The Equestrian War

by ponyhailey

Chapter Three

The group appeared in Princess Celestia‘s throne room where she waited expectantly.

“The elements,” yelled Rainbow Dash, “We have find them!”.

Twilight, exhausted from the long teleport, said “Princess, we failed, the Elements were lost.”

Princess Celestia was shooked by this news. “You mean they were destroyed?” She asked, “No, impossible, they can not be destroyed, that would require immense amounts
of magic.”

“They were fired off somewhere, but we don’t know where.” Rainbow Dash yelled panicked, ‘We’ve got to find them!”

“We will sugar cube, don’t’ worry.” comforted Applejack.

“How can not worry at a time like this?” Rainbow asked, “We need action!”.

“Applejack’s right darling, we need to stay calm a time of crisis,” agreed Rarity.

Before Rainbow Dash could think up a comeback a disheveled pegasus guard galloped into the room.

“Princess,” he gasped, “Cantorlot is under attack.”.

The ponies gasped and ran to the windows and stared out. Pegasi in purple armor (to camouflage in the night) were laying siege to the city. White pegasi in gold armor flew after them while the unicorns below fired lasers of energy at the enemy soliders.

“We must leave, my lady” the guard said.

“No,” Celestia replied, “It is my duty to protect my subjects, Iron Sword escort these six ponies to a chariot that will deliver them safely to Ponyville.”

“As you wish, my lady.” he said. He turn to the other ponies and said “Come with me.” .

Twilight turned to the princess asking “What about you?”.

“Don’t worry Twilight,” she said, “You must go to Ponyville and find the Elements of Harmony, your brother will accompany you.”

“Shining Armor?” Twilight repeated.

“Yes,” Celestia answered, ‘Now before you go, you will need this.”

Celestia’s horn glowed as she touched each pony’s head.

“This is a spell that might help you find the Elements, your cutie marks will glow ever you get close to your Element.”

“Thank you princess.”

And with that the guard lead them out of the room.

The ponies followed him to a chariot where Twilight’s brother was waiting with his wife Cadence.

“Twilghley!” Shining Armor greeted her.

“Shining Armor!” Twilight said running up to her brother, hugging him, “It’s good to see you, you to Cadence.”

“Come, we must hurry to Ponyville if we want to avoid being attacked by Nightmare Moon’s forces,” said Shinning Armor immediately regaining his sense of duty.

He held out his hoof for Twilight and the others to board. Just as Cadence was about to board the chariot, a brown unicorn guard nudged Shining Armor.

“Um, Captain,” he said.

“Yes?” Shining Armor asked.

“I’m sorry sir, but I’m afraid the chariot is reserved for authorized ponyial only.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well sir, your wife, ahem, isn’t included in authorized ponyal.”

“What do you mean by that?” Shining Armor asked with a hint of agitation in his voice.

“Well sir, that means that she isn’t allowed to board.”

“What!”

“Sir, she isn’t a solider nor a barer of the Elements of Harmony.”

“She’s my wife and she may board if I authorize her to board!” Shining Armor shouted.

“But sir, if we let her board then that wouldn’t be fair to all the other citizens of Cantorlot who would like to leave.”

“They’re not-”

“ENOUGH!” Cadence shouted, “If he says I shouldn’t board, then I won’t.”

“But Cadence, what if-”

“No what-ifs, I’ll be fine.”

Shining Armor gave her a doubtful look.

“I promise.”

Shining Armor sighed. He gave Cadence a kiss, telling her that he loved her.

“I love you too.”

And with that he boarded the chariot and they flew off. Shining Armor gave his wife one last parting glance before he turned away. He sighed before turning toward the ponies who awaited instructions.

“Okay,” He said breaking the silence, “From now on Ponyville is our base of operations, Twilight, Do you mind if I use your library as my council of war?”

“Not at all,” Twilight replied smiling.

"Oh and do you have an old, but current, map that me and my cartographer can write on?”

“Um, okay, yeah sure. I have one.”

“Great,” he said, “Any questions?”

“Why is Ponyville the ‘base of operations’?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Because your town is the closest to the Everfree Forest, speaking of which you are going to need to show me where Nightmare Moon’s castle is on the map so I know where to tell my stallions to go.”

“Right.” agreed Twilight.

"And you Fluttershy-"

“Yes?” she squeaked.

“You’re going need to tell me about some of the dangers of the Everfree Forest.”

“Okay,” she said.

“Alright, Twilight, you were at the castle right? I’m going to need some information.”

“Got it,” Twilight said, and began tell her brother at the defense tactics the Nightmare Moon was using to defend her castle.

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The ponies finally reached Ponyville. There were many pegasi and unicorn soliders standing about. Most of the residents of Ponyville only saw a few royal guards and just around royalty, so it was quite a surprise to see an entire army milling about the town, especially at night. The seven ponies made their way toward Twilight’s library. Inside, they met other ponies dressed in the same manner as Shining Armor was.

“Ladies, this is General Strong Shield, Sergeant Bronze Helm, and our cartographer Compass Point.”

