Summershine was done with his work for today, delivering packages all over Ponyville. Right now he didn't really have an idea what to do. Usually, he would come across one of his friends and then decided what to do. In fact, the stallion was hoping that this would happen because he was relatively clueless about what to do. It was almost astonishing how helpless he could be without his friends next to him.
Luckily, as if a whim of good luck was poured right at him, one of his friends did come across him. It was Ashgray. However, instead of walking towards him, the stallion was running, and instead of having an inviting smile on his face, the stallion had a stressed-out expression on him.
As soon as Ashgray spotted Summershine, he came to a halt right in front of him. He took some deep breathes and tried to catch a break again. "Ashgray? What is wrong?" Summershine asked, obviously referring to how the Unicorn was running towards him.
Normally Ashgray was pretty calm and collected, which was all the more confusing to see him like this. The Unicorn was heavily panting and could barely speak. There was one sentence, however, that he managed to get out, and it was sending down shivers on Summershine's back.
"It's Princess Celestia! She's in danger!"
Summershine widened his eyes and felt how his breath became nervous already. He didn't know what to reply to that at first. "If that is supposed to be a joke, then it's not really funny," he said with a frown on his face. Maybe he was wishing that he misheard that right now.
But judging from Ashgray's behavior, that did not seem to be the case at all. "No! I'm serious!" He said. "She needs help! Now!"
There was a lot of thinking going on inside of Summershine's head. Of course, he wanted to know what exactly happened first, but again, Ashgray was really exhausted and could barely talk to him normally. The first thing that came to mind was obvious, if what Ashgray said was true, then he needed help, now. Summershine instantly turned his head towards the sky, looking for something, or rather someone. "Night!" He shouted in hope that his friend would be nearby sleeping on a cloud, like usual.
He was lucky, Nightsky pointed his head up from one cloud not too far away from Summershine. "What?" He asked while he rubbed his eyes. He clearly didn't like to be woken up from his nap.
But Nightsky quickly grabbed the seriousness of the situation just by looking at Summershine's face. "Go get the others! They might want to hear this!" He said.
The Pegasus stallion just nodded and was then already on his way. Summershine would not ask him to do something like that if it wasn't important. He was flying at high speed around Ponyville to gather the rest of his friends.
Just hearing that Princess Celestia was in danger was enough to put Summershine on edge. At first, it was rather unbelievable that Princess Celestia, the ruler of all of Equestria would find herself in some kind of danger where she could not get out on her own. But then again, she probably had some enemies in this world, some who probably would want the throne of Equestria for themselves. It was almost funny how quickly the words "Princess Celestia is in danger" left an impact on the stallion. He still hoped that this was all just a really bad joke but in case it wasn't, he knew he would definitely need help from his friends.
Later...
Nightsky successfully gathered all of his friends to join Summershine and Ashgray. All with the exception of Star Twinkle, who he couldn't find and afford to look for any longer. Time was of the essence after all. Still, Happytrade, Crash, Nightsky, Lightbeam, Brilliance, Summershine, as well as Ashgray should be enough to deal with the situation.
They were already running towards where Ashgray found the princess and Happytrade already didn't like one bit where they were heading to.
"Do we really have to go to this creepy forest again!?" She said in concern for her own safety rather than for the princess.
"Yeah," Nightsky commented. "Do you mind telling the rest of us what exactly happened?"
It was true that Ashgray, in his panic didn't fully explain the situation yet. Since the group was already on their way, he figured now would be the best time for that.
"Well, I was inside the Castle of the Two Sisters. You know, studying it, gathering some information and such...and then I saw her! In the Throne room! Princess Celestia was trapped in some kind of spell!" The Unicorn said as he was leading the way to the forest.
Summershine was the first one to comment on that. "A spell? What kind of spell?"
"I don't know!" Ashgray replied nervously. "It looked pretty serious, she wasn't conscious too so I couldn't ask her what happened!"
Ashgray seemed to blame himself for not being able to do something in this situation. From the stallion's explanation, it must have been some pretty strong spell. A spell that was powerful enough to trap the ruler of Equestria. Princess Celestia would surely not get herself trapped in some ordinary spell after all.
