//------------------------------// // history is just a label // Story: The Price of Harmony // by Maverickthepony //------------------------------// Chapter 1: History is Just a Label Twilight made her way to the scheduled meeting point. She took note of her surroundings. She had been receiving notes ever since she and her friends had defeated Discord. They kept talking about a "Real" world. And now, four months later, Twilight was finally getting a chance to meet the sender and unravel the mystery of those letters. As she made her way to the center of the everfree forest she noticed a certain purple mist. It was familiar to her but she couldn't put her hoof on exactly where she had seen it before. "Stop right there and don't move." Twilight jumped at the voice, but did exactly what it said. "Are you alone?" "Yes" Twilight gulped the words coming out of her mouth by force. "You came here out of curiosity. You want to know what the real world is." "Yes, I do" "Well you have a choice; your friends followed you here. It is not often that you venture into the Everfree forest. You can wait and include them or listen without them and maybe never see them again." Twilight gulped. She didn't know if this unknown voice would be hostile towards her or her friends but she definitely did not want to lose them. "Well?" "TWILIGHT!" Twilight heard Applejack yelling off in the distant. She had made her decision. "I'm over here!" Twilight yelled back. She looked to face the voice but she still could not see anything. All she knew was that this was an opportunity to hear about the "Real" world. "A wise decision." the voice said to her as Twilight's five friends entered into the clearing. "What's goin on here Twilight?" asked Applejack. "Girls, before I say anything promise me that whatever happens you will do anything for me." "Come on Twilight! We already do everything together! We are NOT going to abandon you, ever!" responded Rainbow Dash "I will say this, not even she knows what's about to happen. You six had better be ready for what I say." said the voice as Princess Luna stepped out from the shadows. "Princess! What are you doing!" asked Twilight "I'm here to tell you the truth. But before I divulge it, you six have to promise to believe everything I say no matter how farfetched it may seem." "That depends, if it's a really good story then it could be true, but if you start talking about those little fairies again I doubt that could be true. *GASP* Unless you brought us one here to show us! How cool would that be! Mmmphh" Twilight shoved her hoof into Pinkie Pie's mouth. "Uhmm, I think she says we promise." said Twilight. "Ok then" Luna's horn glowed as the forest around them magically morphed into a grand city. "The Everfree forest wasn't always a forest. It was once a grand city. Everything in Equestria was peaceful. Until one day there was an attack from the country of Forshan. The armies of Forshan swiftly invaded and tried to take over Equestria." The scene quickly changed into a giant rubble heap as an army of ponies marched over the dead bodies of civilians and worst of all children. "It was at this worst of times in Equestrian history that the Elements of Harmony came into existence. Six ponies each representing an element formed a secret organization known as the Black Stallions. They performed several secret operations including sabotage, assassinations, etc. In the end, the valiant efforts of these six ponies resulted in the end of the bloodiest war in Equestrian history. As Luna said this, the scene changed into six ponies standing victoriously over a hill looking down on a valley filled with dead bodies of the enemy army. "The Leader of Forshan knew that he could never take over Equestria while the elements existed and Celestia and I knew he would wait for the moment that the elements died before trying to invade again. So combining our magic we cast a spell over the six ponies so that every generation would have its own elements to defend us if anything were to happen. It was decided that the elements needed to be kept away from civilization, so Celestia and I decided that instead of rebuilding the city that once stood here. We would transform it into a fortress to hide the elements. You six are now the representatives of the elements of Harmony and Forshan has begun to grow restless. So I must ask you to become like your ancestors before you and arise to destroy our enemies." At this point Rainbow Dash burst out into laughter. "Why do you laugh at such a serious matter!" Even Twilight tried to contain her laughter, "Princess I know you expect us to believe all of this, but it's just a little too crazy to even consider! I mean, there is no way that the elements were always ponies. History says that Celestia used the elements to stop you when you were Nightmare Moon." "History says that she 'harnessed' the elements. Twilight Sparkle, I would have expected you of all ponies to understand that just because it's written in a book labeled history, doesn't make it the truth. Celestia and I wrote history and we could have written anything we wanted too." "But, what about Nightmare Moon? She existed!" Princess Luna instantly took the form of Nightmare Moon. "See me now! Nightmare moon is always present and has always been me! Even when you fought Nightmare Moon I was in complete control. My sister and I have done this several times before. Besides, ever since you all took on the role of the elements you have all felt a little different haven't you?" Twilight had a realization, ever since the event with Nightmare Moon she had felt different, she tried to change