//------------------------------// // 89. A Friend from the Past - Part 1 // Story: My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship // by Danieru //------------------------------// It was a beautiful sunny day in Ponyville... The wind was softly blowing through the streets... It was perfect to take a walk around the town... So that is exactly what Star Twinkle did. When a day is this nice, then even he thought that it would be a good idea to walk around town instead of staying home. At least that's what he told himself, actually he didn't remember why he was walking through town on his own. But despite that, he looked around and watched how everypony was enjoying this day. But he then suddenly stopped in his way after he hit his front hoof against something. He was too busy looking around himself that he didn't even notice anything and looked down to check what he stumbled across but he was shocked and confused as soon as he saw what it was. It was an unconscious pony... He hit his hoof against a Pegasus stallion that was laying down in front of him. Next to this pony, there was another pony, a Pegasus mare, laying on the ground as well. The next thing that happened, was a flash running through Star Twinkle's brain, causing him to grab his head and closing his eyes due to the pain that was rushing through his head. The pain didn't last too long though and Star Twinkle opened his eyes again. But as soon as he did...the whole town was on fire. The houses were burning and ponies were running away in fear. There was also something going on with the two ponies in front of him. It was like as if magic was being sucked out of them, right into Star Twinkle, who noticed that he had a horn on his forehead. Star Twinkle wanted, whatever was happening now, to stop but his attention was caught by someone shouting his name. "Star Twinkle!" A male voice shouted towards him. Star Twinkle wanted to see who it was but as soon as his head turned towards that pony, all he could see was a white light, that kept him from identifying this pony. Soon, this white light was everywhere, blinding Star Twinkle and making it unable to see anything now. After all that, multiple scenes played inside Star Twinkle's head, they were passing so so quickly however that he didn't have time to think about them. All he could do was watch them playing in front of his eyes. ... "Are you sure that you don't want to live in Canterlot with us?" Star Twinkle's mother, Rainfall Twinkle asked. "Yeah, we may not be able to see each other that often if you decide to stay here," Star Twinkle's father Sunny Twinkle added. But Star Twinkle shook his head in response. "I'm sure. I can't leave Ponyville. This is where my-" ... "We are seeing each other again, right?" Star Twinkle asked towards a group of ponies. "Of course, what kind of question is that?" One of the ponies replied confused. ... A rainbow came shooting right towards Star Twinkle, causing him to duck in fear to get hit by it. In midst of this attack, however, there were a few words that he could hear. "You are me...and I am you..." a male voice said towards him. ... "Run!...stay away from me!" Star Twinkle shouted towards two Pegasus ponies in front of him, in the middle of the road of Ponyville. The two ponies didn't know how to react and were just confused by the stallion's behavior. Before they knew it, Star Twinkle grabbed his head and dropped to his knees, causing the two to get worried. Eventually, Star Twinkle raised his head again and looked at them, his eyes turning from a light green color to a red color. ... "Star Twinkle!" A stallion shouted towards Star Twinkle, who was standing in the middle of the road of Ponyville, his back turned towards the stallion and surrounded by flames, with two ponies standing in front of him. As soon as Star Twinkle heard his the voice of that stallion, he slowly turned around. The stallion who shouted his name reacted in confusion once he saw, a horn, and two wings on Star Twinkle, not to mention the wide grin on his face. "Only four left..." he simply replied in excitement. ... The next thing Star Twinkle saw was the brown ceiling of his bedroom. It seems like as if everything that he just saw was just a bad dream. Normally, he would feel really bad after having a dream like that but he sadly had to admit that he actually got used to it after it happened so often now. "Star Twinkle!!!" The shriek voice of Pinkie Pie screamed at the stallion's house, causing him to open the window next to his bed to see what was going out there. As soon as Star Twinkle opened the window and looked out of it, he saw Pinkie Pie standing a few meters away from his house. "Are you not done yet!?" She asked as she jumped up and down on the spot in excitement. "Did you forget? We are supposed to meet the others at the train station!" Star Twinkle widened his eyes in shock, not because he forgot, but because he was now aware of how much time was left for that meeting. "Sorry! I'm coming!" He then shouted back before he closed the window and got himself ready to leave. Everything had to be done quickly, there was no time for breakfast and he had to take a shower really quick. Only minutes after Pinkie Pie talked with him, he was already standing in front of his mirror in the living room, cleaning himself dry with a towel. While he was rubbing himself clean, however, he couldn't help but think about that dream that he had. He looked deep into the eyes of his reflection, he slapped his cheeks a couple times to wake himself up and to calm himself down again. "Easy...You had a bad dream...get over it! That just happens..." he said to make himself feel more comfortable again. The stallion didn't waste any more time and went outside to meet Pinkie Pie, who was already waiting for him in front of his door. He put on a fake smile to not worry her. Unfortunately, Pinkie Pie surprisingly saw through this smile pretty fast and lowered her eyebrows in concern. "What's the matter? Had a bad dream?" She guessed. It was almost shocking how Pinkie Pie quickly hit the nail on the point. Star Twinkle almost didn't know how to respond to this but in the end, he decided to just tell the truth instead of hiding anything. "Actually, yes...but don't worry, I'm okay now," Star Twinkle explained, trying not to worry the mare any further. Star Twinkle was not sure if Pinkie Pie bought those words but she put a smile on her face. "Okay! If you say so!" She said happily before she led the way to the train station with Star Twinkle following close by. The rest of his friends were probably waiting there already. The reason why they were about to meet there was because Twilight was supposed to travel to the Crystal Empire. Princess Celestia asked of her to join welcoming some kind of royals that were visiting the empire and since every other princess was there, Twilight was supposed to be there as well. Star Twinkle and the rest of his friends wanted to accompany Twilight to provide some mental support. Therefore, it was pretty important for Star Twinkle to show up because he didn't want to let her down. Later, in the Crystal Empire... Star Twinkle and his friends arrived at the Crystal Empire and were already on their way to the Crystal Castle. The group was highly excited that they could visit the empire once more, especially Spike. "Seems like only yesterday I was saving this place from being totally destroyed. Hey, you guys remember that?" He asked towards the group as he led the way. "Yes...we were there..." Star Twinkle replied a little annoyed. "...And it was only a few days ago..." he pointed out. "And you only mentioned it about fifteen times on the train