But Crash had the right words to say in this situation. "If it is a spell then we don't have anything to worry about!" He said confidentially.
"Crash is right!" Lightbeam agreed. "When it comes to magic and spells then Summershine will find some way to break it," she said with the same amount of confidence as Crash.
Summershine would like to be as confident as his friends were but first, he had to take a look at the spell himself. "Let's check it out!" He said, prompting everypony to make haste to the castle.
It didn't take much longer until the group arrived at the castle. It felt weird storming into this castle, especially since the last time, they were there, the group was carefully sneaking around the place. Clearly, they didn't have time for that now because of their worry for the princess. It was also still bright as day outside so some dangers inside the forest were probably sleeping now.
Not everypony of the group remembered exactly where the throne room was again but luckily Ashgray did since he was spending quite some time in this castle because of his work as an archaeologist or rather...his own curiosity.
Multiple sets of stairs later, Ashgray was standing in the entrance of the throne room. "There!" He said while he pointed in front of him before anyone was even in the same room as him.
When the rest of the ponies eventually did arrive in the throne room, they did in fact saw Princess Celestia at the end of the room. The mare was inside some kind of magic sphere that was levitating a few meters above the ground. And just like Ashgray said before, she was unconscious.
Summershine was the first one to walk up to her. "Princess Celestia!" He shouted at her but to no effect, no response came from the mare no matter how loud he shouted her name.
The rest of his friends quickly joined him. Nightsky tried to break the sphere with brute force but it didn't work at all and the rest could just watch, hoping that Summershine would find a way to destroy it.
Once the stallion figured that screaming wasn't helping, he resorted to magic. Whatever that magic sphere was, if he was focusing stronger magic then the spell will most likely be broken, or at least he hoped that's what's going to happen.
The stallion closed his eyes and focused his magic, as much as he could. His horn began to glow in a blue light which was starting to engulf the sphere around the princess. She wasn't aware of any of this. This went on for a while now. His friends stood there and watched, hoping that Summershine could break the spell quickly enough.
However, as time passed on, Summershine began to pant in exhaustion. He focused quite a lot of his magic but the princess was still trapped and no progress was made.
"Well?" Ashgray then asked, wondering about what was exactly happening.
Summershine replied honestly. "This isn't going to work. Whoever was responsible for this spell was good...really good," he admitted in his frustration. "I can't break that spell on my own..." he added with the little confidence that he had left inside of him slipping away.
Now the rest of the group was starting to worry. "Then what do we do!?" Happytrade asked in the name of everypony else present.
Meanwhile, Brilliance was asking herself another important question. "Who would be able to create a powerful spell like this in the first place?"
"Yeah!" Lightbeam added. "Who is trying to hurt our beloved princess like this!? And for what reason," she questioned while she kept looking back at Princess Celestia.
Nightsky was shooting out a guess. "Maybe somepony like Arcana?"
While most ponies in the group could actually see this happening, Ashgray was the only one who got confused to hear this name. "Who?"
It was true that Ashgray, out of all of the ponies present, Ashgray couldn't know about him so Summershine explained. "When we first found the Elements of Harmony, this one pony, Arcana, showed up and tried to take them away from us. He was pretty strong, he definitely was very powerful when it came to magic," he said before he looked over to Princess Celestia who was still trapped inside this magic sphere. "He also clearly had evil intentions. This is a pretty strong spell so I just draw conclusions that it was somepony who was at least as strong as him. If it wasn't for the Elements of Harmony, then he would have surely won," he admitted.
Suddenly, Ashgray's eyes widened and his ears perked up. "That's it!" He said in an unusual happy tone.
Summershine shrugged after this sudden mood change from Ashgray."What?" He replied confused.
"The Elements of Harmony!" Ashgray said. "You have them, don't you!? Just use them to free her!" Ashgray explained.
The group didn't even consider that at this moment but they figured that Ashgray was right. The Elements of Harmony were the most powerful magic in Equestria so breaking through this spell should provide no problem for them. What everypony was worrying about however was if they could manage to use them at will, especially in a situation like this.
