• Published 27th Dec 2014
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The Element Knights of Harmony - Scootadasher13



A strange unicorn appears in Ponyville. What is his connection to the Sun Princess?

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Chapter 3

Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were coming out of Sugarcube Corner having been invited to one of Pinkie Pie’s party-for-no-reason parties when suddenly the earth shook as if a thunder of dragons were approaching. After the tremors stopped, Applejack shakily got to her feet.

“What the hay was that?” she said. “It felt like my uncle Braestar Apple snoring!”

Suddenly a tremendous pillar of flame roared into the air. It appeared to be coming from the direction of the Everfree Forest. Their other friends came out to see what had happened.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy squeaked. “I hope there isn’t an adult dragon invading Equestria again.”

“I don’t think so Fluttershy,” said Twilight “Rarity, do you feel anything strange, like a tingle at the base of your horn?”

“You know Twilight, now that you mention it, yes. How did you know?” Rarity asked, looking up at her horn and then back at her friend.

“Whenever powerful magic is used, unicorns in the nearby vicinity feel a magic pulse. It happened when Celestia banished Nightmare Moon and when we defeated Tirek. I first read about it in one of Starswirl the Bearded’s research notes.”

“What do you think might be causing it?” asked Rainbow gliding down to the ground. “We haven’t heard about anything wrong since the Sirens”

“Whatever it is, it’s obviously coming from the forest,” Twilight thought for a moment. “I just remembered that unicorn stallion, Ben, is at the Castle of the Two Sisters with…” she trailed off nervously.

“Who?” asked Applejack.

“Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo” Twilight said sheepishly.

“WHAT?” cried Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash all at once.

“I’m really sorry,” Twilight stammered. “I was going to tell you but then…”

The three elder sisters didn’t stay to listen. Rainbow Dash flew off as fast as she could without breaking into her signature move. Applejack was close behind; years of working on a farm bucking apples had given her a strength and endurance matched in Ponyville only by her brother, Big Macintosh and the Pegasus Bulk Biceps.

Rarity was the last one to disappear, being neither as strong nor as fast as the other two, but she had a large amount of nervous energy gained from frantically working to the last minute on her dresses for years. Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy followed their three friends at a somewhat slower pace. After about ten minutes the six friends finally reached the boundary between Ponyville and the forest.

“Girls wait,” cried Twilight as Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity started to plunge into the dark forest. “I can teleport us all to the castle instantaneously”

“We don’t have time,” said Rainbow, looking back at her friend. “We have to get there right now.” She started to fly into the forest when she was yanked backwards by Twilight’s magic grabbing ahold of her tail.

“That’s what ‘instantaneously’ means, Rainbow,” said Twilight. She released her hold on the polychromatic tail and her friends all gathered around her. “Now, it will feel a little weird at first but we’ll be there before you can say ‘Celestia canned candied crab apples’.”

“Oooh,” Pinkie Pie said. “I love a good tongue twister. Celestia canned candied crab apples. Celestia canned candied crab apples. Celestia canned candied crab apples. Celestia canned candied crab apples. Celestia canned candied crab apples.”

Twilight, ignoring her pink friend, closed her eyes and began to concentrate. As her horn started to glow with a raspberry color, sparks erupted from the tip. Suddenly there was a bright flash and the six mares disappeared from the street.

For a split second, Pinkie Pie felt like she was going to have a twitchy-tail attack, that strange sensation she sometimes felt when something nearby was about to fall. For Rainbow Dash the teleportation felt like being squeezed against her own cone of air that would form whenever she was about to break through the sound barrier into a Sonic Rainboom. Applejack had the distinct memory of when she had been a filly and had been at the bottom of a dog pile with her brother and older cousins. Rarity, being a unicorn, didn’t feel anything weird having learned teleportation several weeks before. Fluttershy was frankly too terrified to really notice what sensation she felt.

True to Twilight’s word, the next instant the six friends were standing at the rope bridge that led to the Castle of the Two Sisters. The posts were all that remained of the bridge that had once spanned the gorge. Looking across the chasm they could just make out three shapes standing in a huddle in the darkness near the empty doorway into the castle.

“Apple Bloom!” yelled Applejack. The three shapes lifted their heads and looked in their direction. “Are you three alright?”

“Help us Applejack,” came the reply in Apple Bloom’s country drawl. “We can’t get back across the gorge since the rope bridge fell”

“Hang on,” yelled Rainbow Dash. “Me and Fluttershy will be right over and then we’ll bring you back over”. Grabbing her friend she started heading over to the chasm. This proved to be rather difficult given that Fluttershy was still cowering on the ground with her head behind her hooves and didn’t want to move.

“Is it just you three?” asked Rarity.

“No, Ben is here but he’s unconscious,” came Scootaloo’s response. “Also, there’s something different about him”

Rainbow Dash, having given up trying to drag Fluttershy, flew off towards the three fillies. When she landed she noticed first the pile of ash that had formally been the gargoyle that had attacked the Crusaders. Looking at the ponies in question she finally got a good look at Ben. Her mouth opened slightly in surprise when she saw his cutie mark and then positively dropped when she saw the pair of red wings sprouting from his back.

“Girls!” Rainbow yelled. “Get over here!”

Twilight’s horn shimmered and a purple aura enveloped the rest of her friends and levitated them over. As soon as they touched down on the other side of the gorge, Rarity and Applejack ran over and embraced their sisters. They both started prodding at the young fillies checking for bruises and broken bones, causing groans of embarrassment to rise from the two fillies. Scootaloo watched on with a look of amusement at her friends’ predicament. A look that then disappeared as Rainbow approached her, scooped her up in her wings, and started doing the same action to her.

