1 A simple beginning pt 1

A long time ago two regal sisters ruled over the land of Equestria, creating a harmony for all their citizens. To do this the elder one used her magic and connection to the Sun to raise it at the dawn of each day, while her younger sibling would raise the Moon each eve. The two sisters ruled justly for years, creating a balance for their subjects with the aid of their Protector.

As time went on the younger sibling grew resentful. For the ponies, their beloved subjects, worked and played in her sister's daylight, while they slept away through the night. Her bitterness and hatred grew until one day she refused to lower the moon and make way for the light of the new day. The elder sister and the Protector tried to reason with her, but the younger ruler had given herself to the darkness, transforming into a wicked creature of darkness: Nightmare Moon.

The creature in the body of the younger sister vowed to plunge the lands into an eternal night. With great reluctance the elder sister and the Protector used the most powerful artifacts known to ponykind - the Elements of Harmony. Using their magic the two defeated Nightmare Moon, banishing her to the moon.

The elder sister took on responsibility for both the Sun and the Moon, with the Protector taking in as many duties as he could.

And thus Harmony has been maintained for generations since...

Twilight Sparkle, magical prodigy and princess Celestia's private student, frowned in thought. The story was an old one, something she vaguely remembered her mother reading as a bedtime story when she was just a filly. But she couldn't remember hearing about it from her mentor or her co-ruler... And the artifacts mentioned in the story... The Elements of Harmony... She could swear she heard or read about them before...

Maybe her teacher mentioned them? No... While Celestia told her a lot about Harmony she never referred to it with the word 'Elements'. And nor did the other ruling figure... No, he used to tell her about Balance and how everything contributed to it...

Well, it was time for research, she thought as she walked away from the tree under which she was reading. The Tower, the residence of the Princess' personal student had an extensive library that should have the book she needed. Or at least something to point her in the right direction.

"Twilight!" The voice of Twinkleshine, one of her acquaintances from Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, drew the mare away from her thoughts. "There you are. Moondancer is organizing a little get-together in the courtyard next to the Guard barracks. Do you want to come?" She smirked at the invitation, the two mares that accompanied her giggling.

"Oh, umm..." Twilight's blush made the mares giggle even louder. She knew why Moondancer had chosen that spot... Every mare knew that it was an excellent place to watch the Guards do their training. "I-I can't... I have a lot of work to do..."

"Are you sure your work can't wait? Perhaps that stallion you've been glancing at will be there." One of the other mares teased, causing Twilight's blush to deepen.

"S-sorry..." The lavender unicorn stuttered. "Research... I-it's time sensitive and..." The giggles rose in volume to the point where the other three mares could barely stand on their legs. "I've got to go, bye." Twilight shot the last sentence out and ran away, leaving the trio behind.

It didn't take long to reach the Tower. Twilight had lived in the Castle for years now and she knew its grounds like the underside of her hoof. Soon she was racing up the ramp that corkscrewed along the outside wall of the tower.

"Spike!" She called out to her assistant and younger brother in all but blood as she burst through the door.

"Hey Twilight." The young purple and green dragon turned towards her from where he was shelving books. "Twinkleshine came by earlier, she said something about..."

"A get-together, yeah. But we don't have time for that." The mare trotted over to the dragon as he groaned. "Quick, find me 'Legendary Artifacts', third edition."

"More research?" Spike sighed as he walked past the bookshelves that lined the walls and quickly found the tome in question. Carefully he pulled it out, making sure not to damage the cover before placing it on a small table. Twilight trotted over, her horn lighting up as she used her telekinesis to turn the pages.

"E... E... Aha! Elements of Harmony." She leaned closer, narrowing her eyes as she looked over the single paragraph in the entry.

"The Elements of Harmony are a set of magical artifacts embodying the qualities of Friendship and Harmony. Considered to be an ultimate force or weapon of Good, they are connected to several ancient myths and legends, like the Fall of Discord and the Mare in the Moon."

"Discord? The Mare in the Moon?" Spike chimed in from where he was leaning above Twilight, reading over her head. "But those are just old mares' tales used to scare unruly foals and fillies. I still remember mom telling us how the Mare in the Moon will take us if we don't put all the books back..." The drake chuckled at the memory.

Twilight, however, wasn't listening to him. She sat back, one hoof rubbing her chin as she thought about the Elements. It wasn't rare to find common elements in old myths and legends. She recognized a few of them in the tale of Nightmare Moon. The Princess, the Protector... The two were featured in so many tales, with so many variants that gathering them all would provide the content for at least a dozen books... But she also knew that many stories held a grain of truth somewhere in them. It was just a matter of finding it under the embellishment and the content that has been added during all the years and mouths that repeated the tale, adding a little something here and there... She had to find something from those times, something that didn't change much... And a look at the cited sources got her a good lead.

"Help me find the first edition of 'Predictions and Prophesies'." The drake sighed and set on to look for the book, Twilight joining him to make the search faster. It didn't take them to find the worn tome, filed under P.

