Elements of Revival

by ChivalrythePegasus

"Night"fall

Canterlot. Where it all began, five years ago. So many memories, so much terror that day. And we could do nothing but watch, watch our city, our lives being destroyed in front of our very eyes. What are we to do? We could have done nothing. But now, we can stand. Now, we can fight. Now, we march...

Timberhitch approached the mouth of a massive cave system, which was located in the particular region that had been described to her by what information she could piece together. Behind her, Chivalry and Virtue led a group which also included Echo, Night Flash, and Arc. Vela had decided to stay back, as the thought of confronting whoever had taken her sister sickened her to the core with grief and rage. Chivalry approached Timberhitch, talking softly to maintain a relative silence.

"Is this the one?"

"I reckon, it's the only one in the area that I can see. And trust me, I know this area." Timberhitch responded, getting a nod from Chivalry as he turned to the others.

"Alright everypony," He began in a light tone "this is where we have calculated Aluna to be. I want everypony to watch their backs and be ready for anything, they'll be expecting us." Chivalry said, as everypony began to head inside, except for Arc, who appeared to be deep in thought. Night Flash took notice, and approached the young Pegasus. She spoke softly, trying not to draw attention from the others.

"Something is troubling you, young one. What is it?" The alicorn spoke, standing tall, her purple and black tinted mane being apparent even in the "night" that had very little difference from the day, the clouds masking the true time and the true portion of the day. Arc shook her head, looking up to the towering figure.

"That's just it... nothing, I have done nothing." Arc shook her head, a saddened look on her face.

"You have done, nothing?" Night Flash responded, trying to make sense of the sudden confiding and expression from Arc, who sighed.

"Yes. Everypony else has learned something new, or done something amazing since we came under you and Morningrise's care. Hope and my sister learned magic... They're pegasi, if that's not amazing I don't know what is. Glimmer and Shine have made themselves excellent lookouts. Jolt is already an amazing Pegasus. But me... I'm just me. There's nothing special I have done, besides being dead weight." Arc looked down at her hooves, unable to look Night Flash in her eyes. Finally, she mustered a sentence, one that she had not even been certain if she meant or not. "I think it's best for me to leave so I'm not a burden." Night Flash looked at the Pegasus, beginning to sense the true feelings of doubt and guilt. She looked down to the Pegasus, and spoke softly.

"Raise your head young one. There is no need for such talk, this is your home, and we are your family. We would never dream that you are a burden to us. We would not be the same if you were to leave. There will come a time when everything will become clear. You have a destiny. Just because you have yet to discover it doesn't mean it isn't there. You have shown amazing progress over a few weeks, just because it has not manifested itself completely yet does not mean that you haven't already made great progress. There is much potential in you, Arc, I can feel it. You will do great things." Night Flash finished, as Arc tensed up.

"You, you actually know that?" Arc said, her head rising in hope and optimism. Her ears no longer drooped, perked up in interest as to Night Flash's response. Night Flash looked into Arc's eyes, removing any doubt that Arc had ever had about her future. Night Flash nodded, speaking in a slightly louder tone.

"I know it. We alicorns know a tad more about everypony than you think." Night Flash said, winking at Arc, as Arc smiled, any sign of her fears gone. She walked to Night Flash, digging her muzzle into the front right flank of Night Flash.

"Thank you, Night Flash." Arc said, the smile still not disappearing from her face as the two returned to the group which had already been engaged in the exploration of the cave. Chivalry stood in a large room, which had appeared to be untouched by anypony. He looked around, rather confused by Timberhitch's judgment of Aluna's present location. He looked up, seeing nothing in particular as well. He spoke lightly still, chuckling.

"Well, Timberhitch, I don't see Aluna popping out of thin air." Chivalry said, as Timberhitch rolled her eyes at him in response.

"This is the only place I found with the information y'all gave to me. Just because I survey for a livin' doesn't mean that I can do it without the least bit of good information" Timberhitch fired back, the two laughing it out like a brother and sister. Virtue began to diverge from the group, seeing a small glint further off in the cave. Everypony else was distracted in discussion, finally noticing Virtue's adventuring when it was too late. Virtue took a step too far, hitting a panel on the ground. It immediately began to glow, releasing a mist of darkness around the button. Virtue flinched, as the panel began to slide, the darkness flooding further out of the panel. Virtue began to panic, turning and running back to the others. Night Flash stood unwavered, as everypony else began to fall backwards. She smirked, looking at the shadow that slowly approached.

"Heh, simple shadow magic, piece of cake." Night Flash said, concentrating and releasing a wave of magic, destroying the shadow as it began to reach the ground around everypony. The shadow completely disappeared, revealing a small pathway leading downward. Chivalry laughed, looking over to Timberhitch.

