Final Fantasy: Twilight Elysium

by Matrix7o6

A way to fight back (Edited)

There was little to no conversation on the ride back to Insomnia. The clouds overhead only seemed to compound the collective emotions of the four friends, as they could only hope to awaken from a nightmare. The only noise cutting through the silence was the soft patting of rain against the Regalia as they made their way down the wet roads, the dreariness of the morning never seeming to end.

If anyone in the group had had anything to say it most likely would have been a prayer. A prayer that maybe, just maybe, this news wasn’t true. But they knew that may be too farfetched to hope for. That would imply that they have any luck on their side.

It wasn’t too much longer before Ignis pulls to a stop as they reach the gates to Insomnia. “Why are we stopping?” Noctis asked in a rather anxious manner. He looks out of the car to see several dozen Magitek troops and a few Magitek Armors blocking the road. They were checking any and all cars that got close to the gates.

“I highly recommend a detour,” Gladio suggests.

“There’s a path we can take,” Ignis says. He pulls to the side of the road and onto a hill a little ways off. As they reach the top of the hill, they find a path small enough for them to climb through.

“We’ll need to get out from here,” Gladio instructs. They leave the Regalia and climb onto the path. They take to the narrow area carefully until they stumble across some ruins.

“Magitek troopers,” Ignis whispered. Noctis smirks.

“Then I guess we can take subtlety out of the question. Oh well,” he shrugs, hurling his long sword into the nearest trooper. He appears in front of it and slices the trooper in half. He turns to the other troopers while Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto join in the fray.

Prompto jumps over a large block of concrete to kick one trooper backwards, then fires several rounds into its chest and head. It falls to the ground. Prompto then ducks as three other troopers begin to fire at him.

Ignis throws a dagger into one trooper’s head, causing it to shoot wildly and in the process, hits another trooper. This gave Gladio the opportunity to bisect the stunned one. Ignis runs up to the trooper and pulls his dagger out of it, then decapitates it. The headless body starts to glow, and as red sparks begin to surface, Ignis jumps behind a slab of concrete. The trooper explodes.

As the last trooper takes aim at Gladio, it finds itself run through from behind with a spear. Noctis throws the trooper off his spears and into a rock wall. Once the fighting is finished, they hurry through a narrow canyon that eventually leads them to a ledge overlooking the city of Insomnia.

The hopes that what the papers talked about was false were dashed by the smoldering ruins that lay before them. The group could only gape in shock at what they were seeing. As they looked on with sorrow washing over them, a newscast began to emit from Prompto’s phone.

“As of today, we are getting reports that the Crown City has been destroyed. Amongst the ruins, King Regis has been found dead. And in a new report, it has been confirmed that crown Prince Noctis and Oracle Lunafreya have also been found dead.” As Prompto goes to turn it off, Gladio gives him a look.

“Keep it on!” Gladio shouts, startling Prompto enough to drop the phone.

“DON’T BOTHER!” Noctis yelled. Though Gladio wished to say something, he understood Noctis’s pain and decided to keep quiet for the moment. Ignis picks up Prompto’s phone and hands it to him. Then Noctis’s phone starts to ring.

“Hello,” Noctis says. Gladio gets his phone out as well. A large fleet of Niflheim transport ships flanking a capital ship flew over head, making their way toward the inner parts of the city. “Cor?”

“So you made it. Where are you?” Cor asks.

“Outside the city, with no way back in…”

“Makes sense,” Cor interrupted.

“Makes sense?!” Noctis shouts. “How does any of this make sense?! The newspapers, the radio… they all say I’m dead! Along with Father and Luna!”

“Listen, I’ll be in Hammerhead,” Cor says, ignoring Noctis’s confusion. Noctis groans. “About the king, it’s true,” Cor sighs. Noctis’s eyes widen in disbelief. He stares at the city. “If you’re looking for the whole truth, you know where to find me.” And with that he ends the call. Noctis sighs and puts his phone away.

“We need to go back to Hammerhead and find Cor.” His friends nod.

“The story the news was fed about you is a hoax, which means that the imperial armies will be looking for us. We will have to stay on the move,” Ignis explains. “With that in mind, we need to ask ourselves who our friends are.” He looks to Noctis. “Twilight could be lying to us.”

“And using Lunafreya as bait,” Gladio adds.

