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// Our Story Begins 
// Story: The Book of Life: A Shining Armor AU 
// by AlleyCat124 
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The white stallion stood shaking where he stood as the pony drawn bus came to a stop in front of the museum. His blue tour guide uniform sweating in fear from the troubled fillies coming out of the bus. He was just informed by his boss that detention fillies were coming to the museum today and he was the poor sap that had to be stuck guiding them. He knew all they’d do was throw spitballs at him, trip him when he wasn’t looking, and mess with the exhibits. It would be a living nightmare for him.
And just as he finished that thought, a spitball splashed on the side of his face. With an annoying snide, he looked for the perpetrator, but they were all laughing. He examined each of them carefully. The first two were a pink filly with light purple and white hair and a diamond tiara as a cutie mark, and a gray filly with a light grey and white braid, blue glasses and necklace with a silver spoon as a cutie mark.
He doesn’t think they did it, but he could tell that they wished they did. The third was a brown earth pony with reddish brown hair and a red and white propeller hat on top. He knew he did it. He had to. He was sipping his juice box, which contained a straw. He narrowed his eyes at the little colt, making him squirm under his eyes. The last one was a tiny white colt with brown spots. Relaxing that not all of them looked bad, he was again swarmed with spitballs. He looked toward the brown colt with malice as the young group laughed at the olden stallion. About to give the young ones a tongue lashing, he was interrupted by a blue alicorn with a midnight mane like the midnight sky.
“It’s ok Torch Light, I’ll take them.” she lightly assured him.
“My Princess!” he exclaimed. He bowed his head in respect. He knew that Princess Luna was here to look at the exhibits, but he didn’t think he would actually meet her, much less for her to know his name.
“My Princess” he spoke again “You don’t need to trouble yourself with guiding these children.” He insisted. “Why don’t you go back and enjoy the exhibits, besides,” he whispered, leaning in close, “I think these are one of the ‘hard to handle’ groups.” To further prove his point, another spitball came whirling at the tour guide, hitting him in the face. 
“It’s alright. I think I can handle them.” She chuckled at the childish prank. “It’s the last tour of the day, I noticed. Why don’t you head home? You look like you could use some rest.” She offered.
He sighed in relief. “Thank you, Your Highness. If you’re really sure, I’d really appreciate it.” And with that, he ran off. He didn’t want to be anywhere near this group.
She turned back to the children to see that they were staring wide-eyed at the alicorn. When Luna’s gaze fell on the brown earth colt, as he hid his spitball straw, blushing that he was just caught, but all Luna could do was chuckle.
“Follow me children.” And with that she turned around. Not waiting to see if the children would follow. It took the group a moment for them to stop staring wide-eyed at the majestic alicorn, but followed after they came back to their senses. Rushing up the steps to catch up to the alicorn, they were surprised to see that she didn’t go through the double doors, but instead turned right, toward the corner of the museum. The grouped stopped in confusion before the pink earth pony spoke up.
“Um, hello? The museum doors are that way, your highness.” She hollered at the alicorn.
“You’re right, it is. But I think you children need a different kind of lesson today. Something special.” Halting in front of the wall, she turned to the children. “Through here.” 
They look at the area where she was pointing, but could see nothing, only the wall. Everyone kept looking at each other in confusion before the spotted colt spoke up. “But there is nothing there.” He stated uncertainly. 
“Well, it sure looks that way, but, if you just look a little closer.” And pressing her hoof to the wall, it disappeared, “you’ll see that there was something there all along. Now come along. I have something amazing to show you.” And with that, she disappeared within the wall. Not wanting to be left behind, the group followed the alicorn through the wall with hesitation.
It was dark on the other side of the wall, and the children crowded together on instinct; scared of what was hiding in the dark. But that fear was diminished with the soft blue light illuminating from Luna’s horn. She turned toward the children with reassurance in her eyes. “It’s alright. We’re almost there. Follow me.” And once again, she turned away down the hallway, only this time, the children didn’t hesitate to follow her. Not wanting to be left in the dark.
“Now today is a very important day. Can anyone tell me what today is?” Luna questioned.
“They day where we eat lunch soon?” the brown earth colt answered.
Luna chuckled at the little one’s answer. “No.”
“The day we can stop wandering in the dark?” the grey filly grumbled.
Even with the obvious attitude, Luna could do nothing but chuckle. “Nope. Today is the Day of New Beginnings.”
“What kind of day is that?” The gray earth filly asked. But before she could answer, a pony jumped out of the shadows.
“HALT!!” he bellowed. Screaming at the sudden outburst, the children hid behind Luna as she was rolling her eyes. She gazed upon the stallion who was blocking there path. He was a dark grey bat pony with dark blue and black striped mane and tail. Having bat like wings, tuft ears, yellow golden eyes and pointed fangs, the stallion looked like a fearsome creature of the night, in deed.
