//------------------------------//
// Chapter Four: Ban Dragonheart. Part 1. 
// Story: The Legacy of Harmony 
// by overlord-flinx 
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	Am I mighty? Yes. Am I grand? Yes. Does the earth shake when I stomp? It does. Do monsters fear me? They do. Could I challenge a manticore do a bout and be victorious? Without question. Am I at all modest? Not in the slightest. I would boast my greatness and display my grandeur whenever I so could.

Yet now, ask me instead these questions.

Am I gentle? As sand. Am I meek? As well as shy. Does the earth strike me when I stumble? I stumble quite strongly. Do I stray from the path of monsters? Whenever I may. Could I handle with care a flower bed more so than strike down a tree? The tree has done nothing to me. Am I humbled by my grandeur? Beyond belief. I was gifted with greatness and a standing honor with this form the ancients allowed me.

Now, look back upon all my answers. Each set is vastly different, yet no answer was a lie. We are layered; all of us are. We may be vile, yet display kindness to one. We could destroy but wish to preserve beauty. These are not contradictions, mind you. This is honesty. Would you care to know the greatest honesty of all?

Bravery and integrity.





"Um... Ban, sir?" Celestia coughed a little bit, trying not to burden her 'elder' too much.

Ban Dragonheart slowly opened his eyes and absorbed the sights around him for a moment. The green of earth waved against the black cuffs of his hooves when the soft turn of the mountain winds swept by him and his two charges. The headdress atop his head fluttered along with the wind, matting down the curled hair of his brown coat. Against his back, the drums and horns he adorned and hung against his form sounded dry taps and whippings against him, following with the winds orders. It took him a moment to regard the two ponies standing behind him, long ago forgetting that he had even brought them with him.

Nearly an hour ago, Ban had taken Luna and Celestia along with him to the lower peak of a nearby mountain after Fenix had left the two in his care. The trip was not easy on Luna or Celestia, both being forced to groan and whine along the way by their crying hooves and aching legs. Yet, Ban persisted with the two and kept them going along with him until they reached the base of the mountain. There, after a half day's worth of walking, from sunrise to sunset, Ban let them have a momentary reprieve. While Luna had collapsed in on herself, gasping for air and letting her legs throb out their pain, Celestia stayed close to Ban.

Ban finally regarded Celestia and looked down at her with his imposing size casting well over her. "Would you ask something of me, little one?" For such a giant, imposing buffalo, Ban surprisingly possessed little command in his natural tone.

Suppressing her tire, Celestia nodded and moved to speak, "I would. My sister and I have been following you for hours. We're tired, drained, and far away from the rest of the group. To add more issue, you have yet to say anything to us," perhaps Celestia did not mean it, but her voice started to reflect a deal of distaste for Ban.

"Yes, you're tired and hungry, I can understand that very easily," Ban started to smile a playful look at the young filly as he looked back to the path they had taken, "If you wish, you may venture back to our camp. I am sure Fenix would humbly give you a share of what food he and the others have gathered. Yet, to do that... You would need to walk back."

Perhaps Celestia felt patranized by Ban's words, fueling her to stomp her tired front leg against the dirt and scoff at the larger being. "Are you trying to be funny? Fenix trusted us with you to teach us, and you decide to mock me?" Celestia's rage started to seize up inside her, causing her muddled pink mane to start to prickle.

In spite of Celestia's anger, Ban continued to smile down at the pint-sized filly. "A lesson or two will be taught to you. To the fact, you should be aware of one now," the mix of Celestia's rage moved more into confusion at Ban's words, "Listen well. When I had you follow me, what did I say to you?"

"...Nothing. That's the problem, you didn't tell us what we were doing or where we were going," said Celestia, holding to her ground that Ban was at fault.

"That is right. I said nothing at all to you. No rules, no reasoning, nothing of the kind. So, answer me this: why did you not fly?" Ban's simple question staggered a blow against Celestia, sending her to silence, "Or why did you not switch between flying and walking? Even more, why had you never asked me to carry you upon my back?" There was no reply from Celestia, "I see you will not offer me an answer. So allow me to voice my own idea. Were you perhaps frightened by how I may react?"

Silence. Ban let out a deep laugh, making Celestia look back to him and send Luna into a small stir as she slowly regained her strength. "You must learn first this, my young ones: beneath all our bodies resides one similar force. The zebras call it essence, the buffalo call it spirit, the goats refer to it as chakra, and the ponies call it soul. In the end, it is the life force that makes us all one. We may look different, but our spirits -or souls- share a likeness beyond any manner that we as mortals can see."

It took a moment for Celestia to take in everything Ban had told to her. Her wings furled against her, showing signs of a deep shame she was now holding. Along with her wings, her head drooped and she sighed in her shame. "I am sorry, Ban Dragonheart..."

"There is no reason to be in regret of your actions," Ban assured Celestia with a light tap of his front hoof against the top of her head, "you will continue to judge me as well as others for as long as you live. This is something to be proud of," suddenly, Ban started up a nearby path that wound around the mountain they stood at the base of.

