CH 2
Billy had never ridden a train before, let alone a pink pony train. But here he was riding with the six ponies and baby dragon he had met a few hours ago on their way to Canterlot to meet this Princess Celestia.
Those past hours were quite busy. After Twilight read that letter every pony went off to their rightful abodes to prepare for the trip. Billy was asked to wait at the library, but it wasn’t a long wait until the ponies came backpacked and ready to go. To Billy, it seemed clear that by the way they got ready so fast, that they were used to emergency trips to Canterlot.
Then the group of ponies went to the train station. It was here that Billy learned of this world's version of money, little gold coins called bits which Twilight and the other ponies used to buy train tickets. Billy wasn't surprised that this being a fantasy world gold would be a form of currency. But he was surprised that the coins were called bits which were a form of money name he had not heard of before. Luckily Twilight paid for Billy's ticket.
As the train thundered down the tracks the ponies had decided to fill Billy in on their adventures. They told him a lot. Like the rise of Nightmare Moon, her fall, and Princess Luna's return. Their triumph over the hodgepodge of animal parts and spirit of chaos known as Discord, and his rehabilitation. Their fight against the changeling hive and their ruler Queen Chrysalis. Also saving the Crystal Empire from the evil unicorn King Sombra. And most importantly their most recent victory against the centaur Tirek and the unlocking of the rainbow power.
“....and that's what happened to the Elements of harmony.” Twilight was telling Billy.
“And this rainbow power is what you used to defeat Tirek? He asked greatly intrigued.
“Yes, but now we've been unable to reactivate this power,” Twilight replied.
Rainbow Dash spoke up. “It seems we can only get powered up when Equestria is in peril.”
“It appears from your many adventures that that happens a lot,” Billy said.
“Yeah it feels like every few months there's always some varmint trying to take over Equestria.” Applejack chimed in with her southern drawl.
As the other ponies talked on Billy took a good look at the train he was in. On the outside, it was a typical old west style steam engine, except it, was pink, and the train cars were a mix of bright colors. On the inside, it seemed spacious, with benches on both sides with many other ponies.
Twilight saw Billy staring out the window and went over to him. “You okay?” she asked.
“I'm Just wondering what I'm going to miss in this book series I was reading before I was sent here.”
This intrigued Twilight. “So you like to read? What kind of stories are on into?”
“I'm mostly into Adventure. Things with lots of action.” Billy answered.
“Oh oh oh... if you like that then there's this book series here called Daring Doo that I think you will love.” said Twilight enthusiastically.
Right then, two ponies walked passed by snickering at Billy. “heh. Look at that one.” one was saying.
“Yes, a full grown pony without a cutie mark. Hah. What's this Equestia coming to.” the other said.
Billy knew they were referring to him in some way, but he didn’t understand why.
“What are they talking about Twilight? He asked.
“Well...” Twilight pondered taking a closer look at Billy's side. “I didn't notice before but it's true, you don't have a cutie mark. Look at your flank.”
Billy looked over at his rump only to see solid navy blue. He then looked at the flanks of Twilight and her friends and he noticed symbols upon them.
Twilight had a six-pointed star, Pinkie Pie had three party balloons, Applejack had three bright red apples, Fluttershy had three pink butterflies, Rainbow Dash had a rainbow striped lighting bolt coming out of a cloud. And Rarity had three sparkling blue diamonds.
“So what does a cutie mark mean?” Billy asked confused.
Twilight explained, “Well a cutie mark is a symbol of a ponies special talent.
It represents what kind of pony you will be when you grow up. Most ponies get theirs when their young fillies. But I’ve never seen a grown pony without one.”
“I guess that is something we will have to ask Princess Celestia.” said Rarity.
Billy pushed back the idea of cutie marks for the time being. Right now, there were more urgent matters at hand, like meeting this princess everypony was talking about.
“What's this princess-like?” Billy asked.
“Where do I start?” Twilight responded. “She is a fair ruler who is caring and kind. She raises the sun every morning. And I can't wait for you to meet Princess Luna, she raises the moon every night.”
“Yea you kind of told me all this in that little recap of your adventures,” said Billy. “I was just wondering if there was something you might have missed.?”
Applejack spoke up “You can ask the princesses yourself because were here.”
Sure enough as Billy looked out the window was the sprawling city of Canterlot. As the train pulled into the station Billy noticed a difference between Canterlot and Ponyville. While Ponyville was small Canterlot was large with majestic buildings and houses and the ponies who lived here had a more fancy look to them.