"I think I owe you an apology..."

Aluna awoke to a grinding sound echoing from the direction opposite to the pathway further into the cave. The sound was a grinding, slowly driving her insane as it resounded for a minute or so. Then, silence ensued. Aluna's ears perked up, as she tried to discern what that sound could have been. Finally, she heard a strange sound. It sounded like, like a laugh. She was certain of that, but it couldn't be. It wasn't the sickening cackle that she had become so disgusted with. It was, it was somepony. She was sure of it. Excitement began to tense up her body, as she tried to get Blitz and Lancelot's attention and wake them up. It was.... it was.... it was Chivalry.

The group descended down the staircase, delving further into the complex. Echo stood at the back and Night Flash at the front, using magic to create a light. Chivalry and Virtue stood directly behind Night Flash, followed by Timberhitch and Arc. They descended further, wandering into a large room that was empty. They looked around, noticing only one door. Between them and the door was a rather long corridor of pillars, depicting events in Equestria's history from the story of Nightmare Moon to the Chronicles of Discord. How these were even created baffled even Night Flash, let alone how they got down into the secret complex. The pillars were carved, finally reaching a last one. The pillar silenced everypony, depicting the fall of Canterlot. All of this had been planned.

Aluna began to try to fight her excitement, as the shadowy figure by the name of Sylvandras walked into the room. She had a certain smirk on her face, depicting a sense of victory over the unicorn. She spoke in an arrogant tone.

"Your friends are scared to face me. They hide from me, they have betrayed you." She spoke, as Blitz and Lancelot began to finally stir from their sleep.

"My friends would never desert me! I think you are scared to admit your days are numbered!" The sickening cackle resounded again, making Aluna cringe slightly. Sylvandras looked down upon the unicorn.

"My days? My days? I control the days, you have no power. You and your friends have no power. I rule all!"

Chivalry and the others shook themselves from the depiction, finally managing to get to the door. Chivalry was first to approach, putting a firm hoof on the door. The door began to give almost immediately, as Chivalry slowly pushed outward and walked into the next room. This room was darker, and winded into a bigger portion of the room, in which he heard some noise. He stepped forward, stopped by a maddening shout.

"I rule all!" The voice echoed further into the complex, as Chivalry turned to the others, motioning for them to follow. He approached the curve, seeing that the path turned into a room. He peeked over into the room, seeing the outline of three cages, as well as a shadowy figure. He turned to the others, nodding to try to convey that they had indeed found Aluna. It had to be her in one of those cages. It had to be.

Sylvandras approached the cage much closer, looking down upon the unicorn.

"You really don't know how much power I have do you?" Sylvandras spoke, getting a defiant response from Aluna.

"I know you're not as powerful as you perceive" Aluna responded, getting a laugh from Sylvandras again.

"Naïve unicorn... Poor, naïve unicorn. You really don't understand the predicament you are in, do you? I have you, and when I get your little friends, I will be able to see my vision through- the full destruction of equestria." Sylvandras explained, shocking Aluna. Finally, Chivalry could wait no longer, emerging from the tunnel.

"That's where your wrong, vile scourge. You cannot overcome the combined power of our family." Chivalry emerged, followed by Virtue and Arc. Sylvandras laughed, turning to face the three.

"Ah, young Chivalry, I have been expecting you. Too bad it is for your demise..."

"You seem to be mistaken. We are not here for my demise." The palapony responded, as Sylvandras looked at the group again.

"You really expect to be able to defeat me with just three of you? That's funny." Sylvandras said, unleashing the sick laugh again.

"Not three, six." Chivalry said, as Timberhitch, Echo, and Night Flash emerged from the path. Sylvandras looked at the group, and smiled.

"No matter, now I have seven prisoners instead of four." Sylvandras said, as she began to cast a spell, shadow wrapping around her horn. Chivalry charged to intervene, putting all possible force into getting to her before she could cast. He got within melee range as she casted the spell, hitting Chivalry at point blank range and flinging him several feet back and against a wall. the figure laughed, as Night Flash approached the injured Chivalry, who was unconscious. Rage filled her expression, as she turned to face the alicorn.

"You....You, hurt, my, friend!!" Night Flash's eyes glowed purple, as she began to be surrounded by shadow, which stood in a column and spread across the floor. The alicorn saw the power immediately, and began to flee further into the complex, turning at the doorway before she did so. She shouted, calling for her minions.

