"Don't worry, Luna!" Flash cried out, the five members of Team Relic getting into a battle stance. "We're going to save you!" With that, they charged forward and the golem prepared for a fight.
Team Relic's big expedition had been full of one insane situation after another, but they were finally at the finish line. However, blocking their way was a giant golem. It had taken their friend Luna as a hostage, whilst also attempting to transform her back into the monster she had once been. If they weren't able to save her, Nightmare Moon would return and cause who knows how much destruction. They wouldn't let that happen.
"Try this!" Flash swung his sword around, "Lightning Slice!" A blade of electricity flew towards the golem, only for one of its arm blades to spark with energy before shooting it out in a thunderbolt. The two attacks collided and exploded, cancelling each other out.
Flash frowned, as Soarin aimed his bow. "Then how about this. Aero Shot!" He launched the arrow and it flew towards the golem, who held up one of its arms and fired its own wind attack from the red sphere on the back. The two collided and once again, cancelled each other out.
"Icicle Shot!" Trixie launched the ice spear, as Flash held up his shield.
"Blazing Shot!" The fireball exploded from the shield and flew towards the golem along with the icicle. But the metal monster raised its arms and the spheres launched a blast of ice and fire that collided with its opponents and stopped them. "Oh, come on!"
Springer and Wallflower ran forwards, Wallflower summoning her gauntlets in their giant glove forms whilst Springer created an Aura Blast. Once the two were close enough, they thrust their fists forward. But before the attacks could collide with it, the golem's chest orb unleashed a light.
It formed a wall that Springer and Wallflower's attacks collided with, the pair being knocked back as the golem suddenly slammed its hand into the ground. This caused two pillars of earth to shoot out of the floor and slam into the pair of them, knocking them backwards as they cried out in pain.
Soarin and Trixie managed to catch the pair, as Flash disabled his sword to summon his bowgun. He fired several blasts of water and fire towards the golem, but it responded by firing the exact same attacks right back at them. Once the attacks were cancelled out, it slammed its foot into the ground and created a row of spikes that shot straight towards them.
"Everypony watch out!" Flash cried, leaping into the air to avoid getting skewed. Soarin did the same and tried to pull the girls up, whilst Springer used his acrobatic skills as best he could to avoid the spikes. He barely managed to hop from place to place, avoiding the spikes that exploded out from where he had been standing.
He quickly used his Steel Paw attacks to slice through the tips of the rocks, whilst Soarin flew down and fired a tornado that grabbed the spikes and sent them shooting towards the golem. In reply, the mechanical creature slammed its foot into the ground and created a rock wall.
The stone spikes shattered upon contact with this, whilst Team Relic tried to get a safe distance away and avoid any more ranged attacks. "This thing's tough," Soarin panted as they all got a good distance away. "No wonder Luna couldn't beat it." As he said that, Wallflower watched as more energy was being drawn from out of the omni.
"I don't think she couldn't beat it because of how strong it was." The others looked at her, "I think she couldn't beat it because she made it."
"Huh?" Springer looked confused.
"She might have been Nightmare Moon when she created it, but it was still her magic. It's been using her magic as a fuel source for centuries. So when Luna tried to fight it, all her magic did was power it back up. And now it's using her as its own personal battery."
"So if we free Luna, this thing should run out of power?" Flash asked, Wallflower nodding but it was only a guess. "Then let's do this. Trixie, try and confuse it."
Trixie nodded and held up her staff, "Illusion!" She slammed her staff into the ground and in a flash of light, twenty copies of each of them appeared. The golem remained stationary, not even giving the illusions a single look. The army of lookalikes then charged forward, as the Springers all launched aura blasts towards it.
But to their shock, the golem raised its arm and fired a laser at the only real one whilst the fakes all flew through it and vanished. As it did, the multiple Flash and Soarins flew up and circled around it before launching blasts of wind and fire. But the golem pointed its arms as the real ones and launched perfect copy of the attacks.
The ponies all growled, hating how little their attacks were doing. Even Wallflower, who summoned her Web Slingers along with her clones, found her attacks being burned up by a fireball whilst the illusions flew through it. "It's not working. We're not tricking it."
"But why?" Trixie asked, completely lost about how it was able to tell the real ones from the fakes. She decided to shake things up and dispelled the clones, then swung her staff around. "Illusion!" The light flew out and hit the five of them, causing them all to vanished from sight.
