The Hero Within Us

by TwiceMarked

Prologue

Equestria, the land of ponies, a place of order and harmony, ruled over by the two Royal Pony sisters, immortal Alicorns with power over the celestial bodies themselves. Under their benevolent rule Equestria has been at peace for over a thousand years. Yet in a thousand years Equestria has remained almost exactly the same. Innovative minds, while present, were not needed. Everything was under control and so nothing needed to be changed. Pegasus controlled the weather, bringing rain to crops and preventing natural disasters. Predators had long since been driven from the peaceful lands. Magic made everyday chores a breeze for unicorns. The land was solid, stable and monotonous.

For generation after generation Discord, the Lord of Chaos of had been sealed within stone and this, perhaps, is the reason for the ponies’ lack of technological advancement. After all, from chaos comes change and from change, growth. Where order prevailed above all, there was very little need for development.

Yet the ponies that lived in these times were happy and content. They lived in a time of peace, a time of ease, often with no adversity to challenge them. Yet this also stunted their growth as ponies. Adversity can cut you up and grind you down. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are. Only with cutting and polish can a gem show its true colours. So it was that only a small handful of ponies could match up to the quality of their ancestors and so very few of them ever reached their full potential.

Maybe it would have been better if things had stayed the same. Ponies were happy and that is not something to sell short; for the growth of their nation would cost them this happiness, for many a year. Yet it was during this time, facing this adversity, that ordinary everyday ponies became heroes and those, who had once been ridiculed, became legends. Ordinary stallions and mares learned that they could make a difference. They may have lost some of the innocence that they once had but they learnt what innocence was. They learnt that there are some things in this world worth dying for, worth for living for, even worth fighting for. The learnt the value of true friendship. For while friendship is magic, a true friend is one who will stay with you in the good times and the bad, who will weep with you in a time in of grief or hurt, wishing that they could take your suffering onto themselves so that you might not bear it, that is a true friend. Do not be mistaken; a true friend will never sacrifice anything for you. For if it is their choice to do it, then it is not a sacrifice but a gift. In this time, ponies learnt the actual value of true friendship and found it beyond measure.

Yet was it worth it? That is for the individual to decide.

Like so many other events, it began with an idea and a thirst for knowledge. In this case, there was a thirst for knowledge about the past. And the largest repository of ancient knowledge resided in the mind of an immortal. Not Celestia, nor Luna, but in the mind of Discord, a being even older than they. Three years of study were spent devising a method that would allow them to peer into the mind of the God of Chaos without succumbing to madness until finally, the spell was conceived.

Under heavy guard, in the presence of the two Princesses, the deed was done. They sought a vision of the past. What they found was what a vision of the future might be. The scholar’s mind became filled with blueprints, of ideas of inventions that could change the world. Machines that could perform the work of ten ponies at once, devices that could send messages all across the world, airships that could fly across the sky, all this and more ideas were discovered effortlessly by the scholar. Almost as if Discord was giving the plans freely. So it was that a dash of chaos touched the world once more.

Never before had the land of Equestria undergone such an industrial revolution. Teams of researchers acted together to draw up the blueprints for hundreds of inventions, for thousands. Years passed and Equestria prospered. Yet as the days went by, caution waned. The guard that was once placed on Discord grew lax; lax enough to allow almost anyone to seek the knowledge that Discord possessed. They had forgotten that knowledge is power. So it was that when a pony came along with ambition buried deep inside his heart he received the knowledge that would enable him to gain the power he so desperately desired.

Nopony knows how it was that Blueblood gained a mastery over chaos magic, or how he summoned the Nightmare to serve him. Perhaps Discord planted a seed of his own power within the Prince, who simply allowed it to grow. What is known is that he struck down his aunt, not merely when her back was turned, but in the midst of an embrace, plunging a dagger into her back while turning the full might of Chaos against her. Celestia is not yet dead, that much is certain; but chaos magic is anathema to her and so, while weakened, Blueblood drained her of as much power as he was able to bear and sealed her away.

With Celestia gone, there was only one thing left that could ensure his defeat. The Elements of Harmony. Blueblood gathered together his allies, an elite force of powerful unicorns, all of them scholars of renown, mages of great strength; all of them ponies who had peered into the mind of the Lord of Chaos and marched on Ponyville. They arrived in the dead of night and wove their spells while the elements yet slept. They would not kill them, no, for if but one was killed, then the Elements of Harmony would be free to choose different wielders. Nor could they break them, or seal them away for it would have the same effect. Instead, they wove a magic great and powerful casting their victims into the future, when they would arrive, they knew not, nor did they care. One, however, one managed to escape, but one was of no consequence.

The deed done and with none left to stop him, Blueblood sent a message to his armies. From deep within the mountains they came, a twisted, nightmare imitation of Equestrian ponies now creatures bloodthirsty and terrible, ready to slay, burn and pillage wherever they went. Through the tunnels under the mountain they had travelled and now they had arrived at Canterlot’s doorstep. They had forgotten just one thing. The night is Luna’s domain. From the castle of Canterlot she flew, a princess great and powerful. Alone she stood against the tide. Alone she beat it back. All through the night she stood guard while her little ponies fled from the seemingly innumerable host. Her enemy wailed and cursed at her, casting spells of misery and death as she laughed in their teeth and sent lightning crashing down from the heavens. Even when Blueblood and his elite joined the battle against her they could not prevail, for while Blueblood now had greater power than she, he had none of her skill. But it was not to last. The once prince had learned much. He had learned to whenever possible attack at the enemy’s weakest point. Before the Princess of the Night’s very eyes, he cut the throat of a foal, a foal she knew and loved, before tossing its bleeding body in front of her. Disregarding her own safety, uncaring of the consequences, Luna poured her magic into the still form, exhausting herself to bring the young pony back from the brink of death. Knowing she was close to defeat, Luna used the last of her strength to send the foal away from that place, to a place of safety. Exhausted, Princess Luna, the Mare of the Moon, collapsed to the ground and the enemy swarmed over her. It is unknown what happened to Luna after that point.

With no more adversary to stand before him, Blueblood crowned himself as Emperor of Equestria that very night. So began the reign of Blueblood the ‘Benevolent.’

Hard times followed Blueblood’s coronation. Someponies, however, would not give up without a fight and it was these ponies who became an inspiration to others, who were looked up to as heroes. Just remember, hard times do not create heroes. It is during the hard times that the ‘hero’ within us is revealed.

Author's Note:

Just had this in my head for a while, needed to get it out. Hope you guys enjoy.

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[thegameboykid]

HOLY SHIT BATMAN!