here," Rainbow Dash further pointed out with an annoyed tone in her voice. Hearing that from Rainbow Dash was a little weird. Rarity actually picked up on that. "Yes, and we never hear a peep out of you about your exploits," she said with a very sarcastic tone in her voice. Rainbow Dash quickly understood what Rarity tried to say and grinned back a little embarrassed. "Heh, point taken," she then replied. Little conversations like that really helped Twilight to loosen up a little for the upcoming task that she was ordered for but still, she was probably the one who was the least excited for this whole visit. "I'm glad you all wanted to come, but I don't think it's gonna be that exciting. I pretty much just have to smile and wave as the dignitaries arrive," Twilight explained. But Rarity still saw the positive thing about this. "Yes, but you get to smile and wave like a princess," she pointed out. Applejack, just like the others, however, didn't seem to understand the difference. "How exactly is that different than smilin' and wavin' like not a princess?" She asked confused. Twilight frowned and walked away from the group. "It isn't," she said in a sad tone. The group quickly picked up on how Twilight was feeling at this moment. Normally, Twilight was really excited whenever Princess Celestia asked her of something but this time, this wasn't the case for some reason. As soon as somepony straight out asked her what was wrong, Twilight shared with the group what was bothering her. "I've just been feeling a little unsure about things lately. It doesn't seem that my new role as a princess equates to all that much," she said. "Well, it's not too long ago since you became one..." Star Twinkle pointed out. "That's just silly," Applejack quickly responded. "You've got a really important role in Equestria," Fluttershy agreed. "Princess Celestia wouldn't have asked you to come today if she didn't think so," Those words quickly put a smile on Twilight. "I guess you're right," she replied. Twilight must be really glad to have her friends with her by now. It at least seemed like as if her worries vanished for now. Soon, the group wasted no more time and went to the Crystal Castle. Twilight was waiting on a balcony until those royal visitors arrived and her friends were standing not too far away. No one except Twilight, of course, knew what she had to do so all they could do was waiting until something happened. Eventually, music started to play from beneath the castle at the main plaza. "The Duke and Duchess of Maretonia!" A pony announced from below the balcony shortly after. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance all stood ready to welcome the two visitors and led them to the castle. In the meantime, Twilight lowered a banner from the balcony and...smiled and waved at the royal visitors. Needless to say, the group was a little shocked how accurate Twilight was before. "Wow...she wasn't kidding when she said that she only came here to smile and wave," Star Twinkle whispered to his friends so that Twilight wouldn't hear it. "Yes," Rarity replied. "Still, let us show some excitement about that before she feels bad or something," she suggested, causing the rest of her friends to agree to that idea. With the exception of one, who wasn't aware of this talk. "That was it? Princess Celestia had you come all the way to the Crystal Empire just to do that?" Spike straight out said, ruining the situation for everyone now and causing Star Twinkle to slap his own forehead because of Spike's bluntness. Needless to say, Twilight immediately frowned since she was fully aware of that as well. "I mean, whoa, really regal and important!" Spike then corrected after he noticed how upset the mare was, however, the damage was already done. Twilight just walked past the group with a sad expression on her face. As soon as she was gone, the group was starting to actually get a little worried about Twilight. "Goodness..." Rarity said. "She really thinks she is not doing anything important..." "Well, she kinda is not doing anything important compared to the other princesses," Rainbow Dash bluntly said. Applejack seemed a little angry to hear Rainbow Dash saying that so openly but she also had to admit that she was kinda right. "Still, there has to be something that we can do to cheer her up," she said out of worry for her friend. "Yeah!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "If there was only one pony who always felt kinda left out and can relate to that kind of problem. That pony would probably the best to comfort her right now," she said while she genuinely tried to come up with someone. But shortly after she said that every pair of eyes was suddenly focused on Star Twinkle. He tried his best to make it look like as if he didn't notice but that didn't last for long and he quickly gave up. "I'll go and talk with her..." he then said as he walked away from the group in an attempt to cheer Twilight up again. After walking around the castle for quite a while, Star Twinkle found Twilight walking back and forth in the entrance hall. "There you are," Star Twinkle said as soon as he walked up to the frustrated mare. Twilight noticed Star Twinkle but all she could do was to release a depressed sigh. "Hey, Star Twinkle..." she said in a heavily depressed tone. "I know, I should have not walked away like that but I thought that I could still do something while I'm here...but...apparently not..." "You are really bothered by that, huh?" Star Twinkle said. "You should be glad that Princess Celestia isn't pilling up any work on you. I would be," he said with a smile on his face but as soon as he noticed that he wouldn't get a smile back from Twilight, he rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "But I guess that doesn't apply to you," Twilight then decided to explain why exactly she was feeling down like that. "It's just...Princess Luna raises the moon, Princess Celestia raises the sun, Princess Cadance protects the Crystal Empire, and all I seem to do is... smile and wave..." For Star Twinkle, it sounded perfect. Being a royal that has no big responsibilities would be great. Sadly, Twilight wouldn't be happy about that. She is one of four princesses and if every other princess has duties like that, one would probably feel a little useless. It felt kinda similar to how Star Twinkle felt about the Elements of Harmony. Despite trying his best to cheer Twilight up, it didn't seem to work all too well. In fact, the conversation changed to a completely other matter as soon as Twilight said those next words. "I think...I have to apologize to you, Star Twinkle..." "Why?" Star Twinkle asked confused. This apology kinda came out of nowhere for him. Twilight quickly explained herself. "Remember when you always doubted yourself? And how you always questioned why you were chosen by the Elements of Harmony?" Twilight asked. It was funny how Twilight was talking like as if Star Twinkle used to ask himself those questions, even though he was still asking those questions now. "Yeah..." He simply replied without going into detail about that. Twilight continued. "I always said that you shouldn't worry about it and that you should be happy about how things turned out better for you. But now I realize that this is a lot harder then I imagined. When I became a princess, I was asking myself what that really meant or why I became one in the first place. I figured that this is how you must have felt all this time so...I'm apologizing for taking this problem lightly..." she explained while she genuinely felt bad about it now. But Star Twinkle felt like as if this apology came way too sudden. "Hey, don't worry