As they flew, Sky thought over the events of the last few days, trying to remember the last time she hadn’t been more confused than a primary school-mare in an advanced physics exam. She was still trying to figure out what was going on, and trying to piece things together, as her memories were coming back, and she was beginning to remember the sixteen years she had served Chrysalis, the last three of which she had realised what she had been doing. She remembered being a filly, and how she had learned to read and write, and how to do maths, and all the other things it would take a normal filly weeks to learn in a matter of hours. She remembered the first time she had used an offensive spell, and had almost killed about fifty changelings in the process. Her head was beginning to hurt as her mind was assaulted with the repeated recollections. Sky just wanted to sit in a dark room for a few hours and live through these memories again, --as she had remembered a spell that allowed her to do that-- especially the vague ones she had of her parents. For now she just flew over the dark town of Ponyville, as the gray ponies below continued to cause havoc among the few coloured ones. Sky still kept moving, avoiding the occasional missile from the ground. Her and Rainbow landed on Twilight’s balcony and headed inside. The others were waiting there, sitting and chatting quietly. Sky and ‘Dash jumped down, causing the other five to jump in surprise. Rainbow Dash and Sky explained all that had happened to them, and Sky mercifully left out the part where Rainbow had been crying and hugging her, and Rainbow Dash whispered a small ‘thank you’ as they went to sit down. Sky took the letter out of the pouch, without the Element Fragments falling out, which was difficult, when all you have is hooves to do it with. After some fiddling, Sky took out the letter and passed it to Twilight, as she knew the purple pony would just read it without stopping. Twilight read it out loud to the group, and when she finished, the other five ponies sat there in stunned silence.
“So... When Ah was telling you ‘bout the seventh element two days ago, Ah was talking to the seventh element?”
“Yes. I didn’t know at the time, obviously. But... Now that I do... It feels... It feels right. I was wondering how I was able to use those spells.” She looked at Twilight, who she knew had been researching it.
“I couldn’t find anything. I saw a reference to something called an ‘Alicorn’ and it said that they were unicorns with pegasi wings, and so I figured they were able to use magic and fly, but I remembered that you don’t have a horn.”
“Obviously.”
“Other than that, my search turned up nothing. Now we just need to repair the element itself. And for that, you need our power as well.”
“I got that.”
“Well, get the fragments out and we’ll do the best we can.” Sky tipped out the contents of the pouch onto the table Twilight had set up.
“Alright, now we just need to repair this and then we’ll get the others and defeat those villains!”
“Ummm... Yeah.” Sky stood in front of the Fragments, and she felt an immense amount of energy in her mind as the others lent her their strength and there was... Something... Else. Sky knew it wasn’t dangerous, but it confused her, as the source just sat and did nothing. And yet, she felt as powerful as Celestia. Probably more powerful. The spell she needed popped into her mind, and Sky yelled it with enough force and power to shatter windows for miles around.
“REVIVIERE!”
She felt and enormous force coming from the fragments on the table, and they exploded in a flare of light, but Sky kept her eyes on it, even as she heard the others yelling out and diving for cover. The fragments glowed even brighter, but Sky kept watching them, focusing the energy of her and her friends on them. She was mostly drawing from Twilight’s considerable reserves, as the unicorn had told her to, for when Sky ran out of her own energy. But it still wasn’t enough. Then the unknown entity shot into action, and Sky felt and even more immense amount of energy hit her, and she felt more focused than she had in days, even more so than when Chrysalis had left her mind. She felt like she could do anything, know anything. It all seemed so obvious, but she was interrupted when she spoke without meaning to;
“FOCUS! DO NOT LOSE YOUR FOCUS! WITHOUT YOUR ATTENTION AND THAT OF YOUR FRIENDS, THIS WILL ALL BE FOR NAUGHT! HELP ME!” Sky was speaking in a deep female voice, extremely different from her normal soft one. This, she knew, must have been the original wielder of Knowledge speaking through her.
The force of the magic must have reached her, wherever she is.
Yes, young pegasus. With you, the seventh Element will finally be restored, and that troublesome Draconequus will finally be destroyed! Now, before I give you the last of my power and go, I will say one thing. Then I must return to the void. You have faced many hardships that most ponies cannot even dream of. You are the most powerful Pegasi I have seen. Not in magical ability, but in your psychological stamina. Few others could have continued on after her parents were killed. Few others could have continued living after discovering that they had been lied to for thirteen years, and even fewer would have found the strength to escape. You are truly deserving of wielding this element. You make me proud to call myself your ancestor.
Wh-what?
Yes. In the original spell, the elements were handed down through families. When a family died out, or could not handle the power of an element, a sort of ‘lottery’ was run. Our entire family was eligible to wield true Knowledge, even though we had a diverse ancestry, species wise. Perhaps that is why we remained able to wield it. But, I grow weak. I must go. I hope we meet again one day in the void. Just keep focusing. While I have been speaking, I had you word the final part of the spell. You were smart enough to know I would take notice of the spike of energy coming from the fragments, which is tantamount to summoning me directly. Now is the hard part. Keep your strength, and your friends’, focused. Use a spell if you have to. NOW! I SAID THIS IS THE HARDEST PART AND I MEANT IT! YOU HAVE TO POWER THE SPELL! I HAVE HELPED YOU WITH THE WORDING, BUT MY STRENGTH HAS FINALLY RUN OUT! STAY FOCUSED!
And with this, the presence faded away.
Sky somehow managed to keep herself still, although the force of the energy being focused in the fragments was threatening to shake her to pieces. She could feel the others having trouble, and she mouthed a quick spell to keep them in place. She heard their cries of surprise as they discovered they couldn’t move.
“Don’t worry!”
She heard them stop struggling, and their power came back. Sky used this to focus her power, and the fragments slowly connected, and the light went purely white for a moment, and Sky collapsed.