The Origin of a Legacy

by QuiteNiceDynamite

The Truth

Captain Steel Hooves slowly trotted towards the table.
“Did you say…the Elements of Harmony?” Steel Hooves asked nervously.

“Yes, is that an issue?” Luna questioned, slightly confused.

“An issue? It could be.” He replied glumly.

“Why is that?” Celestia wondered.

Steel Hooves sighed sadly.

“Looks like I’ll have to tell you all now, it’s about time I told somepony. I had planned to keep this a secret till the day I died, but now it’s desperate.”

Steel Hooves looked disappointed, in himself maybe? For what he was about to say hadn’t been heard by anypony except himself and the Princess. Steel Hooves began to explain to the unknowing ponies;

“Princess Solaria once told me of an ancient source of unimaginable magical power, this source of power was split into six different traits, or ‘Elements.' Each of the elements represented the unity and good within everypony in Equestria, the elements represent; Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty and Magic. Because these elements were powered by the good in everypony, the Princesses of Equestria would use them to fight off the evil in the world. These elements cannot kill, only imprison and banish, so eventually the evil will keep coming back."

"But about 20 years ago, when I was a young stallion, Queen Ellixandria of the Changeling Kingdom attacked Canterlot and stole the Elements and took them to her Kingdom. Now, we were lucky because neither she nor any Changeling could use them, but that was as good as it got for us. Because she took them, Discord has now taken his chance to rule Equestria. We were so incapable on the night he invaded because we didn’t have the Elements, if we had had them, we would have easily defeated them, and the only way we will ever defeat him is if we get the Elements to Princess Solaria, and we still don’t know where she is.” He concluded.

“Where are the Elements?” Celestia asked.

“Raider, tell them.” Steel Hooves replied.

“Yes, Sir. The last time any scouting party went out, which was about a year ago, the Elements of Harmony were still in the Changeling Kingdom, stored away in the basement of their castle.” Raider sadly recollected.

“So, how do we get there?” Luna asked.

“Well, it won’t be easy, it’s a long trek and we don’t know what’s going on outside of Canterlot. Raider, get the map.” Steel Hooves ordered.

Raider obeyed his commander and pulled a large map from his pack and spread it out on the table.
Captain Steel Hooves pointed a hoof at a dot on the far left of the map.

“What’s that?” Luna asked.

“Us.” He replied simply.

Then he pointed another hoof at another dot on the right edge of the map.

Celestia gulped. “That’s where we’re going?”

“It sure is,” Steel Hooves said through a sly grin.

“It’s a long way, but you can manage it.” He pointed out.

“What do you mean, you can manage it?” Celestia asked angrily.

“Well, I can’t go, I’ve got 50 soldiers in the hospital willing to do their duty for their Princess, and somepony’s gotta lead them.” Steel Hooves replied.

“What about Raider?” Luna asked.

“He’s going with you two.” The Captain said matter-of-factly.

The two sisters looked to Raider and he nodded his head in support.

“You lot will go through Stalliongrad, then the Petrified Desert, and that’s when you’ll hit the Changeling Kingdom. Now we don’t know what’s going on in Stalliongrad, so I can’t tell you what to do, but when you’re in the Desert, you’ll need cold-weather clothes.” Steel Hooves recommended.

Luna looked very perplexed. “Cold-weather? In a place called the Desert?”

Luna had never been to the Desert before, but she was pretty sure that deserts were hot.

“Yes, you will need cold-weather clothing, a desert isn’t just a place full of sand, it’s a place where it never rains. It snows there, but never rains. I know it’s confusing but it doesn’t matter, pack for the cold or you’ll lose a hoof to frostbite.” Steel Hooves advised.

Celestia and Luna looked at each other, both sporting a very confused expression, but shrugged it off.

“Once you’re near the Changeling Kingdom, wait till night, then infiltrate the castle and take back the Elements. Don’t worry; you won’t have to walk all of the way back.”

Steel Hooves passed a small two-way radio apparatus across the table to Raider.

“When you are about to enter the castle, radio me and I’ll send my men to evacuate you in a chariot, by the time you’ve got the Elements, we’ll be there.”

