What I’m about to tell you is an ancient legend that intertwines with another. Long ago, there were three tribes of ponies who utterly despised one another. Their hatred created an everlasting winter that devastated the land. However, three delegates from each race were able to put aside their differences and bask in the warmth of friendship. They unified the tribes, put aside their hatred, and founded Equestria. This is the tale that is told every Hearth’s Warming Eve. What many forget is that this only a small part of the tale, for there is another portion to that is often overlooked.
To reward ponykind for coming together in harmony, the creator rewarded them with three gifts. For the first gift, he sent his three daughters to guide and protect Equestria and the ponies living there. Their names were Celestia, Luna, and Gaia. The second gift was the Elements of Harmony, so that those worthy enough to wield them could maintain peace in the world. The final gift was called the Scepter of Harmony.
Unlike the last two gifts, which were meant for all of ponykind, the scepter was meant only for one pony who could prove themselves worthy of true inner harmony. Whoever wields the scepter at its full power shall be granted one wish of their heart’s desire.
To power the staff, six stones representing Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Honesty, Loyalty, and Magic must be collected. Only after all six have been obtained, and their power tamed, can the power of the scepter be awoken.
According to legend, both the gems and the scepter were scattered all across Equestria, so that only somepony truly worthy could obtain them. However, nopony knows where all the gems are located. While some of the gems have been discovered, many of them have never been found. In addition, the scepter itself has been missing for centuries.
All who have searched for the gems have met terrible fates. They say that in order to unlock the power within them, one must pass trials created by the elements themselves. The trials seem to be extreme version of the elements they represent. There is one legend that states in order to pass the trial of Generosity, a pony must first offer their soul as tribute.
To think a pony would sacrifice their soul just for one wish...
It’s just a legend. You still have so much to live for, Shining. Please, don’t waste the short time we have together. I promise that even if I live to be twelve billion years old, you will always be in my heart. Remember that I married you knowing that our time together wouldn't last. I knew that the time we would spend together would be the happiest years of my existence, and I can say that so far they have been just that.
Everything Cadence had said ran through Shining Armor’s mind has he stood beside the now-sleeping princess. He gently kissed her cheek and whispered into her ear:
“Goodbye, Cadence. I’ll make sure that you’ll be happy for the rest of your life, no matter how long that may be.” He stood there for about a minute, debating whether or not he should go through with trying to find the magical scepter.
What the hell am I doing? he thought to himself. I can’t just leave Cadence. I’m going to be a father in about four or five months. I can’t just abandon her and my kingdom to go off and find some magical stick that may not even exist. Plus, I’d be leaving was leaving without a plan or sense of direction. Can I really do that?
He thought back to his dream, and just how vivid it was. He could even remember what the others in his dream had been thinking and feeling. Cadence was wrong. In the end, they would all be miserable when his time finally came, all because he wasn’t special enough to have a stupid pair of wings.
His mind made up, Shining Armor put on a black cloak to cover his face and cutie mark so that nopony would recognise him. He took one last look at Cadence, then silently trotted out of the room and closed the door behind him.
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After carefully packing bits and food for his journey, Shining Armor set off silently towards the Crystal Library. His dark cloak completely concealed his presence under the moonlight. It was still very early in the morning, which meant he couldn’t check out books. That left only one other option, one that greatly bothered his conscience. He would have to break in and steal them. Eventually, he trotted up to the large crystal doors of the library, and carefully picked the lock with his magic. Upon hearing a firm click, he gently opened the door and crept inside.
I can’t believe I’m actually breaking into a library. I must be losing my mind. No, I need to focus. Get in, get the books, and get out. Twily always says that studying is the key to success. If I want to be successful, I’m going to need all the help I can get.
He cantered over to the directory as he tried to remember everything his sister had taught him about the Mulely Decimal System. Shining was surprised at how easy it was, as it only took him a few minutes to find several books of interest, and there were quite a few, The Three Gifts of Hearth's Warmth, The Curse of the Harmony Gems, Daring Do: Crusaders of the Lost Scepter, Royal Treasures, and The History of Gaia: The Crystal Queen and Princess of Nature.
“Sweet.” he whispered to himself. “Now, all I have to do is find them.”
