Forging Hope

By Marching Thunder

Chapter 3

Canterlot

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The trip to Canterlot took a little over three hours for Midnight Dawn's chariot, and by the time she had arrived the guard she had accidentally knocked out had regained consciousness. Rather then flying though, he thankfully remained in the chariot and provided a source of conversation, allowing Midnight to catch up on what she had missed in the capital over the last year since she had left Celestia's tutelage to travel before settling in Ponyvillie.

When they did touch down finally Midnight did not fail to notice nor inquire as to another five chariots she spotted nearby.

"Those are for the others who have received summons from the princesses, now please hurry." Was the reply she got from the guards, leaving her to do little more than shrug and follow along into the castle.

She was lead through familiar halls that brought back a sense of nostalgia as she thought about her memories of living in the castle during her apprenticeship to Princess Celestia. The first year or so of that time had been spent on helping her manage to get a hold of her own power to the point where she could manage basic telekinesis and other magic without wide spread damage to the area being caused on accident. As they passed one particular set of windows, she felt a sense of chagrin as she noticed a rather large tree with windows sprouting from the white stone that made up the majority of the castle. She certainly remembered that day, Celestia had been there to watch her, but rather than reverse what she had done, she had refined the tree into a proper replacement for the tower it had consumed, much like the tree Midnight lived in at Ponyvillie.

Her retrospection was brought to a halt as her guards stopped and opened a set of doors that she recognized lead into a foyer that was adjacent to the throne room. When they didn't move to accompany her, Midnight went it alone and entered, only to her voices as she rounded a corner. One was vaguely familiar to her, but the rest she had never heard before as the doors closed shut behind her.

"Oye! I think somepony else just got here, maybe we can finally get on with this!" one called as she approached the sources.

"Silly, we're already going at this!"

"What do you mean, Streamer?"

There was no response from the voice called Streamer, so Midnight chose to round the final corner and see who awaited her.

What greeted her was a group of ponies made up of two pegasi, two earth ponies, and a single unicorn of various colors, though the pegasus with the rainbow mane seemed the most unusual of the lost.

"Ah hello, I'm Midnight Dawn," she greeted the group, mentally cursing herself as she once against felt like a little, timid filly back in magic kindergarten.

"Are you the one we been waitin' for?" asked one of the earth ponies, her coat a dark yellow and her mane and tail a light brown.

"I would guess so, but I didn't know you had been waiting, so I apologize for that. Still may I ask who you all are?" Midnight responded kindly, trying not to be railroaded by the earth pony so quickly. Her own anxieties were more than capable of running her mind off the tracks, she didn't need other ponies pushing her around verbally.

The earth pony seemed taken aback for a second as she reconsidered herself for a moment before replying. "Sorry about that, Miss Midnight. We've been cooped up in here for a while and I guess I kinda' forgot my' manners."

Before Midnight could accept the apology, the earth pony continued saying, "Anyways, my name's Applecider, the white pegasus here is Rainbow Sky, the yellow an' gray one is Humblefly, the pink one here is Streamer, and the unicorn is Dainty." each of the ponies made some form of acknowledgement as they were introduced and Midnight replied in kind, though she knew she had heard Rainbow Sky's name somewhere before.

After a few moments of awkward silence Midnight decided to start a new conversation by asking, "So all of you received summons from the princesses?"

There were a few nods before the one introduced as Dainty spoke saying, "Oh certainly, they came straight into my building and right to my door to tell me I needed to come along as 'my presence' was needed for something. They didn't even let me finish working before taking me out and bringing me along for that obnoxiously boring flight to here. Though now that I am in the capital, I must say it is quite nice." her story brought a few chuckles from the group as the pink pony, Streamer spoke up next.

"Oh they came straight into the party I was helping to host and told me I needed to come along. Boy none of the guests were happy that part of the entertainment was leaving, but what exactly do you do, when a bunch of big'ol guard ponies show up saying they need you to come along?"

"You fight them!" Rainbow sky replied enthusiastically, raising more than a few eyebrows amongst the group.

"Did you?" Humblefly asked.

"Well no... but-"

"Then you don't fight them," Humblefly cut in.

the two continued to debate the point as the others began to speak about how they had been picked up to come to Canterlot.

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Princess Luna watched from beside Princess Celestia as the image before them in the conjured mirror showed the six ponies introducing themselves and talking amongst each other.

"Do you think this is really the best solution for letting them get introduced to each other, sister?" Luna asked calmly.

"Yes, we need them to begin to know each other before we can possibly begin this..." Celestia replied, sadness tinging her voice as her composure wavered just a fraction.

"Even though you know they'll be unhappy with us?"

"That is a something we will have to deal with, and if they need to be unhappy with us in order to build friendship among each other, than it is necessary."

