The next morning, breakfast was a bit awkward at first. With the exception of Twilight, everypony was a bit apprehensive around Sunset. Sunset, for her part, was feeling a bit guilty and waiting for a good moment to apologize. When, exactly, a moment would meet her criteria to do so, she had no idea. Eventually, Twilight made the choice for her by giving her a light push on the back with her wing. Sunset turned to give her an uncertain look, but Twilight smiled encouragingly, so Sunset knew she didn’t have much of a choice.
She stood and said, “Everypony, I have something to tell you.”
The others stopped talking and all focused on Sunset. For all Sunset’s history of loving to be the center of attention, right then she’d rather been underneath the table than standing at the head of it.
“I…Yesterday wasn’t really my best day. I was angry over something that turned out to just be a misunderstanding, and I shouldn’t have acted the way I did. It was wrong of me to ignore you all day, so…I’m sorry,” she said.
“No worries, sugar cube. We all have our off days. We won’t hold it against you,” Applejack said.
Sunset gave her a relieved smile.
“So…what was bothering you, anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Nothing big,” Twilight said.
She and Sunset had expected somepony to ask that, and they’d agreed that Twilight would handle any questions on the subject.
“It was just a misunderstanding, but we talked it out. Neither of us really want to discuss it further right now.”
Sunset could see that Twilight’s answer raised more questions than it answered, but to her friends’ credit they didn’t press the issue.
“So, now that we’re all friends again, where are we going next?” Pinkie Pie asked.
Clearly relieved at the change of subject, Twilight began to explain. “Well, the journal mentioned that Hippocampus had a water dome. That suggests that the next Forge will actually be in the bay itself. My plan is to go down to the harbor and see if we can hire a boat to explore the bay.”
“Do you have any idea how big the Hippocampus Bay is? I mean, it’s not as big as the desert but if we need to search every part of it we’ll be here for months,” Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight smiled broadly at her. “Fortunately, we won’t have to search every part of it. We’ve now activated three of the Forges. At this point, I should be able to use the magical resonance of the active Forges to help me locate this one. We’ll only have cross the bay in a properly structured way, and then I’m sure I’ll pick up the energy of the Forge. It’ll give us at least the general area in which to search.”
“Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go get us a boat,” Applejack said. The others all voiced their agreement, and not much later, they were underway.
Siren’s Call was one of many small villages around the Hippocampus Bay. It consisted mainly of narrow cobblestone alleyways and houses that were higher than they were wide. The hills around the village were dotted with orchards for various kinds of fruit, most of which were exported across the rest of Equestria by railway and ship.
When Sunset and the others emerged from the shadowy alleys into the bright sun of the harbor, she saw that the bay was filled with boats of various sizes, from large ships carrying fruit and vegetables, to smaller boats just for recreation. She figured that with this many boats out there it wouldn’t be difficult for them to find a spot to hire a boat of their own, but looking across the vastness of the bay Sunset wondered if, even with Twilight’s resonance spell, finding the Forge was going to be as easy as Twilight said it would be.
“Okay, the map says that if we continue along this road we should come across a rental service,” Twilight said.
Sunset didn’t know where Twilight had gotten a map for this village, but she assumed it had been purchased yesterday, during Sunset’s seclusion from the group.
She looked at the boats moored in the marina they were now passing. Some of the yachts clearly belonged to very wealthy ponies, using propulsion systems carefully designed by mages. Others were simple sailing boats, some of which looked like they’d seen better days. It was an interesting contrast to see these vessels side by side.
“Here it is,” Twilight said after a short walk.
Sunset looked up and saw a small wooden building, which looked like it had stood ever since the village had first been founded. The boats that lay docked behind it were similarly old, though at least they looked well-kept and they seemed to use magical propulsion rather than relying on sails.
When they entered the building, Sunset had to blink a couple of times to see anything in the gloom. The blinds had been mostly shut and only a few bright stripes of sunlight shone in. When her eyes adjusted, Sunset saw that the walls were decorated with pictures of boats, far more majestic ones than those moored outside.
After a short conversation with the stallion manning the sole desk in the building, an earth pony named Distant Horizon, they were outside walking along a jetty, while Distant Horizon rattled off the specifications of each boat they passed. Sunset was glad that Twilight, as the resident royalty, had to be the one feigning interest. Eventually, though, they negotiated a price, and soon after the Wave Slicer — “The name of my great-grandmother.” — sailed into the open waters of the Hippocampus Bay.
Sunset stood on the small walkway next to the cabin and enjoyed the breeze through her mane. She hadn’t been on boats all that often, but she had definitely liked the few times she had. She looked at the vastness of the bay spreading out in front of them, and once again wondered how Twilight intended to locate the Forge. She stepped inside the cramped cabin of the Wave Slicer and saw that Twilight was alternately looking at a compass and out of the windows.
