Prism Star
A mile above the ground, a small filly sat on the back balcony of a mansion on a cloud that lazily orbited a massive cloud city. It was freezing cold before the dawn, and a thin layer of ice crusted the tiles under her hooves, but she opened herself to her unique magic and instantly felt like she was by a blazing fire. The ice melted around her immediately, and the neighing, howling terrors that besieged the warded manor fled before the brilliant power of the sunfire that filled her until it seemed to escape as golden-orange light from her horn. Prism Star closed her eyes and began to focus on the sun, as her coat seemed to shine and her rainbow-colored mane flowed behind her from an unseen wind.
It had been three days since she first raised the sun, and each morning she'd had White Wind wake her at exactly 6:00 so she could do it again. Reports from Canterlot said that the Solar Sect had stopped doing it, that Grandmaster White Pulsar had broken down crying at the sight of the first dawn and declared himself a fraud. But each time Prism did it herself was easier than the last. The sun really was like a living thing, one that eagerly accepted her offer of friendship - in fact, it felt like it had been waiting her whole life, and all she'd ever had to do was ask. She started to lift it in the sky, as much with its own power as hers, and felt the rush of vitality and confidence she'd come to associate with her bond with the sun. The way this felt, Prism could understand why Luna described her sister as being a cocky and self-assured young princess. If she wasn't engaged in a slow-motion battle with a villain a hundred times her age, she would probably be getting a little cocky too. At first, the heat of her sunrise had melted away the surface ice and begun what might be the first day of spring... but then night came, and the winter had quickly regained control. Now it was all she could do to maintain the stalemate of warm days and frigid nights.
"There. Sun raised." Prism yawned softly as she finally pulled it over the horizon. It might be getting easier, but it was still tiring work. She'd probably just get some toast to get Southern Storm off of her back about breakfast, then go take a nap. As tired as she was, she didn't notice that there was somepony standing in the doorway until she ran right into his legs. "What?" She looked up in fatigued confusion at her Celestial Magic teacher, Solar Flare.
"I wanted to see you at work, little one." He stepped back a pace, since she hadn't bothered to step away. "I'd hoped to see if your sunrise was as good as your mother's, and I wasn't disappointed."
"Wow, um... thanks, Professor Flare." She managed a smile and did her best to stifle a yawn.
He hmmmed softly and looked up at the sun, seeming to trace thin lines in the air with his horn. "Trajectory is slightly off, but well within the margin for error. At this acceleration, you'll likely have to give it more energy around 11 or so, but not so much that it falls too quickly. But it really was gorgeous to watch."
Prism blinked at the criticism. "Um... th-thanks, I guess?" It felt like he was trying to compliment her, but it was kind of hard to say for sure. As kind as he was, Solar Flare was a stickler for details who had endlessly drilled Prism and Midnight both on the proper movements of the sun, the moon, and even the stars and planets.
"I also came to call you back to the House of Harmony," he said to her in a half-apologetic tone.
This got a sigh from Prism. "Really? Do I have to?" The entire reason she was back at Southern Storm's house was that she didn't want anything to do with the fight going on. Peregrine Dive's Conclave had devolved into a bitter, intractable feud over her that felt like it was tearing her would-be allies apart. Half of them wanted to lock her away somewhere until she came of age, and if that happened she could say goodbye to her Friendship Quest... but the other half wanted her to lead them in open rebellion right now, and there was no way she wanted to be responsible for that. And her father seemed to want to run and squirrel her away in Ponyville, or run even further - one time Prism thought she heard him mention the Badlands to somepony, a prospect that she found even more terrifying than facing Nightmare Winter. So she'd spent the past few days raising and lowering the sun from the peace of Storm's mansion, far away from it all.
"I know you don't want to, and I certainly don't envy your position. But they want you back at the conclave, and more than that... they need you." He pulled her up to the edge of the balcony and sat with her, watching the sun over the distant mountains. "When I was studying celestial magic myself, I became obsessed with learning everything I could about Celestia. In fact, that's what led me to my friendship with Master Peregrine, when I started digging into the truth behind the legends. She was... she was special, just like you, from a very young age. Ponies say that she and her sister were the youngest ever to become alicorns - the hard way, at least. Luna was the same age you are now when they ascended."
