//------------------------------// // 8. The Elements of Harmony - Part 2 // Story: The Legend of Friendship - Harmony // by Danieru //------------------------------// The giant front doors of the Castle of the Two sisters slowly opened, creating a very loud screeching sound throughout the area, fitting to the creepy vibe that the castle was giving off already. Once the door was open, the six ponies who ventured into the Everfree Forest, in search of the Elements of Harmony, stood in the doorway and looked at the dark hallway in front of them. Needless to say, they were not looking forward to going inside. "Okay, this is a little creepy," Lightbeam said as she looked in front of her without being able to see much in this dark hallway. "To think that it is still day outside. You can barely see anything in here," Nightsky added. "It can't be worse than outside, right? It only looks scary, right?" Happytrade said in concern, clearly not looking forward to going inside the castle. Summershine did also not feel too invited by this castle but he did have the task from Princess Celestia, to find the Elements of Harmony, in his mind which pretty much left him no choice but to walk inside. The rest of his friends noticed the resolve inside of him and followed closely while also keeping an eye out for everything suspicious that could lurk in the shadows. They soon arrived at what seemed to be the throne room. There were some big windows behind the throne, or rather holes, that looked as if they were left by a battle. This was most likely the case since Princess Celestia must have fought Nightmare Moon in this very place. Either that or somepony else broke the place, which could always be a possibility. What immediately caught their attention was the strange structure at the end of the room. It was some kind of pedestal that was holding five round orbs. "It's them!" Summershine announced once he finally realized what he was looking at. "The Elements of Harmony!" The group smiled at each other after finally seeing how something went well but Lightbeam quickly pointed something out that some of them must have overlooked. "They don't really look too...powerful..." she said. She was obviously referring to how they were just some orbs of stones. "You have to remember," Nightsky said as he walked up closer to the elements as well. "Princess Celestia told us that they lost their power. They probably are turned to stone because of that," "Also there are only five. Aren't there supposed to be six?" Happytrade then asked confused. To answer her question, Brilliance quoted something from the book that they were looking into before going into the Everfree Forest. "There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. That's what the book said," she informed. "In other words," Summershine started with some low confidence in his voice. "Not only do I have to find a way to restore the power of those elements but I also have to find the missing sixth one..." Seeing how the stallion was struggling to figure out a solution for either of those things, Crash gave him some motivating words. "I am positive that you will find a solution!" He said confidently. Summershine smiled back at the stallion with a forced grin on his face just to not make Crash's efforts to cheer him up not go to vain. Still, Summershine was not to sure what to do with those elements and kept staring at them. He had no idea what to do with some ancient relics that lost their power long before he was even born. At that point, he started to think that Princess Celestia should have sent somepony else to deal with this, like her own student. He remembered that Princess Celestia told him that he possessed something that her student didn't have in order to come up with an idea but he had no idea what that could be. The room was filled with silence, caused by Summershine who kept staring at the Elements of Harmony, which only was interrupted by some coughs that his friends made. "Got any idea?" Nightsky asked once he noticed that Summershine was not really doing anything. He got a quick answer from the stallion. "Nope," he brutally honest reply. Happytrade rubbed her neck and then suggested something. "Don't you know some kind of spell that can cure petrification?" "No," Summershine replied. "Besides, I don't think that this would do anything since this petrification was caused by a loss of power. So even if I could manage to return them to normal, that would probably not make their power return," he figured while he kept his eyes glued on the elements. Crash started to smile at his friends. "See? For somepony who doesn't know what to do, you already have something! I'm sure you will find out the rest!" He said keeping up his positive thinking. Summershine got confused by those words but his friends started to see where Crash was coming from. "Crash is right," Nightsky added with a smile on his face. "Princess Celestia said that there is still some time left. But knowing you, you will probably put your nose into some books until you will find the answer," "Right!" Lightbeam agreed. "Just take those things home and do some experiments or something until they get all shiny and powerful again," she suggested. "Yes!" Happytrade almost exclaimed in excitement. "That's an idea that I can get behind! Take those things as far away as possible from here so that we can finally get out of this forest!" Summershine laughed a little after hearing that. It was true that Nightmare Moon would not come back tomorrow so Summershine still had some time left to find out what to do. "Alright, then let's take those things back to Ponyville," he said, causing the rest of the group to nod in agreement. Nightsky and Lightbeam carefully flew up to the elements and removed them from the stone structure. The Pegasus stallion placed one of them on the ground next to Happytrade who was further inspecting the orb of stone with her eyes. "How much do you think is an ancient relic like this worth?" She then asked, causing her friends to look