He turned his neck and looked at the huge shelves of books before him.
It’s a good thing this place is not nearly as big as the one from my dream.
-----------
He gazed out the window of the train as he saw his kingdom disappear in the distance.
After “borrowing” a few books from the Crystal Library in the dead of night, Shining Armor took the late night train to Canterlot. While skimming through Royal Treasures, he found a section about the Honesty Gem. Apparently, it was in one of the display cases in Canterlot Castle.
He sat on the moving train with the dark cloak still covering his face and cutie mark. Beside him were five stolen library books. The library had recently been working on updating their collection to make up for the thousand-year time gap. Because of this, many of the books he stole were extremely out of date, but he did manage to get some more recently published works.
He tried reading one of the books, but eventually started to drift off.
"Come on Shining, just a little bit...more. Just... a..."
He closed his eyes for a moment, but when he opened them then opened them the lights in the car had changed into a light blue. He saw the car door open before him to reveal none other than Princess Luna. Shining smirked inwardly. Of course, I’m dreaming. Slowly, the Princess walked over to Shining Armor’s seat and glared angrily at him.
"What doth thou have to say for thy betrayal, Prince Armor?"
He groaned audibly. Why can't I even go to sleep without some pony invading my dreams?
Shining Armor looked up at Luna and returned an angry look of his own.
"How did you know? I thought you only looked into the dreams of troubled ponies?"
"Maybe it hath to do with the fact that thou art a troubled pony, Shining Armor. And you are about to be in even more trouble when my guards arrest you at the station tomorrow morning.”
“But I’ve done nothing illegal!” he said, voice raised.
“YOU HAVE ABANDONED MY NIECE!” Luna shouted in her Royal Canterlot voice. “YOU HAVE ABANDONED YOUR KINGDOM! ALL FOR YOUR OWN SELFISH ENDEAVORS! YOU WILL KILL YOURSELF TRYING TO ACHIEVE WHAT HUNDREDS HAVE TRIED TO DO AND FAILED! I SHALL TELL THEE ONCE, AND ONLY ONCE! RETURN TO THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE AND FORGET ABOUT THE SCEPTER!”
"You don't understand, Princess! I can't get the images of them crying out of my head! I'm guessing you saw my dream last night, which means you saw everything that she showed me. How can I live my life knowing that none of them will ever grow old with me?! Worst of all, once they get over their grief, they'll forget all about me! It’s not like I wanted them to mourn me for the rest of my life, but I don’t want my existence to mean nothing to them either!”
Luna paused for a moment before speaking.
"I know of your dream, Shining Armor, at least parts of it. Whoever entered your dreams was trying to suppress me. If that really was my sister, I doubt she would try and block me, unless she didn’t want me to intervene.”
“What do you mean ‘if’, she’s your sister? Am I to believe that you can’t recognise your own sister, or have you just forgotten her, just like Twilight and Cadence will forget me thousands of years form now?”
“I MEAN I’M NOT SURE!” Luna boomed. “It looked like her and it sounded like her, but the pony I saw didn’t act like the sister I remember from my past. Need I remind you that I just spent the last thousand years stuck on the very rock I was given dominion over by my father himself? While my thoughts were clouded by darkness, the good in me held on to her memory. Her death played a big part in my turn to the dark side. That fact that you even suggested I have forgotten her is an insult!”
Shining was left utterly speechless at how Luna was able to transition from angry to downright furious, then straight to calm.
She began to speak softly.
"You left my niece in search of your own selfish desires. You can justify it any way you want, but in the end your quest is nothing but a greedy crusade. Pray tell, what will happen to Cadence and Twilight if you die right here, right now? I'm pretty sure that your untimely and preventable death will be more heartbreaking than any possible future that was shown to you.”
Shining Armor glared at Luna with scorn in his eyes.
“Maybe you're right, but I can’t turn back now. I want to be with Cadence and Twilight forever. If neither of them can die from old age, then I’ll never see them again in the afterlife unless something bad happens to them, and I don’t want that to happen. Becoming an alicorn is the only way I can ever find peace again.”
