SIXSENSE CRON INITIATED…
DETECTING ELEMENT SIGNALS…
ELEMENT 1… FOUND
ELEMENT 2… FOUND
ELEMENT 3… FOUND
ELEMENT 4…. FOUND
ELEMENT 5… FOUND
TRACE COMPLETE
Like her friends, Twilight’s jaw hung low as she stood in awestruck of what could be Sunny’s final form. She was twice as many hands taller than the average pony, and the sword-like horn made her feel more towering. The purple unicorn had read many books and scrolls of ponykind’s taller Equus cousins, the Saddle Arabians. While they were thin and beautiful, Sunny transcended these traits threefold.
Twilight knew Sunny hailed from a different era, if not a different world. Not too long ago, Twilight did not know what an alicorn was, but here stood a perfect representation. Even with most of the Element Holding Chamber’s lights broken, Sunny, or Herald of the Sun Princess Celestia, shone brilliantly. Like a moth drawn to a flame, Twilight found herself slowly cantering towards her majesty.
“Sunny,” she said. “I mean, Princess Celestia. Is it really you?”
“This is the true me,” replied Sunny. “All the magic that sealed the Elements of Creation thus far has returned to my being.”
“Are there any more of you?”
“As far as I know, just my sister, thought she is not quite as tall as I am.”
“I had in mind of line of clothes for Saddle Arabians,” said Rarity, “but with an alicorn such as yourself, I may have to go back to the drawing board.”
“And she’s a princess too,” said Fluttershy.
“It’s only a title that my Mother gave to me,” said Sunny, “which I am not fond of.”
“So, what now?” asked Rainbow Dash as remained hovering in the air. “Now I got my Element, where do we go next?”
“That’s right,” said Twilight. “Celestia, where is the Sixth Element?”
“Stop right there!” cried a male voice.
They nearly forgot. The elite soldiers as well as the two Lord Generals remained in the chamber with them. Despite being scorched by the flames of the recent battle, they arose into formation and stood behind Soarin and Flash Sentry, both of whom do not appear to be too pleased with the recent developments.
“You defeated our Empress,” said Flash Sentry.
“Yeah, I know,” said Dash. “Pretty cool, huh? Now you’re all free!”
“Do you think our invincible Empress would be killed by a foal’s technique? In the name of Pegasopolis, you are hereby charged with an attempted assassination of our great leader.”
“What is with you pegasi? The Empress is a ruthless tyrant who doesn’t care about any of you!”
“Traitors like you don’t understand!” Soarin cried. “To fight against an enemy of utter hatred, Firefly herself had to become hatred personified. If not for her, many of our citizen-warriors and our slaves would have perished under Gaea’s relentless bombardment.”
“Dash, there’s no gettin’ through these jarheads,” said Applejack.
“Looks like it,” grinned Dash. “After an epic battle with mom, fighting you two would be a disappointment. Let’s get ‘em!”
Dash and Applejack charged forth, but barely made one full gait when their heads struck a semi-transparent barrier. A column of white light suddenly surrounded the blue pegasus and the orange earth pony, and the same also encased Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Sunny, and Twilight herself.
The light barrier was solid to touch, and fortunately so. Soarin, Flash Sentry, and the elite soldiers hurled their destructive wind, light, and other weather-based elements on the light columns that encased the intruders. It was just in time as well, for about hundred more soldiers arrived along with a dozen griffon mercenaries and armored teenage dragons. Some of them started to throw their own body weight, but with pathetic results. Twilight knew not how long the light barriers would last, even though they displayed no signs of cracking. She would be unable to find out as she and her friends started to float off the ground.
Her horn sensed no signs of a levitation spell. Since they were so high up from the surface, it would stand to reason that Sky Castle might be moving or had turned off its artificial gravity. As confusion spread amongst her friends (save for Pinkie Pie who swam in her own light barrier while making faces at the enemy), Twilight flipped around and could not believe the source of this arcane magic.
