The Champions of Equestria

by Succaeros the Chronicler

A Royal Summons

A Royal Summons

Rainbow Dash stared at the scroll, perplexed. When Spike had come running out to find her with a cyan scroll tied with a rainbow ribbon, she knew something was up. The scroll held a royal summons, one which bid her to accompany the queen on a trip of utmost importance. Not know why the queen, a great and powerful alicorn sun-goddess, would ever need the help of one pegasus, she decided the best course of action was to go visit her friend Twilight Sparkle.

As she flew away, over the rooftops and through the beautiful blue expanse above, she couldn't help but feel a sense of dread at what the princess could want. And despite her best efforts, by the time she actually spotted the purple unicorn's library, she had thought of at least thirty different ways this visit to the princess could end badly.

"Twilight!," Rainbow called, "Hey! Twilight! You there? I'm coming in!" She made to push open the door, and was surprised to find it open. With a sense of trepidation, she nudged it open further and was dismayed to see somepony had ransacked the library, books all over the floor, tables overturned. She frantically rushed in, searching for any sign of the purple unicorn.

"Twilight!," she cried, searching for her friend through piles of books, "Twilight! Where are you?"

There was a muffled groan, and a pile of books shifted, magicked themselves, and stacked up into neat piles before settling back onto the floor. Twilight was revealed, looking a little disgruntled And tired.

"Hey Dash, what's up? Why the commotion?" The unicorn started to pick up her library, telekinetically pulling books into
stacks. She yanked a pile out from under Rainbow, causing her to fall. The letter tumbled out and skittered to a halt next to Twilight's hoof. Twilight noticed the letter, a look of shock crashing across her face. Everything in the room stopped moving.

"Rainbow... You've been summoned too I see..." She said, distantly. Rainbow nodded. A look of confusion started across her face, then she realized. "Wait, you've been summoned too? Oh, thank Celestia. I was afraid.... y'know what? Never mind. It's nothing." She looked relieved that at least one of her friends was going with her. "So... do you know why we were summoned?

Twilight shook her head. "I could tell from her writing though that something is fundamentally wrong. That's why I was perusing my library, trying to find anything that could be coming up to greet us. I found nothing, not a mention, not a whisper. That's what is worrying me." At that moment, There was a holler from outside, and Applejack walked in, followed by Fluttershy and Rarity. Rainbow Dash greeted her friends and turned back to Twilight, only to find a large pink face blocking her way.

"GAH! Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash fell backwards, startled by the pony's sudden appearance. "I HATE it when you do that!"

"Aww, Dashie! Hate's such a strong word! You can do better than that!" Rainbow Dash blushed at the use of her pet name. Applejack chuckled and stepped up to Twilight. "Uh, Twi? We got a question fer yah. Show her, girls."

The four ponies reached into various pouches in the bags they were carrying and produced scrolls in every color. Everypony except Pinkie Pie, who reached into her poofy mane to extract her scroll. Only Pinkie Pie. The scrolls were all themed and detailed with each pony in mind. Applejack's was brown parchment paper tied with green and red ribbon. Fluttershy's was yellow paper tied with yellow and pink ribbon. Rarity's was white paper with an elegant violet ribbon, and Pinkie Pie's was, well... Pink. When Rainbow Dash and Twilight saw the scrolls, they in turn produced their own.

Applejack, of course, was the first to speak. "So what does this mean? It doesn't speak of any reason, and the wording made it seem rather ominous"

Twilight pondered for a few seconds, and simply shook her head. "It means we go to Canterlot and answer the royal summons. Whatever this is, I'm sure it can't be too bad. Not for the princess to handle, anyways.

(--------)

The train departed the station, leaving the six ponies standing alone. They wandered up the eerily deserted streets, until they were greeted by an escort of guards. The guards led them on, through a side gate into the castle. The followed twists and turns, until finally they were greeted in the throne room by the twin princesses, Luna and Celestia. The two sisters looking resplendent on their thrones, the six ponies approached and bowed, until Princess Celestia spoke.