She sat up next to him and drew a little bit of sunfire into her horn to stave off the fatigue - just like with coffee, using it like this would only make her more tired later, but she felt like she should be alert for this. "What's that have to do with my situation? Didn't they have Starswirl making all the decisions for them?"
"He took a great deal of the pressures of ruling off of them, yes, at least until his thousand-year exile. But when Celestia or Luna spoke, everypony listened. Becoming princesses didn't give them any particularly great insight and wisdom, but they spoke with authority and conviction. Starswirl's writings often spoke of Celestia as reckless, overconfident, and always hot-headed, but she also had the wisdom to listen to the ponies around her and wait until she was absolutely sure of herself before she spoke," Solar Flare explained.
"So..." Prism thought it through carefully. "So you think I should do like that? Listen to all their arguing and then... make my own decision?"
"I think that you have been a wonderful and inquisitive student, and are far more intelligent than you give yourself credit for. Now why don't we get going? You should have time for a nap in your room before things get started for the day." He took her by the hoof, and the two disappeared with a loud crack and a flash of yellow light.
Midnight Shine
Midnight yawned slightly and struggled to hold still as the pink unicorn mare fitted him for a thin crown. It had turned out that the mystery mare Peregrine Dive had invited from Canterlot was actually a jeweler, come to fit the both of them for circlets that an extremely annoyed Prism had referred to dismissively as "training crowns". It was hard to blame her for being angry. After the hard work of raising the sun, he knew that she'd been looking forward to a proper nap before starting her day - less than an hour ago, he'd half-woken to find Professor Flare bundling her into Midnight and Prism's shared bed, before choosing to ignore them both and going back to sleep. Midnight himself had been up half the night trying to stop ponies from having nightmares - a task that, while he was getting better at it, was still difficult and thankless, and he himself had looked forward to sleeping in.
Of course, the two of them were both woken early for this ridiculous fitting, for crowns that they couldn't even wear. They were clearly beyond the point of trying to disguise themselves as ordinary unicorns, but it still felt too dangerous - not to mention presumptuous - to go around wearing crowns in public. "I know the Moon Princess traditionally wore a black crown of meteorite iron, but I don't think it would even be visible with how dark your mane is," Ray-Ray (the fussy jeweler had been named 'Rarity' after the Companion of legend, but had insisted that both foals call her Ray-Ray) was saying to him in her posh Canterlot accent, but Midnight was barely paying attention to what she was saying. He was too busy trying to figure out what was happening on the other side of a translucent privacy screen, where the silhouettes of Prism Star and Ray-Ray's assistant appeared to be having some kind of low-key argument that was muffled by some enchantment on the screen. "Perhaps I could stud the band with pearls, but I certainly wouldn't want it to be more ostentatious than the real article - Luna's tastes were quite simple compared to her sister's crown. Perhaps polished steel or silver. Either one would contrast wonderfully, and certainly match your eyes."
It took a few moments of silence before Midnight registered what she was saying and realized she might be looking for a response. "I, um..." He hesitated. "I, I don't see that it matters that much. Aren't- um, are you sure this is a good idea?"
"Well, of course!" Her response was instant. "Whether you like it or not, the both of you are royalty. We're all here because we believe that." She put the fitting band on his head just like the crown would go and knelt down until her head was level with his, both ponies looking at each other in the mirror. "You see? You look so much more like a prince already. I'm sure this is all overwhelming for the both of you," she said with an apologetic smile. "But I think you'd be surprised how much it helps to look the part. When I left my training behind and became a journeyman, nopony had any confidence in my abilities, and eventually I started to believe them. But I spruced up my storefront and started wearing the proper accouterments of a jewelry-maker, and soon ponies were lined up to buy from me!"
Midnight had no idea what she was on about, what 'accouterments' meant, or how any of this was supposed to relate to his situation, but managed a polite "Oh, okay" as though he did understand. He saw Prism storm off in an angry huff, with Ray-Ray's assistant trailing behind, at least for the first few paces, with a number of slivers of gold held in her magic aura.
