Chapter 1: Preparations
Twilight Sparkle sat in the middle of her library reading three books at once; when Spike called out to the lavender unicorn from the kitchen. “Hey Twilight, I got lunch ready for you!”
Twilight looked up, her stomach growling like an angry cat. “Thanks Spike!” She replied “I must have forgotten to about breakfast again. It’s just that these books on Star Swirl the Bearded are so fascinating, almost impossible to put down.” As she rushed to get to the kitchen for some much needed food.
As she entered the kitchen, Twilight saw the baby dragon walking to the table with a plate of daisy sandwiches in one hand and a bowl filled with various gems in the other. “Yeah, I bet they are.” Said Spike: as he rolled his eyes. “That’s why I thought that I would remind you that it’s lunch time.” As he set each of the plates in their respective places.
About midway through their meal Spike belched up a plume of green flame that faded to reveal a scroll with Princess Celestia’s seal on it. “A letter from the Princess? I wonder what she’s writing to me about?” asked Twilight as she grabbed the scroll with her magic.
“Maybe she wants you and the other elements to find out what happened to Discords statue. It just disappeared last week.” Spike supplied as Twilight opened the scroll with her magic.
“To my faithful student Twilight Sparkle.” She started to read aloud. “Princess Luna and I would like to speak to you and the other elements of harmony about an urgent matter as soon as possible. We have sent a chariot that should be reaching Ponyvill in about an hour. Please gather your friends and be ready by then. Princess Celestia.” As she finished the letter, Twilight started running out the door to locate her five closest friends a quickly as possible.
A hour later Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie where gathered outside of Twilight’s library/home talking amongst themselves. “Honestly Twilight, why would the Princesses banish us to the moon?” Rarity said just as the chariot was landing.
“I don’t know.” Responded Twilight “Maybe we failed them somehow.” Her paranoia filled sense of inadequacy was starting to infect the others.
“’Scuse me, but do either of ya know what’s goin’ on here?” Applejack asked the two royal Pegasus guards pulling the chariot.
They simply looked at her and responded in unison. “War.”
Once at the palace they were quickly taken to the princesses’ privet dining hall. At the head sat both Celestia and Luna, each looking like they hadn’t slept in days. Their manes were limb and no longer ethereal, and their eyes had clear bags under them. On the table rested an ancient looking map. The most unusual thing was that it did not depict Equestria, but upon closer inspection Twilight saw what looked like the borders of her homeland near the western edge of the map. “Thank you all for coming on such short notice, but time is short and we don’t have time for any formalities. Please take your seats.” Began Celestia.
“What you see before you is the last map in Equestria of Tyria. It was made before we decided to sever all contact with the rest of the world.” Luna continued.
The six elements gaped in awe. Twilight was amazed; here was concrete proof of what was only hinted at in only the oldest of texts. “The barrier that my sister and I erected has finally been destroyed after more than a millennium.” Celestia continued. “We have called you six here because we need you six to travel to the human empire of Orr and any other nations that may have appeared during our absence from the world. It may even be possible that Orr itself has been destroyed.”
“Come now sister, Canterlot has stood for far longer than that upstart nation. Why would it no longer stand?” Queried Luna.
“You are more than likely right Luna, but you must remember how volatile the humans are. We have already arranged for all of your duties here in Equestria, your duties as the Elements of Harmony come first in this case.”
“Wait just a second.” Exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “You expect us to just abandon everything here to go running across the entire world when all of the guards are talking about some war that’s just starting?”
“We expect you to do this because of the war with the changelings and the resurgence of the Cult of Chaos.” Replied Luna. “We have been running ourselves ragged for the past week to keep everything under control. You must leave immediately or risk all of Equestria to the Mists.”
“But what of mah farm and mah family?” persisted Applejack “Ah don’ what ta just up an leave them.”
With this the flood gates of objections where opened as everypony started talking at once. The commotion was so aggravating that both Celestia and Luna shouted “SILENCE!” in the royal voice. Stunned, all eyes fell upon the two princesses.
“I’m sorry for that outburst everypony.” Celestia said “But you must understand the severity of the situation. Nothing will be safe in Equestria if we don’t receive outside aid, and you six are the only ponies that will be able to reach the hearts of the other races of Tyria. We have both done as much as we can to aid you with this task.” She didn’t look like the eternal goddess of the sun in that moment. Instead Celestia looked almost like a small, scared filly.
“We have made copies of this map for you to use. It should keep you from getting lost on the way.” Luna picked up were her sister left off. “And after much contemplation, we have decided to connect pony-kind to the bloodstones. Hopefully these boons will be enough to see you through.”
“Princess, what are the bloodstones?” asked Twilight “There are a few mentions of them in legend, but nothing say’s what they do.”
After regaining her composure Celestia answered. “Inquisitive as always Twilight; that trait will help you greatly in the coming weeks. The bloodstones where made by 5 of our closest friends to give the mortal races access to magic, Luna and I kept most of the power from reaching our little ponies after we saw what the lust for power did to the humans. They will grant the ability to use magic to all ponies, not just unicorns. It will be up to you and Rarity to teach the rest of your friends how to use it.”
“You mean we can use magic just like Twilight! This is so awesome!” exclaimed Dash.
“Ah’ll just stick to mah own hooves, thank you.” responded Applejack.
Pinkie Pie just shrugged: she could already ignore the laws of physics at will. “I guess I might be able to better help animals. Um, if that’s okay, I mean.” Fluttershy said in her timid manner.
“Good.” spoke Luna “You must return to Ponyville and be ready to leave by first light. You must not bring anypony else with you.”
“Wait! Not even Spike?” exclaimed Twilight.
“Yes Twilight.” Responded Luna “The outside world will not take his presence kindly; not many would accept the presence of a dragon.”
With that the princesses turned to leave while the guards escorted the six mares back to the waiting chariot to return to Ponyville.
A/N Ok, just did an update to the chapter to get it to the point that I wanted. See you next chapter, The Forgotten Lands.