But the golem didn't even look phased and quickly launched another laser, which hit something invisible and exploded. "It can still see my attacks?" Springer's voice cried out, as the golem spun around to launch a fireball and unleash a spiral of wind. It then spun around and slammed its foot on the ground, causing another rock wall to appear seconds before an unseen force slammed into it and drilled a hole right through it.
Wallflower reappeared along with the others, her arm surrounded by the Spiral Shell as she glared the golem down. "It can see us," she frowned. "But how?" She then focused on the golem's head, narrowing her gaze to the large eye that made up the majority of its head. "That's it." She jumped back as she turned to the others, "I don't think this thing sees the way we do!"
"What?" Flash asked, wondering what the heck she was talking about.
"It must have some other way of seeing. A way that Trixie's illusions can't fool." Hearing this, Flash and the others tried to think of what way it could see in that wouldn't be fooled by the illusions. And Flash had a pretty good idea.
"Infrared."
"Info-what?" Soarin asked as he flew up next to him.
"Infrared. Basically, it means this thing can see heat sources. That's why it's able to see through Trixie's illusions. They don't affect our natural body heat. That's probably why it can sense all our attacks as well. They all give off some kind of heat."
"My ice attacks don't give off heat," Trixie pointed out as she fired several more ice spears towards the machine. But it blocked them all with its own icicle blasts. "If it can really see heat, why can it see my ice? They're pretty much the opposite of heat."
"True," Wallflower nodded as Springer fired an Aura Blast that the golem launched a laser to counter. "But maybe its thermal vision is different from the kind we know about. Maybe it can see super lower temps along with super high ones. So whenever it sees low temperatures around normal ones, it knows it's being attacked by ice." Those words echoed in Flash's head and as Soarin attempted to get in close, only to be blown away, an idea formed in his head.
"Trixie, I've got a plan." The magi turned to him, "I need you to use your Super Freeze Spell on the entire room." Trixie's eyes went wide.
"Are you nuts?"
"Trust me!" He cried, giving Trixie a look that made her realise he knew what he was doing.
As such, she took a deep breath and raised her staff. "Everypony be ready. Move to a frozen area as soon as I make it, so I don't freeze you as well." They nodded and Trixie summoned as much magic as possible, "SUPER FREEZE!" Ice lightning exploded from her staff and flew out in several arcs.
As it did, the area began to become covered in ice. The others quickly rushed over to an iced over area, allowing Trixie to focus on the rest of the place. Within seconds, the entire room was covered in ice. The only spot that wasn't had been the golem, which had unleashed a blast of heat from the orbs on its body to keep the ice from getting in close. But that was fine, since Flash didn't need it to be frozen...yet.
Trixie fell to the ground, seriously drained after that large spell. If it hadn't been for how strong her Sea Crystal was, she probably wouldn't have been able to completely freeze the place.
"Ahhh!" Soarin cried, shivering as he hugged himself. "Why did we let you do this? It's freezing in here."
"Exactly," Flash smirked as he dispelled his shield and raised his Aqua Bowgun. "Which means it won't be able to see this." He fired an Icicles Shot at the golem, which flew forwards as the machine stared at him. It then fired its own icicle and the two collided, exploding as Flash's eyes went wide. "What? But...that icicle should have been the same temp as the room. How did it see it?"
Wallflower caught on, whilst also seeing the flaw in his plan. "Don't be stationary. If you're behind the attack, it'll see the cold temperature in front of your heat source." Flash smirked and shot off the ice, taking to the air and firing at the golem as he did. The icicles flew towards the beast as it watched him moving around, doing nothing to counter the oncoming attacks.
Sure enough, the icicles slammed into it and the beast found itself staggering back whilst its body was completely scratched up. The others gasped, unable to believe it was working. Flash smiled and kept firing, the golem still unable to see the oncoming attacks.
"Looks like we were right about it having thermal vision," Wallflower laughed as more icicles slammed into it. "As long as Flash doesn't stay behind the icicles, the machine won't be able to tell when something coming at it." With every passing second, more and more icicles slammed into the golem from random angles. It roared as more and more damage was done to its body, Flash attempting to avoid the chest orb so he wouldn't hurt Luna.
As this was going on, Trixie forced herself back to her feet. "Flash still can't beat it on its own." She took a deep breath and started sliding across the ice, thrusting her staff forward as she did. "Icicle Shot!" As Flash flew in one direction, she was sliding in another as she fired icicles blades at the beast as well.
