//------------------------------//
// The spell is cast, the elements become empowered, and... 
// Story: 6 new princesses?! 
// by sykko 
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As usual, Twilight was asleep at her desk. Her head rested on the transcribed papers as she buzzed and snored softly in her sleep. The gentle yellow light of morning shone in through the nearby windows and crept across the floor. It drifted across the sleeping unicorn mare's face. She grunted and mumbled something incoherently in her sleep, and turned her head to lay the side of her face on the papers.

Spike walked in to find Twilight still asleep at her desk. He gently nudged his older sister. "Time to get up, Twily. Celestia raised the sun about an hour ago."

"Sleepy-sleep-sleep-sleep.", Twilight mumbled, then started softly buzzing again.

Spike shook Twilight harder. "C'mon, Twilight. Time to get your plot in gear. The girls will be over here in a few hours."

"No more radishes, I'm farfignewton already.", Twilight mumbled in her sleep. "Give the albatross some raspberry giraffe."

Spike screwed his face up in confusion, he did not want to know what that dream was about. With a belch of green flame, he produced an alarm clock. Winding it up, he placed it next to Twilight's head. *brrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnng* The little hammer quickly struck back and forth on the bells at the top of the clock.

Still Twilight didn't stir, only mumbled something about blue danishes and Celestia's hoof.

With another belch of flame, Spike produced a trumpet. Lining the bell of the trumpet up with Twilight's ear, he began blowing loud, discordant notes. When Twilight still didn't stir, he began blowing the trumpet as he moved around her, even standing on the desk over and blowing the trumpet downwards with all of his might.

The trumpet blasts began to peter out as Spike ran out of breath. He slumped down to the floor, leaning against the leg of the desk and tossed the trumpet aside as he panted. Once he got his breath back, he stood to his feet, cracked his claws and neck. "Alright sister, if you wanna play rough, then let's play rough."

Spike walked over to a bookshelf, reached out and pulled a book out. "Oh, what's this? The Hardy Colts. Hmm...now where does this go? Oh, I know! The reference section!"

As the dragon intentionally placed the book in the wrong section, Twilight murmured, "No."

Spike walked over to another bookshelf and pulled out another book. "Hmm, the history of Pegasopolis. Now where does this one go? I know, the mythology section!"

Twilight gave several distressed grunts and moans in her sleep.

Spike walked over to a bookshelf in the adults only section and pulled another book out. He flipped through the pages of ponies in artistic belly shots with not even their tails covering their bits and bobs. "Hmm...this book has ponies laying on their backs exposing everything. Why it even has a picture of Celestia in a pose standing on her hind legs and nothing covering her shame. Now where does this go? Ah yes, the foal's section!"

"Don't you dare mess up my system!", Twilight shrieked as she bolted awake, a sheet of paper sticking to the side of her face.

Spike snickered as Twilight bolted around the library, placing the books he had intentionally put in the wrong places. Once finished properly placing the books back in their right places, then triple checked the books and double checked her triple checking. She shot a glare at Spike. "That was an evil thing to do."

Spike simply huffed on his claws and buffed them against his chest scales. "It woke you up, so...deal with it." He then gestured to the side of his face. "You, uh, got something on your face."

Twilight flailed about her face before finding the paper. She peeled the paper away, leaving lines of old Ponish on the fur of her cheek. She scowled at the smudged ink. "Aw send me galloping backwards through a cornfield! I smudged up Fluttershy's hard work." She lit her horn, levitating over a quill and an inkpot, touching up the smeared ink until it was restored back to its original state...or at least as close as possible. "There, good as new."

"Snrk!" Spike covered his mouth, trying to keep from laughing. He held his breath and pinched his nose trying to hold back the flood of laughter. His face turned purplish-red and tears welled up in his eyes. "Bwah-ha-ha!", he guffawed as he was forced to breathe. He then held his breath again.

Twilight glowered at Spike. "This is no laughing matter. You misfile the books, knowing I have a particular...Oh Deer Lord! Did you pull a prank on me?! Did you write something on my face?" She pressed a hoof to her cheek, smearing the ink that was there. "Let me guess, you wrote 'Twilight is a doo-doo head' on my forehead again?" She pressed her hoof to her forehead, creating a smeared hoofprint in ink.