"M... M... Mare... Ah. Mare in the Moon." Twilight quickly skimmed over the text. "On the longest day of the thousandth year of the Mare of the Night's imprisonment the stars will align in a Pattern that will weaken her prison, allowing her to break her chains and bring her Eternal Night anew..."

Silence reigned for a few minutes after that. Spike had been shivering in fear, remembering what a friend of his once said about the impact of such an event. In the meantime, Twilight's mind was making connections, calculating probabilities and coming to a very, very worrying conclusion...

"Spike..." Twilight turned towards her assistant. "We're in the thousandth year of Celestia's rule... And the longest day is the day after tomorrow..."

"The Summer Sun Celebration?" Spike raised an eye ridge.

"Yes! The thousandth one as well!"

"Twi... Are you implying what I think you are?" Spike asked and she nodded. "But Twi, this is just an old tale. And the prophecy... It's ancient! There's no way to tell if it's authentic or not..."

"Spike, there's more than enough evidence to support that theory." Twilight replied. "Just think about it. Celestia herself said that this year's Summer Sun Celebration will be an anniversary."

"Wouldn't that mean she knows what will happen?"

"Maybe, but it's still my duty to inform her..." At least to show that she found the facts and reached the conclussion herself. "Spike, take a note. Address it to the Princess." The drake pulled out a scroll and a quill from a nearby cabinet.

"Ready."

"My dearest teacher," Twilight began. "As you are aware I have recently began studying old Equestrian myths and legends. My newest subject, the ancient legend of Nightmare Moon, or as she's also known, the Mare in the Moon. After cross-referencing a couple of other sources I have reasons to believe we're on the precipice of disaster."

"Umm..." Spike raised a claw. "Do you write that with an S or a C?"

"Precipice? With a C." Twilight replied and waited for Spike to write the word down before continuing: "According to my calculations Nightmare Moon will return on the night of this Summer Sun Celebration. I believe that this is a matter you should address urgently. I have attached a list of the sources I used. I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Spike, add the titles of the books and the pages we used to discover this and send it to the Princess."

Spike finished writing the message and rolled it into a thin cylinder before blowing his green dragonflame on it. The scroll burned up in just a couple of seconds, the complex magic transporting it directly to the Princess...

Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and one of the most powerful magical beings on the planet looked at the message that appeared in front of her. Grabbing it in her telekinetic aura she unfurled the scroll and quickly read through its contents.

"Told you she'll figure it out today." She said, looking up from the message and the other occupant of the room. She didn't even receive a nod, but she wasn't waiting for one anyway. With a smile she took the quill and parchment she had prepared and quickly wrote her reply before sending it back.

Back at the Tower, Spike and Twilight were still discussing whether the Princess would reply immediately or not whe the dragon felt a familiar burning sensation in his chest. With a sound that was somewhere between a choke and a burp he let out a plume of green fire that solidified into a rolled-up scroll.

"That was fast." Spike noted as he grabbed the message from the air.

"Of course it was. The Princess knows that it's an urgent matter. Now, read it." Twilight said, bouncing with anticipation. Spike unfurled the scroll and cleared his throat before he started to read it.

"My dearest and most faithful student Twilight. You know that I value your diligence and that I thrust you completely. However, you should not trust everything you read in books, especially the old and dusty ones you used for your research." Twilight gasped in surprise and disbelief at her tutor's words. For her books were the ultimate source of knowledge. To doubt them was so... Heretical, for a lack of a better word.

"My dear Twilight..." Spike continued reading, fighting back a smile at his older sister's expression. "There is much more to a pony's life than studying. This is why we have decided to send you to Ponyville to supervise this year's Summer Sun Celebration. I'll have a chariot waiting to take you and your luggage there when you're ready."

Silence descended on the Tower as Spike watched Twilight with amusement, waiting for her reaction. Finally she let out a sigh and sat down.

"She didn't believe me..." Twilight almost sobbed.

"Or maybe she just knows that the tale is just that - a tale." Spike replied in an attempt to cheer the made up. "She is the Princess... She knows best, right?"

"Right..." Twilight slowly nodded.

"She'll be there as well." The drake continued, smiling as he saw that the made was starting to smile. "No old Nightmare will be able to get through her... Hell, considering who else will be there I doubt that Nightmare will even reach her." There was another pause during which Twilight stared at her hooves. Then she looked up, smiling widely.

"You're right. And we'll be there as well. Thank you, Spike." She stood on her back legs, wrapping her front ones around the young drake who reciprocated the gesture.

Now come on, we should get ready. Where are the checklists? I need the "Sudden trip", "Emergency task from the Princess" and "Summer Sun Celebration preparations" checklists."

