The Missing Bard
Chapter 8: The Test
The Elements of Harmony and myself had been navigating the castle for a while now as we made our way to the throne room. Twilight had been anxiously leading the way, with me by her side and the other 5 ponies following right behind. Even though I imagined that the other ponies had visited this castle many times, I constantly found them taking in the scenery and looking amazed. I couldn't blame them in the slightest, I had only made this trip once before, but I still was amazed at the glorious architecture and wonderful decorations.
Based off what I remember from my last trip, I knew that the throne room was quickly approaching. I couldn't help but feel slightly giddy inside. Considering I was going to be given this honor to test my abilities to become an honorary element of harmony. I'm not sure how high of an honor this was here in Equestria, regardless if it was, it meant a lot to me. I know I had been emotional several moments ago, but the thought of having this opportunity made me extremely happy.
"Hey look everypony! The throne room door is straight ahead!" Called out Twilight. I had looked ahead to see two more guards stationed in front of the throne room. One of Celestia's guards and one of Luna's respectively. It looked slightly off considering how their armors looked, literally like night and day. Slowly as we approached both guards saluted us and opened the doors to allow us access.
"Thank you sirs!" I said aloud and saluted them back to return the gesture. Only to get a nod of acknowledgement, but I knew it meant a lot to them considering the response I had gotten earlier from one of the other guards. Every pony in our group nodded to acknowledge the guards and said thank you on the way in. Except I wasn't so sure about Fluttershy, I think she just squeaked as she passed in.
As we entered the light of the throne room seemed to be blinding, but as my eyes adjusted to the abundant lighting, I saw both Celestia and Luna both standing in front of their throne. They were facing each other as if having conversation before we had arrived, but they both quickly turned to face us.
"Ah. Welcome back to Canterlot, we have been expecting you all." Celestia commented. "It is always a pleasure to have my faithful student and her friends in my company."
"Thank you for having us Princess Celestia." Twilight responded and bowed. Following the queue the other ponies in the group and myself bowed.
"It was my pleasure my faithful student. My sister and I have been very excited to hear that Kiniro has been regaining his powers these past few months, we both have been very anxious to see how he's been progressing." Celestia responded and signaled us with her hoof to rise from bowing.
"Thank you for having us all! I also have to thank you for being open to my suggestion to make Kiniro an Honorary Element of Harmony." Twilight stated as we all rose.
"Wait what?!" I said quickly.
"Both myself and my sister commended your idea Twilight. We all know that he is very valuable to the defense of Equestria and if Kiniro would be willing to accept these duties as Element of Harmony. He would share the responsibilities of the other Elements should we deem him acceptable." Celestia explained ignoring my comment and smiled.
"Wait wait wait..." I tried to get in the conversation. "Twilight you're the one who pushed for this meeting?"
"Yes, I know how much it meant to you, and both Princesses know how important you are, you saved not only your world but Equestria a few months ago. They were more than happy to give you the chance, they just wanted to see how you can perform now before they made a decision. They didn't want to put a burden on you that you weren't ready to accept, that's why when I first suggested the idea months ago. Celestia and Luna recommended I kept an eye on your progress for them until I believed you were ready," Twilight explained to me.
"You did this for me?" I responded with a few tears of joy coming down my face.
"We all did young Kiniro." Celestia responded. "Twilight and the other Elements of Harmony have been sending me letters of your progress and your desire to help in Equestria. I could not ignore the recommendation of the Elements of Harmony." Celestia said and gave a smile.
"Kiniro, we know that you will not disappoint us, and we know that you will not disappoint yourself." Luna also commented. "I know that you can do this.
"Thank you... everypony." I had looked at the other Elements of Harmony to see them gesture in agreement.
"We all know you can do it sugar cube." Applejack supported.
"Yes dear, we know you can." Rarity added in.
"You got this in the bag!" Rainbow Dash commented.
"This will be easy as baking cupcakes!" Pinkie stated.
"You g-got this! Woo-hoo!" Fluttershy had squeaked.
"I know you're ready Kini! I believe in you, we all do!" Twilight said.
With those words of support from my friends, I knew what I had to do. It had been a difficult 5 months re-learning trying to relearn how to play my guitar, fitting in, learning to be a pony, and learning that even if I failed here today. I'd still have the support from all of them to try again, and no pony would think any different of me for not succeeding. But I wasn't here fail, I was here to prove that I was worth it, not just for myself, but for them, all of them.
