The Elements of Honor

by Flanagan


Chapter 37: Gone Unanswered


“They’ve been in there for a long time…” Twilight said, looking to Greatsword’s room. “I wonder what they’re talking about?”
“Maybe they want to surprise us!” Pinkie said, covering her eyes. “Oh, I can’t wait to see what the surprise is!”
“I doubt that, Pinkie…” Twilight grunted.
“Well, they certainly need to come out of there some time,” Rarity said. “It can get awfully stuffy with three ponies in one room.”
“Why doesn’t somepony just knock on the door?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I think they can take a few seconds out of their ‘talk’ so we could check up on them.”
“Now Rainbow, I think you would want your space if you-” Twilight started only to be spun around by a flash of blinding light.
“Too late, already here,” Rainbow said with her hoof on the door.
“Wait, Rainbow-” Twilight said in an attempt to stop her, but Rainbow had already opened the door. To their surprise, the room was empty.
“They’re gone!” Rarity exclaimed in shock.
“WOW, now THAT’S a surprise,” Pinkie said. “Hide n’ seek at their own ‘thank you’ party, how fun!” Pinkie started darting around the building, searching diligently for the missing ponies.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Twilight said, shaking her head, “Why would they just up and leave?”
“Well, maybe they went to get somethin’ fer the party,” Applejack said, “We are kinda runnin’ low on apples…”
“Then why wouldn’t they use the front door?” Twilight asked. “Or at least tell somepony that they were leaving.”
“Ya seem at be takin’ them bein’ gone really seriously Twi,” Applejack said. “Is there somethin’ ya ain’t tellin’ us?”
Twilight’s face turned slightly red while all of her friends looked at her awkwardly. She took a deep breath then spoke. “It’s Battleaxe,” she said, “earlier today we-”
“Called it!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “I knew you two would hook up after that day in the hospital.”
Twilight covered her face with her hoof. “We didn’t ‘hook up’ Rainbow… Well, not like you’re thinking.” Twilight looked to the ceiling while her face started to glow. “We just stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed like hours, then he leaned towards me. I tried to turn away, but I wanted him so badly... I closed my eyes, leaned into him too, then… then...”
“Oh don’t keep us in suspense darling!” Rarity beamed, her eyes widening. “What happened next?”
“I felt his lips against mine…” Twilight answered. “And that’s all that happened… I swear.”
“Twilight, darling,” Rarity said. “That’s wonderful that you of all ponies found somepony special.” she turned her attention to the other three and smiled. “Looks like somepony owes me a few bits.”
Twilight snapped out of her trance and looked at Rarity, “What?” Twilight said. “Why would they owe you bits?”
Rarity froze then turned to Twilight. “Uh… well… the girls and I had a little bet going,” Rarity explained, “to see which one of us would be the last one in a relationship.”
“What?!” Twilight said. “YOU thought I would be the last one?!”
“Oh, heavens no,” Rarity said. “But you WERE near the top of the list, we all counted Fluttershy out, I said you WOULDN’T be the last one, so they all owe me twenty bits now.”
Twilight let out an angry grunt, but quickly regained her composure. “Where is Fluttershy anyway?” She asked, looking around. “You did invite her, didn’t you Pinkie?”
Pinkie looked at Twilight with a look of disbelief. “Twilight, I am quite frankly shocked that you would ask me that… of COUSE I invited Fluttershy, after all she is my super-duper special best friend!”
“Has anypony seen Battleaxe?” Lug Nut called out. “Berry Punch is looking for a rematch with him.”
“That’s what we’ve been trying to find out for the past ten minutes, Lug Nut.” Twilight said. “I was hoping that you or Patches would know where they all went.”
“ALL of them?” Lug Nut asked. “None of them are here?”
“Why else would we be telling you this?” Rainbow asked sarcastically.
“Well, them being gone is news to me, Rainbow.” Lug Nut said back.
“Greatsword and company are gone?” Patches asked, over hearing their conversation. “Where’d they go?”
“Ooh, they’re SUPER GOOD at hide n’ seek…” Pinkie said still looking for them.
“They aren’t the type to play hide n’ seek, Pinkie Pie,” Patches said. “And they wouldn’t just leave without telling at least one of us.”
“Well it looks like they did.” Rainbow said, pointing at the empty room.
The seven ponies talked amongst each other about the whereabouts of the three. The theories went from aliens to Zecora, but they all fell through given how well they know those missing. They continued to speculate until Long Shot, Spike and Scootaloo walked up to them.
“Watcha talking about?” Scootaloo asked the group.
“Long Shot,” Lug Nut said. “Have you seen anypony leave the party? In particular Greatsword or his brothers?”
