//------------------------------// // 11. Equestria's last hope // Story: The Elements of Disharmony: A Queen's Revenge // by Italibaso //------------------------------// Ocellus, still in her giant green bug form, carried Starlight in her four arms and flew away from Canterlot as fast as she could, knowing that the threat was far too big to handle on her own. She looked down at the unconscious unicorn and noticed the burn mark on the tip of her horn as well as the big scar on the left side. ''I'm sorry.'' Ocellus said to herself, trying her best to fight back her tears. She continued heading to the Frozen North, but looked back over her shoulder when she heard something coming from behind her. A look of shock and terror appeared on Ocellus's face when she saw the big, dark magical sphere consuming all of Canterlot. The thing grew bigger and bigger and soon headed her way, consuming everything that it touched. Ocellus looked back in front of her, flapped her wings as hard as she could and tried to outfly the dark sphere. It seemed to work for a few seconds, but eventually the giant sphere slowly began to catch up to her. Ocellus looked back one more time to see that the dark sphere was only a few inches away from both her and Starlight. She wanted to flap her wings even harder, but soon felt her wings getting more and more tired. Eventually Ocellus felt the dark sphere touching the back of her body. She quickly covered her eyes and held Starlight close against her body, awaiting whatever terrible fate was about to be bestowed upon them as the sphere consumed both of them. Everything around Ocellus quickly turned to complete darkness. A full minute passed and Ocellus felt nothing happening to her. She opened her eyes again and was surprised to find out that both her and Starlight were completely unharmed. Sadly the same could not be said for what she saw below her. The once beautiful nature of Equestria had turned into a nightmarish wasteland. The trees were barren, all plant life was dead, rivers had dried up, a heavy wind was blowing down over the wasteland and dark crystals had emerged from the ground everywhere. Ocellus watched from above in shock and disbelief. Thunderous sounds coming from the sky caused her to look up in the air, where she saw many black clouds floating away from Cloudsdale. The rainbow waterfall that poured down from the cloud city had lost all of it's color. The black clouds that kept floating away from the place began to cover most of the dark red sky as lightning struck from many of the clouds. Eventually some of the clouds moved over to the mountain of Canterlot. When Ocellus's eyes looked over to where Canterlot was supposed be, she gasped with a shocked look on her face. The city of Canterlot had changed into a gigantic stone fortress on the side of the mountain. The place consisted of many pointy rocks, all of them covered in holes just like how it was in the old changeling hive. Many green flame torches were decorated on the walls around the fortress. Ocellus watched with a look of despair on her face, ''What has she done?' She said to herself while having trouble taking in what has happened to Equestria. Ocellus took a very deep breath and tried to regain her composure. She turned around and continued flying in the direction to the Frozen North until she reached the big mountains surrounding the Crystal Empire. Ocellus flew over the mountains and finally got a better look of the empire itself in the distance. Unfortunately it seemed that the Crystal Empire had suffered the same fate as the rest of Equestria. The place was littered with the same dark crystals like the ones she saw everywhere else in Equestria. The brightly lit crystal castle in the middle of the empire had become a dark, dreary looking castle made out of the same crystals as the ones littered throughout the empire. As she approached the place, the sound of ponies screaming in fear could be heard from far away. Many crystal ponies could be seen running around the Crystal Empire in panic and fear as more dark crystals sprang out of the ground, nearly hitting some of the ponies that were desperately trying to look for a safe place. Under the castle of the Crystal Empire she noticed three unicorns standing close to a grey Crystal Heart, also covered in the same dark crystals. One of them was a light