Spike couldn't hold it in anymore. "Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" He fell to the floor clutching his sides as he guffawed.

Twilight glowered as she stomped off to the bathroom. "Mother-razzle-frakin'-no-good-ding-dong-doody-head!", she angrily muttered. Looking in the mirror, she saw the smudged ink on her cheek and forehead. "Mrgh!" After finishing washing her face, she went back to the library.

Spike had mostly recovered from his laughing fit. He held one clawed hand to his side, rubbing at the stitch that had formed there and rubbed the sore muscles in his cheeks with the other. "Hoo! Hoo! Heh-heh-heh-hah!"

"Spike! Why didn't you tell me that I had ink on my face?"

Spike lost it again. "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" He clenched his sides as he fell on the floor again. He was unable to stop as his giggle box had been completely tipped over.

"Heh! Heh! Hah!" The laughter became infectious and Twilight soon found herself laughing. She fell to the floor holding her sides as the giggles wouldn't stop. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-hee-hee-hee! It hurts. Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho *snorpt*!"

The snort made Twilight and Spike stop laughing. They stared at each other for a moment. The giggle fit erupted again.

Once both of them finally came down from their giggle fits, Twilight went upstairs to get a shower and Spike went to make breakfast.

Twilight finished the final few bites of her daisy, hay and cheese omelette, crunched down on the last piece of crispy toast and gulped down the bottom half of her orange juice. She raised the napkin to her mouth to wipe away the lingering morsels when...

*knock-knock-knock*

"Just a minute!", Twilight called out. Using her magic, she balled up the napkin and tossed it in the garbage can, then levitated her dishes over to the sink. Trotting over to the door, she opened it. There was Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy standing at the doorway. Twilight swore she could set a clock by those two, heck if she took Applejack into the equation, she could create the most accurate timepiece Equestria has ever seen.

"Pinkie! Fluttershy! Come in!"

"We're not early, are we?", Fluttershy meekly

"No, in fact you two are right on time. Applejack will be along once she's finished her chores. Rarity will be here once she's done with whatever beauty treatment she's currently doing. And Rainbow Dash is...wwwweeeeeeeellllll...probably still asleep, or taking an early morning nap. I swear she sleeps more than anypony I know. I think she needs to get tested for narcolepsy.", Twilight said. "Can I get you two some tea, coffee or maybe some leftover omelette? Though I think it's cold by now."

"Some tea would be nice.", Fluttershy said. "If--if it's not too much trouble."

"I had a big breakfast this morning of a double cheese omelette, a triple stack of haycakes with super yummy blueberry syrup, and a bowl of Pony-os with bananas and sugar!", Pinkie said, rubbing her stomach. "Some tea might be the perfect topper-whopper for breakfast."

Twilight silently marveled at how Pinkie could pack it in and seem to not gain an ounce. She surmised that the pink mare either had a really high metabolism or a black hole for a stomach.

As the morning ground on, Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy were siting around the library's kitchen table chatting about random topics.

"And that was the fifth time I caught itch-mites!", Pinkie said in her usual jubilant tone. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake had to shave all of my fur, mane and tail off to get rid of them! I had to get a new mattress, sheets, pillows and blanket! Mr. Cake had to throw out that entire shipment of hay flour! That was the last time he ordered baking goods from Cincineighti!"

Twilight gaped at Pinkie for a moment. She wasn't sure how the topic strayed from the history of Ponyville to Pinkie catching itch-mites for the fifth time. When she was still a foal in Celestia's school, two foals had caught itch-mites. They had to be shaven, treated with a smelly, oily, stick ointment and sequestered. Every pony, the students, teachers and janitorial staff had their coats rubbed down with the same smelly, sticky, oily ointment as a precaution to prevent a full-on infestation. The thought of it made her nose wrinkle and her skin itch.

*knock-knock-knock*

Twilight trotted over to the door and opened it. Applejack was standing on the stoop. "Good morning, Applejack! I'm surprised you've finished you chores so soon."


