The alicorn's eyes dimmed and the rainbow aura of her horn faded. Bee could only stare dumbfounded into those massive orange-brown eyes, now inexplicably directly level with his own.
"I did it Bee!" Sky squealed, excitedly pawing the ground with her forelegs. This action almost tipped her over. "Oops, hehe. How in Equestria do you use legs this long as easily as you do..." She noticed his crushed leg.
"Sky!" Bee called sharply when he saw her face react to his leg. This was no time to get sidetracked. "What's this mountain thing going on? What's going to happen now?"
"Bee..." She'd lost all her enthusiasm at the sight of Bee's leg, and now his wings too having looked up in response to her name. He raised a foreleg and redirected her face towards his. Her expression made him start to tear up again.
"My body doesn't matter Sky, nothing matters now except stopping Temporal. The Elements said they would not be needed to stop him, his sisters could do it again." He dropped his foreleg back to earth to take the pressure off his ruined leg. "But I've just watched Celestia fighting Temporal face-to-face, and it's a total stalemate. Plus the effort she put into holding him off before we arrived has got to be counting against her now. I think Temporal's going to win if we just wait around for Luna to reappear, which doesn't look like happening after all." He squinted as the Elements took back control momentarily, illuminating Sky's eyes.
"Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about night-time eternal," they chorused. "Some legends are grounded in fact, Wonderwhy. Once Luna has returned, albeit in the form of Night Mare Moon, the prison will reform by drawing on her power as well as her sister's. All we have to do is bring her back."
"Bring her back?" Bee asked sceptically. "So, you're just going to shift some stars around and she'll return?" In response the Elements turned so that Bee could see Sky's cutie mark. It was the same as it had always been, a vivid blue heart containing three white stars and a white crescent moon. Only now did it mean anything special.
"No, but your sister will. Brightlight Bluesky obtained her cutie mark late one night while casually stargazing, correct? This is her destiny Wonderwhy, and we are here to help her fulfil it." They turned back to face him again. "We need a bit more time though, we have almost tapped into her mind sufficiently to allow her to cast the final magic. Time is of the essence now; we have maybe five minutes before Celestia faces certain defeat."
"Is Temporal actually going to go so far as to... kill her?" Bee swallowed heavily.
"He won't have to." The reply even caught the attention of the earth mare, who hadn't really been listening due to not understanding much of what was being said. "There is one way in which Celestia can re-imprison her brother all by herself, and she will do it to protect her subjects from his wrath despite the cost."
"Her life?" Bee gasped.
"By channelling every last scrap of her magical power into the prison, including the passive magic of her soul that sustains life in all ponies, she can successfully reform the physical prison as it once was, as well as the magic that did most of the work in keeping Temporal secured." Bee refused to accept this.
"Whatever happens tonight, Equestria will need her guidance in the days to come. We absolutely cannot let her do that." He suddenly had an idea. "Could anypony's passive soul magic rebuild the prison, or just hers?" Sky's eyes dimmed for just long enough for her to cry out,
"Bee, no!" before the Elements retook control.
"Your heart is noble Wonderwhy, but only Celestia can do this." Bee shook his head.
"She won't though. I'm going back in there to buy more time while you finish getting ready to release Luna." He gestured at the earth mare. "Get her out of here too." The Elements thought for a moment, but were duly reminded of the situation's pressing urgency by a flash of magic zinging past from the prison.
"Equestria would do well to find more ponies like you Wonderwhy," they finally replied. "Your caring nature has the potential to bring more harmony to the land, but there will be no harmony at all if Temporal wins tonight. Go now, we will be as quick as we can, but should we be too late, know that we will not forget you."
Bee bit his lower lip and resolutely nodded. He saw his sister's eyes dim for a fraction of a second before the Elements dispelled her control.
"Wait, let me speak to her a moment. I promise I'll be quick." Bee couldn't help but start to cry quietly when his little sister's big eyes reappeared with all their familiar softness. She immediately started crying once back in control of her body.