“I didn’t know you knew how to drive one of these,” Sunset remarked as Twilight made a small course adjustment.
Twilight grimaced. “I don’t, really. I’m just going by what Distant Horizon told me. I’m trying to give every other boat out here a wide berth because I have absolutely no idea what the rules are regarding right of way and so on. I know left is portside and right is starboard; that’s about the extent of my nautical knowledge.”
“That’s…not exactly reassuring,” Sunset said.
“Well, at least I know roughly where to look for the Forge,” Twilight said defensively.
Sunset cocked her head. “You do? How?”
“Haven’t you listened to what Distant Horizon said? He said that near the southern mouth of the bay currents are extremely strong and unpredictable, and that many ships have been smashed on the jagged rocks. Those currents are the source of many of the tales of Sirens around here — although it’s quite possible that Sirens were actually active in this area at one point.”
Sunset absorbed that information and then said, “So, to recap: you don’t know how to properly drive a boat and we’re headed for an extremely dangerous part of the bay where many experienced sailors have gone down. I see no way this could come back to bite us in the flank.”
Twilight gave Sunset a dark look. “Aren’t you optimistic today,” she said sourly.
Sunset chuckled. “I’m just joking,” she said soothingly, then added, “Mostly.”
Twilight grumbled something unintelligible. Sunset just grinned at her. She was enjoying herself immensely, irritating Twilight like this. She figured that Twilight, even though she wasn’t an experienced captain, probably had some kind of magical solution to keep the boat safe in the dangerous area, at least for the most part.
Despite her enjoyment, she figured she should probably give Twilight some room to concentrate and she stepped back outside the cabin onto the aft deck, where her other friends were relaxing and enjoying the sights.
Even though she made up with them that morning, she still felt a bit too awkward to join them, so she stood a short distance away from them and looked out over the water. She wondered if she should tell her friends about the things she had read in the scrolls Princess Celestia had sent her, but she wasn’t really certain if any of them would find it interesting. After all, she’d mainly been looking for information on Atonement and she hadn’t exactly found anything encouraging. Quite the opposite, in fact, with how readily the High Council dismissed the claims.
“You’re not going to avoid us all day again, are you?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Sunset hadn’t even noticed she’d come over. She shook her head and smiled at her friend. “No, don’t worry. I was just feeling a bit pensive,” she said.
“What’s on your mind then? We’re all your friends, you know? If something’s bothering you maybe we can help,” Rainbow Dash said.
The others had also joined Rainbow Dash and Sunset now. “Rainbow Dash is right, darling. You can tell us anything,” Rarity said.
Sunset felt a wave of gratitude rolling over her when she saw the sympathetic looks her friends gave her. Even after blowing them off all day yesterday, they were still willing to help her now. They really were an awful lot like her CHS friends.
“Alright,” Sunset said after a moment. “Yesterday, I asked Spike to send a letter to Princess Celestia, because I wanted to find more about Parallax Dream.”
“To find out more about Atonement?” Fluttershy asked.
Sunset nodded. “Yes. I…it may sound stupid, but I really hoped that maybe he was right. That there is such a thing as a seventh Element.” She shook her head in frustration. “I don’t really know how to say it without sounding selfish, but…”
“You want to belong,” Fluttershy finished for her.
Sunset looked at the deck, feeling a bit guilty. “Yes,” she said.
“But darling, you do belong. If you hadn’t been here, we would never have been able to activate even a single Forge. If you hadn’t been there, the Will-o’-Wisp in the swamp would have been the end of us. If you hadn’t taken the journal, we wouldn’t have found Zerzura. And most importantly of all,” Rarity said pointedly, when she saw that Sunset wanted to interject, “The bond you and Twilight share stopped your nightmares. I’m not as well versed in magic as the two of you are, but it seems to me that a reaction like that is quite special.”
Sunset blushed a little. “You mean…you know…?”
Rarity smirked. “Come now, darling, your infatuation with each other is plain as day. We just didn’t want to interfere with it. And yes, we also gathered that what happened yesterday had to do with that.”
Sunset looked at all of her friends. They all smiled and nodded to confirm Rarity’s words. Sunset was a bit fearful for how Pinkie would react now that the secret was officially out, but to her surprise her pink friend remained quite calm, albeit with a huge grin on her face.
When Pinkie noticed Sunset’s look of slight confusion, she winked and said, “I’ll save the party for after we’ve saved Equestria. I think Twilight would prefer that too.”
Sunset smiled gratefully. “Thanks,” she said. “All of you.”
“That’s what friends are for, sugar cube,” Applejack said.
At that moment, Twilight exited the cabin. “Everypony, we’re almost there,” she said. Then she looked at her friends, who still formed a half circle around a still faintly flushed Sunset. “Did I…miss anything?” she asked, looking from pony to pony.
