The Rise of the New Elements

by FirestarPhoenixwing

The Shadows are alive

The Shadows are alive

It’s been days since the shadow war but the events over the past couple of weeks still blaze through my memory. I can’t sleep at night without waking up in a cold sweat. I guess I am a little too young to experience an entire war that depends solely on your power. After all I’m a few years younger than Twilight and all the other but older than the Cutie Mark Crusaders that I see running around town every so often. They’re cool fillies to hang out with. Anyway back to the story, hmm… I guess I can start when Rainbow Dash asked me who and where taught me to fly.

“I never saw you in Cloudsdale,” she said.

“Yeah, I’ve never been to Cloudsdale. I actually had to teach myself how to fly. Basically, my parents said I was not allowed to fly in case I fell, I couldn’t even go anywhere without supervision from my parents or the teacher. I didn’t learn to fly until the other children were bullying me, not only for not being able to fly but I was the one of the only fillies in class that was a Pegasi that couldn’t fly, I got really mad at them after several days went by I shot up like an arrow,” I told her.

“That means you haven’t learned what most Pegasi learn at an early age. Come on we're going to Cloudsdale so I can show you how to fly faster,” said Rainbow Dash.

-

Later she showed me that if I flap my wings less that I can maintain a longer period of flight and I won’t get as tired as if I flapped. Next she showed me how we can go at a super fast speed. All we had to do was fly above the clouds and then let ourselves fall. On our way up though We shared a vision. I don’t know how we had it be it was a pretty bad experience.

We saw a volcano in the distance. As we flew to the ground I put a hoof to land thinking it was solid ground. Turns out it was lava so I burnt myself. “I thought you were fireproof,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Well, I’m fireproof to a certain point. My skin is tougher than your skin by far for resisting fire but it's not as a dragon hide where I could jump in a pool of lava and come out unharmed,” I explained rubbing the hoof that got burnt.

I didn’t know it at the time but now I’m pretty sure that the vision was Equestria in the future. We snapped out of the vision. As Rainbow and I flew back down we thought that it would be a good idea to see Princess Celestia after we told the others about the vision.

The next day we took the train to Equestria and arrived at noon. When I stepped off the train I started glowing. A moment later I was wearing a glowing orange and red stone on a golden necklace. I have know idea how it got there. When I showed Princess Celestia it she said, “Now I understand. I was hoping they were destroyed. Firestar what you wear on your neck is one of the Six Elements of Equestria. They are fire, water, air, rock, and plant life. You have the fire element”

“So there is more than just the Elements of Harmony,” I asked?

“Yes,” Said the Princess, “but these elements are more ancient than the Elements of Harmony. In fact they are older than Luna and I. I didn’t think they had any children.”

“Who had children,” the eight of us asked?

“The ponies that could control the elements,” She said.

“And what about the vision me and Rainbow Dash shared,” I asked?

“That was a glimpse of the near future. What you’ve described to me sounds like the end of Equestria. What could cause such a disaster I do not know. except maybe a volcanic eruption,” the Princess said, “But I sense nothing.”

The Princess invited us to stay the night and we graciously accepted. The next day she gave me the book about the elements and we boarded the train for Ponyville.

-

A few week later there was a Wonder bolts show in Ponyville. It was a nice day outside and everyone was enjoying the show, especially Rainbow Dash. Some of the cadets had just past us when I hear a loud boom and saw smoke rise to the sky. I realized it was coming from my house! I flew as fast as I could to Twilight’s old Library where I kept the Elements of the World book and my Element. When I got there the castle was rigged with explosives. I flew through the door and grabbed the book and my element and dashed out the door just as the explosives went off! “AAAGGGHHH,” I screamed as I flew twenty yards away. When I hit the ground I blacked out. When I woke up my friends found me. Luckily I wasn’t hurt in the explosion and every pony was at the Wonder bolts show so no pony got hurt. I noticed more smoke columns rising into the sky. All of them came in the directions of my friends house. Twilight's new castle wasn't damaged by the explosion but it was on fire.

The Apples house had blown up but there farm was untouched. So we decided to stay in their barn. “Who in their right mind would blow up all our houses,” asked Rarity.

