated the middle of it. Author's Note I'm doing two parters for each lesson so they don't take too long. Unless you would rather have longer chapters so we can get both lessons in but take longer to get them out.
Chapter Five: Surprise. Part 1Here is a riddle! A riddle, a riddle, Hi-Diddle-Diddle, Surprise has a riddle! Eh-heh-heh-heh-heh! Fiddle the riddle and twiddle-twiddle-twiddle an answer for my riddle! Eh-heh-heh-heh! A riddle I say? The riddle I'll lay! Here is the riddle little-diddle-diddle, here is your riddle! What can not see but has eyes? What can not laugh but always smiles? What can look so different, yet always be the same? What is as white as snow but as strong as steel? What knows the joke but just doesn't say? Eh-heh-heh-heh! Love! Lovely long lasting! I love this riddle. True is true if you only knew; the riddle has only been solved by two. Two tragically trifled thralls of chances twisted tale of tethered ties. Oh-why, oh-why? Why must these two be tied? Eh-heh-heh. A lie, a lie. Surprise is sorry to lie. The tie not tragic. It's beautiful by chance. Chance is a lance that rings through any trance. The trance of delusion and confusion, I mean. Do you delude the confused with loosed lewds of rudes? Eh-heh-heh. Two of those were not even words! Silly-silly-silly surprise for Surprise she says. Eh-heh-heh. Surprise will shh now, sleepy silly filly... Little Luna lost leg long-long leaps leading to the ledge. Little sleepy head Luna needs shh if little lost sleepy Luna will linger a long needed learning. I know. Surprise knows. Surprise... That's me. Surprise. That's my name. Eh-heh-heh... Silent upon the peek of the grand mountain top, two little fillies curled a warm touch into the side of Ban Dragonheart as he rested his massive form against the cool stone. Soft crickets from far, far below the mountain's top barely reached to sound against the soft, young, twitching ears of Luna and Celestia as they slept off their fatigue. Against one another, curled within the other's own softly rising and setting chests, the two sisters slumbered at pure, blissful peace within this late hour. Aside for the slight stirs each shared in from the passing moments, not a soul awoke as night cradled the cooling land. Luna herself huffed gently against her older sister and fidgeted against Ban, disturbed just a bit by the heat coming from the two. The younger filly fought to keep her eyelids shut, desiring nothing more than to not awake at this late hour. Efforts fell in vain, sadly, when her eyes twitched open and the dim nightlight greeted her sleep filled eyes. Luna spared a glance to her caretaker, Ban Dragonheart, then to her sister Celestia. Neither one seemed to have noticed her awakening at the point, much to her small relief. The side of her sister was a place she love to remain at, but Luna declined the notion with a shake of her head and proceeded to walk out near the edge of the cliff they had camped on. From where she stood, the soft currents of the nightly gales tossed against her curled mane and her eyes were treated to the beauty of a moon kissed world slumbering in a collective peace. So soothing was the sight of all the lands below. The beauty and calm of it, before Luna had noticed, started to weigh against her eyelids and caused her legs to wobble. In that moment, Luna stumbled forward, meeting her eyes to the vast, perhaps bottomless abyss under the cliff face. Her eyes squeezed shut and she quivered against herself, fearing her fall. Yet... She felt something stop her... A force as light as the gentle night air; yet she could feel it holding her up and stunting her fall. Luna's eyes opened to the sight of a velvety cloak wrapped around her body while also lifting her up and setting her back upon the edge of the cliff. Silly-silly filly! Luna leaps along the ledge and lands lopsided along the land? Not a narrow nibble of a naked chance. Luna was stricken with shock. From nowhere a voice was speaking to her. It seemed to follow with the wind, but at the same time it felt as if it was moving the winds. Luna felt her hooves scrape against the surface of stone and watched as the cloak slither away; virtually disappearing or perhaps returning into the night itself. Little Luna? The voice sounded almost familiar... A faint voice Luna remembered was mixed among Fenix's travelling partners. At that moment, by some force that seemed to make her beyond her control, Luna shuddered out a meek answer. "W-What do you want?" To chit. "...Chit?" To chat. To chitter-chat. To talk to you, little lost Luna. Do you know who I am? Oh please! Tell me you do! It'd surprise lil' Surprise if you knew Surprise's name! "Is it... Surprise?" A sharp gust of wind lashed against Luna, as if the sky itself was laughing at the answer. Wha-wha-what!? Surprise surprise, Surprise! You knew my name! What a-- Luna couldn't help herself. She smirked oh-so slightly and looked off into the winds around her. "Surprise?" She finished the voice's statement. Gasp and gasp again! Smart, swift, and short, shrimpily-shrew! She surely has one up on Surprise... Me! Eh-heh-heh-heh-heh! I really, really like you. Surprise wants to slip some secrets swift -so- only for you. But if you want them, you need to answer Surprise's riddle... "A