the subject. "But when we confronted you, I saw you smash the elements to bits!" "Yes, it would seem that I have destroyed the elements, but hear this; that was part of the spell Celestia and I placed over the elements. They weren't the real elements. You six were always the holders of the elements; I just had to release the elements to your bodies." "What is that supposed to mean?" "The stones that I destroyed were really the, shall we say, containers for the elements until the holders were present. For you see, when the holders of the elements die, the elements have to become some sort of solid material, so that they may be stored until the next in line find them. Those 'stones' were actually the souls of the preceding six elements of Harmony. By me destroying them I released the souls and the elements could combine with the souls of you six." Twilight, finding her lost for words, tried to alter her argument, "But, history says that-" "Have you not been listening? History is full of lies meant to protect the facade of harmony. My sister and I agreed that we would never disclose this information to anypony, elements or no elements so that we could protect an aura of harmony. But in truth, the price of harmony is steep." Twilight found herself lost for words. She wanted to believe Luna, but as much as she wanted that, she couldn't bring herself to accept anything that she had just heard. She looked back at her friends and all of them looked just as confused as her. "Just a thought here." Applejack finally spoke up breaking the silence. "But could there be any way of you showing us proof of this? I mean I reckon your word is good, but I can't just believe everything that I hear." "Fine then," responded Luna, "I will show you." As her horn began to glow a magical aura appeared around Twilight. She knew what the sensation was going to feel like, she had teleported many times before, but her friends would be caught off-guard. Teleporting was actually uncomfortable and could easily make somepony sick, but Twilight also knew that there was nothing she could say to prepare them for the discomfort they were about to experience, so she just inhaled and prepared for it. As soon as they disappeared she felt her stomach turn and her body bend in ways that it shouldn't, because when a pony teleports, the skeletal structure goes first to give the pony a solid structure to materialize around. However in this entire process the nerves stayed within the body so they were able to feel every single movement their bodies made. The feeling suddenly stopped and Twilight stopped counting. They had teleported for approximately 10.5 seconds, well over one thousand miles. She looked up from the ground and couldn't comprehend what she saw. Even though Luna had told them exactly what it was like. The first thing she noticed was also the most noticeable thing. There was a giant formation of ponies walking through a city. But then she noticed that they were each carrying a sword, spear, or some kind of elongated device that looked like it was used for shooting some sort of projectile. Twilight watched in absolute fixation, but then an event happening to her left caught her attention. A young filly ran out onto the street and crashed into a stallion that was watching the soldiers. The stallion taking notice took some ropes from his saddlebags. The officer then bound the child and then took out a dagger. Twilight watched in absolute horror as the knife was plunged into the child's cerebral column, killing it instantly. Tears began to grow in Twilight's eyes as the truth in the words that Luna had spoken hit her like a ton of bricks. She closed her eyes before she realized that they were teleporting again. Twilight could not wait to be home. As soon as they got back Twilight looked over at Luna to see how she had felt about the incident with the child only to find her passed out on the floor. "Princess!" Twilight screamed as she used her magic to try and revive her. Luna finally got back up. "I'm so sorry for scaring you like that." said Luna as she picked herself up off the floor. "It's just that there is no magical handicap in Forshan since very few unicorns live there." Even though her friends didn't, Twilight knew exactly what Luna was talking about. In Equestria there was a magical aura that was left there from the magical powers left in the unicorns that had died ever since the beginning of the nation. This pool of magic kept growing, making it easier today for a unicorn like Twilight to cast spells. And if there was little magic in Forshan, then Twilight's magic would be useless in the fight. Twilight realized that there was only one possible way to end the cruelty she had just seen. That one way was to resort to it. "Did you see the way he killed that child?" Fluttershy said, she was obviously extremely traumatized. Rarity heard her and went over to Fluttershy to try and comfort her. "Princess, that was terrible! How come the people don't revolt against such cruelty!" asked Twilight. "It's simple Twilight, they have been taught that the army is the sole protector of their land and such cruelty is necessary punishment for anyone is thought to have done something that will distract them from this job of theirs. Twilight, these ponies do not care for anypony but themselves. Promise me you will fight for our country so that this evil does not enter into our borders." "I don't know about it Princess I don't think I would ever be mentally ready to take the life of another pony." "I don't need you to be ready to end lives. I just need you to be ready to save them no matter what it takes."