The Legacy of the Elements
Chapter 1: The Crystals
Rivers runs, birds fly, and the sun and moon chase each other like playful children. There is a unknown bond between the moon and sun some might say, as though they are inseparable, like loving sisters. And though the sun shines brightly and warmly, the world is corrupted and dark. Cities are inhabited by those unfortunate of a proper raising, thieves and liars alike. Creatures who have strong bloodlust and prowl on those weaker than them. And though the world seems uncaring and hatefilled, there is always a light to a dark. Innocence to an adulterated world.
Our story begins with a tree among millions of trees. A tree inhabited by small woodland creatures the like, and a tree that is cherished by two sisters. The eldest, Celestia, takes care of her younger, Luna. Residing in a small shack down by the river, they come to the tree every day to play, say hello to the creatures, and to discuss what was on their minds. Though they were twins (and Celestia only being the eldest by a couple of minutes), there was a significant size difference. Celestia stood two hooves above her sister, making her unnaturally tall for her age.
In the tree, the two sisters sat, silently watching the sun rise from the horizon. It was a beautiful day within the woods; the birds singing and the river running in a lazy doze.
"I love the sun." Said Celestia, breaking the silence between the two.
Luna smiled and nodded. "Though I do love the sun, the moon is what I prefer. The moonlight casts a certain purity across the ground."
Celestia nodded, agreeing with her sisters preference. Celestia's pink hair flung in the breeze, autumn brushing by as it made way with the wind. A small rustling sounded from beneath them, showing a small white rabbit hop out from under a bush. The two sisters watched as the rabbit hopped to the river, drinking its contents. Luna licked her lips, and glided down from the tree to the river to do the same as the rabbit. Celestia soon followed by a wanting to keep her sister in sight.
Luna stopped drinking while her sister was still gliding toward her. She turned a full ninety degrees, looking curious and anxious.
Celestia touched down next to her. "What is is Luna?" She asked, turning her head to see what she was looking at. Celestia adopted her sisters look and attention as she too saw what she had seen.
A small stump, cut on a slant stood plainly by the river side. Though that would've been unusual in the first place considering the sisters hadn't cut trees in a long while, there was another party of curiosity. A faint glowing light emitted from the face of the stump, glowing with a certain defiance and severity to the world. Luna took the first steps toward it, finally breaking into a trot. Celestia followed hurriedly to her sister, her curiosity turning into wonder.
Luna had finally reached the stump, and stared into the light. Celestia, now standing next to her, also looked inside.
"What do you think it is?" Luna asked without breaking her stare.
Celestia pondered the question. Coming up with "I don't know."
Luna looked to her sister with a sparkle in her eye and twitchy grin. Turning her head back to the stump, she reached out her front hoof to the glowing light.
Celestia gasped at her sisters move. "Luna!" She moved to smack her hoof, but she was already too late as the two sisters swirled into a dark nothingness.
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Celestia awoke believing her eyes were closed. But blinking proved her wrong. She lay in complete darkness, all pitch black except for her unconscious sister lying next to her. Stumbling to sit up, Celestia cast her head around to search for some sort of ground or light. And though it was absolutely dark, a light flashed spontaneously in front of the sisters, shining elegantly onto a small patch of grass. The grass ran on a mounded ground, spanning seven hooves long and six hooves wide. Celestia felt the anxiety and fear grow in her chest. Where was she? How would she get out?
She decided to give the grass mound a look, prodding her sister awake who shared the same level of confusion and fear as her sister.
"Are we inside of the stump?" Luna asked in a high pitched voice.
Celestia looked skyward to find the same blanket of black they were currently surrounded by. "I don't think so sister."
Both walked side by side to the mound, standing on it cautiously as if it were to break away. Luna pawed at the center, experimenting to see if a reaction would take place. Nothing happened.
"Sister, do you know anything of this?" Celestia asked. She didn't know why really, but she craved for some sort of answer. The fear was starting to take her mind.
"No. I do not understand what we are doing here, or why the stump had been glowing. Perhaps one of the dragons put it there?" Luna suggested.
Celestia shook her head. "I was awake all night, nothing had come to the forest."
Luna looked a little crestfallen. "Then maybe it wa-"
Cut off in mid sentence, both sisters stumbled and desperate to find purchase on the now moving grass mound. The entirety of the black blanket seemed to be shaking uncontrollably like an earthquake running up walls and mountains. A sharp piercing of light protruded from the black in front of the sisters, opening to a large crack in the wall. Celestia, now kneeling, looked into the crack and was confounded by what she saw inside.
A large white and beautiful mare with both wings and a horn stood atop a mountain, casting her gaze down on the land. Slowly, the land had began to populate with buildings and ponies of all races mingling. But the paradise that was forming before her eyes vanished into a purple and red void that, in itself, cracked at the air with a oppressive evil. Dragons, Timber Wolves, and many strange creatures yet unknown to the small mare stalked about the ground, under a crimson sky and a many burning forests populated the geography. The horrors that the inhabitants of the tainted world ran through Celestia's mind like a virus, infecting her emotions from wonder to utter desperation, depression, and a death-like fear that ravaged her body with shakes.
