*Chapter 12*

Reign of Elements

Princess Fimbulvetr paced the length of the marble-floored chamber with equal measures of impatience and agitation. While she knew it was entirely within Sendor's nature to do things at his own speed, she remarked at how he could even seemingly put off a task as important as this. And only after this last thought did Sendor finally emerge from his chambers. He was clad in his pitch-black battle armor; which covered his torso, his flank, and his hooves, though strangely, he chose to omit his helmet. "Sendor, is there really a need for this?" She asked forlornly.

Sendor walked a few paces past Fimbulvetr before responding, "There is always need, sister. There remains only the matter of when it arises."

Fimbulvetr knew there was no reasoning with her brother when it came to his rather prophetic method of thinking. She did, however, find opportunity to prod him about their current task at hoof. "So I take it that your well-taken time in preparation should attest to your awareness of today's importance?"

Valentinian stared recollectively into space for just a moment before saying, "The importance of this day, nor its gravity is lost upon me, sister. It was one year ago today that Celestia killed our mother."

This, of course, is the truth as Valentinian sees it. However, the actual events differ greatly from his interpretation.

Exactly one year ago today, Fimbulvetr and Sendor's mother, Princess Celesty, had received an urgent call for her aid. It was not too long before this that on the continent of Equestria, a small earth pony village had started to form. However, their tiny village was just on the edge of a dangerous part of the land known as the Everfree Forest. Just weeks after the villages' founding, strange happenings began to plague the hapless ponies. Reports varied from ponies being overtaken by bouts of magically induced dementia, poisoning of their water supply, and ponies milling into the forest and never coming out again.

The great irony here of course, is that the castle of the two sisters just so happened to reside in the heart of The Everfree Forest. It was the earth ponies' belief that this being as close to the castle as they could possibly build, they would be afforded the protection of Princess Celestia's all-seeing gaze. And while Celestia of course knew of the small village's existence, she did not foresee, however, the great danger the forest would prove to it's inhabitants.

Before long, news of the ponies' distress had reached her door; the latest report stating that the Everfree Forest seemed to be...expanding, and rapidly. So Celestia and Luna at once set off for the very heart of hearts of the forest. It was there in the desolate cave did they discover the source of the forests' magic. A great rift had been torn in the heart of the cave, and through it, invading chaos flowed unchecked. It was this malevolent force that was causing the rabid expansion of the Everfree Forest. And if left to it's own, there was little doubt that it would soon cover all of Equestria.

There was a long and tremendous struggle as Luna and Celestia attempted to stem the flow of dark magic. They tried barrier spells first, but no shield was strong enough to hold back the flow. And then they tried to seal the great rift shut again, but the seal refused to hold. With all their efforts exhausted, Luna and Celestia weighed what little options they had left.

"Sister," Luna huffed. "Our efforts are but in vain. Perhaps now is the time we-"

"I know," Celestia said simply. "But in enacting this endeavor, we will initiate a chain of events that will threaten the well-being of Equestria." Celestia was lost in moment of thought, a moment that spanned over the next two thousand years. She knew that the only solution to this danger was both undesirable and unavoidable. And their only hope. She focused her mind as the interminable eons spread out before her.

Three weeks from now Luna's grief over a deeply personal loss would cause her lash out against her and transform into a being called "Nightmare Moon". And on that very night, Celestia would use her newly acquired Elements of Harmony to imprison her inside the moon. Nine hundred and eighty years after that, a powerful unicorn named Twilight Sparkle would be born. She would carry the spark that would again unite the elements against Nightmare's return. Twenty years later, Nightmare Moon returns to earth and is vanquished by the bearers of harmony.

And in another nine hundred and seventy-three years, the next unicorn destined for alicorn ascension would be born; the bringer of the summer's blaze. And on exactly the two thousandth year of this day today, Nightmare Moon would rise again, and Celestia herself will be banished into her own sun. And it was from there that Celestia's visions began to falter. There was only but so much of the future she could foresee, and as dire as the events to follow showed themselves to be, they were much more desirable than the alternative here and now.

Celestia drew breath as she resigned herself to the worst. "I will contact Princess Celesty, and ask of her aid."

And in no more than an hour the dire plea for help, as conveyed by one of her unicorn guards, had reached Celesty's ears."I understand," she said solemnly. "You may go." The guardspony bowed his way out of Celesty's presence and left her to contemplate her course of action. Celesty stared out of her grand gilded chamber window and out onto the realm that she ruled over, the city of Saba.

Celesty had sat the throne here for twenty-two years. Twelve of those years were with her husband, Valentinian II, who perished overseas in a great conflict in the north; the White Mountains. The battle was waged over a powerful weapon that was thought to bring unlimited strength and knowledge of all magic to it's wielder. However, the weapon was never found, and Celesty's husband was lost, as she saw it, for nothing.