Sunset smiled at her. “Nope,” she said cheerfully.
She suddenly felt much lighter, and it was only now that she realized how much the events of the day before had still bothered her.
“Not a thing.”
Even from the surface, Sunset could see that the area of the bay they were approaching wasn’t as calm and peaceful as the rest had been. She could see the water flowing, currents colliding with one another, and a bit further into the churning water she waves breaking against rocky spires. The Wave Slicer slowed down as she approached the foaming deathtrap. Sunset and her friends stood on the foredeck of the boat.
“So…is it here?” Spike asked.
Twilight’s horn glowed as she cast the resonance spell, and part of Sunset hoped that Twilight would say that this wasn’t the spot after all. But she’d known just from seeing the area, and knowing how many ships had sunk here over the years, that this was the right place.
The magenta glow around Twilight’s horn disappeared and she said, “Yes. The spell indicates that there is a very strong resonance underwater, well within the dangerous area.”
“So…how are we going to get to it?” Applejack asked. “We can’t just sail the boat in here, can we? We’d go down faster than a badly stacked pile of hay bales.”
Twilight looked uncertain. “I’m not sure yet,” she admitted. “I have a couple of ideas, but I’ll have to do some tests to see if any of them are viable in the first place.” She sighed and spread her wings. “I’d better go take a closer look first.”
Twilight took off from the deck and flew low over the water. At various places, she hovered in place and cast a spell. Sunset, hating the feeling of being useless, closed her eyes and decided to use her magic detection spell like she’d done in Zerzura. She had no idea if it was going to be of any use, but it was definitely a better use of her time than standing still and doing nothing. She cleared her mind and felt around for the strands of magic.
She could feel the presence of powerful magic from beneath the waves, but it was muted by distance and it felt fuzzy and indistinct. Twilight’s magic, by contrast, was crisp and clear, and she could follow each tendril of arcane energy that her friend sent into the depths. Sunset tried to reach out further with her magic to get a better ‘view’ of the Forge, but to her frustration she wasn’t able to reach down far enough. It wasn’t surprising to her, considering the detection spell she used was a bit like a magical radar. It picked up magic in a radius, and it only allowed Sunset to focus on it if it was strong enough and close enough. In this case, the Forge was at the edge of the range of her spell, so getting a clear picture was almost impossible.
She saw Twilight sending another thing string of magic down into the depths, and that gave her an idea. She focused on Twilight and said, “Twilight, can you do that again? I want to hook onto your magic and see if I can get a better image of the Forge.”
Sunset knew that Twilight had heard her, because another tendril of magic went into the sea, aimed at the exact same spot as the one before. With a complex bit of spellwork, Sunset hooked her magic into Twilight’s, smiling faintly when she felt the now-familiar warmth of it. Piggybacking on Twilight’s searcher spell, the magical image of the Forge became a bit clearer in Sunset’s mind. Something was very odd about it. The Forge at Zerzura had been a meticulous field of magic. Its borders had been pristine and absolute, but here they somehow felt vague, even with Sunset’s increased range. Was the distance still too big to get a proper feeling for it? Or was something else going on with the Forge? Without seeing the Forge for real, Sunset knew she wasn’t going to get any answers, so she ignored the anomaly for now and joined Twilight in looking for an entrance.
When Twilight’s magic searcher faded, Sunset waited patiently for the next one. This time Twilight had flown a bit closer to the rocky spires near the face of the cliff to send out her probing spell, and when Sunset hooked into it she could ‘see’ the Forge from a different angle. Just like before, the boundaries of the magic weren’t smooth. Instead, they warped and pulsed, and the density wasn’t consistent. Sunset was beginning to get a very bad feeling about it, but once again set it aside to look for a possible entryway.
At first, it seemed like there was nothing there, but just when Twilight was letting her spell fade out, Sunset caught a glimpse of something, a faint glow that extended out and up from the presence of the Forge.
“Twilight, can you cast the spell again? Look at the south side. I think there’s something there,” she said.
Twilight obliged, and Sunset made a mental note that she should probably teach Twilight the telepathy spell so she’d be able to reply if something like this became necessary again. Now that Sunset knew what to look for, she found the ‘path’ quite quickly. It went up and south for a while, then abruptly turned north, as if it was a staircase of some kind. Soon, Sunset didn’t need Twilight’s signal boost anymore to be able to detect the path. It was faint, but now that she’d noticed it, it was quite clearly there. The path reached the surface, and Sunset held the location in her mind when she opened her eyes and deactivated her spell.
From the surface, she couldn’t see anything. The water was just as agitated at the place where the path of magic surfaced, between two rocky spikes, as it was everywhere else. Nothing hinted at the presence of anything unusual.