"Clawers!!! Do not let them escape!" She shouted, fleeing from the shadow. As she left, Night Flash's eyes stopped glowing and she descended to the ground, everypony else trying to make sense of what had happened. The shadow had corroded the cages, breaking them open as Aluna landed on the ground safely, while Blitz and Lancelot, still lying down, landed roughly, as they still were in shock of Night Flash's power. Night Flash realized what she had done, and began to apologize, until Aluna spoke first.

"That....was....awesome!!! I didn't know you could do that!" Aluna said in delight, as Night Flash began to smile, realizing that she had not scared anypony, besides maybe Blitz or Lancelot. Echo walked around the room, looking at the decorations and trying to salvage anything, noticing a golden glint behind one of the cages. She walked to it, seeing the latch of an old chest, decayed in much the same way as the cage. She opened the chest, discovering a series of orbs, many of them looking rather similar, but smaller in scale, to the orbs which they had seen on the battlefield. She began to look deeper, until a roar erupted from further inside the cave. They were coming.

"We need to get moving, before those things get here. Fortunately, thanks to Night Flash, they have been scared away for some time." Aluna said, looking to the direction from which everypony had came. Night Flash went to oppose, but was shocked to see Chivalry standing again.

"Chivalry, you're okay!" Night Flash said, as the Pegasus dusted himself off and nodded.

"It will take more than a spell to kill me." Chivalry said, wiping a bit of blood off of his face and falling back into rank with everypony else. Echo quickly shut the chest, using magic to lift it off of the ground and bring it with them. They would need to be studied later, when she had more time. The group ran from the main room, Blitz and Lancelot making enough sense of what was happening to follow the group towards the exit. They exited the corridor, coming to the first big room. Echo turned around, seeing Clawers everywhere approaching up the tunnel.

"uh, guys" Echo whispered, but everypony was busy running.

"guys...." Everypony still could not hear. Echo sighed, lifting her head.

"desperate times call for desperate measures...." Echo said, as she planted her hooves and let out a loud scream. The scream shook the cave, dropping boulders on the pathway to further in the complex, as everypony else had already reached the exit. Echo ran quickly to the entrance, as boulders began to pile up at the entrance. She gulped, then leaped onto the pile, quickly scaling up the series of boulders. Almost there... almost there. She jumped one last time, landing on the top rock as she looked down, frozen in fear. The drop was several stories, and everypony else was trying to hold off Clawers that had gotten outside. She looked around, not seeing much choice. She gulped again, resorting to jumping off of the rock as the mouth of the cave closed. She was in free fall, as she quickly began to panic. Her life events began to run through her mind, especially the fall of Canterlot. She curled up, ready to accept her fate. She waited, waited, waited, but never hit the ground. She opened one of her eyes, seeing clouds fly by quickly as she looked up to see Starfury. He looked down at Echo and smiled.

"We heard a commotion, so we came to investigate. Good thing we did." Echo looked over and saw Anteros, who was carrying Blitz. Everypony else was grouped up behind them, the pegasi carrying the earth ponies and unicorns. They flew for a few minutes, as everypony laughed and generally had a good time for the first time in weeks. They had their family back.

The group landed at the camp to an expectant Morningrise, who stood beside Hope and Teal. They landed, as Morningrise turned to the two earth ponies.

"Who are you?" He said, getting a quick response from Lancelot, explaining their names. Morningrise nodded, as he began to analyze their motives, realizing they were of good disposition. He looked to Aluna, speaking with a much more friendly voice.

"I hope your internment was not too strenuous." Morningrise said, getting a quick response out of Aluna.

"Eh, it was hard, but I made it through. Where is my sister?" Aluna spoke, more concerned about seeing her sister.

"In the tent over there, it is best you go see her now." Morningrise said, as Aluna looked across the series of tents. She dashed to the tent that Morningrise specified, getting to the entrance and slowly piercing the doorway to see if Vela was truly in the tent. Inside the tent, Vela did sit, meditating deeply, to the point that she had not been disturbed by the rustling of Aluna opening the tent entrance and walking in. Finally, after Vela began to come out of meditation, Aluna spoke.

"Did you... miss me?" Immediately Vela froze, a state of shock on her face. Could it really be? She turned around slowly, meeting eyes with her sister, as all she could do was tear up. She managed to get to her feet, as Aluna walked to her. Vela's face was covered in tears, as she finally mustered a sentence.

"I thought you had, you had died." She said, burying her muzzle into the flank of Aluna, as Aluna began to feel emotional as well.

"I thought I was going to die too. There is much I must tell you. You and Morningrise, of this enemy of ours. Of Sylvandras." Vela kept her muzzle dug into Aluna's flank, as Vela finally mustered one more sentence.

"Welcome home, Aluna."