Chapter 11

Complications or A Change of Plans

Days went by after Twilight returned. Doohickey found the purple alicorn very informative and kind. She practically lived in the library though, remaining there late into the night. Doohickey found it a bit disconcerting.

"Good morning Doohickey, what brings you to the library today? What would you like to take o…" Twilight caught herself. She blushed and smiled "I have got to stop doing that…"

"It's alright… I would have liked to have seen that tree library of yours, it sounds super cool." Doohickey said getting one of the books on equestrian history before settling down into one of the many cushions.

"What are you reading about?"

"The banishment of Nightmare Moon and the imprisonment of Discord, who ever that pony is." Doohickey said. She had been reading it for a while now; she was just getting to the part that explained the political repercussions of Nightmare Moon's banishment.

"You should know that Discord's imprisonment came before Nightmare Moon and he was not a pony, he was a draconaques."

"What's a dragonakiss?" Twilight chuckled as Doohickey stumbled over the word.

"No, a draconaques, they are magical beings that create chaos with their magic." Twilight said before she pulled down another book showing a picture of Discord trapped in stone.

"Ur, are they always grey like stone angels?"

"No, here he is trapped in stone, he was freed and reformed four years ago."

"Did you know him?"

"Yes, I am willing to say he was my friend. We may not have been particularly close but…" Twilight trailed off sadly, putting the book away.

"Well this isn't really about the actual events, mostly it's about politics, it's kinda boring actually, it caught my eye cause it was about Nightmare Moon."

"Well if your researching Nightmare Moon, read this, page 27, the mare on the moon." Twilight said handing the filly another book. Doohickey read the passage.

"Huh, neat! But how did the stars aid in her escape exactly?"

" I'm not actually sure, perhaps it was a ritual? Maybe it was a magical convergence, that would be an interesting area of study actually, thank you Doohickey!" Doohickey blinked owlishly.

"I didn't understand a word of what you just said."

"Well, they're very advance magical studies. Bit complicated."

"I don't get magic, it doesn't have rules like time travel does." Doohickey said putting the book away. Meanwhile Twilight was trying to understand how time travel had rules. As the filly landed before her Twilight shook her head.

"I have to ask, now that the elements have all been reunited, what exactly is your plan?" Doohickey blinked her in confusion.

"That's easy!" she said smiling "we just blast Celestia with the elements! It'll return balance to Equestria, everything will be back to normal!" she said trotting out of the library. Twilight stared after the filly with worry, before she turned back to the library. She had some things to research. Later on that day Twilight made her way through the Tardis with dread in her eyes. She found the core ponies sitting around the kitchen table, enjoying various meals while they each told loud, entertaining stories. Suddenly Pinkie Pie's left back hoof jerked out to the side. She gasped loudly

"Somepony has bad news!" she said loudly. Everypony looked around until Pinkie Pie stood and pointed at Twilight

"Twilight! Somepony here has bad news, you better run!"

"I'm the one with bad news." Twilight said worriedly stepping into the kitchen.

"And what is this bad news exactly?" the Doctor said worriedly. Twilight sighed and set down the book she had in her satchel on the table. It was 'The Elements of Harmony: a reference guide'.

"I don't think the Elements of Harmony alone will be enough to defeat Celestia." She said after a few seconds. Everypony stared at her in shock, none worse then Doohickey, who felt like she was Celestlana all over again.


"What now then?" Ditzy asked as everypony, minus the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' gathered around the Tardis console.

"I don't know." Twilight said sadly "but I don't think the original plan will work."

"BUT WHY NOT!" Doohickey shouted angrily, speaking for the first time since Twilight told everypony her bad news "WHY'D YOU HAVE TO GO AND RUIN EVERYTHING!" there were tears in her eyes and on her cheeks. She shook her head and flew out of the room. Ditzy cringed and flew after her. She looked back to the doctor. He nodded and waved his hoof at his companion. The door closed behind the grey pegasus.

"Okay, Twilight, sugar cube, why don'chya think it'll work exactly?" Applejack asked. Twilight opened her book.

"It says here that the elements maintain balance in Equestria! Now, lets look at what we know about Equestria." She pulled a chalkboard out of nowhere. Rainbow stared at her.

"How do you do that?"

"Shush! Pay attention!" Twilight said picking up the piece of chalk. "Equestria relies on the two princesses to raise the sun and moon. Luna is the princess of the night, she raises the moon, Celestia is the princess of the day and she raises that sun. Celestia has undergone a change similar to that of Luna into nightmare moon. This means if we were to use the elements on her we would likely see the same effect. That is to say, she would be banished to a celestial body, likely the sun, since she is so connected to it. If this happens, Luna will be the sole princess, which means she will have to rule Equestria as well as raise the sun and moon. The problem I see is this; Luna is not as powerful as Celestia is, because her imprisonment has stunted her growth. So it may not be possible fore her to raise both the sun and the moon. If this is the case, the elements will not work against Celestia, because banishing Celestia wont bring balance, it'll just create more chaos. Are their any questions?" Twilight turned to the ponies behind her. Lyra, Rainbow, the Doctor, Vinyl, and applejack were asleep. Bon Bon was doodling; Fluttershy was tying to keep Rarity awake as she nodded off. Octavia was passing noted to Zecora who was giving Twilight divided attention. Pinkie Pie was the only one who was actually listening to what Twilight had to say; she wasn't even blinking. Twilight looked at the group, unimpressed, before she conjured a balloon, filled it with air, then conjured a needle. The loud pop woke everypony up.