Luna and Celestia both shared a glance of doubt.

The Captain saw their concern.

“Don’t worry, Raider’ll help if you get into any trouble, we just need you two for your magic.”

The sisters glumly accepted what had to be.

“We’ll go.” They said in unison.

---

Discord rose the sun today, he wasn’t sure why, he just subconsciously fancied a change from the norm. Discord hadn’t been feeling the same lately, he had been having strange gut feelings and thoughts that he wouldn’t usually have.

“What’s wrong with me?” He would ask aloud. “The world is mine! Why am I not satisfied?” He would shout throughout the vast chambers of his new castle.

“Well this is a lot more boring than I thought it would be.” He would think.

---

“Luna, are you ready to go?” Celestia asked her sister.

Luna looked troubled, was she ready? Could she face the possibility of having to fight for her life? Or lay down her life for the good of her Princess? But she had to stop thinking thoughts like that; there mightn’t be any enemies on the journey anyway. And they had Raider to look after them.

“Yeah, let’s go.” She replied confidently.

The second they stepped out the door, they were surprised as not only Raider, but Cirrus was waiting for them.

“Cirrus! What are you doing here?” Luna asked.

“I’m coming with you! I won’t let you go without me helping.” Cirrus replied with a smile.

“But…why?” Celestia asked.

Cirrus sighed. “Girls, it’s time I told you two something, I think you’re mature enough to accept it now.” Cirrus began his tale;
“Your parents didn’t disappear, they were banished.”

Luna and Celestia gasped in horror at this, but Cirrus waved a hoof to silence them and continued.

“Your parents were quite the magicians. Nopony was more powerful than those two, apart from the Princess herself. But they were very cocky and headstrong, they’d never make sacrifices to help anypony apart from each other. And one day, their stubbornness got the better of them.

Princess Solaria’s baby sister, Nova, was walking around the castle grounds under her supervision when a herd of Timberwolves jumped out of the bushes and started chasing her. Solaria heard the screams of terror from her filly sister and went outside to fight them, but they outnumbered her four to one.

Solaria looked around for help because no guards were around ‘cos they were out on parade. She turned to see an empty street apart from two ponies, your parents. The Princess screamed for their help, but they just sat down on a bench, ignoring her, they weren’t willing to go out of their way to save a life when they could have helped.

By the time the Princess had turned back, the Timberwolves were running away with her sister, she managed to kill two of the wolves but the other two got away with her baby sister. Solaria tracked them down to the Everfree Forest by the sound of constant screaming from little Nova. The wolves had a big lead on Solaria, and when they got to the forest, the screaming stopped. Solaria charged in where she’d seen them enter, and found nothing except the body of her dead filly sister.

Obviously, Solaria was angry at the death of her only sibling, the pony she loved the most, but she was angrier with your parents. She banished them forever from Canterlot for their failure to help her.”

Luna and Celestia were both crying by now as they couldn’t believe that their parents had acted in such a way, but Cirrus never lied, he always told the truth.

“But before she banished them, I told your parents that I’d let you live alone and take care of each other, but I’d keep a watchful eye over you two. They begged me not to make the same mistake they did. And that’s why I’m going with you.”

The usually composed Raider also seemed to be moved by the tale as he stealthily wiped a tear from his eye without the other three seeing.

“I’m sorry to butt in, guys. But we have to leave now, it’ll be dark soon.” Raider suggested.

Luna was still sad and shocked by her parents’ actions, but she felt happy because she knew what had happened to her parents, and that she could now depend on Raider and Cirrus for protection.

“Next stop, Stalliongrad, right?” Raider said optimistically.

And with that the band of four steadily trotted out of the Canterlot streets towards the horizon and whatever lay beyond.

Comments

[zyr1987]

My main criticism of this chapter is that the story Cirrus told would have worked better as a flashback, or told in a manner that promoted paragraph breaks, It's a bit of a wall of text as is, if I'm honest.

[QuiteNiceDynamite]

2382480 i've changed it to paragraphs now

[TheDerpyOutcast]

(loss for words.)

Luna and Celestia's parents were jerks