Once more, Celestia was left confused by the buffalo's words and tried to follow him. However, mid-way after him, she stopped herself and looked back to the still tired Luna. Celestia spared no hesitation in going to her sister's side and hoisting her to be placed on her back. Now Celestia felt an even greater strain in her legs, but she pressed on and followed in Ban's steps. Once Celestia was back within earshot of him, Ban continued to speak as if Celestia had never left his side. "Yes. It is my hope that you will judge others with a mindful heart and spirit -or soul- as Fenix and the rest of us had done for you. However, I do not wish for you to judge and be resentful of what you deem as dark or mischievous. I wish for you to judge and accept regardless of what you may think of the one you have judged."

"But... I don't understand, Ban," Celestia's tone had changed a great deal from the harsh nature she had used before, she now sounded unsure as well as careful on what words she would say, "Judging others, isn't that wrong?"

"Yes, it's very wrong. Yet, you would be lying to yourself if you said you would never judge another," Ban spoke frank as he continued up the winding mountain pass, "To move my point along, answer me this, young one. What do you think of my travelling partners?"

The road ahead grew more steep with each step Celestia and Ban made, bringing more strain into Celestia's little body as she fought the weight of the land as well as the burden of her sister against her back. "Fenix... Fenix is a kind pony. Like the rest, I can't say much to his deeper levels, but I can feel he has a deep nature to help others," Ban snorted once, urging Celestia on, "Surprise seems... seems... different." a little chuckled from Ban lifted Celestia's spirit just a bit, "Whooves would appear to be a stallion who does not much care to speak often on items that don't seem too important. I don't know him well, but I think he may be a pony of action rather than words," Celestia could have sworn that Ban muttered something about 'seeing', but she let it pass, "finally, Pallanen... by appearance alone, he's nothing I have ever seen before. I can't really say much for his character..."

"A fine assessment, young one. Very fine," Ban's legs trudge his form along the slooping path further and further until he drew to another stop mid-way up the incline, "Now, look back on your words. I am to believe you spoke not one lie to me in your assessments. Yet, in honesty, you know nothing of any of my friends outside of what little you have seen. Still, you speak highly of them -on one exception-, which is what I wish for you to do. Do you understand?"

Celestia adjusted her sister against her back, letting Ban's words sink in. "I... Think so. You want me to judge for the good in everyone before I let any thought of evil can come to me?"

"Very good, Celestia...! For one so young, you seem to possess a great deal of understanding. Perhaps you are due for a more challanging lesson?" Ban snorted a gruff chuckle out while also noticing Celestia's nervious smile in return, "No, no. I shall not test you too gravely. As sure I am that the land is strong, so too am I sure that Fenix and Whooves will have truly grave challanges for you upon your return. Fenix believes with all his spirit that you and your sister are the ones we have been searching for. I will hope with my own spirit that he is right..." for a moment, Ban's tone of voice fell sullun and he began to trek up the path ahead.

Silence fell onto the group for some while, both Ban and Celestia moving up the mountain pass with their waight starting to burden them more and more. The land far bellow seemed so vast to Celestia, grass and hills spanning as far as the eyes could see. There was even a few pockets of lakes here and there intermixed with the lush land. When Celestia beheld it, a thought came to her; one that she thought Ban would be able to answer. "Ban...? What do you value most?" Celestia's words were meek as they left her dry throat, but they struck Ban all the same.

Deep from Ban's own lung, a harsh sigh went through him and caused his fur to muddle against his face. From where Celestia stood behind him, she could not see that Ban's eyes had shut in a silent reflection. "If you ask that now... You are willing to know my final lesson for you," starting up the trail again, Ban moved with a greater haste.

Celestia struggled to keep pace, her breath straining against her and her wings beating against her body in an attempt to keep up. The trail started to cloud with Ban's hooves beating great mounds of untouched dirt into the air at his one buffalo stampede up the trail. He spared only a glance to be sure that Celestia was still close and safe before he continued his words. "You are but one being. That is all anyone can ever be. Fenix, myself, Luna, the orphan mare that wonders the street? We are one and the same, as I have told you. At the same time, we are nothing but that one," from Ban's headdress, a faint twinkle started to contrast against the setting sun off against the horizen, "Distrust and fear would twist your spirit -or soul- into the belief that you are more than any other; more than all the rest. But, I shall tell you the truth I have accepted and has granted me light in the darkness..."

Suddenly, Ban came to a halt, startling Celestia. It took Celestia a moment to stop her legs as they wobbled and whimpered for rest. Her hoof falls came to a stop a few feet ahead of where Ban had stopped, leaving her to look over a massive edge. As if at once, Celestia felt all her tire flow out from her as she looked out against the golden hue of the world. From the highest cliff in this land, Celestia looked out onto all the world stretched before her. From Trothelme to the vast mountain range far to the north. From where she stood, she saw all of the land bathed in the golden splender of the sun's last shimmer. Caught within the beauty, Celestia did not notice as Ban stepped beside her and looked out over the world as well.

"The bravery to accept reality is a grand step into seeing the beautiful truth of our world..." down from Ban's headdress came a golden emblem that hooked around his neck and tossed just so in the evening mountain breeze.

The emblem had not much too it aside from the orange and green crystalized design that decorated the middle of it.