riddle?" An echo! Yes, a riddle! Up for a little riddle, fiddle-de-diddle? "Let's... hear your... riddle?" Luna felt so very confused, but at the same time excited. What can not see but has eyes? What can not laugh but always smiles? What can look so different, yet always be the same? What is as white as snow but as strong as steel? What knows the joke but just doesn't say? Can you answer my riddle? Only one-- The winds died at a sudden second. Despite how mighty a gale could be, or how high they could reach upon these tops, the single word spoken by Luna rang beyond any sort of power. A word that crushed Surprise and left her unable to even laugh. ...That's... Right. Luna... I'm... Impressed... Come speak to me once you return to Fenix and the others. I will pass on my lesson then. Yet again, Luna was surprised. Surprise's tone had shifted so dramatically. From laughter and joy to a soft tone. Luna moved to speak, but was buffered by a strong gust as Surprise started laughing again with a greater force. Eh-heh! Little Luna loops lightly a right answer! Sleep soft, Little Lost Luna. Sleep soft so soon sleep sweeps. Just like that, the winds died once more and the presence of Surprise faded along with her chattering laughter. Luna felt all her being drained from such an encounter and went to lay her head against the invitingly cool cliff floor before falling right back into a blissful sleep.
Chapter Six: Ban Dragonheart. Part 2.Fenix tells me stories of his home land when we go together to collect water. What a remarkable land he hails from; much more so than the cloth teepees my people were accustomed to from what I can tell. Homes, stores, roads, all made from beautiful white stones Fenix called "marble" and "limestone". These buildings, as high as your eyes could see, he would say. I admit, they were tall tales to accept. But... The pain in Fenix's voice, the bitter-sweet remembering of those cities he voiced when he tells me these stories rang true. In their time, I am certain those buildings were astounding to the eyes as much as they were to the ears. I truly believe that. Surprise is a "reserved" sort when it comes to matters of her own life. Your personal life or the lives of others she has to trouble passing the stories around; but her own is a different story. It had only been recently that she allowed me the smallest glimpse into the world she came from. From what I could derive from her chattering rhymes, her home was nowhere. What that means is... between she and I alone. As I would tell her something painful of my own past world, she would never speak of it herself. I truly believe that. Whooves, or whatever name he decides upon being called at this given moment, I truly tend to ignore from time to time. I mean no grave offence to him, but it is only so far that I am willing to accept his talks of "metal structures" and "future advancements". Surprise humors him a great deal ever since he told this story of a tool that disposes waste. It is not that I don't believe his stories; he has shown me a great deal of strange artifacts that support his claims. It is only that his stories worry me. That the unknown is best left as it is; unknown. I truly believe that. Pallanen is a true dear to the soul. There exists no mystery or misdirection with him. When we speak of our pasts, he will never withhold a detail. The land he called home was without buildings, roads, or any sort of construction. All was borne of nature, and borne of love for nature. When he speaks of it, you can almost hear the woodland sprites and singing words. It had truly sounded like a paradise for the most serene of spirits. That is why it feels all the more tragic when his tone shifts to sorrow when he remembers what happened to his homeland. He is a gentle, peaceful spirit... But there is a hatred deep within him that yearns to have a moment to spend its wrath. I truly believe that. Now... I say all this, all of these remembrances of my cohorts, because the enlighten the point I wish to say. Pain, sorrow, acceptance, anger... They dwell within us in the forms of walls that stop us from advancing within our lives. Yet, you have a choice when these walls form before you. You may fight it and try to break it, or you may stand idle and allow it to stop you. As strange as it may come to you, I would rather stand idle and allow it to be there. I bravely accept what comes before me and do not fight it. Why would I? Because fate has given me the path with these walls; and it is my duty to prevent these walls from forming before the younger ones that will come. I truly believe that... The moment Celestia had woken from her sleep upon the mountain's cliff, the glint of the morning sun greeted her along with the colossal form of Ban Dragonheart standing near the cliff's edge. The young princess searched about her surroundings, finally able to see it within the morning light and truly see what was really here. To her, the most important thing she took note of was her younger sister curled up against the mountain's face still draped in a small shadow; sleeping. Celestia herself got to her hooves and walked over to Ban, joining her teacher and caretaker in looking over the waking world. The afterglow of sunset left Celestia with a peaceful