We...are Legion. We are infinite, yet we are one. We have but one mission, to become whole. This...single form....is but an illusion. Our host has so generously given his form to us, and so we give him our magic. Form is constricting, form is choking, but form has advantages. With his shape we can wield the weapon to make ourselves whole. All of our souls are stained with our failures as a race. Yet Mother has told us to go to him, we serve him for now, as he serves us in the end. We are not evil, but neither are we good. We are incomplete, and our host will change that. His is a sacrifice to be made for our children who yet slumber. His singularity will serve its purpose, then become a part of Legion. We are Legion, for we are many.
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Aaron ran like the devil was on his heels. The billions of souls inside of him urged him forward, prohibiting rest and providing him with near infinite energy. But he had a long run ahead of him. Immediately exiting the palace after so boldly interrupting the Gala, he met little resistance. Nearing the gate to the town of Canterlot, a squad of guards flew into position to stop this thief and intruder.
"So unwise." the billions of souls uttered as one. With a single flick of a hand half the guards were put into a harmless sleep, another flick and the golden armor on the other half came to life, holding down their wearers. He continued his run. Lucifer hung on his back, though normally weighing around one hundred pounds, the source of corruption seemed weightless.
Ponies that still walked the street at night screamed as the magic infused human ran by at an incredible speed. A patrol of winged guards tried to swoop in to catch him, he laughed as they began to chase five different humans, all taunting them. The decoys faded after a few hundred yards, the pegasi guards left swearing.
He reached the city gates in less than a minute, and using his soul magic dissolved an arch for himself to run through at full speed. A troop of unicorn guards blocked his way. The human stopped, the unicorns throwing a shield around him.
"Finally a challenge." He raised both of his hands, then brought them together. His clap sounded like a thunderbolt. The thunderous wave shattered the shield and threw everypony standing ten feet back. The magic fires in his eyes blazed brightly in the aftershocks, the human having never known so much power.
He took once again to his run, an order must have been issued, for he had no more interference that night.
****************************************************************************
"Princess! All guard units report failure to contain the creature, he has breached the city walls and escaped into the countryside!" The Captain of the Royal Guard reported.
"Damn! Tell all unit commanders to stand down. Any word on the General Assembly?" Princess Celestia was determined to somehow nip this crisis in the bud, but she would not risk more lives pointlessly. She paced back and forth in her study, worrying and wondering if Twilight and her friends could stop this kind of foe, especially since he had one of the Elements in his possession!
"Yes my Princess, the Assembly has requested the presence of you and Princess Luna as quickly as possible."
"Then I shall have to meet them. You are dismissed for the night Captain."
Princess Celestia gathered her sister and the two made their way to the House of Assembly, the legislative branch of the Equestrian pseudo-democracy. They entered without flair or even being announced, given the dire situation it was unneeded. The large, semi circular room was filled with the elected senators representing the various districts of Equestria. Also in attendance were representatives and ambassadors from allied nations and bordering territories. In the center stood a podium where the Speaker would address issues being raised. Celestia and Luna took the podium.
"Hear me fair citizens of Equestria! I beg of you, do not start a war with this creature! As he is he cannot be defeated."
A senator with a Trottingham accent spoke. "And what are we to do Princess? Let him go forth and raise some kind of army of his kind against us? If anything we need the full support of the entire Royal Army to combat this threat!"
An ambassador from Zebrica voiced himself in his deep zebra voice, "If this thing is indeed a Legion, why do we not just stand back and let him burn out? Legions are more common practice in Zebrica, they always die without a source of fresh magic to feed upon."
"That is out of the question ambassador. This one is different, he has stolen an Element of Harmony and a weapon capable of corrupting magic. He is a Legion that has fed on billions of souls at once, he is unstoppable now."
Worried talk passed between the members of the Assembly.
The senator from Manehattan spoke. "Why are you preventing us from taking action Princess? If we raise the army now, we can maybe beat this creature to its destination and destroy any hope of his victory."