“If Twilight wanted us killed she would have had a grand opportunity to do so yesterday,” Noctis replies. “But I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” The group makes their way back to the Regalia with no further conversation.

Twilight slowly eases a window blind to the side to view the outside. She sighs. “We’re clear for now. But no going outside until Noctis and the rest of them show up.”

“You honestly didn’t have to come after me,” Lunafreya responds. “I know what I have to do.”

“Yeah, and that’s stay alive,” Twilight shoots back in an almost-mocking tone. “Look Lulu. Either you are smart and called me because you needed help, considerate knowing what you and Ravus mean to me, or just stupid and thought I wouldn’t notice the fireworks. I have been in enough war to know when one is going on.” Twilight gives Lunafreya a reassuring pat on the back. “I’ll get you to Noct, then we can talk about what happened. Just please don’t do anything without me knowing about it.”

“Alright Twilight,” Lunafreya says with a nod. Twilight smiles.

“Thanks Lulu. I’m going to get some food. I’ll be right back.” She leaves the room. After she leaves, Lunafreya sighs and looks to a dark corner in the room.

“She’s gone, Gentiana,” Lunafreya says. On cue, Gentiana walks out of the shadows.

“She really does love you,” she says with a smile. “Come, we must get the Archaean to agree to forge the covenant. Then we will return here. Twilight won’t even realize you’re gone.” Lunafreya nods.

“Let’s hurry.” They both leave the room quietly.

It goes without saying that no prince or princess is perfect. No matter how hard they try, there are just some places their light cannot reach. Manehatten is such a place. Though Celestia has some influence there, she is viewed more as a far off deity than a princess. She doesn’t have as much a grip on the city; her values and rules are not necessarily enforced as well as they could be. Due to this, some ponies find themselves in some of the darkest and dirtiest areas Equestria ever had the displeasure of being host to. One place being the Manehatten slums.

The slums are home to some of the worst criminals the city could offer; amateur and career alike we all welcomed to the sight of the barely functioning factories and buildings. Unfortunately the slums were also home to the less fortunate ponies that couldn’t make it in the big city.

They could only watch as the beautiful city lights lit up their dreary homes and dreary lives every night. It’s enough to make a pony feel like all hope is lost. What do ponies without hope do? They go to the Horseshoe Tavern with intentions to drink enough to numb their pain. Several patrons become regulars. But today a new pony, a white unicorn with blue hair, greets the dry paint-peeled walls.

The bartender approaches as the unicorn sits down at the bar. “What’ll it be?” the bartender asks.

“Hard cider, if you have it,” Shining Armor says, his voice monotone.

“Luckily for your, the guards made sure those low lives didn’t get to this shipment of cider,” the bartender said. “But I can’t say it’s going to be a fresh brew.”

“As long as it doesn’t kill me.” The bartender nodded.

“Fair enough,” he chuckles. He turns away to get the cider. As Shining waited his thoughts drifted.

“I’m sorry, Spike,” he whispers as his drink was being brewed.

“Hard times, huh?” a female voice asks, bringing Shining’s attention to a booth in a nearby corner.

“Stuff I’d rather not get in to,” Shining replies somberly.

“I understand. Remember, you’re in good company here,” the voice says. “But if you wish to talk…” She lets her sentence trail off. Shining looks back at the bartender, who wore an indifferent look. Shining picks the drink up with his magic and walks over to the booth the voice was coming from.

As he got closer, he could make out a slender figure with a unicorn horn. She was a white unicorn with red hair. She was sitting in a way that Shining could make out her cutie mark; a rose with a steel rod run through it. She was also wearing a light brown leather coat. He catches himself staring as she moves a lamp out of her view.

“I take it you’ve never seen a workin’ mare before?” she says. Shining shot up in a blush.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t…” he stuttered out, only for the mare to silence him.

“I was just pulling your tail; I’m not that kind of workin’ mare. At least not yet. My name is Prim. Prim Rose.” She lets out a giggle.

“I-I’m Shining Armor,” he responds, which makes the mare’s eyes widen.

“The Shining Armor?! The one who was to marry Princess Mi Amore Cadenza? The one who stopped those nasty monsters from invading?” Prim exclaimed, causing Shining to wince.

“I didn’t beat the changelings. And Cadence and I broke up a year ago,” he sighs. “No, the credit for it all goes to my sister.”

“You mean that Twilight Sparkle? Yeah, she is cool…” She tries to continue but it met with Shining’s hoof raised to silence her.

