Thank you to Alex Leep, MoneyMan538, AL3X TH3 H3DG3HOG, Jake-Everfree, Wing Zero 032, rederci939, elitsama, Miss 20 Percent Cooler, KoriCarrigan, Miathi, and Dratini4 for their reviews!
Sorry if I misspelled I'm kinda not sober IT'S MY 20TH BIRHDAY SO HOLLA OVA HERE.
I wrote the chapter before don't worryyyyyy ILY YOU ALL I just didn't write the A/N yet
THANK YOU to my friend Dratini4 for pre-reading this chapter and suggestioning changes and stuff YOU ROCK (woohoo)
AND I DON'T OWN MLP
…
The shifting of the groundcover plants that had snuck onto the once well-defined path broke the otherwise silent air as the hooves of six ponies trudged over them. Twilight led the group, and tried to keep her beam of purple light focused on the path, though as they got deeper it was getting harder and harder to see as the path became increasingly hidden by forest vegetation.
Nobody dared to speak a word as they crept closer to what they knew was a highly dangerous situation. A situation that they had to be hidden away from until the correct time, and Twilight's heart pounded anxiously because she knew that the time was almost upon them.
Eventually, they reached the fork in the path that the owl had warned them about. The path to the left lead deeper into the forest, while the path to the right led to an open area that ran alongside a cliff. The moonlight that shone from the second path was bright enough that Twilight could cease her magic. Six pairs of eyes examined both options, but none of them could conclude which was the correct path to take.
"Hmm, neither of them look very shiny, do they?" Pinkie, who had managed to stay quiet for a good while, finally spoke in her usual upbeat tone.
Fluttershy flattened her ears. "Maybe I misunderstood…"
"Nah, ya wouldn't get a cutie mark for a misunderstandin'." Applejack reassured her, though she seemed equally perplexed on what path they were supposed to be taking.
"I think we should go that way!" Rainbow Dash pointed towards the cliff. "It's brighter, right? That's gotta be the right way!"
Twilight looked between both paths one last time. Rainbow was right: the path on the right was brighter, and by default that must make it shinier. It was only an owl, after all; it probably didn't know the difference between the two terms. "Alright guys, let's go this way." Twilight nodded towards the cliff, and most of the others started to follow her lead.
It took Twilight a few moments to realize Rarity wasn't with the rest of them. She turned her gaze backwards, and the four ponies behind her did the same. "Rarity?" Twilight asked. The white unicorn was staring down the path on the left, and didn't look up at the sound of her name. Wordlessly, she closed her eyes for a few moments, and her horn sparked a few times before a blue glow settled around it. She then started trotting down the incorrect path. "Rarity!" Twilight called again, this time her tone filled with confusion and concern. The five remaining girls exchanged looks before galloping after their friend.
As they rounded the corner of the left path, they could see Rarity glancing around as if she was looking for something. Finally, she looked backwards and acknowledged her friends. "Stay quiet." She said. "I can sense something is different here… just give me a moment."
Rainbow Dash started to hover in the air, and looked down the path at the white mare skeptically. "Rarity, what the hell are you - " Twilight quickly shushed her, and the five of them watched in awe as the blue light around Rarity's horn dimmed momentarily before it suddenly doubled in intensity.
Like before, Rarity started to be dragged forwards, but this time she planted her hooves firmly in the ground and quickly stopped herself from going anywhere. She squinted her eyes in order to see past the light coming from her own horn, then lowered her neck so that her horn was pointing towards the ground.
There was a blinding flash of blue light, and all of them had to avert their eyes. However, as quickly as it had come, the light was gone. Rarity was left staring wide-eyed at the ground beneath her.
"…Rarity?" Twilight finally dared to call. "What are you looking at?" All Twilight could see was the dirt path, and she highly doubted Rarity would have any interest in that.
"I… I… Oh my stars…" Rarity looked away from the ground, and appeared to be lost in thought. "So many possibilities… oh just imagine…" Her eyes shone with a wonder that Twilight recognized as the same look Rarity had on before she decided to design her giant hats. "This world is simply… amazing." There was another bright flash, but this time it came from Rarity's flank.
Due to the dim light of the forest, everyone had to walk closer to Rarity in order to see her cutie mark properly. Twilight recognized the mark to be three blue diamonds. Rarity looked over herself and smiled in delight.
"Congrats and all that, Rarity…" Applejack said, looking confused. "But… Ah'm not sure Ah get the connection between yer cutie mark and that fancy light display." The others were quick to voice agreements.