“I don’t know,” said Twilight.

“I failed,” I said, “My one job was to protect Ponyville. How am I supposed to protect Ponyville if I can’t even protect my own home?”

“Hey it’s not your fault. There was nothing you could have done to stop this,” Rainbow Dash tried to reassure me.

“Yes, there was. If I had been doing my job then…” I didn’t finish my sentence. I flew up to the top of the barn roof and cried softly. Once again in my life some pony else had ruined my life.

For three days I felt broken sitting on the barn roof. It felt like my life line was a mirror, and some pony had just shattered it with a hammer. I didn’t eat or drink. Everyone’s family in Ponyville was in the barn. The Apples, Rarity’s sister Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, some of Fluttershy’s animals, and Mr., and Mrs. Cake and their two Foals. I heard Twilight talking about how concerned she was about me after she tried to get me to eat something. “I’m just so concerned about her. I don’t know if she will ever be the same. After all she just became a legal mare a few months ago.”

“Were all worried about her sugar cube,” said Applejack.

Spike came up after a few minutes later. “Firestar, um you haven’t eaten in a couple days. I brought you some food.”

“Thanks, but I'm not hungry,” I said.

“It’s not you fault this happened. Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not the end of the world and you didn’t make any mistake. I thought I was making a mistake when I pet sat for every pony. I mean, I kind of did, but, I moved on. You should too.”

I gave Spike a smile. I realized just how much my friends cared about me. “Come on,” I told spike, “Lets go down to the others and eat.”

“Guess who decided to join us,” said Spike when we entered the barn.

“Firestar,” said everyone!!!

“Are you feeling better,” asked Twilight?

“Yeah I-,” I said when my sentence was cut off by a group of ponies that appeared out of nowhere. We were surrounded. They had smoke curling off them like Clytius did. There hair was blue and smoky and they all seemed to be unicorns. They didn’t move their mouths but I could hear them in my mind say “Surrender Firestar Phoenixwing. Come with us peacefully or your friends won’t be staying in a barn tonight. We will blow it up like we did with your houses.”

“You blew up our houses,” I shouted!

“Um... Firestar what are you talking about,” asked Rainbow Dash? They all gave me puzzled looks.

“You don’t hear them? They blew up our houses,” I said.

“Yes,” the shadow ponies whispered in my brain. “Now come with us and your friends will be spared.”

“NO,” I said! I shot fire at one but it backed away. Another one lunged at me and bit me. “Augh,” I shrieked. It’s bite was icy cold. I burst into flames and the pony vaporized. The bite warmed up to my body temperature and the bite healed. The Shadow ponies backed away from me. “We have to split up we can’t take them head on. They are too dangerous. We can go into pairs. Rarity and Sweetie Belle, Applejack and Applebloom, Big Mac and Granny Smith, Rainbow and Scootaloo, Pinkie and Fluttershy, Mr. and Mrs. Cake and the Foals. Spike can you go with Twilight,” I asked?

“What about you,” asked Spike?

“I’ll take them out when they chase you.”

We ran in different directions. I ran to the barn to get my element of fire.

Some of the shadow ponies went after my friends but many of them went after me. I blasted them all with fire and they dissolved. I blasted every single one that had followed my friends and their families. But by the time I took them all out I felt exhausted and my Element was steaming. When we regrouped at the barn it started to crack. Then it shattered. “I… I overused its power..”
“Hey, it’s alright. We can store it by the Tree of Harmony.”

“Ok I said a little disappointed in how I had the Element of Fire for a few days and I managed to break it. We laid it next to the Tree of Harmony and it started to glow like it did when it first appeared around my neck. When the glow faded away. The shattered Element was in cased in a small sapling of fire. Like the Elements of Harmony on the Tree of Harmony.

The next day was the Gala and Princess Celestia invited us to go. Rarity made some pretty cool looking dresses for all of us back in the barn. I have know idea how she did it. Mine looked as though it were made of fire. It was pretty cool.

At the Gala I talked to the Princesses about the attack at Ponyville and my Element shattering. They could make anything of it. For the rest of the night we almost enjoyed the party. Almost. That night the Shadow Ponies struck again.