Ray-Ray clucked a little in disapproval before turning her attention back to Midnight. "I suppose I have everything I need. Why don't you go talk to your friend?" Midnight had jumped down off of the stool before he felt the faint tickling of her pulling the fitting band off of his head and she called after him, "And remember! If you look the part, then you're one step closer to feeling the part!"
******
Midnight found Prism back in their shared bedroom, sitting up at their shared vanity and brushing her long, dense mane with a ferocity that couldn't have been comfortable. "Hey... are you alright?" He climbed up to the bed so he could look her in the eye through the mirror. "I'm not sure what was going on with you back there, but-"
"Then maybe stay out of it!" she snapped back at him. A moment of silence started to stretch painfully before she said, "Sorry, Mid. This whole thing is stupid."
"You can say that again." Midnight sighed and shook his head. "But come on, we've been through worse than fussy unicorns. You know, if we say we don't want to wear the stupid things I'm not sure there's anything they can do."
"Well.... yeah." She turned on her stool and tried to smile, but it turned into more of a weird grimace. "I-I guess..."
Midnight looked at her knowingly. "Prism... it's not about the crowns, is it?" He really was developing a talent for knowing when something was wrong with a pony, and the more he tried to help ponies in the dream realm, the keener that intuition was getting. And right now he could practically feel Prism's resentment and frustration as if it were his own... which it probably was. "It's this whole thing, huh?"
"You raise one star," she grumbled, half-joking, and Midnight chuckled at this, as much out of sympathy as anything. "I wish somepony would ask me what I think," Prism finally admitted after hesitating.
"Well... what do you think?"
Prism sighed dramatically and jumped down from the stool. "Somepony else, Mid. Somepony who can actually do something." She climbed up onto the bed to sit next to him. "You already know what I think. You always do somehow, it's actually kind of creepy."
Midnight smiled sympathetically and nuzzled her neck. "Well it might be because I feel the same way. You know, a lot of ponies seem to feel better after they tell me what's on their mind, even if I don't have anything I can do for them or... or even understand their problem, really. Even though I can't do anything, why don't you tell me what you're thinking?"
She glared at him for a moment before sighing again and saying, "I guess. It's just like I said, though, I feel like nopony is listening to me. They don't care what I want, or what I need, or the quest. It's all about their, um..." She seemed to struggle for a word. "Plans, I guess?"
"Well, aren't a lot of them just trying to keep you safe? That doesn't sound like it's just for what they want," he pointed out.
"Well maybe that's not what I want!" she half-shouted at Midnight, leading him to reposition himself a few paces away on the large bed.
Midnight was somewhat confused by this. "You... you don't want to be safe?"
"I..." she growled in frustration and kicked a pillow. "Being safe is nice but that's not the most important thing. Think about it, Mid! These ponies have been hiding us away our whole lives. But now that I know what I can do, maybe I don't want that! I don't want to lead some stupid war either, but there has to be something we can do to help! I've..." she whined softly and looked away, losing steam on her rant.
"Prism... what is it? Tell me." Midnight approached her again and put his hoof on hers. When Prism finally looked back at him, she had tears in her eyes.
"I... I was so certain, Mid. When I raised the sun that first time, I... everything made sense. It was like my whole life came together in this big puzzle that I'd never been able to figure out. I thought.... I, I thought that was it. That was..." Prism hesitated, not meeting Midnight's eyes.
"Say it." Midnight took her face in one hoof and forced her to look at him. "I know what you wanted. You wanted to become a princess just like Celestia did, didn't you?"
She sighed and nodded. "I thought for sure that was going to be my great deed. The thing that would get me my wings, the ones that ponies have been telling me I was destined for since all this began. But nothing happened. I didn't... I didn't feel any different. Even Twilight wouldn't talk to me." Her eyes welled up. "It's just like in magic school. I'm just a failure all over again, but now it's the..." Prism started to cry properly now. "It's the whole bucking universe failing me and not just some stupid teacher." Midnight held her close in a hug as she sobbed. "I tried so hard to be the princess I was supposed to be," she said in between choked crying noises. "But all I got was another 'F'!"