about it!" Star Twinkle said before Twilight would start to feel even worse now. "You know, this isn't about me now, right? I came here to cheer you up after all," he explained. "Yeah, I know..." Twilight replied in a sad tone. "Sorry but I think, I'll go and ask Princess Celestia if there is something else that I can do..." she said before she left the main hall and left Star Twinkle in the middle of the room. The stallion felt like as if he should say something to her but at the same time, he had the feeling that she should be alone for a while. It's exactly like what the others said, if there was one pony who always told himself that he didn't belong, then it was him. And sometimes, he just wanted to be alone to think about stuff. But the thing is, he didn't know if Twilight was the same in that matter. On the next day... After getting his day at work done, Star Twinkle was on his way back home. After his visit to the Crystal Empire yesterday, he didn't have any other chance to talk with Twilight, which made him worry a little throughout the whole day because he had no idea if she felt better now or if she was still upset about her role as a princess. "Star Twinkle!" Pinkie Pie said in a shrieking voice as she rushed dangerously close towards the stallion. "Yes?" Star Twinkle replied nervously after he noticed how close her smiling face was to his in this very moment. Pinkie Pie wasted no time and got straight to the point. "Twilight wants to see us all immediately!" She just said while jumping up and down on the spot in excitement. "For what?" Star Twinkle obviously asked because of the lack of information that was in Pinkie Pie's words. Pinkie Pie looked up in order to think but quickly gave an answer. "I don't know!" She then replied confused. "But she said it was really important!" She added with a grin on her face. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and tell the others!" She said before she vanished in a cloud of smoke. Of course, Star Twinkle had no idea what this was all about but if Pinkie Pie said that it was important then the stallion had probably no choice but to meet up with the others. So without thinking about it too much, Star Twinkle went on ahead to meet Twilight in front of the library. A little later... It didn't take long until everyone arrived in front of the library. No one really knew what was so important that they all had to come as quickly as possible but knowing Twilight, she probably didn't just ask them all to come for nothing. As soon as Twilight noticed how everyone was here, she decided to explain the situation. "I'm glad you all came. And even though the situation will be taken care of, I think you should all know what's going on," she started with a serious expression on her face. "What situation?" Star Twinkle asked. "Yes, what is all of this about, Twilight?" Applejack asked confused, taking the words out of everyone's mouth. Twilight took a deep breath. She looked like as if whatever she was about to tell them was really important. Shortly after, she explained what this was all about. "Princess Celestia sensed the return of someone who once threatened Equestria...Lord Tirek." As soon as this sentence was said, everyone quickly realized how serious the situation was. Someone really dangerous was about to take over Equestria, just like Nightmare Moon, Discord or King Sombra before and it was up to the group to take care of it. Still, Twilight first continued with her explanation of who this Tirek guy was. "Princess Celestia told me that Tirek and his brother Scorpan came here from a distant land, intent on stealing Equestrian magic. But Scorpan soon came to appreciate the ways of Equestria, even befriending a young unicorn wizard. Scorpan tried to convince his brother to abandon their plans but when Tirek refused, Scorpan sided with the Ponies of Equestria and helped them to stop his brother. Scorpan returned to his own land, and Tirek was sent to Tartarus for his crimes. But it appears he has found a way to escape. Apparently, he escaped when Cerberus left his post at the gates," But Star Twinkle quickly noticed something strange about that explanation. "But didn't Cerberus leave his post a long time ago? Why did this Tirek guy appear just now?" He asked. But Twilight knew the answer to that. "His time in Tartarus left him very weak. He has just now gained enough strength to use his dark powers. And now he started to steal the magic from other ponies," By now, Rainbow Dash got a little bored by this long explanation and decided to speak up. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. There is someone evil who is about to take over all of Equestria and Princess Celestia wants us to kick his behind!" She said determined to get on this job right away. "Yes!" Applejack said with the same determination as Rainbow Dash. "Just point us in the direction of where this Tirek is and we get at it right away!" Even though Star Twinkle wasn't looking forward to it, the rest of the group got highly excited to take care of all this, however, Twilight didn't share the same excitement as they did and actually interrupted them in the middle of their cheers. "No!" She said, which caused the group to stop in confusion. "Princess Celestia already has someone who will take care of Tirek," she explained. As soon as everypony asked who that was, Twilight quickly replied and the answer shocked everyone. "Discord..." A huge gasp could be heard from most of the group, created by shock, confusion and even some disbelieve. "...As in Discord Discord?" Applejack asked confused. Hearing that message was clearly a big shock for everypony and Star Twinkle just went out and said what he thought about it. "That's a stupid plan," he bluntly said, not even thinking to hold back his words. But Fluttershy seemed to think else. "I don't think it's that big of a surprise. He can be very helpful," "Yeah, but only if he wants to..." Star Twinkle thought. Fluttershy's words were clearly not enough to convince him or anypony else. In fact, they all looked at her in huge disbelieve, much to her surprise. But since Princess Celestia came up with this idea herself, there was not much to say. It was practically an order. The group decided to listen to Twilight why exactly Discord was the one they were sending to deal with this Tirek. "He can sense when there's a magical imbalance. The next time Tirek steals magic, Discord will be able to track him down!" She explained. "So what are you supposed to do in the meantime?" Rainbow Dash asked. She was probably looking forward to dealing with this Tirek guy herself. So was Twilight, judging from the sad expression on her face. "Nothing," she said after a heavy sigh. "Unless of course one of you needs me to smile and wave," she said before she walked away slowly. "I'm going to the Castle of the Two Sisters. I'm not really needed anywhere else. Might as well catch up on some of my reading," she said before she walked into the direction of the Everfree Forest. Leaving Twilight alone while she was in this mood was probably not a good idea so her friends decided to accompany her. Maybe they would be able to cheer her up this way. Twilight also admitted that she could use some company right now and was happy that her friends decided to join her. Later, inside the Everfree Forest... Before the group walked to the castle, they decided to visit another place. The place where the Tree of Harmony was in to be exact. They remembered back how all of Equestria was almost covered with black vines because of this tree. It took the group to give up their Elements of Harmony to stop those vines from growing and letting the tree return to