blue mare wearing a purple wizard hat and cloak, the second one being a orange stallion with glasses wearing a dark blue cloak with stars on it. He seemed to be holding some kind of spell book in his arm. And finally there was a slightly taller and elderly looking mare. She had a long horn and a light and dark blue flowing mane. She wore a shirt with the same color as her mane and had a light pink flower on her chest. ''Oh no.'' Ocellus said to herself when she noticed the state of the Crystal Heart. She quickly made her way down to the three unicorns standing under the dreary looking castle. Sunburst, Trixie and Mistmane all stood around the corrupted Crystal Heart, charged up their horns and casted their magic on the dreary looking heart, causing it to slowly spin around as a light began to shine from the center. For a moment it seemed that the Crystal Heart was about to be restored back to normal, but it only took a few seconds before it slowly changed back to it's corrupted state. ''I don't understand,'' Sunburst said before looking back into the book he was carrying with him, ''That Relic Restoration spell should have done the trick!'' He kept looking through the pages of the book, searching for another spell that could help them. ''This kind of dark magic is beyond anything I've ever seen.'' Mistmane said while looking at the heart in despair. ''Trixie may call herself great and powerful,'' Trixie said with a worried look, ''But even Trixie has to admit that she has no idea how to fix this.'' Mistmane looked behind her to see all the chaos going on in the Crystal Empire. The ponies kept running around while screaming in fear from all the dark crystals. She looked up when she noticed a big creature hovering up in the sky. The creature soon revealed itself to be a giant green bug who carried a light purple unicorn in her four arms. The giant bug seemed to be heading in their direction. ''Something's heading our way!'' Mistmane said while still watching the giant bug coming closer. Sunburst and Trixie both turned their attention to Mistmane before looking up and seeing the giant flying bug creature approaching them. Sunburst narrowed his eyes and looked shocked when he noticed a familiar light purple unicorn laying unconscious in the giant bug's arms. ''Starlight?!'' Sunburst said worriedly. The giant green bug came closer and closer before it landed close in front of the three unicorns. An angry look appeared on Trixie's face, ''What did you do to Starlight, you big ugly bug?!'' She asked furiously as she was already charging up her horn. ''No, wait!'' Ocellus quickly said in a panicky tone, ''It's me!'' Sunburst looked surprised when he heard the giant bug speak. ''Trixie, don't!'' Sunburst quickly said after placing his arm in front of the blue mare, ''That's Ocellus. She's the blue changeling who we saw leave with the others to Canterlot, remember?'' ''That's right.'' Ocellus said, still sounding a little on edge. She gently placed Starlight on the ground in front of the three unicorns and transformed back into her blue changeling form. ''Wait a minute,'' Sunburst asked before his head started looking around, ''Where are the others?!'' ''Chrysalis and the rest of the changelings have captured everyone,'' Ocellus began to explain with a guilty look, ''And it's all my fault.'' ''What?! How did that happen?!'' Sunburst asked while looking concerned. ''Chrysalis and the other changelings disguised themselves as the citizens of Equestria, to make us think that she had already been defeated,'' Ocellus explained, ''I wanted to go warn everyone when I found out it was all a trap, but I was too late. If only I had realized it sooner, maybe I could have saved them.'' ''But what about Starlight?'' Trixie asked while checking on the unconscious pink unicorn. ''That's Chrysalis's doing,'' Ocellus answered before turning her attention to Starlight with sad look on her face, ''She was about to finish Starlight off, but I saved her just in time.'' ''Say what?!'' Trixie said with an angry expression as little sparks appeared from her horn, ''Nopony hurts Starlight Glimmer and gets away with it! The Great and Powerful Trixie is going to teach that love sucking bug queen a lesson!'' ''It's not going to be that simple, Trixie.'' Ocellus said while looking disappointed. ''I don't care!'' Trixie answered, still