Midnight struggled to process this. She raised the sun, after all. She melted the ice and stuck her hoof in Nightmare Winter's eye, and before that she'd saved him in the most spectacular way possible. How could she not see any of this? Was she really that blinded by the prospect of wings that she couldn't see at all what she did have? "But... but you're amazing," he managed, not that convincingly. "I don't think you're a failure at all. You saved my life. You raised the sun."
"And what..." Prism trailed off. "I don't really want to talk anymore. I don't want to go back to the stupid Conclave either." She bundled herself back up in bed and pulled the covers up over her head. "I'm just going to go back to sleep or something."
Midnight shook his head and sighed. "All... all right, if that's really what you want. I guess I can tell Shimmer you felt sick." He patted her on the shoulder and cast a quick spell to help her fall back asleep before leaving the room.
Prism Star
Prism ran through an open, grassy field, giggling happily at the wildflowers that made her nose tickle. She'd never seen a field like this, only heard about them in stories, but it all felt so real. She looked around her as she ran - left, then right, then left again, and the second time she looked left and saw another pony running with her, a purple alicorn with flowing hair that looked like the band of a galaxy in the night sky.
"Come on, little one. I'll race you." Princess Twilight nudged Prism Star gently, then took off flying with a powerful flap of wide wings that were thicker and more powerful than a pegasus' wings. A small nagging sensation at the back of Prism's mind told her that she should be surprised to see Twilight Sparkle, and even more surprised at the heavy white wings that she herself was currently using to take off in pursuit, but she accepted it all anyway in stride. It was just too good not to. Prism pursued the princess across the fields and into a dense forest that grew darker the further they got in, and while she was struggling with the number of trees, Princess Twilight seemed more at home than ever, weaving through the thick trunks with practiced ease. Twilight finally punched up through the canopy, allowing Prism a view of the massive forest that she recognized as the Everfree Forest now that she could see the unshielded spires of Ponyville Castle to the north, and turned towards a ruined castle sitting on a hill - but just before they reached the Castle of the Two Sisters, Twilight dove suddenly into the trees again, forcing Prism to dive after her on faith. They raced down the hill and suddenly down a cliff, until Twilight finally flared her wings and touched down lightly in a tiny, barren valley in the darkest part of the forest.
Prism, however, was going much too fast in her effort to catch up to the more practiced flier. She didn't flare out her new wings in time, and panicked as she for sure thought she was going to crash- but just before she hit the ground, she was caught in an aura of shimmering violet light and pulled over to Twilight, before being put gently down on the rocky ground. "You should be careful, Prism," Twilight said in a gentle tone that still had a hint of the lectures she'd been famous for. "Even in a dream, a crash like that will hurt. Don't be so eager to catch up that you lose sight of what's important."
"A... what?" Prism looked at Twilight blankly. This was... a dream? The word seemed foreign, barely registering to her, and she looked around her surroundings in confusion. The small valley was just big enough to hold the little campsite that was set up, and surely enough she saw Midnight Shine sitting on a large, flat rock with an overhang that sheltered a small pile of neatly cut and stacked firewood. His coat was colored the rich cobalt it took in the dream realm rather than its usual shade of navy, and his silver eyes gleamed eerily in the moonlight. "It's a dream. I'm just dreaming that you're here to help me, I'm just dreaming that I'm really good enough to be a princess, and YOU!" She rounded on Midnight. "YOU won't get out of my head! I don't want your help! Is this your way to try and make me feel better? Taunt me with the things I can't have?"
"This may be a dream," Twilight said quietly, "but I assure you that I am really here. He brought me here by combining his impressive talents in the astral plane with my own ability to grant wishes."
"But... you can only wish on those stars when..." Prism whined softly as she thought it through. "I've been asleep all day?!"
Midnight smiled apologetically. "I guess raising the sun was harder work than you thought. Don't worry, the Solar Sect got their stuff together and lowered it. I, um... I know you were upset she didn't reach out to you, so I thought maybe she could help you better than I could. I'll, uh... I'll go give you guys some space while I maintain the spell."