The now two-pronged attack continued to do damage to the machine, whilst Soarin took to the air and joined up with Flash. "Let's freeze this sucker!" Flash smirked and nodded, stopping his icicle attacks as the pair aimed their weapons.
"Water Pressure!"
"Tornado Assault!" The two fired a stream of water and a tornado, which merged with one another to create a hurricane that slammed into the golem as it was still trying to counter the icicles. The machine quickly found itself surrounded by water, which was being super cooled by the tornado and the low temperature of the room.
Its eye was the first thing to freeze over, making it impossible for its infrared vision to work. When the avians stopped their attacks, the drenched machine stood in place as its body began to freeze in place.
"Now's our chance!" Wallflower cried, as she pushed off against the wall and slid towards the golem. Her Spiral Shell weapon spun as she got closer and when she was within range, she leapt into the air and aimed her weapon at the chest. And whilst the drill was able to hit the orb holding Luna, gravity caused Wallflower to fall back towards the ground before she could really dig into the orb. "Augh, it's too high up!"
"I got this!" Flash cried, as he flew down and switched out his bowgun for his Lightning Blade. As he flew towards the golem, he aimed the weapon right at its chest. However, before he could reach it, the orbs along the golem's body began to glow beneath the ice.
Flash noticed this and before he could call out, the ice around the machine exploded.
Everypony was forced to back away, not wanting to be skewed by the shards as the golem stood tall. As it did, the orbs on its body glowed brighter. Then, suddenly, a blast of fire exploded out of its chest gem. At the same time, wind exploded from its right hand gem and water from its left. The gems on its knees shot out lasers and clouds of black mist, the five elements exploding around the room.
The ponies and esprit all cried out as they were forced to get as far away from the golem as they could, Flash quickly summoning his Fire Shield. But when the fireball slammed into his shield, the explosion was so big it hit Flash in the spots the shield didn't cover. "Augh!" He was thrown into the back wall, dropping his sword, as the others tried their best to avoid the attacks.
When Flash hit the wall, something flew out of his pocket. It was the rubix cube he had found, which hit the ground hard and made it crack.
Flash moaned as he slid to the ground, his shield still intact but clearly not enough to protect him from the blasts. He turned to the golem, who was completely ice free now. This included its eye.
It turned its thermal eye towards him before firing a pair of lasers, Flash gasping as he raised his shield. But he knew it wouldn't be enough to defend him from both. However, as he wished for a second shield, his belt glowed and an exact double of the Fire Shield appeared in his open hand.
Flash's eyes went wide as he quickly gripped the shield and raised it up, placing it next to the first shield and blocking both attacks. Flash huffed as he pushed himself back to his hooves, whilst the golem stopped firing its multitude of attacks. As it did, Luna screamed as her power was sucked out of her.
"It must have run out of energy," Wallflower cried.
"So it's sucking even more out of Luna?" Springer asked, Wallflower nodding. "How long can she stand something like that?"
Flash didn't want to find out. He quickly dispelled his shields and, thinking about his lightning blade, created two from his belt that appeared in his hands. He shot off against the wall, flying towards the golem and roaring as he did so. "LET LUNA GO!" But as soon as he got in close, the golem finished charging and once against started blasting out five of its six possible elements.
Flash's eyes went wide as he tried to block the attacks with his swords, but there were just too many and he was blasted back.
As he hit the wall again, the others were all struck too. The ice that surrounded the area had also been destroyed, Flash groaning as he pushed himself back to his feet. "Alright. New plan." He dispelled his swords and summoned two shields, which he held in front of him as he charged forward.
The attacks bounced off them as he flew forward, allowing him to get in close. But as he did, he tried to dispel his shield and summon his swords. But in the brief moment between his weapons being replaced, the golem's chest unleashed a fireball that hit him head on. "GYAH!" He was once again blasted backwards and as he slid along the ground, he realised he was in trouble.
He needed two shields, or even one really big shield, to protect himself and get in close. But he couldn't attack with his shields, meaning he needed to switch to a sword. But if he did that he wouldn't be able to defend himself.
"What do I do?" He groaned whilst pushing himself back to his feet. As he did, he saw Springer jumping around. As the esprit landed, a giant column of rock flew up and shot towards him. But Springer used his Steel Paws and crossed them over, the rock being cut to pieces as it made contact.
"Raaaah!" Springer cried as he then charged forward, using to claws to slash at the golem.
