Chapter 2
The artifacts of harmony
Pony Joe prided himself on being a great salesman. His donuts were always right no matter what the client wanted, and he always had room for one or two free samples for a good regular customer. His café was open from 8 to 10 and he rarely had any problems.
The moment the doors of his café opened and a large midnight blue alicorn flanked by two pegasi in wonderbolts uniforms walked inside looking around he stopped up and wondered how to deal with this situation.
His answer came as the alicorn walked up to him.
“In a while six other characters will come here, someone looking like they suffer from a severe headache. I would greatly appreciate it if we could all get a separate room where no one can hear us.”
Pony Joe blinked twice, but then nodded. “I have a room in the back that I don’t use. Through that door and first on your left.”
“Thank you” Luna said with a sigh.
Just as she had opened the door the front door opened again, and two mares came in, a unicorn and an earth pony. The earth pony looked up and gasped in shock.
“Princess Luna?” Luna smiled.
“Octavia right? I enjoyed your concert at the Canterlot gardens party last month.”
Octavia blushed and was about to thank Luna for her praise when the unicorn she was holding onto groaned.
“Cold… man my head hurts.”
Luna sighed. “Octavia I know this is a lot to ask but unless you have had similar headaches and visions I must ask you to leave your friend here with me.”
Octavia frowned. “Is this important?”
“Very much so.”
“And you are thrusting something important to Vinyl Scratch?”
“It’s out of my hoofs.”
Octavia sighed. “Very well Princess.”
Octavia let Vinyl go, the white unicorn stumbling a little as she tried to find her balance.
“Vinyl please don’t embarrass yourself or do anything stupid.”
“Not making any promises that I can’t keep” Vinyl said with a grin, shambling over to Luna, grinning drunkenly and walked past her.
Pony Joe looked at Luna. “I’ll come in with some hot chocolate on the house. I think you could need it.”
“Thank you” Luna said, turning to Spitfire and Soarin. “I got a job for you two. You are to fly back to the castle and evacuate as many ponies as possible. Elderly and kids first, you know the drill.”
Spitfire frowned. “Your highness in this uniform we’d be spotted at once.”
Luna’s horn lighted up and soon the blue and yellow uniform of the wonderbolts was changed into darker tones.
“Congratulations, you have just been promoted to shadowbolts. Now fly my pretties.”
As they turned around and rushed outside Spitfire sighed.
“I wish Princess Celestia never showed her the wizard of Horz.”
“I agree” Soarin said, all the while looking over his new uniform. “Still, I love this design.”
The two pegasi flew to Canterlot in record time, the two almost invisible over the dark night sky. As they neared the castle gates they saw a couple of unicorns slumped by the gate, looking as though they had fallen asleep.
“Disgraceful” Spitfire said flying down, laying a hoof on the shoulder of the nearest guard, jumping back in shock as the two fell to the ground, both unmistakably dead.
“Right” Soarin said with a gulp. “We should probably hurry up.”
Spitfire nodded. “I’ll go high, you go low. Any unicorns and earth ponies you can find is to evacuate the premises through the kitchen entrance, the pegasi can use the wonderbolts ramps if they prefer it, tell everypony it is under Princess Luna’s orders.”
Soarin nodded. “Of course Spitfire, let’s roll.”
…
Starvoid grinned, relaxing on her throne, enjoying the feeling of power. So far five more unicorns had tried to fight her… and by the end of it all she now knew five more spells. Nothing impressive of course, but still, you never knew when having more spells could come in handy.
She looked up as the door opened and a guard walked in. The guard didn’t look at her, but rather on the dead bodies in front of her.
“You wished to see me” he managed to get out, scowling at the unicorn in front of him.
“You are the new captain of the guard?”
“After Shining Armor left with his wife, yes.”
“Good, I have a job for you, I need you to take these traitors, or rather what’s left of them and drop them off somewhere they won’t make my castle stink. Then I need a group of your best soldiers to search the castle for me, I will tell them what to look for.”
“Anything else?” Starvoid ignored the venom dripping in the stallion’s voice.
“Yes… I need your fastest Pegasus to run an errand for me.”
The stallion scowled. “As you wish.”
He turned and exited the room, Starvoid levitating up a piece of paper, starting to write a very formal letter.
The captain scowled out into nowhere as he walked out into the hall. His scowl softened as he looked around. Where are all the guards? “White Knight, is that you?”
