//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Just Like Old Times // Story: The Neo-Equestrian Chronicles // by The Sorrow Of Joy //------------------------------// Since time immemorial, the Lord Kings and Queens governed over nature all across the planet. The sun and moon in the sky, the wind that blows across the land, and there was one who harmonized the world and kept it in perfect balance. But as time marched on, they faded, and now only one Lord Queen remains in the land of Equestria, and she has taken it upon herself to perform the duties of her old kin in an attempt to keep her kingdom in the state of glory that had withstood the test of time. For those who reside in the valley of Equitem, a unique sight can be experienced everyday at dawn when Queen Celestia leaves her chambers and raises the sun. When her doors open to the dark night, she instantly radiates the entire cliff upon which Canterlot is perched. This glorious light then begins to flood down the mountain, cascading into the valley below like an illuminated waterfall. And then, once her domain is covered with her own brilliant light, she calls out to the heavens and beckons for the sun behind the mountains in the East so that the whole continent of Equestria can be bathed in her warmth. Once the deed is finished, she disappears once more into her chambers to await the next transition of the heavens. Julia was one of the witnesses of this miracle on this particular morning. She usually wasn’t up this early, but today the entire Royal Air Force had received orders to perform an early morning sweep of the entire Equitem area directly from Queen Celestia herself. It was a very odd request that caused quite a bit of ruckus amongst personnel, but it was heeded nonetheless. Julia had been awoken by the call and was now on her front steps, tying her black boots and zipping up an old bomber jacket that had been passed down through her family for generations. The warmth it had provided for its original keeper had not left it and was still a reliable piece of clothing. Julia was grateful for this warmth during cold winter mornings like the one she had woken to today. She shoved her hands deep into the pockets of the coat and made her way to the base, the beautiful sunrise still vivid in her mind. Celestia walked silently through the halls of her beloved castle, a place that she had called her home for hundreds of thousands of years. There were days when she would walk aimlessly through it, fondly remembering the times she spent getting lost within its walls with her sister when it was first built. But those days had long past. Her sister, her brother, all of the original inhabitants had long since disappeared, leaving Celestia the only being left in Equestria to have seen it in its prime. At least, until last night. Today, Celestia was not wandering. She walked with a purpose. She strode through the wide, dark hallways with a quickness fueled by fear and panic. She had taken every precaution necessary to ensure the safety of the castle and of Canterlot, but even with all the security, it wasn’t a matter of if he could get in, but when. She prayed that it was enough to slow him down as she made the last turn in her journey through the castle and arrived at her location. It was a gigantic iron door almost thrice the size of Celestia. Upon it was a detailed engraving that had told the tale of Equestria up until the War of the Flies when the door and the chamber behind it had first been constructed. It radiated every color in the spectrum and even some of which only greater beings such as Celestia could see. While quite the spectacle, it was a sight which none but four were meant to see. Celestia approached the door, ignoring the familiar sight, and rest her hand upon it. Almost instantly, the door sprang to life with the tremendous sound of metal crashing on metal. The lights grew brighter and brighter until it was as blinding as the sun before it died out abruptly, plunging the hallway into darkness once more. The door began to swing inward slowly with an unsettling creak, but Celestia hurried in before the door stopped moving. Once she passed the threshold, she flooded the room with light and revealed to her the deepest and most well kept secrets of Equestria. It was an armory filled with the weapons and tools that belonged to her and her original companions, except maybe the word ”filled” didn’t really apply anymore. In the very center of the room were four armor stands made to face you as you walked in, but only two of these stands still bore armor. To the right of each stand was a rack that held a weapon and, unlike the armor, these were all filled save for one. Lining the walls and on the walls themselves were spaces where trophies and mementos of ages long past stood but many of them had gone from Equestria with her sister. Celestia gazed at all these objects and felt a flood of memories rush into her with such overwhelming force that she was on the verge of weeping, but she pushed past this as another emotion within her began to overpower the nostalgia. She walked first to her set of armor and ran her hand along the chest of it. The ivory and gold armor bestowed upon her by her father brought many memories back to her, but this is not the armor that she would wear today. She walked past the stands and went to the very back of the room where the objects she had been searching for were lying silently. It was another set of armor, but this one was unlike the others. It was not forged through ordinary magic like hers, but instead by the dying will of two individuals who she held near and dear to her heart. It radiated five distinct colors in five different parts of the suit. The right gauntlet was a brilliant cyan. The left gauntlet was a shining gold. The right greave was a glimmering orange. The left greave was a radiant pink. The breastplate was a luminescent white. In the center of the breastplate was a circular design with five depressions in the very center which were also arranged in a circle, and within this inner circle was another welt. All of them were filled with a marble sized, glowing orb whose light corresponded to one of the parts of the set of armor into which they were embedded in, save for the center sphere. That particular stone was instead linked to a tool which sat to the left of the display: A deep purple long bow. Celestia breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the display. Thank Cosmos! It’s all still here! “Yes, my dear, but for just how much longer?” Celestia felt a cold chill run down her spine as she heard these words. She turned around slowly, hoping that those words had occurred in her head, a mere illusion created by her own fear and panic. Yes, that was it, she just imagined it. There was no way that he could have made it this deep into the castle already. She had put up enough safeguards around Canterlot and the castle