Harmony & Ruin: Book One The Past Returns

by Baronchaos

First published

Ever wonder how Princess Celestia and Luna have come to know about the elements, or if the had other close friends in their past? During a planetary alignment something from their past begins to awaken.

Ever wonder how Princess Celestia and Luna have come to know about the elements, or if the had other close friends in their past? During a planetary alignment something from their past begins to awaken. It's up to Twilight and company as well the Princesses to stop this upcoming catastrophe, but how can they stop it when the driving force behind it knows more about the elements than they do?

Cover done by me

Edited and Co-written by KitsuneTurner
The story is also posted on her fanfiction site here show her some love if you can :]

This is my first fiction so I'm sure I'll make a few mistakes as well as a few add-ons if needed

Prologue - Signs of Awakening

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Harmony & Ruin Prologue - Signs of Awakening

Pinkie Pie walks into the room quietly and pulls out a loud speaker - MY LITTLE PONY FRINDSHIP IS MAGIC BELONGS TO HASBRO NOT BARONCHAOS OR KITSUNETURNER!
OKAY? THANKS! BYE! -Waves at the audience before floating off with some balloons around her waist-
All Original Characters belong to KitsuneTurner and BaronChaos.
This story is a co-op between me and my best friend.
Written & Illustrated by BaronChaos; Co-writer & Editor KitsunerTurner

Prologue

Deep within the castle walls of Canterlot lays a room hidden away from all. In this dark chamber a light starts to seep in through the doorway partially lighting the of old books covered in dust and cobwebs where scatted across the room. The walls have a few stained glass windows filling the room with even more light; once the room was full of sunlight three crystal orbs can be seen in the center of the chamber. Each has a different glow to it. The one on the right glows blue while the images inside the orb made ripples like the surface of water. The orb on the left glows with a light grey while the orbs seemed to contain clouds of smoke, while the center orb glows a fiery red while appearing to be molten lava.
Two shadows appear creeping in through the doorway; slowly the shadows become familiar silhouettes belonging to the two princesses of the land, Celestia, an alicorn of pure white with an ethereal mane and tail of pastel rainbow coloring, and Luna, a midnight blue alicorn whose ethereal mane and tail that matches the night sky. They slowly entered the chamber in order of birth, Celstia followed by Luna. As they wandered into the room they both looked around with eyes full of memories and sadness.
"It has been a while since we have been down here dear sister." Spoke Luna breaking the silence that filled the room.
"Yes it has been a long time," Celestia said in agreement with her younger sister.
Luna sighed and said, "If only our old friends could be here to see how Equestria has come along since then."
"I know Luna, but it was their decision to do this, now come along we must get ready for the celebration every pony is throwing for the approaching planetary alignment."

The two sisters took one last long look before they slowly moved towards the doorway. As they were making their way towards the exit, an unusual sound stopped them in their tracks. It was coming from behind them, now the noise was not unfamiliar to them, but it did fill them with worry. The two turned around to see that two of the orbs in the center of the chamber had started forming cracks along the surfaces. Celestia's and Luna's eyes widen and quickly looked at each other.
Celestia then said with great urgency, "Luna go and ready the guards, while I summon Twilight and her friends." They both nodded in agreement and left the chamber in great haste.

Chapter 1 - Tales of Old Friends

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Chapter 1: Tale of Old Friends

In the skies of Equestria flew a Chariot be pulled by Pegasus royal guard hastily making headway towards the nation’s capitol with six important ponies as its passengers.

“Who said that?” asked a confused pink earth pony mare with a curly, dark pink mane and tail. Her blue eyes frantically scanning the skies around her to find the source of her disturbance.

“Why are you describing everything I’m doing strange talking person?” asked the pink mare.
“Pinkie what in Equestria are you talking about now?” a cyan blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail asked giving her friend a questioning look.

“Oh nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about,” Pinkie Pie said with a toothy smile, as Rainbow Dash gave her a question look. The chariot continued to travel across the sky quickly making its way towards Canterlot.

“Why do you think Princess Celestia would summon us to the castle just before the festivities?” asked a white unicorn with a stylized deep purple mane and tail.

“I don’t know Rarity, but it must be of great importance for her to send us a chariot,” and a violet alicorn with a neatly trimmed mane that consisted of three different shades of purple.

“Now Ah’m sure whatever it is we’ll be able to handle it, ain’t that right Fluttershy,” said the orange earth pony with a blonde ponytail mane and tail that wore a Stetson as she look at the cream yellow Pegasus with a long flowing pink mane and tail. She simply nodded in response.

“I hope you’re right Applejack,” said Twilight as she stared of into the distance as concern filled her eyes as there express flight to Canterlot continues.

~Canterlot Castle~

The sky chariot carrying the mane six soon arrived at the castle. Twilight and her friends disembark from the chariot, with a small chest in tow encased in Twilight’s aura, to be met by the princesses upon their arrival.