White Knight looked up, seeing Spitfire up near the ceiling.
“Spitfire, what are you doing here? I thought you were with Princess Luna.”
“I am” Spitfire said. “Princess Luna has an order for you, the whole castle needs to evacuate.”
White knight sighed. “I can’t do that Spitfire. I am captain of the guard; my job is to protect the castle.”
Spitfire looked at him. “There is nopony here who would look bad at you for abandoning your post.”
“I would… besides I cannot leave and let that unicorn rule without knowing what she is up to… I need to stay, so that the royal sisters have a home to come back too.”
Spitfire nodded. “As you wish White Knight, be careful out there.”
“You too Spitfire, you too.”
In the time it took Spitfire and Soarin to fly to the Canterlot castle, Vinyl and Luna had managed to find and sit down in the backroom of Pony Joe’s.
Vinyl was still groaning.
“Are you still getting the visions?”
Luna asked concerned. “Nah, but the images on top of being drunk doesn’t help.”
Luna frowned. “You were drinking at this hour?”
“What can I say, I’m a DJ, all I do is music and partying. By the way, I’m a big fan of your work. Not many ponies probably realize it but your nights are amazing.”
Luna blushed. “They’re not much” she mumbled, trying to hide a lump in her throat formed from getting something she always wanted… praise.
“Yes they are” Vinyl protested. “When your sister lifted the moon the sky was so dull. All blackish blue with some white stars plastered here and there… but your nights… sometimes I find myself stopping just looking up wondering what color the sky is, because it can be anything from indigo to royal blue… and they way you make the stars shine. Nothing like it.”
Vinyl looked over at Luna frowning. “You ok?”
“Yes… just got something in my eyes… thank you.”
Vinyl smiled and opened her mouth, only to be interrupted as the door slammed open.
“Dang pony magic… I have had enough, can somepony make it stop?”
Vinyl had to lift the glasses away from her eyes for a while to be sure that she saw what she saw. “A griffin? This far into the country? Now that’s a rare sight.”
“You wanna say that to my face squirt?”
“ENOUGH.” Luna softly berated herself. It had been almost 3 months since she last spoke in the royal Canterlot voice.
She turned to the griffin. “The visions should calm down as long as you are here in the meeting place. Please sit down while we wait for the rest of the group.”
The griffon huffed but took a seat, flapping her wings a few times to calm her nerves. “So… can somepony tell me what’s going on? I’ve been flying from the Griffin mountains to here and more than once almost crashed and hurt myself by these blasted visions.”
“It’s a long story” Luna said with a sigh. “One I’d rather not tell more than once.”
“Very well… so who else has these visions?”
“I don’t know, I was not the one who sent them… but we are waiting for 4 more.”
The door opened and Pony Joe entered with a tray filled with hot chocolate, a grey Pegasus mare with distorted eyes walking up behind him crashing into the doorframe.
“Ops, sorry.”
“No worries just… sit down and don’t touch anything.”
“OK.” The mare smiled and trotted over to an empty seat sitting down as Pony Joe sighed in relief. As he sat down the cups he bowed once to Princess Luna and turned around walking out.
There was an awkward pause as the door closed behind him and the grey Pegasus mare reached for a cup.
“So… Hi, I’m Derpy, nice to meet you.”
The griffon decided to reach for a cup herself, sipping at it while looking at the mare.
“OK I am going to ask this and not care about the rudeness, which eye am I supposed to look at?”
“Whichever you want” the mare said with a smile. “I see through both.”
“How can you fly like that? Isn’t it very hard when you don’t have any depth perception?” Vinyl Scratch had launched on the topic as soon as she realized the mare didn’t care.
“It’s ok as long as I don’t fly to fast.” Derpy turned to the griffin. “You look familiar… hey didn’t we meet at flight school once?”
“I doubt it” the griffin said. “I was in the special class, the only Pegasus in my league was Rainbow Dash.”
“Now I remember” Derpy said with a smile. “Pinkie threw a party for you once. Gunda… or was it Hilda?”
“It’s Gilda.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’s my name of course I’m sure.”
“Don’t be so harsh” Luna said. “She’s just a bit bubbly.”
Gilda huffed but tok another sip of her chocolate. Once again the door opened, this time letting in two characters.
One was a large red stallion, walking over to a seat sitting down next to Derpy who smiled at him.
“Hi there Big Mac, did you get fancy scary visions in your head too?”
“Eeyup.”