"Bee, please, don't go back there, it's too dangerous! Look at you, I wouldn't want you to go back even if you weren't hurt at all!" She tried to say something else but took a moment to choke up first. "I don't want you to go Bee, I want you to stay with me." He understood that she meant this literally and figuratively. "I don't want to lose you now, or ever! You're my brother and I love you too much to lose you! You might not ever leave that place if you go back now..." Her gasping breaths precluded the possibility of any further speech.
Bee sat down on the grass, awkwardly shifting his back leg so it didn't hurt more so. He watched as Sky sat down too, her enormous wings settling on the grass to either side. He raised both forelegs and gently held her face between them.
"Sky. You have made my life so very special. Life is one great big adventure, and I couldn't have asked for a better partner to accompany me on the journey for all these years. But now, I have to explore this part of my adventure by myself. Yes, my journey could end here, tonight, but if I don't willingly take that chance, everypony's journey could end against their will. You know I have to do this." He leant forwards and hugged her tight. "You mustn't be too upset if it's my time to stop my adventure tonight, because it will mean that your journey carries on, along with everypony else." He sat back from her again, and managed a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders despite his tears and his pain. "And hay, if this journey ends for me, maybe another will start. I could have a whole new world to explore, and I'll be happy knowing I've allowed you to stay and explore this world for as long as you should." Sky bit her lip in a concerted effort to calm down, but she couldn't in the face of what might soon happen. She stood back up and offered a hoof to pull Bee up too. He lightly kissed her between the eyes. "Whatever path I walk after this is done, I will always love you. Now, go and shift some stars. We've got us a world to save."
"I love you too Bee." She sniffed loudly as the tears finally slowed down. "But... try to come back to me, hmm?" He smiled and nodded back. Without further ado her eyes lit up once more as the Elements took over again. Bee was stunned when they blinked and one more tear eked out to soil Sky's muzzle.
"Go," they whispered, before flaring their huge wings and powering off into the air. Bee turned to the earth mare when she said,
"They told me in my head, somehow, that the way out is over there." She pointed to the correct mountain. "I can take care of myself, now you go take care of the Prince." She nuzzled his shoulder gently. "Thank you, be careful and good luck... Bee." With a mock salute she turned and hobbled away.
Drawing in a deep breath, Bee turned and sized up the serious amount of hobbling he had to do himself in order to get back to the prison.
He didn't take as long as he thought he would; his sense of duty was just enough to dull the pain from his wings and leg. By watching the deflected bolts of magic, and seeing which colours shot out of which bit of the prison, he tried to work out where exactly the Prince was. He had to sneak up behind him; he wouldn't last five seconds if he gave himself away. The alicorn battle had heaped convenient piles of rubble everywhere which Bee used to conceal his approach. The air was starting to clear around the prison as the entire dust vortex seemed to be rising off the ground, towards the apex of the mountain star. Bee managed to get within ten yards of the duel before there was no more rubble to act as cover. He could hear Celestia breathing heavily, and while the Prince also sounded tired it wasn't due to magic exhaustion like his sister. He still had plenty of fight left in him.
"You grow weak sister," he growled, "all you're doing is delaying the inevitable." Celestia caught sight of Bee's bushy tail peeking out from behind the pile of rock that Temporal was striding past as he readied another powerful assault. His ruined wings made a brief appearance over the top of the pile, signalling to the Princess.
"You're right brother, it's about time for the inevitable." She flared her wings and aimed her horn. "So at your request, behold your inevitable defeat!" She sliced into the paved floor of the prison with a concentrated beam of her gold magic, collapsing the floor in front of the Prince into the first subterranean level of the dungeon. With wings too weak to rapidly fly above the collapse, he had no choice but to jump backwards, ending up right beside the rock pile.
"Pah, you intend to defeat me like that?" He was surprised at his sister's immediate shake of the head in response.