“I cannot allow you to come further.” He then turned to Princess Luna. “I’m sorry, my princess, but you know we cannot let anyone any further. It is against the rules.” He lectured.
With a small smile, Luna went up to the bat pony and nudged his neck with her nose.
“Princess Celestia will-“ but his conviction was lost when he looked into Luna’s light blue eyes.
“Well….” He considered, coughing into his hoof “I guess I can look the other way, my-“he stated as Princess Luna left a kiss on his cheek, walking past him with the children, “princess.” He sighed as he watched her leave. He noticed that the spotted colt looked at him with curiosity. Wanting a little fun, the stallion spread out his wings and hissed at the little colt, making him run after the others; a dark laugh following him.
As she watched the spotted colt run to the group, Princess Luna rolled her eyes at the act and continued with her tour. “Behold, children; the wondrous beauty of Equestria!” She bellowed. To add for effect, Luna let a spark out of her horn, sending it up to the ceiling and letting it illuminate the whole room. As the room lit up, the children stared at the room in wonder. 
The whole room was covered in beautiful flowers. Automatically, the children inhaled and smelled the sweet aroma of the different flowers surrounding the room. As they fanned out along the room, they discovered wooden flower carvings etched into the wall, some growing out the floor through the stone, and beautiful masterful paintings covering the ceiling. Any color you could think of, it was there; only a lot more vibrant.
“This place is amazing!” the pink earth filly sighed. But what drew them together were not the beautiful flowers, but the book that was on the other side of the room. It lay on an alter with a wide tree carved into the wall behind it. Different pictures were etched into the wall in between the branches. Before they could ask what it was, Princess Luna was behind them.
“This” she exclaimed as she stood in front of the children “is the Book of Life. All of Equestria is made of stories and all of them are right here. Some of them are true, and some are not. But there is one story that you cannot doubt and that story starts in a little quaint town of Ponyville, where everypony was welcomed to live in harmony.” Lua flipped the page where it showed a little town. In the middle was a tower with townhouses surrounding it. There were earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi , and all kinds of creatures walking around the town.
“Since Ponyville was the symbol of what harmony should be, underneath that town was The Land of the Remembered. A festive, beautiful land where ponies who are honored by their loved ones when they pass lived.” A sad look came across Luna’s face as she continued. “But underneath that, is The Land of the Forgotten. A sad, dark, and lonely place where ponies go when they are no longer remembered by the ponies above.” She looked down at the children below her; there sad face mirroring what she felt. Shaking her head, she continued.
“But before I can continue this tale, you must know of the rulers of these lands.” Lighting up her horn, Luna let her blue light illuminate a picture on the wall of a yellow Pegasus with flowing pink hair with small flowers embedding it; wearing a long green cape with a blue sash and flowers trailing along the bottom with a blue butterfly in the center of her neck holding the cape together; with matching green flats with vine like laces circling her leg. Surrounding her was different animal creatures from small mice to large brown bears.
“Who is that?” the pink filly asked in wonder.
“That, my children, is Fluttershy. The ruler of The Land of the Remembered. She is a pony of compassion and peace. She loves all creatures and believes that everyone has kindness within them.” Luna explained.
“She’s so pretty.” The brown colt replied dreamily.
“Yes, she is, isn’t she?” she chuckled at the colt’s obvious infatuation. “But, you must also know of the other.” And with that, her blue light went to a picture on the other side of the tree. As the lights adjusted to the picture, it showed a serpent like creature with the head of a horse-like pony, a deer antler on the right, a goat horn of the left, one long fang, different sized pupils, a snake tongue, a horse mane, and a goat beard. The rest of his body consists of the right paw of a lion, the left claw of an eagle, the right leg of a lizard, the left hoof of a goat, the right wing of a bat, the left wing of a pegasus, and a dragon-like snake tail with a white tail tuft. He was wearing a black tuxedo top with a dark scarlet undershirt. On top of his head wore a black crown with ruby’s embellishing it. He sat on his black thrown with fireworks exploding around his.
“This is Discord. A chaotic creature of many things. He loves chaos and disharmony and believes the world should follow suite.”
“He looks…..kinda fun!” the brown colt exclaimed, getting a few laughs from the children.
“Who’s that!?” the spotted colt exclaimed all of a sudden. Following the pointed foals hoof, the light surrounded another picture of a pink earth pony with poufy dark pink hair. She was surrounded by many colorful balloons and different kinds of candy. Confetti bursting in the background making the picture look festive.
“That is the Balloon Master. She keeps everything in balance and makes the world go round. She’s an energetic pony who makes any day a happy occasion and make the sweetest candy you have ever tasted.” Luna explains.
She looks down at the excited children. Seeing that she has their attention, she levitates a chest onto the floor and pulls out figurines. “These, dear children, will be the characters of our story today. So let me begin of our tale of adventure, romance, and finding who you are.”