//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 - The Darker Half // Story: Ultimate Three // by idk12345678910 //------------------------------// "Yep, that's the last of the hay." Betsy said, finishing her inspection of me for any more hay that was sticking to me. "Thanks, Betsy. I'd have looked like a fool walking out there with hay sticking to me." I said. "Oh, it's no problem. I didn't figure you as the kinda guy who moves around a lot in his sleep." Betsy said. I shuffled around, the details of my nightmare returning to me. "Yeah, but it's on-and-off most of the time." I explained. "Well, now that you're all ready to go, better not keep your guest waiting." Betsy said, walking over to the barn door. She grabbed the handle with her teeth and pulled open the barn door. Light poured in from the opening , illuminating the inside of the barn. "I've got to stay here and get ready for Applejack. She does all of the chores around her house first before she goes out into the fields for apple buckin'." I walked through the door held open for me by Betsy. "Alright. I'll see you later, then." I said. "Bye!" Betsy said before closing the door to the barn. I looked towards Applejack's house before spotting a rather contrasting sight: a pony as big as Celestia, but instead of a white coat with rainbow hair, this one had a deep purple coat, and had a mane that was the color of the moon on the edges, but was blue speckled with white dots on the inside. Honestly, the inside looked like someone had painted a picture of the night sky on it. It flowed as if there was an invisible wind like Celestia's did, although not as fast. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that this was Celestia's sister Luna, and that she was the one here to see me. She was standing around in between the house and the barn, and facing the house. However, on closer inspection, she appeared to be writing a letter. Her horn was glowing, and she was levitating a piece of paper and writing on it by levitating a quill. As I made my way closer, I could make out wings on her side. That, along with the glowing horn on her head, assured my suspicions that she was related to Celestia. "Hello." I said, making myself known. She twisted her head sideways to face me. "Ah, thou must be U-3." She said. The paper and quill dissappeared in a flash of light before she continued. "Our sisters has told us much about you." I raised a non-existent eyebrow. " 'Our' Sister?" "Ah. Excuse me. I am still learning the modern Equestrian dialect. I have an unfortunate habit of slipping back into the old one." She said. The old Equestrian dialect? It sounded like old English to me. It makes wonder exactly how deep this translation spell goes... Luna started walking around me in a circle, looking me over with a critical eye. "I did not get a chance to thoroughly look you over when I summoned you. I can see now why you are worthy of the position of hero. Your strength is clearly shown through the firmness of your muscles." She finished. Oh geez. I REALLY hope I'm not blushing right now. "Erm, thanks. What did you need me for?" I asked, quickly changing the subject. "Celestia has prepared everything for your introduction. All that is left is for you to meet Rarity for your formal attire, and to show up to the town hall. After that, we can march on the changeling's base and bring the changeling queen to justice." Luna said. Speaking of the changelings... "What's your opinion on all this changeling business? I mean, surely Celestia's over reacting a bit, right?" I said. At this question, Luna bit her lip, and simply said nothing for the longest time. I was about to speak up when she finally relented. "I...must be completely honest with you, U-3. I have been absent for a great deal of time, and during this time, my sister and ponykind have changed very much. So great is the change, that I have locked myself away in my study, and have refused to take part in politics until I can be fully caught up with modern events and mannerism. Existence is all but peaceful compared to before my banishment. I must admit, though, In an age like this, such a hunt to exterminate the changelings seems so out of place. But with the public demanding blood and revenge for all their dead family members, along with the fact that they actually ATTACKED our capital..." She seemed at a loss for words for a moment before pushing on. "1000 years ago, I knew my sister so well that I could practically finish her sentences for her. But now, she's changed so much from the Celestia I knew 1000 years ago that I'm lucky if I can even guess what she's going to do next. And not just that, but while I was banished to the moon, she has had time to learn, and to fine tune her mind. She has improved so much that I can barely keep up with her train of thought as of late. So, until I reach that level again where I can sit beside her as an equal, I just have to wait and trust that whatever she's doing, it will end up being better for everypony." Wait, the public is wanting blood? This is the first time I've heard about this. Luna says she's not playing a part in politics, which means she wasn't part of the decision to exterminate the changelings. Also, it seems that she's putting all of her trust into Celestia to make sure that everything comes out for the better. It must have taken a lot for her to admit something like that. "Thanks for being honest with me, Luna. It means a lot more to me than if you'd just given me a vague answer." I said. Luna nodded, and quickly changed the subject. "Has anyone told you the history of Equestria yet? I think it could give you some context on the changelings." "Lyra gave me the very basics, but she only went as far back as the banishment of Nightmare Moon." I said. Luna looked uncomfortable at the mention of Nightmare Moon, but she continued none the less. "Then I shall be the one to teach you. In the beginning, there was only chaos. The land was ruled by an entity called Discord. The world had no shape, the world had no order, and the ponies that lived in it had to endure the harshest of lives. One day, however, a group of six ponies, known only in legend as the Original