As Billy and the other ponies got off the train he saw Rarity kind of go ga-ga. “It always gives me goosebumps to be here in Canterlot.” she said.
“Focus Rarity. We need to get to the castle asap,” said Applejack.
“Yea we don't want to keep the princesses waiting.” Rainbow chimed in.
The assembled ponies headed for the royal castle, Billy followed behind and he did notice some of the Canterlot ponies giving him odd looks. It must be because of the whole no cutie mark thing he figured.
He remembered that a cutie mark is ones symbol of their special talent. But what was his talent. Would he even stay in Equestria long enough to find out and get one. Just more questions to ask the princess he thought.
Despite the size of Canterlot it actually took only a little time for them all to get to the castle which was breathtaking to Billy. It was such a magnificent structure. Bigger than anything he had seen in Ponyville. Thou there was that one tree he saw back in Ponyville that looked like it had a castle like building in its branches. But he gave that little thought. Too many other things to do right now.
The ponies approached the front gates of the castle. Standing at the gate were two unicorn guards dressed in golden armor. Twilight stepped up to them and they both bowed to her. “Princess Twilight,” one of the guards said, “the princesses are expecting you and your friends.”
“Thank you.” said Twilight.
What that guard said startled Billy. “Wo Wo Wo. Twilight, did he just call you a princess?” he asked surprised.
“Oh yeah did I forget to tell you that?” said Twilight embarrassed. “it sort of comes with the territory of being an alicorn.”
The guards looked at Billy. “Is he the one, princess?” one asked.
“Yes.” Twilight returned.
With that, the guards moved to the side to allow the ponies entry to the castle using their magic to open the big gate.
Again it did not take them long until they got to the throne room. And sitting adopt a raised yellow throne was a big white figure. Billy was thinking, he didn't know what kind of pony this Princess Celestia would be. But his finding out about the alicorn princess connection let him know she had both wings and a horn which she did when he got a look at her.
Billy also noticed another alicorn, He figured this was Princess Luna.
The princesses rose up out of the throne and approached the ponies. “Thank you all for coming my little ponies,” Celestia said with a kind motherly voice.
The ponies all bowed before the princesses. But Billy was a little-taken aback by the magnificence of the room he was in.
“Bow Billy,” Twilight told Billy.
“Oh yeah, princesses.” Billy realized as he bowed.
Princess Celestia walked over to the assembled ponies and looked upon Billy. She was bigger than the other ponies. In fact, she seemed to be ruffly the size of a full-grown horse from his world.. She had a white coat with a blazing sun for a cutie mark and her mane and tail was an ever changing flowing mass of violet, azure, green, and cyan.
Luna was a little shorter than her sister and had a coat of blue as dark as the night sky with a flowing mane similar to Celestia's except Luna's looked like a starry night sky.
“You’re the human aren’t you?” Celestia asked Billy.
“Yes, I am princess,” Billy answered.
The princesses took a step back. “Then the prophesy is coming true,” Luna said.
A look of confusion came over Twilight's face. “Prophesy your highness?” she asked.
“Yes,” Celestia said. “It was Stars swirl the Bearded's very last testament before his passing.
“But I know everything there is to know about Star swirl the Bearded and I've never heard anything about any prophesy.” said Twilight.
Princess Celestia looked down at the floor. “That is because it was never written down. He only told it to two ponies, me, and Luna. He told us to never tell anypony else until the time was right. And that time is now. Because of your arrival.” she said pointing a hoof at Billy.
Billy was shocked. “Me.... your highness?” he asked.
The princess nodded. “My I get your name sir?” she asked.
“Billy.” he answered.
“Billy” Celestia started, “a great responsibility has been put upon you this day,” she said to Billy. “One day a warrior from outside shall arrive and use the power of a blade harmonic to light Equestria's darkest hour. That is the prophesy I was told.”
The ponies all looked at each other with various expressions.
Princess Celestia continued. “I believe the blade harmonic is a reference to the sword of harmony. “
“Sword of harmony?” all mane six ponies said at once.
“To explain this I must first tell you all this story,” said Celestia, “back in ancient times the alicorn race was numerous. There were all kinds of us all with special talents. There were ones who moved the sun and moon like I and Luna do today. Some controlled the weather before the pegasus ponies did. There were even ones who helped pollinate flowers and made honey.”
Pinkie started to drool at the mention of honey. Rarity caught sight and said to her “Focus Pinkie.”