Over time, Celesty put aside her sorrow, and renewed her devotion to her realm and her two children. Celesty, as she had often been told by many an admirer, bore a rather striking resemblance to Princess Celestia. (And in that regard, even their names were similar.) Like Celestia, she was very tall, with a slim body and long, slender legs. Her coat was the same hue of white, but of a slightly different saturation. As Celestia's coat radiated light and warmth, Celesty's was more akin to a mass of pure white ice. Her hair, long white and somewhat wispy, fluttered with but the gentlest of breezes. And most remarkable (and it can be seen as somewhat frightening) of all, were her eyes. They were a solid ice-blue, with no pupil or iris to be seen. And her cutie mark was a five pointed star burst with each point supporting a different colored jewel, with a sixth resting in the center. This mark was a reflection of her greatest achievement.

For Celesty was the creator of the Elements of Harmony.

Knowing all too well of the strife that had befallen their Equestrian neighbors, with the three pony tribes at each others throats over food shortages, weather control, and territorial squabbles, Celesty did not want the same fate to come over her continent of Eudora. Although the Eudorian ponies exhibited no such signs of discord, Celesty wanted to create something that would ensure everlasting harmony in her realm.

And so Celesty took to the streets of Saba, in an effort to observe and garner exactly what instilled harmony in ponies. And she saw many different things. The first examples were her pegasus guards, which accompanied her every step of the way on her trip through the city, showing an unyielding loyalty to their princess and her cause. And later, a rather ragged looking husband and wife pair of earth ponies hobbled up to a food vendor carrying a loaf of bread, which the stallion admitted to stealing from the vendor without his notice. For his wife insisted that, even though they were poor and hungry, she would consume no ill-gotten food or wares. Celesty made note of her unbridled honesty. And the pony vendor, showing infinite generosity, did not reclaim his stolen goods and shoo them away, but filled a basket with bread and fruit and wished them well.

later in the day, Celesty happened upon a rather raucous game of community tag being played amongst the young fillies and colts of this particular neighborhood. Their laughter rang like music in Celesty's ears. But, however young they seemed to be, the fact that there was the sudden presence of royalty in their midst did not escape their notice. Their game stopped almost at once as their eyes went wide and misty and adopted rather hasty bows that dipped their heads to the ground. Then again; being so small to begin with, their heads did not have very far to travel to said ground. The adult ponies of course paid their respects in turn, and Celesty was sure to return every bow with one of her own. And then one of the tiny earth fillies poked her foreleg with an endearingly juvenile abandon. As Celesty turned her attention towards her, the young filly offered her a fragrant white flower. "I picked this because I thought it was as beautiful as you are," she squeaked. "And we all really miss Price Valentinian, we know you loved him very, very much..."

"Oh dear child..." Celesty was honestly and unexpectedly moved by the young fillies' kindness. She lit her long spiral horn and levitated the flower to tuck in a snug spot behind her ear. "Thank you each and every pony," Celesty said to the crowd. "I have learned much on this day about what brings harmony to ponies, and I shall use this knowledge justly." Celesty bowed again to the crowd of ponies, who all returned the gesture. "I believe I have everything I need," she said to her pegasus guards. "Let us return to the castle." And so as Celesty spread her wings to take flight, her guards flanked her either side as they escorted her across the sky and back to the grand marble staircase that lead to the castle's front gates.

Upon landing, Celesty was met by a small number of her mares in waiting, and, more desirably, her two two children. Celesty politely dismissed her mares in waiting and turned her attention to her unicorn offspring.

Sendor Valentinian, the older of the two by three years, and inheritor of his father's great name. Like his father, his coat was a pale palomino, dappled with black spots. His mane and tail were black as onyx, and his eyes followed suit. His cutie mark was a pony battle helmet with fierce glowing eyes. Sendor was the more outspoken of the two, never hesitating to make his opinions and intentions clearly known; and he was even more adamant about carrying them out.

Fimbulvetr, on the other hoof, had inherited her mother's genes. Her coat was the same hue of icy white, and her mane curled in elegant ringlets about her neck. Her eyes, always seeming to be calculatingly narrowed, were a gentle, but sharp powder blue. Fimbulvetr was much more reserved than her older brother. In royal court sittings, she would often choose to stay quietly observant and have everypony else do the talking. She was, however, more than capable of sweeping rhetoric and awe-inspiring speeches. More than a few of her words have been emblazoned on marble plaques to inspire the common ponies.

Celesty took them both into account as she began her speech. "Today I have learned much about the existence of harmony in our country, this same harmony, however, is far from a tangible thing. I wish to change that. I wish to create a physical embodiment of these elements that make up harmony. But an endeavor such as this may be outside of my power alone. That is why I need your help in creating them."

"An embodiment of harmony...?" Sendor was clearly interested, but clearly confused at the same time. "How is it you that we may help you achieve this, mother?"

"By lending me your strength, both of you. I of course would not ask this of either of you if I did not feel that you were more than up for the task."

"But of course we will help," Fimbulvetr said. "Harmony everlasting throughout the country of Eudora; is there not a more just cause?"

"Thank you, my children. Now please, follow me."

And so Celesty led them through the comfortably carpeted halls of Saba castle until the arrived in the grand throne room where Celesty herself sat court. There would be adequate room here for the task at hoof. Sendor and Fimbulvetr watched in somewhat of a polite confusion as their mother ambled about this way and that; back and forth, as though trying to gather herself and her thoughts.

