Ahem! Today…

I’m going to tell you the story of the Elements of Harmony.

A long time ago, a magical land far from the Mushroom Kingdom was founded by three tribes of talking ponies- the ground-based land cultivators known as the Earth Ponies, the flying weather masters known as the Pegasus ponies, and the magical sorcerers known as the Unicorn ponies. These pony tribes came together and named their peaceful land “Equestria”.

Soon, after years of hardship to keep their land afloat, two benevolent rulers emerged: two sisters, the elder a Princess of the Sun, and the younger a Princess of the Moon. These two ponies controlled the passage of time throughout the world. They also protected their land from various threats, such as the Spirit of Chaos and the sinister ruler of the Crystal Empire. However, despite their sibling bond, tensions soon rose between the two sisters. The younger sister felt neglected by her subjects, for they played in her elder sister’s day, and slept through her beautiful night she slaved to make.

One day, the moon Princess refused to lower the moon for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with the younger, but the latter refused, turning into a wicked mare of darkness, known as “Nightmare Moon”, vowing to cover the world in nighttime eternal. However, the elder sister had trick up her sleeves: six magical artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony.

With the Elements by her side, the elder sister defeated Nightmare Moon, sealing her inside of the moon for a thousand years. Meanwhile, the elder sister, taking responsibility of both day and night for a millennium, began to develop a way to save her sister’s fallen soul. By the time the 1,000 years were up, the elder sister had the perfect plan.

She found six brave ponies who embodied the spiritual virtues of the Elements of Harmony. A pony who valued the truth… a pony who could be gentle to all… a pony who could bring a smile to everyone… a pony who was willing to give with all of her heart when it mattered most… a pony who could never bring herself to abandon anyone close to her… and a pony who was the spark between all of them. Together, these six ponies banded together and saved the younger sister from herself in Equestria’s time of need, restoring the balance to the land.

However, legends speak that while Nightmare Moon’s physical form has been vanquished, fragments of her remain.

A few years have passed since Nightmare Moon, and these six mares have become fabled heroines throughout their land. The Mushroom Kingdom itself has heard of their greatness, but not exactly their names. Many just call them “The Elements of Harmony”. Some call them “The Mane Six”, a pun. But we, in the Mushroom Kingdom… we call them “Bearers”.

Should something happen to the Bearers, though, that makes them unable to keep the balance of Harmony, though… new Bearers will rise to take their place. And that, my friends, is where our story begins…

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Deep in the heart of an eerie set of ruins, a group of cloaked figures gathered in the dead of night. They made sure to be absolutely careful when coming to the ruins. For tonight’s ritual, they had to make sure that nopony saw, heard, or most importantly followed them. For if there were any suspected followers, there would be a lot of games ending tonight.

Luckily, for everyone in the room, not a single thing was out of place. No uninvited guests and the closest town was silent for the night, save for a nocturnal creature or two, but that really did not count for anything to be worried about.

“This is the place, yes?” one of the cloaked figures asked in a tone that spoke of power, pawing a particular spot with a hoof. The voice signified the creature as male. He was equine in shape, and rather tall and somewhat muscular. The hood of the cloak obscured his face from all present, but they knew that he held dominion over them all. “This is the exact spot where the Queen of Eternal Night fell?”

A smaller figure walked over to him, looking at the ground where they stood. It too was also equine in body shape, the build suggesting that the figure was male. He was smaller than an average adult stallion, and appeared to be rather thin. However, the small stallion was nothing if not smart.

“If the tale of her demise is true, my liege,” the smaller figure said in a higher pitched, almost nasally voice, marking the spot with a black X with his hoof, “then this is the exact spot where the Elemental Rainbow struck down our Queen. The Sun Princess’ guard may be thorough, but I did not get to my position by being a fool. This would have been the very spot of our Queen’s triumph if not… for her.”

“Patience, old friend,” the larger figure spoke. “We will make our Queen’s vanquishers rue their actions that night. Them AND the Princess of the Sun. However, we may need help, should tonight’s plan fail.”

“It WON’T, my liege,” the smaller insisted. “I have taken every calculation, every precaution, and every possible outcome, and crafted with them the perfect plan that will fulfill our goal tonight. I assure you, that it is one-hundred percent foal-proof.”

