//------------------------------//
// Unity 6: Kindness and Loyalty 
// Story: Those Forty Years 
// by Spell Writer 
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Unity and Twilight clash between the two mountain peaks sparks flying in all directions as Twilight's hooves clash with Unity's gauntlets. Unity smirking a little. "Merging? Psh and I thought what we had was special Twilight~!" She says playfully with a giggle. Twilight glared through the sweat on her brow before Unity simply swung one of her arms up, breaking Twilight's guard and sending the alicorn flying into the mountain with a decisive punch. The impact caused a heavy ringing to pierce through Twilight's ears, making her groan lightly as she tasted Iron in her mouth.

Twilight's horn glows just as she's about to hit the mountain, the side suddenly becoming incredibly bouncy, sending Twilight right back to Unity and giving her a free punch right back at the spirit's face! The dull feeling of her hoof on Unity's face makes the wildly chaotic alicorn grin. Discord's influence makes her immensely enjoy every little bit of damage they can inflict on their sister. "Welllllll, we did, but you had to go and ruin that, didn't you?!" She says with a giggle as her horn glows again, the mountain that Unity was flying at suddenly becoming sticky like glue!

Unity sighs a little in disappointment as she flips in the air, gently flashing her horn as the chaos magic in the air vanishes. The sugary ambiance instantly fades to normal. Twilight's smile quickly shifted to a worried glare. "Really, Twilight, I'm disappointed. Discord's magic is canceled by mine, just like mine is negated by his. Your fusion is pointless!" The two then return to fighting, large pulses of magic ringing across Equestria with each clash.





Celestia and Luna rush past the foliage that protects the Kirin village from view. Instantly, they see a group of Kirin arguing with each other, each flaring up into Nirik form as the argument peaks. Celestia and Luna's eyes go wide before Celestia rushes between the group. "WOAH! What's wrong?!"

The first Nirik growls. "Autumn Fall says it was my turn to water the flowers, but it was not! It was Marbelle Spring's turn!"

Marbelle Spring growls out next. "It was not! I do Tuesdays and Fridays! Today is Wednesday! That's Autumn's turn!"

Celestia sighed a little as she watched the trio continue to bicker, their flames getting hotter, causing Celestia to jump a little. "Uh. Excuse me." She says, but is quickly ignored. Celestia's eyebrow twitched a little "EXCUSE ME!" She shouts, startling the Nirik, who all look at her in surprise. "Is this really something you three should be arguing about? Firstly, yes, it is Wednesday today. I'd know. The sun has made that many rotations. Secondly, while I understand that you may have your own reasons for being upset over the schedule, do not forget that even I can be forgetful, and I'm an alicorn, for Faust's sake!" She giggles. "What I'm trying to say is that it's better if you talk things out reasonably rather than causing each other grief. Okay?"

The Nirik look at each other and finally calm down, returning to their more stable Kirin forms. Autumn blushes a little. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so aggressive with you two. The alicorn is right. We should at least TRY to get along." She says with a soft smile. The group tears up a little as they all hug. "How about we all water the plants together today! Then we can fix up the schedule for tomorrow!"

Celestia sighs a little as she waves the group off, Luna giggling as she says, "Couldn't resist, huh?"

Celestia sighs a little. "Mom really rubbed off on me in that way, I guess. Now come on, we need to find Sunshower." Celestia then continues her sprint towards Sunshower's house. Luna follows behind as they pass through the village. Most of the kirin are in a state of discontentment at the moment, with some angry, others sad, and many just isolating themselves.

'What happened here...?' Luna thinks as they arrive at the house. Celestia knocks on the door the moment they approach the building.

"Is anyone home? Sunshower? Rain Shine?" Celestia says. The door creaks open slowly. A voice coming out from within.

"Come in..." Says a dreary voice. The two sisters enter the house. The home is dirty and seems almost grey. Much of the objects inside are covered in dust and grime, plates littering the table, each one dirtier than the last. "Oh. Celestia, Luna, what a nice... visit." Rain Shine says with a mumble, huddled up under her blanket.

Celestia's heart drops after seeing this. "Oh. Oh, I'm so sorry, Rain Shine." She says with a somber expression.

Rain Shine looks over to Celestia and Luna with a weak gaze. Luna looked between the two and seemed confused. "Did I miss something?" Luna says with a tilt of her head.