"My faithful friends, I have summoned you for two reasons. We are threatened by a new danger. Some devil from the east is endangering all of the world. The Other Tribes, from Vaporia to Zebrica, have agreed that something needs to be done about this. The Ley Lines are growing faster than the Natural Ones can absorb them. The land is being consumed. We are losing a fight that has lasted thousands of years."

She looked down at the six mares, all of them with confused expressions on their faces. "I am asking you to take up a mantle that has not been sustained in five centuries. I need you to be Champions of Equestria. You six will travel to faraway lands and embark on great adventures. However, you will not be going together. Circumstances require you to travel in pairs. So I have need of Twilight and Rarity to travel to the land of Cervidas, where the Deer live. It is the center of Ley line transformation, the height of knowledge and magic. I need Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to travel to the Cloud Kingdom of Haven. Applejack and Pinkie Pie, you will be adventuring to the city of Libraria, on the Isle of Mane."

"You will travel south, first and foremost, to the city of StableSide, on the north end of the ruins of Eternity's Bridge. Fro there, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy will depart for the City of Gallopfrey, Applejack and Pinkie Pie will take a vessel to the Isle of Mane, and Twilight and Rarity will have to find a way across the Bridge of Eternity. I have prepared gifts and guides for you until the town of StableSide. From there, you must make your own way. This here is the Zebricorn Moon Star, who will be your chronicler."

I approached the ponies, pulling down my midnight blue hood. "I am sure that I seem, very sinister and mean, but beneath this hide, there lies inside, a spark that will surely gleam."

Celestia looked at the six, and magicked over six orbs, gleaming and shimmering with the colors of the rainbow. They brightened, and manifested themselves into six gleaming cloaks the bore collars of sparkling golden necklaces. These cloaks floated down and affixed themselves to the ponies. The necklaces, which had become very familiar to the six ponies, bore gems cut in the shape of each pony's cutie mark. They were none other than the Elements of Harmony.

"I had them re-forged with a few extra pieces to create what you see. There is a certain magic that can be done with them now, whereas the wearer of one Element can detect the presence of another wearer. You can even communicate with them. You just have to believe in the power of friendship, and you will never be far away from each other. Also, they are not complete. If you seek out and collect certain articles, they will enhance the power of the elements. I fear you will need all the power you can get to defeat this new evil."

"I am sorry to have to send you off like this, but I must go myself and combat a new danger in the West. Luna is already in the north searching out new sources of strength there. There is to be a gathering of the Natural Ones in a few months, to try and sort out what to do. If you can, try and be there in exactly five months from now, at the Centennial Gathering. Now, you must go. Moon Star will explain anything he can to you once you get going.

"May the Light of the Day and the Dark of the Night keep you safe, girls." Celestia stood and approached the six mares, enveloping them in her wings. The hug did not last long, as Celestia folded her wings and spoke again. "As one last thing to do, I must bestow titles upon you, as you will be my representatives to the world."

She walked up to the six who bowed, and said, "I bestow upon thee, In the Name of Equestria, to be the Champions of Myself, Princess Celestia of the Day, and Princess Luna of the Night. You shall be the equivalent of Duchesses, being required to perform all the necessary actions of the Duchy. You will not be given land, per se, but you will be in charge of all of Equestria. You will be under no obligation to rule, that will still be my job. But for all intents and purposes, I have just divvied up equestria to you. Go now, and serve me and my sister well."

With a blinding flash of light, she was gone. The six trotted down to the station, minds reeling. The seventh stayed for a second, pondering. Then he merely nodded and cantered after them. This was going to be an interesting tale, he did not want to miss any of it.