But considering all those worries, Summershine was ready to give this a shot. They had no other option. If Summershine had some more time to figure out this spell, he would surely find a solution but he had no idea if he had time to spare now. If they didn't try this option now then they might as well just sit there and do nothing and of course, they were not going to do that.
"Let's try it!" Summershine decided. "The elements are at my place," he informed.
"Got it!" Nightsky instantly replied. "I'll get them right away!" He added before he was ready to get them in a matter of minutes.
"No, don't go!" Summershine then interrupted, causing the Pegasus to stop in midair after only flying a few steps.
Needless to say, the group was confused by this, especially Nightsky. "What!? Why!?" He asked confused.
Summershine explained. "After our last encounter with Arcana, Princess Celestia entrusted me with the Elements of Harmony. They are in my house but she put a spell to protect them around them, a spell that can only be deactivated by her or me,"
"So you are the only one who can get them?" Happytrade asked.
"I'm afraid so," Summershine replied before he turned around. "I'll come back as soon as possible, you stay here and have an eye on Princess Celestia!"
"Got it!" Most of the ponies replied determinedly.
Right now everyone could just do as Summershine said and hope that the Elements of Harmony would save the day again.
As Summershine was running out of the castle, his mind was still focused on the princess. As the one who gave him the task to use the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon after she returned, he felt a huge weight on his shoulders right now. If he couldn't save Princess Celestia right now, then he would have never been fit to be able to save all of Equestria.
"Princess Celestia..." he said to himself as he ran through the forest, determined to save her. "I will not let you down! Not now or any other day!"
Later...
It took a few minutes but Summershine arrived at his house and quickly went to where he placed the Elements of Harmony. They were placed in Summershine's bedroom right in one corner of the room, begging to get stolen by somepony. Of course, something like that could not easily happen because of the huge shield around them. Princess Celestia and Summershine used their combined strength to create this spell, meaning that it would take quite some powerful magic to break it.
Luckily, Summershine didn't need to do anything. He casually walked through the shield as if it wasn't even there. He and Princess Celestia were the only ones who could walk through the shield like that. It was necessary to do that in case somepony like Arcana shows up again. Right now, however, it was more of a bother because Nightsky could have grabbed the elements much quicker. The princess could be free by now.
The six elements were placed on a pedestal and Summershine just grabbed them with his magic and was on his way to the castle again. As soon as he opened the door to his house again, however, he almost crashed into his best friend who was about to knock on the door.
"Ah!" Star Twinkle said in surprise after the door opened unexpectedly in front of him. "Finally, somepony is home. Do you know where everypony is? I can't seem to find anypony of our friends," the pony asked confused before he took a look at the six gems levitating above Summershine's head. "What are those?" The Earth Pony stallion asked.
Summershine just now realized that Star Twinkle didn't even know about the events that unfolded in the Castle of the Two Sister a while ago or the Elements of Harmony. He should have really told him about that, he was his best friend after all.
But as soon as Summershine was thinking about that, he remembered the most important thing right now. "I don't have any time to explain stuff right now! Princess Celestia is in danger! I need to go!" He said before he ran past Star Twinkle, leaving him completely in the unknown of the situation. But of course, Star Twinkle could not just ignore all of this and followed the unicorn. "What are you doing!?" Summershine asked confused by this action.
Star Twinkle explained himself. "I don't know what is happening but I can tell that it is something serious so there is no way that I will just sit here and do nothing!" The stallion said, determined to help in any way possible.
Summershine was happy to hear that. Right now, he could need every bit of support that he could find. "Thank you, Star Twinkle," he said with a smile on his face which was quickly replaced by a more serious expression again. "But we have to hurry!" He advised.
"Got it!" Star Twinkle replied with a determined grin on his face.
The two made their way to the Everfree Forest. As soon as Star Twinkle heard that they were heading towards this place, he got a little nervous but he couldn't let this get in the way right now so he just continued to follow his friend.
Later...
