//------------------------------// // Chapter Three: Legacy. // Story: The Legacy of Harmony // by overlord-flinx //------------------------------// Drawn. Perhaps that was the word for it. Celestia and Luna were drawn in by this Fenix and his words. When he offered a hoof to them, they followed him out from the darkness. Their hooves, soft as rain drops against the stone, were somehow enough to draw in all of Fenix's group to look their attention to them. No words were exchanged at the first meeting between the band and these two new little fillies; only silent studying eyes. Fenix nodded to his lot and charged them to return to following him, which all did without a sound. All except Ban who watched as his team departed out through one of the village gates. Alone, he marched himself through the streets of the city until he came upon a lone sprout guarded by a thin wire of a garden. Ban looked at it a moment, a look of compassion going about him before he tugged a string to his side. The string led way to a horn of water that was strapped against his side. As the water poured out, Ban led it to sprinkle against the sprout and dampen the soil around it. As soon as his water ran dry, he bowed his head and replaced the cork on his horn with a nudge of his strong head. The group had traveled a great distance out from the city, so much so they no longer could see the pastures of the farmland near the outskirts of Trothelme. Once they had, they all settled out in the hill side. Luna and Celestia stilled seemed confused by the events, but stayed near Fenix all the while; as if drawn only by him. Fenix did not mind at all, feeling a kindred tie with the two as well; much like he felt amongst all his travelling partners. Yet, Surprise, hanging off the side near Fenix, felt to herself a need to jostle the young ones. Slithering across the ground, she joined to Fenix's shadow and chattered her teeth near the two fillies' ears. "Sly silly shadows slip silent... SURPRISE!" Surprise's screech at the end sent Luna and Celestia bolting out from the cover of Fenix, making Surprise laugh more and more. "Surprise! Ya' daft?" Fenix scolded her just before swatting her bone-head in the back. As her head rattled and even spun about, she kept laughing and kicking her hooves out against the air. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. Surprise should surely stop scaring...!" as silly as her words were, her genuine nature came through enough for Fenix. Slowly, Fenix followed the two fillies who decided to take cover behind a large rock. The two shivered against one another, petrified with fear before Fenix took a knee next to them. "Now don' you mind the banshee for a second. As you'll learn, we're all just as differen' as you. For better 'er for worse," Fenix's tone returned to the soothing gentleness he presented the two before, "But, if'n yer gonna see that, you'll need ta' harden out." Celestia, stilling herself and attempting to be the 'big sister' she had to be for Luna, looked up into Fenix's helmet. "Why...? Why are you... troubling yourself with us?" she asked as clearly as she could. "'Cus a' that..." he gestured a single hoof to the golden object Luna continued to protect, "We each have one a' the same. Do ya' know what that is ya' got there, by chance?" seeing the two fillies shake their heads, Fenix had a mix of relief and worry go through him, "They're... keys, we'll say. Keys to a future, a new an' bright'un. But, not jus' any one can use it. Fact, takes six... er' more. Ya' got to understan', held in yer' hooves right now is a mighty legacy. A legacy ya' cannot hold alone. Aye. Fate gave that'un to you both fer' a reason." "What reason is that...?" Luna spoke for the first time. "Not fer' me to know er' say... But'n we're gonna find out the answers together..." Fenix assured the two before looking back at the rest of his team, "The two of you, Ban, Surprise, Whooves, Pallanen, an' me," suddenly, Fenix felt a light weight fall against his back, bringing him to laugh a bit, "An' a'course Philomena." Fenix stroked one of his hooves to touch against the phoenix that had landed itself against his back. While stroked his mighty pet, he caught Celestia looking at Philomena with wonder. "Pretty one, aye?" Celestia only nodded, mesmerized by the majestic form of this bird, "You'll get a better look at her much more once ya' go through my lesson." "Lesson?" Celestia parroted, coming out of her mesmerized state. "That's right. The two of you are younglings... If'n ya' plan to carry out the legacy yer' to take on, you'll need to take on a little bit a' lessons from yer' elders," Fenix said. "What kind of lessons?" Luna urged. Fenix stood to his legs and sent Philomena to fly away across the hills. His metallic clad head turned to look among the ranks of his group. Each one had a great deal of wisdom, experience, and history they could pass on to these two fillies; but not all at once. For now, they had time to train these two as they traveled the roads ahead. In time, Luna and Celestia could very well be the keepers of the legacy... But they would indeed need to first be taught. "Ban! If'n ya' got time ta' water plants an' trail behind the rest of us, maybe ya'd like ta' filly-sit the young ones first?" the lot snickered at Fenix's call out to perhaps the strongest and most sizable member of the group. Ban, mighty as he was looked over to Fenix with an air of humbled embarrassment. "I would be most honored to..." his hooves thundered against the land as he made the small journey over to Luna and Celestia. Towering over them and casting the darkness of his massive shadow over them, he warmly smiled and bowed his great, dressed head to them as if he was in honor to them. "Shall we begin?"