Rarity grinned madly. "Oh, just you wait!" For the first time, her horn lit up instantly and appeared to be entirely under her control. There was another blinding flash of light, but this time it didn't fade, which gave time for everyone's eyes to properly adjust.
Twilight gasped as she looked around her. The forest floor had been completely transformed; patches of blue light illuminated what Twilight was fairly certain were buried gems of all different kinds. Back on Earth, they would undoubtedly be worth a fortune.
Rarity beamed, looking absolutely giddy. "Isn't this wonderful?! I've never seen such a beautiful sight before, and this opens an entire realm of possibilities!" She gave a satisfied sigh. "Oh, just imagine the sort of designs I could create with these beauties incorporated!"
"Yeah… assuming there's diamonds like this everywhere." Rainbow Dash pointed out with an added eye roll.
Rarity waved her off. "Nonsense, I could sense these precious little gemstones everywhere as soon as we arrived. I simply didn't know what I was feeling at the time."
Twilight was happy for Rarity, but knew that this left her as the only one of the six without a cutie mark. She had absolutely no idea what in Equestria her special talent was supposed to be, and their time was running short.
"Hey!" Pinkie Pie called, bouncing in one spot excitedly. "You know what else these gems are? SHINY!"
With a jolt, Twilight realized that Pinkie was right. "This must be the right path after all!" She announced with a grin. "Let's go!"
…
Rarity led her five friends through the forest with her magic, and it didn't take them much walking to arrive at their destination: a rickety old suspension bridge that led straight to an ancient castle that looked like it had been half-destroyed centuries ago. Rarity ceased her magic at the sight of it, and allowed Twilight to resume the lead.
Twilight took a few cautious steps on the bridge, but it turned out to be surprisingly sturdy. She looked back and gave the rest of her friends a slight nod to show it was safe, and within moments all six of them were on the other side.
Easy. It was far too easy.
Twilight sighed and stared at the structure in front of her. This was undoubtedly a trap; unfortunately, there were no other options.
The purple unicorn glanced behind her to see that Rarity and Pinkie Pie were standing next to each other, and they both gave Twilight reassuring smiles. Rainbow Dash and Applejack likewise gave off confident grins as they noticed Twilight watching them. Fluttershy floated down to be next to Twilight, and the former roommates looked at each other for a few moments, each trying to gauge the other's level of fear. "This is crazy, isn't it?" Twilight asked.
Fluttershy gave Twilight a sad smile. "Yes." She confirmed with a small giggle.
Twilight finally cracked a grin herself, then led the six of them onwards. The door to the structure creaked loudly as Twilight pushed it open, and once they were inside she could see that there truly wasn't very much to the former castle. The roof had been completely destroyed, revealing the stars and ever-present moon. There was really only one thing of interest in the room, and that was a tall statue adorned with several large stone spheres. Each of the stone spheres had a familiar image stamped on the front of it.
Twilight went closer to examine them, and realized that the images were exactly the same as how the elements of harmony were depicted in the storybook she'd read at Xanterlot. "Of course!" Twilight exclaimed. "Princess Celestia told me that the five remaining elements were turned to stone… this must be them!" Twilight's horn created a glow around one of the purple spheres, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew up to help remove them from the statue.
CRACK!
A lightning-filled tornado appeared in front of the statue, blowing the six ponies halfway across the room. Twilight dizzily raised her head, and her eyes connected with those of Nightmare Moon's.
"You little foals, thinking you could defeat me!" The black armour-clad alicorn glared at the six friends as they each started to rise. Like she had done during her first appearance, Nightmare Moon sent dark waves of energy pulsing across the room. Again, it had no physical effect. Nightmare Moon cackled in delight. "If I were you, I'd leave now while I still had the chance. You cannot stop me; if you had the power to do so, I'd be able to sense it."
Twilight bit her lip and glanced over at her friends. To her surprise, the five of them had taken up fighting positions behind her, and were staring at the opposing villain with matching anger. Encouraged, Twilight stood a few confident steps forward. "The elements!" She yelled, pointing at the objects on top of the statue. "The elements of harmony can stop you!"
Nightmare Moon smirked. "The ones behind me? Made of stone?" She let out an amused laugh. "Don't be stupid."
Twilight grit her teeth, lowered her head, and shot out a huge blast of concentrated energy at Nightmare Moon. The evil mare immediately conjured a shield that caused the attack to bounce back, and the six of them had to dive out of the way as it ploughed into the stone floor.
"Sorry!" Twilight called, praying that everyone was okay. She quickly looked over at Nightmare Moon, who was looking beyond furious.