Luna didn't reply, but Celestia could feel her sister's displeasure simmer a bit at having to be a target of somepony's anger, no matter how trivial it was.

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After close to half an hour of waiting, the doors to the throne room opened, causing the entirety of the group to immediately turn and begin moving into the grand chamber. Midnight Dawn lead the group, with everyone else close behind her, though Rainbow Sky chose to slowly fly along behind her.

As they approached, Midnight could have sworn she caught a slight smile from Celestia, but didn't acknowledge the possibility as she stopped roughly thirty feet from the twin thrones and bowed, the rest of the group following suit in short order.

Before anypony of the group could acknowledge the princesses, Celestia took the initiative and spoke first, cutting off any chance the rest of the ponies had to speak.

"Thank you for coming, my little ponies. I deeply apologize for the long wait you had to endure before we were able to speak to you. I understand you that some of you may be unhappy with us, and that is just fine. So if there are no complaints or questions, We would like to tell you all why you all were summoned here."

At first there were no questions, but Applecider spoke up after a second to say, "Ah' beg your pardon, your majesty, but if you're gonna' summon six ponies from all corners of Equestria, shouldn't you be ready for them as soon as they arrive?"

Celestia smiled lightly at Applecider as she next spoke saying, "We were ready, Applecider, but a matter concerning why we summoned all of you arouse and demanded out immediate attention."

"Will we get to know what this item was?"

"In due time, Applecider, in due time. Now is there anything else?"

When there were no further questions, Celestia began to speak again, this time far more regal in her bearing. "I trust all of you know of the stories of the Elements of Harmony and the Defeat of Discord?"

Nods came from all the members of the group, some quicker then others.

"Very well then, The original bearers of the Elements of Harmony after myself and Luna were a group of ponies very dear to us and Equestria. Two unicorns; Twilight Sparkle and Rarity, two earth ponies; Pinkie Pie and Applejack, and two pegasi; Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash."

There was a pause, all of them had heard this information before, some of them even knew a bit about the significance of the names in relation to themselves, but Celestia continued on.

"The six of you have been summoned here because we need you to take upon yourselves the mantles those six ponies once carried as the Elements of Harmony. War is coming and Equestria will need you as heroes to defend herself from the forces that would destroy it."

Celestia stopped to let what she had said sink in as the six ponies worriedly began to look between each other. War? Such a thing was unheard of in over 1500 years of history! The worst they had seen were the rise of Nightmare Moon and Discord, both of which had been ended in less than a day.

"Something is gathering in the darkest corners of the world, my ponies, and neither just Luna and I will be enough to stop it, that is why we have had to call upon you. In addition to this, even as we speak I might add, the royal guards are increasing their training and stepping up their recruitment in an attempt to prepare for what is coming it is such a threat."

Celestia's speech seem to falter for a moment as she took a breath before saying, "All the signs that were predicted so long ago are falling into place, and we have little choice but to do everything we can to stop the coming tide."

The gathered ponies continued to speak to each other for several moments as worry creased their brows and showed in their tones. Midnight though, had had enough of the doubting, she was the Princess's pupil for a reason, and to the Princess who had given her everything, she was willing to return the favor. Stepping forward and away from the bickering group she spoke up saying, "I'll fight, your highness. I'll do whatever you need me to."

Princess Celestia seemed immediately relieved that Midnight had stepped up, but the ponies behind her did not, and this was vocally emphasized by a sudden protest from Rainbow Sky.

"What are doing, Midnight?! You're offering to go fight, and maybe even die! Are you stupid?!"

"Hardly, Rainbow Sky. I just realize how important this is. Don't you think that if the Princesses had another choice other than sending ponies off to fight and die they would immediately take that opportunity?" she shot back, the white pegasus immediately falling quiet.

"Well the princesses do seem to think it is quite important that they have our help so I think I could at least see what I can do..." Dainty spoke up before taking a few steps forward to join Midnight Dawn.

"This outta be exciting at least," was Streamer's remark as she stepped forward.

"Ah hay' I guess I just can't let you all go out there and risk your lives with out me to save ya' can I?" Applecider remarked as she came forward.

Humblefly didn't make any immediate comment as she flitted forward on her wings to join the group.

"Humblefly come on! You hate fighting more than anypony else, why are you doing this?!" Rainbow sky demanded.

"B-because it's the right thing to do..." the butter and ash colored pegasus replied.

That remark seemed to draw a silence from Rainbow who gave a huff of defeat and looked away for several seconds before looking at the ground and dead-panning.

"Fine."

At that the whole group was together and ready, and to signal it, Midnight spoke up saying, "We're ready, Princess celestia, Princess Luna, what do you need?"

They were greet by a pair of smiles from the two princesses who then began to speak.