Been a while, been super tired from work and redesigning our RWBY teams. Plus I got super into another cartoon lol. Not gonna lie, the mlp buzz is wearing off, but worry not, I should have enough in the tank to at least finish this story off. And looking at it, I think the next chapter should be it.
"I don't understand. How is this possible?" Prometheus exclaimed as they gathered around a large golden statue of an alicorn back at their base camp. "Is it really King Gold?"
"It's faint, but I can detect his magical essence within," Silver said.
"But what could have happened to cause this?" Vesta cried. "Why is my father a statue?"
"Petrification is a powerful and difficult spell to master. I only know of one capable of performing such a spell and we are looking at him," Silver answered.
"You mean, Gold did this to himself?" Sunset asked.
"Yes, I believe so," Silver replied.
"But why would King Gold turn himself into a statue?" asked Twilight.
"Perhaps that is how the petrification spell on you broke, uncle. When my father cast the spell on himself, it consumed so much of his magic that the spell on you was undone," Vesta suggested.
"But the important question is how do we change him back and why did he do this to himself in the first place?" asked Silver.
"Uncle, petrification is a metal spell. Would you be able to reverse its effects?" Vesta asked Silver.
"You put too much faith in me, Vesta. I know the spell, yes, but I was unable to master it to the point of unpetrifying a living being! It might not work."
"But it is our only option. Please, uncle, you have to try. Otherwise this will have all been for nothing," his niece pleaded.
Silver sighed, "I will do what I can." The others stepped back to give Silver some space as the alicorn prince walked up to the metal body of his brother. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes as his horn began glowing brightly. Everyone raised their hooves to shield their eyes as the light became blinding. A beam of light shot out from the tip of Silver's horn and struck the metal Gold. From the point of impact, the metal began cracking and the cracks spread all across Gold's body until chunks of metal were blown away. They all watched in awe as the golden alicorn slowly hovered to the ground. When he landed however, Gold suddenly became unbalanced as his legs gave out from beneath him. "Brother!" Silver shouted, rushing forward and catching Gold's body with his.
Gold groaned and coughed as he tiredly opened his eyes, all while leaning on Silver. "Ugh, what's happening? Wh-where… Silver?" Gold gasped in shock, seeing his younger brother next to him.
"It's all right, brother, I'm here," Silver smiled. "Before you say anything, I want you to know how sorry I am. I should have let you explain instead of attacking you the way I did."
Before Silver could finish uttering that last syllable, Gold suddenly and tightly embraced the younger alicorn, catching him off guard and leaving him speechless. "I hated myself everyday for what I did to you. Can you ever forgive me?"
Silver stood there, shocked and speechless as his brother begged for forgiveness. "I should be the one begging your forgiveness!" Gold pulled away and the two alicorns smiled at each other, silently forgiving each other for the past before tightly embracing each other.
When the pulled apart, Vesta stepped forward, her eyes tearing up. "Father!" she cried, running forward. Gold turned forward just as Vesta reached him and embraced him tightly. He smiled as Vesta tightly embraced him and cried into his shoulder.
He sighed and smiled, wrapped one leg around Vesta's shoulders and consoling here. "There, there, my daughter. Everything will be all right now. Where are your sisters?"
Vesta pulled away and wiped the happy tears from her eyes. "They are back at the palace. I asked them to remain behind."
"Good," he said, "a wise decision."
"They'll be so happy to see you again, father!" Vesta smiled.
"I'm afraid I'm not going back, not yet," he said.
"What? Why not?" she asked.
"If you've come to the Shadowlands against my explicit orders, then I imagine you found my secret journal?" he asked.
"Yes, you sought to cure Shadow Ponies. Is such a thing even possible?" she asked.
"I believe so, and I came here to test my theory, but my power alone was insufficient in formulating a cure. But now, you have brought me exactly what I need."
"What are you talking?" Silver asked.