at her with some judging expressions. "Just kidding," she added with a smile on her face. In the meantime, Nightsky put the next one right in front of Brilliance who looked at the orb with fascinating eyes. She would probably give everything to see how they would look like in their original state. As Nightsky was about to remove the third one. He looked over to his sister, which seemed to have some trouble removing an orb. She tried her best to pull it out of the pedestal but no matter how much she tried pulling it out, it wouldn't budge. "Need any help?" Nightsky offered as he noticed that Lightbeam was still trying to pull out her first orb. "I'm good!" She said while she still tried to pull out her current orb. Nightsky was already done removing the third orb and placed it next to Crash, who put his hoof on the orb and rolled it around a little. He looked over to his sister one more time and figured that he should probably help her. She did try to pull harder after she saw how her brother was looking at her. Finally, she managed to remove the orb from the pedestal, causing her to fly backward because of the force she put into pulling this thing. This eventually caused her to hit the fifth orb that was still on the pedestal and knocked it off. The group quickly panicked as soon as they saw one of the elements falling down to the ground. Luckily, Nightsky was there and caught the thing right in time and let it sink towards the ground slowly, causing the rest of the group to breathe easy again. "Sorry," Lightbeam apologized as she closely held on to her own orb. "Don't worry, everything is fine," Nightsky replied before he let out a relieved sigh. However, the moment he said that the orb in front of him started to glow in white light. "Or maybe not?" He then corrected after clearly something was going on. The same thing started to happen to the rest of the orbs, they all started to glow, much to everyponies surprise. The five orbs started to levitate above the ground and the group looked at what was about to happen because they sure didn't know what was even going on. Slowly, the orbs started to transform into some kind of gems, all of a different color. The colors of the gems were purple, red, orange, yellow, and light blue. They all landed in front of everypony who stood in a circle around them and shortly after, the light vanished. "What just happened?" Happytrade asked confused before she looked over to Summershine, expecting to get some answer from him. But the stallion only shrugged. "I don't know, I didn't do anything," he explained. "But whatever happened, it looked like it made the Elements of Harmony return to their normal form," "Yeah!" Lightbeam said happily. "They look really pretty now!" The mare said as she was looking very closely at one of them. She could even see her own reflection in them now. "That is also what they looked like in the book," Brilliance added. Things certainly looked as if they got better out of nowhere but there was still one thing left. Something that Nightsky pointed out. "There are still only five of them. However, having five of them is better than none, right?" Summershine still had no idea what happened or why it happened but he was also satisfied with the result. "I guess we should make sure that at least those five elements are safe. Let's go and inform Princess Celestia about this," he suggested. Happytrade was certainly happy to hear that. "Everything that involves getting out of this forest is fine by me!" She explained happily as she was already heading in direction of the exit. Her friends slowly followed her with the exception of Summershine who looked back at the stone pedestal, from where they got the elements. He couldn't help but think about the last remaining element and how to find it. The way things are now, however, he had no idea where to even start. He planned on asking Princess Celestia for advice, she probably knew what to do. For now, he used his magic and levitated the elements above his head and followed his friends outside. The group was about to exit the throne room with Happytrade in the lead but they all stopped once they noticed that somepony was walking out of the shadows, and placed himself in front of the entrance to the throne room. The pony was a Unicorn stallion with a red coat, a white mane with red stripes in it, red eyes and an open book as a Cutie Mark. The Unicorn had a serious and almost dissatisfied expression on his face as soon as he met eyes with the group of ponies, who still had no idea who he was. "I don't know how you managed to do it but you somehow managed to restore the power of the Elements of Harmony. I would really like to know how you did that," the Unicorn asked with a curious tone in his voice. Lightbeam, being the trustworthy pony she was, wasn't questioning at all why this pony knew about the elements or why he appeared right now as soon as their power returned and answered. "We don't really know how we did it. They just transformed in front of our eyes like that," she explained. The Unicorn continued after hearing this answer. "Still, it is kind of weird how you ponies just appear and suddenly, the Elements of Harmony, who were turned into stone for a thousand years, I might add, have their powers return in no time," he said as he slowly made his way towards the group. "I tried to turn them back too, with every spell imagining but I wasn't able to do it. That means you ponies possess something that I don't have. I'm kinda curious what it might be," he said in a more intimidating voice. Nightsky was getting even more cautious about this stallion right about now. "You tried to turn the elements back? Why? And who are you anyway?" He asked, not bothering to show how he was suspicious about this pony. The Unicorn wasn't bothered by how Nightsky was talking to him and replied. "My name is Arcana," he introduced himself. "As for my reasons to turn the elements back...its, of course, because I want their power," he brutally honest explained before he