"You want to fight, little ponies?" The alicorn asked as her horn gave off a dark glow. "Then I will show you mortals the full power of the princess of the night!" The air in front of her began swirling violently until it had created a giant tornado that began whipping towards them.
"Everyone scatter!" Applejack's voice yelled from somewhere across the room. Twilight could spot Fluttershy pressed into the corner of the old castle and Pinkie Pie jumping expertly out of the way of the violent winds, but the whereabouts of her other friends were not immediately apparent, which Twilight didn't like at all.
"Twilight!" Rainbow's voice caused the lavender mare to look upwards, and to her horror could see that her rainbow-maned friend was flapping her wings desperately as she tried to stay out of the tornado. "Do something!" Rainbow yelled. "Use your magic!"
It was a long shot, but Twilight poured all of her might into her horn. She didn't know how to stop a tornado, but she did know how to move objects. She hoped the same logic could be used to stop an object from moving. A purple glow surrounded the winds as Rainbow Dash came closer and closer to getting sucked in. "Come on…" Twilight muttered, begging her spell to still the winds.
Miraculously, the tornado suddenly paused in its twirling, then dissipated altogether. Twilight sunk to the floor, completely out of breath.
"No! How?!" Nightmare Moon growled and glared at Twilight, though did not leave her place in front of the statue. "You have powerful abilities for a simple unicorn…"
Rainbow Dash landed next to Twilight. "Thanks. I owe ya one."
Twilight nodded and was relieved to see the rest of her friends trotting towards her. "Guys, listen…" Twilight stood up and faced her friends. "I can distract her, but it's up to the rest of you to get the elements. I don't know what will happen after we remove them from the statue, but it's the only lead I have to go off of."
"Twilight…" Rarity stared at her with uncertain eyes. "A-are you absolutely sure - "
"I can do this," Twilight reassured, "but not by myself."
Her five friends hesitated, but they weren't given any time to argue as Nightmare Moon shot a long stream of concentrated energy at the group. Most of them were quick to move away, but Fluttershy hesitated for a fraction too long and stared in horror as the spell came towards her.
Twilight jumped in between them with a purple beam of her own. "GO!" Twilight yelled as she fought desperately to keep her stream of energy focused. The effort it was taking to fight against the much stronger alicorn was tremendous. Twilight considered rolling away from the beam and making a run for it, but she knew that would leave her friends completely vulnerable.
The dark magic was coming closer and closer, and Twilight felt herself weakening as her horn tried in vain to protect her. The edges of her vision were starting to fade out…
Nightmare Moon's magic ceased, and as Twilight fell to the floor, she feared for a moment that she had died. She pried her eyes open and could see Rainbow Dash swerving aggressively over the black alicorn's head. Applejack was just below her, circling the evil mare as she searched for an opening.
"Twilight!" Pinkie was hovering overtop of her, peering worriedly into her half-lidded eyes. "Are you okay? 'Cause you don't really look okay…"
"I… I need a minute…" Twilight couldn't remember a time in her life when she'd felt this drained of energy. Her limbs refused to move, and she could barely shift her head to face Pinkie. "D-did you get the elements?"
"Yepperoni! Well, I got one, and that's better than none, right?" Pinkie Pie rolled one of the stone figures into Twilight's vision field, then perked her head up. "Hey look! Here come Rarity and Fluttershy!"
Twilight could hear said ponies approaching, and there were two distinct thunks as more of the stone objects were added to their collection. "Twilight?" Fluttershy's tiny voice asked as she stood close to her lavender friend's head. Twilight could tell that Rarity was also right next to her.
"NO!" Applejack's terrified yell caused Twilight's head to jerk up despite her exhaustion. Applejack was staring upwards in horror, and Twilight realized that Nightmare Moon had managed to grab Rainbow Dash in her magical grip.
Rainbow struggled momentarily before she was flung across the room. She hit the opposite wall with a sickening scream of pain.
Nightmare Moon grinned widely and laughed before turning her horn towards Applejack, who fortunately understood what was about to happen and dove out of the way with impressive agility.
Twilight's horn gave off a few feeble sparks, but even doing that was proving to be too much. She watched helplessly as Applejack was forced to zigzag out of the way of each magical blast. Rainbow had managed to stand, but was holding her wing at an odd angle and seemed to be avoiding placing weight on her right foreleg. Neither of the two ponies were making a move to go back to Twilight, but were instead backtracking towards the statue in the center.