Twilight, who’d found the path as well after Sunset’s hint, curiously flew over and gently lowered herself down between the rocks. When she touched the water with her hooves, instead of sinking she simply landed on it as if the waves were solid. Still flapping her wings so as not to suddenly sink beneath the waves, Twilight gingerly walked over the invisible platform she seemed to be on.
After a short investigation, she took off again and flew back to the Wave Slicer. She landed next to her friends and said, “There is a tunnel. I think I can teleport all of us over there, and then we’ll go down together. The water is partially illusory, probably just to hide the path from Pegasi.”
“I hope ‘go down together’ doesn’t become prophetic,” Spike remarked.
Sunset chuckled at the dark joke. Twilight shot Spike a look and then said, “It is probably better for you to stay here. After all, you can’t be in the Forge when we activate it, and I don’t like the idea of leaving you in a tunnel made of water.”
“Whereas you’re fully okay with the rest of us being underneath several tons of water,” Sunset said. “Good to know you care so much.”
She grinned at Spike, who’d looked a bit dejected when Twilight told him he’d be staying on the boat. He managed a half-smirk back at Sunset.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t have my preference,” she said. “But the fate of Equestria is in the balance. We don’t really have a choice.”
Sunset nodded. “I know. So before we go: did you notice anything…odd…about the Forge? Something strange about the magic?” she asked.
Twilight nodded, a troubled look on her face. “Yes. It didn’t feel stable. That’s part of the reason I want Spike to stay up here. Honestly, if I could go in alone I would. Something feels wrong about this Forge and if anything happens while we’re underwater we’re in a lot of trouble.”
“Twilight, just so you know, you’re really bad at giving pep talks,” Rainbow Dash said with a shake of her head.
Twilight ignored her. Despite joking about it herself, Sunset really did understand Twilight’s worries, especially now that she knew she hadn’t just imagined the ‘off’ feeling the Forge gave her. She looked at the crashing waves and felt a chill going down her spine. This wasn’t going to end well.
The magenta light from Twilight’s horn gave everything a slightly eerie glow as the group slowly walked down the underwater ramp. Nopony was in the mood to say much. They were all nervously looking around, as if the invisible tube through which they walked might collapse at any moment.
Sunset tried to steady her breathing as they went ever deeper beneath the waves. Because of the strong currents, Sunset didn’t see any fish or other sea creatures outside the tunnel. Apparently the mages had not wanted to take any chances and had made sure the entire area was entire uninhabitable and impenetrable, except to those who knew where the tunnel was located.
They reached a turn in the ramp, one of many, indicated by a sudden resistance in front of them as they hit the tunnel’s wall. Sunset had stopped counting the turns. All she knew was that she was far deeper underwater than she wanted to be. Unlike the mine, the water tunnel scared her because she couldn’t see the supports; she couldn’t tell, even remotely, if it had been constructed well. She knew that her fears didn’t make sense. If the tunnel hadn’t been strong, it would not have been there for thousands of years, after all. But the odd energy signature this Forge gave off was still fresh in her mind, and her heart was frantically pounding against her ribs despite her deep breaths.
Eventually, Sunset began to notice a faint blue glow ahead of them, a glow she recognized as the blue entry crystals around the Forge. She felt something a lot like relief washing over her. Something about the blue glow had a calming effect, however little.
“Thank Celestia, we’re almost there,” Rarity said when she, too, noticed the glow.
“Good. The sooner we get this over with, the better,” Rainbow Dash said. Even in the magenta light of Twilight’s magic, she looked a bit pale.
Fluttershy, strangely, seemed remarkably calm, something that seemed to annoy Rainbow Dash a bit. “How come you’re not afraid? You’re usually the first one to get scared.”
“I am scared. I’m just…more used to it than you are,” Fluttershy said.
Applejack laughed. “That’s also a way of looking at it,” she said.
“We’re here,” Twilight said, drawing everypony back to the present. She took a deep breath and stepped into the dome of the Forge itself. Sunset and the others followed suit.
Sunset immediately noticed that something was wrong with the Forge. A large scorch mark bisected the Forge, and where it intersected the spiral patterns the crystals within them were missing. Most of the crystal formations were missing large chunks and had jagged edges. It looked like a warzone, almost.
“What in tarnation happened here?” Applejack asked as she looked around.
“I don’t know, but it isn’t good. The Forge is badly damaged,” Twilight said with a slightly panicked voice.
“Does that mean it doesn’t work anymore?” Pinkie Pie asked.
Twilight shook her head. “I don’t know. I…I have no idea what happened here.”
She had a wild look in her eyes, and somehow that made Sunset feel a lot calmer. “Breathe, Twilight,” she said. “I guess this damage is why the Forge felt wrong. I doubt it will work in the state it’s in now, so we need to think of a solution. We need you focused for that. Just…think of it as a magical challenge.”