“Plans can always fail, my friend,” the larger figure pointed out. “Even your brilliance has limits. There is so much only one pony can do. And, even if we fail tonight, it’s alright… we still have a month before the next Full Moon.”

"A full month?” the smaller figure argued. “You really are pushing our luck that we will get another chance before then. If we are to do this, it has to be tonight, my liege.”

“Calm your nerves, old friend,” the taller figure suggested. “Your high blood pressure and constant calculations will be the endgame of you.”

“Provided the cursed Sun Regent’s minions do not find us first,” the smaller figure quipped. Turning towards the growing crowd, he pointed a hoof towards a taller figure, bipedal in nature. “Bring them here.”

“I have name, you know,” the bipedal figure grumbled while walking towards the duo.

“And the walls have ears, preventing anypony from so much as muttering any of our true names,” the smaller equine figure responded, looking at nowhere in particular. “Now, shut-up and place the fragments where I’ve marked. Every second we waste talking is a second we do not have to prepare for the ritual. The moon is about to be overhead.”

“Fine, fine,” the large creature groaned, placing midnight blue pieces of armor onto the X.

The smaller equine then began drawing something in the dirt around the fragments of armor, eventually resembling some sort of ritualistic summoning circle. Soon enough, the summoning circle was prepared. The larger equine then placed a broken, blood red horn with a black base in the center of the circle.

“Okay,” the large equine spoke up, “we just need one more tribute to allow this ritual to commence. Where is the vial?”

“I hope you realize how hard this was to obtain for this ritual tonight,” the smaller equine voiced. Soon enough, a sickly green aura lit up the room from beneath his hood, where a vial of a red liquid floated out from his cloak surrounded by the same aura. “Getting this from the right hospital was far from easy. As well as bribing the doctor into-”

“I appreciate your risk-taking, old friend,” the taller equine interrupted before his ally went off into a rant. “But you need to loosen up, sometime. You’ll work yourself into a game over.” With that, a snow white aura flashed from under his own hood, overtaking the green aura his smaller ally had on the vial, and floating it towards him. “I will handle the rest. Go and rest that brain of yours. Our Queen will forgive you, provided we succeed.”

“I will sleep when my games ends,” the smaller equine insisted. “And we will succeed if you hurry up the ritual.”

“Very well,” the taller equine shrugged. With that, he trotted over the broken fragments, holding the vial up high. “Hear me, O Bringer of Eternal Night!” he yelled into the night sky. “Years, my Brothers, Sisters, and I have worked throughout the world, preparing for your return! We have come together this very night, prepared to give you flesh and blood that is free from that pathetic Princess of the Night! I offer you three tributes, my Queen! The Fragments of your fallen armor in order to protect yourself against your enemies! The horn of the vile Crystal Usurper with which to cast his dark magic! And finally, the Life Essence of a Mare of Magic to enhance your spell-casting repertoire to surpass even the greatest wits! With these, my Queen, I pray that you take your rightfully earned continue from the Underwhere!”

“Must you be so overdramatic about it?” the bipedal creature groaned. “Just pour blood on armor shards and horn, already. Have not got all night.”

“As much as I hate agreeing with that mangy brute,” the smaller equine figure spoke up while looking at the night sky, the moon shining down upon them, “he does a point, my liege. We have to hurry this up while the moon is in perfect position. The clouds do not stay out of the way, here, and I’m not about to wait another month.”

“Must you kill the mood, old friend?” the larger equine sighed. With that, he then poured the contents of the vial straight onto the summoning circle, the fragments, and the horn, turning things a bright red. As the blood took to the objects, white glow from under the stallion’s hood increased, followed by the smaller equine’s hood lighting up with the sickly green.

“Come, brothers and sisters of the horn!” the large equine commanded. “Lend your strength to the spell. Together, we will overrule the Queen of the Underwhere’s judgment, and bring the true ruler of Equestria- nay, the true ruler of the World- back from that cursed domain!”

“Again,” the smaller equine commented, “we don’t have time for your overdramatic flair, my liege.” Turning to the crowd of cloaked ponies, he ordered, “All Unicorns, just contribute to the spell.”

Soon enough, they were aided by several ponies stepping forward, their hoods aglow with various colors. Soon, magic filled the air, and a series of beams seemed to rush out and strike the circle in full force. After a few moments of concentrated energy beams hitting a defenseless summoning circle, the shattered armor and the broken horn began to glow. And that is when everything turned white.