Though this attack did not damage the golem, who blasted Springer away with a burst of wind, Flash realised something. "That's it!" He thought about Shining Armor, whose weapon was a shield with a blade he could use to block attacks and dish out his own. "I need a weapon that I can use to attack and defend as well."
He thought about using the electric version of Shining's shield that he had, but then another idea popped into his head.
As the golem finished its all out attack and began to recharge, Flash removed his cards from his belt and put them away. He then took out an empty card, holding it up as he thought about the kind of weapon he wanted to created. Something that appeared on both arms, made of a strong but light material, and with the cutting power needed to break through this thing. As sure enough, the weapons he envisioned appeared on the card.
"Alright," he slotted the card into the belt, "HERE GOES!" He spun the belt shut and as everypony looked over at him, the belt unleashed a blast of light. The orb formed in front of him and Flash reached inside, grasping something as the items materialized around his arms.
He then pulled them out of the light and revealed their appearance. They were a pair of orange metal gauntlets that covered his hands and arms up to his elbows. Only his hands were completely covered, whilst the bottoms of his arms could be seen. A rubber band could be seen wrapped around his arm just below his elbows, whilst the very end of the gauntlets were round. And sticking out of the ends were three long silver claws, that looked sharp enough to cut through anything.
Flash held up his new weapons and swung them around, nodding at the feel of them. This felt pretty good.
The golem had finished charging up and launched a bunch of lasers towards Flash, who quickly brought his gauntleted arms together side by side. The others watched as the lasers slammed into Flash, but his gauntlet claws completely shielded him from the attack. "YEAH!" Flash cheered, as he pushed off against the floor and flew forward.
The lasers stopped and the golem launched an icicle towards Flash, who swung one of his claws around to deflect the attack.
The others gasped at this, as Flash finally got in close. He shielded himself from a fireball that came out of the chest gem, then slashed at the golem. The claws dug into the crystal and created threw deep grooves in the gem, forcing the golem to stagger backwards in shock and pain.
"YES!" Soarin cheered, "that's the way." Flash continued to slash at the creature as hard as he could, doing more and more damage with every swing. He then jumped back and shielded himself as the golem unleashed a blast of flame from its chest. But this just caused more cracks to appear on its body.
"We can't just sit around watching Flash do everything," Trixie told them. "We have to help." The others nodded and Wallflower had an idea.
"I've got a plan. Trixie and Springer. Keep it distracted!" They nodded and charged, Trixie unleashing a mist of cold air that surrounded the golem. With everything around it freezing cold, it couldn't see anything. This included Trixie and Springer, whose bodies were still cold and undetectable in the cool mist.
They both swung their claws and blade at the gem, cutting it more. But the golem spun around and slammed both its arms into them, the pair being thrown backwards and Springer feeling himself being a single hit away from going poof. But as the mist began to fade, movement above the golem made it look up.
Soarin and Wallflower were above it, Soarin throwing Wallflower at the golem before thrusting his bow forward to launch another tornado. This wind spiral blasted the terran forwards, as her gauntlets turned into their fist form. The speed she was going was so much, the golem couldn't react in time. As such, she reached it before it could even twitch a finger. And as she did, Wallflower thrust her fist forward and struck the eye.
A shattering sound filled the air, as the golem's eye broke apart upon impact. This also knocked the beast staggering back, and it likely would have screamed if it had been made to.
Wallflower fell towards the ground and unleashed a vine, using it to pull herself away as the golem's systems reacted to the damage it had taken. All its remaining gems began to glow, as it prepared to unleash an all out attack. "Now Flash!" She then cried, "while it can't see you!"
Flash nodded, the avian having flown up to the ceiling with his gauntlet claws at the ready. "I've wanted to do this since I saw it on TV as a kid." He brought his claws up and touched the tips together, then started spinning. As he did, flames appeared from the gauntlets and spiralled around him.
The others watched in amazement, as Flash morphed into a blazing tornado. And from that tornado, a drill of fire exploded out and shot towards the golem.
The beast unleashed its attacks, but with no way to see they all went wild and struck anything but its intended targets. This allowed the drill to slam into its chest and bore its way through the gem, which eventually shattered under the pressure and heat of the attack.
An explosion rocketed out of the golem, as the fire drill flew inside and that blasted its way out of its back. The others gasped but when the flames faded, Flash was revealed to be flying up and holding the Princess of the Night in his gauntleted arms.
