//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Shatter... Release... // Story: A fight for Balance: The race against time // by Superswag420 //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Shatter... Release... All was quiet inside the halls of Canterlot Castle. All the guards were stationed at their corresponding posts, and all seemed to be fairly calm, even due to the fact that Equestria faced a new danger rising from the shadows. Two guard ponies were positioned in front of the grand doors leading to the room of Princess Celestia. Neither of the guards payed any attention to the approaching hoof steps of Princess Luna as she had come closer to the door. "Guards, I must wake my sister. It is time to raise the Sun and begin our duties for the day. You both shall leave your post and return to the Barracks immediately." Said Luna. Today was the day Celestia planned to release the Elements into the free world to find hosts. She had told Luna that she needed to sleep and regain all of her energy before releasing the them. Luna opened the grand doors slowly and peaked her head in to see if Celestia was still asleep. She spotted her laying on the royal bed in a very strange position. She must not have slept well last night... I can't blame her, she told me it was her fault that Discord's side of the Elements escaped. She was going to reseal them later but never ended up doing so... And now it REALLY cost her. Luna thought with deep sympathy towards her sister as she neared her bedside. "Sister, it is time to wake up..." Luna quietly spoke beside Celestia, nudging her slightly while doing so. "Thy plan was to release the Elements this morning, correct?" Luna asked. "Yes sister just give me sometime to get ready..." She said as she had slouched up from her strange sleeping position. Celestia got out of bed and walked to the balcony outside of her room. Luna following close behind, she stepped onto the balcony and prepared her magic to raise the Sun. Her horn lit up with a beam of yellow light while concentrating immensely on raising the huge solar mass from it's current place beneath the horizon. The Sun slowly began to rise and peak through the once dark and starry night, the beams of light beginning to make contact with various buildings in Canterlot as well as the Castle. "Alright my dearest sister, I shall be getting ready. Feel free to wait for me outside of the door" Celestia said with a small smile. Luna walked outside the room and quietly shut the door behind her with her magic. The next few minutes were spent on getting ready and looking presentable for the day. Her sleep had not been so great last night, so going outside of her room would have been a very weird sight for any of the guards she happened to pass by. She then went about her hygiene for the day, taking a shower, brushing her mane, and making sure she looked alright. She exited her bathroom back into the bedroom again, placing her golden regalia onto her hooves and head. As she opened the door and left the room, Luna had been patiently waiting for her right beside the door where the previous guards would have been standing. "Art thou ready, sister?" Luna asked, knowing what the next course of action was. "Yes, let us proceed to the Elements..." Celestia said sorrowfully. As both of them were walking to the room, Luna's mind was beginning to fill up with questions that had been left previously unanswered years before about the crystals containing the Elements and their history. "Celestia, how exactly were the Elements created?" Luna said out of nowhere. Clearly Celestia was not expecting her sister to become interested in the back-story of the crystals. But she figured that she might as well tell her anyway... "Well... When Equestria was first founded, Discord and I had some bad blood between each other. He wanted a world filled with Chaos, chaos, and nothing but chaos. But I wasn't going to let him... And that's when he created the three Elements Of Entropy, so that he could spread irreversible terror on all of the citizens of Equestria many millennium ago. He thought that these elements were powerful enough to sustain chaos on their own, and make the chaos permanent but Discord had left some flaws... They could be countered if a new set of elements were made to match them. The Elements of Entropy consisted of Disorder, Distortion, and Disembodiment. So the Elements I created were their counters... The States of Balance consisting of Order, Spirit, and Form." Celestia explained, only catching a few glimpses of her sister's face while telling the story. "So after the Elements were created, I released my half into the world to find hosts. And when the elements found them, I would have them come to me. So that is when I started training the original bearers of The States. After their training was complete, I sent them off to find and hunt down the Elements of Entropy. And the only way to reverse an Element back into its crystal form was to either weaken the element to a certain point and drain the element out using a special method, or kill the pony controlling the element...." She said, not once losing Luna's attention. Celestia then used the last of the time it took to get to the room to explain how the fight between the Elements wasn't so controlled and how many ponies ended up losing their lives by being too close to one of these fights, and how the longer an Element of Entropy stays released the more violent they become. This meaning that they won't necessarily try to kill when they first meet a State, but eventually blood will be shed. They had reached the room containing the Elements. Celestia stopped and used her magic to open the door and disengage a set of locks protecting the doors from outside intruders. As they stepped inside the room, Luna saw three different gems suspended in midair above a golden pedestal forming the shape of a triangle. A pedestal on the opposite side where the other Elements were supposed to be, were void of anything. "There are the three crystals corresponding and holding each of the States... The emerald signifying the Element of Order, the ruby signifying the Element of Form, and finally the sapphire signifying the Element of Spirit." Celestia pointed out to the awe-struck Alicorn. "When the Elements were first given to ponies each State picked a type of pony that represented the Element itself. The State of Order would always choose a Pegasus, the State of Form would pick an earth pony, and the State of Spirit would naturally pick a unicorn. Each of the Elements would also have a corresponding Spirit Weapon, in which once they are discovered they will be trained to use here." Celestia finished saying as the levitated each crystal out of the air and onto the floor below. She then proceeded to crush each crystal to dust with her magic. The crystal dust exploded with power of the three colors, red, green, and blue. Then as soon as they all came together they vanished with a loud Pop! "Now that the Elements have been released, we must wait for them to find bearers. I will be alerted when one of them is chosen, and I will bring him or her here to train." She finished saying as she sat on the floor beneath her. After smashing the crystals, they had to draw energy from something to be able to manifest itself into a physical form. Obviously Celestia was the closest thing to the crystals, and had been drained of a huge portion of her energy. For anypony that gets chosen... I'm so sorry... She said as tear rolled down her cheek and feel into a deep sleep.