Luna pushed Celestia out of the way. "There is no hope of beating him there, he runs as quickly as most pegasi fly. And even if we did manage to beat him to his destination, he has an Element! We cannot stop him without all six of them."
"You seem to know quite a bit about him, Princess Luna, what information are you withholding from us?"
"We have dealt with his kind before, senator. He is called a human being, and before there was Equestria, his kind ruled the world."
"Before Equestria? Preposterous! Ponies have always ruled this world!"
"You speak as if you were there Senator, Luna and I were. We fought the humans in a war that has become so faded in history that few remember it. We ultimately won, but it was not without great sacrifice." Celestia said.
Luna once again took the stand, "There were once billions of them, all of their technologies so advanced that they would confound the most studious engineer. It was shear luck and the aid of the Earth that gave us victory."
The buffalo ambassador bellowed in anger. "You speak of the Hunters! Monsters so cruel that the Earth Mother herself shunned them. But the Hunters are all dead, it is absurd to say one of them has returned!"
"They have returned, at least one of them has. But he is on his way as we speak to resurrect his race. And if we do not send the embodiements of the Elements of Harmony to fight him, your lands will be among the first to fall in their march for revenge, ambassador! This day was destined to come eventually, the humans have returned to claim what is rightfully theirs."
Hundreds of angered voices deafened one another, each pony or creature jockeying to put forth their plan to stop this crisis. Angered neighs and bellows from dignitaries and senators alike shook the foundations of the House.
"Order! We shall have order!" the Speaker stamped a hoof on the podium. The roar of the House eventually quieted. "We shall now put it to a definitive vote, all those in favor of raising the army to confront the enemy at their base?" The entire senate voted unanimously. "All opposed?" Only Luna and Celestia voted against. "Then it is decided, at dawn the entire Royal Army marches for the enemy base, auxiliary units will be drafted as they march. The human said two weeks, we will not be late! And Princesses? Being that you are the commanders of the Royal Army, you will be leading them to the enemy base, which you apparently have exclusive knowledge of."
The Princesses turned to leave, shaking their heads for the stupidity that ran their country. "So, we are going to Stronghold at last Luna."
"We swore never to set a hoof at the accursed place, but times are changing rather suddenly, are they not?"
****************************************************************
The six friends had taken to tracking their changed human friend as soon as they could get their ridiculous dresses off. Carrying royal writs of acquisition, they could get anything they needed on the road. Fortunately, Aaron was not hard to track. Strange magical phenomenon marked his passing, the excess magic falling off him like leaves in autumn.
Though not the fastest, Fluttershy led, being the best tracker. The easy thing to notice was the large amount of flowers, the magic he exuded was making them bloom out of season. Though they didn't really need it, he went due west towards Stronghold.
"What is making him so fast?" panted Rainbow Dash.
"He has enough magic in him to blow up Equestria, I think he might have changed a little!" Everypony except Twilight carried their Element in a saddlebag, ready to use it if they found the missing Element.
"Dang critter runs like the wind! I remember him gettin' winded just goin up a hill!" Applejack was panting too, they had run at least ten to fifteen miles in the course of the night.
"We can't stop now! We haven't even seen him yet!"
Rarity was the voice of reason, "Twilight! Calm down miss bookworm, there has to be a better way to catch up with him."
Pinkie bounced to the lead. "What about your balloon Twilight? We could have Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy alternate pulling it!"
"That's brilliant Pinkie! But my balloon is back in Ponyville and that's another ten miles!"
They all stared at Twilight, specifically at her horn. "Oh no, no no no no! I can't teleport us all that far!"
"At least a couple miles closer dearie?" Rarity had her begging eyes on now.
"Fine! I'll give it a try! Everypony grab my mane." They did so, and Twilight began to concentrate on the spell, pumping more magic into her horn than she believed was safe. A flash of light, and they stood in Ponyville town square, the barest glimmers of dawn breaching the horizon.
"You did it Twi! Twilight?" The unicorn had collapsed from the exertion, so they gathered her up and headed for the library.