"Like this!" Bee shouted as he hurled a hefty rock into the side of Temporal's head. The momentary stun gave Bee enough time to stand up, jump forwards, and grapple the Prince around his shoulders and neck. The tackle sent both ponies sprawling across the ground. "I may not have magic but I won't let you walk all over us!" Bee kept one hoof on Temporal's throat to stop the glowing horn from pointing at him. He used his two remaining good legs to restrain the Prince and occasionally get a hit in. His bad leg meanwhile was kept out of the way as much as possible, but it was still the recipient of targeted kicks from Temporal. Celestia let loose with golden pulses whenever the struggling stallions were in a position for her to get a clear shot at her brother, but she was mostly taking the welcome opportunity to relax the strain on her exhausted reserve of magical power.
"Insolent fool!" the Prince choked out as Bee scored another hit on his neck while levering more pressure onto his throat. High above, unseen, Sky stood atop the mountain star. The dust vortex was now blitzing around her, but it wasn't a bother. She opened her eyes, shining two intense beams of light up at the Moon, before a cone of rainbow light exploded out of her horn. The apex of the mountain star trembled and began to crumble. She extended her wings in preparation for its eventual collapse. "There is nothing you can do! My sister has tired and you are dying as we speak. Those wings don't look ready to heal any time soon, and that leg would look better off in a dump." Suddenly he stopped thrashing. "Allow me to help you with that." With a minute twitch of his head, his horn was angled at the floor. It shot a thick beam of red magic that imploded the ceiling of the level below, taking the stallions with it. Bee was thrown off the Prince and was unable to stand again before Temporal levitated some rubble from across the room and used in to pin him against the wall. "How would you like me to remove that leg then?"
A golden blast exploded over the back of the Prince's head as Celestia dropped into the room.
"Leave him you coward!"
Temporal pouted.
"But we were having so much fun. I don't like ponies that interrupt my fun." His horn glowed, but there were streaks of black in the normally-red aura. "Let's see you do that again without a soul, Celestia!"
"No! Don't!" called Bee from the corner. He had managed to wiggle his head free of the rocks holding him against the wall. "Leave her soul alone!"
"Fine," Temporal said quietly, "I'll have yours." Before Celestia had the chance to blast her brother again, he whipped around and released the pent up magic from his pointed horn. The shot landed smack between Bee's eyes and sent him crashing backwards through the wall and into the next room. Temporal had a second to laugh before Celestia brought the ceiling directly above him cascading down. This event exposed the whole area below where the old prison building stood. Celestia looked up and saw large chunks falling off the mountain star as the actual stars which were encompassed by Sky's rainbow cone began to twinkle more vibrantly.
Temporal exploded his way out of the remains of the ceiling and saw the stars for himself.
"No, that's impossible! What are you doing?"
"Nothing, it's the Elements of Harmony you should ask," replied Celestia as she flew out of the hole in the ground which marked where the prison had stood, and would soon stand again. "The Elements and a little filly called Brightlight Bluesky."
With that the twinkling stars did the unthinkable and moved across the sky. They disappeared behind the Moon just as the mountain star crumbled completely, forcing Sky to leap into the air and withdraw her rainbow cone. For a second the Moon flashed brighter than usual.
Just like that, the image of the Mare in the Moon disappeared.
Night Mare Moon was back in Equestria and the prison knew it.
Before he could muster the required strength in his diminutive wings to jump out of the prison, Temporal was forced to watch as the dust vortex suddenly glowed cobalt blue. He cried out while Celestia laughed; they both recognised the colour of their sister's magic aura. The vortex thinned and lengthened, screaming down towards the prison. As it hit the ground the golden dome of Celestia's magic burst back into being, absorbing the colour of Luna's magic until it was a blend of the two. Within the now greenish gray dome, the decoloured dust clumped together into solid shapes. These quickly refined themselves into stone bricks, which wasted no time reassembling the destroyed prison.