And at last Celesty came to a halt, her idea reaching affirmation in her mind. She cat her horn aglow and from beneath her throne floated a wonderfully gilded chest. She opened the chest, and using the same magic of levitation, retrieved the contents therein. They were six finely hewn gemstones of pure white color. They had belonged to her mother, and her mother before her, all the way back to generations that Celesty herself could barely remember. The stones were said to represent the six most important events in a Eudorian princesses' life; the first, was being born; the second, was receiving proper education; the third, was growing from a filly into marehood; the fourth, was marriage; the fifth; was having children; and the sixth and final, was death. Celesty was never sure which stone represented which step, as they were all identical, but it was a fact that every princess before her had bore a similar set of stones to the ones she carried now. For when the sixth and final act of a princesses' life came to be, the six stones were forged into a necklace, and the deceased princess be laid to rest wearing them, taking her earthly accomplishments with her to the afterlife.

But Celesty had another idea.

The six stones before her would serve as the catalyst for generations of harmony to come, rather than simply rotting away in musty old tomb. But how to start this process... Celesty knew she would need magic, lots of it, but something else as well. Something that she herself did not posses alone. She thought back to all the thing she had seen on this day ad came to her conclusion. She turned to face her offspring, floating the six white stones just in front of her. "The time has come," she said. "Are you ready to begin?"

Sendor and Fimbulvetr nodded. "Then join your power unto mine and be known as the creators of harmony!"

The three ponies focused their magic into a single focal point. Sendor's glowed bright red, Fimbulvetr's a soft pearl, and Celesty's light blue. Though Celesty herself was quite powerful, she was not experienced at handling this much unicorn magic at once. But along with their power, her two children offered her their focus. She could feel their minds joining with hers to create the focus necessary for this endeavor. The rest of Celesty's thoughts were on everything that she experienced today. The five examples of harmony that she witnessed. Loyalty. Honesty. Generosity. Laughter. Kindness.

But there was something else, something that connected these things, something that held them all together. And then it hit her. All of these traits shared something in common, although different, they were all united by a similar spark. And that spark...was magic.

Celesty focused her mind twofold as her epiphany took hold. The great mass of collected magic had grown to quite the size as it took on more and more of Celesty's thoughts. It was at this point that Sendor and Fimbulvetr had given all that they could give and slumped wearily to the floor, exhausted of most of their magic, leaving Celesty to handle the mass alone.

The enormous amount of magic Celesty was trying to control was threatening to lose its stability and possibly explode. But she tightened her body and strained her mind and formed the mass into a brilliant sphere, that radiated with the intensity of the three colors of magic within it. And then, one at a time, Celesty introduced each of the gemstones into the sphere of magic. Each was consumed with a flash and the sphere began to spin faster and faster. When the sixth stone was added, the sphere had reached a level of volatility that seemed beyond her mastery. Celesty was exhausted, her body drained from having her muscles clenched for so long; her mind a riot of thought, and color, and desperation.

And then the magic took on a life of it's own. It left Celesty' control completely as it spun faster and faster, it's revolutions nigh innumerable. And then there was a blinding and brilliant flash. The light traveled the length of the throne room and well beyond it. The three ponies had to shield their eyes from it's intensity.

And then the light was gone. And in it's place sat the six now enchanted gemstones. Though they retained their original shape, they had changed drastically in color. The stones floated just before them now at eye level. The first was blue; the second was orange; the third, strangely enough, had retained its original white color; the fourth was pink; the fifth was yellow; and the final gemstone was now a deep purple.

Sendor and Fimbulvetr looked to their mother as she walked with shaky legs to more closely examine the six stones that floated before her. "Loyalty," she said, taking the first stone into account. "Honesty. Generosity. Laughter. Kindness. And magic." Celesty sighed deeply. "It is done," she said. Then she toppled to the floor in utter exhaustion.

...

News of the royal families' achievement spread like a wildfire across Saba, soon there wasn't a pony in the city that had not heard of Celesty's greatest innovation. And it was from here and this point forward that Celesty became known as the Princess of Harmony. And through the magic of her newest creation, harmony spread widely over the country of Eudora. It was this time of peace and happiness that came to be known as the Reign of Elements.

But harmony, like all other things, could not last forever...

*End of Chapter 12*

A/N:

Yes, I am back. Gawd dayum it's been a while comin' huh? So what kept me away this time...strait up laziness, that's all there is to it. Well that, and life, work, getting my ass kicked at Friday night magic, getting my flank spanked at Tuesday night ponies (shout outs to Top Deck Games) and other non-related jargon. All I can say is that this chapter here is part one of three of Valentinian's flash back. Whether the next two chapters go up in a timely manner has yet to be seen, although the next chapter is quite a bit shorter than this one. I know I owe it to you guys, especially my followers, to keep a regular update schedule, and I'll do my best to adhere to that promise. 'Till then, I'll see you around.

B.D. Skunkworks