Six, discovered the salvation of ponykind in the form of the Elements of Harmony." " 'The Elements of Harmony'?" I asked in hope of clarification. "The Elements of Harmony are six ancient artifacts that embody the six elements that make ponykind great: kindness, generosity, loyalty, honesty, laughter, and magic. They house the greatest magic that ponykind has ever known, being at far greater levels then even Celestia and I's magic combined could ever reach. Not much is known about them, and even less is known about how they work, but we do know that each element chooses a pony that embodies their own element as a host, and that when all six hosts have been chosen and are together with each other and their elements, they can unleash the element's full potential. The process of using the Elements, however, is physically taxing. It leaves even the most durable of ponies sapped of all of their strength just after one use, but often, that one use is all it takes. The current bearers of the Elements of Harmony are Fluttershy as the bearer of kindness, Rarity as the bearer of generosity, Rainbow Dash as the bearer of loyalty, Applejack as the bearer honesty, Pinkie Pie as the bearer of laughter, and Twilight Sparkle as the bearer of magic." Luna clarified. I listened closely, and took it all in. None of the bearers had informed me of their status, but then again, it was never really brought up before. I suddenly thought of something. "Wait, you said that the elements choose ponies that embody their element as a host. What happens if a pony stops embodying their element?" I asked. "They lose their connection to their element entirely, and the other bearer's connection to the elements is severly weakened." Luna said. I nodded my head. "Okay, I think I understand. Go ahead and continue with the history lesson." "Very Well. The Original Six's names and feats are lost in legend, but the general consensus in all of these legends is that they discovered the Elements of Harmony, and used them to defeat Discord, turning him into stone and bringing order to the world. Let us fast forward a couple of hundred years. Ponykind has established a form of government with three branches: the earth ponies, the pegasi, and the unicorns. The earth ponies, with their natural connection to the earth, were responsible for growing the crops to feed all of ponykind. The pegasi were responsible for controlling the weather and making sure it was optimal for the earth ponies, as well as any military operations. The unicorns were responsible for raising and lowering the sun and moon, and for furthering the advance of ponykind. This form of government worked, but prejudices were high amongst ponykind, and they were rarely ever agreeable with each other." Luna paused to let me take it all in. I nodded my head, signaling for her to continue. I had long since come to terms with magic moving the sun and moon. I wasn't exactly in my own dimension; I shouldn't expect everything to work the same. And besides: Magic. "Ponykind did not know this, but far away from their still small country, a land-bridge connecting modern-day Equestria with the griffon homeland had risen out of the sea, allowing animals of all kind to migrate from the griffon homeland to Equestria. One of these animals in particular, the windigo, found the establishment of ponykind. Ponykind's negative feelings towards each other gave the windigos plenty of sustenance, and eventually they wrenched control of the weather from the pegasi and turned the pony's homes into an eternal blizzard. The blizzard killed all of the earth pony's crops, which meant that none of the other ponies were getting food. All of the ponies turned their suspicions on each other, which in turn fed the windigos even more. Eventually, the ponies decided they would migrate to warmer lands. They did not know it yet, but they would be migrating to modern-day Equestria. They had though that the migration would solve all of their food problems, but wherever the ponies went, the windigos followed. Eventually, the windigos got so strong that they actually assaulted the ponies one last time for a feast of negative emotions. However, it was in ponykind's darkest hour that they learned to get along and appreciate each other. With the windigo's source of power gone, the windigos were easily driven back by the now unified ponykind, and the ponies named the newly found land 'Equestria'." "Seems like things got better just in time." I mused. "Yes, but the windigos were only the beginning. Other creatures, some just as bad as the windigos, were still migrating to Equestria. Even though the ponies had now gotten over their differences, the challenges were great. The military was stretched thing across this new land, and they were having great troubles keeping the monsters and predators away from ponykind." Luna said. "Yeah, I read about some of them." I said, recalling my time reading The Fauna of Equestria. "What did they do about them?" I asked. "In secret, separate from the rest of ponykind's knowledge, a group of pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns had been developing a way to assist ponykind. They reasoned that ponykind needed leaders to help lead ponykind into a new era. These leaders would need to embody all three races of ponykind, with all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses, so that all of ponykind would accept them. They would also need their strength to be matched by their wits. As you might imagine, none of them could meet these requirements, so they turned to the strongest and wisest things they could think of: the sun and moon. The very things that had guided ponykind through the best of times and the worst of times, would now be the very saviors they needed." Luna said. I whistled (Hey! I can still do that!). "Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'aim for the stars'." That brought a smile to Luna's face. "Indeed. The spell took months for the greatest minds of ponykind to concoct. From the development of this spell came very many serious advancements in the field of magic. Finally, the fruits of the hard work of the pegasi,earth ponies, and unicorns came to