image before she drifted off to sleep last night, but seeing the world now as it was seemed like an entirely different sight. Small caravans could be made out moving down dirt roads, flocks of birds were seen stretching their wings against the warm sunlight, and off to the distance she could hear the small town life of Trothelme. "Celestia..." Ban spoke softly, "All you see here... The waters, the stones; the beasts, the mares; the living; the green, the blue... How long do you think they will all live?" The question sank like a stone in the young heart of Celestia and she could not answer. Perhaps that was what Ban had intended. The old bull sighed with a heavy heart himself and moved to answer his own question. His face moved out against the strong mountain wind, letting his braided mane toss against the wind. "Days, months, hours, years, decades... I can't be the one to say for certain. But, would it ever be my place to say so either way? I would say no... What about you, Celestia?" "I... I think it's wrong to even think about anything living or dying..." Celestia answered honestly while looking over the vast world below them. Ban gave a surprised grunt and turned to look at his young pupil. "Wrong? Why would you say it would be wrong?" Celestia herself seemed to consider it herself. The winds danced at her shimmering pink mane and brushed against her hooves as she consumed herself into a moment of thought. When she finally did speak, Ban's ears were all hers to do as she wished. "Because... Nothing ever dies... It just goes away so you have to remember it. As long as you remember it, it'll never die... It just won't be here or there anymore..." Celestia tried to explain what her thoughts were bringing to her, but she failed herself and looked to Ban for reassurance, "Do you know what I'm trying to say, Ban?" "...Yes..." Ban's low, bellowing voice grew even more softer as he shut his eyes and turned himself back to the winds, "Yes, Celestia... I truly believe I do." From one spirit, the soul of bravery had found another to touch against... Ban smiled to himself at this event and looked far off into the distance until Celestia called for his attention. "Ban?" "Yes, Celestia? What's wrong?" Celestia turned away from the cliff, the wide world, and Ban in exchange for the view of the massive mountain face just behind her. A small, hopeful smile came to Celestia; and for the first time since this trip, she started to laugh. "This is a beautiful mountain... Wouldn't you agree?" Ban had to turn around and examine the mountain himself now, joining Celestia in the appraising of the massive stone wall before them. The great bull huffed a bit and let out a gravel churning chuckle. "A beautiful mound of rock indeed... Fit for a queen..."
Chapter Seven: Worth.The hour of the coming high noon set upon the convoy headed by Fenix Dragonheart. The leader and watchman against the dwindling night, Fenix, kept his front and back legs folded under his armor clad body while he watched tirelessly over the vast plains. The sockets of his helmet that led to his eyes rang empty of nearly any life aside from the small periodic bats of the stallion's eyes blinking. Not a muscle of his body moved while he watched over his partners, his senses heightened by the possible threat of trouble. His nerves were steeled and his attention made to a fine point. To this end, it only took him a fraction of a second to break his stance, stand with a wide gait, and finally cast his iron strong glare in the direction of the first thing that caught his attention in his whole time of keeping watch the already passed night. Fenix stature was very much imposing; by overall size of the stallion and the sharp decoration of his signature armor. So much so, even his partners would let out a yelp from time to time when he went into a protective stance or was switched into an alert. By no means had they ever expected him to even think about hurting any of them; but fear is fear. Fear which Whooves was now filled with as Fenix bared down at him. Fenix immediately resigned his threatening stance and shorted the gap between his legs. "'Ooves... Nay'ya should be sneakin' up'n the watch..." Fenix huffed, the metal around his muzzle causing every word he said become echoed and slightly distorted. "Right. Sorry, Fenix. I'll try and tie a bell around my neck so you don't snap it next time I walk up behind you," Whooves answered with a genuine manner of speaking. A very odd thing for any pony to say, but something Fenix would have thought as criminal of Whooves didn't say it at all. Fenix turned back to watching his post, in turn also looking back towards the mountain that Ban had taken the princesses for his lesson to them. Part of the stallion worried that the princesses weren't safe, but the other half assured him in these moments of worry that Ban was trustworthy if nothing else. "...Think Ban's lesson sunk in on the small one or the older one?" Whooves asked out of nowhere. "If'n Ban did a rightful job, both of'm will learn the lesson..." Fenix answered with a solemn nod. They both looked to the mountain absent of visible life aside from a few thriving bushes or trees against the mountain side. "...I'd say that little Celestia filly got the message loud and