Chapter 84 – The Shards of Light

"This doesn't make sense." Twilight said, "The Elements of Harmony were created by the Tree of Harmony, and the Egas just…makes its own?"

"I…suppose?" Rarity said, more of a question than anything else.

"What just happened?" Pilit asked.

"And where did those crystals go?" Piks asked.

"Wait…did we just become Elements like you guys?" Syls asked, catching the attention of the others, "What? She explained it to me!" the Dryskian said as she pointed to Rainbow Dash. To which the blue pegasus just shrugged.

"It felt weird." Pilit said, "But it also felt like magic, like when I was practicing."

"That's because it was magic." Twilight explained, "But it was a different kind of magic, "I'm not sure what kind."

"What about the magic of Friendship?" Pinkie asked.

"I'm not sure, we've only ever felt the magic of OUR friendship, who knows if the magic of another friendship will be different." the alicorn explained.

"I suggest we save this conversation for when we have the time." Image said.

"Agreed." Lau stated, "If this does not work than we're going to need a second plan."

"Oh right, the engine." Pilit said, and gently took the orb from Rainbow Dash, "It's different now, duller I think."

"Maybe a different color?" Syls asked.

"Let's see if it will work." Pilit said, and lead the entire group to her masterpiece. The machine looked close to the B336, with some major differences. The outer shell had been removed in parts, opening up a lot of the design. It looked like there were several more couplings inside that lead more towards different things in the engine as well.

"Wow." Twilight said.

"It's magnificent." Rarity said.

"This looks awesome!" Rainbow Dash and Syls said at the same time."

"Your best work yet." Image said in response.

"Thanks." Pilit said, "I noticed that the old B336 was too…direct, everything was too mechanical. I wanted this to be more organic, have it flow the same way magic does. I haven't had a chance to test it yet though."

"Well, let's git er fired up!" Applejack said with excitement.

Pilit gulped, and turned. Opening a hatch on the side and slowly moving the orb towards the machine. "Oh Please…" she whispered. Hulon, Syls, Lau, Image, and Piks all gathered around her, wanting to see the process as well. Nothing happened and the orb was too big to fit. "I don't get it." Pilit said, "Maybe this isn't the same as the 'Aura' from the old B336."

"Aura?" Hulon asked, "Like feelings 'Aura'?"

"Huh?" Pilit asked.

"Perhaps we should try our own magic?" Lau said.

"You mean the shards?" Image asked.

"It's worth a try." Syls said.

"Ok." Pilit said and inhaled deeply, "How do we do this?"

"You remember the feeling you got from the magic?" Twilight asked.

"You mean the fear and curiosity? Or the calm feeling?" Pilit asked genuinely.

"More the calm feeling." the alicorn explained, "That feeling of friendship, trust? Focus on that." She watched as Pilit calmed a bit, closed her eyes and focused, "Focus on your friends." she said, and watched as Lau grabbed Pilit's free hand. Image gently placing his hand on her other arm while Hulon grabbed the free hand of Lau and Syls placed her hand on Image's shoulder. Piks then placed his hands on Pilit's shoulders. Wordlessly, they all smiled. Pilit then closed her eyes again and focused. The orb began to glow, the five shards of the spear appearing around the necks of the others as they focused too, the colors trailing from the shards and into the orb, before a rainbow launched itself into the opening of the engine. When it stopped, they opened their eyes, and found the new Spell Burst Engine full to the brim with an aurora of what looked like liquid magic.

"It worked!" Pilit shouted, and reached out, letting go of Lau's hand and closing the hatch. "It really worked!"

"And THAT'S the Magic of Friendship!" Twilight said and turned to her friends. Each of them came in for a hug as the six ponies gladly smiled and giggled.

Pilit turned, eyeing her friends in the eyes, "WE DID IT!" she called out and lifted her hands onto the air in triumph. The other five cheered as they also grouped up into a large embrace. Tusks and Writch both just sitting back, embracing each other as they let their pride swell watching Pilit enjoy her new friends.

"It's going to take work to stay together as friends, but I no doubt have faith that you all can overcome anything and learn what it really means to be friends." Twilight said as if she were Pilit's teacher.

"Thank you, Twilight." Pilit said and embraced her friend in a large hug.

"Awe!" the alicorn said in embarrassment, and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Let's go tell everyone else about this." Pilit said in excitement as she let go of the alicorn.

"Hold on." Rainbow said, "The Egas said to keep it a secret for now, and I'm almost certain that if Mirikka found out about this, she'd try to steal the orb and maybe ponynap all of your friends. Also, if Lady Kiane knew, she'd praise you six as heroes or something like that, you'd never get another second to yourselves."

"And don't get me started on corporate big wigs, some of those Point Grubbers would love to get their hands on a fuel like this, and use you for profit." Writch said.

"Right, secret it is." Pilit said, to which the others nodded in agreement.

"Let's go see how much of the new Rainbow Trail they've made." Fluttershy said softly.

The group agreed, each of them making their way to the main part of the, "You just want to watch Blade work, don't you?" Pinkie said with a knowing look. Fluttershy blushed so deeply that she turned red, and used her hair and her wings to hide it. "I thought so." the pink pony said in a giggle.

Inside of Tusks garage, the teams had made great progress, most of the frame had been assembled and the wiring had been threaded. As of now, they were hoisting the outer shell of the front end, another Meltackian luxury hull, that was to be fitted on the front as soon as it was ready. It looked to have been freshly welded and made from a much stronger material than the old one. "You sure this chain will hold?" one of the Dryskian mechanics asked as he used a machine to lift it.

"Never failed yet." his partner, another Dryskian stated.

"This hull is a bit heavier than the ones you've lifted." the first said.

"It'll be fine!" the second shouted back.

"OI!" a Hok-Sai, Al-Ken shouted, "Stop teh yappin, and git te Crackin'!" He made his way towards them, just as the chain broke, the large hull slamming down on top of him. "Git this slab off a me!" they all could hear from underneath the hull.

Tri-Tiner burst out laughing at the scene, he was up on the skeleton of the ship helping with the controls. Blade flew down and lifted the thing straight off of the Hok-Sai, who seemed to be completely unharmed. "Hok-Sai are like Meltackians, but instead have powers based on physical things." Spike explained as he saw the group of fourteen watch in worry, "Al-Ken has 'Impact Immunity' but always seems to be cursed to be underneath something heavy."

"That's not a thing!" Twilight said instantly.

"Yeah, well, it's ONLY the third time that's happened to him." Spike said under his breath.

"Hey!" they heard from the side. A group of Meltackians, Dryskians and Hylop seemed to be standing around, one of the Dryskians waving their hand to get their attention, "We could use some design help!"

"That's our cue!" Rarity said, and turned to walk away, "Come Image, let us lend them our…Expertise." she said.

"Of course." Image said, and floated his way towards them as well.

"How'd it go?" Spike asked as he turned to Twilight. Hulon and Fluttershy passed by, eager to make sure that the Hok-Sai was unharmed.

"Great!" Twilight said, "We've got the engine in running order, now we just need to get it into the ship."

"And hope for the best." Spike added.

"Oh no, Spike." Twilight said, "Not hope for the best, because the best is going to happen."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Definitely!" she assured him.