All this running was starting to exhaust Summershine a little, especially the stairs that he had to climb again to reach the throne room. In his panic, he completely forgot that he could have actually teleport himself to the throne room. It wouldn't make any difference anymore since he was almost there anyway. He also didn't want to risk dropping the Elements of Harmony
The two ponies finally stepped into the throne room, ready to use the Elements of Harmony to save Princess Celestia and get this all over with.
But something wasn't right...something wasn't right at all. The two ponies stood there, their eyes widened and their mouths open. It was quiet, way too quiet.
"What...happened here?" Summershine said after he took a look at the room.
His friends...they laid on the ground, unconscious, hurt, attacked by something.
"What happened here!?" Star Twinkle repeated in shock. "Who did that!?" He said, hoping to receive an answer from someone.
Right now, it was exactly what Summershine feared. Somepony attacked his friends while he was gone getting the Elements of Harmony. None of his friends had bruises or any visible damage on them, or at least nothing what he could see at first glance. This only meant that someone used magic to hurt them. It was probably the same pony who trapped Princess Celestia, who was still floating up in the air at the end of the room.
Star Twinkle walked up to his friends, Nightsky happened to be the one who was the closest to him so he approached him first. He was unconscious so there was no way that he could tell what happened.
Summershine was walking up to his friends as well. He carefully made one step after another because there could be a chance that the one who did all this was still close. As he walked closer to his friends however, he noticed something. He looked around and no matter how many times he counted, there were only five ponies laying on the ground.
"Someone is missing," he said in his realization. The puzzle pieces in his mind quickly built a whole picture of what could have happened but before it could arrive in his brain his view was focused on Princess Celestia, who was waking up inside of this magic trap. It looked as if she was desperately trying to tell him something but before he could understand what she was trying to tell him it was already too late.
BAM!
Pain started to appear on his back, making him scream in shock. The stallion flew a few meters forward right towards Star Twinkle. The Earth Pony could only watch how his best friend dropped to the floor after an attack from behind.
"Summershine!" Star Twinkle exclaimed in concern before he rushed towards his friend to see if he was okay.
The Earth Pony could not exactly see what happened but for just a brief moment, when Summershine was still in the air, he could swear he saw a beam of magic. Star Twinkle looked over to from where the attack came from and noticed that the Elements of Harmony were on the ground, dropped by Summershine after the attack.
A little bit further away, he could finally see somepony in the shadows, walking towards them and levitating the objects above the ground. The pony had no more plans to hide and stepped out of the shadows, fully revealing himself to Star Twinkle and Summershine, the later one still being conscious.
"You!?" Summershine asked in shock after he saw the one picking up the Elements of Harmony.
Star Twinkle's eyes were widened after taking a look at the pony in front of him. A gray-coated Unicorn stallion, with a dark gray colored mane, red eyes, and a Cutie Mark that consisted of a yellow sun with some falling snow in front of it.
"...Ashgray?" Star Twinkle said in disbelieve after seeing one of his friends standing there unfazed after attacking his best friend.
Ashgray didn't say anything. He only looked at the two ponies with a serious expression on his face.
Summershine and Star Twinkle wanted to know what the meaning of this was but just the situation alone left them both speechless...for now...
Earlier this day...
Princess Celestia was riding on her chariot, pulled by two Pegasus stallions, and headed right towards Ponyville. The expression on the princess's face was filled with concern and even fear. "Was I...imagining things?" she mumbled under her mane.
There was something going on out there. Something was going on at a specific place, a place that she had almost forgotten, which made the whole situation even more concerning.
The chariot was close to Ponyville. However, Ponyville was not exactly where the princess was heading to. Instead, it was the Everfree Forest. The princess advised her two guards to land at a specific place in the forest. Some kind of cave hidden deep in the forest. The Princess walked up to the cave accompanied by her two guards, who followed her.
Princess Celestia came to hold as soon as she came close to something inside of it. A tree. A light-blue colored tree made out of crystals or diamonds. The princess took a closer look at the tree as if she was looking for something. But that something wasn't there.