formed a sinister smile on his face. "The sixth one is still missing but after five of them have their power returned to them, I think I will be able to get the sixth one too, eventually. After I take them away from you," he explained before his horn started to glow, making it even to the most oblivious pony now obvious that he had bad intentions in his mind. The group was on edge now and prepared for whatever Arcana was trying to do. However, they had only a little time to defend themselves before Arcana shot a beam of magic at them. Luckily, Summershine was jumping in the way and raised a magic barrier around himself, blocking the incoming attack. Arcana seemed surprised but also, his interest was peaked after seeing Summershine blocking his attack. "Oh? You managed to stop my attack. Looks like you are a little gifted when it comes to magic," Summershine quickly turned around and looked at his friends to make sure that they were fine. He looked back at Arcana for a second and figured that he would attack sooner or later again. He had to make sure that the Elements of Harmony were safe from this pony. "I'll take care of him, you keep the elements safe!" He said in a serious tone. "On it!" Happytrade replied before she placed herself in front of the elements. "Me too!" Crash added while he jumped in front of the elements as well. Brilliance and Lightbeam placed themselves in front of those two and Nightsky walked next to Summershine, ready to help him out. "I help Summershine to distract this guy. When there is a chance, grab the elements and get out of here," he said thinking ahead of how to deal with this situation. There were three lines of ponies now in front of the Elements of Harmony. Happytrade and Crash were right in front of the elements, Brilliance and Lightbeam were in front of those two and Summershine and Nightsky were in the front, ready to deal with Arcana, who seemed confident enough to deal with any plan that those six ponies were setting up for him. He didn't look remotely worried and just kept on grinning overly confidently. This only caused Summershine and Nightsky to get more cautious of him. "You might have been able to block my spell but don't think that this will be enough to stop me," Arcana said with no sign of concern that he will lose against those ponies. Summershine had enough of this arrogant grin on Arcana's face and decided to attack now. "We'll see about that once our battle is over!" He said in determination before he charged right at the Unicorn with Nightsky being right beside him. The two tried to keep Arcana busy until there was a chance for the others to get the elements out of this place. They figured that two of them should be enough to manage that. As the two were charging right at the Unicorn, however, the grin on his face widened, much to their surprise. "I'm afraid that the battle is already over," he said almost victorious. The two ponies were surprised to hear those words but they just figured that Arcana was trying to confuse them or that he was bluffing and kept charging at him. "No!" Then suddenly, Lightbeam exclaimed, which caused Summershine and Nightsky to stop and turn around for a second. All they could see was how Happytrade and Crash were knocked away by somepony. This somepony used his magic and levitated the five elements above the ground with a victorious expression on his face. Happytrade and Crash weren't hurt that much and got up on their hooves pretty quick. Everything happened way too fast and they didn't know who was attacking them but they were pretty sure that somepony was using magic to knock them away from the elements. Lightbeam and Brilliance were shocked by how their two friends were dealt with but they were even more shocked by the pony who did it. Summershine and Nightsky were confused as well. "What?" Summershine just said in his confusion. "How is that possible?" Nightsky added in his own confusion. The six ponies carefully looked at the pony who took the elements. It was a Unicorn stallion with a red coat, a white mane with red stripes in it, red eyes and an open book as a Cutie Mark. It was Arcana! Summershine and Nightsky kept looking back at the pony at the entrance of the room and the one that took the elements. They were both the exact same, they looked identical up to the last hair. "There are two of them!?" Lightbeam exclaimed in shock. "What in the name of Celestia is going on here!?" Happytrade added, pretty much taking the words out of everyponies mouth. As if that wasn't enough, the two Arcana's both had the same sinister grin on their faces. Shortly after, the Arcana, that took the elements, summoned a saddlebag with his magic and put the five elements inside of it before he shot a beam of magic right behind himself, creating a hole in the wall. "All too easy," he had the nerve to say before he jumped out of the hole and out of sight of everypony. "Wait!" Summershine exclaimed before he attempted to follow Arcana outside. However, he did forget that there was still one Arcana left inside of this room to deal with, who quickly teleported himself between Summershine and Nightsky and the rest of the group. "I think I will adapt to your plan," Arcana said with a grin on his face. Now he was the one who distracted the ponies so that he could escape with the elements. Nightsky clenched his teeth. "I don't know how there can be two of this guy but I don't think its good that either of them has the elements. We need to follow the other one!" He explained while he kept his eyes glued on Arcana before he would do something again. Summershine couldn't agree more but in order to do that, they still had to get past the Unicorn in front of them. Without any attempt to come up with another plan, Summershine decided to straight out attack Arcana by shooting a beam of magic at him. Arcana just smiled in response and put up a barrier in front of himself to block this attack. "I can do that too," he said teasingly with an evil grin on his face. But in this instant where Arcana