“Twilight I am glad you and your friends made it here safely,” the sun princess said.

“I am also glad to see you also brought the elements of harmony with you as well, we may have need for them.” Taking a quick glance at the floating chest behind the mane six.

“Princess Celestia what exactly is going on,” Twilight asks as she opens the chest passing out each element to their respected owner.

“Please follow us and we will explain to everypony once we arrive,” stated Luna as she and her sister start walking to the tower where the Elements of Harmony were once stored. They made their way down the hallway that lead to the vault, the same hallway that is lined with several stained glass windows depicting several key moments in Equastria’s history both in the past and fairly recent.

“Why are we headed towards the elements’ vault when we already have them,” Twilight ask to two sisters.

“Tis a simple reason Twilight, there is more here than meets the eye,” Princess Luna answered as her horn began to glow blue with magic. The floor tile before the vault door began to glow the same color as Luna’s magic aura, the sounds of shifting stone and gears could be heard echoing throughout the chambers.

“You see within these walls are secret from past that wasn’t supposed to be known about, until recently occurring events today.” Celestia told her former student and friends. Just then the floor started collapsing downwards forming an underground stairwell leading to some unknown chamber to the mane six.

“Oooh looks like Celestia has a secret that even I didn’t know about, now this I got to hear,” said a male voice that echoed through the hallway. In a bright, but brief, flash appeared a creature composed entirely of mismatches body parts from different animals. It could be none other than the spirit of chaos, Discord.

“I’m so glad to see you all again,” he said with a sly smile, “Oh and Twilight Sparkle the wings suite you oh so well. But back to the main topic here.” He turned his head towards Celestia while the rest of his body remained motionless.

“If you must know I will tell, but it not much of a secret for you, but it may make things easier to explain with everyone here.” Celestia stated turning towards the underground stairwell, followed closely by Luna, then by everybody else. They traveled down the staircase that was dimly lit by torches that magically ignited as the traveled downwards into the mountain.

A couple of minutes have passed as the trotted down stairs and a certain spirit of chaos patience’s meet its end.

“Oh this is taking too long,” the spirit of chaos complained, “Let’s speed up this walk.” And with a snap of his eagle’s claw the stairs became a slide beneath their hooves, every pony screamed in surprised at the sudden change of the floor, while Discord and Pinkie laughed on the way down the slide. The group slowly came to a skidding halt at the end of the slide ending up in front of an old oaken and iron door. Once everypony was back on their hooves almost everypony shoot a glare at Discord, while Pinkie was having a giggling fit from the fun she just had.

“WHAT!? I got us here faster,” Claimed Discord, as he floated towards the ancient door. Everypony mostly gave him a deadpan look while Celestia simply rolled her eyes. She then uses her magic to open the door revealing its hidden content to all who are present. The light from the hallway adds to the light that dimly lit the chamber. The mane six, Discord, and the princesses entered the room. There those who were unfamiliar here took in the sights noting what was stored there. The contents of the room consisted of various tomes and scrolls, three stain glass windows depicting a forgotten chapter of equestria’s history, and at the center of the room a pedestal stood, holding three crystal orbs glowing. The center one glowed a molten red, the orb on the left had a blue hue the shifted about like the surface of water, while the one on the right was as gray as a storm cloud with an occasional spark dancing through it. Two of the three orbs were partially covered in cracks that seem to be steadily getting worse while the red one was seemly unmarred. Twilight observed everything in this room and conclude one thing, everything in here was connected to whatever Princess Celestia had summon her and her friends here for.

“Princess what’s exactly is going on here, and why bring us to this hidden chamber,” Twilight asked in hopes to find the answer to the problem as soon as possible. For a brief moment the two sisters share a knowing glance with each other.

Celestia took in took in a deep breath and spook, “This chamber contains hidden memories, history, notes, and items of old and very dear friends of our who asked to have themselves be hidden away from Equestrian history.” Every pony stood there is silence wait for the sun princess to continue.

“It started around fifteen hundred yea-“

“Hold on,” the spirit of chaos interrupted, “is this about those three that use to hang out with us?” Celestia simply nodded in response. “I always wondered what happened to them, since all information about them seemed to disappear, this should be interesting to hear.” With a snap of his talon Discord manifested couch and bag of popcorn grabbing a handful then stuffing it into his maw.

“Please continue,” Discord said with his mouth full. Celestia glared at him then proceeded to tell her and her sister’s tale from long ago. “It all started fifteen hundred years ago long before the fall of the moon, before the loose of an empire, and even before the rise of chaos. Back when Luna and I were young, there was a war going on between Equestria and the spirits of Taturus. It has been a long tragic war it would be quite sometime before it would end, but not all things were terrible in that time for me and Luna had three friends we known since childhood.”

Celestia paused for a moment; she had a nostalgic look in her eyes of fond childhood memories. While Luna seem like she was trying to maintain a calm composure as she regal the others of this tale.