While this was going on, Twilight started to examine Ben’s wings and cutie mark. Suddenly Ben’s eyes began to move under their eyelids. His eyelids scrunched and he then opened his eyes. Seeing something bending over him, he instantly sat up and prepared to defend himself, but upon seeing it was the alicorn princess, he relaxed. He looked around and saw that the other five ponies that he had first met were all looking at him. His eyes finally fell upon the three fillies that he had traveled to this castle with. Suddenly his memory came back to him, the castle library, the gargoyle, being knocked into the gorge when he tried to defend the fillies, hearing them scream in terror, and finally him utterly incinerating the beast.

“They’re fine now, but I can guarantee you Sweetie Bell, at least, won’t be doing any crusading for at least two weeks,” said Rarity turning to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “What do you two think?”

“Ya got tha’ right, Rarity,” said Applejack, looking down at her sister. “I can guarantee tha’ this young’un will be going between the schoolhouse and the farm, and nowhere else”

The three fillies looked down at their hooves, long pouts on each of their faces. No crusading for two weeks? How could their sisters be so mean? The six mares and one stallion laughed at the fillies’ dejection.

After they had stopped chuckling, Twilight asked, “What happened? All we saw was that huge pillar of fire blast into the sky.”

“That was me, I think” Ben said. “We were on our way back and suddenly a shadow flew overhead and then a gargoyle landed in front of us. I charged at it but it easily knocked me aside.”

“After that, the creature turned and started coming at us and we screamed,” continued Sweetie Belle. “Then, Ben appeared and told it to go away, but it wouldn’t. He just rose up out of the ravine and landed between us and the monster”.

“So, Ben launched a fire ball at the gargoyle and as soon as it hit tha’ thing it erupted into flames. I’m assuming that’s what y’all saw and caused ya to come runnin’,” Apple Bloom now took up the narrative. “As soon as tha’ thing was nothin’ but ash, Ben turned and we saw that he had gotten his cutie mark and had sprouted wings. He asked if we were hurt and then collapsed”.

“What the hay is a gargoyle anyway?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“It’s a large brutish creature that would develop a stone-like layer on its skin if it didn’t move for a while. During the day they would stay still but as soon as the sun went down it would move around and feed,” said Twilight. “But gargoyles have been extinct in Equestria for centuries. The last den was hunted down and eradicated over five hundred years ago”

“But Twilight darling, if that’s true, then where did this one come from?” asked Rarity.

“I don’t know,” Twilight said. She thought back to all she knew of the creatures. She had done research on them as part of an extinct flora and fauna report back when she was in Canterlot. The gargoyle was in the same genus as wendigos, and that alone gave her cause for concern, wendigos fed off the disharmony of others and altered the weather around them, but gargoyles didn’t feed off any negative emotion or cause any to appear. Twilight simply couldn’t remember why the gargoyles had been hunted to extinction.

“You know, maybe Celestia knows something about it. She was the one who ordered the extermination of gargoyles. I’m interested to find out why they were eradicated”

“Well,” said Ben, standing up and glancing behind them at the castle. “If you’re going to send a letter, shouldn’t we head back to Ponyville? I think it has a better chance of sending mail then this old decrepit castle” Ben’s wings suddenly vanished with a flash.

“Your wings!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “What happened to them?”

“I’m not sure,” Twilight said turning and looking hard at Ben. “I think I should ask about you as well. There are just too many questions about this whole business. To answer your question about the letter, I just need Spike to send a letter to the princess”

“Well, let’s get out of here then,” Ben said shivering. “This place kinda creeps me out.”

“It creeps me out too,” murmered Fluttershy. “Then again most everything does”

As the ten ponies walked back to Ponyville, Ben thought about the symbol that had appeared after he attacked the gargoyle. He was aware of what it meant, but he was puzzled over why it had appeared at that time.

It can’t be just a coincidence that the Mark of Fire would appear after I had used fire magic. The mark used to only appear when another conduit of divinity was nearby. Does that mean that the gargoyle was somehow connected to my world? If so, then I need to leave this land as soon as possible. I will not allow this world, unburdened by evil, fall prey to the Darkness because of me.

“Oh, Spike,” Twilight voice cut through Ben’s thoughts. “There you are. I need you to send a letter to Princess Celestia ASAP.”

Ben looked up and saw that they had reached the edge of the forest. He saw the little purple dragon come running up. When the miniature dragon reached them he stopped and gasped for breath.

“Twilight,” Spike panted. “There’s no need to send a letter. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are waiting for you at the castle. They said that something strange has happened!”

Twilight looked surprised and a little worried that Celestia and Luna would both decide to visit. She wondered if it had anything to do with Ben’s appearance or the gargoyle coming out of nowhere.

“Let’s hurry and get back there” Twilight said, enveloping Spike in her magic and placing him on her back.

With that she took off at full gallop, the others right behind her. A couple of minutes later, they all arrived at the Castle of Friendship and Twilight lit her horn and the doors swung open. There in the center hall stood the immortal Royal Sisters, rulers of Equestria for over 1000 years.

“It is good to see you all again,” said Princess Celestia, coming forward to get a better look at her former protégé and her friends. “I truly wish it were for a better reason than this, but unfortunately it isn’t. The reason my sister and I have come is that we have learned that a great evil is about to descend on our world and we need you six to help us in defending our home.”

Celestia then noticed Ben and a look of surprise came across her face when she saw the mark on his flank.

“It can’t be,” whispered Celestia. Then gathering herself, she said in a clear voice, “Hail, Knight of Áed”. Then to the surprise of those gathered she bent her legs and bowed low to Ben.

Author's Note:

Well, Chapter 3 has been finished. I'm still writing these Author Notes on the off chance that someone will comment on this story. I've already got most of chapter four planned out and will be starting to write it in the next couple of days. For those of you that do read this story I want to say: Thank you and Happy Holidays.

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