The Mare in the Moon, whose presence graced many nights at the start of her journey, had sent forth from its bright surface seven columns of light from a singular point emanating from its “eye”. The rate of Twilight and her friends’ ascent increased, and all of them started panicking as they the light pulled them closer to the glass ceiling.
The only pony who appeared to be calm was Sunny. She knew what was going to happen.
TELEPORTATION TRANSFER COMPLETED
RESUME ALL FUNCTIONS FROM STANDBY
N.MOON PROCESS STARTING…
Aether space.
According to her mother’s lectures, it was where the residual energies left by souls of long ago lingered. The theory, Twilight believed, was that only unicorns had the ability to pray to these energies. These prayers, or rather magic spells, were carefully worded whether verbally or mentally to convince these lingering energies to come to the aid of its spellcaster. One misspelling or mispronunciation resulted in dire consequences, and Twilight had seen one too many during her time in Unicornia.
Except, this spell did not quite feel like a standard teleportation spell. The Mare in the Moon somehow phased herself and her friends out of sync, allowing them pass through solid objects and then warping them at light speeds to the lunar surface. Even if they did not suffer physical damages, the impact felt real, and they staggered about in the dim darkness of what looked to be a massive rotunda held up by thick Romanesque columns.
Sunny used her long horn to illuminate the immediate area surrounding her companions. The marble floor was cold, but was beautifully decorated with the symbols of the moon and the stars. Twilight looked up to see the domed ceiling adorned with a perfectly preserved fresco of four alicorns, one chimeric serpent, and their many equine or equine-like subjects. Three of the figures she recognized as Sunny, Discord, and Queen Chrysalis.
The center of the domed roof had a large opening. It had no windows, but past it was the very planet that were pulled from. Never in her dreams would Twilight end up on another celestial body.
“Is everypony okay?” Twilight asked.
“I may be a unicorn,” said Rarity, “but if that is teleportation magic, then I’ll happily leave spellcasting to the magicians.”
“Let’s do it again!” Pinkie bounced.
“We’ll likely do it again when we return back to our planet,” said Twilight. “Princess Celestia…”
“Sunny will do,” said Sunny.
“Sorry. I was going to ask if this is where the Sixth Element lies.”
“Luna and I sealed it here far from the reach of ponies with impure hearts. Although, this isn’t the welcome I was expecting. Perhaps all the systems have not fully resumed from standby… In any case, stay close to me.”
By now, everypony was back on their hooves, or in the air in Rainbow Dash's case, and quietly caught up behind Sunny as they gradually left the rotunda. Though compared to the frenzied journey in the Sky Castle, the moon was the complete opposite. The moon perplexed Twilight just as much as it amazed her. They passed through a long pathway lined with columns, and yet there were no windows to separate them from the beautiful yet barren lunar surface. It was deathly quiet, and altogether unsettling. Twilight would understand that these inaccessible ruins would be the perfect place to hide the Sixth Element, but she could not help but feel watched.
They passed through a large pair of intricate black marble doors, and once more, the carvings of Alicorn Sunny and a dark blue alicorn adorned it. Twilight and her friends' arrival into a long hallway summoned dim blue flames on the torches lined against the wall. Even with the flickering fires, the environment remained deathly quiet.
It was clean to boot, free of any speck of dust. This place was inhabited.
The hallway did not just host seemingly endless blue rug and a long line of torches. On the marble walls carved a mural depicting a bygone age. Twilight could not resist almost pressing her nose as she analyzed each figure and event of what could be the Before Times.
What she had seen so far, was violent. In myriad of colors and designs, the Before Times had airships who size and complexity dwarfed those of Gaea or Pegasopolis. The mural depicted stars and planets, as well as weapons decimating those celestial bodies. On panels that depicted land battles, she saw dragons armed with technological weapons, bipedal golems made of stone or metal, and many similar monkey-like creatures that were thin, wore armor, and stood on their hind legs. Some had fangs or horns. Some didn't, and all of them were locked in an endless battle of blood and death.
