//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: One Heart's Destiny // by Robobrony //------------------------------// Chapter 12 “Spike, when did you get smaller?” Twilight asked as she looked down at Spike who was standing in front of her. “Um, Twilight, I didn’t shrink, you grew.” Spike answered. Twilight took on a confused look at his answer. “What are you-“ Before she could finish, she heard Rainbow Dash call out. “No WAY! Check me out, I look awesome!” Rainbow cried out. Twilight looked to Dash. “Rainbow, what are you,” She stopped herself when she saw what Rainbow Dash looked like. “But…..but….WHAT!” She then looked at all her friends. “Good heavens!” Rarity exclaimed as she looked herself over. “Well I’ll be.” Came Applejack’s voice. “Oh my goodness.” Said Fluttershy. “Look at me, look at me!” Pinkie exclaimed as she hopped up and down in her new form. Twilight finally gave herself a good look over and was stunned at what she saw. “I….I don’t believe it, princess.” Twilight looked to Celestia who was just as stunned as she was at how they now looked. Twilight and her friends were all as tall as Celestia herself. Their helmets were gone, and replaced with tiaras like Twilight’s and had their element of harmony resting on their heads. Their manes and tails were all flowing just like Celestia’s and Luna’s were. Their chest pieces were still there, but they now had each of their cutie marks at the center of their chest. “WHOA, I expected something to happen, but nothing like this. This is amazing.” The girls and the princesses all turned their attention to Heart Wing, he was now slightly taller than Celestia, his helmet was replaced with a crown with his element on the center of it, his chest piece also had his cutie mark at the center. His mane and tail was also flowing like Celestia’s and Luna’s. Rarity started to swoon. “Oh, don’t I look just absolutely fabulous. I look just like a princess.” “You sure do.” Spike said with hearts in his eyes as he gazed upon Rarity. “We’ve all become alicorns.” Fluttershy pointed out. It was true, they still had their wings, the horns that came from the helmets they wore were now attached to their head like it was a part of them. The same with the wings, they appeared attached to their bodies as if they were a part of their bodies. Celestia finally decided to speak up. “Well, this is certainly an interesting turn of events. Heart Wing, the armor you brought has granted you and your friends great power. Did you know this would happen?” Heart Wing looked to Celestai. “I had no idea princess. But you have to admit that this is a good thing, with this power, were sure to be able to handle anything that threatens the kingdom with this power. HEY, I just had a great idea, let’s give ourselves a team name, I think these forms of ours deserve it, don’t you?” Pinkie smiled big. “Oh my gosh, THAT’S A GREAT IDEA, but what do we call ourelves?” “A team name, really?” Applejack said with skepticism. “Why not, I think it’s a cool idea.” Rainbow agreed. “Yeah, why not, with this kind of power, were not just the bearers of the elements of harmony, were……..AHA, the GUARDIANS OF HARMONY!” Heart Wing exclaimed. “HEY YEAH, that sounds like an awesome name.” Dash cheered. “That’s a great name, I like it.” Said Pinkie. “I suppose it has a certain ring to it.” Rarity said. “I think it sound nice.” Fluttershy said. Applejack finally chimed in. “Eh, why not, sounds good ta me.” “I guess it’s settled then, princess Celestia, princess Luna, I present to you your guardians of harmony.” Twilight said as she turned to face the princesses. The girls and Heart Wing each then bowed down to the princesses. Celestia and Luna smiled. “So be it, from this day forth, you shall all be known as the guardians of harmony.” Said Celestia. “So, what do you all say to going for a test flight in these new forms, I’ll bet we can go really fast like this.” Heart Wing said to the girls. “Spike, you can come to if you want, you know, go for a ride, what do you say? You can ride on my back if you want.” “Really, can I come Twilight, please.” Spike asked Twilight with pleading eyes. Twilight giggled a little. “All right, but be sure to get a good grip, I don’t want you falling off.” “All right, thanks you guys!” Spike cheered in joy, as soon as he was done, he was suddenly enveloped in a white aura and lifted off the ground, then placed on Heart Wing’s back. “Don’t worry Spike, I won’t let you fall off. Just get a good grip and hold on tight for a real ride.” Applejack interjected. “Now hold on there, I’m not too sure about this, I’m an earth pony, frankly, I’d rather keep ma hooves on the ground. “Oh come on Applejack, where’s