put on his barrier, Nightsky was flying right past him from above with insane speed and stopped right in front of his friends, causing the Unicorn to turn around to see what they were up to, even though he had a pretty good guess. "We need to follow this other Arcana, now! He is the one who has the Elements of Harmony after all!" Nightsky said in a more determined voice that he ever showed since coming into this forest. The group was struck by surprise by this kind of behavior from Nightsky for a moment but they were also aware that they could not waste any more time. They only looked and nodded at each other with determined expressions on their faces before they turned around and head towards the hole where the other Arcana jumped through. "I don't think so," Arcana said while he already prepared to fire at the ponies to stop them in their track. However, Summershine appeared right in front of the Unicorn, who canceled his spell immediately after his aim was blocked. "Go! I'll keep him busy!" Summershine shouted after his friends who did exactly that, even though they were worried about Summershine. Strangely enough, Arcana did not even bother to stop them and began to smile, followed by some laughter at Summershine's expense. "Doesn't matter. Even if they catch up, they won't get the elements back," "They will!" Summershine replied, fully believing in his friends to be able to succeed. "Just like how I will be dealing with you in the meantime!" Arcana was amused to hear that and chuckled a little. "Another thing you are wrong about," he said confidently and not even the least bit intimidated. Then the battle started with Arcana focusing some magic in his horn which caused Summershine to form a shield in front of himself, that was ready to block the incoming attack. But Arcana foresaw this move and instead of aiming directly at Summershine, he shot at the ceiling above him, causing some racks to fall down at the Unicorn. Summershine barely managed to jump out of the way before he got hit by this. The Unicorn prepared himself to counterattack but once he was ready to aim at Arcana, he was nowhere to be found. He took advantage of Summershine being busy dodging this attack. "Behind you," Arcana then said with an amused tone in his voice. He stood a few meters away from him with a confident smile on his face. Summershine instantly turned around and shot at him but Arcana teleported away right before getting hit by this attack. After disappearing again, Summershine waited for Arcana's next move which swiftly came. The debris that was falling down from the ceiling before was swirling around Summershine until it eventually came flying towards him from all sides. The Unicorn teleported out of this debris whirlwind and appeared again a few meters away, unscratched. However, Arcana was standing only a few steps away from him with a playful grin on his face. He seemed to enjoy playing around with Summershine who was clenching his teeth and shot at Arcana again, only so that he could teleport away again. By now, Summershine got a little frustrated. It almost looked as if Arcana was just planning to play around with him. Or at least, he wasn't taking this fight seriously. "He's stalling for time!" Summershine then figured out. "Stop wasting time and fight!" Summershine said angrily. "So you figured it out?" Arcana replied impressed from behind Summershine. "I don't need to fight you. I just need to get away with the elements. Of course, I'm not wasting my time with somepony like you," he arrogantly explained. Summershine figured that if he would continue attacking, Arcana would just avoid his attacks again. This would only waste time, time that could be used to help the rest of his friends. He could waste much more time here, Summershine had to get out of this castle to help the others. And that is exactly what he did. He sprinted towards the hole that Arcana created previously to go into the forest and after his friends. But of course, Arcana didn't like his back turned towards him and interfered. His horn glowed and he disappeared. He teleported right in front of the hole to stop Summershine. However, as soon as Arcana appeared again, his face was colored in surprise. Summershine's horn was glowing already and a second later, a beam was flying towards Arcana, hitting him directly and throwing him out of the castle, making him fall to the ground outside. Summershine stopped right in front of the hole and looked down at where Arcana landed. He seemed to be unconscious. "Worked like a charm," Summershine said, being the one with a smile on his face now. He realized that whenever he attacked Arcana, he would just avoid his attacks so all he had to do was making Arcana attack him. This way he could prepare an attack beforehand to get the Unicorn while he was off guard. As much as Summershine wanted to enjoy this victory, he still had to go and help his friends, who were facing off against this other Arcana. The Unicorn jumped out of the castle and ran towards the direction where his friends went to, hoping that he could help them in time But things weren't over yet... Arcana's eyed popped open again and while still laying on the ground, the Unicorn teleported himself away. Summershine stopped in his track again once he saw Arcana standing in front of him once more, something that he was sick of seeing by now. However, unlike the other times, where Arcana had an arrogant grin on his face, this time the Unicorn seemed to lose some of his composure. This was definitely because of Summershine's previous attack. "Alright," Arcana said with a serious tone in his voice. "You want to fight...then lets fight!" He said in an angry voice before he used his magic on the trees around him, making their branches grow and pointing at Summershine. Summershine can't say that he was completely satisfied with this result. Arcana was now determined to fight and he was certainly not going easy on him anymore. But it couldn't be changed anymore so Summershine focused on the fight above