"Are you ready young Kiniro?" Celestia asked me.
"I am. I promise I will not let you all down." I responded. I took a deep breath and prepared for what felt was to be an eternity. I pushed myself off the ground with my front hooves to stand upright on my hind legs, almost falling but I quickly regained my composure. I slowly wiggled the guitar off my back and let it swing forward in the process so that I could grab it with my front hooves. It was the first time I attempted to play my guitar standing. As my guitar swung around I caught it with my right left hoof grasping the neck of my guitar, and I positioned my right hoof to the base ready to strum the strings.
I looked at every pony to see them amazed that I was able to stand upright and cusp my guitar the way I did. I knew that some ponies had this ability to stand on their forelegs, just not for long periods of time. But some ponies just had a knack for it, just like Pinkie, Octavia, Vinyl, and even the estranged Lyra who I had first met when I arrived in Equestria.
I slowly began to strum my guitar to do a few practice chords. Everything felt natural, no chord out of place, even for hoof play compared to how I had originally learned how to play. Slowly I began to form a the whimsical melody that belonged to the Song of Lutie. Seeing my guitar glow bright blue, and as I picked up the tempo to form the song, I began to see various golden Lutie Apples materializing from thin air. After I saw a few appear I quickly switched to the robust classical song of Bragi's Poem. I had signaled over to Twilight as she recognized the song, she quickly performed a teleportation spell and found herself quickly jumping from place to place in the throne room within blinks of an eye. Seeing that the song had performed its job, I quickly changed the chord structure to match to that which belong to The Rift. I brought down the tempo to match relaxed sounds of the song and I slowly felt time slow down and I felt the sudden surge of adrenaline, with that I quickly stopped playing the song. Still under its effects I quickly switched my guitar to a guarded position readying it to swing, and with a quick swoop swung my guitar 9 times in air to show how quick I could move. As the final swing came, I felt time return to its normal speed and I found myself breathing heavily.
"Very impressive Kiniro! I see that you have regained most of your abilities!" Celestia called out.
"Thank you Princess Celestia!" I said still panting heavily and looked over to Luna as well to see her impressed.
"I'm shocked Kiniro! I would not have thought you to regain your talents so quickly!" Luna stated.
"Thank you Princess Luna! You're the one who gave me a second chance." I responded. "Now just for a few more..." My guitar still had been glowing a bright light blue. Noticing this, I began to play a simple melody and I closed my eyes. Feeling the energy still surging through me, I focused on myself. Slowly I felt myself lift off the ground and as I opened my eyes I saw to see that I was levitating off the ground. "Now to test something." I thought to myself I began to focus on moving my levitated self around. I pitched slowly to the right and moved slowly in that direction. I focused once again in the opposite direction and slowly I pitched left and moved slowly. I finally focused on the ground and slowly I descended to the ground, to feel my hooves feel the cold tile that was beneath me.
"Again impressive!" Celestia commented.
"Indeed!" Luna added in.
"Ok one last song, I hope I can perform this one." I stated aloud now firmly on the ground. I slowly began to form the chords of Ragnarok, and increased the tempo to accommodate the song. Still seeing my guitar glow, but as the basis of the song formed, my guitar still glowed, but nothing happened. "Thats strange." I said aloud.
"Are you trying to play the song of Ragnarok?" Asked Celestia.
"Yeah, but its not activating..." I responded.
"Is there something wrong?" Luna questioned and with that I began to ponder about the song of Ragnarok for a moment.
"I think I know why I can't play it right now. Every time I've played the song, there has been a grave danger present or there has been a great desire to play the song out of necessity. But none of those factors are present, so I'm guessing the song knows it shouldn't be activated..." I responded.
"That's unfortunate but still an impressive performance young Kiniro!" Now give me a brief moment to converse with my sister. We must make our decision. Quickly Celestia turned over to Luna.
"I wonder if I did ok." I said to myself.
"I'm sure you did fine Kini." Twilight overheard my comment.
"You were so awesome!" Rainbow Dash responded as she squished her face with her hooves.
"That was impressive!" Rarity added.
"That was soooooooooooo cool!" Pinkie commented.
"You rock!" Fluttershy squeaked.
"Now that's how its done!" Applejack supported.