your sense of adventure, this is going to be lots of fun.” Pinkie encouraged. “Well, all right, I guess I’m willin ta give it a try.” “That’s the spirit, come on, let’s go.” Heart Wing and Twilight were in the lead as they led the others out to the garden. “All right, I say we start this off with some style, I’m thinking we take off and fly in a formation, a flying v formation.” Heart Wing informed. “Aw yeah, that would be cool.” Raibow agreed. “I can really see why you like him Dash, he seems to share your taste for trying to be cool.” Rarity pointed out. “What can I say, he’s a stallion after my own heart.” Dash said as she moved to nuzzle Heart’s neck. Heart then blushed a little as she nuzzled him in front of the others. Spike proceeded to make a gagging motion on Heart’s back. “Ok ok, let’s get this started shall we.” Heart said, trying to cover up his embarrassment. “Rainbow Dash and Twilight, I want you two next to me first. Then, Fluttershy and Rarity, finally Pinkie Pie and Applejack, sound good?” The girls all nodded and lined up as Heart Wing suggested. “Here we go, Hole on tight now Spike.” Spike then gripped on to Heart and readied himself for takeoff. They all flew up into the air and took off at an incredible speed. They had managed to create a sonic rainboom together as soon as they were flying straight ahead. “NO WAY, We created a sonic rainboom without even trying!” Dash cried over the sound of rushing wind. They were now leaving behind a rainbow of colors behind them as they flew. “WOOO HOOOO, THIS IS INCREDIBLE!” Pinkie cried out in pure joy. “YEEEEHAAAAW, man I’m glad I did this! You were right Pinkie, this is fun, YEEEEEHAAAW!” Applejack cried out. “This is certainly most invigorating, I must say that I am having fun with this!” Rarity called out. “THIS IS AWESOME! I’ve never flown this fast before, this is so cool!” Rainbow cheered as they raced through the sky. Fluttershy didn’t say anything, but she had a smile on her face, she was enjoying this too. They were flying so fast, only a pony who just happen to be looking up at the time of them passing over would get a glimpse of them as they flew, and even then it was only for an instant. They were flying so fast, the world around them seemed to become one big blur, they failed to notice that they weren’t even in Equestria any more, they were just enjoying flying at such incredible speeds. As they flew, something familiar caught Heart’s eye. It was only for a moment, but it was enough for him to want to stop a moment. “WHOA, hold up girls!” Heart called to them, they all slowed to a stop. “What is it Heart Wing?” Twilight asked. “I think I saw something familiar.” Heart Wing then flew back in the direction they came with the others following him. “No way, I can’t believe we got here so fast.” “Dude, how fast were we flying?” Dash asked as she too recognized the village they were standing before. “What is it heart, is everything ok?” Fluttershy asked. “Wow, what gloomy place, why did we stop here, this place doesn’t look like fun.” Pinkie said as she looked over the town. “This is my home town where I grew up. This is Stableton.” “WHAT!” Is what came from all the girls except for Dash. “Man, what a dump.” Said Spike from Heart’s back. “Spike! That’s rude.” Twilight scolded Spike. “What?” Was his response. “It’s fine Twilight, he’s right, this place is rather……unpleasant.” Heart said, even though it was his home, he was treated badly here and the place always looked dirty. “Well, it could certainly use a good cleaning, if you ask me.” Said Rarity. “This place is absolutely filthy. How can the ponies here stand to live in such filth?” “Simple, they just don’t care.” Heart answered. “Oh my, they all look so miserable, isn’t there anything we can do for them?” Fluttershy said, feeling sorry for all the ponies as she noticed none of them smiled. “There must be some way we can make them happy, no pony should have to live without being able to be happy.” Pinkie pitched in. Twilight then interjected. “Hold on, how did we get here so fast, didn’t it take you and Rainbow three months just to get here, how did we get here in a matter of a few minutes?” “Are you kidding, didn’t you notice how fast we were flying, I’m not surprised we got here so fast like we did with the speed we used.” Dash informed Twilight. “It’s these alicorn forms, they must give us incredible speed, that’s why we were able to fly so far so fast.” Heart guessed. “Hey, there is something we can do for the ponies here!” He said as he then remembered something. “In that message my parents left me, they said that this town was cursed in a similar way that I was, they must not be able to be happy