"Just th' ones that needed ta be done--"

"Look out beloooooooooooow!", a familiar raspy voice shouted.

A blue blur with a rainbow trail crashed into Applejack, which became a tumbling ball of blue and orange. Twilight was unable to dodge the tumbling ball of two ponies and she was caught up in it, adding lavender to the ball. A second later the tumbling ball crashed into a bookshelf, sending a shower of reading material raining down. Fluttershy, Pinkie and Spike covered their eyes to avoid the seeing ensuing shower of hardbacks falling onto three of their friends.

Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash and Applejack lay on the floor at the base of the bookshelf, partially covered with books, their eyes spinning in their sockets.

Shaking off the cobwebs, Applejack gets up to her hooves and looks around at the mini carnage. "Rainbow Dash, why in th' hay don'tcha look where yer flyin'?!"

Rainbow and Twilight quickly recover. The rainbow-maned pegasus sheepishly rubs he back of her head. "Heh! Uh, sorry about that, Twilight."

Twilight says nothing as she simply glares daggers at her rainbow-maned friend. The irises of her eyes flicker like flames and small wisps of smoke curl up from her mane.

"I,uh...I'll clean this up...uh, sorry, Twi.", Rainbow says. She quickly swoops around, scooping up books from the floor and places them back on the shelf.

"I'll be back in a minute.", Twilight says through clenched teeth. She stomps outside and disappears around the side of the library.

A moment later the four mares and one dragon hear a voice, very similar to Twilight's, only it's distorted, yelling, "Mother rat bucket pickle farm!" The distorted yelling is followed by the sounds of several explosions.

A moment later Rarity walks in with a stunned look on her face. "My word! Was that Twilight? She sounded downright incensed. What in the world would cause her to use such uncouth language and blow up the air with her magic?"

"That would be 'Miss-never-watches-where-she-is-flying'.", say Applejack, gesturing at Rainbow Dash. "She crashed into me when Twi answered th' door, then sent the both of us careening into Twilight and then crashing into a bookshelf, sending the whole cockamamie thing a-dumpin' on us."

Rarity frowned for a moment. "Shoo! Shoo!" She waved Rainbow Dash away with the back of her hoof, then started rearranging the book back onto the bookshelf to the best of her memory of Twilight's organizational method.

Twilight,now calmed down sufficiently, returned back indoors. She took a quick look at the bookshelf, then levitated out a few volumes and switched their locations. She took one final look over the bookshelf and gave a grunt of satisfaction.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "Uh...Twilight? I wanna say I'm sor--"

"Just stop.", Twilight interrupted. "I'm not mad, at least not any more. I know you didn't mean to crash into me and AJ, and knock all the books off the shelf. In the future be more mindful when practicing your stints, maybe even angle yourself away from town so you'll be less likely to crash into anypony. Give me a few moments to gather my thoughts."

Rainbow Dash awkwardly rubbed the back of her head, gave a nervous chuckle and cleared her throat, then nodded.

Twilight gave a huff as she sat at her desk, blowing out the last of her lingering anger and frustration. She looked over Fluttershy's copies until she found the page she wanted. "This is the spell I found last night. It was the last prophesy Starswirl's wrote down. It speaks of awakening the true power of the Elements of harmony. It says *ah-ahem-hem*, 'With the five-sided helix drawn on the floor, five bearers are placed at each corner with the sixth standing in the center. Then the trusted companion at the bottom of the helix Once in incantation has been spoken and the helix glows with power, all are to speak these following words of power thrice: Clatuu, Baratta, Nickto, Gort, Gort, Nickto, Bartta, Clatuu! When the last syllable hast been spake, the Element of harmony will awaken their true potential.."

"What does 'thrice' mean?", Rainbow Dash asked.

"It's ol' timey for three times, dummy.", Applejack curtly replied.

"Oh. Well why didn't he just say that?"

The other five mares and one dragon rolled their eyes.

"I need you all to practice those words. You too, Spike. The spell won't work without the trusted companion.", Twilight said.

For the next twent minutes the six mares and one dragon took turns reciting the phrase.

