melodiesoflife | Jingling Bells

Entry tags:

[ou] shining armor

Jingling Bells

Who: Shining Armor and You
What: Shining Armor starts giving sleigh rides all across the area
When: From Dec 1st to the 23rd
Where: Aqures Ixen and Trano Golsaucia
Warning: Unicorns man

Shining Armor was really excited to do this. There was nothing he liked better than a little ponyride across the powder and snow. And thus being said, he had brought out the Sleigh.

With no chocobo of his own, he had decided to pull it, and strong as he was, was able to make a short trip here and there, giving people rides. He's all over the area this year, and giving people rides was a joy and a half.

"All right, everyone ready? Here we go!"

And they're off once again!

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"They shine?" She looked at him incredulously. "You're not exactly talking about a typical shiny coat and mane, are you?" She made a sad sound. "From the sounds of it, every world needs something like that Crystal Heart," the ninja said. Whether it was true magic or just a belief in it, both were powerful things.

"Your sister?!" Sheena shook her head in happy disbelief. "I meet two ponies from the same world, and they're related! What are the odds?"

"The crystals of the Empire glow with brilliant vibrance," said Shining, explaining as he trotted along. "There's a brilliant crystalline glow to everything when the power of the Heart is in full abundance."

"That's right. My little baby sister. She's a princess now too. I'm so proud of her."

Sheena shook her head. "How does the Heart work? You said it fills the kingdom with love, right? How does it do that? Through mana?" Everything is mana to her, Shining. Sorry about that.

"Wait. What do you mean 'now'? Wasn't she always a princess?"

"The people pour their emotions into it, their feelings of love, unity and peace and the Crystal catalyzes it into a tangible form that spreads across the kingdom. It's a very wonderful feeling." said Shining. "Mana is a part of it, as it's a magic force similar to Friendship."

"She ascended, into an alicorn a year ago," he explained. "When she was ready, my sister became one of the royal family so to speak."

Whoa. It was a real thing. But friendship as a source of magic? That was a new concept for the ninja.

But then again, maybe not. All of her friends had a special bond; whether it was magic or not, she knew that they could do amazing things when they were together. And would always be a part of each others' lives when separated.

"She ascended? The only time I ever heard that phrase was--" She paused. Shining Armor was her brother and only had a horn; that meant: "She was given wings, wasn't she?"

"Yeah she was. And alicorn physiology but the wings are the main thing. An alicorn is the combination of the traits of the three pony tribes, Earth, Pegasi and Unicorn." Explained Shining as he recalled what had taken place.

"She had to learn how to use her wings though, fortunately she had a good teacher."

Sheena shook her head in disbelief, her hot chocolate all but forgotten. "I just thought she was a unicorn with wings. She's an...alicorn?" She paused a moment. The idea of a body being transformed wasn't exactly new to her. "When we first met, she spoke about not having her magic and having to re-learn to do things the way Earth Ponies did. Something that would have been easy if she had just..." She stopped.

"An alicorn represents the Land, the Sky and all that's between, right?"

"Yeah that's right. Originally she was the Princess of Magic. But over time, Twilight found her calling as the Princess of Friendship." He grinned. "I'm so proud of my sister. Twilight found exactly what she was looking for."

Sheena drew back slightly in surprise. "Princess of Magic? Of Friendship? She doesn't rule over a kingdom or anything?" Although, considering the terms...

Her kingdom is the whole planet.

Sheena gave him a friendly smile. "I take it she wasn't sure what to do with herself? Asking 'why am I here'?"

Such a common thing among worlds.

"Princess Celestia and Luna rule over Equestria, and my wife Cadance rules over the Crystal Empire with me. My little sister doesn't actually have a set kingdom, but she does have a castle outside of Ponyville."

He nodded at the question and smiled. "Yeah, she can get pretty bored and ask questions all the time."

Sheena did a double-take. "Did you say 'Luna'? There's a Summon Spirit on my world with that name! I didn't think I'd hear that someone else would have it!" The names he's telling her are pretty and unique, making her want to visit his planet. After a moment of silence she smiled. "Let me guess. Since she's the Princess of Friendship, her castle is the Castle of Friendship?"

Hey, he had said she didn't have a kingdom, so it couldn't be Ponyville.

Her smile grew. "That's all right! I don't mind if she asks me questions. Although, I think I'm the one who did all the asking last time. And this time!"

"That's right, Princess Luna, the princess of the night and dreams." said Shining with a nod. There are a lot of similarities in names and such and he chuckled. "To be honest, I don't know what the castle is named other than knowing it's grown from a seed of the Tree of Harmony."

"Then totally ask away. I don't mind!"

"Princess of the Moon," Sheena murmured, recalling how her own Summon Spirit appeared to her. "Luna on my world is the Summon Spirit of the Light of the Moon, and Aska is the Spirit of the Light of the Sun." Another double-take. "Tree of Harmony?" Another tree?

"It wouldn't happen to supply your planet with any type of magical essence, would it?"

He did say the castle grew from a tree--sounded like magic to her.

"Back home Princess Celestia and Princess Luna control the sun and the moon," explained Shining. "And the Tree of Harmony created the Elements of Harmony, six artifacts that embody traits that create the magic of friendship."

"My sister and friends sent the physical embodiment of these traits back, but still retain the elements themselves."

This time, Sheena didn't even get her cup to her lips before she stared at the pony. "What do you mean 'control'? How do they control them?" Surely he was speaking figuratively, right? Being in charge of mana was one thing; moving celestial bodies quite another. "Elements of Harmony? And what traits?" She'd never heard of personality traits being elements before, but why not?