Derpy smiled and turned to Vinyl. “He doesn’t talk much but big Macintosh is the most dependable guy there is.”
Luna nodded to big Mac in a greeting, before turning to the other newcomer. This one was smaller, dressed in a hood covering her face.
“You can take off your cloak, in here there will be no secrets.”
Gilda huffed in disagreement, but looked on as the character dropped the hood from her face.
Vinyl blinked. “A zebra?”
Luna smiled. “We’ve met before haven’t we? At the Nightmare Night celebration in ponyville last year.”
“It is as you say princess, I must admit I am impressed. I am Zecora from the land over the sea, but for now my home is in the forest of everfree.”
“Oh my god she’s speaking in rhyme” Gilda said with a groan.
“Hey leave Miss Zecora alone” Derpy said with a frown. “There is almost no pony kinder than her.”
“She’s not a pony she’s a zebra.”
“She has hoofs a mane and a tail doesn’t she?”
“So does cows, donkeys and mules what’s your point?”
Vinyl Scratch frowned and looked up. “I thought a mule was half pony.”
Zecora sighed but sat down into one of the empty seats next to Luna.
“Speaking of me as if I’m not here, it’s not so uncommon I fear.”
“I apologize” Luna said, sliding a cup of chocolate to both Zecora and Big Mac. “It’s unusual to see Zebras outside Zebrica. However that doesn’t mean that that excuses their behavior.”
Luna raised her voice just high enough to be heard by Gilda, Derpy and Vinyl who were still discussing.
“Sorry” Derpy said.
“Yeah sorry, I just got hooked” Vinyl said with a sheepish grin. The door opened one final time and a lone unicorn came walking inside.
“My apologies” she said walking up to them. “The great and powerful Trixie attempted a teleport spell believing that she would save some time but got another vision as she cast it. Trixie ended up a few miles away from her original destination because of it.”
“No harm done miss… Trixie right?”
Luna looked at the unicorn, wearing a hat and cape, obviously an entertainer. Of course her talking in third pony and calling herself the great and powerful also proved that much.
“The great and powerful Trixie Lulamoon at your service Princess Luna.”
Luna looked at her. “Lulamoon? Are you by any chance related to a Starlight Lulamoon?”
Trixie shrugged. “Trixie has no relatives.”
“Everyone has relatives” Vinyl said firmly. “And could you please stop talking about yourself in the 3rd pony? It’s confusing.”
Trixie walked over and sat down in the last chair taking her cup of chocolate milk.
“My mother went into labor, held me in her hooves and told the nurses my name. She then fell asleep and never woke up again, at least that’s what I has been told.”
“And your father?”
“Don’t have one.”
Trixie looked over at Luna. “So since there are no more chairs I suppose we are all here… are you the one who sent that telepathy spell?”
“You recognize the spell?” Luna asked shocked. “My talent lies in magic. True I’m not good at using all kinds of magic but I know enough from books to recognize any spell. So how about it your majesty?”
Luna sighed. “Well no, I wasn’t the one who sent you the visions; as a matter of fact I got one myself.”
“Then who sent it?”
“Celestia… now I am going to talk and I’d like it very much if I’m not interrupted. Any questions can be answered after I’m finished.”
Everyone nodded and Luna closed her eyes.
“2 millennia ago there was a unicorn called Starvoid the cold. She originally knew one single spell. A spell that drained the memories and experiences of anything she cast. With this spell she gained immense power, killing and destroying ponies and other creatures alike, I even heard a report that she had slain a windigo with it and froze a village to ice later on because one of the foals in the village had insulted her.”
“At the same time as Starvoid was out collecting magic, a group of befriended outcasts had been traveling all around the world, learning about each other’s history and customs. They wanted to find a new kind of magic, one that anypony could use if they so desired. Celestia and I had heard many rumors of the group and invited them to our old castle in what was once known as Everfree City. They were 6.”
Luna looked over to Zecora and smiled.
“One was a Zebra, having been thrown out from her tribe for saving the life of a young lion cub by giving it some of her tribe’s water supply.”
Luna’s eyes went to Gilda next.
“Another was a griffin, cast out from the mountains for refusing to help in pursuing her dragon friend who had by a simple mistake gotten too close to the nest of the governor.”
“The third member of the party was the dragon himself who had to run away from his kingdom for saving his friend who was falsely sentenced to death.”
“The fourth was a Minotaur, who walked away from his clan on his own because nobody liked the fact that he told people what they needed to hear whether they liked it or not.”
