Champions of Harmony

by Codex Sparks

Chapter 2: The Nightmare Comes

The town hall was crowded with ponies, all chattering excitedly. One pink pony appeared to be vibrating with excitement, Applejack was checking over the food tables, Fluttershy was preparing her birds to sing, and Derpy was hovering with a goofy smile. Veiled gave a hearty smile to the similarly colored pegasus, then turned his attention to the stage with butterflies in his stomach. He was a little excited and nervous to see the raising of the sun so close. Mighty gave a small smile around the town hall before turning to face where the celebration would begin.

Blue Nectar, a white pegasus with a blue mane in guard armor, entered the town hall, taking in the beauty of all the décor, amazing atmosphere and the abundance of cheerful ponies, being careful of where she's walking.

Mayor Mare walked up to her podium and smiled to the crowd. "Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!"

Veiled's ears fell to cover the shouts ringing through his ears. He wondered if he should have been outside.

Blue stood at her post and quietly cheered in excitement along with the other ponies, it being her first time to ever see the Summer Sun Celebration. She tried hard to conceal her excitement for the festival and being around so many other happy ponies.

"In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..." She paused for Fluttershy to cue her birds. "Princess Celestia!” The curtains opened to reveal... Nopony.

Veiled removed his hooves from his fallen ears so that he could focus on the stage, wondering if she was just beyond his view

As the crowd started murmuring, Blue glanced nervously around at the other guards standing at their respective posts, unsure of what to do. The rest of the guards looked to each other, none present appearing to know what to do. Unfortunately, the guard captain had just taken leave to deal with an unspecified family issue, so there was no clear leader to look to with the Princess missing.

Mayor Mare shouted over the crowd. "Remain calm, everypony, there must be a reasonable explanation!"

Blue Nectar had a sinking feeling as she remembered a certain old mare’s tale. She quietly asked a nearby pony, "Just as a clarification, today is the longest day in a thousand years, right?"

The pony stopped for a second to think, then nodded. "Yeah. That's right. Why-"

Suddenly, a tall, dark figure emerged from the backstage, her mane whipping about her head and her wings spread. "Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving faces."

Veiled slipped outside unnoticed at the new arrival.

"That would be why." Blue said quietly to the pony. She slipped out an exit to sneak around to the stage entrance doors.

As she did so she heard a rainbow maned pegasus yelling out, questioning what happened to the princess. The black alicorn responded, "Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?"

Veiled poked his head inside to see what is going on. He saw that Applejack was restraining Rainbow Dash from attacking the alicorn and had shoved an apple in Pinkie Pie's mouth. The alicorn stood proudly. "Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"

Veiled raised his hoof. "Excuse me, mam? who are you?"

"I am Nightmare Moon, your new queen, now that Celestia has been dealt with. All shall bow before me. Mwahahaha! Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!"

Outside, Blue remembered that she was a member of the Royal Guard for Canterlot. Those ponies in there needed her. With that realization, a fire of determination burned inside her and she went back inside, making her way to the edge of the stage.

Nightmare Moon looked down at the Blue as she dared to approach. "And who might you be?"

Blue Nectar stood in front of the towering legend with shaking legs. With a loud voice she cried, "I am Blue Nectar, member of the Royal Guard of Canterlot and I command you to stand down!" She spread her wings open as wide as she could, attempting to make herself look somewhat bigger and stronger than she actually was.

The alicorn paused and looks Blue Nectar over before replying. "An impressive presence, and quite bold. Would you be interested in joining my lunar guard when I reform it? You seem to have the potential to become a captain even."

Blue glared at the alicorn "I will never join you and your shady minions!! I will always stand by Princess Celestia and her subjects!!!" She stopped herself from saying more in fear that Nightmare Moon would harm the ponies surrounding her. She glanced around, hoping to see that some of the ponies were able to sneak away while she challenged Nightmare Moon. The townsfolk had backed away a bit, but most were just transfixed with horror. However, a pinkish unicorn with a purple mane and a trio of diamonds for a cutie mark made her way through the crowd to stand just behind and to the right of Blue, and yelled "You won't win, tyrant!"

Nightmare Moon snorted. "Enough of this! None of you can stop me, and my night will last forever!" With that, she flapped her wings, taking to the air.

Blue stood dumbfounded that she wasn't dead from that encounter.

Veiled turned to the nearest pony, a magenta earth mare with a trio of flowers for a cutie mark. "So... how are we getting the princess back?"

She shrugged. "I have no idea. I mean, I knew the stories, but I thought they were just old pony's tales!"

Veiled Light nodded. "I honestly forgot about this whole thing... but there must be something we can do. She is our princess. No sun means that it's gonna be really hard to tell the time." He picked up his voice to reach the guard mare who had stood up to Nightmare Moon. "Hey! What do we need to do?"

Blue Nectar snapped out of her trance and looked at Veiled. "Uh...w-well.." she paused to collect her thoughts. "The Elements of Harmony!!" She cried with excitement. She glided over to him. "You wouldn't happen to know anything on the Elements, do you?"

Veiled Light stared blankly. "No... Do you? I am a pegasus, so I don't really study magic stuff, nor magical items. I probably should though."

The magenta mare Veiled Light spoke to earlier trotted up. "Did you say you're trying to find the Elements of Harmony? They're just an old..." Her voice trails off and she looks back at the town hall for a moment. "What is it you want to know?"

Blue Nectar perked her ears up. "You wouldn't happen to know where they're at?"