She considered his comment for a moment before saying, "They probably don't need those other items anymore because they're now the physical embodiments of the elements."

"Like they can actually move the sun and the moon," said Shining, gesturing to the sun overhead. "Princess Celestia moves the sun into our horizon every morning, and sets it every night. And Princess Luna moves the moon into position."

"As for the Elements, there is Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness and Magic. When the first five come together it makes the sixth which is Magic."

If Sheena had actually taken a sip of her drink, she'd be hitting Shining Armor with a spit take right now. "What? How? How is that possible?" She had seen some powerful magic in her lifetime, but nothing quite like that. Wait. "Are they connected to them somehow? Like the Spirits back home? They're connected to a different mana that only they can control?" She wasn't sure how it was possible, but it was the only thing she could think of.

She sat quietly as he listed the Elements of his world, thinking how they could be applied to those she had traveled with--and found that she could actually see one trait embodied above the others in all of them. And their resulting magic? That the peoples of two worlds who were supposed to hate each other didn't.

"That," she finally said, "sounds like something a lot of worlds need."

"As far as I can surmise, from not really being present for most of their uses, each of these traits are embodied within the gemstones, the Elements. But the users themselves, the six mares who had wielded them currently, my sister and her friends, also embody them." He tapped the ground. "Think of them as sort of amplifiers to the best facet of personality you have, and combine them into magic."

"I think so too," said Shining with a nod and smile.

Sheena nodded. "That makes a lot of sense." It also meant that they were connected to the gemstones in some way because really? There was no such thing as coincidence. Things happened for a reason. "How did they get these 'Elements' to begin with? Did they find them? Or did someone give them to your sister and her friends?" She'll ask about the magic part in a bit.

"Any way those gems can be duplicated and passed out?" she asked somewhat seriously. Maybe they could help this world, too somehow.

"They found them in the castle of the two sisters, after making a journey into the Everfree Forest. They intended to use them against Nightmare Moon, and wound up cleansing her into Princess Luna," explained Shining, given that he was in full on history at the moment.

"Afraid not. The Elements themselves are unique, and were placed into the Tree of Harmony where they were originally to prevent the Everfree from growing out of control." He added. "Maybe Twilight could get her Magic one back, but its fairly useless on its own without the others."

"The castle of the two sis--" Her eyes widened. "You mean Celestia and Luna, don't you?" From their conversation it only made sense. Princesses that control opposite times of day, a castle...they had to be sisters. But wait a second. "Nightmare Moon? That doesn't sound good. What happened to Luna that she became Nightmare Moon? Was she cursed?"

Sheena made a sound of disappointment. "That's really too bad. But, would the Forest really grow out of control?" She had a feeling he meant more than just a few extra trees here and there. After a moment's thought, she looked at the pony.

"Would she really need the other elements? What if she were to meet others with those same qualities? Wouldn't that be enough?"

"Yeah, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. As for Nightmare Moon, it's a long story. The basic gist of it is that over time, over 1000 years ago Luna got jealous of the ponies being out in the day and not enjoying her night, so eventually she proclaimed she was the Queen of the Night and changed into Nightmare Moon. She was imprisoned on the moon for 1000 years after she and Princess Celestia fought it out, wrecking the palace." Shining always remembered this story, having been told it by the Princess herself.

"Yeah it would. Not only the forest would grow out of control but seeds planted there by Discord before his defeat at the hands of the two Princesses even before Nightmare Moon took root, and the Tree of Harmony prevents its spread."

At Sheena's question, Shining tilted his head in thought. "It's... possible. Twilight connected once with human versions of her friends and created magic in another world. But to do it here would take a lot of effort."

Sheena stared at him incredulously. "It must have been hard for Celestia to do that. But, Luna really believed that the ponies didn't enjoy the night? When else can you take a moonlit stroll? Or dream amazing dreams? Or see the stars?" As a ninja, she had a soft spot for the night. She stopped and shook her head. "I take it she finally realized this? That the night has its own special beauty and magic?"

He did mean more than a few trees appearing. "You mean it turns into a jungle? And who or what is 'Discord'?" Other than another word for "chaos".

Sheena did a double-take. "Human versions? You don't mean people who acted like her friends, but were human in form?" She paused, only one word coming to her lips.

"How?"

"She did, but it took the Elements of Harmony to cleanse her of her corrupted power before she could know this." He grinned a little. "My sister was responsible for this."

He nodded. "Kind of, if the vines were thorns and they grew out of control all the way into Ponyville. Discord however is a God of Chaos, a spirit that embodies the power of chaotic actions. He was reformed by Fluttershy and has become one of our staunchest allies since then."

"Yeah, human versions like that. There's a magic mirror that connects a parallel universe that ponies, animals and other races we know are humans. Everyone who goes through this mirror turn into humans, and humans who go through it turn into ponies or any equivalent race."

"But she knows it now thanks to Twilight Sparkle?" She smiles. "I'm glad to hear it. It's sometimes hard to accept who you are when you're different, but it's the difference that makes you special." Yeah, how long did it take her to realize that? 1, 2, 19 years?

"How far is the forest from the city?" From the way he said it, he definitely didn't mean "right next door". Chuckling, she said, "Seriously? Talk about an appropriate name." If only things were that easy on her world. "How did...Fluttershy? How did Fluttershy reform him?"

For a long moment, she was quiet. "How did... How did Twilight find herself in that universe? Was she drawn into it?" Drawn to a strange world, how familiar did that sound?

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OMG that icon...