Spike groaned. While Twilight was in a better mood, she was now in full preparations mode. And with all those checklists... She was going to want to triple-check them, maybe more. Ponyville was too out of the way and they couldn't come back to get anything they missed. Not without Twilight learning long-ranged teleportation or how to create a Warp Gate. And she hadn't advanced enough with her studies for either of them, not to mention that the knowledge of how to create the latter was a closely guarded secret...

At least finding the checklists was easy. Twilight kept all of them in a large tome, where they could easily be accessed and copied with a simple spell as many times as she had to.

While the unicorn's horn glowed to apply the copying magic Spike moved to fetch a couple of suitcases...

A pair of vibrant blue eyes followed Twilight as her charriot left the castle courtyard, the magical vehicle speeding in the sky as the two pegassi guards pulled it towards Ponyville.

"That last move wasn't exactly subtle." The owner of the eyes said, his voice low and calm as he turned towards the only other occupant of the room.

"It was enough. Nopony will suspect a thing." Princess Celestia said from where she was sitting on several cushions, looking down at a chessboard. For a moment her horn glowed and her Queen piece moved forward, taking her opponent's bishop. "Check."

"Hmm... I guess I just know you well enough." The other member in the conversation replied as he walked away from the window. As he stepped in the light it shone over his clothes, before revealing his features.

He was as different from the Princess as her sun was from a block of ice. She was a tall and slender equine possessing features from all three pony Tribes. Bards and poets described her as beautiful, graceful, kind, ethereal... He, on the other hand, was the sole member of his species on the planet, a bipedal being that appearance-wise had more in common with the Minotaurs in the south or the Diamond dogs. A human, as he called himself. A being who's skin was smooth, not covered in fur like nearly every other sentient species the Princess has met, with the exception of the slightly unruly light brown hairthat covered his head. A being who wore clothes all the time. A being who used his front appendages, or hands and fingers as he called them, to do things that only the ponies that were the most skilled with levitation could do.

Right now he was clad in a simple pair of white pants and a light blue shirt - simple, practical clothes... Nothing like the attire the ponies were used to seeing him in. A pair of simple, soft shoes covered his feet as he walked along the carpet and back to the chessboard. For a moment he looked over the figures with a gaze that bards and historians througout the ages compared to ice and steel.

"I often forget how long we've known each other..." He continued as he thought out his next move. "And I often forget how good of a planner you are... Perhaps that's the reason why you're so good at chess." He reached down and moved his Rook between Celestia's Queen and his King.

"That, and over two millenia of experience." The princess replied, rubbing her chin with a hoof as she thought of her next move. "It's fun to see the nobles trying to impress me with how good they are at chess, only to be soundly defeated by me..." She pushed a pawn one square forward.

"Indeed." The man nodded. "Back to the topic at hand. I feel like I should ask again... Are you sure that she'll gather the rest of the Bearers under her command?"

"I have faith in my student." Celestia replied, feigning offense. "And she won't gather them under her command, she'll become their friends. And I bet you already have some sort of a backup plan for the slightest chance I'm wrong."

"You know me well enough. Check." The human nodded as he made his move. "I've already sent my own student to Ponyville in order to help with the preparations..."

"Wait, what?" Celestia interrupted him as she stared up wide-eyed. At his nod the princess sighed and leaned her head against her hooves. "We'll be lucky if the town is still standing when I lower the sun..."

"Don't worry, she'll behave." The human comforted her. "I'll be there as well, remember?"

"Will she be enough for the six to gather together if Twilight fails?"

"I hope so. And if that fails there's always the Thunder Road approach." The human smirked.

"Ah, yes... Your 'direct and blunt' tactic. You always came up with the strangest plans..." Celestia chuckled and moved her Bishop to protect the small sculpture of her that was used as a King.

"Which is why I'm the only one who has beaten you at chess in the last few hundred years." He said and took the Bishop with his Queen. "Checkmate."

Celestia blinked a few times, surprised at her loss. With a sigh she reached out, toppling over her King before leaning back. She was a bit disappointed that he beat her without her even noticing his chances at winning, but she was half-expecting it. The human was good at pulling off things like that. And not just in chess either... It was actually harder for him to do that in the board game than it was in life.

After all, in real life he could bend if not outright break and reforge the rules...

"I guess this is the last game for now." Celestia sighed. "I'm going to start preparing for tonight."

"I'll go and do the same. As usual, my Cabal will help the Guard to keep the masses from panicking." The man said as he walked to the door and opened it.

"Wait!" The princess' voice caused him to pause before he stepped through the threshold. "If Luna is still... If it's too strong..."

"I'll make it quick." The man promised before walking off. There was no goodbye, no see you later... The two didn't need it.

"Please..." Celestia whispered to herself. "Please, my Force Blader... Give her and the Element bearers a chance..."

Author's Note:

Whew... Took me too long to write this... But here it is. The third writing of The Cabal... The third time's the charm, right?

As you can see, this rewrite starts off close to the canon universe... But not the same. There are a number of changes which I've detailed here.

As usual, read, review and don't hesitate to point out any mistakes I made.

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