//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: I Can't Be a Hero // by ShadowBlitz //------------------------------// I Can’t Be a Hero Chapter 1: Prologue Princess Celestia and the Elements of Harmony were all standing in a large circle in the courtyard outside Celestia’s palace. Luna’s night sky was dimly lit by the soft glow of its own pale moon. The only sound that could be heard was the excited breathing of each pony in anticipation of what was about to unfold. They were preparing to cast a summoning spell with the Elements of Harmony. A feat never before attempted. "Desperate times call for desperate measures" Celestia had said. And each pony knew the elements themselves would serve little purpose for prophesied war, a war which the Equestrian border had not seen in more than three thousand years, none of the Equestrian Guard had been in any real battles prior to the changeling invasion, and there they had only shown their inability to operate in circumstances even remotely resembling an all-out war, even then it had never been their enemy's intent to kill off their own food source. It had become clear to Celestia that the Guard was essentially a highly militarized police force, trained to subdue and detain a single, or possibly a small group of insurgents; they were never trained to fight life and death battles where the enemy’s numbers would often exceed their own. “Are you ready, my little Ponies?” Celestia asked the bearers of the Elements. “We are, Princess,” replied her most faithful student, as five others nodded their heads in determination. “Then we shall begin,” said the princess as her horn began to shimmer, casting its light to the middle of the group. Immediately, all the elements began to glow, each contributing its power to the center of the circle, as soon as the seven strengths met they began to flow up into the surrounding sky. The many colors created an artificial aurora that, on this clear night, could be seen for miles as they wafted through the sky around Canterlot. The beautiful glimmering shadows were largely missed by the population that slept beneath, and so, except for a few guards unlucky enough to be on duty at the ungodly hour, the night’s beauty would not to be remembered as it could have been. But the purpose of the lights was far greater than that, and so once she felt enough power had been massed Celestia focused her magic to a single point, drawing with it the lights of harmony. Slowly the magic began to focus itself and blend into what appeared to be a small white star above the group of tiring ponies. Celestia again focused her magic to perform the final step of the spell, her horn now shining intensely as sweat began to slide down her brow, as she forced the star’s power to search the universe over for a creature who would meet their needs, one who could stand beside her guard and protect her little ponies from one of the few things that she could not. All the ponies were beginning to feel the effects of the fatigue that so often comes from the use of such powerful magic. They all eagerly awaited the conclusion of the spell, but such things had to finish of their own accord and took time, the spell would take as long as it pleased before it would reach its conclusion. Without warning the star began to sink towards the ground, drifting until its center was level with the solar princess’s head. There it paused waiting a few moments seemingly for the sake of tension, and then almost as if out of spite, the object exploded. There was a loud ting, as if a giant silver coin had been dropped from the heavens. Expanding air knocked six ponies back as they shut their eyes against the blinding white light, and still, the princess hadn't moved. She needed to know the outcome of her spell and could not be bothered to look away. As the other ponies lifted themselves off the ground and began to look upon the epicenter of the great spell what they saw horrified them. Not because, as they might have expected, they saw a horribly disfigured or evil looking creature. No, the fear they felt rising in the pits of their stomachs came because in front of the Princess there was nothing. Nothing but a single singed spot of grass, to taint the well kept yards. Before the royal pony there was no creature to which they could pin their hopes, they had nothing to show for the months of careful planning, calculation and preparation for the events of a night when all was right in the universe for such a spell. Now they would have no ace in the hole for their upcoming battles. For the longest time none of them moved. Princess Celestia stood, rooted in her place, the sweat on her body now mixing with the tears that rolled down her face. Her own spell had failed without explanation, and she knew her ponies would suffer because of it. All seven continued to stare at the spot each feeling the weight of the failure pressing into their souls. They would have stood there waiting until Luna, as her sister had asked, attempted to raise the sun for the first time, so her sister could recover. They would have stood there waiting… If the Great Princess Celestia hadn't collapsed. ------------------------------------------------------ As the night faded and the sun began to grace the Everfree forest with its warm rays there was a blinding flash of light on the edge of a short waterfall that fed into a wide spring water pool. Out of the light shot a grey Toyota Camry. The unlucky vehicle went right off the edge of the waterfall, at forty miles an hour and landed in the crystal clean water below with a loud splash, settling to the sound of breaking glass, and the protests of a suddenly waterlogged engine. It bubbled and sank into the shallow depths; its now useless frame came to settle on the white sand, the hood of the car stopping just over the surface of the water. Moments later a sneaker came smashing through the front windshield, knocking the broken glass out of place, the offending article retreated back into the vehicle and in the seconds that followed the car’s only passenger crawled out onto the hood. An adolescent human male sat for a moment in a dazed state of confusion before reaching back inside the car that had already began to fill with water, he pulled a small lever and the trunk of the damaged vehicle popped open. He slipped waist deep into the water and waded to the rear of the automobile. Within five minutes of landing in the water any belongings the creature thought were remotely valuable were dry or drying on top of the car. With a sigh and a few choice words the hairless beast removed the cloth covering the upper half of his body and swam the short thirty or so yards to the nearest shoreline.