South to Stableside

We seven travelers had decided the best course to take on our way to Stableside was an easterly train to Stalliongrad, a stern and industrial town with an ever-present pallor of industrial dusk. Then we would turn south and head down past Hoofington and on to Stableside. That was where we would go our separate ways. Twilight was dreading reaching that point, as were the rest of them. But the orders of the princess were clear: they have too much to do, and too little time to travel together. So instead Twilight spent the time riddling myself with questions, trying to gleam some form of information from me.

"So where exactly do you come from? What do you do? How do you know the princess? And I thought all zebras rhymed. Why don't you?"

"If rhyming and Answers you seek, be quiet and I will speak." I riddled her. "I am an emissary of the Zebricorn tribes, and as such, I have spent many seasons away from my home. I have not seen my children for a long while, and I have dropped the habit of speaking in rhyme. We are secluded tribes, unified in a monarchy yet separate as a whole. Our home is the Isle of Mane, my town the Village of Libraria. As for how I know the Ruler of the Day, that is knowledge for another time. I have much to teach you before you part ways, and time is fast growing short. Come, I have knew magics to teach the unicorns, and you all must learn to defend yourselves. I believe I spotted a boxcar farther back that will serve us well."

They followed the shrouded zebricorn farther back, entering the boxcar. There was barely enough room for six ponies to move around, let alone train. But the zebricorn was muttering under his breath, eyes closed and horn glowing with black-etched silver fire. There was a brilliant flash, and when it cleared they were standing an a spacious dojo, with training equipment and all the necessary equipment to prepare themselves. Succaeros stepped in the middle of the dojo, shedding his cloak and revealing his true form. He was tall for a zebra, with a long horn gracing a pointed face with cyan stripes. He truly looked like no zebra the girls had ever seen. He also revealed his cutie mark, a black sun outlined in white, with an upturned crescent moon gracing the center of the sun.

I narrowed my eyes and challenged the mares. "Now, if learning you seek, I must weed out the meek. Strike if you can, or you doom is at hand."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash stepped up first, circling the zebricorn. Rainbow attacked first, with a vicious flying kick followed by a sweep kick and a fore hoof uppercut, each strike compounded by her wings. Applejack dove in from the other side, attempting a tackle followed by a terrible buck to the midsection. Both attacks happened at once, but were opposing. I leaped out of the way of Rainbow's flurry and rolled out of the way of Applejack's tackle. The two collided and sat there, dazed.

"Good! Now focus you must, in each other you may trust. Work together and you will see, you all will achieve victory. Concentrate on your element as you stand, will your minds to merge if you can. Focus! Try and merge your minds together, to attack as a team. Fluttershy! Rarity! You are next! Test your fate, do not hesitate!"

Fluttershy trembled as she walked up to me. "I would p-prefer not t-to, I don't like fighting. That is, if that's okay with you." Rarity simply looked at me. "Fighting isn't really my style. A lady never gets into a conflict."

"Lady?" I asked quizzically. "All I see is two frightened mares, one who can't stand up for herself, and one who won't stand up for her friends. I'll leave it up to you to decide who is who."

Rarity reeled at the obvious insult to her. A look of rage crossed her face, but before she could do anything, Fluttershy raced in and aimed a vicious fore hoof at me, almost catching me by surprise. I leaped out of the way, surprised.

"WHO-DOESN'T-STAND-UP-FOR-HER-FRIENDS?" cried an infuriated Fluttershy. Before she could attack again, there was a crash against the outer door of the dojo, and seven creatures flew in. Two were pegasi, two unicorns, and two earth pony. The last enemy, however, was a red Alicorn. The Alicorn looked at the six mares, then noticed me.

"You!!" he shouted. "I thought I had destroyed you a long time ago! Bah, it does not matter anymore. Destroy them!"
He lowered his horn and pawed the ground, prepared to strike. "Girls!" I ordered, "Do not attack the Alicorn. He is mine. Be careful, and watch your backs."