with an angry look on her face, ''Trixie's not gonna let some puny changelings and their stupid queen stand in her way!'' ''It's not just the changelings,'' Ocellus explained, still having the same dissapointed look on her face, ''Chrysalis has corrupted the Elements of Harmony somehow. And she's put Twilight and her friends under her control.'' ''What?!'' Sunburst said out loud with a shocked look, ''How is that possible?!'' ''I don't know,'' Ocellus answered, ''But she must have used the corrupted Elements of Harmony to create that giant dark sphere that consumed all of Equestria earlier.'' ''That would explain why the Relic Restoration spell didn't work,'' Sunburst said, ''Corrupted or not, the power of the elements is way beyond our magical capabilities.'' ''Then we must find another way to stop this.'' Mistmane said with a concerned look. ''But what else can we do?'' Trixie asked with a worried look, ''Twilight and her friends are the only ones who carry the magic of the elements.'' ''Not exactly,'' Ocellus answered before looking over at Mistmane, ''Mistmane and the other Pillars are also connected to the Elements of Harmony, maybe their magic can restore the elements back to normal.'' ''Great thinking, Ocellus!'' Sunburst said with an excited smile, ''But how are we going to get them all here in time?!'' ''I know a spell that can help with that.'' Mistmane answered. ''You do?!'' Ocellus asked Mistmane with a hopeful tone in her voice. Mistmane nodded, ''But this spell requires deep concentration, so you must not let anything disturb me while I perform it.'' ''We understand, Mistmane.'' Ocellus said. Mistmane took a deep breath, closed her eyes and lit up her horn. A stream of light-blue magic appeared from the ground and surrounded her in a circle. A big snake dragon that seemed to be made out of water emerged from the stream of magic. The water dragon flew up into the sky and away from the Crystal Empire. ''Wow, fascinating,'' Sunburst said loudly as he watched the dragon fly away from the empire, ''I haven't seen spells that unique in forever!'' Trixie gave Sunburst an annoyed look, ''What did she just say?'' ''Oh, right,'' Sunburst said as he showed a nervous smile, ''Deep concentration. My bad.'' Sunburst, Trixie and Ocellus looked back at Mistmane, who much to their relief was still in deep concentration with her eyes closed and a magic aura glowing around her long horn. They all stood by and watched Mistmane for what felt like a whole two minutes, still keeping her eyes closed while the magic aura around her horn remained there. ''Is it working yet?'' Trixie whispered to the others impatiently. ''We need your help, Starswirl,'' Mistmane suddenly said in a calm voice while still remaining in her concentrated state, ''Find the rest of the Pillars and come to the Crystal Empire as soon as you can.'' The aura around Mistmane's horn disappeared and she opened her eyes again. ''What kind of spell was that?'' Sunburst asked while looking curious. ''It's a spell that I learend many years ago before I gave up my beauty,'' Mistmane explained with a calm smile, ''Now it will only be a matter of time before Starswirl and the rest of my friends will show up.'' ''Interesting,'' Sunburst said, ''I'd love to hear more about it.......Um, when this is all over, of course.'' Ocellus looked down and sighed to herself with her head hung low. Mistmane noticed the sad looking changeling and walked over to her. ''Is there something bothering you, child?'' Mistmane asked curiously as she looked at Ocellus. ''I just can't stop thinking about what happened in Canterlot,'' Ocellus explained in a weak voice as tears appeared under her eyes, ''I should have realized sooner that something was off. Maybe then I could have done something to save everyone from Chrysalis, but I didn't. And now all of my friends are captured because of me.'' Mistmane slowly raised Ocellus's chin and looked into her watery eyes, ''Don't blame it all on yourself,'' She said while giving her a comforting smile, ''Nopony always has the answer to every situation, not even Starswirl the Bearded. What matters is that you tried.'' ''But,'' Ocellus said while sniffing with tears rolling down her face, ''But I-'' Mistmane then gently embraced Ocellus into a hug before she could finish her sentence. ''There there, sweet child,'' Mistmane said in