Then came a panel depicting a seraphic alicorn in the center of it all, ascending from a pathetic earth pony form who lay next to a glowing white orb. The next series images had the alicorn utterly defeat the monkey-like creatures, their beasts, their weapons, and their civilizations in the stars. These images were just as violent.
Twilight then saw something troubling. The seraphic alicorn stood before the defeated maimed and wounded monkey-like creatures, who were on their knees praying and prostrating out of fear. But it seemed the alicorn did not appear to be kind to them. The alicorn then "ripped" the souls of these creatures and fed them into cocoons growing from a tree-like structure. Based on the visages on the creatures, the process looked painful.
Inside of those cocoons were ponies.
"Echo!" Pinkie cried. She extended her head out with her ear raised. She smiled and giggled when she heard her voice responded back to her.
"Please be quiet," said Fluttershy. "We don't want to wake up any monsters here."
"If there are monsters, then we'll kick their butts!" cried Dash.
Twilight was not in the mood to fight again, but she was prepared nonetheless. She felt confident that Sunny was taking them to the right place with no breaks in between. There was no time to adore the architecture, or wonder what was down the hallways crossing into their theirs.
They arrive at a larger set of marble doors adorned with the insignia of the crescent moon. A single magical pulse from Sunny's white and spiral horn ensured everypony's entrance of what lies before them.
It was large, and dark. Not even Sunny's horn was bright enough to illuminate it, but to Twilight it did not feel that well. Her purple horn tingled at the presence of ancient magic, and she suspected that this darkness had a purpose. She and Rarity provided additional light, but it was still not enough. Everypony wandered about as Sunny stood still in deep thought.
"It should be here..." she muttered.
The group inadvertently split off, with Dash flying in the darkness. She used her Atmos Arts ability to produce a sparkler effect on her hoof, though its lumens were much less than that of a unicorn horn. A worried Fluttershy chased after her, but she yelped when she bumped into something.
Then she shrieked.
"Darling, what's wrong?" asked Rarity.
"I'm under attack!" Fluttershy cried.
"By this?" Dash asked. Her Atmos Art sparkler and Rarity's horn illumination revealed a statue of an armored stallion. He had wings, but his were that of leather instead of feathers. It made him look like a bat-pony. Dash gave herself a smirk after she struck the statue’s stone helmet with one hard hit from her right front hoof.
“It’s just a statue,” said Dash.
“It’s scary,” said Fluttershy.
Twilight had a hunch about this room’s layout, and she motioned Applejack and Pinkie Pie to follow her towards the other side of this large room. She confirmed her suspicions as her horn-light cast a shadow and illuminated another statue on her arrival. She took an adjacent walk forward, and found another statue.
"Looks like there's more statues here," said Applejack.
“It’s even more scary!” cried Fluttershy.
"Come on," said Pinkie Pie. "It's not like they'll come to life like Discord."
The lights above them flashed on to reveal a grandiose throne room decorated with metal and crystal chandeliers and black banners. Each wall was lined with more statues of the bat-pony guards. Several more were positioned behind them on terraced stone platforms at four layers high, and Twilight counted almost a total of eighty-eight statues. A set of them were armed with either spears, swords, and rifles. In darkness, they looked inert, but with them fully illuminated they appeared ready. At the end of the room standing on raised throne platform was a fearsome statue of a fanged alicorn frozen in a position of attack.
"That's really scary!" cried Fluttershy.
The statue Rainbow Dash started cracking, and before long it shattered its outer shell to reveal the snorting bat-pony stallion. Fluttershy screamed as the bat-pony shook off the stone fragments off its body. It wobbled for one second before he latched his black spear on his shoulder groove on his armor.
One by one, the other "statues" shattered to reveal their hibernated occupants, and they wasted no time staring at their visitors and pointing their weapons at them. Those with swords and spears drew closer to the seven mares. Those with rifles turned on their laser sights and pointed them. Twilight and her friends immediately regrouped into a tight circle. Rainbow Dash might appear ready to fight, but Twilight and others feel exhausted. They were not ready to fight once more after big battle against the Empress Commander of Pegasopolis.
