6.
Light of a New Day
A gasp rang out in the throne room as the seven mares realized what had happened. Then, suddenly, Starlight's and Sunset's heads, and a moment later Rarity's, snapped to the side, looking out through a window.
There were lights in the tower. More specifically, the magenta of Twilight's magic and the red of Daybreaker's.
"Gather around," Starlight called to the others. They came over and crowded around her and Sunset.
"And brace yourselves," Sunset added as she lit her horn, then she vanished in a flash of teal, taking Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie with her.
Starlight vanished a second later in a flash of pale blue, taking Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity, and leaving the throne room empty once more.
In the tower, Twilight, Daybreaker and the elements had scattered across the floor upon coming out of the hasty teleport. Given her alicorn physique, Daybreaker was naturally the first to recover. While Twilight was still getting to her hooves, she picked up the elements in her magic, quickly lifting them out of the unicorn's reach.
Just as Twilight was about to step up, trying to get at the ancient stones, she reared up on her hind legs before bringing her forehooves down on the artifacts, shattering them to pieces, cackling madly all the while.
Twilight simply stood there, staring at the scattered shards of crystal with mounting despair, not even able to comprehend the fact that the darkened, multicolored, crystalline fragments didn't even remotely match the rough stone spheres that had produced them.
Then, a flash of teal magic delivered Sunset, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to her left. It was followed a second later by a second flash of magic, blue this time, bringing Starlight, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity with it.
With a stunned expression, Twilight looked from one group to the other, then to the shattered stones at Daybreaker's hooves. Her eyes lit up and, for a moment, her face twisted into a victorious smile which quickly gave way to determination.
"You think you can destroy an ancient artifact like the Elements of Harmony just like that?" she called, interrupting the mad alicorn's cackling.
Looking over her shoulder, Daybreaker was stunned for a moment. It seemed that, in her glee, she hadn't even noticed the arrival of seven more ponies.
"You may have destroyed the physical form of the Elements," Twilight continued unerringly, "but the spirits of the Elements are right here."
She glanced over her right shoulder, looking at the first of her new friends. "Applejack, who assured Rarity enough to trust her, admittedly counterintuitive, advice, represents the Element of Honesty."
Daybreaker stared between Twilight and Applejack disbelievingly. Her expression morphed into shock when several of the shards at her hooves shuddered, before lighting up a rich orange and shooting towards Applejack, quickly entering a small orbit around her.
Before anypony else could react, Twilight gazed over her shoulder once more. "Fluttershy, who calmed a raging manticore and treated her wound, represents the Element of Kindness."
A second set of shards lit up a pale pink, matching Fluttershy's mane, and, like the orange shards before them, shot towards the mare in question, forming a crystalline orbit around her.
Again, Twilight looked at one of the mares behind her, over her right shoulder this time. "Pinkie Pie, who banished fear with unerring joy by laughing in the face of danger, represents the Element of Laughter."
A third set of shards, lighting up light blue this time, followed the previous two, forming a ring of crystal around Pinkie.
Once more, Twilight looked behind her, smiling at her sister. "Sunset, who was willing to give a pair of strangers the benefit of the doubt and let us bypass the wildfire, represents the Element of Trust."
Another set of shards lit up a pale green and flew towards Sunset.
Twilight looked over her right shoulder once more. "Rarity, who befriended a sorrowful serpent, the presence of which still baffles me, with a thoughtful gift, represents the Element of Generosity."
The next cloud of shards, headed for the pearly white unicorn, lit up a deep purple, matching her mane.
Twilight turned back to her left. "Rainbow Dash, who repaired the bridge before we even thought to ask her, represents the Element of Loyalty."
Rainbow Dash simply smirked as a set of glowing red crystals encircled her.
Finally, Twilight turned back to her right. "Starlight, who listened to your side of the story, and no, not just as a distraction, represents the Element of Empathy."
The remaining crystal shards at Daybreaker's hooves lit up teal and went to orbit Starlight.
Daybreaker smiled triumphantly. "But you're still missing the final element. There was no spark. The elements won't work without the last one."
Sunset simply rolled her eyes. "You know, for an ancient, supposedly wise, being you're remarkably dense."
"What?"