Twilight nodded and took a couple of deep breaths. She smiled shakily at Sunset and said, “Thanks.” Sunset smiled back at her.
“So now what do we do?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Can we repair it? You’re not telling me we came all the way down here for nothing.”
“The Forges are the most complex magical constructs I’ve ever seen,” Twilight said, still with a desperate edge to her voice. “They were created by the most powerful magical minds of their day. Maybe somepony like Princess Celestia or Star Swirl could figure it out, but…”
“Don’t sell yourself short now, sugar cube,” Applejack said. “You’re one of the most powerful magical minds of your day, aren’t you? And for that matter, so is Sunset. Besides, you got your wings because you finished a spell Star Swirl couldn’t. You’re at least as good as he is.”
Both Sunset and Twilight blushed lightly at the praise. Sunset felt a rush of happiness at being complimented like this, considering these ponies, no matter how much they resembled her friends, had only known her for just under two weeks. Twilight, too, seemed reinvigorated by the trust her friends had in her, and she began examining some of the structures, casting what appeared to be structural analysis spells on them.
Sunset decided on a different approach, instead using her magic detection spell to see if she could find residual traces of the magic that caused the damage. If she could then find out in what way those spells did their work, she might be able to figure out the general appearance of the crystal formations. She figured that if nothing else, it would give Twilight a bit more to work with in addition to her structural analysis. When she was younger, she would have insisted on finding it all out on her own, but she knew that Twilight’s analysis would probably be a bit more thorough than her own, given Twilight’s love for magical theory. Almost as soon as Sunset cast her spell, however, she realized that there was a far better way of finding out what the Forge had once looked like — and finding out what had actually happened.
“There’s a lot of residual magic here,” Sunset said. “And a lot of it seems to be in a temporally-locked equilibrium.”
“A what from the what now?” Applejack asked.
“It’s something that happens when very powerful magic clashes in a space that is sealed off from the rest of the world by a strong magical barrier,” Twilight said in an excited tone. “As you can imagine, it’s a rather rare phenomenon.”
“And this matters to us…how?” Rainbow Dash wondered.
“We can quite literally watch the past happening,” Sunset said.
“Watch the past? How does that work?” Rarity asked.
Twilight began pacing around the Forge. Sunset grinned. She’d figured that just dropping the name of the phenomenon would be enough to prompt Twilight to explain it. All the better because it meant she didn’t have to do it.
“When magic becomes temporally-locked, it creates something that is pretty much a ‘ghost’ of the event that caused the equilibrium. With the correct spell, that equilibrium can be made visual, which will allow those present to witness the events that led up to the creation of the equilibrium. I don’t know what it will show us, but at the very least we will be able to see the Forge as it used to be. Hopefully, that will allow us to rebuild it and activate it,” Twilight said.
“Do you know the spell to make it work?” Fluttershy asked.
Rainbow Dash replied before Twilight could. “This is Twilight we’re talking about here. Ponyville’s resident egghead Princess. Of course she knows the spell.”
Twilight looked a bit annoyed at being addressed as an ‘egghead Princess’, but she said, “I do know the spell. Well, theoretically, of course. I’ve never actually encountered something like this before because the requirements for it to happen are so specific. Now, you should probably all stand close to me. That will most likely allow you to see the events as well.”
Everypony grouped up close together and Twilight began muttering to herself as she tried to recall how the spell worked. Sunset could hear her going through the steps of the spell one by one. She gave Twilight a light nudge.
“You’ve got this, Twilight. Come on, we’ll cast it together,” she said.
Twilight looked surprised. “You know the spell?”
Sunset shrugged. “Wanted to use it to examine places of great magical battles to see if I could learn anything from them,” she said.
Twilight nodded. “Okay, then. Let’s do this.”
Sunset and Twilight brought their horns close together and began casting the spell. Sunset let Twilight take the lead, and simply followed and assisted her when needed. She knew Twilight’s superior control would make for clearer images.
They found a cluster of magic, almost a magical scar in the air and began prying it open. Sunset used a bit more force to create a better ‘grip’ for their spell to hold onto, and then, without warning, the glowing crack of magic in the air expanded in a flash of white light.
“Are you happy now?! Have you seen the damage your twisted experiment has wrought upon Caballus?!”
A unicorn with a dark gray coat and a silver mane stood in the entrance to the Forge. His cutie mark was a large golden star with two clouds next to it. Above the star there was a smaller golden star, connected to the clouds with thin, golden lines. His dark gray eyes looked even darker because of his furious look.
Another unicorn, this one light blue, with a dark blue mane and a cutie mark that looked like a shooting star, gave the first pony an exasperated stare. “Damage?” he asked. “And what damage is that? We have brought harmony to Caballus, just as we intended to do. Each pony has their tasks now to maintain it, including you, Parallax Dream.”