all else. His opponent would not give him any chance to flee anyway. The fight started with Arcana using his magic to cause the branches of most nearby trees to stretch and aim towards Summershine. The stallion managed to jump over this attack but one or two of them managed to grab on to his legs anyway and swung him around, right into a tree, causing Summershine to groan in pain. Shortly after, the tree, where Summershine was now leaning against, was trapping him. More branches wrapped around the stallion and held him against the tree. He struggled and tried to get out but he was wrapped around to tightly and couldn't move too much. In the meantime, Arcana prepared to shoot another beam of magic towards the stallion. Sensing the incoming danger, Summershine focused some magic in his horn as well. He released a blast of magic around himself which managed to destroy the tree branches around him. And it wasn't a second too late because Arcana just shot at him. He missed, and all that was left was a hole inside the tree. Seeing this hole in the tree certainly frightened Summershine a little because a second later, and he would have gotten hit by that. Summershine was believing in his friends but still, he couldn't help but get worried. This Arcana pony was dangerous and strong to top it off. And for some reason, there are two of them. He himself was not sure if he could handle this Unicorn on his own so he just hoped that his friends were able to deal with the other one. Meanwhile... The other Arcana, who was in possession of the Elements of Harmony in this very moment, was running as fast as possible away from the Castle of the Two Sisters. His goal was clearly trying to get away from the six ponies inside the castle and secure the Elements of Harmony for himself for some reason. As he ran away in a straight line, following the path outside to the forest, he had a weird feeling that somepony was catching up to him. He teleported away and only a second later, Nightsky was charging right at where Arcana was at before. "Almost!" Nightsky complained. He clearly attempted to tackle the Unicorn. Arcana did appear a few meters away in front of the Pegasus and looked rather annoyed to see someone catching up to him. He attempted to use some magic against the Pegasus but shortly after, four more ponies ran up to him and stopped right next to Nightsky, causing the Unicorn to get a little warier. "Stop right there!" Happytrade said in a threatening voice while ironically, standing in the back of the group. "Give us back the Elements of Harmony!" She demanded. But Arcana didn't take her seriously at all and just laughed at her words. "Why don't you try?" He said smugly. "But I warn you, if you don't want to get hurt, then you just should let me take the elements. There is no way that five ponies like you can beat me," he said confidently in his abilities. "Oh yeah!?" Lightbeam replied offended. "It's five against one so don't get too confident!" She pointed out. "Right!" Crash added determined. Nightsky nodded to those words. "No matter how strong you are, if we all work together, then there is no way that we can lose against you!" He said confidently. There was an unamused look on Arcana's face which signaled the group that they have the upper-hoof now. But that changed once Arcana formed a smile on his face again. "So that's how it is?" He asked with confidence in his voice. "You think you can beat me because you work together? Then let's change that..." Arcana was unshaken by the words of the five ponies, in fact, he was enjoying how they declared victory already and decided to crush that determination. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and focused his magic until his whole body was covered in a magic aura. After some time, four lights came out of his body. Two of them were to his left and two of them to his right. Then those light orbs took a more pony-like form each and turned red. The group had a really bad feeling once they saw that and some of them had a guess what was happening, which they wished was not the case. But unfortunately, exactly that was happening. Arcana opened his eyes again with a sinister smile. He enjoyed the expression of shock on everyponies face as soon as he was finished with his spell. Right now, there were five Arcana's standing in front of the five ponies, all of them looking identically to each other, with the only exception that the one in the middle had still a saddlebag on. "No...way..." Lightbeam said stunned by what happened in front of her now, which was pretty much the same reaction that everypony else had at this moment. But Arcana was not quite finished yet. The one in the middle started to levitate the Elements of Harmony out of the saddlebag before he then summoned four more saddlebags, that he gave to his four other clones. He then took the five elements and put each of them inside of each saddlebag, so that each of the Arcanas would have one now. "There we go," he then said playfully. "Since I stand no chance against you when you work together, I'm curious to see how you will be able to take the elements away from me now," The five Arcanas then split up in different directions and continued to run away, leaving the five ponies confused about what to do now, even though there was really one option left. "We have to follow them!" Crash said towards his friends. "Yes but..." Lightbeam said, pointing at the problem of this situation. "Can we deal with those guys on our own? Summershine was struggling against him a little! I don't think I could stand up against him if I manage to catch up to him," she said in concern. "We don't really have a choice," Nightsky added, even though he wasn't too convinced that he could beat Arcana on his own. "If we don't follow them, the elements are gone. And we can't let that happen!" He pointed out. "He's right!" Happytrade agreed. "We have to do something! Summershine is fighting against this guy as we speak! And he probably trusts us to get the elements back," The