"HEY NIGHTMARE MOON!" Pinkie Pie jumped up and bounced towards her. "BETCHA CAN'T CATCH ME, YOU SILLY SLOWPOKE!"
Nightmare Moon hesitated for a fraction of a second before narrowing her eyes and aiming her attack at Pinkie instead. The poofy-haired pony's giggles echoed around the room as she moved out of the way so fast that it looked more like she was teleporting. Watching her made Twilight's head pound, so she turned her attention back to Rainbow and Applejack. Applejack had one of the elements perched on her back, but the last one was placed too high on the statue. Rainbow Dash tried to flex her hurt wing, but couldn't seem to fully extend it without an obvious wince of pain.
Fluttershy suddenly left Twilight's side, and flew bravely across the battlefield in order to assist.
Nightmare Moon's gaze watched the yellow pegasus for a moment before turning back towards Twilight. Rarity shifted closer to her exhausted friend, and Pinkie tried in vain to regain the alicorn's attention.
Nightmare Moon smirked, then powered her horn and fired a beam of dark energy directly towards the pair of unicorns. Twilight tried desperately to summon a defense, but nothing would come up –
Rarity leapt in front of her, a glow surrounding her horn. Nightmare Moon's blast was met with a blue shield, and though Rarity stumbled backwards when it was broken, the attack had been successfully deflected.
Rarity panted and smiled backwards at Twilight, looking amazed by her own accomplishment. The other four of her friends had managed to make it back, and together they formed a pony barrier to protect the five elements and Twilight, who still could not find the strength to stand.
Nightmare Moon's cackle rang through the old building. "You are brave fools; I'll give you that much. However, protecting those artifacts won't help you. Surely you've noticed that there's only five? Even if it were possible to restore them, they're absolutely worthless without the sixth element of harmony, and I can assure you that I destroyed that one many centuries ago."
"Twilight… know this: though the sixth element was physically destroyed, the power it contained was much too strong to be gone forever. The same goes for the other five as well." Princess Celestia's words rang through Twilight's memory.
"I'll give you one last chance to leave now. Make peace with the night, and perhaps you will come to realize its true beauty for yourself." Nightmare Moon stared at her six opponents with an icy glare. "You cannot change the fact that the elements of harmony are gone, and though your rebellion is amusing, it is otherwise pointless."
"Look inside yourself… you'll know what to do when the time comes."
Twilight stared at the stone spheres, then at the five ponies that were still standing strong in front of her. Twilight hesitated, then quickly turned her attention back to the elements of harmony.
"…kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty, loyalty…" Twilight's own words echoed through her mind and her jaw dropped as her vision landed back onto her friends.
"Look inside yourself…"
"…Oh my GOD!" Twilight's five friends all looked backwards with confused expressions as she made her revelation.
Of course: why else would Princess Celestia specifically send them away? After thinking of the elements as simple objects for so long, she finally realized what they really were. It was them. They were the elements of harmony.
Immediately after the thought ran through her mind, the five elements started to glow an odd colour, then they simultaneously burst into tiny pieces, flew into the air, and danced circles around them.
Nightmare Moon looked horrified. "HOW?! NO!" She fired several panicked shots of magic, but the circling elements easily deflected the attacks.
Twilight felt some strength return to her from the elements' appearance, and she finally rose and faced her five best friends with a huge grin. "I can't believe I didn't see it earlier… it was so obvious!" She laughed and turned to face Applejack. "Applejack, you were the first person I really connected with at Xanterlot…" Twilight fondly remembered their encounter at the bookstore, and Applejack grinned back. "After so many years of shutting myself out, why was I able to talk to you so easily? I know the answer now; you're so genuine! You weren't afraid to tell Rainbow the truth about those boys, even when none of the rest of us even questioned it. And come to think of it, when have you ever told even the smallest lie? You're the most dependable, trustworthy, and honest person – or pony – I know."
The orange gem shards broke off from the rest, and started circling around Applejack, who looked startled for a moment before giving a confident nod.
"And Rainbow Dash!" Twilight turned to the cyan pegasus, who was keeping her right foreleg raised but giving her usual cocky smirk all the same. "It's really no wonder that you couldn't see what Applejack could; when you can see potential in people, you don't mind looking past their flaws. Your trust isn't an easy thing to gain, but once somebody's earned it, you'll stick by them until the end. You were so bothered when those boys betrayed you because you couldn't understand why anyone would ever hurt a friend! Rainbow Dash, your most noble trait has to be your loyalty."
This time it was the red shards that broke off and started rotating around Rainbow, who was looking very surprised at how accurately Twilight described her.