“If you’re looking for my sister or want to meet her, I have no intention to…” This time it was Prim’s turn to silence Shining.

“Your sister is a good mare from what I’ve heard, but I want to know about the stallion that saved the wedding. In this dead town, locals need hope. And I’m in dire need of such.”

“Really?” Shining asks. She nods. “W-well…” he could only sigh. He looks down. “There is nothing to talk about.”

“You sure about that?” He looks up. Prim offers an innocent smile. “If the Captain of the Guard is in a rotten place like this, there must be a reason.” Shining sighs in defeat.

“Former Captain of the Guards. I guess I have nowhere to go.” He sits across from her in the booth.

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.” She smiles.

“Well, I guess it all started when I was young. I was an only child. For a few years I enjoyed that. And then that fateful day came along where my mother told me she was pregnant again; it was going to be a filly. I was overjoyed, I thought I was going to have a little sister that would look up to me. I was going to be the best big brother a pony could ask for.” He sighs. “For a while it seemed like I had a dream come true.

“Until Twilight started to learn her magic. She was a natural, ‘she had so much potential,’ ponies would say. Seeing that very potential, my parents enrolled her in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Mom and Dad started to lose interest in things I did. They bragged on and on about how Twilight was doing so well. Then came the day of the final exam.

“Twilight’s power exploded, which caught the attention of Princess Celestia herself. She took Twilight in as her personal student with my parents cheering the whole way. They were thrilled to say the least. Their daughter being trained by the princess herself was the highest honor a pony could get, let alone a filly.

“My sister, along with her friends, beat the likes of Nightmare Moon, and Discord. But during all that, I was training to be a royal guard. So I could better protect Twilight and make my family proud. No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, she always beat me when it came to them. I’m not her protector; I’m nothing to her. That’s not fair!”

Shining Armor pounds the table and closes his eyes. After a moment, he continues, “After all of that training I did… I’m as useful as a mare who has never so much as hoof-slapped a pony, let alone save Equestria over and over again. The only thing I had left was Cadence. I loved her so much. But one simple mistake and I lost it all. Just one, and now I’m here.”

“What did you do?” Prim Rose asked, clinging to every word that left his mouth.

“During the day of my wedding to Princess Cadence, a swarm of shape-shifting insects called changelings attacked. I was under the control of their queen, who’d replaced Cadence. Twilight knew something was wrong, but no one listened. Not even me.” He sighs. “I thought she was doing it for attention; she was always at the center of everything. For once, I wanted to be at the center of the circle and have a great wedding. Was that so wrong?” Tears started to well up in the stallion’s eyes. “I told her I was sorry, but she just spat it in my face.”

“No, no,” Prim says. “It’s not wrong.” She places a reassuring hoof over his on the table. After a moment she adds, “Wow, it sounds like Twilight is a bit of a brat.”

“She is,” Shining agrees. “So now I’m here with enough bits to pay for this drink, then I’m dirt poor. But it beats dying on my parents’ doorstep.” He takes a drink of his cider. After a few moments of though, Prim Rose gave Shining Armor a serious look.

“Can I trust you?” she whispers.

“What?”

“Can… I… trust… you?” she asks slower, slightly irritated.

“If you’re asking if I’ll do anything to you, I won’t. I have respect for mares. Working or otherwise.” Prim sighs.

“I told you that if you told me your story, I’d tell you mine. I’ve been a dancer all my life… yes, the ‘exotic kind.’ My father ran out on us when I was small, and once I was old enough my mother taught me how to dance; she couldn’t pay for further schooling. I learned dancing before I learned how to read. The mares at my mom’s work taught me to dance, to read, to write. Eventually they either quit or died. Or worse. But I want to get out of here.” She pulled something out of her pocket and leans in to speak lower. “After a little private dance with one of the local thieves, I took this off him.” She lays out a map in front of him of a massive castle surrounded by a large city.

“The Crystal Empire?” Shining says after looking at it. He looks back up at Prim, who is now wearing a huge grin.

“Yes. A long time ago, and evil unicorn named King Sombra took it over and enslaved the ponies who lived there. Princesses Celestia and Luna managed to defeat him, but he placed a curse on the empire. The empire and its ponies would vanish for a thousand years to the day so it would never belong to the princesses.