Temporal shouted with rage as the walls built up around him and infused themselves with his sisters' magic. Before the ground floor repaired itself, Celestia walked into the melee of flying bricks and looked down at her brother. He tried to shoot a bolt at her, but the very air within the prison was now resistant to his power.
"How?! How can you outshine my power so effortlessly?"
"Outshine?" Celestia shouted back while laughing. Her horn glowed gold. "I think you mean... eclipse!" With a final effort she pumped as much of her remaining magic as she safely could into the prison's magical defences. An invisible force took hold of the Prince and drove him straight down through the floor, and through every one of the countless floors thereafter. The bricks flew in to heal the holes within seconds, shutting away Prince Temporal from the world once more.
About a minute more passed and the deed was done. Celestia found herself on the ground floor of the secure prison, standing quietly but proudly as it had done for untold centuries. The greenish gray dome was in place over the building and all of the internal barriers, physical and magical, had regenerated themselves.
The newly reappointed wooden door creaked open as the Elements walked in. Celestia turned to face them, and once they'd come to a stop she gracefully bowed.
"Thank you most sincerely for your assistance." She was surprised when the alicorn facing her bowed in return.
"Thank you, Princess Celestia, for safeguarding the harmony of our land." Closing their eyes and lowering their head, they continued, "And thank you dear Wonderwhy for the willing payment of your life to safeguard the harmony of our land."
"Bee!" Celestia exclaimed. She ran down the refurbished stairs against the side of the building and along the corridor to the room where she'd last seen him.
What she found was a stallion's body lying on its side, but it didn't look as if it still contained a life.
"Bee?" she called as she approached. His wings were all but gone after he'd been forced through the stone wall, and the hock of his left back leg looked like somepony had tied a knot in it. His glasses had exploded when Temporal hit him with that final blast, leaving dozens of tiny scrapes all over his blackened face. Sure, some of his face was naturally black, but not this shade.
Celestia sank to her knees just as the Elements walked into the room. She turned around in a sudden panic.
"Wait, don't let... Sky see him," she finished with a mumble, realising it was too late. Sky's eyes dimmed as she forced the Elements out of the way. She didn't dissolve as Celestia thought she might, instead walking over and lowering herself to the floor alongside the Princess. She slid a hoof along the floor until it was in contact with Bee's chest, then she laid her head on Celestia's shoulder. The Princess felt gentle drops as Sky began to cry without a sound. "He was brilliant, Brightsky. Even with his wings and his leg the way they were, he jumped on my brother and refused to let go while I got some strength back in my magic." Sky nodded her head without lifting it from Celestia's side. "Not many ponies would have tackled an alicorn like that."
"Bee." That was all Sky could say before she started sobbing. Meanwhile, in the furthest corner of her mind, the Elements of Harmony looked on.
"He's not yet lost to us," they said as they gently took back control of Sky's body. "That attack from Temporal was intended to cleanly sweep Wonderwhy's soul away, but as usual the Prince was not focused enough. Although his body is defeated, there are traces of Temporal's magic still there, and within them, traces of soul." The Elements lifted their head from Celestia and gingerly probed Bee's ribs with their outstretched hoof. "We cannot bring past ponies back to life, that is a disruption to the harmony of life and death, however Wonderwhy is not entirely past yet. The traces of soul that remain are enough to reconstitute him, as he was, but not his body." The Elements turned their head to Celestia. "If we are to save him, we need some other pony's passive soul magic to purge Temporal's presence, and to rebuild the parts of Wonderwhy's soul that deal with maintaining his body. His soul can be salvaged from what is left here, but not his body's life essence."
"Can I be of any service?" asked the Princess. The Elements shook their head.
"An alicorn's life essence is incompatible with anything else. It would do more harm than good." Their eyes dimmed as Sky rubbed at her muzzle to dry her tears.
"Can I do it?" she piped up. "I know I'm really a unicorn, but is my life stuff okay to use for Bee?" Her eyes illuminated as her head tilted in thought.