Luna’s expression changed from one of anger to sympathy, but the fire in her eyes did not leave her. Although she could understand his pain, she knew that his task wasn’t any less foolish.
“Celestia and I have often debated our father's true purpose for bringing the scepter into this world. He told us it was a ‘gift’, but For two thousand years, it has caused nothing but pain and suffering for this land. Everypony who's ever sought out the staff has met a terrible end.”
“Each of the Harmony Gems are protected by a spirit. These spirits are what give the Elements of Harmony and it’s bearers their power. By calling upon a gem’s power, you call upon the spirit of the element it represents. Once summoned, they will evaluate your to find all the times you showed kindness to others or demonstrated acts of loyalty. They will also evaluate all the times you were greedy, or were bitter towards other ponies. Then they will teleport your soul to their realm, where you must pass a trial of their own design. No pony has ever returned from that realm once brought there.
“This is why your efforts will only cause more pain. Even if you managed to find all gems and locate the scepter, you will never be able to power it unless you are proven worthy of all six attributes of harmony. Now, Shining Armor, I must ask, do you still feel confident in your goal knowing that you might end up bringing your family more pain should you fail?”
Shining Armor sat in his chair and thought for a while. Everything Luna said made sense, but at the same time he felt like he at least had to try. Then, he thought of an idea.
“I’ll prove to you that I’m the one.”
Luna’s poker face betrayed her slightly, as a hint of surprise befell her at the stallion's confidence.
“Please tell us how thou intends to do that.”
“I read in one of these books that the Gem of Honesty is locked in Canterlot Castle. If you bring the gem to me in Canterlot, I could take the trial in a controlled setting. That way, if anything bad starts to happen to my body, you can pull me out. If I return from the spirit world with the gem’s power, that will prove that I’m the one destined to wield the scepter.”
Luna thought about this for a moment. “As a former Bearer of Honesty, I think I could convince the spirit to return your soul to the realm of the living should you fail. If, in fact, you do fail the first trial, promise me you will give up this quest and go back to Cadance.
Shining Armor nodded. “I promise, Princess, but could you promise me one more thing?”
“What is that?”
“Please don’t let Twilly or Celestia find out what I’m doing.”
The Lunar Princess closed her eyes and let out a loud sigh.
“I promise.” she said. “I will meet you tomorrow nigh, along with the gem.”
“But how will I find you?” Shining asked.
She smirked.
“You won’t. I’ll find you.”
Really good, bro. MOAR!
EXPOSITIONEXPOSITIONEXPOSITIONEXPOSITIONEXPOSITIONEXPOSITIONEXPOSITIONEXPOSITIONEXPOSI—
Dude... You just TOLD us everything... Very awkwardly. Plus there were numerous punctuation errors, and the dialogue felt stilted and awkward. That word describes his whole chapter... Awkward.
I'll stick around for another chapter, just because this is such a damn interesting premise, and not nearly enough stories are taking in this new fact that everypony Shining Armor loves is now immortal ( although I still don't believe she is).
But you need to step up your game a little. Get someone who can edit for stagnant dialogue and telling as well as grammar.
Please know I'm not trying to be mean. This story has hella potential, and I want to see t succeed.
Who's Crystal?
2213211 Crystal Sword from the dream sequence. Shining's future son.
2213202 Who says that was everything? And yes I'll admit this chapter had a crap ton of exposition. Nowhere to go but forward now.
2213202 I agree with you...give or take.
The premise of the story is very interesting and I would love to see this story succeed but all of these grammar and spelling errors are really making it hard for me to continue reading. I suck at spelling and grammar yet I still noticed a lot of errors, that should tell you something. Either fire your editor(s) and get a new one or find like four more because I can only tolerate two more chapters with that many mistakes. DO BETTER.
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PS: Brownie points if you caught the Fallout Equastria reference that I bluntly shoved in your face.
I like the concept so far its very interesting and has extreme positional can't wait till the next chapter
MOAR!!!!!!!
2215741
Okay, here's an odd question. Can you model one of the trials like the Silent Realm trials in Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword?
2218097 If it fits the element, than i'll consider it.
2218097
That's a really good idea
You know, I never got why most assume that Luna was the element of Honesty. As Nightmare Moon she changed her shape and said she was the shadow bolts. Celestia can be vague at times but I don't ever think she out an out lied.