The golem tried to continue fighting, but the battle had completely drained it of all its power and it no longer had Luna to recharge it. As such, its body began to melt into the many differently coloured liquids that had originally created it. Team Relic watched in amazement, as the liquid pooled around the ground before it started draining away through a crack caused by the battle. When the last of the liquid faded away, they saw a small piece of purple metal on the ground.
Once the golem was out of commision, everypony ran over to Flash as he flew down. His gauntlets dispelled as he hit the ground, allowing him to put Luna down as they all looked her over. She was unconscious and none of them had the medical knowledge to know if she had been unharmed or not.
"Is she okay?" Springer asked, with nopony answering.
"Do you think we saved her in time?" Trixie asked, turning to the others. They all knew what she meant, and all hoped that the golem's attempt to return her to being Nightmare Moon had failed. So they waited for the omni to come around, each one praying she was okay.
Then, she let out a moan as she began to move. Her eyes flickered open and as she looked up, she saw them all staring at her. "Luna!" Flash gave her a worried look, "are you okay? Are you...you?" They waited for a response, hoping her face didn't suddenly turn sinister before she proclaimed she wasn't Luna.
But instead of that, she did something they hadn't been expecting. She started crying. "I'm sorry." Team Relic shared a confused look, "I put you all in danger." She sat up and hid her face in her hands. "I thought I could keep you safe. That I could stop all the traps and monsters. But I failed. I led you all into danger and got myself captured." She looked up at them, seeing the many scrapes, bruises and a few burns on them and their clothes. "You all could have been killed and it would have been my fault."
"That's not true," Flash told her. "You didn't make us come on this expedition. We chose to come with you and we chose to enter this tomb." The others nodded. "Luna, it's not your fault any of this happened. You might have created this place, but you did your best to keep us from getting hurt in it."
"Yeah," Trixie nodded, "and we don't care that this place almost killed us. Even if it was your fault, which it isn't, that doesn't change what we think of you."
"And what do you think of me?" Luna asked, as Wallflower knelt down besides her.
"That you're a good pony that made a mistake and you're trying to fix that mistake." She placed a hand on hers, "so what if you're not doing everything perfect. You're trying and as long as you keep trying, you'll eventually make up for all the mistakes you made. That's what's important." Luna stared at her, then over at the others as they all nodded in agreement.
"You might have made some mistakes," Trixie told her. "But you've done a lot of good since we've met. You saved us from that poisonous mountain."
"You told us about Springer being an esprit," Soarin pointed out. "Which let us find him and add him to our team." Springer smiled at this, as Wallflower held up her gloves.
"And you upgraded my gauntlets so that I could be even stronger than before. I don't care what anypony else says. You're a good pony and I like you." The others nodded as Luna couldn't help but smile, then looked over at the pony that had saved her. But he was gone.
They all looked over at Flash and saw him walk over to the podium holding the spellbook.
Despite all the craziness that had happened, the book hadn't been hit by a blast, frozen or so much as brushed by the wind. He didn't know if that was because of some kind of spell, or just dumb luck. But either way, Flash picked the book up and returned to Luna's side.
He knelt down and held the book out to Luna. "With this, your quest is finally at an end." As she took the book, Luna remembered the last time she had touched it. When she used it to try and power herself up, but turned herself into Nightmare Moon. She wouldn't make that mistake again.
"Thank you," she sighed. "For everything." She picked herself up and looked the five of them over, "all of you truly proved you were worthy of being on this expedition. You've all shown that you have the courage, strength, wisdom, constitution, dexterity and charisma of true adventurers. I'm sure even most third years or even professionals couldn't go through something like this and come out alive. You should all be proud of yourselves."
They all smiled at this, only for Springer to have a thought. "Um...is the quest really over?" They all looked back at him. "We got the book, sure. But isn't the mission to return it to Canterlot? Doesn't that mean we need to return the way we came, then head there by that train thing you told us about?"
This statement got all the young equestrians to think, the lot of them realising he was right. They were far from finished. They would have to go over the marshlands again, then through the forest and over the poisonous mountain again.
The lot of them moaned, wishing they could take a break and be back home.
But Luna simply giggled. "You really think I'd make us go through all that again? I brought something that will let us return to your academy in the blink of an eye." This made them all smile, Soarin asking where it was. "It's in my bag," she smirked before sighing. "Which I left outside." They all groaned at this, since that meant they would need to get out of the labyrinth before they could get home.