“Can’t say I have, Lung Nut,” Long Shot said. “But I did see Carmel walking out back to the garden about twenty minutes ago.”
“That ain’t much help…” Applejack replied. “He’s probably gettin’ some fresh air, he ain’t exactly one fer big get-ta-gathers.”
“Maybe they went on a secret mission,” Spike pondered. “They are special forces, right?”
“If they went on a mission WE would be going on it too Spike.” Long Shot said. “We’re all in the same unit, they wouldn’t split us in half to get something done.”
“I wish somepony here could tell us where they went,” Patches said. “I’ve NEVER seen them just take off without a good reason.”
Just as Patches finished her statement, everypony in the hall heard what sounded like the flapping of pegasi wings. They remained silent to listen closer to the sound, which stopped soon after it had begun. Then the doors of the town hall opened, revealing five shadowy figures in the light.
“ALIENS!” Pinkie yelped dashing for cover.
“Those aren’t aliens, Pinkie,” Twilight said, squinting her eyes to get a better look at the figures in the doorway. “Those are…” the largest figure stepped into the light, “Princess Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed happily. “I’ve missed you so much!”
“And I’ve missed you as well, Twilight,” she said back, raising her hoof commanding everypony in the room to rise. “And I’m happy to see you with all of your friends again.”
“And what dose our humble town owe the pleasure of a royal visit?” the mayor asked.
“Well, I received a letter in the mail not long ago inviting me to a party,” Princess Celestia said. “And I wouldn’t want to miss a party for my favorite soldiers. I hope you don’t mind if I brought a few guest of my own.”
“Of course not!” Pinkie said. “The more the merrier!”
The other four ponies entered the hall, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor and to the surprise of Long Shot and the other survivors of the 1025th, Commander Garrison.
“Commander,” Lug Nut said. “It’s been forever sense we’ve heard from you, you have no idea how good it is to see you again!”
“It’s good to see you again as well,” Commander Garrison responded.“I wasn’t going to come, but Princess Celestia can be quite convincing.”
“Princess Cadence, darling you are positively glowing,” Rarity said. “You’ve lost all that weight from the baby already.”
Twilight covered Rarity’s mouth as fast as she could, but Princess Cadence just giggled, “I guess you’re right,” she said. “But having a four month old colt can quite the work out.” She reached around to the side facing away from everypony. “Would you like to meet your nephew Twilight?”
“I would love to!” Twilight said, making her way to the Princess.
Princess Cadence showed Twilight a small white alicorn, sleeping peacefully in his holder. He was making a few sudden movements while he was dreaming, but nothing more. Twilight and her present friends eyes widened as the young foal made small noises while he made his little tossing movements.
“How adorable,” Twilight gushed. “What’s his name?”
“Prince Gold Heart.” Shining Armor said with pride. “He’s got my looks, so when he older he’ll be fighting off fillies.”
“I’ll say,” Princess Cadence giggled, “he was cursed with your devilish good looks.”
“Speaking of ponies with devilishly good looks,” Princess Luna said. “Where is Warhammer? I have to tell him something.”
Luna’s eyes went around the room looking for her lover, but to no avail. Remembering that Warhammer and the others were missing, Rainbow took it upon herself to try to change the subject.
“Why do you want to see Warhammer so badly?” She asked, trying to find some topic to draw attention away from those in question. Finally she lloked back to Luna and noticed that since last seeing her, her physic had changed. “If you ask me, it looks like you’re starting to enjoy cake as much as your sister.”
“RAINBOW!” Twilight yelled in shock, gathering the attention of everypony in the Town Hall.
“What?” Rainbow asked, pointing to Luna’s belly. “It looks like she gained a pound or two.”
Princess Luna’s face became slightly purple with every eye in town on her, but she knew she had to say something. “I WAS going to tell him first.” She said slightly annoyed. “Then WE were going to announce it to everypony here.”
“Announce what yer highness?” Applejack asked.
Princess Luna looked to all the ponies in the room, their eyes and ears had her undivided attention. “When I visited for Nightmare Night this year, Warhammer and I had some… how does one say, ‘personal time’ together.”
“You two always go off when you come to visit,” Rainbow shrugged. “What makes this one-” Rainbow put two and two together in her head. “Oh, uh never mind.” she said quickly.
“Well, as a result of that…” Princess Luna said pausing for dramatic effect. “I am now with a foal!”
Everypony gasped at the news, except for Princess Celestia. “I’m truly happy for you, sister,” she said. “Your love for one another has resulted in new life, there is no love greater than that.” Princess Celestia looked back to Twilight. “Now if you would tell us where Warhammer is so my sister may tell him personally, like she wanted to.”