"Rarity!" Twilight turned this time towards the white unicorn, who smiled back. "I've lost track of the amount of time you've given up in order to help us… sewing us clothing, inviting us to your room whenever you possibly can, giving up your bed in order to help a friend, giving away your bedsheets to me without even questioning what they were for… And all of this without even the slightest expectation of anything in return! You're a seamstress, but although your work is very important to you, I know that your material possessions mean nothing when compared to your friends, and you are without a doubt the most generous person I've ever had the pleasure of meeting."
Rarity looked touched to the point of tears as the purple shards began to hover around her.
Pinkie Pie started giggling as soon as Twilight laid eyes on her. "Do I even have to say anything, Pinkie?" Twilight asked, laughing a bit herself. "Pinkie Pie, I don't think I will ever meet anybody else with as much positive energy as you. But what's so beautiful about it is that all you want to do is share this energy with everyone that you meet. Life can drag us down, but as long as you're here to bring us back up… I know we'll be okay. Don't ever stop smiling, and don't ever stop spreading laughter, Pinkie!"
The blue shards broke off and swirled around Pinkie, who was giving Twilight her best smile. "I won't, Twilight!" She promised, giving a few more final giggles before Twilight turned to look at the last of her friends.
"Fluttershy…" Twilight looked at the yellow pegasus, and couldn't help the tears that sprung to her eyes. "I… I just want to thank you, Fluttershy. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being there for me when I needed somebody to listen to my crazy theories. I still don't know how you've found the strength to not only move on from the terrible things that happened to you when you were young, but to not let it stop you from being so polite and so nice to everyone that you meet. Even if others won't open their heart to you, you'll always open your heart to other people… Fluttershy… thank you for bringing a spark of true kindness to both of our worlds."
Fluttershy's huge teal eyes shone as she smiled at Twilight, and the remaining shards, all pink, flew over to rotate around her.
"That's still only five elements!" Nightmare Moon yelled, glaring at them with all of her might. "I might not be able to hurt you now, but you'll still never be able touch me without the sixth element!"
"No. The sixth element is here." Everyone in the room turned to look curiously at Twilight, who looked very confident. "All of my life, I've been the outcast. The orphan that nobody wanted; the nerd that nobody would want to be around. I'd accepted it as just being a part of who I was, but… I-I've never been more wrong." A few tears escaped from her eyes and hit the stone floor beneath her as she smiled widely at the five ponies in front of her. "The greatest thing I've learned during our short time at Xanterlot had nothing to do with math, or science, or psychology… but it had everything to do with the five of you. You've taught me acceptance. You've taught me love and compassion. But in the short time I've known you, you've given me the greatest asset I will ever hope to acquire… you've given me friendship."
There was a flash of pink light above her, and Twilight felt something similar to a crown land on her head. Similar flashed occurred with each of her friends, and they were now sporting necklaces.
Twilight took several steps forward so that she was at the front of the ground, and her horn glowed brightly as she stared down the opposing alicorn, who was staring at her in utter disbelief. "And you see, Nightmare Moon…" Twilight grinned and allowed her crown to exemplify the power from her horn. "Friendship is magic!"
There was an exceptional amount of light, and Twilight's energy once again started to rapidly deplete as she concentrated everything she had into defeating Nightmare Moon.
"NO! NOOOOOOOO!" The alicorn's screams echoed around the room as the six of them produced a massive rainbow that spun into the air before crashing into her.
Twilight was somewhat aware of her body landing back onto the stone floor. She could see the blurry shapes of her fallen friends, but was too weak to call out to them. The last thing Twilight saw were the rays of the morning sun, and then her vision blacked out entirely.
…
Twilight's dead (spoiler) just kidding she isn't
During the time between me writing the first AN and me writing the second I managed to lock myself out of my room and had to call my ra lol
I probably had something to say on this chapter but I kinda forget… oh other than it's my longest so far! I thought it was appropriate for the final boss battle or whateverrr
Also I got featured on Equestria Daily yesterday… not for writing though (they don't even allow humanizations on their site so WHATEVER) but I took two hours out of my day and made my very first PMV with a song that I'd only known existed for less than 24 hours and I'd never used the video editor I used before.
It's funny because I spend like three times that on a single chapter, but THAT'S what gets featured. I'M NOT COMPLAINING I'M JS (btw the PMV was to "Bad Apple" username "TangyNeonz" on yt look me up)
ILY ALL THERE'S ANOTHER CHAPTER AFTER THIS SO STAY TUNED