They captured the guests and the guards. They got my friends and the Princesses. I was the only one standing. “Surrender Firestar Phoenixwing. And everyone here will not be harmed,” They said actually speaking.

“Firestar, no, they’ll kill you.”

“Yes, Princess of Magic. You are correct,” they said.

I didn’t want anyone in there to get hurt because of me so I said, “I’ll be fine. I need to keep everyone in here safe. This is my duty as a Royal guard.”

“A wise decision,” the Shadow ponies said.

“No,” said Applejack.

“I must, I’m sorry. Spike I want to keep something that's valuable to me in case I do die,” I said showing Spike some of my fire. He took it gingerly without arguing. “Keep it burning.”

“I will,” he said. With that the Shadow ponies looked at each other. Then they looked at me and shot an icy cold beam at me and froze me in place. “The prophecy is complete,” they said. Then the left.

-

The only advice I can give is when you're stuck in a block of ice it is cold. I couldn’t hear a thing but I could see. Princess Celestia took some of my fire and made a miniature sun out of it to melt the ice quickly. Within an hour I was completely unfrozen and shivering from the cold water that drenched me. I was able to absorb my fire back and I warmed myself up. I asked Princess Celestia, “What did they mean by the Prophecy is broken.”

“Let me show you,” The Princess replied leading us to a small section of the library. She picked up a book and turned a couple pages. “Ah, here it is. The Prophecy of The End of All Ages. It reads, Generation to generation the flame lay small, the small flame will be kindled higher than before. This pony is a Pegasus with a magic power, her blood belongs to the princess of fire. I think that is what the shadow ponies meant by the prophecy is broken. When you froze they were counting on getting rid of you. They have something planned.”

“That makes sense,” I said, “I won’t leave Canterlot until we know what they are planning.”

“We are too,” Twilight said as the others nodded.

“Then I have something to show you,” said Princess Celestia. The Princess led us to the armory. “We have modified your hoof blades. They are now fireproof. They also have a little bit of shadow proof and we added a grapple to it just in case. We made fire producing weapons to handle any Shadow pony attacks.”

“This is great,” I said thanking her for the new weapons.

-

A few days later we lost magical contact with the other cities. So we put up a shield like the time the Changelings attacked Canterlot. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Twilight were holding the shield up by the time the Shadow Ponies arrived We found out that the shield didn’t keep them out but it did slow them down. The Royal Guards and I fought the shadow ponies that got through the shielding but by the third day the Princesses were exhausted. Princess Celestia had a idea that I could make a fire shield, so I headed to the center of town. I closed my eyes and pictured a shield of fire surrounding the city and opened my eyes. It was actually working. The shadow ponies couldn’t get through but my shield was weak. I could feel it weakening at every minute. I kept the shield up around city for ten days. In those ten days I didn’t eat or sleep. On the tenth day a guard walked by me and I said, “Guard, I… I can’t hold the shield much longer. Go… go warn the Princess… p-please!” Then I fainted.

-

He must have dragged me back into the Castle because when I woke up that's were I was. Twilight and the Princesses were enchanting the doors and windows. “Firestar,” said Princess Celestia! “I’m glad you're awake we can’t keep them out much longer.”

“We need to vaporize all the shadow ponies at once,” I said. “I think I can but I’ll need you, twilight and Princess Luna to enlarge my magical energy by lending me some of your magic. Suddenly the doors burst open and shadow ponies poured through. “We have to do it now,” I shouted!

I concentrated on making the biggest fire ball I could create. I was surrounded by fire. I let it reach 10 feet away from me before I released it in a flash of light. when the light cleared my head felt dizzy and I collapsed. “Firestar, are you alright,” asked Twilight?

“Yeah, I’m just a bit dizzy and a little tired,” I said.

“Then you should rest. You deserve it after all you’ve done these -,” she said. I was out before she could finish her sentence.

-

I slept for about two days and during those two days I had horrible nightmares. The Crystal Empire was overrun. As I looked around I saw the crystal ponies in their homes and a shadow pony guarding every door. A guard walk straight through me.’So they can’t see me,’ I thought. I walked into the throne room only to find no pony in the room. The prison was the only place Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor would be.