Parallax Dream took a step forward, his horn sparking. “You have no idea what you have done. Bringing all of nature under pony control was an act of supreme arrogance, something that never should have happened. What will happen if the Pegasi refuse to manage the weather? What will happen if the earth ponies refuse to produce food? If the unicorns refuse to bring about day and night? Don’t you see that these things are meant to be left alone?”
Even though Parallax’s horn was still sparking, he sounded more desperate and pleading than angry now.
The other unicorn, however, merely scoffed. “Why should we listen to you? You were wrong about Atonement, and you are wrong about this. Look around, Parallax. Harmony exists all over the land, and it was all possible because of your discoveries. Why would the unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies suddenly decide to break that harmony? We made sure that each group has its share of responsibilities. If one falls, so will the others.”
Parallax Dream began pacing, keeping his eyes focused on the unicorn the entire time. “Surely you can’t believe that, Comet Trail. I have seen the construct you built around the Forge of Magic. You know that nature is resisting your ill-advised attempts to tame it. The forest retains its freedom, and even your vaunted Elements can barely hold it in check now.”
Comet Trail shrugged. “We have the Forges. We’ll make another set, harmonize the forest, and then we can begin spreading harmony to all the other races. We’ll bestow them with these gifts, grant them the ability to fight off any kind of darkness, and the world will be peaceful at last. No more conflicts. No more sadness.” An angry look appeared on his face. “The beasts who took my family from me will be erased at last.”
“Destroying creatures is not the answer, Comet Trail,” Parallax Dream insisted. “Windigos, Sirens, Ursa Minors and Majors…they all have their place in the world. Harmony, true Harmony, doesn’t kill them. It displaces them, but they will reconstitute. Your incomplete version will cause more damage in the long run than you could imagine. I…regret what I must do, Comet Trail, but you leave me with no other option. I cannot let you prepare the Forge for another activation. I cannot let this perversion of Harmony continue. Step aside.”
Comet Trail didn’t listen. Instead he stood up straighter. “So this is it, then? This is how we finally part ways, after our years of friendship? I’m not moving, Parallax. If you want the Forge…you’ll have to go through me.”
Comet Trail had only barely finished speaking when Parallax Dream cast a spell. A dozen balls of pure white magic burst from his horn. Six of them converged onto Comet Trail, while the others six split off and flew towards the crystal formations.
Comet Trail, despite his clear surprise at the sudden attack, reacted with blinding speed. A blue glow surrounded him, and for a brief moment there were seven of him. Six of them interrupted the magic heading for the focus clusters, while the last one formed a blue shield around him, which shimmered when it took the six remaining blasts.
Comet Trail’s doubles vanished and his shield dropped, and as soon as it did he launched a counter attack on Parallax Dream. He fired two bright blue spheres of energy from his horn, both curving towards Parallax Dream’s sides, who called up smaller, localized shields to intercept them.
Comet Trail seemed to have counted on that, because a whip-like tendril of blue energy with white specks in it rose up behind Parallax Dream and arced towards his back with blinding speed.
Parallax Dream noticed it at the last moment and teleported away, causing the two spheres of magic to slam into the tendril of energy. They exploded with a bright flash and a loud bang, but seemed to cause no damage to the Forge.
Parallax Dream reappeared to Comet Trail’s left and lowered his head while his horn sparked with power.
Comet Trail’s eyes widened and he quickly brought his horn to the floor, extending a shield out along the ground just in time for it to catch Parallax Dream’s horn beam and prevented it from ruining the Forge.
But Parallax Dream didn’t keep his head still, instead throwing it up and sending the blast at Comet Trail, who was stuck in place while casting his shield spell.
Comet Trail quickly raised his head and pulled back his magic, forming it into a concave shield in front of him which caught the beam, only instead of redirecting it he enveloped the blast in a sphere and diffused the power from within, once again preventing damage to the Forge.
In taking so much care, however, he gave Parallax Dream an opening for another attack. A thick mist began to emanate from his horn, billowing along the ground of the Forge.
Comet Trail surrounded himself with a blue glow and levitated above the swirling fog, while completing his dissipation of the last bits of Parallax Dream’s horn beam.
When he began to prepare a return spell, however, he saw that Parallax Dream had vanished. Immediately, he closed his eyes and sent out a magical pulse…but he was too slow.
A powerful spell slammed into his side and sent him skidding along the Forge floor, cutting a path through the thick mist and leaving a scorch mark on the Forge floor below. The pink crystals in the flowing patterns had shattered where Comet Trail had skidded through them.