"They're supposed to be in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, which is..." She shudders. "In the Everfree Forest."

"I think I know what you're talking about.” Veiled Light said, standing more confidently. “I've never been there myself, but I know the woods rather well."

Blue Nectar's ears dropped a little as the name of the forest came up. "Is that really the only place? Are you sure its not in another forest or maybe they're in a secret dungeon somewhere?"

The mare shook her head. "I'm sorry, but that's where all the legends say they were left. The legends could be wrong of course, but then I'd have no idea where to start looking for them."

Mighty Force looked at the crowd and sighed as he walked out of the town hall. It seemed the only way to take down the alicorn was to find these supposedly legendary items. The idea made the stallion groan. "Celestia clop me with her wings," he muttered under his breath.

Blue Nectar sighed, then looked towards Veiled. "I guess we're gonna go on adventure to save the world?" she shrugged.

The unicorn mare who stood by Blue Nectar and Applejack trotted up. "Can I come too?"

Applejack winked at Mighty Force. "It wouldn't be right to let such a cute stallion go off into the dark, scary forest without my help."

Veiled Light's eyes widened "Wait, I just offered to guide you there. I don't think I could go up against someone so powerful. Plus, I would have no idea how to use it." He said, backing off a little.

Mighty Force sighed slightly and nodded. "I think that may be for the best as I may not be able to take on an alicorn on my own." It was true that his training was to handle more....civilian threats, not alicorns that could level him with a glance.

Veiled Light turned it over in his head for a bit, a slightly an unsure aura about him "... Well I guess I can help you out with more than just guiding you there. I am... okay at combat... but I'm not going without some magic ponies. That is my decision" He stood a little taller.

The magenta mare looked up at Veiled Light. "Actually, all ponies are magical, it's just that earth ponies express it through their strength and connection to nature and pegasi express it through their flight and weather manipulation. But even taking it as you meant, we have two unicorns with us."

Blue Nectar looked at the magenta mare. "Huh. Never thought about it like that before. Guess you learn something new everyday."

The pink unicorn smiled and reared up. "Let's do this!" Applejack rolled her eyes.

The magenta earth pony muttered to herself "For the foals, do it for the foals. You can do this Cheerilee."

Mighty Force nodded and looked at the forest. "Well, we may as well get going."

Veiled Light thought for a second. "Um.., I'm gonna need to make a stop real quick at my place. I need my stuff. I'll meet you all at the edge of the forest."

Cheerilee nodded at that. "I should get some medical supplies. I'll meet you there."

Mighty Force sighed and shook his head. "And this is why we try to pack light for a trip. I suppose I'll meet you all at the edge of the forest."

Veiled Light shrugged. "Well, I literally came here with nothing on. I wasn't planning on fighting a demon moon princess. But yeah, packing light is smart."

Applejack nodded. "I'll just get my lasso."

Mighty Force headed off in the direction of the edge of the forest, muttering a few choice words to himself.

Blue Nectar looked awkwardly at the other ponies, considering that she already had everything she needed. "I guess I'll make my way towards the forest and see you all there?"

---

A couple minutes later, at the edge of the forest Cheerilee came rushing up. Glancing around and seeing she was the last to arrive, she sighed. "Sorry for holding you up."

Mighty Force offered a smile to the magenta mare. "It's alright. Gave me time to try to formulate a battle plan for taking on an alicorn… I have nothing so far but I'll let you know if that changes."

Blue Nectar looked puzzled at Cheerilee’s late arrival. "Were you able to get everything you needed?"

"Yeah,” Cheerilee replied, “it was just scattered all around my house."

Blue nodded in understanding.

Veiled Light had been waiting patiently by a tree, re-stringing his bow and maintaining his equipment. Upon seeing that everypony had arrived, he stood up "So... I guess introductions are in order. I’m Veiled Light."

Applejack smiled. "I'm Applejack. I run Sweet Apple Acres."

"Mighty Force," Mighty said with a small smile. "In this case, I suppose it's best to make our way through the forest as quickly as possible and see if we can get these Elements of Harmony… or at least stop the scary alicorn from getting them."

The pink unicorn spoke next. "I'm Amethyst Star. Haven't got a job yet."

"I'm Blue Nectar." She smiled at everypony as she introduced herself.

The magenta earth mare finished the introductions with "And I'm Cheerilee, the local schoolteacher."

Blue looked to Veiled. "So, you said earlier that you knew Everfree Forest fairly well?"

"Yeah. I've basically grown up around it." He turned back to the group "If everypony is ready, lets go!" Veiled replied as he walked confidently into the forest.

Applejack and Amethyst followed confidently. Cheerilee hesitated, then darted after, frequently glancing around nervously.

Mighty nodded and brought up the rear, keeping an eye on the rest of the group. "Well, and here I thought my life in Ponyville would be boring."

Applejack gave him an odd look. "You didn't learn much about Ponyville before coming here, did you?"

"To be fair,” Mighty defended, “I never expected to have to visit the town. I expected to spend my days back in Canterlot, dealing with the politics of unicorn families. Thankfully, I took the opportunity to leave."

Applejack nodded. "Ah. Makes sense."

Blue Nectar looked around at the trees with an uneasy feeling. "You sure you know where to go, Veiled?" she asked quietly, catching up to where he was walking.

Veiled nodded, having found a path. After a bit of walking, the party found themselves at a cliff face. At the bottom of the cliff they could see the trail continuing onwards.