Alex, along with Tom, John, Spike, Twilight, and her friends, stood onstage as they observed the crowd as they continued to cheer.
“What do you know?” said Tom to Alex. “Looks like you’re a star now.”
“Yeah,” responded Alex, “but that duel really wiped me out. I’d very much not like to handle the inevitable news and paper interviews right now.”
As if on cue, Spike burped up another letter.
“Do you think it’s Princess Celestia congratulating you on your win?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“I think Celestia would send a letter over something less trivial,” spoke Twilight. Spike began to read the letter aloud.
“My Dearest Twilight,
I realize that you are confused as to why Alex is wearing one of the Elements of Harmony. I would like you all to return to Alex’s home as quickly as possible so I can explain. This is something that I believe should be discussed with everyone. Make haste, for I would imagine the paparazzi is getting closer.
Signed,
Princess Celestia
P.S.: Alex, your duel was splendid. Wonderful job.”
Rainbow Dash shot a small smirk at Twilight, but it didn’t phase Twilight in the slightest.
“You heard the Princess,” shouted Twilight. “Let’s go!”
Alex, Spike, Twilight, and the other five ponies, Elements still in tow, ran from the stage and towards the parking lot.
“Wait!” called the announcer to Alex. “Don’t you want your prize for winning?”
“Just mail it to him or something!” shouted Tom.
Tom whistled loudly from the stage, getting the interest of Carolyn, Sarah, Emma, Jenny, and Lisa. Tom followed this with a wave of his arm, telling his family and friends in the crowd to follow Alex back to the parking lot. Tom and John followed close behind.
Once the three masses of people and ponies reconvened, they got seated in their respective vehicles. Alex and Tom would ride on the motorcycle, Carolyn would drive the ponies plus Spike, Emma would drive Reese’s car with a spare key, and Jenny and Lisa gave John a ride.
Their vehicles were parked in a lot southwest of the baseball field where Claude and Applejack dueled and the only exit was north of them. Carolyn, Lisa, and Emma drove north to the exit, but Tom was going west.
“Tom!” shouted Alex. “What are you doing?”
“It’s going to be you that the media wants. So I’m going to create a diversion.”
“What?”
Tom ignored Alex’s questioning and continued speeding towards an entrance to the Riverwalk. While Alex may have bent the rules yesterday for riding a bike on the Riverwalk with Twilight (only walking or jogging is allowed), it would certainly be illegal to take a large motorcycle onto it. Tom didn’t care, and he was going to do whatever it took for his friend to avoid the media circus.
Tom shouted for people still on the path to get out of the way. He wasn’t going too fast as to not give people enough warning or not straying too far away from his other family and friends still on their way, but he still needed to move or else a cop might notice him, and that would certainly break Tom’s “diversion” apart.
Thankfully, upon reaching the end of the Riverwalk and getting back onto the street, there wasn’t a cop in sight. Even better, Tom had just pulled up in front of Carolyn’s car, which was followed by Lisa’s and Emma’s. The group had evaded the press, and it was smooth sailing until they returned home.
Tom and Carolyn parked their vehicles into the garage while Lisa and Emma parked on the driveway. Carolyn was not happy as she approached her son.
“Tom, are you crazy?” she scolded. “You can’t go onto the Riverwalk like that. Do you have any idea what could have happened if there was a police officer?”
“Yeah,” lazily answered Tom. “Good thing there wasn’t though, right?”
“Please,” said Twilight, “stop fighting. We’re all here, so let’s just see what’s going on.”
Carolyn got her keys and then unlocked and opened the front door for everyone. Upon opening the door, Carolyn was frozen in her sight.
“Mrs. Emmitt?” asked Alex, jogging up to see what was the matter.
Getting a better view, Alex could see clearly what Carolyn was seeing. In the living room was Princess Celestia.
That must be what startled her, thought Alex.
There were four others standing there too. Alex easily recognized the two humans as Reese and Claude, who looked very glad to see them. The other two were ponies, one of them being a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane and tail. The other was a pink alicorn mare with a long cream, pink, and purple mane and tail.
“Alex,” sighed Reese happily.
“Reese,” Alex responded similarly. They both walked up to each other and shook hands.
“Is everything okay?” asked Twilight from outside the house. Soon, everyone else entered. Each of the humans were very shocked to see Princess Celestia for the first time, while the ponies, plus Spike, were happy to see their princess and friends standing there.
Emma was the first to break her stare from Celestia, refocusing towards Reese. Overwhelmed with happiness that her brother was safe, she ran into his open arms, which wrapped around her. In Reese’s familiar embrace again, Emma silently wept in jubilation.