As they prepared for their return trip, Trixie noticed something on the ground. "Hey, what's that?" They all looked at it and saw the cube Flash had dropped, Flash checking his pockets and realising it had fallen out.
"I found it on the way here." He moved over and picked it up, "thought it might be valuable." He picked it up and saw the cracks on it, making him frown. "Ah, but it's broken." As he turned it over, a piece between two cracks broke off. Doing so caused something to fall out. A string. "Huh?"
He grabbed the sting and found it was looped. When he pulled it free, the cube broke apart and revealed what was hidden within. An amulet of some sort.
"Is this?" He held it up and saw it was shaped like a pink ram's head surrounded by white wool, with yellow horn sticking out of it. "Luna," he turned to her and showed her the amulet.
Luna's eyes went wide as she saw it, Flash moving over to her. "It can't be!" Flash held out the amulet and she took it, unable to believe she was once again holding it. "Dreamwalker." The minute those words left her lips, a flash of light exploded out of the amulet and took shape.
The light flew off and revealed a bipedal lamb about the same size as Springer's younger form, being covered in white fur with a white face along with black arms and legs. She was also wearing a pink metal chest armor and a pink helmet was on her head, which had a pair of yellow horns sticking out of it.
The Esprit stood on the ground, then opened her blue eyes and looked up towards the ponies and esprit that had freed her. She then saw the omni and her eyes went wide, "Luna?"
The Princess of the Night teared up, "Dream!" The lamb ran forward and jumped into her arms, "I've missed you so much."
"I missed you too!" The lamb cried, the pair hugging one another closely. "What happened? The last thing I remember, you were feeling really upset. Then I went to sleep and that's the last time you summoned me."
"I'm sorry," Luna whispered. "I made a mistake and hurt so many ponies. And I made you feel abandoned." They pulled apart, "can you ever forgive me?" Dream looked into her eyes and smiled, the pair hugging once again as the others smiled.
Going through all this might have been hard, but it was worth it to reunite these old friends.
Luckily, their return trip through the labyrinth wasn't as hard as the first time.
Luna managed to direct them around the more dangerous areas, circumventing the trapped hallways. There were still a few monsters they ran into, but after the golem Team Relic didn't find these creature hard to deal with. Plus, it let Flash get some more practise with his new gauntlet claws. He had to admit, these weapons were great for both offence and defence.
Eventually, they reached the area they first entered and sighed as they saw the light at the top of the long staircase. Though with how exhausted they all were, scaling these stairs seemed like the hardest thing they had done throughout the entire journey.
But eventually, they reached the exit and stepped out into the daylight. "FREEDOM!" Soarin screamed, falling to his knees. "Finally. It's over." The others had to agree, many of them falling to the ground and rest. The only one who didn't was Luna, who moved over to where they had left their bags.
Tapping her staff on the ground, the earth exploded and the chest was lifted out of the hole. She quickly opened it up and found her bag, taking it out and opening it up to pull out a yellow football sized crystal. "The warp gem," she sighed as she showed it to the others. "When it's activated, it'll teleport us to the location of the second gem. Your principal has the other one, so we should appear right where he left it."
"Awesome!" Flash stood up and grabbed his backpack, "then let's get going." The others nodded and all grabbed their bags.
Luna put her bag on before turning to the esprit, "I think you two should return to your amulets. I don't know what effect this form of travel will have on you, so better to be safe than sorry." They both groaned, but nodded before their bodies glowed and vanished in a flash of light. Once the lights flew inside the amulets, Luna held up the crystal. "Everypony grab on."
They did so, each placing their hand on the crystal as Luna's horn unleashed a blast of magic that struck it. The crystal began to light up and when it did, everypony prepared themselves for what could be a seriously wild ride.
The gem then unleashed a light that wrapped around the lot of them, forming and orb of light that then vanished in the blink of an eye. All that was left was a circle of slightly singed grass, which let out a tall trail of smoke.
At the Manehatten Adventurer Academy, Grand Hoof was in his office going over some papers.
A gem sat on his desk that was just like the one Luna had had, the Princess of the Night being the one that gave it to him. And as he finished writing, the gem glowed and he looked up in shock before it unleashed a bright light.
From that light, Luna and Team Relic were thrown through the office and ended up crashing to the ground in a heap. Flash moaned as he sat at the bottom of the pile, trying to get up but feeling something soft and squishy in his hands when he did so.
Luna's and Trixie's cries made him realise what he was touching, the avian quickly pulling his hand back before they realised who had touched what. He quickly pulled himself free and and the others untangled themselves as well, whilst Grand stared at the lot of them.