“That day arrives in less than a week. This means that if we go there, we can both start all over. I can start over in a place my mother could have only dreamed about seeing. And you can defeat King Sombra and be a hero again.” Her grin grew wider.

“But why ask me? You just met me and now you’re asking for my help…” He gives her a suspicious look.

“Because the frozen north is a dangerous place for a mare to travel to alone. And as far as trusting you goes, call it a hunch. But I see in you a stallion with honor and strength; he just hasn’t had the chance to use it properly. So what do you say?” After a few tense minutes of silence, Shining Armor sighs once more.

“I don’t see the harm in it. If King Sombra kills me, at least I didn’t die for nothing.” Prim’s eyes light up.

“Yes. We will leave once we’re finished here. But we need to stow away on a few trains, so don’t get drunk.”

“A little late for that,” he chuckled. Prim smirked in return.

The throne room felt like an endless battle ground for Celestia. If it wasn’t the bat ponies demanding to know where Luna was, it was nobles complaining about investment losses. But today, her opponent was none other than her own niece.

“What is it, Cadence?” Celestia questions sternly.

“Step down, Aunt Celestia,” Cadence demanded, her eyes narrowing.

“Excuse you?”

“You heard me; you are no longer capable of controlling yourself on the throne, and because of that you will vacate it. For I, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, challenge your authority…” Before Cadence could continue with another word Celestia’s horn glows, which forced Cadence into a bowing position.

“Do NOT mistake my love for you as permission to address me in such manners, my dear niece.” She trots down her throne.

“Y-you imprisoned your own sister,” she struggles to say under the weight of the spell. “You w-wanted to erase Twilight’s m-memories… You have l-lost your m-mind.”

“So he did tell you. No matter,” Celestia says, pacing around her. “I’m trying to ensure harmony for our ponies. I cannot do that if you and Luna are fighting me at every step of the way. We need to come together and do what is best for Equestria. Even if Twilight will have to lose her memory, Equestria will be safe.”

“But at the cost of her free will?!” Cadence strains to yell.

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. The Elements of Harmony see that, and so do I. I take no enjoyment from this, but I will die long before I see blood on the soils of Equestria ever again.” Celestia kept her words slow and clear. “You do not know how much I wish it didn’t have to be this way. But it must be done; it is for the good of Equestria.”

“I will tell them! The ponies of Equestria will not stand for this. Aunt Celestia, you must understand…” Celestia stamps a hoof on Cadence’s head, making her face hit the velvet carpet.

“You’ll tell them, go ahead. Tell them all. And when they demand the truth, I’ll give it to them. Under the influence of Nightmare Moon, my sister ponynapped my student and hurled her into the crystal mirror, shattering it before I could pursue her. Luna is now in prison and will remain there until the taint of Nightmare Moon is fully removed this time.

“And though Twilight is gone, Equestria’s safety is not in jeopardy. The Elements of Harmony will still function to repel the threats that come to Equestria. It has never been more important to keep our spirits high and pray for Twilight’s swift return.”

“They will never believe that,” Cadence states, trying to get up.

“They will when it goes out to every paper in Equestria tomorrow,” the solar alicorn responds, adding a little more pressure on Cadence. This causes Cadence to writhe under her aunt’s hoof.

“You’ve gone absolutely mad! You would turn your own sister into a pariah just to give the ponies comfort?! You monster!”

“I know,” Celestia says while bowing her head. “But if it keeps Equestria safe, I’ll take on the role of a monster a thousand times over. Now get out of my sight before you join my sister.” She uses her magic to toss Cadence across the throne room.

“I’ll stop you Aunt Celestia, no matter what it takes.” Cadence gets up and takes off in a sprint down the hallway. She stops dead in her tracks when all the lights in the hallway go out. “Hello?” she calls out. “Is anypony there?”

In a split second she is tackled. Before she can fire off a spell, the assailant puts and inhibitor ring on her horn. Another assailant grabs her. “We got her,” yet another says.

“Knock her out and put her in the sack.”

“Sorry Princess.” With a hard hit to the face, Cadence is knocked out. The assailants throw her into a large sack, then disappear into the darkness as the lights come on again. There was nothing in the hallway now as a few guards pass by.

Rainbow Dash relaxed after another hard day of training. Her uniform was carelessly thrown to the side as she sat down. “Phew,” she sighed. “That was rough.” Not long after, Spitfire entered the office.

