The Epic of Brightblade Warpony

Chapters I

It was a mild autumn day in the hills north of Ponyland. Brightblade stood atop a high hill. The sun gleamed off the whorled horn of his war-helm. He felt a slight breeze in his mane, breathed deeply the fresh air, and remembered the last time he had stood atop this hill.

It had been spring, only five months earlier, but it seemed like an eternity. The weather had been similar, but the breeze was warmer, from the lowlands rather than the mountains. It had been on that spring day so long ago that Brightblade had first encountered the mysterious Epona. Brightblade had been enjoying a pleasant walk when a strange unicorn appeared, as if out of nowhere. Her coat was the color of sunlight and her main and tail were fiery red, much as Brightblade's own. On her rump was the image of a key.

"Good day!" Brightblade had greeted her. "I've not seen you here abouts before; what part of Ponyland do you hail from?"

The unicorn ignored his question. "Brave warpony!" she called playfully, "join me, won't you, on a grand quest!"

Brightblade answered in fun, "Surely maiden, but what manner of quest do you propose?"

"For a champion as dashing as yourself, only the grandest quest will do; you should slay the beast that threatens Ponyland." The last part was spoken with deadly seriousness.

Realizing that the stranger was not speaking of play, Brightblade inquired as to her name. She replied, "I am called Epona, and as you may have guessed, the quest I have proposed is all too real." Brightblade was too shocked to reply. Epona explained further. "Ponyland is in danger; I need your help to save it."

"M-me, but why?" was all Brightblade could manage to utter.

"You are a warrior, if not yet in action then in spirit. You alone among the ponies have the power to save Ponyland."

"But I'm no warrior! What could I do?"

"Come near and see." Epona touched her horn to a pool of water, all that remained of the morning's showers. As the ripples spread in ever increasing circles an image appeared. Brightblade recognized the land as Ponyland, but it had changed; the sky was filled with dark clouds, the rivers and ponds were stagnant and green, the grass was brown. Thorn bushes choked out all other vegetation. Once open fields were crowded with row on row of dark mud-brick buildings; through the dark windows the glowing red eyes of the inhabitants could be seen darting about. The ponies Brightblade could recognize were in a similarly pathetic state as their land. Tex, thin and bony, pulled a heavily laden cart along a muddy path; others tread straw into mud for bricks.

"You asked what you could do, Warpony? You could prevent this."

Brightblade stared, spellbound, at the pool as the image faded. "W-what? How?"

"That was the future, or at least one possible future. The most probable future, if you do not partake the quest I have proposed."

Brightblade was silent for a time and when he spoke, he spoke softly, "Where am I in this future?"

"Do not ask a question unless you want to know the answer," Epona warned.

"Show me ... please."

"I cannot, unless - until - you have accepted the quest."

"If you show me, then I will accept your quest."

Epona hesitantly touched her horn to the water once again. Again the image appeared of a Ponyland cloaked in gloom. This time there were no mud-brick houses or hard-driven ponies, only a clearing in the thorns where the grass was still a little green. Brightblade recognized the place, it was a favorite spot of his to picnic, but there now stood a number of crosses carved from stone. Names were chiseled into the crosses: Sundance, Fizzy, Windwhistler, Firefly, and Brightblade. "G-graves," Brightblade stammered.

Epona nodded, "You have a warrior's spirit, and you will find it, now or later. Now you can make a difference; later it will be useless."

Brightblade was silent again, longer this time. When he spoke, it was with a sense of despair; "But how can I slay a monster that can destroy all of Ponyland?"

"You ask too many questions, Warpony." Epona's voice was less grave. "You have strong hooves." She reared and kicked at the air with forelegs. "Use your head." She fenced with her horn.

"But I haven't got a horn," Brightblade complained.

Epona paused a moment, "Oh? Then you'll have to get one."

"How can I get a horn? You've got to be born with them."

"Do you think I would have gone to all this trouble had I not prepared for such an obvious occurance? You will find your horn to the west, beyond the Valley of Thorns. There, in the Temple of Light, lies the Warrior's Horn. All you have to do is claim it. Once you have the horn, return to this place; then the true quest will begin."

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