group agreed to follow one Arcana each, they had to follow them no matter what. How they would manage to get the elements back was a question that they would have to ask themselves if they managed to catch up with those ponies. A little later... Nightsky... The Pegasus stallion had no trouble at all catching up with one of the Arcana's due to the speed that he was flying with. He managed to fly over the Unicorn and past him before he eventually decided to block the Unicorns path, causing Arcana to stop. "Somepony sure is fast," Arcana commented with a slightly complimenting tone in his voice. "But now what?" Nightsky gave a quick answer. "I already attacked you before. I'm not afraid to do it again!" He said, determined to make his words come true. "Oh?" Arcana replied mockingly. "Sure, that may be true but...what about your friends?" "What about my friends?" Nightsky asked confused. "You know what I mean," Arcana replied, again mockingly. "I know that you are determined to get the elements back and that you are brave enough to try, but...are your friends too?" Lightbeam... "What are you waiting for? Go ahead and try," Arcana asked of the mare that managed to catch up to him only to find her hesitating and standing there struggling to make a move. "You want the elements back do you? Do you really think you can do that? A little pony like you?" In the meantime, Lightbeam was actually hesitating to attack Arcana. She knew that she had to because of the element that he was carrying in his saddlebag but no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't conquer her fear and stood there almost paralyzed. Crash... The Earth Pony jumped after the Unicorn, who constantly teleported away in time and appeared back on one tree branch after another. "What makes you ponies even think that you deserve the Elements of Harmony more than me?" He asked Crash, who desperately tried to catch him with his own hooves. "Princess Celestia asked Summershine to use them against Nightmare Moon, in order to protect Equestria from her!" Crash replied while he jumped at the pony once more, only to miss again, due to Arcana teleporting away again. "If I was in possession of the elements, Nightmare Moon would no longer be a threat," Arcana replied. "Maybe, but I can practically smell that you are planning something bad once you have control over the elements!" Crash replied said with a serious look on his face. Arcana laughed for a moment. "Yes, maybe," he replied. Happytrade... "You better give me the elements back or..." Happytrade started nervously as she looked at the Unicorn, But Arcana was unimpressed. "Or what?" He asked, waiting for an answer from Happytrade. But no answer came and Arcana began to grin. "You are just here because you feel forced to get the elements back because of your friends, right? You could just turn back and say that you gave your best. I'm sure they would not be angry at you if they are your real friends, right?" Arcana pointed out. But of course, all the Unicorn was trying to do was making the mare think like that. The worst part about it was, though, it seemed to work. Brilliance... "You said you had no idea how you restored the Elements of Harmony so what makes you think that you can figure out how to use them to defeat Nightmare Moon?" Arcana asked towards the mare in front of him. Brilliance took a moment to come up with an answer. "Princess Celestia choose Summershine with this task. You have no right to interfere with that," she pointed out. "What? Because it is a very important task by your beloved Princess of Equestria? She failed to stop Nightmare Moon and was looking for somepony to correct her mistake, and it just happened to be Summershine. That is all I can gather," he said, mockingly. All Arcana tried to do with every single pony was to cause them to lose their will to fight. It seemed to work for most of them. He was no easy enemy to deal with to top it off, so even if they were determined to fight him, the chances of them to defeat him were still very slim. None of them were able to use magic, or at least, they were not experienced enough to fight someone who was as strong as him. Arcana was of course, well aware of that, which is why he took the chance to talk with them like that. The only pony who he did not talk to like that, was Summershine, who he was still fighting against in front of the castle. Unfortunately for Summershine, he was completely overpowered by this Unicorn in every way. Every time when he thought he had him, Arcana would top him immediately after. Still, Summershine wouldn't give up and continued to hold the Unicorn off. But eventually, Arcana got a little bored and just stood there shaking his head. "You know..." he started as he scratched his mane for a moment. "For somepony who is supposed to use the Elements of Harmony, you really are weaker then I expected. You would think that Princess Celestia would send somepony who is capable," he said mockingly at the Unicorn. "Not to mention that you brought your friends in danger just by bringing them here," "That's not true!" Summershine replied. "They came here because they wanted to help me!" "So it is alright for them to be in danger as long as you are not the one who put them into it?" Arcana quickly asked. "No..." Summershine replied with concern in his voice. Arcana continued. "Maybe they knew that you couldn't do this task on your own. Maybe they knew that you would fail so they felt bad and wanted to help you because of it. And from what it looked like this far, it seems as if they were right. I followed you all once you entered the castle and correct me if I am wrong but...what exactly did you do to restore the power of the elements?" Summershine remembered back what exactly happened as soon as he and his friends found the elements. He knew that Arcana was just trying to manipulate him with his words but sadly, some of the words he said really affected Summershine. It was true that he didn't really was a part of the restoring process of the elements. It