Parallax Dream materialized from the fog and summoned it all into a massive ball. Comet Trail got up, wincing from the burn on his left side and the bruises and cuts on his right, where he had scraped along the ground. He surrounded his body with a blue glow and prepared a spell of his own. The Forge was filled with a blinding white light.
The field of magic collapsed, and everypony stood in silence for a moment. The things she’d just seen and heard whirled through Sunset’s head. The implications of everything Parallax Dream and Comet Trail had spoken about, thousands of years ago, filled her with dread. As far as she had known, ponies had always been in control of nature. But now, hearing this ancient argument reminded her of what the letter from the Harmonic Council had said.
‘With enough Harmonic power, we might even be able to tame nature itself.’
So that had been it. The ancient unicorns had created the Elements in order to bend nature itself to their will. They had given each of the tribes their responsibilities, which would eventually lead to the Cold Age, and ponies would forget the harmony they had once known. Caballus would fall apart. A few moments ago, all Sunset had been focused on was finding out how to fix the Forge, but now she wondered if repairing it, let alone activating it, would be a good idea.
Once again, she wondered if Parallax Dream’s assertions about Atonement had been correct after all. At the very least, he’d predicted the darkness that would fall over Caballus following the ponies’ takeover of nature. So maybe...maybe there was truth to his earlier writings as well. But in the end, what difference would it make? And he hadn’t been completely right, had he? The Elements had saved Equestria from darkness on several occasions. Their creation couldn’t have been entirely bad.
Sunset was shaken from her thoughts by Twilight. “Sunset? Are you okay?”
She looked at her friends, all of whom looked shaken up by their experience with the past. “I…think so,” she replied. “What do we do now, though?”
Twilight bit her lip. “I…I think we should still activate the Forge,” she said. She looked at Sunset with an almost pleading look. “Princess Celestia wouldn’t have sent us on this mission if she didn’t think it was the right thing to do. She and Princess Luna and Princess Cadance all think that activating the Forges will help in defeating the dark force that threatens Equestria. I’ve always had faith in her, and I think we should have faith in her now, despite these…troubling revelations.”
Sunset understood Twilight’s position. She knew her friend was still completely devoted to her old teacher, and that she’d never really had any reason to doubt her. But Sunset also remembered Celestia’s confession of meddling with her destiny, of not always knowing the right things to do. She looked away, not replying to Twilight right away.
Twilight seemed to get that Sunset was still conflicted, so she turned to her other friends first. “What do you all think?”
“I don’t know, Twilight,” Applejack said. “It didn’t seem to me that this Parallax Dream fellow was lying. He seemed real upset by what the other wizards had done. I reckon maybe he had a point.”
Sunset was relieved that at least she wasn’t alone in feeling conflicted. Twilight nodded and turned towards Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash sighed. “I…don’t know either. I mean…I can’t imagine not being able to control clouds and the weather, you know? It seems hard to believe that Pegasi couldn’t do all of that before the Elements. But…” She shook her head. “I think you’re right, Twilight. Princess Celestia wouldn’t tell us to do this if she didn’t think it was the right call. I think we should do it.”
Twilight inclined her head, then turned to Rarity. “We should activate the Forge,” she said. “I agree with Rainbow Dash. The Princess wouldn’t ask this lightly.”
Sunset wanted to say that Celestia wasn’t infallible, but she held her tongue. Her friends had to make their own choices. It wasn’t her place to interfere.
Twilight, meanwhile, had turned to Fluttershy. “I…I don’t think we should do it,” she said softly. “Nature is very delicate and it needs to be in balance. I don’t like the idea of the Elements not being completely good…but…after seeing this…it just doesn’t feel right.”
Twilight silently turned to Pinkie Pie. “I…didn’t like Comet Trail,” she said. “Something about the way he talked…he didn’t seem interested in making friends at all. His voice was cold. Something was not right about that pony. I’m sorry, Twilight, but I don’t think we should do this.”
Sunset was surprised. She hadn’t often heard Pinkie get so serious, so she knew that this must be something that had really shaken her.
Twilight finally turned back to Sunset now. “Well…three of us are for it, three of us are against it.” She smiled weakly. “I guess your vote is the deciding one.”
Sunset groaned. “Great, as long as there’s no pressure,” she said stonily.
She took a deep breath. Every instinct she had wanted her to say no. The entire thing felt wrong. Why would an esteemed wizard like Parallax Dream drop down to terrorism, to fighting somepony he’d apparently considered a friend, to stop the Forges from being activated again? She glanced at the damaged Forge. By the looks of it, he had succeeded. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know how the fight had ended for Parallax Dream and Comet Trail.
And of course, there was the matter of Princess Celestia. She wanted to believe in her old mentor, she really did. But hearing the confession that Celestia had possibly altered her destiny by showing her the mirror still didn’t sit right with her.
