//------------------------------//
// The ponies of time 
// Story: Heir to the Throne 
// by Arkantos 
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When day court was over, Celestia decided to pay a visit to the Canterlot garden.

As she walked out of the day courtroom, somepony stopped her, saying, "Where are you going, Princess?"

Celestia turned around and saw High Blood, the pony with the long complaint and the richest noble in Canterlot. He had a crush on Snooty Blue the pony. His coat was as white as snow, his mane and tail were blue with gold highlights, his cutie mark looked like a fair deal,with two hooves shake and he was a pegasus, which was unusual because most nobles are unicorns. Celestia had no complaints about that, though. 

"I'm just going for a walk to the Canterlot gardens."

"Well, do you mind if I walk with you? I have some business nearby."

Celestia thought about it, then said, "Well, are you coming." As she said this, High Blood nodded and started to walk with her. 

As the two exited the castle and entered the Canterlot gardens, High Blood said, "Are you doing all right? I know you lost a sister and I have no right to tell you but the leadership of Equestria is all on you and-" But he saw how Celestia was looking at him. Her eyes seemed to be full of anger and he realized he had crossed the line. 

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I shouldn't have said that."

Celestia kept her death glare on High Blood for a good hour but eventually, she got curious and said "What business could you have this late?"

"Well, not all business is done in the day," said High Blood, "because someponies stay up all night and they sleep through the days. The pony I have business with is a night walker."

They reached the edge of the Canterlot garden’s hedge maze and High Blood turned and said, "Have a good night, Celestia." And with that, he walked in the opposite direction as she walked to the entrance to the gardens. She had a feeling that this pegasus had another reason for coming there, but she did not know why."

High Blood continued walking and then turned. He found the place he was looking for and pushed the gate open. He continued to walk towards a passage that went underground. He stopped and started to tap the stone path with his hoof. He did this for a couple of seconds until he finally found what he was looking for. The stone he lifted was hollow and underneath was a hoof lock. He turned it and the hollow stone opened. High Blood pulled out a black cloak and put it on. He then entered the underground passage.

The doors closed behind him and he continued to go further down. These were the Canterlot catacombs. For centuries, ponies that had died during wartime for a better Equestria but couldn't pay for a proper burial were laid to rest here. High Blood was not here to remember the fallen, though. He was here for a meeting and the catacombs were the best place to meet in secret.

He finally found the meeting place, for there were three ponies in black cloaks standing and waiting for him and two others to show up.

High Blood hated lying to the Princess, but lying was necessary, for it was this Order that helped ponies in dying towns. This was the Order of Time, founded by three ponies: War Path, Shadow Strike, and Mystic Coat. These ponies were legendary. There were ponies that were inspired by them. The order was big, but when the time of Discord came, he really brought the chaos, and thanks to that chaos, the Order of Time was nearly destroyed. When Discord was defeated, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna told the Order that if they had any powerful artifacts they should give them to the Princesses.

The artifacts were not, in fact, handed over to the Princesses. The Order of Time only had a couple of magical items in the meeting place, like a double-sided axe with magical runeson the blades. The axe was connected to a mighty helm and armor set. Apparently, the armor itself was magical but the axe could not be moved from it because they had not yet found a wielder of the armor. If any pony tried to grab the axe and separate it from the magical helm and armor, the magic in the axe would turn the pony to a pile of ash.

A couple more hours of waiting passed and finally two other black-cloaked ponies came into the meeting place. The meeting could now begin. 

"So you think this plan will work?" a deep-voiced pony said.

"Well, it’s that or risk our lives." A french man voice said.

"One thing is for sure," a raspy female voice said. "We need a champion and one is yet to be found."

"We have to play it safe and hope that Celestia does not get curious," said High Blood.

"Speaking of the Princess of the Sun, how is she?" a commanding voice asked.

"She is mourning the loss of her sister and niece," said High Blood. "And I don’t think she was listening to my complaint."

"Well, she is now the ruler of Equestria and the last line of defense, so if she falls we need a backup plan, a champion," said a female voice with a commanding tone.

"Exactly," said High Blood. "And I prefer to find a champion before the next enemy comes knocking on our door. Even if it means taking a small piece of the great War Path armor, leading a random pony to pick it up, and hoping it glows, letting us know we have found the heir of War Path.

As they talked to each other, one member checked his watch and said, "I'm sorry, but we're out of time. We must close this meeting and get out." All agreed and one by one, the six ponies left, hid their black cloaks in their hiding spots, and went back home.

Celestia arrived at her destination. There is a spot in the Canterlot hedge maze where several statues stood. Most were statues of great ponies. Others were not great ponies, but were enemies of Equestria. The elements of harmony took care of them by cursing them into statues, like Discord. Celestia found the statue she was looking for.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, I wish you could be here.” Then Celestia remembered Star Swirl the Bearded’s words: She is a power house and who knows; perhaps an event could free her.

The Princess of the Sun thought on those words. She then realized it was time to lower the sun and raise the moon.

After she finished lowering the sun and raising the moon, she paused for a couple of seconds. Then she spread her wings and took off, heading towards her sleeping chamber. 

In the corner of the hedge two green eyes glowed. A figure walked out of the shadows, a gray stallion unicorn with a red cape and a steel crown. He had a black shadow, a flowing mane and tail, and a red horn. His eyes were venom green, his fangs were sharp, and he was covered with pieces of steel armor.

His name was King Sombra. He looked up and saw Luna in prison. He said to her, “Oh, Luna, you should have destroyed the elements. But you lost yourself in victory and now you’re trapped in the moon. Kind of like me when I banished the Crystal Empire. Who knew that Star Swirl the Bearded had a special seal that imprisoned umbrums?” 

To prove his imprisonment, he tried to pick up a rock nearby, but his hoof went right through the rock. A sad look came upon his face and he looked at the statue of Twilight.

Then, after an hour, Sombra turned and looked at the statues of three other ponies. One looked like a great Mighty Helm warrior earth pony stallion with armor and a double-sided ax. Another pony was a thestral mare in light armor, holding a spear. Right in the middle was a unicorn umbrum mare in a cloak. On the stone slab, three names shone: War Path, Night Strike, and Mystic Coat. 

Then Sombra said, “These three are my heroes. Back in my day, they knew what real power looked like and knew what to do with it. It was not used to throw parties for their ruler."

He looked at the moon one more time and, with a sad expression, walked back to the shadows.