“Hey beautiful,” Spitfire greets with a smirk.

“You’re not getting out of buying those ciders that easily,” Rainbow Dash quips back with a smirk.

“How was I supposed to know he was going to crash?” Spitfire asked, eliciting another smirk from Rainbow Dash.

“I told you Sorin was going too fast. Fleetfoot didn’t help either.” Spitfire sighed in defeat.

“Well, I could make it up to you. The old fashioned way.” She offers a seductive grin. Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes.

“Good grief, do you really like seeing me mad?”

“What can I say? You’re cute when you take charge.” She winks.

“Well if you ask me, you both are enough to make me barf,” a voice spoke from the shadows of the room. A familiar face came into the light of the room. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it Dash?”

“Gilda!” Rainbow Dash slammed into the Griffon, giving her a suffocating hug.

“Okay Dash, I forgive you. I’m happy to see you too. Just let go, you dweeb.” With that, Rainbow Dash realized her hold of Gilda was a bit too strong.

“Sorry,” Rainbow Dash said as she lets go. “It’s just been a while. With everything going on, I never found the time to apologize. I’m so sorry for what Pinkie and the others did, and I’m sorry for the way I acted. You just wanted to have some time to yourself with a friend and I ruined it.” Dash’s ears droop. “Can you forgive me?” Gilda smiles.

“Look, I was a jerk. I shouldn’t have been so mean. Looking back on it, I’m not even sure why I was like that. You’re my friend and I should have been more considerate of that around your new friends. It’s just…” she pauses. “I was jealous.

“For all that time in the flight school, you were my only friend. When I found out that you had more friends I was afraid I was going to get replaced. We really haven’t seen each other since that day. I was angry for a while. I was angry with that pink loser and her pony pals. I was your best friend. All in all I want to say that I’m sorry. I should have been a better friend. Take this for its worth, because it’s not every day a Griffon admits when it’s wrong.”

“Gilda,” Rainbow Dash sighs. “If anypony is sorry it’s me. I want to put the past behind us. So let’s bury the axe. What do you say?” Gilda smiles and hugs Rainbow Dash, who returned the embrace in kind. “Besides,” she adds, breaking the hug, “I’m the one who made the mistake of trading you for Twilight.”

“The purple one?” Gilda tilted her head. “What happened?”

“Here we go again,” Spitfire groaned.

“Long story short, a villain tried to take over Equestria and manipulated me and my other friends to think Twilight was paranoid and controlling. The villain had disguised herself into an old friend of Twilight’s, who was the bride of the wedding this all took place in. Twilight’s brother, who was the groom, hurt her feelings and we left her there for her to calm down while we checked on the ‘bride.’ But it turned out Twilight was right and when we won she ran away.” Rainbow Dash seethed at every word.

“Why did that make you upset?”

“Because Twilight has a duty to Equestria; she is an Element of Harmony, like it or not. But she thinks she can run away when the going gets tough. Yes we did screw up, but at the very least she should have forgiven us. No, instead she thinks it’s a good idea to run away and leave Equestria to burn.

“I may not have been loyal that day because I was tricked by that monster, but at least I’m no coward! At least I didn’t run away from the problem.” She panted. “Not everypony is a good friend. I understand that now.”

“Damn,” Gilda responds, “I’m sorry Dash.”

“It’s alright.” Rainbow Dash smiles. “I have my best friend back, a hot fillyfriend, and I’m a Wonderbolt. Nothing is going to get in my way now.”

Discord casually loafed around Fluttershy’s cottage, chuckling as he snapped his lion paw fingers. This caused several squirrels gain long legs, and chocolate milk began raining from cotton candy clouds that hovered over the bunny, Angel. Angel wasn’t the least bit happy about their new roommate, or his habits.

“I’m home!” Fluttershy chirped as she came through her door. She stops and stared in shock at her living room. “Discord, must you do this? You know they hate that.”

“Oh come on, I’m so bored being cooped up in here,” Discord answers, comically slumping on the sofa. “I should go and…”

“You can’t!” Fluttershy exclaims. “Do you wanna get caught?! If anypony finds you they’ll go tell…” Her rant was cut short by a knock at the door. “Hide,” she instructs.