He wandered off at a trot, leaving Prism to look back at Twilight. "Um... can I ask you a question, Princess?"
Twilight chuckled and sat down on an old log in front of a dusty purple tent, starting to stack firewood in the central pit with her magic. "You can ask me as many questions as you want, Prism Star. When I was your age, I always had so many questions for Celestia. She knew what I could be even before I knew where alicorns came from, and she always had time for her favorite student... just like I will always have time for you." She patted the log next to her. "All you have to do is ask."
Prism sat up on the log and ignited the firewood with a spark of fire magic. Ever since she'd learned it, she found pyrokinesis came easy to her... maybe a little too easy, as her teachers could likely attest. "I was so upset that you didn't talk to me again after I raised the sun. I... I never realized I could just wish to talk to you. How do you do it, anyway? How do you grant wishes?"
This earned her a thoughtful expression from Twilight. "I honestly don't know, Prism. It certainly wasn't something I could do when I lived in Equestria. My best guess is that it has something to do with the stars that I'm trapped in. Ponies have never really understood their magical properties the way we understand the sun and moon, but I think ancient unicorns believed that stars could grant wishes under the right conditions."
"That's not exactly an answer that makes me very confident, Princess Twilight." Prism settled in close to her - the warmth of the fire and Twilight's incredibly soft fur were both wonderfully comforting.
"But that's not the question you really wanted to ask, is it?" Twilight smiled knowingly at Prism Star.
"I thought... when Celestia raised the sun, she ascended to become an alicorn. I thought for sure that when I did it, I'd do the same and finally be able to help ponies just like everypony says I can. I... I failed." Prism sniffled.
"Prism... you don't become an alicorn just for doing some great deed." Twilight lifted Prism's chin with a wing. "If that was the case, I would have become the Princess of Friendship when I cured Princess Luna. Doing some princess-worthy deed is part of it, yes, but there's more you have to do. You have to be patient, and believe in yourself the way I believe in you."
"That's not an answer!" Prism replied angrily. How could Twilight just talk in vague circles like this? Couldn't she see how important it was for her to fulfill her potential and break the stalemate?
Twilight just shook her head. "I can't give you a better one. It... I know this is exactly what you don't want to hear, but it all has to come from you. I can't help you directly, and I can't tell you what you need to do. This..." She took a moment, closing her eyes and seeming to collect her thoughts. "This is why Celestia didn't tell me my destiny, even though I think now that she knew what I was capable of from the start. She made me work hard, learn my own lessons, make my own mistakes. And that's what made me who and what I am, not fixing some old spell."
"But..." Prism felt devastated. She'd hoped, so badly, that Twilight had some secret that would give her what she needed to break the stalemate. "But that could take years," she finally said in a frantic, pleading tone. "Ponies are getting hurt now and the Order is useless and I'm not strong enough to win! I can't keep fighting like this, Twilight! I burned away the shields with the sun and now every single pony that gets hurt at night when the cold comes back is on me!" The firepit flared up brightly with her anger. "Every pony is looking to me and I have to help them! I have to stop her!"
For her part, Twilight never lost her calm. She seemed content to let the filly burn out her anger and frustration, waiting for the fire to die down some before finally speaking. "Prism... have you stopped to wonder why we're some place you and Midnight have never seen? Some time you and Midnight have never seen?"
"I... what?" Prism had been building up steam to rant more, but the question derailed her train of thought. "I, um..." She blinked stupidly. What was this place? "Um... n-no, I... kind of felt like, um, maybe there was something more important to..." She trailed off, seeing the same patient expression on Twilight's face as a teacher waiting for their student to realize they were wrong, and she blushed hotly - feeling very much like she had just failed a pop quiz of some kind. "Is it, um... is it your dream?" She smiled nervously.