"As you both know, light magic can completely eradicate Shadow Ponies, disintegrating them into nothingness. I believed that the darkness was but a disease, infecting hosts and turning them into the mindless creature of shadow we see now. After much testing and experimentation, I found my solution. What we require is a massive quantity of light magic, but focused through healing magic so that we do not destroy the host, only the infection plaguing them. With the three of us, our light magic should suffice and with Streak, we have our healer."
"M-me?" Streak cried.
"Yes, you, Streak. The three of us may be skilled in healing magic, but certainly not to your degree. If we focus our light magic through your healing magic, I believe we can purge the shadows entirely and leave the infected hosts intact and unharmed." Just then, Gold suddenly groaned in pain and fell forward onto one knee as everyone rushed to his side in worry.
"Father, what's wrong?" Vesta cried.
"Look!" Sunset pointed with her hoof, to a faint wisp of shadows seeping through Gold's chest armor. Silver quickly removed it as they all backed up in horror. On Gold's beautiful coat was a black swirling mark, slowly but surely growing and spreading across his skin.
"What happened to you?" Silver asked.
Gold chuckled, "Heh, I was outnumbered and outmatched. I wouldn't use my light magic to kill them and they overwhelmed me."
"But you have light magic! How were the shadows able to infect you?" Prometheus cried.
"It is true that light magic can destroy the darkness, but the same can be said in reverse," Gold explained, putting his chestplate back on. "Given time, even the brightest light can be snuffed out by the dark. I do not have much time before the infection takes me."
"That's why you petrified yourself!" Silver realized.
Gold nodded, "Yes. I knew I wouldn't make it back in time and enact my cure before the darkness took over me, so I sealed myself in the form of a statue to temporarily halt the infection progress. But before doing so, I undid the spell that sealed you, Silver."
"But, how could you possibly know that I would come here too? How do you know that I still wouldn't be angry and just repeat history?" Silver asked.
"I had faith, brother," Gold replied, gently placing a hoof on Silver's shoulder. Just then, he fell to his knee again and groaned in pain. "We must hurry. I don't know how much longer I can fight this off."
"What do you need of us?" Vesta asked.
"The three of us will focus all of our magic through Streak and direct it towards the entirety of the Shadowlands. Only with the power of three with light magic will we succeed. Without Streak, our magic would simply eradicate it, but focusing it through a healing conduit such as he will give our light magic a healing property. We can do it here, right now, but once we start, they will know what we are doing and they will come to stop us." Gold then turned to Twilight and Sunset. Just as he was about to speak he doubled back upon looking at Sunset. He quickly glanced back and forth between her and Vesta, much to everyone's confusion, before smiling at her. "I'm afraid I do not know you two," he said.
"I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle and this is Sunset Shimmer," Twilight introduced.
"A pleasure to meet you princess and Sunset. I know not why you are here, but I can only deduce it is to help." The two ponies nodded. "Excellent. While the four of us prepare my spell, I need you two to make sure we are not interrupted. This spell will require all of our magic, so we cannot erect a light barrier. Do you know of any protection spells?"
"Oh, yes I do! I learned all about protection spells while I was Princess Celestia's student! It won't keep them away forever, but it should buy you the time you need," Twilight answered.
"Good, I leave that to you two then," Gold said, before turning back to his brother and daughter.
"Come on, Sunset. I need you to help me with this," Twilight said. Once they were done, their small base camp was covered under a light purple, domed barrier. With Streak in the center, the three alicorns gathered around him and began glowing in a bright, warm light. The alicorns began floating into the air as they were each enveloped by a beam of golden light.
"They're coming!" Prometheus cried, seeing hordes of Shadow Ponies pour out of the Shadowlands towards them, shrouding the sky in darkness. They immediately began beating on Twilight's barrier, which managed to hold them off… for now. As the three alicorns began pouring their light magic into Streak, the pillar of light over Gold suddenly flickered and he weakly fell to the ground.
"King Gold!" Sunset cried, witnessing this as she ran over to the fallen king.
"Apolla!" Prometheus cried instinctively. He was about to go after her until a Shadow Pony managed to break through the barrier. Prometheus quickly noticed this and headbutted the pony out while Twilight sealed the crack with her magic.