because of it. But now that were here with the power we have, we can lift the curse and help the ponies here.” “That’s a great idea, let’s do it!” Pinkie cheered. “Well all right then, what are we waitin fer, let’s brake this here curse and free these here ponies.” Said Applejack. “Right, let’s do this.” Twilight agreed. “Follow me girls, for this to have maximum effectiveness, we need to be at the center of town, Spike, you’ll have to wait her, for a moment, is that ok.” Heart said to the group, then addressed Spike. “That’s fine with me, I’ll probably get thrown off or something when you do….whatever it is your about to do.” Spike was then levitated off of Heart’s back and set on the ground. Heart Wing and the girls then took to the air and flew to the center of town. The ponies down below seemed to pay them no mind as they flew overhead. The group got to the center of town and hovered there a moment. Heart addressed the girls. “You all ready to do this.” They all nodded in unison. “All right, Twilight, you get in the center and we’ll form a circle around you, since your element is the one that focusses the other elements so they can do what they need to. “Right, all right girls……and heart, form up.” Twilight hovered over to where Heart Wing was as he flew back to form the circle with the others. They all closed their eyes and focused on their elements to begin the spell to break the curse on the town. One by one, the elements lit up, each one letting off a magical humming sound, the elements grew brighter and brighter. Finally, a beam matching each of their colors shot forth to Twilight, connecting with her element. They all opened their eyes, each one of them had solid white glowing eyes, a surge of magical energy erupted from the group and expanded into a dome that grew rapidly. The wave of magic came down to the ground, the ground it touched suddenly had grass on it. The wave spread across the town, every old building, every dry patch of dirt, every broken fence and busted window, it all was fixed and repaired, the ground was going from a brown dirt covered road to a green and beautiful color. Whenever it came in contact with the citizens, they stopped in their tracks and shook their heads, the frown they wore disappeared and was replaced with one of confusion as they started to mumble and look around. The wave spread a bit beyond the town, making green grass appear in the dirt covered ground. The magical wave finally dissipated and the guardians of harmony floated down to the ground with their task complete. The town no longer looked old and dirty, it was now a wonderful looking town, the buildings looked clean, the roads were visible, and the ground had green growing grass. The guardians touched down. “W-what happened?” One of the citizens asked, the others joined in on the confusion as they looked around. Spike made his way through the town and up to the girls and Heart. “That was amazing, you guys did it!” “Was there ever any doubt?” Rainbow said with pride. “It can’t be, is it really you?” The guardians turned their attention to the source of the voice. It was an elderly looking stallion with a light grey coat and a white tail, he was bald and had no mane. Heart addressed the pony. “Excuse me, but what did you say.” The elder pony then saw Heart’s cutie mark, and the mark on his chest. “It is you, I can’t believe it, after so many years, you have returned, you’ve freed us all. Thank you, thank you so much your majesty.” The elder stallion was practically on the verge of tears. “I never dreamed I would live to see the return of our long lost prince.” “Um, how do you know me? Who are you?” Heart asked, it was then that he noticed other elderly looking ponies gather around while the younger ones just looked on in confusion. One of the other elder ponies came forward to answer, he approached Heart Wing and gave a bow. “Your majesty, we were around when your parents, our king and queen, ruled Ponytopia, we lived under their rule in great happiness and peace. But then that terrible demon came and ruined everything. He cursed this town and made us forget you, but now that you have lifted the curse, we are free, free to be happy again.” One of the younger ponies came forward and spoke to the elder pony that answered. “Grandpa, what are you doing, what are you talking about, and why are you addressing this guy as royalty.” The elder pony then turned his attention to the younger one. “You watch your tone young colt, you are in the presence of your prince. You’ll have to excuse him your highness, he was born after the tragedy that struck, so he doesn’t know the history. I’m afraid that we old ones are the only ones who truly