"Time paradox!" the Doctor shouted groggily. Everypony laughed.

"What's a time pair of socks?" Rainbow asked. The Doctor blinked at everything confusedly.

"Ditzy, I need a stick of butter." he said putting his head back down.

"Did any one hear what I was saying!?" Twilight asked angrily.

"Yeah," Vinyl said stretching with a grunt "something about how the elements won't banish Celestia and Luna being less powerful, and chaos. I kinda wasn't paying attention."

"I noticed." Twilight said deadpanned

"Twilight…" The Doctor yawned widely before he continued, "I keep forgetting how similar you are to Miss. Snooty Sparkle."

"To who?" Twilight asked, more than a little confused

"Never mind, anyways, what exactly was the point of that incredibly boring experience?"

"That we need to find some other way to defeat Celestia."

"No silly!" Pinkie said bouncing up to Twilight. "We just have to convince Luna to help us!" everypony stared at the hyper mare.

"Uh, Pinkie, ya kinda lost me." Rainbow said, rubbing her head with her hoof "how was that bore fest connected to that train of thought exactly?"

"Thoughts are trains! Oh my gosh! I had no idea! Oo! Oo! Twilight! What do my thought trains look like? Isthereaspellforthat?Therehastobe!Imeancomeon!Whowouldn'twanttoknowwhattheir trainslookedlike!Thatcouldbeamajorbusiness!Therecouldbebooksandsemina…

"Pinkie!" everypony shouted. The mare stopped and looked at them

"What are you shouting about?"

"Luna! Helping! What exactly did you mean?" Twilight asked. Shaking the pink mare slightly. Pinkie giggled.

" Silly filly, you should have asked!" several of the ponies face hoofed. She bounced up to the chalkboard and flipped it over.

" Luna was once Nightmare Moon right, and she was super powerful right? So what if she became Nightmare Moon again! Then she could just go after Celestia herself!"

"Yes, then plunge Equestria into eternal night and bring about the end of the world!" twilight said. Pinkie laughed.

"No silly, be Nightmare Moon, but Princess Luna!" Pinkie said matter-of-factly. Everypony was even more confused, except for the Doctor who clapped his hooves and laughed.

"I get it!" he said leaping up. "What she means is that Luna will have all of Nightmare Moon's power, but she'll still have her brain." Everypony suddenly understood.

"Of course! Then she could just swoop in and defeat Celestia!" Rainbow said excitedly.

"But Celestia will just be defeated, we'd never be able to hold her anywhere, she's too powerful." Twilight said. Several of the ponies drooped a bit, including Pinkie. Suddenly Applejack nickered

"Naw! We wait fer Luna ta defeat Celestia, then we use the elements of Harmony on a weakened Celestia!" Twilight smiled widely.

"Of course! That way, Celestia is gone, but Luna is powerful enough to raise both the sun and moon! They switch places! Luna becomes the powerful one, Celestia the weakened! This is perfect!"

"There's only one problem, darling…" Rarity said quietly. Everypony turned to her.

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

"Luna hasn't left Moonhorn tower in two years, and her only contact is Trixie… how are we supposed to get her on board for this exactly?"

'I hadn't thought of that…" Twilight said with a cringe.

"Well we gotta try." Vinyl said pushing her glasses up her nose. "If we don't the war will never end well."

"She's right, this is our last chance, either we stand and fight, or Equestria goes down in flames and I don't know about you, but I love Equestria and I'd like for it to bounce back from this." The doctor said.

"Equestria is our home, we can't give up, no matter what." Applejack said.

"For Equestria!" Twilight said putting her hoof in front of her. Everypony joined her.

"FOR EQUESTRIA!"


A/N: OH MY GOSH! DOOHICKEY RAGE! Give her a break; she just had her hopes crushed. Besides, Ditzy 'll make it all better; she'll give her a blueberry muffin and some hugs. It'll be good. I want to make it clear tough that Ditzy feels maternal instinct towards Doohickey, but hasn't actually connected the dots yet, none of them have.

OR HAVE THEY! (Pinkie gasps)

My plans for the next chapter are in full swing and there will be Luna. I LOVE LUNA! She is best princess! But not for this fic. Sorry folks, there is no best princess, lets look at the list shall we!

Celestia: evil

Luna: cowardly

Twilight: inexperienced and relatively weak (compared to Celestia and Luna)

Cadence: has yet to make an appearance, but since the crystal empire isn't attacking we can assume she is in the same boat at Luna.

OR CAN WE! (Pinkie gasps)

You'll see next Saturday folks! I give no more spoilers. ;)