As each of the other humans sought to meet Celestia, Twilight was getting a warm embrace from the white unicorn by Celestia’s side.
“I’ve missed you, Twily,” he said in a tenor raspy voice. “Are you alright?”
“More than alright, big brother,” she responded. “If it weren’t for them, we’d be in a lot more trouble right now. In fact, that reminds me…”
Twilight led the white unicorn and the pink alicorn to Alex, who was giving Claude his Stone of Equus card back.
“Sorry if I’m interrupting,” butted in Twilight, “but there are two ponies that I’d like you to meet. Alex this is my brother, Shining Armor.”
“It’s an honor to meet you,” said Shining Armor, allowing Alex to shake his hoof. “You fought very well, even though, admittedly, I didn’t know what you were doing half the time.”
“That’s understandable,” responded Alex.
“And this,” said Twilight, mentioning the alicorn, “is my sister-in-law, Princess Cadance.”
“Excellent.” Alex also shook her hoof. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your acquaintance?”
“Princess Celestia says she’ll explain everything,” said Cadance.
“Indeed I shall,” said Princess Celestia from the side. With a surprisingly loud clearing of her throat, she then garnered everyone’s attention.
“I’m glad you were all here to make it. There some things that I should tell you considering what happened this morning.”
“Yes,” agreed Alex, “like what is this golden necklace that appeared on me?”
"And where can I get one," joked Jenny.
“I supposed this is where we can start this discussion. My little ponies are more than acquainted with this tail, but you humans aren’t quite savvy with the Elements of Harmony.”
Each of the humans listened in.
“Long ago, there was a time in which discord, literally and figuratively, ruled the land. In an effort to stop this era of disharmony, my sister, Princess Luna, and I founded the Elements of Harmony, the most powerful form of magic known to ponykind, and vanquished the evil from our land.
“Each Element represents a facet of friendship and harmony: Loyalty, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, Kindness, and Magic. In the many years that I’ve ruled over Equestria, my sister and I were the sole bearers of the Elements and were the only ones with access to their power.
“However, an unfortunate incident involving my sister’s transformation into Nightmare Moon, the jealous and spiteful ego of my sister, and her subsequent banishment, led me to became the sole wielder of the Elements. Eventually, even my power over them began to fade with time, leaving me to find six other ponies whose combined spirits could inherit their power and wield them in my stead in times of peril: in other words, Twilight and her friends.”
“What does this have to do with me, though?” asked Alex. “If there are only six Elements, why has another one appeared to me?”
“I’m glad you asked this, because this is going to cause a shock to everyone in this room. Alexander Yuwell represents the spirit of the Element of Passion.”
“What?” asked everyone in unison.
“Element of Passion?” asked Twilight vehemently. “What is this? How come I’ve never heard of it? This doesn’t make sense! I–”
“It’s alright, my faithful student,” interrupted Celestia. “I didn’t expect this to come easily for you, but I’ll do my best to explain. Now, Twilight, what are the colors of each Element, minus the Element of Passion?”
“That’s easy,” spoke Twilight. “The Element of Loyalty is red, the Element of Laughter is blue, the Element of Kindness is pink, the Element of Honesty is orange, the Element of Generosity is purple, and the Element of Magic is magenta.”
“Are you sure,” asked Princess with a sly smile, “because I don’t think I remember pink being one of the Element’s colors.” Celestia silenced Twilight’s rebuttal by giving her a book that was on a sofa. Twilight recognized it immediately.
“I…” Twilight began, “I read this book just before I was sent away to live in Ponyville on the Summer Sun Celebration that Nightmare Moon returned. It’s a collection of old pony’s tales, one of which is the story of Nightmare Moon.”
“I’d suggest flipping to the page with the Elements of Harmony.”
Twilight skimmed the book until she found a page with the Elements. There were six gems in the center of a yellow sun shaped disk. Five of them were placed like points on a star, while the sixth was placed in the center.
“Now,” resumed Celestia, “what colors do you see here?”
“Let’s see,” mumbled Twilight, deep in thought, “Red, blue, orange, green, pur– Green?” She then looked back at Alex’s necklace, whose gem was green like the gem in the illustration. “Bu… but how?”
“It’s simple. When Nightmare Moon was being banished, she tried to stop me by attacking the Elements head-on. It didn’t stop her banishment, but it caused the Element of Kindness, which was once the green gem, to become damaged. I had the original Element of Kindness deactivated and stored deep within the castle. I then replaced it with the pink gem, which now rests in Fluttershy’s possession.”
“Well, how did the other element fix itself? How did it suddenly become the Element of Passion? Why did it go to a human instead of a pony? I’m still so confused!”