Rain Shine laughs a little at Luna's comment. "Never change, Luna, please." She says simply as she continues to rest on the couch.

Celestia closes her eyes a little. "I know how you feel, Rain Shine." She says quietly. "But now more than ever, you need friends with you." She says as she sits next to the tall Kirin. Luna sitting next to her, too.

Rain Shine looks at Celestia and Luna with a shake of her head. "How could you ever know? You two still have a Mom." She says with a mumble. Luna gasped a little at that comment.

"No... what happened?!" Luna says quickly. Her eyes shifted from worry to extreme sadness for her friend.

Rain Shine giggles a little. "Dunno. There was a pulse of magic, and all the Kirin suddenly lost control of their emotions. There was... such a big fire. Mom did her best to try and calm everykirin down. But. She couldn't just leave the fire alone. Now she's gone. Everykirin expects me to take charge, but. I don't know how to do this. I can't do what my mom did! She was the reason why Kirin never became Nirik before. She was the only one that everykirin trusted! I can't be a leader! I just wanted to be a singer!" Rain Shine breaks down into tears afterward. Celestia and Luna looked at each other and hugged her.

Luna mumbles, "We lost our birth parents, Rain Shine. It's not... well known anymore in this era. But. Twilight isn't our actual mom."

Celestia closes her eyes and winces a little as she thinks back. "Eclipse and Solace Sol. They were. Honestly, pretty terrible parents." She says with a weak, dry giggle. "They were difficult, hardheaded, and hyper into the whole commoner vs noble thing. But they were still mom and dad." She mumbles quietly.

Luna fidgets. "I was. Too young to really remember them too well at this point. I think I was effectively like. Three or four? At the time, Alicorns aged way differently from normal ponies. It wasn't as hard for me, but even then. I still think about Dad from time to time." She giggles weakly.

Rain Shine hugs her blanket tightly, holding onto the one thing her mom left her for dear life. "Does it ever go away?"

Celestia twitches a little. She opens her mouth to say something, but Luna cuts her off. "Celestia, no. This isn't a time for that." Celestia flinches, looking down as she's chastised by her little sister. Luna then continues. "No. It. Really doesn't."

Rain Shine looks up to Luna with a curious and yet pained expression. Luna continued to speak. "The pain. It never goes away. Your heart will always have that... gentle, aching feeling. As time passes, you find things to help you think about other things. Happiness to fill in that gap. But it's still there." Luna says with a weak smile as she hugs Celestia closely. "It's always there because you were loved, and now it's gone." Luna and Celestia both tear up as they embrace Rain Shine. Who also begins to close her eyes. "But the pain isn't a bad thing. It's the memory of what you had. No one tells you to smile or be happy when you remember her. That's asking too much of anypony. But afterward, even if you just remember her for the life she had, the things she did? It can make that pain just a little more bearable."

Celestia giggles a little. "Or you could be like me and go completely power-hungry." With a dry laugh, Celestia grimaces. "Sometimes, you just need to scream, and that's okay. Sometimes, you just need to be with friends who are willing to listen."

Celestia and Luna then hug Rain Shine. Just staying with the Kirin while she cries, screams, and lets everything out. The two sisters were silently being there for their friend.

Celestia breaks the silence after a moment. "Better?" Rain Shine sniffles and shakes her head.

"Not really, but I don't feel alone right now." Rain Shine says as she wipes the tears from her face, eyes still red but with a much calmer heart. "What brings you two back here? I hope everything is okay."

Celestia and Luna wince in tandem. They wanted to avoid burdening their friend with more problems, but Rain Shine was quick on the uptake. Giving them both a welcoming smile, she leans on her two friends. "Come on, you listened to me cry for almost five minutes straight. I'm stronger than you give me credit for." Rain Shine says before the two alicorns nod, and Celestia gets her up to speed. "WHAT?! Why didn't you say so first!" Rain Shine yells out as she stands up. Glaring towards Equestria. "We won't be able to get there very quickly though. Unless you two can open up some sort of portal or something." She says with a mumble.

Celestia and Luna fidget a little. Luna speaking first. "I could, but I sorta haven't re-learned that spell yet, and Celestia doesn't have enough magic after the last time we fought Unity to cast a portal spell."