**********************************************************************************
Though fueled by the souls of billions of humans, his body was still that of a scientist. Aaron collapsed near what he believed was an abandoned house, several miles west of Ponyville.
"25 miles in one night, I'm making good time." The soul fire left his eyes for the time being, he was back in complete control of his body.
The soul fire snapped back as Legion tried to speak. "Indeed you are Aaron, we are proud, but your breaks must be brief. Our goal cannot be delayed for much longer."
He shook his head, fighting to regain control of his body. "If you want to talk, use somebody else's mouth god damn it!" he forced down the billions of anxious souls that clamored to speak through him, the fires leaving him.
He wheezed uncontrollably as he rested against the trunk of an old tree, getting his breath back he wondered if he had time to eat. He may have controlled the three greatest sources of magic known to anything, but his body still had basic biological needs. Taking off Lucifer's power pack, he set the demonic weapon down next to his pack, the pack fell over letting the Element roll out. To a person as sensitive to magic as he had become what happened next was a spectacle. The Element and Lucifer seemed to hiss and spit at one another, like two alleycats circling before a fight. There was enough magical tension between the two semi-sentient objects that sparks were flying in the air.
"Alright you two, break it up!" Lucifer cowered in fear of its creator and master, the Element stood its ground with dignity. Scooping it up he placed it back in his pack.
"Hello? Is somepony there?" A strange pony voice called out to him. It was very young for a pony, probably just a colt. The damn farmhouse wasn't abandoned after all! A young colt slowly approached, his head held high in the air, a cane in his mouth preceding his every step. He looked barely old enough to have a cutie mark, and his flank still remained blank.
"I can't see you know! I can hear you though, is somepony there?"
Aaron felt pity for the blind colt, "Yeah, there is somebody here."
"You aren't from the bank are you? We haven't been able to sell any crops since papa died, we don't have your money."
"No, I'm not from the bank. Why are you living in such a wreck of a house?"
The colt's head dropped, "We can't afford anything better. Papa died two years ago and Mama is too sick to work. I got the same sickness as Mama, but it left me quickly and blinded me. We were gonna go to Canterlot to get my eyes fixed, but the magic spell is too expensive for us." Tears began to shed from the eyes of the blinded colt, the pain of loss and the spite of disease making him cry.
Aaron looked to his own hand, the magic of the Earth flared from his fingers. "Come to me child."
"You aren't gonna hurt me are you?"
"No, now come to my voice." The colt made his way to the human, gently Aaron placed his hand on the blind colt's face, concentrating his magic. He closed his own eyes, the magic flowed from his body into the body of the colt. He probed and found the problem, with a quick burst of magic he fixed the flaw caused by disease.
"Now open your eyes."
His eyes fluttered open, "I can see... I can see!" He danced and jumped, throwing his cane to the dust. "I can see! Thank you mister!" He hugged the human around the waist, weeping tears of joy. "What about my mama mister?"
Aaron thought for a second, then turned his attention to the tree. He placed a hand on the trunk, with a little magic probe he found it to be an apple tree, suitable for his task. He let the magic flow through the bark, into every leaf and stem of the old apple tree. Apple blossoms sprouted from the branches, and soon they shed their flowers and fattened into apples that had a green reflection of magic on a brilliant golden skin. He reached and plucked a ripe apple from a branch, "Here, take this to your mother. Share the fruit of this tree with those who need hope." The colt grabbed the apple and rushed back to his house. Aaron himself grabbed a few of the magic apples, biting into one he felt his fatigue melt away and his spirits rise.
Shouldering Lucifer and grabbing his pack, the human resumed his journey home. Seeing his kind deed, Mother smiled with pride and joy.
*****************************************************************************
The cohorts stood assembled before Canterlot. Princess Celestia had her generals inspect the lines, all were prepared. The entire Royal Guard took the front with their burnished gold and black finished armor. Behind them stood the bulk of the army, most wearing simpler steel armor. Artillery machines and siege machinery were levitated by unicorn battlemages in the rear, ready for their march westward.