its normal form again. "I still can't believe we had to give back the Elements," Rainbow Dash said a little bothered after she remembered those events as well. "I can't believe that my element was the only one that shattered..." Star Twinkle thought. It was really weird that every element seemed to have fit somewhere inside of the tree with the exception of his element. To top it off, his element just shattered into pieces right in front of him. "It had to be done or the Tree of Harmony wouldn't have survived," Rarity explained. "But Twilight was right," Fluttershy pointed out. "Even without the Elements, our friendship is as strong as ever," Star Twinkle really wanted to believe in those words. But thinking back, it was actually because of the Elements of Harmony that he met his friends. How was he not suppose to connect the elements to his friendship with them? Again, he was the only one who thought about that, as usual. It made him feel bad again. He felt left out, something that he didn't want to. He just wanted to fit in but every time when he wanted to accept things the way they were now something happened that would make him feel the opposite. It was like a bad running gag that kept following him. The stallion made sure that nopony would notice how he was feeling now and luckily no one seemed to notice since they were worried about something else. "I just hope another 'friend' of ours never makes us sorry we had to give them up," Applejack said, obviously referring to Discord and how little you could actually trust this Draconequus. "Oh, you're talking about me, I presume?" The voice of the very same Draconequus asked in amusement as he was landing next to the group with the help of an umbrella. Needless to say, the group was a little surprised to see Discord here. "Aren't you supposed to find this Tirek guy?" Star Twinkle pointed out since it was actually a pretty big deal for him to stop Tirek instead of being here now. "Yeah, what are you even doing here, Discord?" Rainbow Dash asked. Discord explained. "Oh, just a bit of light reading before I head off on my extremely important mission," he said while he pulled out the journal that the group was writing in for a while now. "Yes...it is important!" Star Twinkle said, while indirectly asking Discord to leave again. Discord seemed to notice how Star Twinkle wanted him to go away again but he just laughed in amusement. "You're always just a bag of fun aren't you?" He said jokingly. "Seems I possess a magic that gives me quite an important role in Equestria. Maybe they should make me an Alicorn princess," he said while he literally put some fake wings, a horn and a crown on his head while blowing some kisses. It was like as if you could always count on Discord to make the situation worse. He seemed to know how Twilight was feeling down about her role as a princess and decided to further poke into this wound. And of course, he was the only who thought that this was a laughing matter. "In your dreams!" Rainbow Dash said before she knocked the crown off from Discord's head. "Oh, I never dream of such things," he said before he made his horn and wings vanish again. "Ask Princess Luna," Again, Applejack pointed out that this is not the right place for Discord to be in. "Don't you have a creepy magic-stealing' villain to track down?" "Yes, yes, yes, of course," Discord replied while he grabbed everyone in a big group hug and teleported them in front of the Tree of Harmony. "It's just that I couldn't help but notice that Twilight hasn't yet opened this little chest of hers," he said as he referred to the chest that appeared in front of the Tree of Harmony after the elements returned to it. "I-I-It got me thinking, what if what's locked inside is something that could help her prove her royal worth? I only bring it up because she said that she's been feeling like her role as a princess doesn't equate to much," While everyone was pretty interested in what was inside of the chest, some of them were more interested in how Discord knew about how Twilight was feeling right now. "Wait a minute! How do you know how she was feeling?!" Pinkie Pie asked angrily towards Discord. Discord reacted in surprise. "Oh, my. Is eavesdropping not the way you're supposed to find out what your best pals are up to? Woe is me. Will I ever learn the intricate nuances of being a good friend?" He said melodramatically to make the group feel sorry for him. But as soon as he noticed that it didn't even remotely work, he cleared his throat and took his leave. "Well, in any case, I suppose now is as good a time as any for me to make my exit," he said before he stopped for a moment because he remembered something else that he wanted to say."Oopsie-doopsie, I almost left with the little journal you've all been keeping. What a fascinating read. Haven't you all just learned so much? I've bookmarked a few of the more interesting passages. You really should take a look!" He advised before he returned the book to Twilight and whispered some words towards Fluttershy. "We're still on for tea later, aren't we, Fluttershy?" He asked in excitement. "I wouldn't miss it," Fluttershy replied happily. Hearing that made Discord smile. "Well, I'll bring the cucumber sandwiches...!" He said before he made a door appear in midair and walked through it to finally leave the group so that he could take care of Tirek. "Sometimes I think the 'reformed' Discord is more obnoxious than the 'before-he-was-reformed' Discord," Applejack pointed out. "I think that's because he is..." Star Twinkle replied with an annoyed look on his face. "Indeed," Rarity agreed. But as usual, Fluttershy was the only one who saw the good in the Lord of Chaos and pointed something rather important out. "But he could be right, couldn't he? What if there is something important in that chest?" Twilight tapped her chin and began to think. "There's only one way to find out," she said. Star Twinkle had a really good guess what exactly she meant with that and he had to admit that he wasn't really looking forward to it. But he noticed how Twilight was no longer thinking about her role as a princess. She clearly focused on the chest now and forgot about that so the best thing the group could do now, was to continue to find out how to open this chest even if it meant to do some annoying and exhausting stuff. Later, in the library of the Castle of the two Sisters... The group flipped through multiple books inside of the castle library. It was just like Star Twinkle imagined. It was incredibly boring and exhausting, not to mention that no one seemed to have found anything even though a lot of time has passed already. Still, Twilight decided to check if somepony found any clue but all she got were various 'no's. After hearing that, she quickly returned to her own books. "There must be something in this library that can help me figure out how to open it. The answer's in one of these books. I just know it," she said while she flipped through multiple books. Star Twinkle decided to take a little break and closed the book that he was checking now. He also decided to point something out that had bothered him about this whole search. "I don't know if we will actually find something here..." he said, with some exhaustion speaking out of his voice. "What do you mean?" Twilight asked confused. Star Twinkle continued. "I mean...this castle existed for like thousand years, right? But this chest appeared just now a while ago. So...aren't the chances of finding a book that can tell us something about a chest, that just appeared, really low?" He pointed out. Twilight seemed to understand what Star Twinkle was getting at but she didn't want