"I wasn't expecting you all back so soon," he stood up and moved around the desk. "Did everything go well on the expedition?" He turned to Luna, "did you get it?"
Luna smiled as she held the book up, Grand looking at it in amazement before smiling at his students. "Well done. Am I right in assuming you didn't cause Luna any trouble and managed to help her?"
"In more ways than one," Luna smiled. "You have some impressive students here. Keep them well trained."
Grand laughed at this, "oh I intend to. So, I hope you won't mind indulging an old pony's curiosity and tell me what happened during this little adventure." As he said that, Flash's amulet glowed before it unleashed a bright light that transformed into Springer's younger form. As the jakhowl appeared, Grand's eyes widened in amazement. "Is that..."
"You might want to sit down," Luna smiled. "This is gonna take a while."
Several hours later, Flash and his friends were back at the train station.
The spot where they had first started their journey, would now be where the team parted ways with Luna. "You sure you're okay going back to Canterlot on your own?" Soarin asked. "We don't mind coming with you."
Luna shook her head, "you've all done enough. Besides, you've missed quite a few classes you're gonna need to make up. It'll be even more if you came with me to Canterlot." The four moaned, not looking forward to how much extra work they were gonna have to do to stay ahead. "But I can't thank you all enough. I never thought we'd end up facing so many incredible obstacles. And I never would have thought a bunch of first year students would be able to overcome them."
Flash smirked, "we never thought we could do something like that either. But we just kept pushing on and now we've completed our first official expedition." The others nodded as the train whistle blew, making them look around to see the vehicle heading towards them. "Well, I guess this is it."
Luna nodded, "I'll be sure to tell my sister everything you did for me. I'm sure she'll be eager to know about a team of strong Adventurers she can rely on to get the job done if she needs it." They all smiled, as the train pulled up to the station. Team Relic wanted to give Luna a hug, but they didn't think that would be proper in the middle of town.
As such, Luna stepped up onto the train and gave them all one final look before disappearing into the carriage. They waved at her, as she sat at a window facing her. Dreamwalker was also there with her, the esprit waving at them as the train began to pull away.
They watched as their temporary teammate, and now eternal friend, disappeared down the tracks. It wasn't until the train was completely out of sight, that they sighed and began to head back home.
"Feels like forever since we've been back here," Soarin stated as they made their way through the town. "But it hasn't even been a week." The others nodded, as they spotted a bunch of ponies they recognised as Iron Core and his team.
"Well, well, well." It was the magi that had told them about Luna and Nightmare Moon, "the rookies are back. What, did you run away from Nightmare Moon? Guess I can't blame you."
"Oh will you shut up!" Flash cried, making the magi blink. "Luna isn't Nightmare Moon. She a Princess of Equestria and somepony you should show respect for." The magi glared at him, about to say something back until Wallflower interrupted.
"Yeah, just leave her alone. She saved our lives during this expedition and we saved hers. That makes us friends."
"So don't go bad mouthing our friend," Soarin prepared his bow. "If you know what's good for you." Everypony, even Springer, got ready to fight the equestrian that insulted their friend.
The magi growled and turned to his team, but none of them looked like they intended to back him up. As such, he simply turned and walked away. "That's right!" Trixie cried, "run. Good thing you didn't get to go on this expedition. Luna would have just been slowed down." The magi growled, but remained silent as he walked off.
Iron glanced back at them and nodded before leaving with the rest of his team. The five sighed, glad that a fight hadn't broken out. They had been through too much to get into another fight now. "Come on," Flash told his friends. "Let's go home. I don't know about you, but I could probably sleep for a week." The others nodded and they all headed back towards the bakery their dorm was located above. Hopefully, Mr and Mrs Tart had something yumming they could enjoy before going to bed.
When the train finally arrived at Canterlot, night time had arrived and the omni was the only one in her carriage.
Dream was there, sleeping in her lap as she brushed her fingers through her wool. The train then came to a stop at the platform, the princess lifting the esprit up and heading towards the door. Dreamwalker awoke as she did and jumped out of her arm, the pair stepping out and looking around to see that barely anypony was there. This was expected, given how late it was.
She and Dream smiled, remembering the many nights they had spent alone together back in the old times. But those times had changed and they were beginning again. But to do that, they had to set things right from back then.