to hold off an entire army. It was all just imagined. Never had she ever been so wrong. Standing in the doorway, casting an ominous shadow down the hallway behind him, was Titanus. “Long time, no see,” he began, “my dear Celestia.” “Impossible. How did you make it past all of the-?” Celestia started, but was cut off by a roaring laughter. “Those pathetic shields you put up? Your little metal birds that you have flying around? You can’t be serious! You honestly thought your puny magic and machines could keep me away?” Titanus mocked. “That…Is…Hilarious!” “What do you want, Titanus?” Celestia said, trying to keep her composure. Titanus moved away from the doorway and drew closer to Celestia, stopping by the ebony and silver armor standing next to the Sun Goddess’s ivory and gold set. “Hmm… What do I want? Well, I need a new pair of boots, and I’ve always wanted a dog. Oh! And a little red fire truck with lights!” Titanus chortled as he flew up into the air and began to float around on his back. The Lord Queen could see that he was wearing the same flamboyant, nonsensical attire that he had worn during the last days of his kingship. Celestia looked at him uneasily, remembering this madness. He landed back next to the black armor and brushed off the pauldrons with a flourish. “I see you’ve kept my old armor in perfect condition. How nice of you,” Titanus said as he inspected the inky breastplate. “Even though you know I hate it.” A blue pulse was emitted from his left hand that shattered the plate and sent the rest of the armor flying straight into the wall. Celestia was also caught in the shockwave, but was only moved back a few feet. From the wreckage, he drew up a long and ornate greatsword that was roughly half his size. “But I think I’ll keep this. I really missed this little gem,” he said as he ran a finger along the side of the blade. The metal turned a bright red and sizzled wherever he touched it. “Enough of this!” Celestia yelled, angered at the disrespect Titanus had for the armor her father had made for him. “What do you want!?” Titanus rolled his eyes and stuck the sword into the stone floor like it was butter. “You know what I want, my dear Celestia,” he said calmly, a radically different tone than earlier. “I want the Elements, your kingdom, and a little bit payback for turning me into a garden gnome.” “You must be madder than I thought. I won’t just lie down and let you take the Elements and the Kingdom,” Celestia said as she made her own greatsword fly to her from its stand. It was a mad gamble to fight him without the Elements, but she couldn’t risk breaking the powerful seal that was placed on it and make it vulnerable. “Leave now or face my wrath!” “Bahahahahaha! You? Face me?” Titanus gave a wild guffaw as his body burst into black flames. They danced madly about him, writhing and twisting all over his body until they disappeared in a plume of smoke. Replacing them was a reptilian suit of armor that encompassed the Giant’s entire body up to his head and clung to it tightly like a second skin. He rolled his shoulders and the armor flexed and stretched along with him. Celestia’s armor began to glow from its stand. It suddenly flew off and attached itself piece by piece onto Celestia, her flowing white dress dissolving into stardust as it did so. Her light was burning so bright that a normal being would have been singed by its intensity. Titanus smiled as he saw this familiar sight and began to chuckle slightly before exploding into another insane tirade. “Oh! I feel all tingly inside! I’m so excited!” Titanus laughed madly, throwing his head back while he did so. During this move, Celestia made the gambit and lunged forward. She swung her greatsword with an incredible swiftness and aimed it straight at Titanus’s head. Celestia could see a spark and feel her sword stop in mid swing. Before she could realize what happened, she felt her ribs crack as Titanus slammed his fist straight through Celestia’s armor. A millisecond later, she was pinned against the wall by two swords at the shoulders. All of this occurred before her brain could register any pain. She cried out when it finally caught up with her. The burning light that had engulfed the room moments earlier had been reduced to a soft glow. “Pfft! You barely stood a chance when you were backed by Luna and Estraius! What could you possibly hope to do by yourself?” Titanus mocked as he slipped his hand around Celestia’s neck and tightened it with an intense force. Celestia could see his yellow, catlike eyes in full clarity. “There would be no point in ending this here. That was way too easy!” He smiled, exposing a perfect set of white teeth with a pair sharp fangs in the front, and let his grip slack. He backed away and gave another round of insane laughter. The Giant walked to the glowing set of armor and looked upon it with a mix of awe and disgust. “Why… do you want the Elements?” Celestia coughed. Her divine blood began to trickle down her cheek like liquid gold. “You…can’t even put the armor on. It wasn’t made for you…” “To destroy them of course! Why would I let you keep the only things that can tickle me?” Titanus said confidently. In one hand, Celestia could see a black flame begin to grow bigger and bigger. Soon, the room had been plunged back into darkness save for the sickly glow that was emitted from Titanus’s hand. With a flourish, he launched the flame forward towards the armor like a bullet. Just inches before hitting, the flame redirected and shot back at Titanus faster than it had launched. “What the-!?” The flame came into contact with his arm and ripped it clean off. “Gah!” Titanus cried as he clenched the stub at his shoulder. “Owieowieowieowie! That hurt!” This was her chance. Celestia gave a cry as she ripped the blades from her shoulders and shot them at Titanus with her magic. They hit him square in the chest and continued to run through him all the way up to the hilt before they changed trajectory and slammed into the floor, pinning Titanus to the floor in the process. She ran to the Elements and let her hand rest on the invisible seal that protected them. “Hear my words! Scatter your power! Find those who are worthy and bestow upon them yourselves! Go now!” Celestia yelled as her entire body began to glow intensely. The room was flooded with the combined light of the Elements and her own luminescence. “No! Damn you, NO!” Titanus screamed, spitting jet black blood. The Armor of the Elements shone even brighter for just an instant before it burned out like a bulb and fell to pieces on the floor. The armor along with the bow crumbled as it lay and turned into dust. “Damn you, Celestia! The next time we meet I swear that I will kill you!” Titanus said before his body was engulfed by a dark flame. When it had died out, he and his sword were no longer there. “Titanus...why?” Celestia collapsed on the cold stone floor and the room returned to darkness.