clear," Whooves spoke up once again, "That Luna bird won't understand 'bravery'. Nope," Fenix turned to say something to his partner, but Whooves had already turned back to the small camp and was heading off. "Why'd'ya say that, Doc?" Fenix called after Whooves. Whooves sure enough stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder, smiling at his armor wearing friend. "Well it's simple, Fenix. You said it yourself, these two are the ones who'll set the future... Right sure both of them can't absorb each lesson. Six 'powers-that-be', six lessons. Three for each bird." "Aye? An' what does the goo' doc say'll be the lessons each lass will learn?" Fenix said flatly. "'Thinking' isn't knowing..." Whooves shot back, still smiling a rather complex smile at Fenix, "If you ask what I think, I'll tell you I don't know because I don't know. If you ask what I know, I'll tell you to remember what you know. Because my know isn't what you know even though I know you know the know I know is a no-no..." As impossible as it is to see Fenix's face, Whooves could tell he lost him, "Look... Complexities cut short: You'll know what I know when it's time for you to know. That's as simple as I can make it," Whooves bowed his head and started back towards the camp again. That was, however, before he heard Fenix spout an order from behind him. "Get your affairs in order, 'Ooves. You'll be takin' the lass off'a Ban's 'ooves when'n'if they come back..." Fenix's voice, though still dulled by his metal armor, came clear to Whooves. The young doctor spun around and shook his head frantically at his leader. "Oh-no-no-no-no-no-no-no! Na-uh! Not happening." Fenix stepped around Whooves and went on towards the camp while ignoring Whooves' words. "Happenin'. Like it er' not." An unmistakable chuckle came from behind Fenix helmet as he passed the doctor by. "But... But... Fenix, I'm no good with tykes! Why not Pallanen? He loves children," no matter how he pleaded, Fenix kept shaking his head and cemented his choice, "But... I don't even have a planner for what I'll tell them. I bet Ban had them do some sort of buffalo rite-of-passage with fire, and coal, and war paint... I can't compete with that!" "Turner..." Whooves froze when he heard that name spoken. Fenix looked over his shoulder, scraping his metal helmet against his breast plate in the process. "Did ya' not jus'a momen' ago say they'll learn 'all six lessons'? Thinkin' that counts a lesson from ya'as well..." Fenix voice was both firm and friendly when he laid down the law for Whooves. Fenix allowed Whooves a moment to collect his thoughts and left the doctor alone while Fenix himself walked away. Alone with his thoughts, Whooves started to scowl and bucked his back hooves against the dirt under him. "Wankers... He's right. Guess I'll... Make something up..." Doctor Whooves, the travelling apothecary and weaver of tales-of-interest sat himself down and started to ponder on just what he could impart on the two future rules of what he would come to know as 'Equestria'.
Chapter Eight: Whooves. Prologue.Buggeration... Fenix, honor his soul and bless his tactical mind, has no idea how horrid I am with these little sprouts. Dash it all if I would just dump the rug rats on Pallanen if Fenix wasn't watching me. If these two could just as well be like every other child in the world, I'd lecture them and have them off on a cheery way in two winks of a jammer's wig. But, no! Whooves can't have it his way, that way, free-way, half-way, all the way, or mid-way intersection. No. He has to teach the only two ponies that--. Buggeration... Fenix understand my problem, I know... Curse it, he's a sharp one. Probably why he wants me to teach the little things in the first place. Seeing as we three'll be spending an eternity together... Hm? Sprockets and pears! Guess nobody really knows much about what keeps me with this pack of mismatches in the first place, huh? Suppose somebody could say I'm the realest and strangest oddity in our mixed bowl of nuts... Has the bowl been invented yet? Yes... Yes, it has. Of course. You see, unlike Surprise who is alive by her 'Faustian pact', or Pallanen's eternal bond with nature, or Fenix who feeds off the Sun, or Ban and his spiritual hold... I can't die. No. Honestly. Try it. Chances are I've probably experienced the exact way you're thinking of killing me. It's not dark or macabre to think of it; I just can't die no matter how hard the world tries. I won't tire you with the wiggle-woggle or oogy-boogy of how it works, but just understand that I'm old, young, middle age, and whatever else all at once. I see the past, I see the future, I've walked with the centurions as much as I've danced with the descendants. I'm as old as dirt but as fresh as a daisy. And, for as long as I've lived, died, and watched this world go back and forth... I've never met anything that can live with me. That was until Fenix came to me and offered me this chance... The bloke was crazy I thought. Elements of Harmony? That wouldn't solve my problems. But... He solved it, didn't he? He found the only two creatures in the world that will live as long as me... ...I don't want to go and meet them. I'm scared... Author's Note This is a prologue because Whooves story will be very, very long...