Discord shoves a lamp shade over his head, causing Fluttershy to deadpan. “Really? J-just stay upstairs,” she says, frantically trying to push him up the stairs. She heard the knocking again. “Just a minute!” she says in the direction of the door. “Discord,” she whispers, “undo your spells.” She shoves Discord into her room. After shutting the door, she bolted to the front door with speed on par with Rainbow Dash.

She turned to look at her animals, who were shrunk back to their original sizes, the chocolate milk and cotton candy clouds dissipated as Fluttershy opened the door. She sees a highly annoyed Sunset Shimmer, with Pinkie Pie and Rarity right behind her.

“Pinkie, Rarity. And Sunset Shimmer, was it?” Fluttershy asks. Sunset nods.

“Hello darling,” Rarity greets.

“Hi Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie sang.

“Sup,” Sunset Shimmer forces out.

“Come on in girls,” Fluttershy says. The ponies pile in. After a few moments, Sunset sighed and looked at Fluttershy.

“I’ll make this quick,” Sunset starts, addressing the three ponies in the room. “I’m to be Twilight Sparkle’s replacement for the duration of her absence. I’ll be the new Element of Magic.”

“What?” Fluttershy asked, her brows rising in question.

“I had the same reaction,” Rarity said. “I have a feeling this is going to backfire.”

“Yeah, like aren’t the elements special to us? Like we’re the only ones who can use them?” Pinkie questioned. Their conversation is interrupted by a maniacal laugh echoing through the room.

“Oh my little pony, how you are you misguided,” a familiar voice echoes. Pinkie Pie leaped behind the couch, only peeking her head up for a few seconds as Rarity and Sunset quickly scanned the room for the source of the voice. They all failed to see Fluttershy hang her head with a groan of frustration. With a puff of smoke, Discord appears with a floating pink vanity, while an invisible force paints his nails.

“I simply love this color,” he says, mockingly marveling over his now red claws on each of his mismatched hands. However, instead of being judged on his choice of nail polish, Pinkie and Rarity’s eyes were wide. Their mouths hung agape in shock as their worst enemy was right in front of them.

“D-D-D-Discord?!” Pinkie stuttered out.

“You’re supposed to be a statue!” Rarity followed up.

“Oh, come now,” Discord chuckled. “Did you really think all that chaos from the changeling invasion wouldn’t have broken my prison? But, that’s not what I want to talk about.” He crosses his arms and the vanity disappears. “What I want to clear up is your fears that the Elements of Harmony will not work with Twilight gone. The answer is; yes they will work, provided you pass their tests.” The ponies in the room stared at him with puzzled looks.

“How?” Fluttershy questioned.

“Tell me something Fluttershy. If for some reason you leave Equestria, does that mean the very concept of kindness goes with you?”

“No,” she answers. “Kindness is in the hearts of all ponies.”

“Correct.” Discord golf claps. “Kindness, Generosity, Laughter. These are qualities you find in all sentient beings. Even chaos is a part of a natural cycle. The Tree of Harmony had made the elements to pass from one pony to the next. You six just so happened to have been the chosen ones because you all best defined one respective element. The elements will even choose a pony with only a semblance of their qualities.

“For example, Rarity is the Element of Generosity but she could just as easily be the Element of Kindness, given how you look at others. The reason Rarity was chosen by Generosity instead is because she is more outgoing toward others, where Fluttershy is a bit more inward. Meaning she is less generous.

“However, this does not take away from the fact that she is very kind and outgoing to those who she sees. One can embody one or one can embody all. Hence how Celestia and Luna were able to imprison me the first time. Though, my prison was weak, making easy for some squabbling fillies to create just enough chaos to weaken my seal and set me free. Your power however, was so great because you each had control of one element and the Element of Magic didn’t exist at the time.

“Honestly, if it wasn’t for your betrayal I would’ve stayed imprisoned in stone this time. Now as far as the elements are concerned, it all depends on them. I did say they can work. But it doesn’t mean they will want to. When you dawn the elements, your worth will be weighed. If they see you are still worthy of their power they will let you use them. If not, they will reject you. What happens if that occurs is best left unspoken.”

The ponies looked at each other, the ominous warning making the very air heavier. “Okay, but I simply must ask,” Rarity starts, “why are you here?”

After a brief pep talk from Cid, the group heads out to find Cor and figure out what their next move is. “This must be the outpost Cid mentioned,” Ignis remarks as Noctis pulls over.

“Looks like a hub for hunters,” Gladio observes.