Though Equestria maintained a rather sizable airship fleet, the entire fleet was on active duty in Kali'Gryph in the far northeast and in Zebrica across the ocean.
Luna consulted with Celestia, "We do not have to do this sister!"
"We must, the ponies of Equestria have spoken. They wish for his blood and the blood of his kind."
"Are we really any better than they were when they marched on us, intending the same fate?"
Celestia looked in to her sister's eyes, "No, we are no different than they are." She turned to the assembled army, "We March!"
Drums beat the march as the pony army crept forward.
*************************************************************************
They forced the door to the library open, they lay Twilight on a chair, her expenditure from the spell too great.
"Pinkie! Go to the medicine chest and see if there are smelling salts!" Fluttershy tended to the unconscious Twilight, cracking open her eyes to see if her pupils dilated.
"Okey dokey Fluttershy!" Pinkie scrambled back to the living area.
Applejack was tearing apart the contents of a closet, looking for anything useful. "Does anypony know where she keeps the balloon?"
"Not a clue! Only Twilight knows." Rainbow Dash was zooming in and out of various rooms, looking for the packed up hot air balloon.
A groan came from the unicorn, "What happened?"
"Twilight! You brought us straight to Ponyville, but you collapsed after teleporting us."
She shook her head a little, gaining her bearings. "I keep my balloon packed up in the basement. Rarity, you can still levitate things with your magic, get it out for us."
"Yes Twilight!"
Twilight
The unicorn searched for the source of the calling.
You will need it when you go Twilight.
"Need what?" A spectral presence beckoned her to her study. Shakily she obeyed. Walking into her study while everypony else rushed around the library gathering supplies, she wondered what she needed.
There, you will need it. Her head pointed to her desk, on it lay Starswirl's transfiguration spell with the splayed drawing of the pony and the man.
"Who are you?" she asked to the empty room.
A friend, a watcher. Take it with you, it will help.
"I don't understand." But whatever it was had left, more important business to attend to. Twilight grabbed the page from the tome and placed it in a saddlebag. Going as quickly as her legs could carry her she ran out of the library to help rebuild her balloon. Within minutes the friends were being towed due west by Rainbow Dash, making better time than they could have on foot.
"I just hope we aren't too late." Twilight said as the wind whistled in her mane.
*******************************************************************************
Legion had taken over again, the spirits of utter neutrality were annoyed by the delays the human kept enforcing. Another few days and another 75 miles had gone under his supernatural pace. Where ever they passed life began to flourish, Aaron leaking enough magic to make flowers bloom and fruit grow on the trees. It gave the human time to think while Legion had his body commandeered. They were the spirits of neutrality, Lucifer embodied chaos, the Element embodied harmony. What was his part in this whole story? Was he the hero, or the villain? Or was he simply a pawn for forces far greater than himself?
"Aaron, this body of yours requires rest once again, we are giving you control, for now." the billions of voices said out loud.
Legion retreated, allowing the human full control again. "Thank you for the gracious return of my property, ladies and gentlemen." He was deep in a forest, his path had never strayed from his due westward course. If a mountain or something got in his way, Legion would probably make him climb it, or just dissolve it outright. They had a single track mind for whatever their goal was. Though they shared his body, they refused to tell him anything except that they wanted to be whole and he was the key for that goal.
He sat to rest underneath a tree, pulling out the map to Stronghold. An old aerial map, the features of the landscape had gone mostly unchanged over the millenia, yet what inhabited those landscapes was dramatically different. What were once mostly fields and towns had changed to unending forest and the occasional pony or other creature settlement. He remembered desert and scrub brush on the way to Ponyville, so he must be nearing that border.