“Patience, Twilight. All will be revealed.” Celestia then turned her attention to Alex. “Alex, what were you doing the moment our world appeared near yours. Better yet, what were you doing when you and Reese appeared in our world?”
“I was dueling with Reese,” answered Alex. “Why?”
“Do you remember anything specific happening right before you were sent?” Reese had decided to answer this question instead.
“I had dealt a heavy blow to Alex, and then I insulted him and his friends. That’s when he made an impassioned…”
“Go on,” said Celestia.
“…He told me that I would pay for disrespecting his friends. And then we were sent up the second he drew his card.”
“Exactly. It was Alex’s impassioned support of his friends through his dueling that fully restored the Element’s power and gave it its new name.”
“But how is that possible?” asked Twilight. “Our worlds had to have been too far away for a non-magical alien creature to connect to the broken element like that.”
“Who says it was Alex who connected our planets together?” asked Celestia.
“What?”
“At that very same moment those two were dueling, a very powerful force connected itself to our world, the same force that attempted to steal away the Stones of Equus.
“Rae Sulfa Tun.”
“It would seem so. Rae has undeniably stolen many of the Stones of Equus, but when Alex stood up for his friends that day, the spirit of his passionate heart must have been channeled through Rae’s magic and restored the Element's power, thus, making him the bearer of it.”
“Upon the reactivation of the Element, it awoke the powers of the other Elements as well. This new Element was restored with the six original Elements, causing a massive surge of unstable magic that not only caused Alex and Reese to be sent to Equestria, but it disrupted Rae’s own magic, and even pulled our world to yours.”
“But that still doesn’t explain why a non-pony would be able to wield the Elements' power,” responded Twilight.
“There’s no need for explanation,” reasoned Celestia. “You and your friends became the wielders of the Elements of Harmony because your traits matched the virtue that each Element represented. Whether it be a pony, dragon, griffon, or even a creature from another world, anyone can possess the spirit to wield the Elements of Harmony.”
Twilight and the other ponies (including Spike) were stunned. While the humans found it more interesting that Alex was now an asset to an ancient otherworldly power, this whole revalation shook the ponies to their core. Everything they knew had changed.
“But,” stuttered Twilight. “I...”
“Please, don’t be upset,” cooed Celestia to her flustered student. “I realize how much things have changed now, but please, do not be upset. Rae and her allies still lurk about, and they need to be stopped. Being upset will not accomplish that.” Twilight took a second to think.
“You’re right. I shouldn’t let my negative feelings keep me from trying to save our homes. And if I know my friends, they’ll back me up 100%, so I should have even less to worry about. Hey, that would make a great letter. Spike?”
“No need. I think I can remember that one.”
“I also wanted to ask,” said Alex. “You brought these other two ponies here. Why?”
“Simple. I was going to allow Twilight and her friends to spend some time with their families back in Equestria for a while, so while they’re gone, I was going to leave Shining Armor and Cadance to guard you in their place.”
“That’s all well and good, but our adversaries are attacking us through Duel Monsters, so they’d first and foremost need to learn the game and get a deck.”
“No problem,” jumped in John. “I’ll let them come to my shop tomorrow and we can get something arranged.”
“In the meantime,” said Tom, “how about we get some pizza up in here? We still need to celebrate Alex’s win. Plus, I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
“What time is it?” asked Carolyn. The small clock on the living room table said 2:30. “Oh…”
“Yeah,” agreed Reese, “I’m feeling a little, how do you say, peckish?”
“What’s pizza?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Only the best thing a human has ever created since sliced bread,” answered Tom.
“I’ll call them up. How does six large cheeses and two sausages sound?”
“Fine,” said Tom. “I’m going to go upstairs and study.”
“Study?” asked Twilight. “For what?”
“Oh, crap!” exclaimed Alex. “I forgot that I have a Calculus test tomorrow!” Even though Alex was a savior of both his and Twilight’s world now, he still had earthly responsibilities to attend to. Twilight, however, beamed with anticipation over hearing that Alex needed to study.
Alex was already in his room looking through all of his notes, study guide, and his textbook on his bed when Twilight arrived. His Element was placed neatly on his dresser.
“I heard you were studying for a math test,” she stated. “Want some help?”
“That would be… great. Thank you.”
Twilight took off her golden tiara Element and hopped onto the bed, looking through his study guide with him. Only half of the answers were filled out already, and Twilight’s drooped ears and confused face unnerved Alex.
“How did I do so far?” he asked sheepishly.
“I have to say,” said Twilight, “not too good. These answers are mostly wrong.”