Though it seemed extremely distant, Celestia could her the whimpers and cries of her sister, but she could not tell if it was coming from the crack or from the physical form sitting next to her. Nor could she break her stare into the harsh world playing out before her.
Celestia watched as more blood ran from the innocent ponies and small animals across the grass, tainting it a cruel red and brown.
"Make it stop." She whispered. "Make it stop." Tears began to form in her eyes, threatening to stain her pearl white face.
And then, as if the crack was listening, the visuals froze in mid horror. Slowly fading into a blinding white, the terrors of the crimson sky world disappeared. Celestia turned her head to her sister; who looked upon a quick glance a gaunt like no other the white mare had seen.
A small tinkling sound resonated from the crack, and both sisters looked up to it to view what was happening next. Seven crystals of various different colors levitated within the surface of the crack, and seemed to be moving towards the two. Celestia stood up, her sister did so as well.
With the crystals now directly in front of their faces, two of the seven crystals came forth ahead of the rest. One was stark white but with a tinge of pink, and the other was dark blue. Both sisters realized they were the colors of themselves, and began to wonder what the connection was. Celestia looked past her crystal at the other six crsytals and took note of their colors.
Red-gold, green-blue, gold-black, tan-red, and brown
Celestia turned her attention to her own crystal, which was now glowing, along with her sisters. Celestia pricked her ears, hearing a small whisper.
"Sister," Celestia said quietly to Luna. "Are you whispering?"
Luna shook her head while not taking her eyes off of the crystal.
Could it be?... Celestia wondered, leaning closer to her crystal. In what seemed otherworldly, so fairly distant that it seemed the quietest of whispers, was coming from the crystal. Celestia leaned closer to learn it's secret.
Magic
Celestia stood back. "Magic?"
Growing curious, she leaned into Luna's crystal, showing that it too whispered magic. Not spells or incantations, just definitively the word magic. The whispers sounded like those of lost souls, forgotten far off by time casting it's surreal blanket over the memories of them. Sad and desolate was a description Celestia thought of.
Without any notice, the crystals whirred in placed, making the sisters take a step back. And then, the crystals slammed themselves into the alicorns' horns. But they did not bounce away, the crystals shifted through the horn.
Celestia screamed out in pain, the feeling of having something rammed into her horn was almost mind shatteringly painful. She could not tell if her sister shared the same pain over her own, and would like to not know either way.
Through the agony a voice filled Celestia's mind like a booming dragon.
"MAGIC. BORN THE ONLY TWO BREED OF YOUR KIND, THE GODS HAVE CHOSEN YOU THE SOLE LEADERS OF THESE ELEMENTS. GUIDE THEM TO THEIR SUITORS AND VANQUISH THE EVIL THAT YOU HAVE WITNESSED WITHIN THE PORTAL ABOVE. GO UNTO THE CITY OF THE RICH AND POOR TO FIND YOUR FIRST SUITOR: GENEROSITY. MAY THE GODS LOOK UPON YOU WITH MERCY."
Celestia soon blacked out from the pain and confusion, falling into the black abyss surrounding her.
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"Sister!"
Ugh....
"Sister! Get up!"
"Luna?"
Celestia opened her pained eyes to see her sister standing above her.
"Celestia! Get up, you have to see this!" Luna squealed with joy and a smile as she turned around and galloped away.
"Sister, wait!" Celestia called out, her head felt like mush. She noted they were back in the forest, the sun now standing at noon and the air warm.
Celestia looked ahead to see Luna standing at the stump, which was no longer glowing. She stood up, reluctantly walking over to her sister.
"So was it a dream or not?" Celestia said as she looked over the shoulder of her sister to see the six remaining crystals lying amid the stump.
"It had something to do with the gods sister. It must've been a plane between ours and theirs." Luna answered with a certain confidence.
Celestia was taken aback by her sisters odd clairvoyance, but decided not to pry. "So the gods were the ones to create this stump? And was it a portal like the voice said?" Celestia asked herself and no-one at all.
Luna turned her head to Celestia, a wild sparkle much like before was present. "Sister, if this is the will of the gods, then we must do what they said. Go to the city of the rich and poor to find a suitor!" Luna said with glee.
"Sister wait. Not only did we just wake from a dream in where we most likely saw two futures take place, have crystals embedded into our horns, and receive a message from the gods, but nopony aside from our parents and travellers have ever seen us. We might know of all the pony races, but they hold no account of a pony with both wings and horns. We might be prosecuted in some way." Celestia argued with reason.
Luna frowned and nodded her head, turning her sad eyes back to the crystals. "Then....what about the evil the voice talked of? Surely it means the dragon empire?" Luna asked, looking back to Celestia.
Celestia could not answer. Sure, the dragons were evil enough, but they wouldn't be a threat to gods would they? They are only mortal beings and have no place on a omnipotent begins ground.