Laying aside the map he raised a hand. Magic was still new to him, so he wanted to learn as much as he could about it. He grabbed a pinch of dirt, some leaves and some twigs. Delicately placing them together he made the figure of a dancer, posed in mid note. He gave it a small amount of magic, and being that he had absorbed Stravinsky along with thousands of other composers, he began to hum Firebird. The little dancer woman began to do the complex ballet, gracefully tracing the palm of his hand and leaping from finger to finger with perfect balance. An idea came to him, and he used his magic to coalesce a partner for her out of air. The little man bowed to his dance partner, placing his hands in hers, stepping to a tune that their maker hummed. Aaron watched his work with a smile. Gently he placed the two finger-height dancers on the ground, their courtship of beauty uninterrupted.
His eyes flared with the soul fire again, "Aaron, stop this foolishness, we must go now." The two minor creations dissipated back to their elements.
He forced them down, "Don't any of you know when to appreciate something beautiful? Haven't you learned anything from Mother?"
"Mother sympathizes with us. She wants our goal as much as we do."
"Mother sympathizes with everyone, if you were truly from Her you would know that."
"If it will motivate you, we will forgive this one transgression. We cannot move this body without your permission."
The man smiled, "Damn right you will."
"Do not treat us so, amongst us are the ones you called friends and family. We only want to complete ourselves."
Aaron sat back, his constant companions were right. "Forgive me, I spoke out of spite. Let me eat something and get some water and then we can go."
"Splendid." said the culmination of all human souls. Legion suddenly became very alert and alarmed. "Aaron, we are being pursued. There is an entire army on our trail, and something else, something that calls to its lost piece."
"What? How do you know?"
"Many of us were of the military ourselves, we feel the pounding of thousands of feet and the thunder of drums."
"Well can't we just stop them? Together we are powerful enough to stop anything."
"Mother is preventing us, or else we would have days ago. Though we are many, She is still far stronger than us."
Aaron looked around himself at the vibrant forest, "What's your game?"
*************************************************************************
The human was not hard to follow, he left a swath of magical oddities nearly a mile wide, anypony skilled in magic could tell that while blindfolded.
The forward scouts to the Royal Army had little to report, no physical sign of him, but plenty of evidence. Princess Celestia now investigated some of what he left behind. It was the most brilliant apple tree she had ever seen in her several millenia of existence. The mare who owned it stood proud of it.
"I never knew such a kind of apple could grow from my soil!" she said with pride. Her colt bounced next to her.
"Mama! I told you, the strange man came and made the tree! He fixed my eyes and made these magic apples to fix you too!"
"Pardon my son Princess, he has such an imagination."
"There is nothing to forgive, madam. May I try one of your apples?"
She curtsied before the Princess, "It would be my honor!" She turned and bucked an apple from the beautiful tree, a single one fell for the Princess. Delicately she took a bite, she wanted to see if these apples weren't some kind of poison of something that he might have left behind as a sick prank. The first thing she noticed, it was the best thing she had ever eaten. Second, her mind was filled with thoughts of peacefulness and love. Third, a scratch she had gotten healed over completely.
Why would he do such a thoughtful thing for a family in need?
"Madam, you may keep your healing apples. But know that your son is right; a kind, generous and thoughtful man made this for you." Princess Celestia flew off to rejoin her marching army.
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Record time! It only took about four days to reach Appleloosa with their ingenious, pegasus powered balloon. They landed softly at the outskirts of town. The first thing the six mares noticed was the massive military presence. Gold and black armored guards led squadrons of regular and militia foot soldiers. Lumber was being processed in hastily built mills and black smoke belched from the forges that worked tirelessly.
"This ain't the quiet frontier town Ah knew. This is some kinda war machine!" Applejack said.
"By the Princesses, they must have mobilized the entire Royal Army for what Aaron did at the Gala. We can't stay for long, just grab some supplies and let's get out of here."
A yellow coated earth pony in simple steel armor trotted to them. "Cousin Applejack? What are you doin here? This is no place for a lady!"
"Cousin Braeburn?" he was harder to recognize without his trademark hat and vest, the armor obscuring his face. "What's happenin' here? Why so many soldiers?"