"When Midnight told me about your problem, I thought you might want to see this place, so I suggested he build the dream from my mind. In happier times, my friends and I would camp out here... just to have some fun and get away from our responsibilities. I called them 'friendship retreats' and I claimed they were to help us be better teachers at the School of Friendship... but it was all really just an excuse to spend time with the ponies I cared about, after our lives had gotten so busy." Twilight smiled wistfully, and for a moment Prism could see her Companions faintly amongst the tents. Applejack was by the fire, telling stories over a bubbling pot of soup to a Starlight Glimmer who looked far more ragged and tired than Prism had ever seen her depicted. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were bucking a rubber buckball back and forth, playing some imitation of squash against the cliff wall, to the feigned annoyance of nearby Rarity, who secretly smiled at their antics as she turned back to finish sketching the leaves and flowers (presumably for some new design), while a beautifully happy Fluttershy sat in the trees and trilled lightly to the songbirds. It was only for a moment, though, and when they were gone the clearing seemed gloomier than it had before.
"Why... why here, though?" Prism felt herself fighting back tears at the thought that all those happy ponies were gone now. "This looks like such a dark and sad place."
Twilight got up and started walking towards the mouth of a cave, and Prism followed closely. "It might seem darker than it is because of my own grief," she said. "And now it knows nothing but sorrow... but in my time, this was our place." Prism could see a faint glow from inside the cave. "A sacred, secret place... this was where Starswirl and his Pillars planted the Tree of Harmony, and where dwelt the Elements that brought us all together."
Prism's heart felt lighter with each step she took into the cave. The massive crystal tree was hung with six multicolored gems that shined with their own light, and the tree itself seemed to sing - an ancient, wordless song that seemed to echo back and forth inside of Prism. It made her want to flare her wings and shine her horn, and she wanted so desperately to open her mouth and join the chorus that sounded like it was coming from every pony she'd ever known. But she bit her lip, and struggled to control herself as Princess Twilight approached and stroked the trunk with a hoof reverently. "To everypony else, these Elements just look like ordinary gems," she could hear Twilight saying, barely, over the crystalsong that seemed to fill her head without ever entering her ears. "But to the ponies they call, the ponies they choose, the Elements of Harmony shine like beacons. They take away our doubts and calm our fears, they bring out our virtues and show us the very best ponies we can be."
Prism saw the Elements of Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, Honesty, and Kindness shining from the branches of the tree, and reflected in them she saw the faces of her own friends- Shimmer smirked and snickered in Laughter, shifting from form to bizarre, amusing form as Talon glared at the changeling disapprovingly from Honesty, while Sour Apple stared with determination from Loyalty and Stormy looked like he was soundlessly giving advice of some form in Generosity. At the highest branch of the tree, she saw Midnight's face reflected in Kindness, and in the middle of all of it she saw Magic. The huge purple star sat right at the heart of the tree, and Prism approached in awed silence as it shined just for her. "I... me?" the filly managed to ask weakly. "But I'm not like Twilight. I..." Prism went silent as she saw how Twilight had wielded the Element of Magic. It was the strongest element of all, but it was worthless without the others. "I know what I have to do," she said with quiet confidence. "And it's time I woke up." She closed her eyes and waited.
When Prism Star woke, she found herself tucked into bed and surrounded by her friends... her fellow element bearers. "We... we need to talk," she managed. "All of us, at Stormy's house. Bring your elements."
******
Her friends were all gathered in Southern Storm's dining room within an hour, sitting around the large, oblong table and sipping mugs of hot chocolate (a rare luxury in these days, that Prism savored with every sip) when Prism and Midnight entered the room. Southern Storm and Sour Apple were wearing their Elements, Talon had hers sitting on the table, while Shimmer seemed to be looking into the Element of Laughter nervously, holding it in her magic as though it was going to bite her.
"Thanks for coming, guys," Prism said as she climbed up into her seat, with Midnight getting up on the opposite side. "Now then... We're the new Elements of Harmony," she said bluntly.
The others, including Midnight, shared looks of mild confusion and surprise at this declaration - except for Southern Storm, who seemed to nod a little. Shimmer looked at her nervously and said, "Are you sure, Prism? That's a pretty big thing to declare."
Southern Storm arched an eyebrow at her. "Well, she can count to six," he said dryly, smiling slightly. "Six Elements out there, and six creatures in here - with four Elements already at this table."