a comforting tone while gently patting Ocellus's back, ''There's no need to be so hard on yourself. From what you told me, I think what you did was very brave. I don't know many creatures out there who have that same courage.'' The blue changeling gently hugged her back with tears still rolling down her cheeks. Eventually Ocellus stopped hugging her and dried up her tears. ''Thank you,'' Ocellus said, still in a weak voice, ''But I just wish I could have done more.'' Suddenly a giant white light flashed behind Ocellus and the four unicorns for a split second. They all looked back and saw Starswirl the Bearded with a magically locked journal on his back. Close behind the old wizard stood Mage Meadowbrook, a dark blue earth pony who wore a bird-like mask on her face. Rockhoof, a big light blue stallion carrying a shovel on his back and finally Somnambula, an orange pegasus wearing a blindfold around her neck. ''Mistmane,'' Starswirl the Bearded said with a look of relief before he and the other pillars approached her, ''Thank Celestia, you're also alright. Everything in Equestria has gone out of control!'' ''Ay! Heavy winds and dark stormy clouds are now everywhere in Equestria!'' Rockhoof said, ''And I've also heard something about the Dragonlands being overflood with big amounts of lava.'' ''My village has been caught in a huge sandstorm,'' Somnambula explained, ''It is now nearly impossible for anypony to make their way through without any sort of magical protection.'' ''And the plants in the forest grew out of control and forced me to abandon my home,'' Mage Meadowbrook said before lifting up her mask and showing off her saddle bags, ''But thankfully I managed to take some of my potions with me before I left. You never know.'' Mage Meadowbrook took notice of Starlight's unconscious body laying on the ground. Her eyes widened when she saw the burn mark on the tip of her horn, as well as the small scar. ''My goodness,'' Mage Meadowbrook said while looking concerned at the wounded light purple unicorn, ''What happened to her?'' Ocellus and the others all turned their attention to Starlight Glimmer. ''Chrysalis did that to her,'' Ocellus explained, ''I wanted to save her in time, but-'' ''It's alright, little changeling,'' Mage Meadowbrook said before she started searching through her saddle bags, ''I think I might have just the thing that could heal her wounds.'' ''It's always nice to have somepony as resourceful as you with us, Mage Meadowbrook.'' Rockhoof said with a happy smile. ''No problem, Rockhoof,'' Mage Meadowbrook said, ''You never know when somepony might need some healing, so I never leave home without at least some of my potions.'' After a few more seconds of searching she finally got two small round bottles out of her right saddle bag. One of them being a green bottle filled with blue liquid while the other was a blue bottle filled with white cream. ''What is in those bottles?'' Ocellus asked curiously. ''Some healing cream for her horn and a regular healing potion to give her body some energy,'' Mage Meadowbrook explained, ''That should be enough to get your friend back on her hooves.'' ''Thank you, Meadow Magebrook.'' Trixie said with a look of relief. She then heard Ocellus giggling to herself. ''What's so funny?'' Trixie said while giving the blue changeling a confused look. ''Her name is actually Mage Meadowbrook, Trixie.'' Sunburst said, trying his best not to laugh. ''Um, yeah,'' Trixie replied, ''That's what I said.'' Mage Meadowbrook couldn't help but giggle a little as well, ''No need to thank me.'' She said to Trixie with a friendly smile. Mage Meadowbrook walked over to Starlight while removing the cork from the blue bottle with her mouth. She spat it out and poured some of the white cream onto her hoof. ''This might sting a little.'' Mage Meadowbrook said to the unconscious unicorn. She gently smeared the white cream over the burn mark and the scar on Starlight's horn. The pink unicorn flinched as soon as the cream made contact with her horn, but calmed down after a few seconds when the cream started to take effect. The cream slowly vanished into her horn, causing the scar and the burn mark to slowly disappear. ''Wow, nice work, Mage Meadowbrook!'' Ocellus said in amazement. ''Aw, thank you, sweetie,'' Mage Meadowbrook said with an endearing smile, ''Now just the healing