Her horn sparked in agitation. What could she do?! Did she really have to make the decision to save Equestria right then and there? If only she could talk to the Princess first…but why couldn’t she? There were two more Forges left after this one. The decision didn’t have to be made right away, right?
“What if…we activate this Forge, and then talk to Princess Celestia before we go after the last two?” she asked. “I think we should tell her about this, and then she can advise us on what to do next.” She turned to Twilight. “Do you think that, if we don’t activate the final two Forges, the resonance we created in these four will eventually fade away?”
Twilight considered that for a moment. Eventually she nodded. “I think so. Like you said, we’re creating a resonance. If we don’t strengthen that resonance by activating all the Forges, it will gradually get weaker and eventually stop completely.”
Sunset inclined her head and then said, “Okay. Then let’s try to repair this Forge and get it activated, and then when we get back to the surface we send word to the Princess. Is everypony okay with that?”
One by one, the others nodded. Sunset felt immense relief at not having to make the decision on her own, but a part of her felt troubled about it as well. Hadn’t she always wanted to be more important? Then why would she decline the opportunity now that she finally got it?
She pushed away her misgivings for the time being and began to discuss with Twilight, and Rarity to a lesser extent, on how to repair the Forge. During the vision of the past, Twilight had made mental snapshots of the crystal formations, and with crystal fragments from the surrounding seafloor, they managed to approximately recreate the Forge as it had been before the wizard duel had damaged it.
“The focus on the top crystal needs to be a bit sharper,” Twilight said as Sunset was positioning it.
Sunset nodded and used her magic to alter the crystals structure a bit, making sure that any magic coming through it would be focused just a tiny bit more. She hoped that their makeshift crystals would be enough to activate the Forge without causing something to go horribly wrong.
Rebuilding the Forge from memory snapshots alone was unbelievably difficult, far more difficult than anything Sunset had ever done before. Never before had she been so glad that Twilight and Rarity were obsessed with details. Normally, both of them would fuss over different details, but Rarity’s cutie mark was strongly tied to gemstones and her job required perfect accuracy, while Twilight had always been an avid researcher of all things magic. This job created enough overlap for both of them to work in tandem perfectly. Sunset almost felt like the odd one out during the build, as her own strength lay more in the application of a lot of power and variety to her magic than the fine details, but she had enough skill and magical know-how to do her part in rebuilding the Forge.
She had no idea how long it had taken them to get everything in perfect shape. She’d lost track of time while painstakingly positioning and focusing each crystal, but now it appeared the work was finally done. She looked at Twilight and Rarity and grinned, and her friends gladly did the same.
Twilight turned to the others, who had been awkwardly standing there watching the build progress.
“It’s done. Fluttershy? It’s your turn in the center.”
Fluttershy nodded nervously, but she took her place in the center without complaining. Sunset wondered if she could have been that confident, especially since this Forge had been repaired by ponies who didn’t strictly speaking know what they were doing. After everypony had taken their places beneath the obsidian crystal holders, Twilight looked around the group, before closing her eyes and beginning the spell. Sunset’s mouth was dry, but she still tried to relax when she felt Twilight’s magic reaching out.
The pink crystals in the floor began to glow and paths of light began to crawl towards Fluttershy, while the magenta glow of Twilight’s magic began to get brighter. The pink glow began to envelop Fluttershy, who closed her eyes in fright but stood her ground just the same.
Sunset saw that some of the crystal formations began to crack, but she tried to ignore it. The pink glow became brighter, pushing back Twilight’s aura more and more. More cracks began to run through the crystal formations. Sunset wanted to stop the spell, but she didn’t move. She allowed Twilight to continue the spell.
Then, just as the pink glow reached the blue entry crystals, the water dome collapsed. Millions of tons of water fell down on the ponies and Sunset instinctively braced herself and threw out a shield — but it wasn’t necessary.
Twilight had the entire group encased in a bubble of magenta energy. Her eyes were closed in concentration and everypony else was wide eyed with shock, and Sunset looked through the magical barrier to see that the shield was being swept away in the strong currents.
She closed her eyes and reached out with her magic, trying to ignore the thunderous noise of the water that was buffeting the shield ball from all sides. She wasn’t looking for any specific magic, but rather just the direction of the surface.
When she found it, she sent the field to Twilight telepathically, and shortly afterwards the shielded bubble began to rise. As they got closer to the surface, Sunset looked for the location of the Wave Slicer, which she eventually found because she recognized the small spark of Spike’s aura.
She sent this info to Twilight as well, and then she felt her body being displaced and landing hard on a wooden deck. The thunderous roar was gone. She opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a clear, starry night. The second thing was a writhing mass of ponies, and one very worried dragon. She glanced at the stunned faces of all of her friends. Then, all at once, everypony burst out laughing.