Twilight was rolling her eyes as well. Choosing to ignore her older sister's antics, she moved to explain. "The spark was never real. It's a metaphor. Not sure what a metaphor is doing in a reference guide, but here we are.
"Regardless, when the seven elements are brought together, the proverbial spark reveals the final one. That spark ignited within me when I found you at my sides, when I realized how happy I was to see you. When I realized that you, all of you, are my friends.
"When the spark binds the other elements together, it becomes the final Element. The focal point. The Element of Magic."
With a brilliant flash, an undamaged stone orb with a star-shaped indentation appeared above Twilight. In a moment of clarity, Daybreaker recognized it as the same orb that had been sat atop the plinth, surrounded by the other elements.
Obvious in retrospect.
But that realization wouldn't help her now. The swelling of Harmonic magic interrupted her own magic just as the fear that paralyzed her now kept her from focusing on it anyway.
In a brilliant flash, the orb of stone became a crystal in the shape of a six pointed star, floating downwards towards Twilight's head.
Not only Twilight, but also the seven mares behind her closed their eyes as they felt the magic surge within them. As such, Daybreaker alone saw how the golden tiara formed around the star-shaped gemstone and sat down upon Twilight's brow. Or how the seven rings of crystal gathered before each pony, resolving into the crystalline shapes of an apple, a butterfly, a balloon, one half of a stylized sun, a diamond, a lightning bolt, and a wispy wave, before quickly forming necklaces in which to sit themselves.
Seven beams of light came from the necklaces and struck the back of the gemstone in Twilight's tiara, lifting the mare off her hooves and causing the stone to glow brilliantly.
A second later, Twilight opened her eyes, shining with magic, and the light erupted into a beautiful rainbow of colors, arcing towards Daybreaker and impacting at her hooves, only to quickly spiral upwards around her.
Within seconds, the solar alicorn was surrounded by a maelstrom of color, spitting sparks upwards. Before she could do more than wail in impotent fury, Daybreaker was ripped from her host by the unrelenting power of the ancient artifacts. Within moments, the tidal wave of harmonic power drowned out the raging fire, dispersing in a bright flash of light.
As her hooves lightly touched back down on the ancient stone floor, Twilight looked around to the seven mares behind her. For a moment, all of them seemed stunned. Then Sunset and Starlight trotted up to her, enclosing her in a caring hug.
While the others busied themselves with looking at their new necklaces, or even just comprehending what had just happened, while Pinkie bounded around the room, swept up in the rush of power and energy they all felt, and Applejack merely pointed out her disbelief that all of this had truly just happened, Twilight simply hugged her sisters, relishing their company.
After a few moments, she let go. "Well, we did it."
"That you did." All their eyes turned to the broken window where a cloud of deep blue smoke sparkling with glittering stars, came into the room to resolve into Princess Luna. She smiled proudly at the eight young mares in the room. While the five who had never met her bowed deeply, her students rushed up to her and enclosed her in a deep, loving hug. "I knew you could do it," she spoke quietly to them as she closed her wings around them.
"But," Twilight stammered, "didn't you say it was just an old pony's tale?"
Luna shot her an amused smile. "I don't know. Did I?"
Starlight shook her head. "No. No, you didn't."
"That's right," Sunset chimed in, "you just told us to make some friends."
"Exactly. I knew you had the potential to wield the Elements, but you couldn't awaken them until you let true friendship into your hearts. Beyond those you consider family, that is." She sighed quietly and turned her head to the side. "Now if only another would as well. Isn't that right, Tia?"
All eyes turned to where Daybreaker had been standing. There, sitting among shattered fragments of no longer glowing golden armor, was a white alicorn filly with a pale pink mane, not unlike Fluttershy's. She was looking up at Luna with wide eyes, tears staining her fur.
With a flap of her wings, she rushed at the larger alicorn, practically attaching herself to Luna's neck. With a soft chuckle, Luna wrapped a large blue wing around her.
"Luna! I'm so sorry. I missed you so much."
"I missed you too, sister. It's been much too long."
“Aww.”
The two alicorns separated, looking at the mares with varied expressions. Luna looked simply amused, while the white filly was looking at the mares as though she was seeing them clearly for the first time which, considering what had just happened, was actually entirely plausible.