I lowered my own horn, and shrank back against the shadows. There was a blaze of light and heat, and the Alicorn propelled himself forward towards me at breakneck speed. Trailing fire, he aimed a kick at me, wings outspread, only to find I had vanished into the shadows. I burst from the ground behind him, cyan stripes cracking with electricity. He leaped into the air, flying backwards until he could aim another strike at me.

All around me, the six were fighting. Rainbow and Fluttershy were making manic dives at the two pegasi, who were dodging and rolling around midair. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were back to back, parrying blows from both sides, and returning a few of their own. The two unicorns were battling Twilight and Rarity with magic, red and yellow beams crossing purple and blue waves of magic. However, they stopped fighting when our duel commenced, the two battling giants preventing them from attacking.

The Alicorn swooped down at a speed no regular pony could dodge; I slid sideways almost instantaneously, tendrils of shadow preceding me. He whirled around, creating a protective wall of fire around him. The fire coalesced into an orb, hurling itself at me, only to find it was an apparition, my true self tackling him from behind, having come from his own shadow.

"Enough!" he cried, "I have seen enough." He laughed as I let him up, the fire around him dying out. The six opponents leapt back, walking up to the Alicorn. "You have some new moves i've never seen before, eh, chronicler? That was impressive. You'll have to show me how you did those. I take it these were the six you mentioned in your note. Impressive for beginners." He turned to greet the six, all of whom were looking at the both of us with apprehension. "I am Tychius. I am the youngest of the Natural Ones, denizen of the Emberbrace Mountains. I command two of the four Elements of Nature, Fire and Air. My sister Alenius commands the other two, Earth and Water."

"Moon Star?" Applejack asked, "Would you kindly explain just what the hay is goin on? 'Cause we're all mighty appreciate it if yah did." The other mares nodded.

"I suppose you are due some explanation. Very well. Tychius and I have had a certain history with each other. In my comings and goings across the lands of this world, I have met many kinds of beings, friendly and not so. Tychius I met through a fluke, but we formed a bond of sorts. I rescued him and his sister from a prison of Discord's. We have been sparring partners, students, travelers, adventurers, and many other things besides that. In fact, we're in a competition to see who has the best fighting moves. You saw a few of mine in the battle. You witnessed some of Tychius's dancing. Which one was better?"

Rainbow dash perked up at 'competition'. She LIVED for competition. "I think they were all awesome! Can you show me how to do that? That would make me a shoe-in for the Wonderbolts for sure!"

I laughed. "While I can't speak for Tychius, I would be honored to show you what I know. Come, Tychius, Banish those pitiful shadows you created and show the girls how to fight like you did."

Tychius sighed. "They didn't fool you at all, did they? Very well, I came at your bidding. I will show you my moves." He motioned with his horn and the six opponents vanished into smoke.

Twilight and Rarity approached, looking intently at me. I smiled cordially as they drew near. "I've never seen anyone use magic of that level except the princess. That was no bard's magic." Twilight gave me a stern look. "That was no storyteller's magic. I want to know how you did that, and how you made this place. The amount of energy required to move us all to another location is astronomic. So how did you do it?"

I gave them a look. "Okay. I'll show you."

The train rolled on, taking us steadily and surely to our splitting point. The six dived into the lessons Tychius and I taught them, learning with amazing speed. When we reached Hoofington and prepared to switch cars and make for Stableside, our terminal destination. I taught the six all the moves and spells I knew. Tychius filled in the remaining sets of teachings, like focus and strength. When we neared the small town of Stableside, I brought out one final gift from the princess. They were six orbs of silver, on chains of silver. I presented the necklaces to the girls.

"These are a gift from Celestia, from me. I will not be able to accompany the other two pairs, I am only one Zebricorn. However, these I made for you. They will record everything you see, hear, say, and do. They cannot be lost, destroyed, or taken. There is a spell on there so that you forget you are wearing it, and nobody else can notice it."

