//------------------------------//
// The Elements Of Harmony 
// Story: Beyond Me 
// by Boopy Doopy 
//------------------------------//

Before long, I was waking up to the groaning of four girls next to me.
“Ugh…” Diamond Tiara got out, rubbing her forehead as I opened my eyes. “I don’t feel good…”
“Neither do I…” Scootaloo agreed, groaning just as painfully. “My head hurts…”
“You guys are probably dehydrated,” I said as I yawned. “You need to drink water, which is something I don’t remember you getting all of yesterday… is it still dark outside?”
I got up and went to the window and sure enough, it looked like it was still the middle of the night outside, the moon hanging high in the sky and the sun nowhere to be seen. I didn’t know what time it was, but I had to assume it was morning by now, late enough for the sun to have risen. Which, of course, meant that that librarian hadn’t done what Celestia said she would do and save the day. I was just a little bit concerned, seeing that I was apparently supposed to be meeting with the two of them this morning and Celestia didn’t seem like the type to just up and cancel something. Not to mention, there was also that other pony, the one who was… well, terrifying to say the least. I didn’t really feel up for seeing her again, and hoped that the princess would take care of the mess she created.
“Oh, I hope my sister is okay,” Sweetie Belle said worriedly as she stood up, immediately laying back down a second later though. “Ow, my head…”
“Drink water you guys, please. Alcohol dehydrates you. That’s why your head hurts. You need to drink water.”
With that suggestion, the group of girls yawned again and stood up to make their way to the kitchen, leaving me alone in the living room for just a moment.
“Lord, please protect us,” I prayed silently. “If it’s in your will, let this night end and the sunrise again.”
With that, I got up and headed over to them to eat breakfast. However, I was stopped by Holiday before I could get there. I could only guess what she wanted me for.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” I told her immediately before she could ask a question. “All I know is what Celestia told me, that being that the other pony I told you about would take care of all of this.”
“I was only going to ask how you were feeling, dear,” Holiday responded. “It was very scary yesterday, especially with what you went through. Are you doing okay?”
“Well, not really, but I’ll be fine probably. I’m just angry at… well, I know you don’t want me to talk about the princess. Anyway, where’s Miss Lofty? I haven’t seen her since we left that other building.”
“She should still be with Rainbow Dash, I think. I went out to try to see her yesterday, but apparently Mayor Mare has guards out on patrol to make sure everypony stays inside. They don’t want anypony out right now because of… well, you know.”
“Huh. Well, I hope she’s okay… I hope her catching me didn’t hurt her worse. Gosh, just thinking about that is gonna make me shiver. Anyway, what time is it?”
“It’s just after eight in the morning, which means the sun should be well up by now,” the mare answered. “It also means it’s time for young men to get their breakfast.”
“W-well, I’m not a young man per se,” I got out, smiling happily at what she called me, “but I’ll take some breakfast.”



The six ponies moving through the Everfree Forest were tired by the time they reached the castle of the two sisters. Once the group had finished their business in Ponyville, which included Rarity checking on her little sister and her friends and Fluttershy making sure her animals were all sleeping and their food bowls were filled in case she wasn’t back by morning, among other things, Twilight spent time going over with them everything she knew about the forest. She wanted to make sure they were well prepared going in and tried to make a plan for any situation that might arise. All in all, it took more than a little while before they were moving, and when they did, they moved slowly and carefully to make sure they were all safe.
Lightning Dust took over being in charge of the group and leading the way, and made sure everypony knew it. They made their careful way down the cliff to the manticore that Nightmare Moon possessed, she and Twilight combining their efforts to subdue it. Afterwards, they made it past the rough river created by a crying purple sea serpent, doing so by Fluttershy and Lightning Dust carrying Twilight and Pinkie Pie across before Rarity donated part of her tail to calm the gentle beast and hitch a ride on his back. Finally, Fluttershy crossed the broken bridge to tie the rope leading across to the Castle of the Two Sisters, the six ponies carefully making their way inside.
“There they are, the Elements of Harmony!” Twilight said excitedly as she made her way up to them, Fluttershy and Lightning already getting them down from the podium they stood on. “We found them!”
“But… there’s only five here!” Pinkie said, counting each one out loud. “I thought you said there were six, Twilight!”
“The book said,” she explained, “that when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth element to be revealed.”
“Well what in Equestria could that possibly mean?” Lightning Dust asked, getting closer to examine it, as if she could figure out the secret.
“I’m not sure, but I have an idea,” she told her as she started to light up her horn. “Stand back everypony. I don’t know what will happen.”