potion and she'll back to normal very soon.'' She opened the other bottle with her mouth. She placed her hoof right on Starlight's upper lip, gently lifted it up to open her mouth and poured the blue liquid from the bottle into the unicorn's mouth. Starlight gently and quietly swallowed the blue liquid. It only took a few seconds for the pink unicorn to slowly open her eyes and stand back up on her hooves. ''It worked!'' Trixie said happily. She immediately rushed over to Starlight and embraced her into a tight hug. ''Trixie?'' Starlight said when she noticed who was hugging her, ''Where am I?'' ''You're safe and sound in the Crystal Empire,'' Trixie answered happily. She eventually stopped hugging Starlight and stepped back a little. ''Wait, what?!'' Starlight said with a surprised look, ''How did I get here?!'' ''Ocellus brought you here.'' Sunburst answered. ''Ocellus?'' Starlight before she looked over at the pillars and saw the blue changeling standing close to them. ''Are you feeling okay, Starlight?'' Trixie asked her. ''Yeah, I think so,'' Starllight said as she rubbed the side of her horn, ''But what about the others?! What happened to them?!'' ''I'm sorry, Starlight,'' Ocellus said with her head hung low, ''I wanted to save the others too when I found out it was all a trap, but I was too late.'' ''Wait, you saved me?'' Starlight asked before looking amazed at Ocellus. Ocellus nodded, ''Yes, but not the others. I hope you can forgi-'' Starlight gave the little changeling a big hug before she could finish her sentence. ''It's okay, Ocellus,'' Starlight said with a comforting tone in her voice , ''Thank you for saving my life. You really are one of the bravest students I've ever seen.'' Ocellus gave her a small smile. ''Uh, guys,'' Sunburst said nervously while looking at the Crystal Heart as more dark crystals slowly emerged from it, ''I hate to interrupt, but we should probably do something about the Crystal Heart right now!'' Starlight, Trixie, Ocellus, Starswirl and the rest of the Pillars all turned their attention to the corrupted Crystal Heart and when they saw many more dark crystals emerge from it. Starswirl was the first one to quickly position himself in front of the heart. He charged up his horn and shot a white magic beam at it. The dark crystals around it began to disappear back into the Crystal Heart as a bright white light began to shine from within the center, which slowly spread itself all over the corrupted heart. But it only lasted for a few seconds before the white light began to fade away again. ''Quick, we must help him!'' Starlight shouted before she used her own magic on the Crystal Heart. Trixie and Mistmane both immediately joined them and shot their magic at the heart as well. As soon as the magic of the four unicorns made contact with the Crystal Heart, the light slowly started to shine brighter once again from within the center of the heart. ''I think it's working!'' Trixie shouted happily. She saw how the light began to shine brighter and brighter. Eventually the Crystal Heart started spinning around slowly. ''You almost got it!'' Ocellus said with a glimmer of hope in her voice. But it was short-lived however, since she soon noticed that the Crystal heart's light started to fade away again. Suddenly a source of dark magic emerged from the center of the corrupted Crystal Heart as it began to spin faster. The dark magic quickly spread over the heart and made it's way across the magic beams of the four unicorns. ''Or not!'' Trixie said with a worried look as she watched the dark magic slowly moving over to her horn. ''Release your magic, now!'' Starswirl shouted. He and the other three unicorns quickly released their magic from the Crystal Heart right before the dark magic was able to reach their horns. They all watched how the Crystal Heart slowly stopped spinning. The light had completely disappeared and the heart had returned back to it's corrupted state. ''It's no use,'' Sunburst said with a defeated look, ''That's only going to prevent the Crystal Heart from becoming completely corrupted for a few minutes.'' ''Then it looks like the Elements of Harmony are our only hope now.'' Ocellus said, sounding alot more determined than before. ''Ay! All we have to do is find Twilight and her friends and they'll restore the Crystal Heart in no time!'' Rockhoof said