"Your life essence may be just the thing, Brightlight Bluesky. It is young, which will give Wonderwhy's soul much needed vitality if he is to pull through." The Elements frowned. "But because you are young, you may not donate too much of it. Your living body will replenish its life essence, but the maximum amount we can put into your brother now, without harming you, is insufficient."
"I'll help."
The two alicorns turned to see the earth mare standing in the corridor. She'd been wiping her eyes but quickly stopped once spotted.
"He almost lost his life saving mine. It's only fair that I return the favour." She strode into the room as best she could given her own injuries. "And yeah, I didn't go and find the portal or whatever it is to Canterlot. That little show you put on? Wouldn't have missed it for the world." She sat down across from the alicorns on the other side of Bee. "Oh look at you, you big klutz, I told you to be careful," she whispered as she rested a hoof on his shoulder. The Elements nodded at the earth pony.
"Brightlight Bluesky's youthful essence combined with your strength of spirit will give Wonderwhy an excellent head-start in his recovery. However," they cautioned as they stood up, "we cannot guarantee that Wonderwhy will pull through after this. Healing is an extension of the natural cycle of life and death, and we cannot interfere by relieving Wonderwhy of his wounds. By restoring his soul we will give him the best possible chance of recovery, but in the end it will still be up to him." While mentally showing Sky how to use them for this delicate procedure, they told the earth pony to keep her hoof on his shoulder, before one of Sky's hooves joined it.
Her horn glowed with the Elements' rainbow aura as Sky felt her whole body tingle. Faint waves of rainbow light pulsed down her leg and into Bee's shoulder. The earth mare looked inquisitively at her own pulsing leg. With each wave of restorative magic that entered his body, Bee's black-and-yellow coat faded to a uniform white, as did his tail and what was left of his mane.
"We are purging Temporal's magic and freeing his soul," the Elements explained. "Because none of his original life essence remains, his body is like a blank canvas. We will work it as necessary, the same way we worked it before he was born." They smiled. "He will be the same basic shape, but he will no longer be a strongly-coloured giant. His mane, tail, coat, and eyes will be a perfect blend between yours," they said as they probed Sky mentally and looked at the earth mare physically. "Although, he will be a grounded pegasus. Returning his wings counts as healing, which we cannot undertake. We think the rest of his body should heal in time, but his leg will always trouble him." The pulses of light stopped. The Elements withdrew their hoof and nodded for the earth mare to do the same. "We are unsure how his senses will heal themselves. Specifically, his vision and sense of smell; his eyes and nose were directly in the path of the attack." They shrugged. "We shall see... even though he may not."
Everypony looked at the stallion that now lay before them, hard-pressed to recognise him as Wonderwhy. His nickname Bee certainly wasn't appropriate anymore.
"We hope this helps make up for the disharmony he was subjected to because of the body we originally gave him," the Elements said. "And now, Brightlight Bluesky, it is your turn." Her eyes flashed back to their usual state in her confusion. "Yes dear filly, you need no longer bear us within your young head. Our work here is done, and soon we shall be needed elsewhere to defeat Night Mare Moon. Brightlight Bluesky, we now completely withdraw ourselves from your mind and your soul. Live as you were meant to, in the body you were meant to." A rainbow glow shrouded her body, too opaque for Celestia or the earth mare to see through. When the glow lifted to float against the ceiling, a little unicorn was standing in the room.
We can take care of your sister. Ensure Wonderwhy, Brightlight Bluesky, and the earth mare get safely back to Canterlot through the portal, and then destroy it before you come to check on us in Ponyville. Until then, Princess Celestia, the Elements telepathically said, before fading away altogether.
"Wow," stated the earth pony, looking at the new Wonderwhy and Sky, who giggled as she looked herself over.
"I think I can get used to this, but I'm going to miss flying," Sky said as she turned to look at the stallion that was apparently her brother. He'd just started breathing again, and his frequent cough didn't sound very healthy. "But not as much as you'll miss it, Bee."