was his friends who seemed to have an effect on them and not him. He found them but as soon as his friends came in contact with them, their powers returned. "The Elements of Harmony are wasted on you!" Arcana then said in a bitter and serious voice. "The most powerful magic in all of Equestria deserves to be in the possession of somepony who knows what to do with them. Somepony who can use them properly. And not with a bunch of ponies who think that this is just a game!" After hearing those words, Summershine was quickly reminded of how this Arcana pony was not planning anything good with the elements. But at the same time, he was starting to doubt himself. He was just one normal pony. What right did he have to be in control of the Elements of Harmony? A magic that was strong enough to decide the fate of all of Equestria? Princess Celestia could make a mistake too by deciding that Summershine would be the one to use the elements. Having those things circling around in his mind, made Summershine doubting himself more and more. This is exactly what Arcana wanted. He already had the elements in his possession so there was no reason for him to even fight or wasting time with Summershine but still, he enjoyed proving his dominance to him, it highly amused him. "Maybe you're right..." Summershine then replied in a serious voice. "I do not know why the elements responded to my friends. I also don't know how to find the sixth Element of Harmony..." he admitted while he looked at the ground with some frustration on his face. "I'll admit that I just went in here because Princess Celestia asked me to...but..." he said while he looked up at Arcana's face again with a determined expression on his face. "My friends believe in me...they believe that I somehow find a way to get things done. This is actually putting a lot of pressure on me," he said almost amused with a smile on his face. "So you see, I can't really stop now," Arcana seemed confused about how Summershine can be smiling in a situation like this. The Elements were in Arcana's possession. He decided to listen to what Summershine still had to say though. "I also believe in my friends. And even if they fail to get the elements back from the other you, they will not give up. That's the way they are after all. And that's the way who I am!" He explained with a determined grin on his face. "You can just run away with the elements but we will get them back again!" He announced. At the same time... Nightsky... "I will not leave my friends hanging! If you stand in our way then I just have to push you aside!" Lightbeam... "I wish it would have not come to this and that we didn't have to fight and all...but I can't let you get away with the elements so I guess I have no choice!" Crash... "First I thought a visit to this forest would be fun but then you appeared and ruined it! You'll pay for this!" Happytrade... "I'll admit that I am scared but I can't let that stop me. Running is no option!" Brilliance... "Having friends doesn't always mean having a good time. If it means I have to put in some work to keep it like that, however, then I will do exactly that!" All of Summershine's friends then charged at the same towards their Arcana clone, in order to get the Elements of Harmony back. While being separated in the forest, they all somehow managed to get a grip at the exact same time without knowing it. On the other side, every single one of the Arcana's was ready for their attacks, not expecting any danger incoming. At the same moment, in front of the Castle of the Two Sisters, a bright light emerged right in front of Summershine, much to his and Arcana's surprise who widened their eyes at the sight of this. Then a gem was formed out of the light in front of Summershine. It had a dark blue color and had a very familiar look about it. At this moment, Summershine realized what happened. He had no doubt about it. "It's...the sixth Element of Harmony!" He said in a mix of surprise and shock. Of course, Arcana identified this gem as the sixth element as well and began to form a wide grin on his face. "Yes!" He exclaimed excitedly once he focused his eyes on the gem in front of Summershine before he ran towards the gem. Summershine noticed the incoming pony and used his magic to levitate the gem above the ground, in an attempt to protect it from Arcana. "With this last element, I will be unstoppable!" Arcana screamed at the pony while he ran towards him with his own glowing already with magic. Arcana then shot a magic beam towards Summershine as he was about a few steps in front of him. Summershine tried to attack back but he couldn't counter in time and Arcana hit him directly. Or...at least it seemed like it for a moment. The Element of Harmony, that Summershine tried to get away from Arcana reacted on its own and placed itself right where Arcana was shooting at and nullified his attack. "What!?" Arcana replied in surprise. Summershine was as confused as him and had no idea what was going on. In fact, he had pretty much the same reaction as Arcana. In the meantime, something similar happened everywhere else in the forest. The Elements of Harmony, which were placed inside the saddlebags of the five Arcanas, reacted on their own and flew right towards Summershine's friends. The Arcanas could even do anything to prevent that and could only watch in shock. The elements all started to emit a bright light that shot out at the sky in the colors of red, orange, yellow, purple, light blue and dark blue which soon formed a rainbow in the sky. A magic shockwave was released that flew through the whole forest and each time one of the Arcanas was hit by it, they started screaming before they eventually disappeared in a blast of magic. This also happened to the Arcana in front of Summershine. He screamed in pain while having his eyes glued on Summershine with a furious expression on his face. "This can't be happening! I was so close! Summershine!" He screamed with his remaining strength before he too would disappear in a little