"I will Accompany Applejack and Pinkie Pie for the first half of their journey, at which point I will be home. Now, The princess has instructed me to tell you exactly what you are doing. You will be looking for knowledge of the ley lines, how they grow, how they wane, what can stop them, and if there is, where is it. During the God-King's reign, several artifacts were created to absorb or control the Ley lines. You are to find and gain control of those artifacts.That is what you are tasked with."



(>>><<<)

We arrived in Stableside the next day. The plan was to stay with a friend of Tychius that owned a boat business there. The city of Stableside was a nice, quaint, sprawling village with tall whitewashed stone structures, large markets and a wonderful harbor side view of the sea. From the center of town, a straight road led from the path to the rest of Equestria to the famed bridge of Eternity's Crossing. This was the bridge Rarity and Twilight Sparkle needed to cross in order to get to Cervidas, but a calamity had sent the middle span cascading into the sea. As they approached the dwelling, Rainbow Dash could see a team of Pegasi flying around at incredible speed, trailing dark clouds. The line of clouds pointed straight into the market. Rainbow swore she would investigate once she got a chance. They entered and settled in, with Twilight and Rarity finding a spare room to practice magic. Applejack and Pinkie Pie agreed to go with Tychius to the market, and Rainbow Dash took off with Fluttershy in tow to investigate the flyers.

When Rainbow reached the end of the trail, she saw that it led into a large coliseum. When they entered, they could see pegasi training across the entire building. There was a cloud obstacle course, training area, and various practice equipment for sports. When Rainbow flew down to the ground floor to explore further, she was suddenly tackled by a mysterious force. The force, it turned out, was a rather noticeable pegasus with bright orange-and-yellow mane and amber fur.

Rainbow recoiled and gasped at the sight. For, standing right in front of her, was none other than Spitfire, the famous Wonderbolt! She laughed as they got to their hooves.

Rainbow stuttered as she go up, clearly overwhelmed by this sudden run-in with her hero. "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh! I'm so so sorry! Spitfire! I'm so sorry!"

Spitfire laughed again, replying to Rainbow's shock and awe. "It's okay, it was an honest mistake. Hey, I know you. It's Rainbow Dash, right? You won the Best Young Flier's competition, saved our necks a couple times, and we hung out at the Gala. What brings you to our sunny harbor home?" The mention of Dash's previous exploits involving the Wonderbolts made her blush and grin. "We're here on royal business. Princess Celestia has given us all assignments, and that's all I know. You guys said this was your home? Why here?"

Spitfire raised her eyebrows at the cyan pegasus. "Royal business? I must say, I'm impressed. This is our winter home, for it's always sunny in Stableside. But more than that, this is where I grew up. My family raised me here, and when I got old enough I moved out. The weather here made it perfect for practice once I became a Wonderbolt."

Rainbow pelted Spitfire with questions while they walked around the facility, Fluttershy trailing along behind. When they had toured the entire facility, Spitfire walked them all the way back to the dwelling they were residing at. When Tychius and I came out to greet Rainbow and Fluttershy, Spitfire looked at Tychius with a mixture of surprise and apprehension.

"Tychius." She noted, giving him a stern look. "What has brought you to once again grace our small town?"

"I am here at another's request, this time. You have nothing to fear this time." He seemed abashed, something I had never seen before.

Spitfire finally noticed my presence, and looked at me curiously. "You seem strangely familiar to me, how do I know you?"

I laughed. "I am know by many, remembered by few. If truly you know me, let me introduce myself to you. I am Moon Star the Bard, hailing from many lands."

Spitfire gave me a tired look. "That rhyming tells me all I need to know. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, If you get a chance, drop by sometime. It's always a pleasure." She turned and walked off, leaving Dash in a state of euphoria.

"Guys?" Twilight said, beckoning. "I think it's time to come inside. We need to plan out what we need to do, and prepare ourselves. We don't have much time." Reluctantly we followed her inside, where we decided upon the best course of action from therein.