Wow. This fic sucks. it's a piece of garbage. i have taken shits with more artistic merit than this trite!
2228242 An interesting conclusion. Care to elaborate.
Edit: I see you just created your account today. And you just happen to come across my story. You have nothing in your favorites and are waching no one. My conclusion. You are the troll who has been creating accounts and down voting my stories. I don't know who you are or why you keep creating these accounts, but I'm going to make sure you can never bother me again.
ISHINNINGDIGGY.
I asolutely love the concept you have, but the execution is horrid! Dialogue was extremely choppy, I think you missed about ten question marks, ridiculous shifts in voice happened more than once, and there was a whole ton of telling and not showing! Your editor needs to start either doing a better job or existing.
2244321 You don't know how many times I have made that mistake. I guess one got me. As for showing and telling, I think I did give two much away in chapter 2. I think there are some choppy dialogue moment's but overall I think it has a good flow to it. Thanks for the fave.
2244769
You're welcome, I suppose. I'd offer to help with some of the mistakes, but lack of a computer defeats me once again.
this is a really good Story. Can't wait for the next chaper. Keep up the good work
I'm loving this story so far! It's a really good premise, having Shining Armor as the protagonist and worrying about the future when he'll die and how the two most important mares in his life will live on. It's very well written as well.
The whole nightmare scene in the opening was terrific! The back story about the scepter of harmony and how Celestia, Luna, and the elements came to be was pretty creative as well.
And I LOVE Entropy! He's super dark and evil, yet you still make him funny! I love the concept of his powers, and in the times you've had him up, I've seen references to N. Tropy from Crash Bandicoot, Freddy (with the sweater and hat) from Nightmare on Elm Street, and Lex Luthor from Superman Returns (WRONG! ) That whole part in chapter 2 in his realm was both threatening and hilarious! At first though, I was predicting that he was planning on using Shining Armor to get the sceptor himself... but we'll see how his plan here turns out.
My one tiny problem is that if no pony has ever passed even ONE of the trials, how can Shining have any hope at all? Surly some ponies must have survived one or two of the trials, right?
And I like the role you're using Princess Luna for here, about to help Shining out a little!
I am just loving how this story is going so far, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next chapter!
2256232 That first reference was an accident. I never played any of the Crash games. The other two where intentional.
edit: I'm glad you like this story. I'm going to get chapter three up this week. The Trial of Honesty will commence soon.
Fuuuuuu this story is going great so far! c: I've been wondering the same thing about Shining, I mean, what are his thoughts about having now, not only an Alicorn wife, but a sister too? this story is giving me a great alternate answer *3*
The way you're portrating Discord's brother is marvelous~ a very cool oc! keep on doing the great job c: can't wait for next chapter!
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for the record, this is BS at at least one level. the dead don't suffer. the living must endure. luna's heart may be stone form experience, but I believe Candace and twilight to be fresh in this regard. to lose some one so early on would be just as damaging...
Huh. Love the Luna rant. Wow.
" You left my niece in search" has a missing starting quotation mark when luna speaks
in mr burn's voice this is very interesting
my wallpaper that came up while reading this showed the earth and sun....coincidences!
I see you are replacing Entropy with Gaia herself. This setup certainly makes things more interesting ...
I wonder if she has some wicked motives. I wonder why she would not communicate with Luna. You know what I think? I think she'll try to act good and guide Shining on his journey, and then when he gets far enough, she'll go all Nicole on his ass and reveal her true intentions!
0:52-1:34
And I like how so far we don't know what she's really thinking, or if her reasons are for good or evil intentions. It's not like with Entropy who's an outright villain, and he had a whole scene to show it.
Can't wait to read more and see how she turns out!
I wonder if you'll have some form of Death appear in this story.
This is amazing. This story really draws you in I can't wait to read the read.
Four or five months? Was there a several month time skip between the last chapter and this one? Shining and Cadence just found out about the pregnancy last chapter. Even if you're going with a more human-like pregnancy of nine months there should be some outward physical signs if Cadence is four months into her pregnancy.