"I could swear...that something was happening to the Tree of Harmony...but it looks just like I remember it..." she figured. Still, she had the suspicion that something was wrong.
"You actually came..." A male voice then said, coming from behind the tree.
The princess's attention was quickly caught. At first, she thought one of her guards spoke up but soon she realized that somepony was stepping forward from behind the tree, walking up to her.
It was Ashgray.
"I was wondering if fiddling around with the tree would have been enough to lure you in here," the stallion said with a grim smile on his face.
Princess Celestia didn't like the sound of that at all. She formed a serious expression on her face. "What did you do!?" She said in anger, causing her two guards to step next to hear and pointing their lances at the Unicorn.
Ashgray, however, seemed unimpressed. "I didn't do anything...turns out the tree is actually pretty strong even without the elements inside of it," he said while he looked over to the tree.
Again, Princess Celestia didn't like the sound of that. This pony in front of her knew that the Elements of Harmony were once inside this tree, something that only she and her sister should know. This pony had some explanations to do. "How do you know about this tree? Who are you?" She asked.
The Unicorn looked over to Princess Celestia, his face showing little emotion. He didn't reply straight away but right before he did, a smile formed on his face, much to the princesses dislike. It made her feel uncomfortable.
"Come on Celestia! Is that a way to speak with an old friend?" Ashgray replied almost in a happy tone.
Princess Celestia lowered her eyebrows confused. She figured that this pony was trying to mess with her. The smile, that he kept on his face, was only supporting this theory. However, for some reason, something felt familiar about him, she just could not put it in any way. And the more she tried to think about it, the more her head started to hurt.
Eventually, the smile on Ashgray's face vanished. "Oh, yeah, you forgot about me..." he said with a bitter sound in his voice. "Must be nice to have all your problems vanish into thin air, huh?" He said mockingly. "Did you forget about Luna as well? You know, your sister? The one you banished on the moon?"
Those words struck the princess hard. She lowered her head in discomfort, something that her guards noticed as well. The two of them walked in front of her in a defensive position. It was obvious that Ashgray was not just there to have a nice talk anyway so they both figured they should be ready for anything.
Princess Celestia was able to finally found her words again and looked at the Unicorn with a serious expression on her face. "The banishment of my sister was the most difficult choice in my whole life. It was a choice I had to do nonetheless, to save the ponies of Equestria," she said, her words sounding powerful.
Ashgray glanced at the princess as if he was looking down at her but soon his face was showing signs of sadness. "You know, I actually believe you...or at least I can relate how you must feel," he admitted. "Still, if you can't take care of your own sister then it only proves that a pony like you is not fit to rule over Equestria,"
With every passing moment, it felt as if Ashgray was judging the princess more and more. He clearly had no respect for her title and talked about her as if he knew her more than she did herself. Those words also slowly ignited some anger inside of Princess Celestia's two guards.
"You will refrain to talk to our princess with this little respect!" One of them threatened, pointing his lance right at the Unicorn.
The gray pony moved his eyes towards the guard for one moment, his horn starting to glow in a red light which soon surrounded the guard as well, pushing him away and knocking him against a wall, leaving him unconscious. The other guard felt his confidence to deal with Ashgray slip after seeing that and played with the thought to back away but as soon as he looked over to Ashgray again, he was blasted away by a shot of magic.
Princess Celestia did not take it too well that her two guards were attacked like that and glared at the stallion angrily. Being able to knock out her guards like that with no effort at all, only concerned her more than she already was. This pony was dangerous and had evil intentions, that much was clear just by exchanging a few words with him. And Princess Celestia was no longer standing around to find out what those intentions were.
"I could feel that something was wrong with the Tree of Harmony, that someone was trying to use magic against it. You did this knowing that I would come to check it, right? For what reason? What business do you have with me?" Princess Celestia asked after she was done putting the pieces together.
Ashgray kept up a serious expression on his face. "The Elements of Harmony returned," he simply replied. "I need them. And to get them I need you,"
More and more things started to worry the princess. This pony was sharing more and more information about things that he shouldn't know. Things that could provide a danger for Equestria. But for what reason? That is what Princess Celestia wanted to know.