Twilight levitated a piece of chalk and drew a pentagon on the floor. She then drew six pony-sized circle, one at each corner and one in the center. She then drew a large circle encompassing the pentagon. She drew lines connecting each of the pony-sized circles. She drew a baby dragon-sized square at the bottom.

Twilight took a moment to study the diagram once again. She then drew symbols and words of magic along the lines and along the outside of the large circle. With a grunt of satisfaction, she placed the chalk aside.

Walking over to the case that held the Element of Harmony, Twilight opened the lid and passed them out to their respective bearers. "Spike, you stand in the square. Applejack, you stand in the circle at the top. Rainbow, you stand in the circle to the left of AJ. Rarity, you stand in the circle to the right of AJ. Fluttershy, you stand in the circle across from Rarity. Pinkie, you stand in the circle across from Rainbow. And I'll stand in the center circle."





Celestia had been observing Twilight and her friends through the telescope squeed with glee. "Luna, I'm going to the Star-lit path to greet Twilight when she finishes the spell! Take over day court until I return. Ooh! I'm so excited that I think I might burst!"

Luna said, "Sister, I wouldn't put much--" When the flash of Celestia teleporting interrupted her, she let out a fristrated groan. "Sunuva! I wish she'd let me finish before galloping off with her head all-a-tizzy.", she said annoyed. "Razzle-frackin'-horse-apples!", Luna grumbled as she stomped off to the throne room.





"Alright everypony, ready?", Twilight asked. When the other five mares and one dragon nodded, she took a deep breath.

"From days of ancient to now/O Elements shine thine light/ O Harmony awaken from thine tree and enter into our presence/Let that which is mortal transmogrify/Let those who know times march be no longer touched by it again/Let those whom fear death's kiss no longer fear it/O ancient tree lend us thy power from thine roots/O sun and moon and stars ans wanderers in the heavens above sing thy song of eternity/Judge us and find us worthy/From aging move to unaging/Let the Six join into one and the one unite the Six/The trusted companion will bind, unite and carry the light/We speak the the words!"

Twilight then gestured. The six mares and one dragon began to speak the words of power. "Clatuu, Baratta, Nickto, Gort, Gort, Nickto, Baratta, Clatuu! Clatuu, Baratta, Nickto, Gort, Gort, Nickto, Baratta, Clatuu! Clatuu, Baratta, Nickto, Gort, Gort, Nickto, Baratta, Clatuu!"

Light began to shine deep within the Everfree Forest. Lines of silvery-white zig-zagged, looped and swirled, as they flowed along the ground from the Castle of the Two Pony sisters, through the Everfree Forest, through the center of Ponyville and into Golden Oaks Library. The ground trembled, the smell of ozone filled the air, flowers of every variety exploded to life from the ground, birds flew away in every direction and critters scurried into their burrows. The citizens of Ponyville shrieked in fright as they fled into their homes, locking their doors tight, slamming the shutters closed and boarding up their windows. They huddled together in their homes, holding the ones they held dear tight as they trembled in fright.

One-by-one, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle and Spike the dragon began floating up in the air. The six element began glowing brighter and brighter and brighter, until the light the emitted became blinding white. Lines of glowing magic emanated from twilight and coiled through the air, connecting her to Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy. Lines of magic coiled out from Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie, connecting them to one another. A quadruple helix of magical lines coiled up from the floor and surrounded Spike. The Element Bearers felt the fur on their bodies stand on end. Manes and tails flew about on a non-existent wind. The seven of them felt their senses go wonky and fade away. Eyes glowed white with power, hooves shown gold with brilliant light.

Arcs of energy crackled across the coats and hooves of the Element Bearers. Spike experienced a strange vision. He saw floating towards him down a path of starlight an onyx box, covered in swirling patterns of gold filigree and multicolored gems. He reached out for the box and grabbed it. He felt the weight of it in his claws, through his fingers and palms he could feel a gentle heat.





Standing on the Star-lit Path, Celestia pranced on her tip-hooves as she felt the magic swell and swell. As it reached its zenith, she took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds to steady her emotions. There would be enough time for giddiness and celebration later. What she saw was not expected.

Standing on the path of starlight were two unicorns, two pegasi and two earth ponies, their manes and tails flowing in an ethereal breeze.