Soon, every Unicorn with the exception of the two equines who set up the ritual flew backwards, falling into a pile of flat paper ponies. As those Unicorns stood back up, the two merely coughed as the light faded, giving into smoke. As the smoke cleared, the two Unicorns stood side-by-side as it revealed…

A completed Unicorn war helmet, an equine breastplate, and armored horseshoes. The smaller of the two Unicorns stood, confused at the result of this ritual. Instead of a tall winged mare of darkness, he got a suit of black crystallized armor embedded with a light blue moon.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?” a fellow cloaked yelled to no one in particular. “All of that planning and hype just to get armor!? Talk about a letdown!"

"I... I don't understand," the smaller unicorn spoke up. "I ran every calculation and outcome, researched the greatest rituals, prepared even the foulest magic, and I did it for months, and instead of our Queen, this ritual gives me a worthless pile of armor!?” The taller equine could not show it, but he was secretly smiling at his partner’s confusion and frustration. However, examining the armor, he could tell something did happen in the ritual.

“While we did not get our beloved Queen, old friend,” he said to the ranting unicorn, “I do believe we have gotten the means to work with a Plan B.” This stopped the short unicorn mid-rant.

“I beg your pardon, my liege?” he questioned. “Forgive me for the failure, but this suit of armor is worthless. It’s just a black-stained crystallized version of our Queen’s armor. Impractical for proper combat due to how easily broken crystals are after a period of time. ...Maybe we needed more blood. Yes, that's it. Or even something else. Hold on, I'll think of something, my liege. Something better than this useless armor.”

“Is the armor nothing more than decoration, old friend?” the larger equine asked. “Or is there something your eyes can’t see and your brain is so sleep-starved that it won’t allow you to think about how magical artifacts work?” The smaller unicorn tilted his head, unable to show intrigue otherwise with his hood on. “As I thought. Well, this IS our Queen’s old armor crystalized, but I sense that the Crystal Usurper’s special brand of dark magic embodies the armor as well as that particular unicorn blood sealing it all together. We have created a set of mail of true darkness, tonight."

The smaller unicorn, upon the realization of what had been accomplished, seemed to stare at the armor intently. "I see what you were discussing, my liege. Perhaps not all is lost. But we still need more magic to complete what we have started, tonight. I just know where we can get that power, my liege. One that will make our campaign to take Equestria back from the dreaded Regents of the Sun and Moon and the Bearers of the Elements all of the more ironic.” He then walked over, and whispered something into the larger pony's ear, preventing the others in the hall from hearing it.

“I see,” the taller unicorn answered, nodding. “But we do not act, tonight, old friend. For now, you return to Canterlot, and for the love of the Queen, get some SLEEP. I will handle the rest of the plan, and send you a letter detailing your instructions upon the morrow. We will have only a limited time to strike when the opportunity arrives and the castle at its most vulnerable.”

“I like this plan already,” the smaller unicorn grumbled in a sarcastic manner before turning around and trotting away. The larger unicorn turned towards his fellow allies.

“The rest of you, brothers and sisters,” he addressed those remaining. “We may have failed, tonight, but we will succeed another time. Everypony, you are dismissed. Everypony except you, big guy.” The bipedal creature remained while the others filed out.

“Nothing,” the large unicorn replied as a piece of parchment floated out from beneath his cloak alongside an ink soaked quill. As he began to write, he instructed, “But I need you to take this new armor to this location posthaste. Be careful as to not get spotted… your kind has been associated with brutes, thieves, and slavers, and I actually like you more than my friend does.”

“Uh, thank you, sir,” the creature bowed, taking the parchment with written instructions in his paws and putting it in his cloak. “Will be done quickly. Silent, too.”

“Good,” his superior nodded as he floated the armor towards the creature. “Now, off with you.”

“Yes, sir!” With that, the creature rushed off, carrying the suit of crystallized armor, leaving him alone.

“Soon, my Queen, you will return,” he breathed, looking at the moon. “The sun will be gone… and the only power in the world able to stop you will be in your hooves. Until next month, my Queen….” With that, he left, and the moon, as if it heard him, seemed to be blanketed by clouds. When ponies who saw the flash of light would later come to investigate, there would be no trace of anyone being here…

Paper Mario: The Land of Harmony

by Blade Squall

Intro Part 1