"Night Guard!" Sunny cried out. "I wish to have an audience with your Princess!"
The fearsome statue on the throne shattered to reveal a jet-black alicorn with a mane and tail of space itself. She had the least amount of armor covering her head, chest and hooves, but that was all she needed. The black alicorn had a familiar Glyph of a crescent moon on her flank.
"WHO DARES INTRUDE INTO MY INNER SANCTUM?" cried the alicorn. "SPEAK NOW!"
"Designate 001 Herald of the Sun, Princess Celestia," said Sunny. "I wish to speak to the one known as Designate 002, Herald of the Moon, Princess Luna."
"HOW DO I KNOW THIS NOT A MERE TRAP CAST BY A CHANGELING OR A WARLOCK?"
Sunny sighed. She stepped forth, and uttered a familiar rhyme while dancing a familiar jig.
"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake."
The wrath on the black alicorn vanished. Then a white glow enveloped her body, and she transformed into a calmer being. Her crown and necklace went from dark blue to black, and her gauntlets became glass. Her mane and tail, though ethereal, were made apparent and well-defined. Her coat shifted to that of a dark blue, and her stature a little shorter than her previous form. With a simple gesture of her hoof, the Night Guard withdrew their weapons, and stood in formation alongside the long rug that almost took up the entire throne room.
"Passphrase accepted," spoke the dark blue alicorn. "My apologies, dear sister, but I cannot take the slightest of chances that the Elements of Creation had selected villains instead of heroines."
"I completely understand, Luna," said Sunny. “Though I wished you could have picked a better passphrase for me to recite.”
“Oh, but I do want to get you back for all the pranks you pulled on me on the arcadia of our youth.”
"Sister?" Twilight asked.
"In a sense, that is true. We are born around the same time as the other Heralds. Twilight Sparkle, I presume?”
“You know my name already?”
“She must have been petrified like that Discord guy and hooked herself to a big moon computer!” cried Pinkie Pie.
“It may seem like a petrification spell,” said Luna, “but in reality, it is a deep hibernation spell I imposed onto myself and my Night Guard as we await Princess Celestia and her candidates. To answer any further questions, I already know all your names, primarily through the one called Applejack. Applejack, it is a pleasure meeting you again.”
“Again?” asked Applejack.
“Herald of the Moon Luna is the Princess of the Night,” said Sunny. “She has the power to enter into ponies’ dreams.”
“But not without reason,” added Luna. “Per our ancient laws, I have to respect the privacy of ponies’ dreams unless they are in grave danger. Alas, the nightmares of the real world outnumber pleasant dreams, and I have mostly excused myself from my regular duties.”
“Look, uh, Princess Luna,” said Applejack, “you’re not gonna tell my friends about what I was dreamin’, are ya?”
“It would be a priacy violation if I were to do so.”
“So that's no then, right? Whew!”
“Aw, I wanna know what kind of kinky sex dreams you were having,” said Dash.
“Perhaps at another time,” said Sunny. “We should all rest first in the Dream Fortress.”
“I’m not tired! Let’s go get the Sixth Element and go back home.”
“It’s not that simple, Rainbow Dash. Unlocking the Sixth Element requires all your friends to be in full form. You may still have energy within you, but your friends are exhausted because of the Element of Honor.”
“What?”
“Is it just like my Element?” asked Fluttershy.
“The Element of Honor has an impressive passive ability to heal serious wounds in the presence of friends who believe in its Bearer. It is not fatal, but it drains a significant portion of their emotional energy in the process. Close physical proximity increases its effectiveness.”
“And I thought I was tired due to all those fires,” said Rarity.
“My little ponies,” spoke Luna, “my Night Guard will escort you all to your bedchambers. Rest as much as you can. Tomorrow will be a long day.”