“That’s the problem, Princess,” Twilight said apologetically. “We don’t know where Warhammer or his brothers went off to.”
“Well that’s strange,” Commander Garrison said. “I know for a fact that Battleaxe wouldn’t miss an opportunity to get free booze.”
“Where did you last see them?” Princess Luna asked with a look of worry.
“They were all in Greatsword’s room the last time we saw them.” Twilight said. “Maybe if you take a look you could find something we missed.”
“I shall see what I can do,” Princess Celestia said. “Sister, I may need your assistance, please come with me.”
“You don’t have to ask me,” Princess Luna said. “I want to know where my love has gone more than anything else.”
The Royal sisters entered Greatsword’s empty room. Together they made one obvious conclusion. “They didn’t leave on their own accord.” Princess Celestia said.
“Why would you say that?” Rainbow asked.
“It looks like one of them, probably Greatsword, was packing.” Princess Celestia answered, pointing to the half full duffle bag on the bed, “I doubt they would all make a conscious decision to leave instantly if one of them was packing for a trip.”
“So they were taken?” Applejack asked. “Now who in their right mind would mess with those three, I have near a dozen fallen apple trees provin’ that Warhammer is the strongest pony in all Equestria.”
“I know how strong Warhammer is, Applejack,” Princess Luna said. “Believe me…”
“No signs of blood or any kind of struggle,” Patches said. “So that means-”
“Magic…” Lug Nut said. “But none of the unicorns at the party sensed the amount of magic needed to teleport three very strong ponies form inside a room.”
“It could be ancient magic from the Pre-Discord era,” Commander Garrison said. “It’s almost impossible for the unicorns of today to detect that kind of magic, but an alicorn could possibly sense it if they concentrated hard enough.”
Princess Celestia and Luna nodded in agreement with Commander Garrison’s theory. The two closed their eyes and their horns began to glow their respective colors. After several tense moments their eyes shot open, both had looks of disbelief.
“Princess Celestia,” Twilight said. “What’s wrong?”
“It… it CAN’T be…” Princess Celestia said. “He can’t still be alive, he died over nineteen hundred years ago…”
“Who?” Rainbow asked.
“The Forge Master…” Princess Luna said. “He created the original Elements of Harmony, to help us defeat Discord.” she turned her gaze to the baffled ponies. “The magic that was used here is the same kind that was used to create Harmony. He was the only unicorn strong enough to use this magic.”
“So zombie ponies are REAL?” Spike said in disbelief. “Holy guacamole, I was right?”
“Spike there is no such thing as zombie ponies…” Twilight said, but then she looked to Princess Celestia very concerned. “Right?”
“That answer will have to wait for another time, Twilight,” Princess Celestia said. “Now we have to make our way back to Canterlot as soon as possible, to clear our suspicions.”
The moment that Princess Celestia stepped out of Greatsword’s room, the doors to the town hall swung open to reveal a yellow pegasus on the other side. “Girls!” Fluttershy yelled. “Girls, have you-” she froze once she realized that everypony in town was looking at her. “Oh… I’m sorry…” she said hiding behind her mane. “I’ll come back later…”
“Fluttershy, am I glad to see you,” Twilight said. “Have you seen Battleaxe or his brothers?”
“I-I was going to ask you the same thing…” Fluttershy said. “Greatsword ran back here after we-”
“What part of ‘get back to Canterlot now’ don’t you two understand?” Rainbow said grabbing them both, “we need to get there now!”
“We may need the Elements of Harmony,” Princess Celestia said. “Because not even I know what this revelation means.”
“I wish Greatsword were here,” Patches said. “He’d know what to do.”
“I’ll need all of you for this too,” Commander Garrison said. “The 1025th is now temporally back under my command, say good bye to your friends and let’s head out.”
“You aren’t leaving without us,” Carmel said. “Right Big Mac?”
“Eeyup.” Big Mac said before kissing Cheerilee good bye.
“If you’re heading to a fight you’re taking ME with you.” Thunderlane said striking a pose.
“I’m coming too,” Graphite said. “I think you’ll need me and everypony else in the Ponyville Defense Force.”
“I don’t care who comes so long as you’re ready to fight,” Commander Garrison said. “Long Shot we need you too.”
“Guess I’ve got to get going, Scootaloo,” Long Shot said patting his daughter on the head. “Be brave for your dad, will you?”
“P-please come back,” Scootaloo said tearing up. “I don’t want to lose my dad just after he found me.”
“I’ll do my best, Scoot,” Long Shot said. “I love you.”
“Ditto.” Scootaloo said, watching her father and the others leaving Town Hall, heading to Canterlot.