"Legend says the Elements have a will of their own," Midnight said quietly. "They'll find each other again whether anypony wants them to or not. Prism may be a little direct, but four of them already gathered in one place isn't a coincidence."
Talon looked down at the Element of Honesty thoughtfully. "Golden Seed - the old pony who was guarding the Element of Honesty - he told me that ponies don't really choose to bear the Elements. The Elements choose the ponies who bear them, for better or worse."
Shimmer scoffed at this. "I don't see how or why anypony would choose me. This is insane."
"Shimmy..." Prism looked at her. Shimmer was playing it off in what had once been her usual abrasive way, but she only really took that tone anymore when she was nervous, and trying to act more confident than she was. "Does it glow?"
"I don't see what-" Shimmer started, pursing her lips angrily, but Prism quickly cut her off.
"It shines, doesn't it? It has a secret shine that only you can see. I saw how you reacted when my dad put it into your bag. It speaks to you... touches you in a way that it doesn't do for anypony else." Prism stared at her knowingly. Even in a dream, she'd felt Magic's pull and heard it beating with her heart. She could only imagine what Shimmer felt actually holding an Element of Harmony.
Shimmer tried her best blank look and stammered noncommittally, but Talon cut in impatiently. "Does it shine or doesn't it? Just answer her, Shimmer."
"Ye.... yes. Yes, it shines." Shimmer closed her eyes, and her voice quavered. "The thing scares me to death, but Chrysalis take me, it shines. I... I don't know why it would choose me, I can't possibly be worthy. Please," she said with pleading eyes to Prism. "If you know so much, then make it choose somepony else. Please."
"Shimmer..." Southern Storm looked sympathetic. "Why would you think that? You make me laugh more than any pony I know. You could probably be doing some kind of roast comedy on the Strip if you wanted."
"It's not about being funny!" she snapped at him. "It's... it's about hope! The Element chose Pinkie Pie because her laughter and her random weirdness gave ponies hope! She could laugh in the face of danger and come out of anything unscathed, but I'm not Pinkie Pie!" Sour Apple started to say something, but she quickly cut him off. "I'm not even a pony!" Shimmer finally started crying and laid her head down on the table, managing weakly, "No offense, Talon..."
This declaration hung in the air for a few moments, and Southern Storm was the first to speak. "Well... he wasn't well known for his sense of humor, but Thorax had a lot of hope in him, too." Shimmer looked up at him quickly, blinking at him in surprise, but Storm held up a hoof. "Let me say my piece, love. When I was a little colt, I grew up on my dad's stories about the Companions. But my favorite story of all wasn't about Twilight Sparkle, or any of her direct friends. It was about the exile prince, Thorax- the same one who wrote that book Sour Apple stole for you." Sour shrugged at her with an apologetic look, and Storm continued. "I'm sure you grew up with that story, and many others beside, but... He learned to have the courage to be who he was, but more than that, I loved his story because he never lost hope that there was a better way for changelings to live. Pony or not, that sounds like a pretty good example to aspire to."
"I... wh-what?" Shimmer looked like, for once, she was speechless with her surprise.
Sour laughed a little bit. "Hey, I may have dropped out of middle school, but I'm not stupid. That book I nabbed for you, the... the Philosophies of Thorax. That was the weirdest book I've ever held in my hooves, and you can bet that that weird chicken-scratch writing was a red flag."
"Sour Apple came to me and asked about it," Southern Storm said. "Thorax isn't exactly a common name, and my father's library turned out to have some old scrolls that he wrote. Sour confirmed it was the same writing he saw - changeling writing."
"The same stuff you keep putting in our journal," Talon cut in. She reached over to put one of her hands on Shimmer's shoulder. "Hey, I don't blame you. I know honesty is supposed to be my thing now, but if I could just pretend to be a pegasus, I would totally do it. Ponies suck sometimes if you're not one of them."
Prism had kept silent through the conversation, but finally spoke now - but not before glaring at Midnight, who was making a 'give me' gesture with his hoof towards Southern Storm. "You see, none of them care. Actually, I'm a little surprised you guys are being so cool about it. Midnight freaked out like a little filly."