to give up entirely. Rainbow Dash also didn't like to hear that and got a little annoyed after already wasting some time. "But if there are only books that are a thousand years old, then how are we supposed to find any clue!?" She asked annoyed. Star Twinkle was quick to answer to that. "Well...there is one book that could help us..." he said before he hinted at the book that he meant. It was the journal in which the group was writing in all the lessons that they learned recently. Twilight didn't really know if it would help but she decided to take a look inside anyway. "How is our journal gonna help us find an answer?" Applejack wondered. "Well, call me crazy but..." Star Twinkle started before he explained his reasoning. "Discord said that he marked some pages in it so maybe one or two of them will give us an answer. I'm sure that he clearly knows something about the chest," he explained. But as expected, his explanation didn't help to convince them too much. "Since you already admitted it, yes you're crazy," Rainbow Dash simply said with a mean look on her face, she probably thought that this was some bad joke. "I think I found something!" Twilight then said out of nowhere. She seemed to have scanned through the pages the whole time and actually came to a conclusion. "There is actually something interesting about the sections that Discord bookmarked," she said which confirmed Star Twinkle's assumption. He couldn't help but smile at Rainbow Dash, who was just crossing her legs in defeat while she was flying in the air. Twilight's attention switched towards Applejack. "Applejack, do you remember when you had to tell everypony that the tonic Granny bought from the Flim Flam brothers didn't really work?" Applejack didn't know what this had to do with the chest but she still answered. "How could I forget? It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. I knew I had to be honest. I just knew it," she said after she carefully thought back about that moment. Star Twinkle could understand how Applejack must have felt right now since he was right there when it happened. Still, she asked what that had to do with the chest since she didn't see the connection at all. To that, Twilight went out with what she had discovered while reading through the journal. "I've found that each of you has had to face a situation where living up to the Element of Harmony you represent wasn't easy. Fluttershy, it was when you realized that the way to show kindness to the Breezies was by forcing them to leave your home. Rarity, even after Suri took advantage of your generosity at Fashion Week in Manehattan, you didn't let it cause you to abandon your generous spirit. Rainbow Dash, you had the chance to fly with the Wonderbolts at the Equestria Games, but instead, you chose to compete with your friends. Pinkie Pie, you realized that seeing your friend laugh was more important than proving you were a better party planner than Cheese Sandwich," The group quickly saw the connection in all of those situations. However, Star Twinkle realized something completely else and wondered if that was connected as well. "Weren't those all the moments in which I began to hear those voices in my head?" He thought before he returned to listen what Twilight was about to say why those events were important for the chest. "All of you had tough choices to make. But when you made the right one and embraced your element, it helped somepony else make the right choice too. Each of you received something from the pony whose life you helped to change. I know it sounds crazy, but maybe there's something special about those objects that could lead us to the location of the keys. The chest is connected to the Tree of Harmony, the Tree is connected to the Elements, and the Elements are connected to all of us. There must be a connection! I hate to admit it, but maybe Discord was trying to be a good friend after all," Twilight explained. While listening to all of that explanation, Star Twinkle couldn't help but be curious if those voices in his head were also connected. For him, that seemed to be much more important than that chest. Twilight asked her friends to gather those objects but Star Twinkle didn't have something like that so he just went to the Tree of Harmony before everypony would arrive there. It gave him time to actually take a good look at the Tree of Harmony. He also remembered back to what happened to his own element and how it shattered as soon as the elements returned to the tree. He was still confused because that happened. "If Twilight's guess is right then we should be able to get five keys, right? That means there is still one left..." he figured after remembering that the chest has six locks for six keys. So even if Twilight's theory was right, either Star Twinkle or Twilight had to find another object to find the last key. But then again, Star Twinkle should worry about that if Twilight's guess was actually right. And it was not long until he and the rest of his friends would find that out because the others now arrived with the objects that they got from the ponies that they helped out. It was kinda weird for Star Twinkle because he instantly recognized all the objects that the girls brought. Rarity brought a spool of rainbow-colored thread that she got from Coco Pommel, Rainbow Dash brought a golden Wonderbolt pin which she got from Spitfire, Pinkie Pie brought the rubber chicken that she got from Cheese Sandwich, Fluttershy brought the flower that she got from Seabreeze, and Applejack brought the bit that Silver Shill gave her. They all brought those things closer to Twilight so that she could see a connection between them but she struggled to see one. "I don't see anything on them that would give us a clue as to where the keys might be. They're just... ordinary, everyday objects," she figured. In the meantime, Pinkie Pie tried to find the solution in her own way. "Come on, Boneless! Give us that key!" She said while she swung the rubber chicken around. Star Twinkle could only roll his eyes after seeing Pinkie Pie acting like that. "I don't think that is going to do anything..." he commented. Shortly after, Pinkie Pie accidentally threw the rubber chicken away, right into Star Twinkle's direction, who had to duck to not get hit by it. The rubber chicken actually hit the chest and instead of bouncing back or anything, something weird happened. The rubber chicken was quickly engulfed in a bright light and turned into a golden key, much to the surprise of everyone. "...Or maybe it does..." Star Twinkle could only say after he saw that happening in front of him. The rest of the girls then placed all their objects on top of the chest and hoped that something would happen. It didn't take long until those objects turned into golden keys as well and flew right into one of the locks each. The part at the end of every key closely resembled the Cutie Mark of each of the girls, Applejack's key, for example, resembled an apple. Soon, however, the thing that Star Twinkle expected happened and one key was missing, something that Twilight quickly pointed out as well. "There's still one key missing. That means either my key is missing or..." she said before she looked towards Star Twinkle. But Star Twinkle had a strong assumption that it was her key that was missing. His Element, shattered, his element was the only one that was still unknown, he figured that there was no way that he would be the one who would find the last key. But instead of saying all of that out loud, Star Twinkle just kept it inside. The others quickly came to the conclusion that the last key will appear eventually so they just had to wait a little