"What are you planning to do with the Elements of Harmony?" She asked.
A quick answer came from Ashgray. "You stole the throne along with your sister. It was supposed to belong to you but you took it by force. And I will not let this go by any longer," he explained.
Princess Celestia was thinking about those words but they didn't make any sense to her. From who did she stole the throne? She also doesn't remember to take the throne of Equestria by force. This pony was completely delusional or maybe even crazy. Just the thought that a pony like his would posses the Elements of Harmony was worrying her.
Still, Ashgray continued. "Once there was finally peace between the pony races you claimed to be the one who brought it to everypony. You stomped the sacrifices that were made to archive it. You forgot about the ones who made it possible, like everyone else," he said before he looked over to the Tree of Harmony again. He paused for a moment. A sense of nostalgia could be seen on his face, sadness even. But this sadness vanished quickly and he looked at the Princess again in anger. "But I didn't!" He said determinedly.
A red light started to surround Ashgray's horn. He was readying his magic for an attack. Princess Celestia was caught off guard for a moment, still thinking about the words of this pony. Ashgray shot at her but she managed to get out an attack in the very last second, crossing beams with the stallion.
A beam struggle happened. Princess Celestia was having some trouble keeping it up at first but after concentrating some more magic, she found herself winning in the end. Ashgray was hit by her counter attack and flew back, dropping on the ground by Princess Celestia's magic.
After letting out some exhausted breathes, Princess Celestia emerged victorious from this battle. The stallion didn't move and was unconscious. The princess walked slowly towards the stallion to check on him. She needed to ask him some questions so she decided to restrain him. He was obviously too dangerous to roam around Equestria.
As the princess moved close enough, however, some strange symbol was appearing on the ground beneath her hooves. She was too surprised to react in time and soon she was feeling pain as if she was struck by lightning. It was a spell to paralyze or trap her on the spot. She couldn't move and shortly after, a sphere of magic was surrounding her. She tried to escape it immediately but it was no use. Her magic didn't work and raw force didn't do anything either. She was completely trapped inside with no way out.
And once there was no way out for her, Ashgray decided to get up on his hooves again. He didn't seem as hurt as he was supposed to be. A victorious smile was on the stallion's face. "Do you really think that I wouldn't prepare myself before I face you?" He teased as he walked up to the princess. "But then again, you never were better with magic as I was,"
More and more words were thrown at her that confused her. This pony was talking to her as if he knew her, making it all the more confusing because she had no idea who he was.
"Celestia..." Ashgray then started as he looked into the eyes of the princess, his eyes filled with a hint of sadness again. "I am not the one to talk down on you when it comes to your confrontation with your sister. I know you had no choice but to banish her, in order to protect Equestria..."
Sympathy. That is the feeling she got from the gray pony now. Princess Celestia could not read what was going on in this pony's head, she was just confused and thought to herself that she was supposed to remember something. But she didn't and for some reason, that is what made Ashgray act like that.
"You look at me as if I am evil," the stallion said. "But I am not. I thought you were my friend but you betrayed me," he said with anger filling his face again. "You took away my family and my friends! Ponies look at you as if you were a savior! But all you did was taking the credit for everything that my friends fought for!" He exclaimed while he was stomping against the sphere, causing Princess Celestia to widen her eyes in surprise.
Soon, Ashgray calmed down again and walked away, leaving the princess in this state. But now before he told he looked at her once more, telling her those final words. "I was right back then..." he said with a bitter tone in his voice. "Winterglow was not the one who was supposed to be gone,"
At this moment, for the first time, Princess Celestia actually recalled something that the pony told her. "Winterglow?" She said, having not heard that name for a very long time.
But before she could even ask further, the sphere around her was starting to glow in a bright light that sent pain through her whole body. The princess screamed in pain until she eventually fell unconscious from it.
Ashgray did not feel bad for the princess and just walked away. He was now ready to set his plan in motion. His plan to steal the Elements of Harmony from Summershine and his friends. And having Princess Celestia as a hostage would most likely help him to archive that goal.
To be continued...