Celestia blinked her eyes a few times, then rubbed then, just to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

With a pop the two unicorns, two pegasi and two earth ponies vanished.

"Huh! That was unexpected." Celestia waited on the path for several more minutes to see what would happen. When nothing happened , she teleported from the Star-lit Path to the throne room where Luna was waiting.

"Well sister, how did everything go?"

"I...uh, I'm not sure what I saw. Something did happen, I just don't know what."

Cadance walked into the throne room."Auntie, did you feel that odd magical...is this a bad time?"

Luna's body wiggled and jiggled as she giggled."Hee-hee-hee-hee! Neigh it is not, young Niece Cadenza. Just Tia here putting too much faith in vague prophecies once again. Pray tell sister, what did the old coot have to say about Niece Cadenza's ascension?"

Celestia twisted up her face as she thought. "I don't rightly recall Starswirl writing anything down. In fact he had a terrible habit of only writing down half of his thoughts and visions."

"Do you remember what he said about predicting the future?", Luna asked. "I think it went something along the lines of, 'Difficult to see as constantly in motion the future is.', and 'Even the wisest cannot see all or even most ends.'"





Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Spike groaned as they stood up, blinking the spots from their eyes.

"Did somepony get the number o' that cart?", Applejack asked.

"Tell me you do. I think it ran over me too.", Rainbow replied.

"I feel like too little sugar spun into too much cotton candy.", Pinkie said.

"What she said.", Rarity uttered.

Twilight rubbed her head. "I-I think that spell fried my horn.

"Uh, Spike, where did you find that box?", Fluttershy asked. "I'm only asking because it's a very pretty box."

The other six mares turned their attention to Spike."I had a strange vision while the spell was going off. there was this path of some sort of silvery light and this box was floating down it to me. When I reached out and grabbed it, the spell ended and we woke up on the floor, only I was holding the box."

"Can you open it?", Twilight asked. "Maybe there's something important in it."

Spike tried to lift the lid. When that failed, he tried prying it open. When that failed, he turned it over and over in his claws. "Uh...there doesn't seem to be any hinges or a latch or a lock, and it won't budge." He shook the box, then rapped a knuckle on the side. He didn't hear anything rattling, and though hollow, it wasn't empty.

"Hmm...I'll do some research on it, write a letter to Princess Celestia to see if she knows anything about it.", Twilight said. "Let's return the Elements to the case. Spike, you put the box in the case too."

After securing the six Elements and onyx box with gold filigree and multicolored gems in the case, Twilight took a look at the clock in the kitchen. "Wait a minute. That can't be right." She trotted over to the window and looked out at the Ponyville clock tower. "It's been five hours?! That spell only felt like it lasted thirty minutes. How long were we out?"

This prompted mild panic from the other five mares and one dragon as they scrambled over to the window.

"Oh shoot! Big Mac an' Granny are gonna crawl my hind end! Ah was s'possed ta pick up Apple Bloom from school."

"Oh dear me. I was supposed to receive a new shipment of Neighponese silk at noon for an order I'm making for Fancy Pants. I hope he won't be too upset if I'm late."

"I hope Angel Bunny isn't too upset. He tends to get cranky when he doesn't get his lunch on time. The last time I was late with his lunch, he tried to make my cottage his own country called the Democratic Creature's Republic and made himself the supreme ruler."

"Aw horse apples! I was supposed to have a hang sesh with Scootaloo. I hope she's not upset and wants to hang tomorrow."

"Well I cleared my schedule with Mr. and Mrs. Cake, so I got *yawn* *smack-smack* nothing."

Pinkie's yawning spread from mare-to-mare and soon all six of them and Spike let out a series of contagious yawns.

One-by-one Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow bid Twilight and Spike goodbye and left the library to plod home.

Twilight and Spike spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the library. Once finished, they decided to turn in early.

As the sun made its slow drift towards the horizon and the light began to wane, all of Ponyville, with the events of the day still playing in their memories, began to settle down for the evening. In the case that held the six Element, a strange golden light shown around the rim of the onyx box. The five necklaces and one crown that held the Elements of Harmony sprouted golden creeper vines.