“Before I tell all of you this story let me tell of our friends who were involved in it. The first of our friends is an earth pony mare who loved the to dance for all before he and bring them joy, you could say her dance movements flowed like water. Her name is Dancing Waves, but aside from her dance skill she was also a great speaker of her time, but she always knew who to have fun. Then there is our Pegasus friend the fastest of his time, he was the one who created and started the legendary Sonic Rainboom, he always thought that action spoke louder than words but he was always true to his friends, our friend of the skies Overcast. Last but not least is Vulcan, a unicorn whose intelligence was ahead of his time, a prodigy of sorts. He heralds from a long line of craft ponies creating many magical relics, spells, and other assorted tools and formulas. His last known creation was the gates of Tartarus.

For the longest time we grew up together in a peaceful time until a rift appear unleashing evil spirits that caused havoc across the land, that very rift became known as Tartarus. All of the kingdoms fought together in a long war against the forces of Tartarus, it seem like the war would never end. Until Vulcan suggested to me, Luna, and the leaders of other kingdoms that he may have a way to stop the endless invasion, he could craft a spell and a relic to seal away the spirits. The first part of this was the construction of the relic, the gates of Tartarus. It took some time for the gates to be built, while that was happening Vulcan was working on the spell to trap the worst of Tartarus for getting past the gate, you could guess that he was under pressure.

None the less he manage to finish it the spell with the help of Overcast and Dancing Waves, but when we saw them after that they seem different, we tried to ask what happen but they told us it didn’t matter at the moment, we still don’t fully know what happened. It was time for the final enchantment to be placed on the gates, and Vulcan was the one who had to place it since only he could perform the complex spell while the rest of us covered him as he cast it. He use six mysterious gemstone in order to aid him in casting the spell, to say the least it worked not only did his spell sealed the gates it pulled in all the evil spirits and trapped them within the rift they came from.

The day after that decisive battle was a day of merry making for all, back it would not last long for some. There was a party that was being held in the castle consisting few nobles and their families, a few officers, Vulcan, Overcast, Dancing Waves, my sister, and I. the five of us got together just to talk and have a merry time, but then it happened. The three of them buckled over in pain or just collapse, at the same exact moment the ground violently began to shake. Panic was a bit rampant while Vulcan had a knowing look in his eye. He looked at us and apologize telling us that they were running out of time, that the three of them have become magically unstable and are affecting the environment around them. Vulcan proceeded to explain that this was an unexpected cause with the spell he was working on when he was trying to complete the seal on the gate. He also came to the conclusion to stop this instability from destroying we saved was to seal the three of them away in nature until they stabilized, but it would also mean that we never see them again.

It was the only option we had, since me and Luna had yet to discover Vulcan’s notes that would lead us to the Elements of Harmony. Vulcan asked if he could be hidden in history so no one would try and prematurely break the seal or enter his hidden vault, of course the others asked the same so he wouldn’t be alone. As fate would have it unknown to them, that they would be remembered as an unknown legend passed on b the generations. Each was taken to a different location to be sealed away, place in a long slumber.

“Now you know our tale, but that is only the beginning,” Celestia finished her story. Luna then followed up by stating, “Ye, for you see it’s due to the fact that planets are starting to align with each other that the magical phenomenon of this event are affecting the seals that have been placed on the three all those years ago.”

“Sooo if the seal are breaking after all this time and you’re going to see friends you haven’t seen in a long time is that a good thing,” Pinkie asked in a single long winded breath, and a little confused. Celestia and Luna shared a brief glance a smile with each other at Pinkie’s optimistic viewpoint. Luna then answered her question, “Yes tis would be a good thing, but we do not now of the nature of what lead them to wanting to be sealed in the first place.”

“Which is why we are going to be cautious when we approach them,” Celestia conclude. “What do you mean by ‘we’ princess?” Twilight asked noticing the words her former mentor used. “It’s quite simple Twilight, Luna and I will be joining you in this adventure.” Celestia said with a smile.

“Not to complain or anything your highness, but wouldn’t it be better if the six of us went with our elements to deal with this,” asked Rainbow Dash. Celestia turned to look at the future wonder bolt and replied, “They are our friends, and it might help you if they saw some familiar faces, plus there may be some uncertainties that may occur, so Luna and I will be there to lend some assistance.”

“But if you two leave the castle won’t that cause a panic,” the lavender unicorn asked.

Celestia looked at her former student, “We are prepared for this, I made sure to cancel all appointments for the day, and just in case Discord will supervise the castle.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, I like the idea but it is quite unexpected of you to do so, just hope you don’t mind a little chaos in the castle when you get back,” replied Discord.

Luna’s horn was soon enveloped in a blue aura, the same aura cover the three orbs and levitated them off the pedestal that they rested on. “It’s best we disembark now, we’ve already mobilized the wonderbolts and some of the guard to poniville to monitor the Everfree forest for any anomalies."

“Yes while they are there, we will head out to the first location…” Celestai paused,

“Crescendo Clearing.”