Luna chuckled. "My little ponies. Allow me to re-introduce the second diarch of Equestria. Princess Celestia, my older sister.
"Older?"
The newly introduced Celestia simply sighed at the question. "T’is true. The elements have freed us from Daybreaker's influence, but they also took along most of our power. It will likely be weeks before we can assume control of Our sun at all, not to mention push it back to the distance it is meant to have. We know We may look younger, but We assure thee, We art the elder sister. It shall become apparent as Our power returns."
"I'm looking forward to it Tia," Luna chimed in happily. "But maybe don't move the sun away again so soon."
"Why not?"
"We've had a thousand years to get used to it being where it is. If you pushed it back to its original position, all our islands would become too cold to house anypony other than pegasi and thestrals, and it would take years, decades maybe, before the surface could be made habitable again. A thousand years of erosion haven't been kind to the land."
Celestia's eyes were once more filled with tears. "I-I'm so sorry. I never meant for that to happen. I wanted to push it back to where it came from after a day or two, but it only made things worse, everypony became hostile and I ... I lost control."
"I know, sister. I know. It doesn't matter. We have adjusted. The Equestria we live in now is harsher than the one we once had, but we've grown stronger for it, technology has advanced to a degree you won't believe when I show you and with you back at my side, we can make our realm safe once more."
"Not ta interrupt yer reunion," Applejack chimed in, but should we really be sittin' around in here?"
Luna jerked up. "Oh, of course, I nearly forgot. We ought to return to Ponyville."
With not one but two alicorns escorting them, even if one wasn't anywhere near her full power, the trip back through the forest was easy. The forest fire had moved on by the time they returned to that stretch of land and while the smoldering, burnt down forest was eerie, it was no actual hindrance. After about an hour and a half, they finally approached the clearing where they had parked the Lumiere.
"Sister, pray tell what is this construct?"
Luna looked down at the smaller alicorn with a gentle smile. "Tell me Tia, do you recall me mentioning how technology had advanced in your absence?"
"Yes?"
"This is one of the crowning jewels of such technology. The royal yacht Lumiere. Airships like this one are used for travel between the various islands that make up modern Equestria, though this is admittedly an exceptional one."
While Luna had been explaining the airship to her sister, Twilight had walked up the floating staircase and unlocked the hatch with a spark from her horn. "All aboard," she called from the door before stepping inside.
With a smile, Luna lead the way up the stairs, followed by Celestia who looked to be caught somewhere between awe and fear. It was clear that she didn't quite trust the vessel. Luna had to duck her head slightly to avoid hitting the tip of her horn against the frame of the hatch. Celestia had no such problem. The other mares followed up the stairs.
The last one up, Sunset sent a spark into the small console beside the door, causing the steps to float back to where they had come from, the hatch to cover them once more and the entry door to seal behind her. She then joined Celestia, Luna, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and, surprisingly enough, Rainbow in the forward observation lounge, while Twilight had gone back up to the helm and Starlight and Applejack were bringing the engine core fully back online in engineering.
Up on the upper deck, Twilight once more adhered her rear hooves to the ground. She glanced skeptically at the pegasus-shaped hole in the sun roof before bringing the control console online with a spark of her magic.
A simple button press, caused the magical tethers to vanish, leaving only the holes in the ground, where the magical harpoons had dug deep into the earth. She slowly spun the ship around, setting course back in the rough direction of Ponyville.
On the observation deck, Luna placed a wing over her sister's back. "Fair warning, the intense sunlight has made the weather over the Everfree harsher than it used to be."
"Harsher than it used to be?" A violent gust rocked the ship, the first of many. "Never mind sister, We understand."
As the ship made its way away from the heart of the forest, the gusts slowly became more bearable and Celestia began to relax. Finally, as they approached the edge of the forest, she let out a relieved sigh.
"Don't relax just yet Tia, I suspect there will be one more."
"But We art leaving the forest, why wouldst there be another?"
Just as Luna smiled mischievously at her sister, the edge of the forest passed beneath them. The ship pulled up, re-entering into the wide spiral that had brought it down to the forest hours earlier. The ship rocked again as the engines howled up sent the vessel shooting forward.
"Because Twilight has the helm."