longer. Star Twinkle figured that this would be the case as well. As soon as Spike wanted to cheer the two of them up as well, he suddenly burped up a letter. Twilight quickly opened it and took a look inside of it. "What's it say?" Spike asked. After taking a look at the content, Twilight got a little stressed out. "That I'm needed in Canterlot at once!" She simply said with some panic in her voice. The group got quickly worried about that. "What happened?" Star Twinkle asked. "I don't know..." Twilight replied. "It just said that I have to meet with Princess Celestia," "Then you better go and don't let the princess waiting," Applejack suggested. "Applejack is right," Fluttershy added. "We are short on one key anyway. Let's come back here another time, once we find the last one," she then suggested. Everyone else quickly agreed with that idea so that Twilight could go to Canterlot now. "You're right," Twilight replied before she spread her wings and prepared herself to leave. "Let's continue some other day," she said before she flew away into the distance and in direction of Canterlot. Star Twinkle and the rest of his friends waved her goodbye. They also decided to go home now since spending half the day, looking through some books was actually pretty exhausting for some of them. "Not gonna lie, looking through all those books made me really sleepy," Rainbow Dash said while she stretched her legs in midair. "I'm gonna go and take a good long nap," "Agreed!" Spike said before he yawned, after realizing how he was a little sleepy as well. "It is about to get dark anyway," Fluttershy pointed out. "Then let's all go home, then!" Applejack suggested before she led the way outside of the Everfree Forest. However, one pony didn't decide to follow them. Star Twinkle stayed on the spot and had his eyes glued at the chest. He couldn't help but ask himself some questions about it and the keys that are connected to it. "Are you coming, Star Twinkle?" Pinkie Pie asked while she appeared out of nowhere right next to him, causing him to jump. "Um...no...I think I will spend some more time in the library..." he explained, much to the others confusion. They didn't know why he wanted to do that, after all, they already got an answer on how to find the keys for the chest. "Well, count me out then!" Rainbow Dash expressed. "I've seen enough books for today!" "Don't worry," Star Twinkle replied. "I'll just flip through some pages and then I will go home as well," he assured with a smile on his face. Even though they didn't seem to understand what exactly Star Twinkle was up to, they decided to leave him at that. Still, Fluttershy advised him to be careful. "But don't stay here for too long, okay? The forest can be quite dangerous at night," she said out of worry for the stallion. Star Twinkle took the advice and assured that he would be careful and with that, the girls and Spike left the forest while Star Twinkle made his way back at the castle so that he could find the answer about multiple questions in his head... Later, inside the castle of the two Sisters... It was already dark outside and the lights of some candles where the only thing that provided some lights inside the castle library. But Star Twinkle wasn't bothered by the lack of light and just continued to look through the books. The answers that he was looking for were way too important for him to be bothered by something like that. "Nothing either..." Star Twinkle said after he was done with another book before he threw it away in a corner. He then laid down on the ground after starting to get a little frustrated. What he was looking for was some kind of hint that there was a seventh Element of Harmony. He needed an answer once and for all, there were just too many things that were hinting that there never was supposed to be a seventh Element of Harmony after all. The chest in front of the Tree of Harmony had six locks for six keys... There were six open spaces inside the Tree of Harmony in which every Elements of Harmony except Star Twinkle's fitted in... Princess Celestia didn't know anything about Star Twinkle's element... And even the Elements of Harmony guide didn't know anything about a seventh element... Star Twinkle was getting really frustrated about how more and more questions piled up in his head. It's like life itself knew that he was getting frustrated whenever he didn't know the answer to something and just decided to give him more questions on purpose. If someone would have a look inside of his head and saw all those questions that he kept asking himself then they would surely get annoyed by how often he would ask them, instead of just ignoring them. But that was just impossible for him, and the more he wished he was able to do that, the more he realized that fact. The stallion just looked at the ceiling with a blank expression on his face. "I'm tired..." he just said as soon as he figured that he was spending quite some time in this library without finding anything useful. Before he knew it, his eyes slowly shut down after reading so many books. "I'll just close them for a while..." he said to himself. But it was too late. As soon as he closed them, he was already gone and fast asleep. And as usual, he was haunted by some nightmares. But this time they seemed to be a lot tamer. In fact, there was only one sentence that Star Twinkle heard, no pictures, just one sentence... "I leave them with you..." On the next day... Star Twinkle opened his eyes again and noticed that he wasn't waking up inside his bedroom. After rubbing his eyes a little, he figured that he was still inside the Castle of the Two Sisters and that it was already day. He must have slept through the whole night. The stallion got up on his hooves and stretched himself a little. He quickly noticed how his back felt terrible. "Yep! Sleeping on the ground...not a good idea..." he said as he continued to stretch his body. He also noticed that the library was quite a mess, though he was not sure if that was caused by him or his friends a while ago. Still, he decided to put away some books to their original place. He actually remembered a good bunch of them and where he got them from, which helped him putting them away again. However, as soon as he was looking for the last spot to put one of his books away, his eyes came across a book that had a rather interesting title on it. "Wait a minute..." Star Twinkle said as soon as he read the title. Without bothering to put away the other book, Star Twinkle quickly took a look at this book and read out its title. "Early Equestrian History..." Star Twinkle decided to open the book and took a look at the first page. "Let's see..." Star Twinkle said as he began reading through the table of contents on the first page. There are things like "The time before Equestria" or "The founding of Equestria" listed. As soon as he read "The founding of Equestria" there was something that he remembered from a few days back. "This one pony that I met in the Crystal Empire...Tinker...he mentioned Starwhite...the pony that I played in the Hearts Warming Play in Canterlot and how he was also able to transform, just like me..." As soon as he remembered that, Star Twinkle went on ahead to the right site and started to read the part that he was looking for. "Starwhite..." he read out. It was the headline of a longer story that had information about the pony that he played in the Hearts Warming Eve Play. He started to read out a few sentences to find out more about this pony. "If someone would ask you the question...who were the Founders of Equestria...normally, you would name six names... Princess Platinum... Clover the Clever... Commander