When I arrived at the dungeons I found The Princess and the Prince were locked up. Luckily they didn’t look too hurt, they just had a few scratches and bruises. I knew there was nothing I could do for them in my dream form so I left to try and get a good strategy for taking back the Crystal Empire. When I woke up I had my plan ready for the Princesses, the guards and my other friends.

“Okay, so, first Me, Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Spike, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, AJ, Twilight, and Pinkie will be the ponies sneaking into the Crystal Empire. We will do this by a hiding spell at night. Princess Luna can cast the spell. Once we are over the walls Spike and I will go to the dungeons and rescue Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor by melting the metal with our fires. The rest of you will open the gate and let in the Royal guard and free the Crystal ponies. All of this will happen while Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor use the Crystal Heart to weaken the Shadow Ponies and I’ll use the big fireball spell and defeat them,” I said.

“ Sounds like a plan,” said Princess Celestia. “I shall have the guards prepare the train for our departure.

-

“Firestar wake up. We about to arrive,” said Twilight.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. “Ok thanks Twilight.” I put on the armor and headed to the doors with twilight.

“Is everyone ready,” asked princess Celestia? Many heads nodded. “Alright Firestar, you are in charge now. Lead the way, my little pony.”

Our team made it to where the magical shielding should have been when I said, ” Princess Luna, I think now would be the time to cast the invisibility spell.”

“I believe so too, Firestar. There is just one thing you should know before I cast the spell, You must stay close to me for the spell to work. The further you get away from me the more the spell will wear off. Be sure to stay close to me.”

Princess Luna casted the spell. “Ok,” she said. “Let’s go.”

We followed princess Luna into the Crystal empire, As we approached the prison there were only two guards. Me and spike knocked out the guards and we parted with the other group. “Now you’ll have to somehow get the gates up without be noticed,” I said.

“No problem. We’ll see you then,” said Twilight.

“See ya,” me and Spike said. As we ventured into the prison we searched for guards. Luckily there weren’t any to be seen. Finally after about an hour of searching we found Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor. We asked them if there was a key but they said it had been destroyed by the shadow ponies so me and spike melted the lock off with our fire.

“Sir,” I said saluting Prince Shining Armor. “Firestar Phoenixwing of Princess Celestia’s Legion reporting for duty. Please follow me.”

“Your part of Princess Celestia’s legion? You seem a little young to be part of the Legion. Wait you're that mare that joined the Princess’s legion without training,” asked Shining Armor?

“Yes sir,” I said. “Please sir, the other three princess and Twilight's friends are raising the gates to let in the legion to distract the guards. During the distraction you’ll put the shields that protect the Crystal Empire. Then I’ll be able to defeat the shadow ponies.”

“Wh- what Twilly's here,” asked both the Prince and Princess. “Um… I mean, I understand. That's a good plan. Now let’s go take back Equestria starting with the Crystal Empire,” said Prince Shining Armor.

As we came out of the prison Twilight and her friends were raising the gates to let in our legion. The shadow ponies raised the alarm and charged the legion. “Now,” I said!

We ran to the Crystal heart. “Ok raise the shield,” I said. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor’s horns touched each others and the Crystal Heart began to glow. Suddenly the shield that protected the city raised back up. “Ok, now it’s my turn,” I said. “Close your eyes, it's going to be bright.” I closed my eyes and concentrated on making the biggest fireball I could create. When I couldn’t get the fireball any bigger I opened my eyes and felt all my energy drain as the fireball was released. A blazing ring dissolved the shadow ponies. I collapsed to the ground in a heap.

“You did it,” said Prince Shining Armor. “The shadow ponies they’re gone.”

“Good,” I said. “That's what I was going for.”

“What was that? It was like a supernova,” said Shining Armor.

“Hmm… I haven’t really thought about a name for it. Let’s call it the supernova ability.

“Firestar,” the Prince said helping me up,” I’ll follow you anywhere, I’ll fight by your side anytime.”

I grinned, “Good, cause we still need to take back the rest of Equestria, Sir.”