Rain Shine winces as she looks at Celestia. "So we'll have to use the train then. It'll take almost an hour, if not two, to make it over to Canterlot from here, not to mention the extra time to move such a large group to wherever the fighting is." Rain Shine closes her eyes. "Mmn. Alright, we'll go with the backup plan." She says as she stands up. "Hope me and Zera are enough because I don't think we have time to get everypony together. The rest will come as they come."





Unity lands in front of Twilight, the purple alicorn groaning a little as she struggles to stand up. Scratches, burns, and bruises adorn her body, each stinging more than the last. Twilight winces a little as she stands up. "This isn't going well," Twilight says with a giggle to Discord.

Unity sighs in disappointment. This fight was just. Too easy. "I told you, I'm not holding back Twilight. Every little thing I've done up to this point was a half-measure. Maybe you could hold a candle to my raw strength after another million years, but as you are right now. Alone, with no one behind you. Well, what's a princess of friendship to do with no friends? You abandoned everything you ever were, a Queen, a leader, and a princess, just to protect your family. I do respect that about you, though. Rather than take the chance of losing your family, you decided to sacrifice yourself so they can survive no matter what. You throw away your morals and teachings quite quickly when things become hard or dangerous, don't you? All in the name of protecting your family, when in reality." Unity smiles as she suddenly glows her horn. "You're just the same scared little Alicorn you were when you came back in time in the first place!" Unity fires a powerful beam of magic at Twilight, the crackle of the magic electrifying the air as it strikes Twilight directly. With a loud crash, a massive cloud of dust settles over the battlefield. Unity swiftly beat her wings to clear the cloud, expecting to see Twilight defeated.

"What?!" Unity says as she sees Twilight standing, barely, the Purple Alicorn standing in front of Discord, who's groaning on the ground from the backlash of the sudden separation he just experienced.

"Analysis complete." A voice from behind Twilight rings out. The two alicorns looking at the newcomer. Moondancer smiles as her horn glows bright orange. "Sorry, Twilight, I know you said to stay at the castle. But isn't this the point where the hero gets some unlikely backup in every story?" She snickers a little as she looks at Discord. "Discord is down. He'll be awake in 240 seconds. I'll provide support this time. You fight, and I analyze. Together, we can beat this annoying, ugly, inconsequential spirit into next Tuesday!"

Twilight opens her mouth to protest her friend's arrival, but she smiles instead. "Thank you, Moondancer. I'll be relying on you." Moondancer winked in response as she cast her magic onto the battlefield, an eery, golden glow suffusing everything. Twilight and Unity glow briefly as large amounts of information are quickly given directly to Moondancer.

Unity twitches a little bit, ignoring the glow of the area. Analysis magic is meaningless to her. After all, she's a spirit. She could never fall to something so basic! "Now annoying and ugly I can bear. But inconsequential?" She says as she glares. "Now that IS a new one. I'm the spirit of harmony, little pony. I don't care if you're the second coming of Faust. You're GOING to get punched for that! YOU DO NOT GET TO DECIDE WHEN THE HERO GETS BACKUP!" Unity charges right at Moondancer, who just stands there and smirks. Unity's eyes widen as she sees Twilight firing a thin magic beam. The spell zig zags through the air before it pierces right through Unity's right gauntlet, shattering it and hurting Unity's hoof. The resulting force from the spell was enough to send Unity reeling back, grunting as she held onto her injured leg.

Moondancer laughs a little, smiling in the face of danger. "As I said earlier." The Royal Guard glares at Unity. "Analysis complete. Let's kick some flank!"





"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Celestia says to Zera and Rain Shine as the two stand at the ready to get teleported.

Rain Shine smiles. "I think my mom would be disappointed if I came this far just to chicken out at the end." She giggles. "You two better hurry up and get the rest of the backup, though. Who else do you need to speak with?"

Luna looks towards the east. "Celestia is going to stay here and try to send as many kirin as possible to go and help. Meanwhile, I'll be with you two in Canterlot to try and convince Amore, the Griffons, and the Yaks to help. Mom has a good relationship with the Crystal Empire and the Yaks. The only wildcard is the griffons, but well. We have to try."

Celestia smiles. "Relax, Sis, we got this." She giggles nervously. "Let's just hope Mom can hold on till we show up."

Luna tilts her head a little and smiles up to the sky. "Oh, don't worry about that sister. Just like you had your plans, I had mine. Mom isn't alone, not by a longshot."