Princess Celestia watched the scene from her invisible prison, cursing silently to herself at the sight. She didn’t know what happened, but she did know that she saw two ponies who were with Twilight Sparkle in place of Applejack and Rainbow Dash. How that came to be, she couldn’t say, but she did know it meant that her plans for Twilight, at least tonight, wouldn’t be coming to fruition. At least, not in the way she had planned it out to be.
She found herself severely disliking the idea that a Discord type deity called “God” existed, especially a deity that seemed to want to interfere with her plans for Equestria by sending that filly there. Of course, that was assuming such a being even existed, which she highly doubted. Still, she knew she should probably investigate such matters and take appropriate action if necessary. For now, though, she’d have to control the situation as best she could.
The Princess watched as Twilight and Rarity both lit their horns up, Nightmare Moon’s smoke swirling around them. She wanted to choose the right moment to reveal herself and fix the situation that was created, as well as validate Twilight Sparkle as a hero. It wasn’t ideal, but she figured she could work with it.
She watched her sister grabbed the elements from her student, causing the purple mare to charge after her in attack. The princess braced herself, expecting her student to hit her sister, and was surprised when she suddenly faked her out, teleporting herself to the elements at the last second. She smiled to herself at the clever maneuver before realizing this should be her moment to interrupt.
“Twilight!” she called, revealing herself to her and her five new friends, as well as her sister, who looked at her with shock. “The Elements!” she instructed, pressing a hoof up against the invisible glass. “Bring them here!”
Twilight only hesitated a moment before using her magic to send them her way, Celestia catching them with her own just a moment before her sister snatched them out of the air. What happened next seemed fairly quick to her. She lit up her horn and closed her eyes, doing the best she could to connect her energy to it, silently asking the Elements of Harmony to still be connected to her, and smiling widely when they were. She watched as they lit up for her, and then used her magic to direct a wave of rainbow colored energy at Nightmare Moon, watching as she was taken up in the brightly colored swirl and being stripped away from her sister. At the same time, the glass that surrounded her prison shattered, freeing her completely and allowing her to gently float down to meet her subjects in the crumbling castle.
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight called happily as she trotted up to hug her, the other five ponies with her bowing respectfully. “You’re safe!”
“Quite safe as it seems, and it's all thanks to you, my faithful student,” the alicorn responded in kind. “I knew you could do it.”
“Wait, what? But… you told me it was all an old pony tale, princess,”
She chuckled at that, a bit nervous as she explained, “I only told you to make some friends, Twilight. Nothing more. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon’s return and knew that you, with the help of your friends, could find them for me, and help me free my sister, Princess Luna.”  It was technically the truth, she did know that her student could find the Elements for her, although they weren’t lost in any way. She took careful steps in making sure she didn’t technically lie so that she had a way to maneuver herself later if it came back up. She could see plain as day there was much more Twilight wanted to ask as she raised a hoof and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, she stepped over to her sister and put the attention of the room on her.
She went through the motions of asking if her sister would accept her friendship and welcoming her back to Equestria after a thousand years before raising the sun high in the sky, starting the day again. As she did so, she wondered how she was going to play the Asher situation with Twilight. She didn’t know how Twilight would react to the introduction, other than she would be asking a hundred questions about the filly. As well, she found herself extremely annoyed by the fact that Applejack and Rainbow Dash didn’t come along with her to the Everfree and that the Elements were indeed still bound to her. It worked out in the end, but she had set it up for the Elements to bind to the six that she expected it to. She had a plan she wanted to play out with her student, and didn’t know if that would be possible now with the way things turned out, even if the end result of the Nightmare’s destruction was the same after everything. She had to force herself not to look nervous or angry thinking about it. 
“Maybe there’s a way I can force the elements to bind to the six?” she silently asked herself before shaking her head clear of those thoughts. “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” she told herself and she hugged Princess Luna. “Twilight will still take my place as ruler if I have anything to say about it. I won't let that filly's introduction into Equestria ruin things for me, whether or not that creature it believes in truly exists.”
With that thought in mind, she turned back to her student and kindly said, “Now, let’s head back to Ponyville and enjoy the longest day of the year, as well as introduce you to Asher.”