He grinned back, “ All right let's go get them.” I nodded and started to get back to everyone when he said, “ Oh and Firestar, were friends and I consider you an equal, please, call me Shining or Shining Armor.”

“Ok Shining ,” I said.
-

It took us months to take back Equestria. First we started with taking Ponyville back after taking back the Crystal Empire, then we took back Cloudsdale, then Appleloosa, Las Pegasus, and so on. Finally the last city to take was Manehattan. We had used the same plan in the Crystal Empire for all the other cities we took back since it was the best one any pony could come up with so we thought it would work for the Battle of Manehattan. We were wrong. We found out that the shadow ponies were teleporting from another dimension and We located the source in Manehattan.

At first everything played out the way it was supposed to. I used the supernova ability and vaporized the shadow ponies, but then they started to reform and turn into the portal to the other dimension. Shadow tendrils of energy were flailing everywhere and I was really close to the portal and was just about to blast it with a fireball when one of the tendrils wrapped around my hoof and dragged me into the portal.

-

All I can say is it was dark on the other side of the portal. The only light was some teal orbs floating around. The ground was rough and were like shards of black glass that hurt to walk on so I decided to fly. In the distance I could make out a castle just as dark and glassy as the ground around me, as if it were made of glass. On the castle was another portal that seemed to lead into Equestria. I took a deep breathe and immediately regretted it. The air was acidic and my lungs felt like bursting. I could hear rivers rushing by.

Then a voice spoke, “Haha, You are stuck here, unless you can get through the portal you see on top of my castle. Which is impossible because I am guarding it.”

“Who are you,” I asked?

“I am the Lord of the shadow ponies,” said the voice. “I want you to meet me at my castle. I want to destroy the only pony that has a chance to defeat my armies.”

He was right, I had to go to his castle and walk into his trap. It was the only way back to Equestria. After about an hour I arrived at the castle and flew up to the tower with the portal.

“Welcome to my humble home said the Shadow lord. I hope that it was painful because soon you will die.”

“where am I exactly? On another planet, another dimension? Where,” I asked?

“Why, we're in Tartarus,” he said. My eyes widened and he chuckled to himself, “Yes, behold my kingdom. The five rivers that flow through Tartarus flow to this spot, the Styx, the river of hatred; the Acheron, the river of pain; the Lethe, the river of memory loss; the Phlegethon, the river of fire; and the Cocytus, the river of pure misery. Soon I will release all the creatures locked up in here and they shall join my armies. “Why didn’t you take the regular way out of Tartarus,” I asked? “Because that is upper Tartarus,” He said. “It’s real name is Erebos. All I need to escape is to sacrifice you to Tartarus.”

“I’ll fight you before I give in,” I said.

“Very well, I did not want to do this the messy way but you leave me with no choice,” the shadow lord said.

Tendrils shot out of the shadow lord and wiped at me. I dodge it and shot a fireball at him. It hit him in the chest but he didn’t dissolve like the other shadow ponies usually did. “What,” I said!? “You didn’t dissolve like the others do!”

“Of course not,” The shadow lord said! “You think I could be defeated that easily?” He wiped another tendril at me. and I dodged it but he had wiped another tendril and slapped me across the platform and into a pillar that held the portal. It cracked as I slammed against it. The portal flickered.

‘That’s it!’ I thought. ‘I need to destroy a pillar and get through the portal so the shadow ponies can’t get through any more.’
I got up and waited for another tendril to swing at me. As one came at me I dodge and leaped for the portal but the tendril caught my hoof and threw me back.

“You won’t escape that easily,” He said. “I think you should slow down. Maybe you should be a filly again!” Instantly I got smaller until I was the same age as when I first started writing in this journal. I was a filly and I still had my cutie mark thankfully. “You see, anything I want, I get in my domain. All I have to do is say the word.”

I started crying tears of anger. My vision turned red and I created a huge fireball. Bigger than all my other fireball I used during the Supernova ability. I blasted it at the shadow lord's face and dashed for the portal as fast as I could fly. “GAH,” the shadow lord yelled. He lashed out at me with a tendril and I when through the portal just as he missed me and smashed the cracked pillar. I was safe and unfortunately still a filly.

Comments

[JediMoonstar]

So no lightning?