"It matters not. Give me time to think about it sister, though yes it is a message from gods, this is asking us to leave our home, forest and all the things we know to go on a dangerous journey. If the gods made us with free will, then allow us to use it."
Some time had passed, and yet the sisters sat inside of their small shack discussing the dream. It was a small shack that was 15 hooves long and wide, evidently the same one they were birthed in. Constructed out of wood, a small ditch piled by stone was used as a fire place during the winter, and two small nests of bird feathers, wool, and other soft materials served as beds to the two sisters.
They had almost no recollection of their mother and father, Celestia's earliest memory was that of carrying her sister through a snowstorm. What seemed like years of traveling through the storm, they had reached a familiar shack of wood where they slept the night, and every night since then. But they were not bother by the missing of civilization. They viewed themselves as freaks, things that should not have been born. And they often hid from ponies that had walked through the forest, sometimes ending in confrontation that had varied results.
Though in the present, Luna gave more questions.
"So what do you think it means by we are the suitors of magic? We know hardly any at all." Luna asked, poking at her horn curiously.
"Well, i think the voice meant we are magical creatures." Celestia added, watching her sister grow a confused expression.
"Huh? What do you mean? We are like every other pony."
Celestia sighed. "No, we are not. Ponies are either born with a horn, wings, or none at all. We were born with both. That either means that the gods had birthed us like this on purpose, or something was the matter with our parents. Either or, we are not like others."
Luna seemed to have gotten upset from the explanation, turning her head to glance out of the shack window to the sky. It was now approaching night, and the sisters began to grow tired.
"Sleep Luna, we will come with a decision tomorrow."
Though still excited from the earlier dream, Luna drifted off into a silent slumber, leaving Celestia to lay awake in her nest.
Looking to her sister, Celestia smiled a smile of a mother. She treated her sister like she was her mother, often having to be mature and desist any childish activities. For the sake of her sister.
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Celestia was in deep sleep when the dragons attacked.
At first, she was awoken by a rumbling in the ground. Jolting from her nest she ran to the window, just in time to see a dragon come and breath fire to the trees next to the shack. Jumping back, Celestia shoved Luna from sleep.
"Luna get up! We have to get out now!" Celestia tried to whisper as loud as she could.
Luna woke hazed, then acquired the same feeling of desperation from her sister. Celestia trotted back to the window to see the dragon burn the tree the two sisters loved, making Celestia grow a well in her heart. Childhood memories seemed to burn away in the fire from the dragons.
"Come on, we have to go!" Celestia hopped out the window and turned to Luna.
Luna was about to follow before something dawned on her face. "Wait! The crystals!"
Luna ran back into the corner to grab a leather pouch she had stored the crystals in. Now out of the shack, the two sisters ran for their lives as the dragon swooped down and lit the shack on fire. Luna screamed, pumping her legs even faster when the dragon began to chase them.
Celestia could feel the heat from the dragon's nostrils engulf her body, and forced her legs to move faster. The dragon advanced even further, only five hooves behind the galloping alicorns.
I have to do something or we'll never escape!
And in that moment of desperation, Celestia lept in the air, and felt a power rise from within her chest. Filling her body to the brim, her eyes turned stark white, shining harsh beams of light onto the dragon. Her horn had begun to glow bright pink, and the dragon was being wrapped in dark purple vines of magic.
The veins of magic wrapped the wings of the dragon, causing it the fold and crash to the ground, knocking over trees and erupting the dirt into the air. All the while Celestia's scowl grew ever more fierce. Soon, the dragon was covered in a giant purple bubble, encasing it forever in a magical prison.
Celestia felt the power within her body fade fast, and half plummeted half glided to the ground, hitting the hard dirt and falling on her side. Luna came to help, but Celestia waved her off in gesture to keep moving. Clearing the forest and coming on the plains, they stopped on a large hill to look back at the forest.
Their home along with the home of many creatures was currently engulfed in a inferno, turning everything to ashes as three dragons circled around the center. The sisters both looked on with a sense of loss, losing their home and memories to the destruction of the dragons.
Luna was the first to speak, though her voice no longer high pitched but low and somber. "So I guess we really do have to go to the city."
Celestia sighed. In a matter of one day, she had felt a slew of emotions and pain, all to end with having to go on the gods journey.
"Come one Luna, lets get started then." Celestia called to her sister as she turned and walked to the peak of the hill.
On the peak the two sisters saw the city ahead, lit by a uncountable amount of lanterns and other sources were unicorns lived as the rich and the earth ponies as the poor. Though in most cases, they would not live in the same city, the ruler of the city acted as a dictator, conquering settlements of earth ponies and treating them as slaves.
Down onto the plains, the two sisters slept by a river on the harsh ground, looking at the gigantic city ahead of them with varied emotions. Anger, reluctance, and even disgust. And soon, both the alicorn sisters drifted into sleep again.
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Hello, WolfOblivion here. Let me know what you think of this first chapter. Is it good? Bad? Do you think the story will be interesting? Let me know. Look to Ziom05's deviant art page to find which elements are which if you care to know.
Thanks for reading!