"Thanks everypony, but I know I could have done better." I responded and felt slightly shameful.
"Don't be so hard on yourself sugarcube. You did amazing." Applejack commented.
"Yeah you did your best, that's what counts." Twilight agreed.
"Young Kiniro! My sister and I have come to a decision." I heard Celestia called out. "I will give Luna the honor." Celestia smiled.
"Thank you my sister." Luna responded. " For fighting for whats right, for never faltering even in the face of defeat, for bringing peace to your home world, and for defending Equestria even though it was not your responsibility. You risked your life to make sure that you could all these goals could be achieved. My dearest Kiniro, you have suffered greatly through out your life, protecting the innocent, fighting for whats right, and even though you had your dignity taken on multiple occasions prior to arriving in Equestria, but that never stopped you from doing what was necessary. Please lower for a moment Kiniro." Following Luna's queue I bowed. "For your heroism, and for your sacrifices not just in Midgard but in Equestria, we thank you. Kiniro, for the power vested in both my sister Princess Celestia and I, Princess Luna. We grant you honorary status as an Element of Harmony, representing the Element of Justice."
"Thank you... I don't know what to say..." I choked up.
"As we grant you this status. You are now responsible for the defense of Equestria should you be called upon. However you have one additional task that is asked for you. As an Element of Harmony, you are to write a letter to me when it applies to any findings you find on the friendship of magic and any findings you you come across on your progression in your unique magic." Celestia stated.
"Dearest Sister, might I recommend something?" Luna commented.
"Yes Luna?" Celestia responded.
"If it is not to much trouble... Could those letters be addressed to me? Considering I rescued him from the void?" Luna slowly had her voice recede as she asked.
"Why of course Luna, if not for you, he would not be here. I would be honored if you took this task." Celestia smiled. "Regardless of the circumstances, of what may have come from your involvement in bringing him here, I'm glad you did my sister."
"Thank you my sister!" Luna said slightly tearing. "I will not let you down!"
"Then it it settled Kiniro! Please report any of your findings to Princess Luna!" Celestia again said with a big smile.
"Thank you... all of you. I will not let anypony down!" I responded.
"Very well, we hate to cut this engagement short, but my sister and I have pressing issues to attend to in Manehatten." Celestia commented.
"Yes! We must attend to business in Manehatten. The release of Mares of War is..." Luna tried to comment but was met with a hoof in her mouth from Celestia.
"Don't mind my sister, she is confused, she knows we are going to Manehatten to attend the meeting with the governor to address pressing issues?! Isn't that right Luna?!" Celestia tried to cover up Luna's earlier response. Luna only nodded with Celestia's hoof in her mouth. "Anyway we must be going! It was a pleasure, we hope to have you all visit us soon when time permits!" Both Celestia and Luna walked over to the throne room entrance. As they exited, Luna turned back and smiled, now knowing of her future obligations.
"Uh... what was that all about?" Twilight commented.
"Twi, I have no idea..." Applejack responded.
"I... won't even ask..." I stated with a confused look.
"Yay! Kini is an Element of Harmony! Woo!" Pinkie yelled at the top of her lungs trying to change the subject.
"Congratulations K-Kiniro." Fluttershy squeaked.
"Yes my dear, we are so proud of you." Rarity commented.
"Oh right! Yes! Congrats Kiniro!" Applejack added.
"See! I said you could do it!" Rainbow Dash stated.
"So... the Element of Justice? It has a nice ring to it. I'm glad to have you apart of the Elements of Harmony!" Twilight explained.
"Thanks everypony. I will never let all you down." I responded.
So after so much pain in my life. I know I had meant something to these ponies, but now I meant something to their leaders. I knew that I had the respect of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, I was glad to call them all my friends. I was now the Honorary Element of Justice, and I made sure that I'd never let any of them down. I would fight if called upon, if needed, but I was happy mostly to belong to something and know that I'd be siding on the right side this time, and I didn't have a doubt in my mind this time about it. Even if I had to write letters to Princess Luna every so often on my findings, which seemed annoying at first thought, I guess it was a small price to pay to become an Element of Harmony, but I'd make sure I was damn proud to write those letters and make sure they'd never be late. I was just glad to be given the honor. I had my place in history, for doing the right thing, I'm glad I finally got my wish after so long...
End of Chapter 8.