"I did not!" Midnight protested.
"This whole time, I was too scared to hope," Shimmer muttered, looking into the blue gem. "I... I only made jokes to hide how scared I was, all the time. How much I hated myself for being what I am." She looked up at the others around the table. "Ever since I was exiled from the hive, I... I felt like I was starving, all the time. I never thought I'd have this much love around me ever again." She shifted into her native form, to the badly veiled surprise of everypony except Prism - who had seen it by now dozens of times - and put the Element around her neck. "I'd stopped thinking I deserved anything like this, but... but if you want anything from me, even if you want to take these Elements and march straight on to Canterlot, I'll be there... with my friends."
"Well...." Prism hemmed nervously. "About that." She took a deep breath and continued, "I don't think anything that the whole... Conclave thing... does is going to be useful to anypony."
"Actually," Midnight put in, "We're not convinced that they're going to do anything at all."
Prism nodded, thankful that he had her back here. "I think that if anypony is going to do anything, it'll have to be us. I mean, I know this sounds insane, just the six of us trying to fix everything, and there's a good... a good..." She trailed off as she saw them all smiling at her. "What?"
"I don't think we have a proper metric for insane anymore," Southern Storm said with a smirk. "Actually, that might be the sanest thing anypony has said in days." Prism blinked at him in surprise, unsure if he actually understood what she had said.
"Equestria's only hope is a bunch of weirdos with magic necklaces," Shimmer said with a small laugh. "That sounds pretty familiar if you ask me. I mean, don't get me wrong, we're almost certainly going to die. But it's not like I had anything better planned." Prism wasn't sure if she was actually joking - it really was hard to tell with those empty changeling eyes.
Sour Apple just shrugged, though, seeming to take it in stride. "Look, I've been in pretty much constant mortal danger since I was your age, Prism. I actually think I've been getting a little soft these last couple months of safety. You can count me in."
"Well, yeah, but..." Southern Storm looked around at the others. "Can we at least wait until after the party to go get ourselves killed? It's only a week, and think of how terribly ponies will be disappointed if we all die before throwing the best Cloudsdale Day party ever. But, yes, I'm in as well."
Prism looked at him in shock, before finally standing up on the table with an angry growl. "How can you all be taking this so lightly?!" she shouted. They were all just joking and laughing, as though it were no big deal that she was suggesting they try to stop the greatest evil Equestria had ever seen, and win a battle that even Princess Twilight failed at.
It was Midnight Shine who finally responded. "Well... it's because we trust you. You wouldn't be suggesting it if you didn't think we at least had a chance."
"Aren't we getting a little ahead of ourselves, anyway?" Talon asked. "We've only got four Elements. Do we have any idea where to find the others?"
Finally, this was at least a question Prism had a proper answer to. "I... actually might." She looked at Shimmer before continuing, "There's a special table in Ponyville called the Cutie Map. We've told you about how we got sent here on a Friendship Quest, but... I think the quest was us. It wanted us to come together and become friends. It's powered by the same source of magic as the Elements - the Tree of Harmony. It was planted in the Everfree Forest by Starswirl the Beared ages ago. Literal ages ago." She'd started pacing on the table in her excitement at putting all the pieces together, her tail twitching happily as she started to talk faster and more confidently. "Shimmer and my dad, they told me that the tree was dying, that it'd only had enough power left to send us on one last quest, but I don't think that's true. I talked to Twilight and she showed me the Tree of Harmony, the way she'd remembered it. The Elements of Harmony were on the branches of the tree, they were feeding it somehow. What if all we need is to get the map working again, and it'll tell us where the other Elements are? I think that even with just four of the Elements of Harmony, we can revive the tree enough for the Cutie Map to work again."
The others looked thoughtful, and a tense silence crept into the room. "That... could actually work," Shimmer said just as Prism was starting to feel uncomfortable. "But how do we get the Order to stop arguing and go along with it?"
"We make her a princess," Midnight said, in that eerie tone of quiet certainty Prism had only ever heard him use in dreams. "If they want her to be their Sun Princess so badly, then we're going to put a crown on her head and give them a royal decree."