while looking confident. ''It's not gonna be that easy, Rockhoof.'' Ocellus said. ''Don't worry, little one,'' Rockhoof said confidently, ''Twilight and her friends have saved Equestria plenty of-'' ''You don't understand, Rockhoof,'' Ocellus said, ''Chrysalis has corrupted the Elements of Harmony and put Twilight and her friends under her control somehow. And now she has taking over all of Canterlot.'' ''What?!'' Starswirl said with a look of shock, ''That's impossible! Nopony should have the power to corrupt the Elements of Harmony! It would take a tremendous amount of power to accomplish something like that!'' ''But it's true, I've seen it myself,'' Ocellus explained to Starswirl, ''And that's why I came to seek from you. Since you and the other Pillars are connected to the Elements of Harmony, you could use that magic to restore the elements and return Twilight and her friends back to normal.'' ''That does sound like it could work.'' Mage Meadowbrook said to Starswirl. ''Well, it's a good thing we brought along our artifacts, am I right?'' Rockhoof said while showing off his shovel. ''But we're still missing one of our friends.'' Somnambula said. ''She's right,'' Starswirl said, ''Without Flash Magnus we won't be able to restore the Elements of Harmony back to normal. We must head to Canterlot at once.'' ''I hear ya,'' Rockhoof said determinedly, ''We go to Canterlot, rescue Flash and find a way to save Equestria from all this madness.'' ''I'm coming too.'' Ocellus said with a serious look on her face. ''I don't think so,'' Starswirl asked with a stern look, ''This is far too dangerous for a young creature like you.'' ''I ran away from danger before, and I'm not planning on doing it again,'' Ocellus said, trying to sound as brave and determined as possible, ''My friends have been captured and they need me! That's why I'm coming too, whether you want it or not! And besides, I might know where Flash Magnus is being held.'' ''She does have a point, Starswirl,'' Mage Meadowbrook said, ''She probably knows her way around Canterlot better than any of us do.'' Starswirl thought about it a little while stroking his beard a few times, ''I admire your loyalty and courage, young changeling,'' He said while smiling a little, ''Alright, you can come with us. But you have to promise to do exactly as we say, understand?'' ''I understand.'' Ocellus said with a look of determination. ''Count me in,'' Starlight said to Starswirl and the others Pillars, ''I will take care off Chrysalis, you just focus on taking care of the Elements of Harmony.'' ''Are you sure you can take her on all by yourself, Starlight?'' Ocellus asked with a worried look. ''Don't worry, Ocellus,'' Starlight said with a reassuring look, ''I just need to hold her off long enough for the Pillars to restore the elements back to normal. I'll be fine.'' ''And what about us?'' Trixie asked Starlight. ''We must stay here and take care of the Crystal Heart,'' Sunburst explained to Trixie, ''If it becomes fully corrupted, the consequences for Equestria could be disastrous.'' ''I hear you.'' Trixie said in a somber tone before looking over at Starlight. ''What is it, Trixie?'' Starlight asked. ''.....Promise me you come back in one piece, okay?'' Trixie said with a sad look on her face. ''I promise, Trixie,'' Starlight said with a reassuring smile. A small tear rolled down Trixie's cheek before she hugged her friend. ''Trixie! The Crystal Heart!'' Sunburst said out loud when he noticed the dark crystals coming out of the Crystal Heart once again. Trixie stopped hugging Starlight and immediately looked over at the Crystal Heart as Sunburst was already trying to stop the corrupting with his own magic. She quickly rushed over next to Sunburst and shot her magic at the heart as well. ''We'll try to keep the Crystal Heart from being corrupted!'' Sunburst shouted as he looked over to the Pillars, ''Now go!'' ''Everypony gather around Starswirl!'' Starlight said with a serious look. She, Ocellus and the other Pillars quickly did as they were told and gathered around Starswirl in a circle. ''The fate of Equestria now rests upon us!'' Starswirl said. He closed his eyes, charged up his horn and within a second everyone around him, including himself, disappeared in a giant flash of white light, leaving Sunburst and Trixie to deal with the corrupted Crystal Heart.