know of the great kingdom your parents ruled over.” Heart was a little confused, he wasn’t sure what to do in this situation, the others just watched and thought it best to let Heart Wing handle this himself. “Um, that’s….all right, I am sorry you had to suffer so long, but if you recall, I was growing up in this town too, I was also under a great curse from that demon.” Another old stallion approached and bowed to address Heart Wing. “I remember your majesty, I saw a few occasions when you were being picked on by some of the other young ponies here, I regret that my son was one of them. SIGN POST, GET YOUR FLANK OVER HERE NOW!” The old stallion called out. A pony about Heart’s age emerged from a nearby building. He had a sign post for a cutie mark with a dark brown coat and a light brown mane and tail. “Yes……dad?” He said nervously. “Young colt, I want you to apologize to your prince for how you and your friends picked on him years ago when you were all young.” “But dad, how is he a prince? What is this all about?” Heart Wing then cut in. “Look, this reeeaaally isn’t necessary, I forgive him, he doesn’t need to apologize.” The elder tried to speak. “But your majesty,” Heart cut in as nicely as he could. “It’s fine, really, this really isn’t necessary, I promise.” The girls were enjoying seeing Heart in this situation, they couldn’t help but laugh a little. The elder spoke up again with a smile. “You are too kind your highness, thank you for your understanding.” The elder then gave a bow and backed away. Heart had enough, he spoke to address the town. “Listen every pony, I am glad that I was able to help, but I didn’t do it alone, I couldn’t have. As I’m sure some of you know, I too was suffering under a curse, a curse that closed off my heart and kept me from my magic. It was thanks to these ponies that are here with me that I was freed from that curse, it was also with their help that you are all free from the curse you suffered under. I’m sorry to say that the kingdom my parents ruled over is gone for good, but you are now free to live happy lives, so please, you need not address me as royalty, just call me Heart Wing, all my friends do.” An old mare then spoke up from the front of the crowd. “But isn’t there anything we can do?” Heart Wing frowned, he didn’t like having to make them sad. “I’m sorry, but if all that is left of the kingdom is the elderly ponies, there isn’t really anything that can be done, Ponytopia is no more.” Then another elder stallion spoke up from the crowd. “Then we’ll just have to build a new one, it won’t be like the one that existed before, but it will live on through us. We will take it upon ourselves to educate the young ones of the great land of Ponytopia so they can carry on where we can’t.” The first elder stallion that appeared spoke up. “That’s right, as long as we pass on the knowledge of the great kingdom that once stood, it will never die, Ponytopia will live on.” All the elders then started to cheer. The younger ponies were just confused by all this. “Please say you’ll stay and be our prince again, your parents were wonderful rulers, I just know you’ll be great too.” Heart Wing smiled at the enthusiasm the old ones were showing. “I’m sorry, but I have a new home, and new friend’s, I can’t just up and leave them, you don’t need me to do all this, just do what you can here and everything will turn out great, I just know it.” The second elder stallion that came forward then spoke. “We understand your majesty.” Heart Smiled at the group. “I’m glad I was able to help, I’m afraid me and my friends must be going now, I wish you all the best of luck in your endeavor to create a new Ponytopia.” Another elder mare came forward. “Before you go your highness, may we inquire the names of your friends?” The girls then stepped forward and got beside Heart Wing to introduce themselves, Twilight started. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, the bearer of the element of magic.” “My name is Rarity, the bearer of the element of generosity.” “My name is Applejack, the bearer of the element of honesty.” “My name is Fluttershy, I’m the bearer of the element of kindness.” “My name’s Pinkie pie, my element is laughter.” “And my name is Rainbow Dash, the bearer of the element of Loyalty.” Heart Wing finished off. “And you all know me as Heart Wing, I am the bearer of the element of trust. And together, we are the guardians of harmony.” Heart Wing then levitated Spike onto his back and the guardians all took off for home. As they flew, the elder ponies all waved goodbye to their beloved prince. They were set in creating a new Ponytopia to replace the one they lost to that terrible demon ages ago.