“Yeah, well, Calculus has never been my strongest suit.”
“Pfft. Some Element of Passion you turned out to be,” she said jokingly.
“Hey now, can’t a guy have his weaknesses? I may be one of the Elements of Harmony, but I’m certainly not perfect.”
“Relax, I was just teasing.” Twilight took another look at the ankh shaped gem in Alex’s Element. “I was wondering, the gems in our Elements like our cutie marks, so what does your gem mean?”
“This?” asked Alex, pointing to the gem. “This is called an ankh. Ancient Egyptians considered this a symbol of life.”
“Wait. What are Egyptians?”
“They were an ancient civilization that lived in a northeastern African country called Egypt, which is another land in our world. My dad had a deep passion for something that had its roots in ancient Egypt: astronomy.” The last word perked Twilight’s interest.
“Astronomy, huh? What did your father do in that field?”
“He helped develop a space telescope that they hoped to rival Hubble. Here, let me show you.”
Alex pulled out his black HP Pavilion dv6 laptop and opened up Google, typing “hubble telescope” into the search bar. He showed her many of the images of stars and nebulas that the telescope had captured, which simply amazed Twilight.
“This is incredible,” sighed Twilight. “Equestrian astronomers would kill to see what I’m seeing.”
“Yeah? Just wait until you see these.” Alex then replaced “hubble” on the search bar with “orion.” More images of stars and nebulas came onto the computer screen, these being just as unique and awesome as the ones before.
“So these are the images taken by your dad’s telescope?”
“They are,” said Alex, looking at his computer screen. He looked at one nebula in particular that made Alex reminisce.
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“Wow,” said a young nine-year old Alex. “It’s so bright!” Alex looked at a white, wispy nebula through a large monitor in Alex’s dad’s lab.
“It’s amazing isn’t it?” asked his dad, putting his hands on his son’s shoulders. “In fact, how would you like to take a picture of it?”
“Really? I can do that?”
“Sure thing. See that screen there?”
His dad pointed to a touch screen on the control panel that read: “CAPTURE IMAGE” and two boxes below it with the word “YES” in one box and “NO” in the other. Alex was bright enough for his age to know that he was supposed to push the “yes” box, which he did. The screen then froze onto the image, immortalized in all of its glory.
“Very good,” Alex’s dad said. “You just helped capture history.”
Alex beamed as he continued to look at the nebula he just captured.
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Alex beamed as he continued to remember his time with his dad. So much so, that he was completely ignoring Twilight, who was trying to get his attention.”
“ALEX!” she finally shouted, waking Alex out of his daydream.
“Oh,” moaned Alex, a little offput by Twilight’s shrill voice, “sorry.”
“What were you even thinking about?”
Alex went back to the picture of the nebula and pointed at it.
“You see that nebula?”
“Yeah? And?”
“My dad let me into his lab once when I was a younger. That picture there, I took it.”
“Really? That must have been fun.”
“It really was. He was a great dad, and I’m sure you would have really liked him if you had the chance to meet him.”
“I’m sure I would. He had to have been great to raise a son like you.” Alex shed a warm smile and brushed Twilight’s mane with his fingers.
“Thanks, Twilight.”
Alex moved his hand from her mane to behind her ears, scratching them gently. Twilight felt wonderful as he moved his fingers up and down, causing her tail to sway to the side. Twilight’s tail brushed a couple of Alex’s calculus notes and his study guide, the resounding noise of the papers rustling as they hit the floor bringing them to Alex and Twilight’s attention.
“Oh yeah,” said Alex, gathering his now discarded papers. “That.”
“Let’s get back to studying.”
“Can you help me with what I’m doing wrong?”
“Sure. Let’s see here…”
Twilight and Alex looked over the notes and study guide, with Twilight giving Alex help and hints on how to solve each equation.
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About an hour passed when Alex was writing the last few numbers of the last equation that he had to solve. With Twilight’s help, he felt more knowledgeable with the subject than he ever thought possible.
“Well,” stated Twilight. “That takes care of that. I must say, you really got a lot better near the en–”
Twilight felt her words being cut off by Alex as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Thank you so much for everything, Twilight. I’m so sorry that all of this happened to you. If I could fix it–”
“Shh,” interrupted Twilight softly, patting Alex’s back. “I don’t blame you for anything. We’re friends. We’ll get through it.”
Alex and Twilight continued to embrace until they heard the sound of a doorbell.
“Pizza!” happily called Alex and Twilight simultaneously, running downstairs to get fed.
Their swift movements off the bed knocked the study guide back onto the floor. However, it was fully filled out and corrected, all with the help from Alex’s new friend.