fruition: the spell was completed. Using the life force of all but a few members in order to power the spell, they called down the very essence of the sun and moon in the form of two ponies." "Let me guess: These two ponies were you and Celestia, right?" I said. "Correct." Luna said. "So let me get this straight: you and Celestia are literal avatars of the sun and moon?" I asked. "Correct, although we act much different now from how we acted back then." Wow. That explains so much. Celestia's coat and rainbow hair suddenly make sense now. Contrary to popular belief, the sun is white in color, not yellow. The atmosphere just interferes with the light and makes it look yellow. As for the hair? It's the UV light spectrum, obviously. I'm guessing the invisible wind always blowing through her mane is symbolic of solar wind. Everything about Luna is pretty obvious about what it represents, though. Wait, hold on a second. I just thought of something. "When Celestia was disconnected from the magic flowing through Equestria, does that mean she also lost her connection to the sun?" I asked. "That is correct. However, as we are beings of magic, when we lose our connection to the magical flow, we are affected far more than just a loss of our magical ability: we are severely weakened in physical regards as well as magical. We can barely carry ourselves, and any amount of flying is out of the question. We are helpless when we are like this, and must wait for our magical connection to naturally reestablish itself. However, it takes a great deal to sever the connection. In all of my life, I have only seen it happen to one of us a total of five times. Celestia was simply careless in acquiring information on your world." Acquiring information on my world? She told me she was checking to make sure I was righteous of heart! Then again,I shouldn't hold it against her; I probably would have done the same thing. Information about an entirely other world? Yes, please! And I guess she did kind of get her comeuppance in the form of a manticore. Luna resumed her history lesson. "Although these two newborns interred into the world fully grown, they were still like foals. It was the job of the remaining few who had not sacrificed themselves for the spell to teach and train them. Some of the greatest minds were left behind, and a few were legendary generals. Thankfully, the mental capacity of the two sisters were great, and, under the tutelage of the greatest minds of ponykind, they quickly matured and learned everything they could. Alongside their education, the generals taught the two sisters everything they knew about combat and military tactics. After years of teaching and training, they were finally ready to release the two sisters unto ponykind. The two sisters single-handedly saved an entire village from being attacked by a group of manticores. The two sisters then traveled all over Equestria, driving the monsters out of various villages and cities, along with help from a few local heroes here and there. They announced what they were, and that they were there to lead ponykind into a new age. Awed by their strength and selflessness, ponykind gladly accepted the two sisters as their new leaders. The two sisters quickly organized all of ponykind in either driving the dangerous animals out of Equestria, or driving them into extinction within Equestria." "So wait, how many animals did you drive into extinction, exactly?" I asked. "Well, it was not total extinction, as there was always more back in the griffon homeland, but within Equestria I think there were 157 species we drove to extinction, and that's not counting the ones we simply drove out of Equestria." Luna said. "Oh...so I guess the changelings are just a small thing compared to what happened then..." I said. So much for maybe talking Celestia out of it... Luna just nodded her head before speaking. "We should get going. Mustn't keep the element of generosity waiting, after all." I nodded. "One more thing, though: you were supposed to drive out all of the monsters and predators that ate ponies from Equestria, right? But what made you decide to leave the Everfree forest alone?" "It used to go by another name: the Lunar Reserve. I was obsessed by the curiosities present in the Everfree forest, and its resistance to magic played no small part in that decision. When we decided to make our base there, we had trained all of the monsters in the Everfree forest. Ever since my banishment, though, Celestia ordered that the Everfree Forest Castle be abandoned, the elements left inside, and the monsters left to themselves. I imagine she did it all in memory of myself, although the Everfree Forest DID prove to be an able guardian of the Elements of Harmony." Luna finished. I nodded`"I can understand an interest vested in the pursuit of knowledge, even if that interest means leaving a dangerous forest standing. So how are you going to get me to Rarity's? Last time I had to move through town we had to employ some... extreme measures." "A simple illusion spell will do the job." Luna said. She lowered her horn, and it started glowing. "Hold still while I apply the illusion." She said. I obliged and stood as still as possible. The glow was quickly replaced by a bright flash that filled my vision for a brief instant. When the glow faded, in the place of luna was a conspicuous light brown mare with a dark brown mane, complete with dark brown eyes. "We are ready." The brown mare announced in a voice totally different from Luna's. I looked down to see if I had changed at all, only to see that I hadn't changed one bit. I was about to voice my concerns when Luna spoke up. "The illusion does not alter your own perception of yourself, it merely alters everyone else's." Luna said. "Oh. Well, how do I look? What color am I?" I asked. "I have given you the colors of a lion, a dark yellow coat with an orange mane, along with prowling hazel eyes. I thought it would be appropriate." Luna said with a smirk. "Heh, I appreciate the irony. Alright, lead the way!" I said. And so we set out to Rarity's place. Hopefully I could get more information about the public's blood lust from her, since Luna seems out of the loop.