Hurricane... Private Pansy... Chancellor Puddinghead... and Smart Cookie... Those are the names of the leaders of the three ponies tribes and their advisor or second in command. But there was another pony that appeared in the crucial moments of Equestria's founding, and that pony was the Unicorn Starwhite, a pony that would soon be known to be the first Alicorn in Equestria. However, his sudden appearance and disappearance made it hard to prove that he actually existed in the first place... ... The three leaders of the Pony tribes, Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, and Canceler Puddinghead were known to be on very bad terms with each other which eventually resulted in them to fight time and time again. It was eventually, Starwhite who asked them to meet on an untouched land to end their fight. Unfortunately, the three pony leaders didn't stop and began to fight over this land which soon resulted the Windigos to appear, ancient creatures who fed off from the hate and fighting of others and create snowstorms. The fighting between the three pony tribe leaders eventually caused them to get frozen and it was only a matter of time until Starwhite, Clover the Clever, Private Pansy, and Smart Cookie would end in the same way. But instead of the three leaders, those ponies had no reason to fight and the warm friendship that they built soon caused Starwhite to transform from a Unicorn to the first known Alicorn in Equestria. Shortly after, the Fire of Friendship was born and banished the Windigos for good and Equestria was born. ... After Star Twinkle was done reading that story, he felt weirdly connected to this Starwhite. Obviously, the name was really similar but the fact that this pony's existence was heavily doubted made him very relatable to him. When it comes to Star Twinkle's Element of Harmony, then he sometimes wonders as well if he was supposed to exist at all... Star Twinkle returned to the first page and looked over it until he found another term that peeked his interest. "The four Knight's of the Princess..." he read out loud before he opened the fitting site of it. He remembered that term all to clear. The first time he heard it was inside another book from the library of the Crystal Empire. But back then, there was only a single page with information about this so he hoped to find more information this time. At first glance, it actually looked like as if there was more on this site so he started to read the words out loud... ... "The Knight's of the Princess is the name of four ponies who served the Ruler of Equestria..." Strangely enough, space where it should say "Princess Celestia" was missing but Star Twinkle could figure as much on his own. "Not much is known about each individual of them. Legends say, that they protected and tried to maintain a balance of the newfound Equestria. What was widely known, however, is that each of them possessed high abilities that even go beyond magic, like controlling natural forces. Creating tornadoes, earthquakes, tidal waves or firestorms are only a few things that they were capable of. Another thing they had in common, was that they all possessed the unique ability to transform into..." Star Twinkle then stopped in mid-sentence as soon as he finished reading the last word and he got a little confused by it. "Alicorns?" He read out loud confused before he continued to read further. "None of the four knights were Alicorns but each of them could transform into one. Unicorns growing wings, Pegasi growing a horn, and Earth Ponies growing both of them at the same time. An ability like that was never heard of ever again other than in stories about the four knights. Eventually, a name was given to this transformation. Terra Unisus... Terra as in Earth and Unisus, the combination of the words Unicorn and Pegasus. An Earth Pony Unicorn Pegasus... Because of their ability to transform into Alicorns, they were all too fitting to not only represent the different pony races but they were also accepted by them... However, the four knights suddenly vanished from Equestria and what happened to them remained unknown, and with that, not much could be figured out about their unique abilities and where they got them from..." ... Star Twinkle made sure to read everything and he came to the realization that nowhere in this whole text, their names were mentioned. It was just like in that one book in the Crystal Empire. "Terra Unisus..." Star Twinkle said to himself. "They could transform into Alicorns...just like Starwhite...just like me? But I can't transform into an Alicorn so what is up with that?" He wondered. In the end, that book didn't give him too many answers but he was still happy that he found it. Maybe the information inside that book would end up being useful some day. But that someday was not now, and now...Star Twinkle just wanted to go home so he decided to walk towards the entrance of the castle. However, as soon as he was almost out, a magical explosion set off right in front of him, something that he never had seen before. He covered his eyes because of the smoke that was created because of it and as soon as the smoke cleared, he could see somepony standing right in the middle of the cloud. "Wait...Twilight!?" Star Twinkle said, once he saw Twilight standing in front of him surrounded by a weird magical aura, that looked a lot more different than her usual magic aura. It also looked like as if there were magic sparks coming out of here from time to time. "Finally! It worked!" Twilight said for some reason. She quickly noticed how Star Twinkle was standing next to him and she walked towards the stallion, who was still a little confused by how Twilight looked like as if she was about to explode because of the magic that surrounded her, she was also twitching from time to time, making it really obvious that there was something different about her. "Are you okay? You look...kinda different...I think..." Star Twinkle said, even though he wasn't completely sure if he was imagining things or not. But for some reason, Twilight didn't feel like as if she wanted to explain that right away. "Forget that! We got a huge problem!" Was the only thing she said. Star Twinkle was not sure what this was about but judging from the panic on Twilight's face, he knew that he wouldn't like what she was about to say to him... At the same time in Appleloosa... "Fresh cider! Come and get some fresh apple cider!" A sales pony shouted through the streets as he tried to sell his apple cider to the ponies on the streets. Many ponies gathered in front of the ponies stand and bought one cup after another, much to the delight of the sales pony, who happily collected one bit after another. The crowd got smaller and smaller, however, and one certain pony put a bunch of bits on the stand. "How many cups do I get for those?" The next customer asked. "Whoa! Somepony sure is thirsty!" The sales pony said after he saw the number of bits dropped in front of him. The pony who was buying the cider quickly lifted the gray hood that he was wearing and revealed his orange coat, his dark red mane, and his purple eyes. "You have no idea..." Summershine said while his tongue was sticking out, probably from some dehydration. The sales pony quickly prepared a few cups for the Unicorn stallion and he quickly downed one cup after another. "I assume you didn't have anything to drink for quite some time?" The sales pony asked. "Nope!" Summershine said before he quickly drank another cup as if he feared that it was about to run away from him. Once he finally was done drinking, there was a satisfied smile on his face. "That was good! Thanks!" "Hey, no proble-" The sales pony