Prologue
Once upon a time, there was a land far away from Equestria called Greavania. It was a land not unlike Equestria, with earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi. Unlike Equestrians, though, Greavanians were a warrior culture with a rich military history. The inhabitants were masters of every weapon and fighting style. One of their best schools, in fact, was called the Element Sword School. True to its name, it taught ponies how to fight using elemental swords.
One night, the grand master of the school, a unicorn named Furious Bellows-better known to his students as Master Fury-paced up and down, waiting for his elite guard. His scarlet red coat and jet black mane and tail shimmered in the moonlight. His dark orange eyes darted left and right.
He heard the door open, and grabbed his sword, Ignis. It glowed a bright amaranth as he swung it. "Who's there?"
Four cloaked ponies leapt into the room, each wielding a sword. They charged at Master Fury, but he easily parried each of their blows.
After a few minutes of fighting, Master Fury sheathed his sword. "So, I see even the elite guard holds back when fighting, huh?"
The first pony-a unicorn stallion-removed his hood, revealing his jet black coat, dark gray mane and tail, and blue-violet eyes. "We would never hold back against an enemy, Master." The other ponies nodded and removed their hoods as well.
"I see....state your names and the swords you wield."
"Shadow Cleave, wielder of Umbra." The black-coated stallion started.
"Frost Meteor, wielder of Terra." added a pegasus mare with an arctic blue coat, steel gray mane and tail, and azure blue eyes.
"Lila Sunlight, wielder of Lumini." put in a unicorn mare with a macaroon yellow coat, paprika red mane and tail, and coral pink eyes.
"Jackpot Thunder, wielder of Fulminus." finished a pegasus stallion with a navy blue coat, ebony black mane and tail, and hunter green eyes.
Master Fury nodded. "Good."
Shadow looked confused. "Why have you summoned us, Master?"
"I have had an interesting thought. Have you heard of Flora?"
"The Sword of Nature? Indeed," answered Frost.
"But no one in Greavania has been able to wield it," added Lila.
"No one in Greavania," repeated Master Fury. "But, perhaps....maybe an Equestrian might wield it well?"
Jackpot snorted. "Rubbish! Those friendship-loving diplomats couldn't know the difference between a sword and a knife!" The other three looked shocked.
"You do realize that Equestria has its own royal guard, right?" Frost asked him.
Jackpot scoffed. "Which hardly does anything these days. And let's not forget that princess of friendship-"
Master Fury gave him a disapproving look.
"Sorry, Master. You were saying?"
"As I was saying, an Equestrian may be able to wield Flora better than a Grevanian. Let us write a letter and send it to Equestria via arrow."
"But how will we know who is the right pony?" questioned Shadow. "For all we know, they might not even know how to hold a sword properly."
"Let's just write the letter and hope for the best," replied Lila. "If they don't know how to wield a sword, perhaps we can teach them."
The next day, the elite guard crowded around Master Fury as he wrote the letter.
"Dear Sir/Madam.....what should I say next?" he wondered.
"Perhaps," suggested Shadow. "you should explain why you're recruiting them."
"Maybe they're multi-talented?" added Frost.
Master Fury nodded and wrote down the words. "What else?"
"Not everypony is privileged to be invited to the Element Sword School. They should consider themselves lucky." grumbled Jackpot.
"This letter must be kept secret, so they should memorize the directions and destroy this letter," finished Lila. "We will be waiting for them."
"Sincerely, Element Sword School," finished Master Fury. He finished writing and used his magic to wrap the letter around an arrow.
Master Fury headed towards a tall tower. Here, one could see Greavania from a great distance. He took the bow and shot the arrow. It disappeared in the sky.
"Go forth, dear letter, and find our new wielder of Flora." said Master Fury. "They're our only hope..."