“The fifth member was a diamond dog who cared little for work, so he simply left, with nothing more than a pan flute and a grin on his face. The five all traveled to Everfree and all saw the same poster.”
“A unicorn wanted to head out on an expedition and was willing to pay any and all who wanted to join him and help. The five joined up with the unicorn and the six never left the others side until the very end.”
“They had been gone for 5 years when they came back to Everfree and was invited up by me and Celestia to talk about their journey. We asked if they had been successful in their search for a magic anypony could use… and they in turn showed us 6 items… five necklaces and a diadem.”
“They told us how they had channeled their feelings for each other and for the ponies and other creatures they had meet through 5 years into the artifacts. The objects were of course the original elements of harmony. Celestia and I was so impressed with their work and their discovery that we insisted on granting them one wish each, one wish, with no limitations as long as it was within our power to give.”
“They all asked for the same thing. They each pulled out something they deemed as being the most valuable thing they owned and asked us to enchant the objects to fit their personalities and their elements. No sooner than Celestia and I finished with the enchantments, a guard came rushing in, telling us that a unicorn called Starvoid the cold stood outside the gate, telling us to step down and accept her as the new leader of Equestria.”
“Celestia, being the elder ruler told our guests to wait while we went to talk with the unicorn. Once down at the gate Celestia and I demanded that Starvoid surrendered and was to stand trial for the countless of ponies she had killed or left in a hospital. She looked at us, raised an eyebrow and then started to laugh.”
“She told us how she had more knowledge and more power than any other pony. She was the ultimate strategist and strongest magic wielder in all of Equestria… Why in the world should she surrender when there was no one powerful enough to stop her? Why should she bow down to Celestia and I just because we had both horn and wings? In her point of view it meant nothing. And then… then she teleported through the gates.”
“Two guards rushed at her but fell dead to the ground with spiders crawling out of their throats. Celestia and I… we tried everything. Fire, lightning, ice, force fields, illusions, nothing worked. Suddenly we both lay on the ground gasping for air, Starvoid standing right over us grinning.”
“Her horn started to glow and I was certain that she was going to kill us… when the 6 holders of the elements of harmony arrived. They rushed out and we got back up to our hoofs. We looked up to see that the 6 held Starvoid in midair, and nothing she could do broke the hold.”
“So Celestia and I decided that there could only be one thing to do. We used our combined might and sent Starvoid to the most secure prison we knew… the sky itself.” Luna sighed.
“After that the holders of the elements decided to hand the elements themselves over to us, by saying that we were the rulers of Equestria, we needed the power to defend our land. I protested, saying that it was no fair of us to take their power. Celestia made a counter deal… we had already enchanted their items, so why not transfer half the power of the elements to their items. That way we had equal amount of power.”
“Wait a minute.”
Luna looked over to Vinyl who gaped at her.
“Are you saying that the elements of harmony that we know, the elements that turned Discord to stone and purified you from Nightmare Moon’s influence is only 50 per cent of the full power?”
Luna nodded. “That’s right. Now please, I am almost finished talking. We transferred the power and got the artifacts from the original holders. Celestia got Laughter, Kindness and Generosity; I got Loyalty, Honesty and Magic.”
“As they left the original holders told us that they would hold onto their parts of the elements with their life, and then their time was up they would leave their enchanted artifacts in a place that only someone worthy would find. They left and neither my sister nor I saw them again.”
“This is all very interesting” Gilda said in a bored drone. “But what does this have to do with us and our creepy visions?”
Luna looked at her. “Starvoid the cold was imprisoned as a constellation in the sky. In the early days monsters roamed the lands and were too dangerous to be placed somewhere else. As the princess of night it was my job to make sure that the magical seals on the constellations never faded… however I was… indisposed for a millennia as you all know.”
“Eeyup.”
Luna smiled. “While I was away Celestia tried her best but… she had enough with the day, and the nights were often forgotten in her work. So because of this, many seals weakened and many a monster was let loose. Among them were creatures like the Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.”
Trixie flinched, trying to ignore the looks she got from the others.
“Then I got loose… I turned back into me and after a thousand years my skills was pretty rusty… so by the time I was at full power again I didn’t even notice that the magical seals was starting to weaken.”
All eyes (with the exception of Derpy’s right one) were looking straight at her.
“That unicorn in your vision… that’s her… that’s Starvoid the cold.”