“Let’s see if they know something,” Prompto suggests as the four of them walk into a large shack.

“Your highness,” a woman greets as Noctis walks up to her. “I’m glad to see you’re safe.”

“Monica!” Gladio exclaims, a hint of hope rising in his voice. “Where are the others?”

“Most of the Crownsguard never made it out; they sacrificed themselves to get Lady Iris out of the city. Dustin is seeing her to Lestellum now,” Monica answers. Gladio lets out a sigh of relief.

“I owe you guys big time.”

“The Royal Tomb is a ways up the hillside,” Monica says, addressing Noctis. “The Marshal is waiting for you. I wish you the best of luck.” She bows and leaves the group, who start their hike to the Royal Tomb.

“Good grief,” Prompto sighs, “first Insomnia, then Hammerhead, now the Royal Tomb.”

“His nickname should have been Cor The Restless,” Ignis quips. Gladio couldn’t help but chuckle at the statement.

“Not as cool as Cor The Immortal,” Gladio responds.

“You think it’s a coincidence he got out of Insomnia?” Noctis asks sarcastically.

“Well, the wise make their own…” Ignis trails off as he looks up. “Noct! Above you!” He throws a dagger into a dive-bombing daggerquill.

“Thanks Ignis,” Noctis say. He brings out his lance and hurls it into another daggerquill’s chest, causing it to squawk as it was forcefully raised further into the air. A second later, Noctis appears in front of it and takes hold of the lance, driving it and the daggerquill into the ground. The monster lets out a pained breath before dying from the impact of hitting the ground with Noctis’s weight on top of it. Noctis hurls the body into some rocks, but not before taking something from it.

As Prompto and Gladio finish off another one, Ignis was struck with an epiphany. It finally happened; all he needed was right in front of him. The last piece was finally put into place. Now his proclamation can be heard!

“That’s it!” he says excitedly as he pushed his glasses up his face. The sun catches the glasses just right, creating a glare that spelled ingenious.

“What?” Noctis asked. The rest of the group looks to Ignis.

“I’ve come up with a new recipe,” he says with a smirk.

“Awesome,” Gladio says, rolling his eyes.

“Can’t wait to try it,” Noctis remarks. With the daggerquills out of the way, the rest of the trip to the Royal Tomb was an easy task. “Here it is.” A hint of sadness and dread washed over Noctis as he enters the tomb with the others in tow.

“At last, your highness,” a man with brown hair and blue eyes greets. He was wearing a black suit.

“Marshal,” Ignis addresses with a bow. “It’s good to see you Cor.”

“Mind telling us why we’re here?” Noctis asked.

Cor quietly walks around to the side of a stone coffin that held a sword in the hands of a statue. “The power of kings passed from old to new through the bonding of souls. One such soul is before you now. To claim your forebears’ power is your duty and birthright as king,” Cor explains. This elicits a scoff from Noctis.

“King of what?” he asks in an icy tone. Gladio winces.

“Now is not the time to question your calling,” Cor says as he stares seriously at Noctis. “A king is sworn to protect his people.”

“Yet he chose to protect a prince instead,” Noctis shoots back. “Was that his calling? Forsake the masses to protect his own son with no regard of his peoples’ sons?!”

“How long will you remain the protected?! The king entrusted the role of protector to you.” Cor steps around the coffin until he stands in front of Noctis.

“’Entrusted’ it to me?” Noctis says, anger apparent in his voice. “Then why didn’t he tell me that? Why did he stand there smiling as I left? Why?!” Noctis gripped the stone coffin, tears now running down his face. “Why did he lie to me?!”

Cor silently places a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “For the time he knew was limited, he wanted you to remember him as your father. He always had faith in you; that when the time came you’d ascend for the people.” Noctis nods.

“Guess he left me no choice.” He raised his hand over the sword. With an intense glow, the sword became crystal-like and rises into the air. In a split second it flies into Noctis and shatters. He opens his hand to reveal the sword hovering around him.

“The power of Kings goes with you, Your Majesty” Cor says solemnly. The group leaves the tomb. “I’ll assist you get to the next tomb. Not just to help, but to also get a measure of your strength.” They continue their walk.

“How many of these ‘powers’ are there?”

“There are thirteen known Royal Arms, each enshrined in a Royal Tomb. I’ve enlisted the help of the hunter to find the other tombs,” Cor explains.

“So it begins,” Noctis stated.