The trip to the castle didn't take long and as they walked through the town, Luna heard some still awake ponies talking. "Did you hear about what happened at the Grand Galloping Gala?" Luna raised an eyebrow, having chosen to begin her expedition at this time so she wouldn't need to go to that silly ball. "Apparently, some students from the Ponyville Adventurer Academy were invited and they caused a serious mess of the whole thing."
"Oh yeah. I doubt they'll be coming back any time soon. Probably got expelled or something. Luna had a feeling she knew who these ponies were talking about. And if she was right, they were not getting expelled.
They arrived at the castle and as she approached, Luna found the night guards standing watch. They all bowed to her as she passed and gave Dream a strange look, Luna nodding as she stepped through the entrance. When she did, she could feel the presences of every other omni in the castle.
There was, of course, her sister. But then there was another one. One she sensed was getting closer.
Sure enough, another omni appeared around a corner. She was pink in colour, looking tall but still being slightly shorter then Luna. Her mane and tail were a mixture of pink, yellow and purple, whilst her clothes consisted of a blue and white dress that went down to just above her knees and a pair of white socks and golden shoes.
"Luna!" She smiled, "it's good to see you're back."
Luna nodded, "Cadenza." The mare frowned at the name, "shouldn't you be in bed? It's getting late."
"I'm not a filly," the omni named Cadenza stated. "Besides, I was getting ready for bed when I sensed your presence. Didn't think you'd be back from your expedition so quickly." She looked worried, "it didn't go wrong, did it?"
"There were a few issues," Luna stated. "But no, it was a success." As she said that, Cadenza noticed Dream and her eyes went wide.
"Who's this?"
"I'm Dreamwalker," she waved. "It's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too," Cadenza picked her up and turned to Luna. "Is this the esprit you and Celestia told me about?" Luna nodded, Cadenza looking amazed. "You found her. I can't believe it." Dream smiled as they reached the throne room, Luna throwing it open and being surprised to see her sister sitting upon her throne.
"Luna," Celestia smiled as she got up and walked towards her. As she did, she noticed the esprit in Cadenza's arms. "Dreamwalker," the esprit waved as Celestia turned to give a looking look towards Luna. "You found her."
Luna shook her head, "somepony else found her." Celestia reached her and pulled her into a hug, Luna hugging back and shaking as she did so. This caught Celestia's attention.
"Is something wrong?" She pulled back, "I feel...like something happened."
Luna sighed, "I had a bit of an incident during the expedition. Let's just say...if it wasn't for Team Relic, I might very well have become Nightmare Moon again." Celestia and Cadenza looked shocked, whilst Dream looked confused. "But that's not important right now." Luna reached into her bag and took out the book, "I got it back."
Celestia stared at the book in amazement, taking it from Luna and flipping through it. She smiled, "well done, little sister." She moved over to her throne, the others following her. "With this, we'll have everything we need to move forward when the time is right."
"Move forward?" Cadenza asked, "move forward with what?" She gave them a suspicious look, "are you two scheming something."
"Of course not," Celestia frowned. "However, Equestria is entering a new age. When Nightmare Moon returned, I could sense that she would not be the only threat that might return from the past. If more arrive, we'll need all the help we can get."
"And there's a spell in there that might help?" Cadenza asked, Celestia nodded.
"The most important spell of all." She opened it up to the final page, showing instructions to cast a spell that looked like the most complicated thing in the world. "With this, any pony that meets the criteria will be able to ascend to the status of omni."
Cadenza's eyes went wide, "you can create a new omni?"
Celestia nodded. "You ascening was a miracle. One I doubt we can count on to happen again. That's why it was so important to get this. With it, we can grant those who prove themselves worthy the power they'll need to keep Equestria safe."
"And I assume you already know somepony whose worthy?" Luna asked, Celestia smiling.
"She's worthy. But she's not quite ready yet."
Luna laughed. "Yes. If what I heard about the Grand Galloping Gala was about her, then she has a long way to go before she's ready to stand beside us." Celestia blushed at this statement, whilst Cadenza frowned as she had been unable to attend that party.
"Indeed." Celestia shut the book and placed it on the table next to her. "Now, my dear sister. Please tell us everything that happened during your expedition with this...Team Relic? I don't think I know about them?"
"Oh, you know one of them. The young stallion with the relic that Shining Armor has sponsored." Celestia looked shocked by this. "It seems that boy and his friends have more potential than I originally thought. I have no doubt, that they'll become heroes on par with even your student and her friends."