blast of magic. Summershine could only watch how this pony disappeared in front of him. He was paralyzed by how those events just happened in front of him. However, he did snap out of it again as soon as he could hear the sound of something dropping to the ground. He looked down at the ground and saw the sixth Element of Harmony, the gem that was saving him in the last second. He just witnessed this powerful magic and was stunned by it. But at the same time, he was also relieved. Later, in Ponyville... Summershine wrote a letter to Princess Celestia and informed her about everything that happened. He told her about how they found the Elements of Harmony, their encounter with Arcana and he was asking what they should do with the Elements of Harmony now. A quick reply came in the form of a letter that told Summershine to take care of the Elements. He and his friends, according to Princess Celestia were chosen by the Elements of Harmony so she figured it would be best if they stayed with them. Summershine and his friends were inside the Golden Oak Library and he explained to his friends what was written in the letter. There was a mixed reaction from his friends after they heard the news inside the letter. "We are chosen by the Elements of Harmony?" Lightbeam asked confused. "I think I need to sit down," Happytrade said in a shocked voice. "Do we have to do something for that? Being chosen now and all?" Crash asked towards Nightsky, who only shrugged his shoulders confused. The six ponies stood there in the middle of the room and didn't know how to react or what to say. Everything happened so fast and they weren't really prepared for anything. Despite being chosen by really powerful magic, they sure didn't act like as if it was good. The only exception, who was not showing any signs of worry or confusion was Brilliance. "Let's look at the positive thing," Brilliance said calmly while everypony else's thoughts were all over the place by now. They had no idea what this positive thing was but they were sure eager to find out. And Brilliance, of course, explained what it was. "Now we can all help Summershine because we are all chosen by the elements," she added with a smile on her face. Shortly after, there was silence inside the group but also a moment of realization. They all wanted to help Summershine with this Nightmare Moon matter, that is why they helped him to find the elements inside the forest after all. They all looked at each other and began to smile. "She is right!" Lightbeam said happily. "Yeah," Crash added. "If I am chosen by some super strong magic, then I am at least happy that you all were chosen too!" He said in excitement as he was jumping up and down on the spot. Nightsky nodded in agreement before he looked at Summershine. "Now there is no reason for you to feel pressured because we are all behind you," he said confidently. Happytrade, by now, was also shrugging her shoulders and accepted everything too. "There are worse things. Maybe it will be fun," she said, starting to see the positive about all this. Summershine was laughing at everyponies reaction. "You're the best," he said happily. "I can't believe I was second doubting myself before, even though I have friends like you at my side," His friends were happy to hear those words. It was also nice that Summershine was looking at the positive side of things now. They didn't forget the task that Princess Celestia gave them and that they soon had to face Nightmare Moon but whenever that moment would come, they would all have to be part of it, which alone made it easier. But that was a thing to worry about another time. Right now, the six ponies were just happy that they were not inside the forest anymore. They were all going home now to take a rest from this day. Still, as Summershine was on his way home, he still had one thing in his mind. Arcana... Who was he? And what did he plan to do with the Elements of Harmony? But what bothered him the most was what happened to him in the end. He could create clones of himself, this much was already confirmed but why was he nowhere to be found after everything was over? The elements made him completely disappear. Not that Summershine was really feeling bad for him, or anything. After all, it was obvious that Arcana had only bad intentions in his mind with the elements. He decided to just forget about him and moved on. There would be more important things waiting for him in the future. Later... It was about to get dark in the little town of Ponyville. One pony was still walking around the streets, at this hour though. This pony was pulling a little cart behind him, that was filled with a lot of luggage. On top of it was a fishbowl that had a goldfish inside of it, who blankly stared at the distance. The pony was stopping in front of a small house. It was a wooden house. The pony opened the door and entered it and placed the luggage near the door. The pony stretched itself and turned on some light inside the house. "That sure was exhausting," the pony said, most likely referring to how he had to pull his cart through the whole town. He then took the fishbowl and carried it upstairs and place it on a cupboard next to a bed. "We're home, Comet," the pony said happily towards the goldfish inside the bowl. The fish didn't show any reaction. The pony then placed himself on his bed and stretched his legs. The pony was an Earth Pony stallion with a light green coat, a dark green, star-shaped mane, and light green eyes. His Cutie Mark consisted of six stars that were lined up like a five shaped star. There was a purple star on top, a dark blue one on the upper left, a light blue one on the upper right, a yellow one on the down left, a red one in the down right and an orange on right in the middle. "I think, I will just go on ahead and sleep. It's a little too late to visit anypony now, right?" He said before he began to yawn while lying on his bed. "Can't wait to see...the others..." he said before his eyes slowly closed and drifted off to sleep already.