Princess Celestia continued. “but there was one alicorn who wanted power. His name was Umbra the Great, the greatest and bravest alicorn warrior there ever was. He was the one who discovered dark magic and became corrupted by it. Soon he rebelled against his fellow alicorns. He was driven back and was put into exile. But not before the dark magic turned him into something different, he became the first draconequus.
“In exile the now named Umbra the Betrayer used his dark magic to make more of his kind. Soon he had an army of draconequus and raged war against the alicorns.” Celestia looked to her sister. “Our parents were killed in this war.”
A tear formed in Twilight's eye. “I'm sorry to hear that princess,” she said.
Celestia looked at the purple alicorn. “It's okay,” the princess said.
Celestia went on with her story. “Eventually Umbra was defeated, but when the alicorns thought it was over somepony new took his place. A mysterious being known only as The Dark Emperor. He waged the one last battle of the war, but something happened. During the battle, there was a great explosion and both sides vanished, leaving Luna and I as the last alicorns alive and Discord as the last living draconequus. This event became known as the great cataclysm.”
Billy remembered the ponies telling him about Discord on the train ride here. That must be tough on him he thought.
Tears started to form in both of Celestias eyes, but soon she regained her composer. “Sorry everypony just a lot of old memories coming back,” she said. “But I'm sure this dark emperor is the darkness mentioned in the prophesy.” she continued.
“But what about the sword?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Princess Celestia looked up. “That involves another story. After the events of Hearth's Warming Eve and the Elements of Harmony were created there needed to be a special place to hold them until the day they were needed. So all the pony tribes came together to figure this out. Days went by without any answer. But then a little filly known as Maple Leaf stepped forward and suggested a tree. Because trees in a way represent all the elements.
“They honestly reach for their dreams to the sky, They kindly provide us with shade on hot days, They encourage laughter with their funny leaf scar faces, They generously give us their fruit when we are hungry, They're always dependable to stand before the storm and protect you loyally. And who says trees can't be magical?
“But this couldn’t be just any tree. It needed to be special, so the Clover the Cleaver and the others reached out to the crystal ponies of the Crystal Empire, who sent down their best crystal mages who then made a magnificent tree grown from he most powerful purest crystal. The Tree of Harmony.
“Clover then decided there should be one more line of defense for the elements, so a branch was taken from the tree and a powerful blacksmith named Iron Forge forged the branch into a mighty tool, the sword of harmony meant to defend the elements and Equestria.”
Princess Luna took a step forward. “Billy, you are the warrior stated in the prophesy. You are the warrior of Equestria.”
Billy was stunned. “Me a warrior? I've never been a fighter,” he said.
“Don't worry,” said Luna. “You will be trained. Since you are a unicorn now you will be able to use magic. And you will have to find the sword of harmony and wield it to fight back the forces of the dark emperor.”
“First, Celestia said, “you will have to get your cutie mark. Yes, I've noticed you don't have one.”
“Yes,” said Luna, “get your cutie mark, find the sword, and defend Equestria. Will you do this Billy?”
Billy thought hard. This could be dangerous. But this is a chance to live a new life. An exciting life. Plus he'd get to make many new friends on this task. His new life begins now.
“I'll do it,” Billy said
Princess Celestia looked upon Billy. “Thank you,” she said, “but there is one last thing, your name. Billy stands out too much as a different kind of name. We can't let too many ponies find about humans. The discovery of humans would cause mass panic and chaos. So I ask of you to chose a more fitting name.”
Billy thought on. “Well if I'm going to be wielding a sword,,” he pondered, then something clicked. “I've got it. Call me Saber Strike.”
Celestia smiled. “Saber Strike it is then. Everypony, I’d like you all to call him that name from now on.”
The princess then looked over to Twilight. “Twilight I'm appointing you to be Saber Strikes magic teacher.”
Twilight nearly exploded. “You really think I'm ready to take on a student of my own.”
“I know you're up to the task,” Celestia said. “Now go on home my little ponies and prepare for the trials to come.”
On the way back to the train station, the ponies all excitedly talked about what's to come. “Now that's the bees knees, our new friend is going to be a warrior.” Applejack was saying.
“Yes and you'll look ever so dashing when you get that sword Saber Strike.” said Rarity.
“But first I need to get my cutie mark,” Saber Strike said, “How do I do that.”
“You'll get your mark when you find your special talent,” Twilight spoke up. “and I think I know three little ponies who might be able to help.”