was about to say but some screams that came from the other side of the town interrupted him in the middle of his sentence. The two stallions saw how a bunch of ponies ran towards them and got confused what exactly caused all this. "What is going on here?" Summershine wondered before he walked towards the direction from which most of the ponies came from. Summershine quickly heard laughter coming from the center of the town and he noticed how ponies were dragged away by magic towards the laughter. There was someone using magic and pulling them towards himself. Summershine had no idea what that creature was. It had four gray coated legs like the ones of a pony but the place where its head was supposed to be, there was a black torso with red arms and a head on top. It almost looked like as if it was a mix of two creatures. This creature also wore a golden triangle shaped necklace and had big gray horns and a nose ring. Summershine had no idea who that was, but he was clearly the one who was using magic to draw multiple ponies towards him. As soon as one of them got close enough, this creature opened his mouth and absorbed magic right out of this pony. The rest of the ponies who were drawn towards him quickly got afraid because they knew that this was exactly what would happen to them in a few seconds. It also made it worse that this creature was laughing at their despair. "Yes! I slowly feel how all of my magic slowly returns to me!" He said while he continued to laugh. But his laughter stopped as soon as a magic beam was fired towards him, causing him to duck under it and losing his focus on the spell that kept the ponies drawn towards him. Shortly after, Summershine placed himself between the ponies and this creature. "Run!" He said towards the ponies who didn't hesitate to run away into safety. Summershine's eyes quickly turned towards that creature in front of him, who only looked mildly annoyed because of Summershine's interference. "I don't know who you are but I will not let you hurt any more ponies!" He said with an angry look on his face. But those words of Summershine were not taken seriously at all. "Ha! Yes, you clearly don't know who I am or else you would not dare to say those words! I am Lord Tirek!" The creature introduced itself. "And I don't have the patience to waste my time with little ponies like you!" Tirek said before he used the same spell like before to draw Summershine towards him. Summershine saw how Tirek was opening his mouth and he knew that he was about to get his magic sucked away, like the one pony from before so he quickly acted and used a teleport spell to get out in time, much to Tirek's surprise. Summershine appeared behind Tirek and quickly fired a magic beam towards him but Tirek noticed that and quickly turned around. He held his hands up and caught the beam. Shortly after that, he concentrated magic between his horns and a shot a beam towards Summershine. The stallion managed to dodge out of the way and quickly responded with another shot. This time Tirek ripped a piece of the ground right out of the ground and used it as a shield before he quickly threw that piece of the ground towards Summershine. Again, Summershine managed to dodge to the side and dropped to the ground but as soon as he got up on his hooves again, Tirek was preparing another attack. He concentrated again some magic between his horns and shortly after, a ball of magic came flying towards the stallion. Once more, Summershine managed to dodge the attack, however, the magic ball caused quite an explosion that caused Summershine to fall to the ground right towards Tirek. Who didn't waste any time and rushed towards the stallion and pinned him down with his two arms, making it unable for Summershine to get out in time. As expected, Tirek attempted to absorb Summershine's magic again. The stallion couldn't teleport away again since he was way to close to lose his magic now. He fought pretty hard but Tirek seemed to be too strong when it came to magic strength... ... That is why Summershine couldn't afford to just use magic... Flames emerged from Summershine and circled around him, creating a vortex of fire that surrounded him. Out of fear of getting burned, Tirek quickly backed away from the pony and kept his distance while watching what was happening in front of him. "How...interesting..." he commented warily. In the meantime, Summershine got up on his hooves again and was determined to continue the fight again. He glared at Tirek with a serious expression on his face and stood ready to attack. However, Tirek was the one who attacked first. He used the same attack as before and shot a magic ball towards Summershine. Instead of dodging again, however, Summershine lifted his front leg and pointed towards Tirek. Shortly after, a beam of fire shot towards Tirek and the fire beam clashed with Tirek's ball, quickly erasing it in its way. Surprised by that outcome, Tirek jumped down to the ground to avoid that attack but before he got up on his hooves again, Summershine was up in the air and shot multiple fireballs towards him, like meteors that came out of the sky. Tirek got quickly away from all those attacks by simply running away from those attacks but soon a wall of fire blocked his path and kept him from running away any further. He was cornered now. Summershine slowly walked up to Tirek with flames surrounding him. Tirek could only clench his teeth in his frustration and after the realization that he was not strong enough to fight back now. Summershine prepared a final attack but suddenly, rain came falling down of the sky, or more precisely, out of a cloud that was hovering right over Summershine, much to his confusion. That rain was pouring so strongly that it managed to put out the flames that surrounded Summershine. Soon the rain puddle that was built right under the stallion raised up and trapped him in a ball of water, making him unable to create any flames. "Oh ho ho ho! I'm sorry, did I just rain on your parade?" Discord said as he appeared right in front of Summershine who was busy enough to get some air in his little water prison. Tirek, who thought that this was a way too close call, simply walked over to Summershine while he was still trapped in that water bubble and took this moment to absorb his magic. Summershine couldn't do anything to stop that now and his magic was quickly gone. As soon as that was taken care of, Discord quickly made the water bubble disappear and the stallion dropped to the ground helplessly. "Aren't you glad that I stepped in? It almost looked like as if you were losing there," discord said amused after he obviously watched how Tirek was having trouble. But Tirek didn't seem to have much tolerance for jokes like that. "We already wasted enough time, let us go to the next town," he said before he led the way out of the town. Discord was about to follow Tirek but he stopped and looked at Summershine for a brief moment. He rubbed his chin for a second and for once, was a little serious. "Odd...I have the feeling as if something about you is strangely familiar to..." "Discord!" Tirek said angrily after he noticed how Discord was not keeping up with him. Out of fear of angering Tirek even more, Discord decided to walk away now, leaving Summershine on the ground without sparing any more words. The stallion tried his best to get back up on his hooves again but it was impossible. He was too weak and couldn't move. All the magic in his body was gone and he was completely helpless. But despite having almost no energy left, there were still some words that he managed to say before he eventually fell unconscious. "It's up to you now...Star Twinkle..."