"I don't know, one of the Royal Army captains showed up yesterday and called for everypony of fighting skill to report to a recruiter. The officers are all sayin we are goin to war! Not some phony pie throwin scuffle like what we had with the buffalo, an actual war with an unknown enemy." The stallion bit his lip as he looked to the sword strapped to his side, unsure of whether he had it in him to take a life.
Applejack placed a hoof on his shoulder, "Not on mah watch there ain't. We're gonna stop this thing before it happens Cousin Braeburn!"
"How? The officers all say our enemy is unstoppable! And in a couple of days an army is going to wake up and march from the other side of buffalo territory. I'm scared cousin, I don't wanna die!"
Twilight consoled him, "We know the creature responsible for this, and we know that he won't allow bloodshed. We just need to get to Stronghold to stop him!"
Braeburn looked around, checking to see if anypony besides them was listening. "This is private intelligence, I think your 'friend' passed this way about yesterday afternoon. I was out in the orchards buckin' apples when I saw the dang funniest lookin critter run through. He was talkin to himself all crazy like, almost like he was arguin with himself. And he was carryin this funny lookin metal thing that made my skin crawl. But worst of all, his eyes burned like fire! Not actual fire, like a magic fire that a unicorn makes. But he stopped for a while and kept on talkin' to himself, I hid behind a couple bushels of apples, but he still knew I was there! He told me not to be afraid of him, then he took some apples and left, but he left behind this!"
Braeburn reached into a pocket and pulled out a shining yellow stone. "It's solid gold! He made it right then and there to pay me for the apples!"
"That sounds like Aaron alright, magic fire-eyes and everything."
"Then we don't have much time, we didn't have a lead before and now he is a day ahead of us. Braeburn, we need supplies as quick as possible."
"I can't do that! The Royal Army is rationing out food as it is to us Appleloosans."
Twilight reached into her saddlebag, pulling out the royal writ of acquisition. "Will this help?"
He read over it quickly, "Sure as shoot! Signed by Princess Celestia herself! Take that to the command center and show it to the commander. Go!"
They hurried to the command center, they showed their writs to the commander, a rough, grizzled old pegasus veteran who sat behind a desk, running a log book. A single soldier stood in the corner, ready to run any messages.
"How do I know these are real?"
"Sir, you have to believe us! Princess Celestia gave us those to help in our mission!" Rainbow Dash tried to reason.
"And what exactly is your mission?"
Twilight spoke for the group, "We are going to stop this war, sir. We are going to recapture the stolen Element of Harmony."
The commander sat confused, then recognition dawned in his eyes. "I know you mares! You're the Embodiements! The wielders of the Elements!" He stood and gave a crisp salute to them. "You can have anything you need! Just say it and I'll have it brought out."
"Food and supplies for a week, that's all we need."
"Done! Private, have these run down to the quartermaster, get these ladies whatever they need." The private stared at the legends in the flesh, then shut his mouth and ran to do his commander's bidding. They stayed with the commander for a few minutes, discussing the dangers of a human opponent when the private returned to tell them that the supplies had been transported to their balloon. Bidding him good luck, they left the commander's office.
Walking the streets of Appleloosa, they noticed more soldier's eyes on them than before. One gold armored sergeant simply stared, then drew his sword with a foreleg and slammed it against his shield, then again. All those who followed him started to do the same with their weapons. More and more joined in this macabre salute to the Embodiements of the Elements. All those civilian ponies and those who did not carry a weapon stomped their hooves. In thunderous unison they gave their respect, telling the six friends that they would lay down their very lives for Harmony and fight any foe as long as they held the Elements. Somewhere, somepony began a war chant that was taken up by everypony else. The sergeant yelled the first line, and his soldiers chanted the second.
Raise your sword!
While the sun rises high!
Shatter shields!
While the moon sinks low!
Wash your spears!
Who fears to die?
Raise your sword!
Nopony I know!
Shatter shields!
For peace and light!
Wash your spears!
For Harmony we fight!