General Strong Shield was a tall white unicorn. He had a dark blue mane with white highlights and silver eyes. He was wearing blue armor with a gold trim. His cutie mark was a silver shield deflecting a sword.

Sergeant Bronze Helm was a brown pegasus. He had a light blue mane with aquamarine highlights. His eyes were a sandy tan. He was wearing standard gold armor. His cutie mark was two armored horns clashing.

Compass Point was an orange earth pony whose mane was light red. His eyes were yellow. His cutie mark was an unrolled map. He had a tan saddlebag strapped across his back.

“Hello, you must be the Element's barers,” greeted General Strong Shield, “It is pleasure to meet you all. I’d love to meet you all, but Sergeant Bronze Helm and I have been waiting for Shining Armor. A problem has come up and we require his assistance.“

“Okay, you ladies stay here and help Compass Point out, while I go deal with this problem.”

“Okay.”

And with that the stallions left the library.

“Do you have a map?” Compass Point asked, “I misplaced mine before I left Cantorlot.”

“Yes I do,” Twilight answered.

Twilight searched among some shelves until she found a rolled up map. Compass Point picked it up and spread it out on the table. Then he took out what appeared to be blue and yellow game pieces out of his bag and set them specific places on the map.

“What are those for?” Twilight asked.

“These are markers that show the know location of Celestia’s and Nightmare Moon’s forces are in Equestria,” Compass Point explained, “Her forces almost invaded Hoofington and Fillydelphia. Thankfully, an observant mail mare spotted a suspicious group of pegasi flying the city’s way and reported them to officials before they could attack. Unfortunately Cloudsdale wasn’t as lucky. A refuge pegasus told us that the citizen tried to fight, but were defeated.”

“What?!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, “Then lets go!”

“Hold your horses,” Applejack said, biting down on Rainbow Dash’s tail, “Not all of us can fly.”

“Appleloosa was taken too,” Compass Point added.

“That’s where we need to go!” she yelled making a break for the door.

“Stop!” yelled Twilight grabbing Applejack and hoisting her into the air, “That’s not our job and besides need to find the Elements to stop Nightmare Moon."

“But I thought you didn’t know where they were.” Compass Point said.

‘Hum,” Twilight thought, “Rainbow Dash, you flew after the Elements, right? Did you see where they went?”

“Yeah.”

“Really? That means that with some careful calculations, I can pinpoint exactly where they landed.”

“Well the Elements flew out a window.”

“What direction was the window facing?” Compass Point asked.

“Umm, that away.” Rainbow Dash answered, gesturing toward the north.

“Hm, the wind was a mixture of winds from the east and west.”

“What do you mean ‘mixture’?” asked Rarity.

“The Everfree Forest is a very strange place with it’s odd plants, such as poison joke, and deadly creatures, so it’s not wonder why winds can blow from opposite directions. Rainbow, could you tell me which Element went in which direction and about how fast each was going.”

“Sure thing.“ Rainbow Dash agreed, “Lets see, Twilght’s element was going that away-”

“Northeast,” Compass Point corrected.

“Whatever, it was going northeast at about seven point two wing power.”

“That’s pretty exact.” commented Compass Point.

“It was going as fast as Firefly when we were training for the tornado to bring the water from our reservoir up to Cloudsdale.”

“How about yours?”

“Northeast, nine wing power.”

”Applejack’s?"

“Um, south… west, sixteen point seven wing power.”

“Rarity’s?”

“Uh, northeast- east? Nine point four wing power.”

”Fluttershy’s?”

“Northwest, about ten point two wing power.”

“And lastly Pinkie’s?”

“Northwest- west, four point eight wing power.”

“Hm,” Compass Point thought as he reach into his bags once more and withdrew a notepad and pencil. He scribbled some notes, studied the map, scribbled some more, and sketched out crude pictures of the elements on the map. The map looked a bit like this:

[img][/img]

“There is where you will find your Elements.”

The map showed that the Element of Honesty was near Appleloosa, the Element of Kindness was near the Drackenridge Mountains, the Element of Laughter was somewhere near Manehatten, the Element of Generosity was a couple miles away from Cantorlot, the Element of Loyalty was in Cloudsdale, and the element of Magic was somewhere along the edges of the Everfree Forest.

“I guess we will have to divide and conquer,” said Twilight.

“Each on there own!” said Rainbow Dash.

“On our own?” Flutter shy asked nervously.

“Yeah,” said Rainbow Dash, “It will be like a quest that Daring Do goes on, full of danger and near death experiences.”

“Danger? Near death experiences? Oh my. Maybe I’ll search for the Elements at home.”

“Ah, lighten up," Rainbow Dash comforted, “It’ll be fun.”

“Fun?” repeated Fluttershy not really believing it. “Well, I guess.”

“Alright, then everypony get packed and ready to go.” Twilight said. “Elements, here we come!”

End of Chapter Three

Comments

[ponyhailey]

I'm sorry if the map I inserted won't load.

I'm not very happy about that.