Vesta briefly snapped out of her concentration when she heard this and watched Sunset run over to Gold. "...Apolla?"
"King Gold, are you all right?" Sunset asked, helping the weary alicorn up.
"It is as I feared. I am losing my power; the darkness is taking hold of me."
"There must be something we can do!" she exclaimed.
"Aye, there is something… something you can do," he said, turning to her.
"Me? What do you mean?"
"I know a Wu Xing royal when I see one. You are the spitting image of your mother and there is light inside of you. I need you to take my place; all of Wu Xing needs you!"
"But I-" Sunset nearly stepped back, out of fear and uncertainty, but she looked at the encroaching Shadow Ponies and the two royals above them bathing in light. Sunset couldn't explain it, but something inside her was screaming, pushing her to step up and help. She almost instinctively wanted to let Twilight do it instead, but Sunset knew something that she didn't: it would only work with her. After helping Gold sit down comfortably, Sunset hesitantly stepped into the circle of light, which light up brilliantly in response. "Whoa!" she exclaimed as she was carefully lifted into the air and showered in a pillar of light. She felt a warmth growing inside her, rushing to her horn. She bent forward and pointed her horn at Streak. She poured every last bit of magic she had into him, as did Vesta and Silver. When they stopped, Streak rose above them with white glowing eyes. A radiant blue beam of light shot out from his horns and straight into the Shadowlands. For a moment, it seemed like nothing happened until a bright dome of blue light began expanding from the Shadowlands. Twilight, Prometheus and Gold quickly shielded their eyes as the dome enveloped them, spreading all across Wu Xing.
When the light faded, Twilight and Prometheus slowly opened their eyes. The vast wall of wispy shadows was gone and the horde of Shadow Ponies in front of them was replaced with normal looking ponies, mostly fillies and colts, each as confused as they were scared. The two flame guard pegasi quickly went to work on gathering all the young ponies together. Vesta, Silver and Streak were lowered to the ground, while Sunset remained floating above them in a pillar of light.
"Sunset!" Twilight cried in worry. Everyone slowly stepped back as Sunset was magically lowered to the ground. The pillar of light began getting brighter and brighter, forcing them to shield their eyes until the light finally faded. Before them stood Sunset with a pair of beautiful wings. "Sunset…"
"What? What is it?" Sunset asked, confused as to why everyone was looking at her.
"Look!" Twilight pointed with her hoof. Sunset turned and gasped at the sight of her wings. She began turning and moving them to make sure she was really seeing what she was seeing.
"I-I'm an alicorn," she whispered. "But how?"
"Because in a time of need, you stepped beyond your station and answered the call of duty. You proved yourself a true princess, a Princess of Light," Gold explained.
Prometheus quickly ran up to Sunset. "Are you ok?" he asked.
"Yeah, dad, I'm fine. I feel… I feel great," Sunset smiled, but her smile quickly disappeared as Vesta approached her.
"You're…" she whispered, unable to finish her sentence.
"Vesta," Prometheus spoke up. "It's her." Twilight gasped and covered her mouth with her hoof as she watched the scene before her.
Vesta didn't look at Prometheus and simply kept her eyes on Sunset, which only made the new alicorn more uncomfortable. Vesta extended her hoof and used it to move around Sunset's wild hair before lifting her face by her chin. They stood like that for a few seconds before Vesta smiled at her with teary eyes. "It's really you," she whispered, her voice nearly breaking as she did, "After all this time, you're really here." The two female alicorns smiled at each other before embracing tightly. A mother reunited with daughter she had long thought to be dead and a young pony finally feeling right where she belonged.
"Wait, look!" Gold shouted, pointing to the sky. The alicorns pulled away and looked up to see a swirling mass of shadows forming in the sky.
Yeah, another cliffhanger, booooo, amirite? But, I'm pretty much ready to wrap this story up and one thing I could not resist doing was making Sunset a princess. Because why not? I think she deserves it and the Daydream Shimmer bit from Friendship Games feels like the human world equivalent of it in my opinion lol.
Ok I'm tired now. Sleep zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz