//------------------------------// // Everfree Struggles // Story: Night Eternal // by Halloweddisease //------------------------------// First things first, I drifted into Canterlot. Ponies there were curious, for even though the Summer Sun Celebration was taking place in a faraway village, they all knew that the sun should have risen by now. I thought for a second about raising the sun for them, just to assure them that they were safe, but it would have ruined everything. No, I needed to keep Celestia’s reputation clean. Even though she didn’t do that to me, I was simply too loyal to her to allow the same fate to befall her. Knowing Celestia, she would have at least kept one thing of mine in order at the castle, and of all the things it could be, I was pretty sure I knew just the one: the Shadowbolts. Why would she have kept the Shadowbolts and the Wonderbolts at once? Simple. The Wonderbolts, ever since the early days of Equestria, traveled the land in fortune and fame, performing races and the like everywhere. The Shadowbolts started as something for my private entertainment, but before long, Celestia and I both enjoyed being able to call them into our presence at will and have proper entertainment. They were paid well and lived in a separate wing of the castle, last time I was here. Some of the Shadowbolts even doubled as war-pegasi in our respective armies. I found all the new Shadowbolts waiting in the lounge of the south wing. They were whispering excitedly, but about what, I wasn’t sure. I hoped for the best and materialized in front of them. “Nightmare Moon!” one of them exclaimed with glee. “It has been our tradition to pass down the true legend of your banishment, learned from your soldiers before their executions, to all new recruits to the Shadowbolts and eagerly await your return. We saw the signs, m’lady, and we gathered here to await your coming, just in case you, uh, ever came.” “I sincerely thank you all,” I told them, glad that something had been preserved from my rule and somepony knew the truth. “Could you all fly to the old griffon temple in the Everfree Forest? I may need your assistance.” “Sure,” a second one, who seemed to carry herself as the leader, told me. “Just show us where it is.” The first one who had spoken to be brought over a map, and I marked the spot. As soon as I had marked it, they began planning the fastest route and took off before my eyes. Thankful that they were able and willing to help, I evaporated once more and floated away in the direction of the settlement I would later know as Ponyville. I headed into the Everfree, not straying too far from these six ponies who had it in their heads that they would free Celestia. They all seemed genuinely frightened, but yet the same time, determined to free the tyrant that caused them misery. Why? Was it the right thing to do? Nopony enjoyed Celestia’s rule! What could be their purpose? I watched as they came to a cliff, speculating at how to get across it. I slipped inside the rocky surface, and with a little magic, it began to crumble underhoof. It was just steep enough that they would slip, and of course, the two pegasi among them would be able to fly and avoid being injured. Maybe they would even try to catch their companions. To the forces above, I hoped so. Heaven knows I only wanted to see everypony free from tyranny, not hurt or worse—dead. I watched as the ponies slid down to safety, except for one that was hanging over a small ledge. I looked a little closer and saw it to be the unicorn from earlier, the one who’d known my proper name, even when my sister seemed to have forgotten it. The orange cowpony said something to her with a smile, and I watched her plummet down, down, down. My heart plummeted with her. This pony was sure to sustain injury, and it was because of me. At least if she got hurt, the other ponies may learn something and head home. Wait, what was I doing, thinking like that? Nopony should ever be senselessly hurt. My concerns were unwarranted. Her two pegasus friends caught her as she was falling, setting her down gently on the ground. I was both joyous and disappointed—joyous at the fact nopony was harmed, but disappointed that all my spell did was encourage them to move on. This time, I went further ahead of them and spotted a lone manticore that was sure to cross their path. I knew manticores would not normally harm ponies, but I had to make sure this one scared them away. Murmuring a soft “I’m sorry, dear creature,” I hardened my essence into a thorn, sticking myself in the manitcore’s paw. Every second I was in there, it grew harder to keep myself in—not because I was loose, but because I felt the manticore’s pain. It was hurting terribly, and it wanted something, anything to understand it. I was ready for the ponies to be frightened away, so I could free the poor beast from its suffering. I felt as the manticore’s anger rose when the ponies attacked it. Those foals, I thought, they’ll never survive. Once again, I was going to throw them directly in death’s way. I’d never had anypony’s blood on my hooves like this before…needless to say, I was feeling pretty miserable. I began to dissolve then and there, but something stopped me. The manticore was feeling…joy? Why? I found myself removed from the beast’s paw and cast aside. I spun there for a moment before evaporating once more, but not before I caught a glimpse of what had pried me from my place. It was the yellow pegasus that was traveling with the dusk-hued unicorn. These ponies, whatever their intentions may have been, were beginning to annoy me. I drifted on the breeze, bewitching a deeper part of the forest in order to deter this mysterious group. For a moment, it seemed like it worked. They would never be able to think straight enough to figure out what the action to dissipate the spell was. In hindsight, it was probably too simple a spell and could have been stronger to truly scare these ponies away. If only you could have seen the look on my face when one of the six began laughing. I peeked at her and discovered she was an earth pony. How would an earth pony know the defense to a very specific unicorn spell? And then…she started to sing. Judging by the story she was telling in her song, it had been a wild guess and not prior knowledge. The worst part was when the others began to laugh with her, evaporating the hex when the ponies came close enough. No…no…this could not be happening. We were far too close to the old castle. Things were getting desperate now. I drifted ahead, finding a sea serpent that seemed very fond of the facial hair he was sporting. Inwardly grimacing at the injustice I was about to do him, I sliced off half of his mustache and carried on ahead. I knew that this wouldn’t hold them back very long. I didn’t see how it was possible for them to find a way to calm him, but given the way everything had been going earlier, it wouldn’t surprise me. Just for extra measure, I severed the bridge leading across the chasm that stood directly in front of the old castle. Materializing and bursting forth through its doors, I found the Shadowbolts awaiting me. “Go,” I gasped. “Go out there. There’s a cyan pony with a rainbow mane. She’s bound to want to join you—I can see the love of speed in her eyes. I think her name is Rainbow Dash. If she separates from the group, they may become disheartened and leave.” Following my orders without question, the Shadowbolts zipped through the door, causing a stir of wind as they went. I began my search for the Elements of Harmony, but didn’t have to look far. They were just behind me. I saw that my sister had transformed them into stone orbs in my absence, instead of keeping them in their jewelry-like form that bore our cutie marks. I looked closer at them and discovered the sixth element—the Element of Magic—gone. This relieved me. There was no way these silly ponies would best me. They didn’t have the proper equipment. Game over. Heading up to the second floor, I heard the Shadowbolts coming my way. “We couldn’t do it!” their leader cried out. “She turned us down!” “It doesn’t matter,” I told her. “I have just recently found that they do not have the means to foil my plan. Everything is going exactly as I initially intended, if maybe a little more elaborate than I wanted.” I gave the Shadowbolts permission to fly back to Canterlot, and as I watched them leave, I felt a strong pull of magic from downstairs. Something…something was summoning the last element! I used my magic to teleport that pony and the elements before me, though I was not surprised when I saw who it was. When I had teleported them, the pony was on one side of the room, and myself and the elements on the other. I saw her perk up as she heard voices from below. “Twilight? Where are you?” “Look!” “Come on!” I laughed manically, putting on this act once again for the ponies who were crazy enough to want to rescue their princess. The unicorn before me gasped and got to her hooves, wasting no time in charging directly at me. “You’re kidding?” I asked, floored that she was brave enough to do something so foalish. “You’re kidding, right?” When her advance did not stop, I saw she was dead serious and I, meeting her challenge, charged back. Just as we were about to meet in combat, she teleported behind me and began to try to summon the sixth element again. “One more spark,” she muttered. “Come on, come on! Aah!” “No!” I screamed. “No!” I teleported behind the elements once more, which surprised her enough that she quit her magic. “But,” she asked me, “where’s the sixth element?” “You little foal! Thinking you could defeat me?” I couldn’t help my outburst. She had been so dim-witted as to risk having to face me in combat? She deserved it. Remembering to revert to the character my sister had predetermined for me, I continued, also doing what I wanted by stomping and effectively turning the elements into shards of stone. “Now you will never see your princess, or your sun! The night will last forever!” She stood defiantly, her friends standing in line behind her. “You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well you’re wrong, because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!” “What?” I gasped. You know not what you do, I screamed inside my head, you know not what you do! She continued to explain it to me, as if I were too much a foal to understand. “Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of honesty! Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of kindness! Pinkie Pie, who banished her fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of laughter! Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of generosity! And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her heart’s desire represents the spirit of loyalty! The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!” I smiled as I listened to her little rant. “You still don’t have the sixth element! The spark didn’t work!” This time, it was her turn to grin at me. “But it did! A different kind of spark,” she said, turning to face her friends now. “I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized you all are my friends. You see, Nightmare Moon, when those elements are ignited by the spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of magic.” I watched as the shards of each element swirled around their respective entities, becoming necklaces with jewels in the shapes of each pony’s cutie mark. From out of thin air, the tiara of the Element of Magic appeared, the gem once again being shaped as the bearer’s cutie mark. I could do nothing but watch in horror as each pony and their element began to glow, creating a swirling rainbow that headed like a tidal wave towards me, ready to strip me of my magic. “No!” I shrieked. “NO!” I was floating in a haze somewhere, drifting here and there without a breeze to carry me or a will of my own. It was so quiet here, so peaceful. “Ugh, my head.” Or maybe not so quiet. “Everypony okay?” “No,” I wanted to respond, but I had the feeling it wasn’t my place to speak. I struggled to remember what had just happened. “Oh, thank goodness.” “Why Rarity, it’s so lovely.” “I know! I’ll never part with it again.” “No, your necklace. It looks just like your cutie mark.” “So does yours.” “Look at mine! Look at mine!” “Aw yeah.” “Gee Twilight, I thought you were speaking a lot of hooey, but I reckon we really do represent the elements of friendship.” Now I remembered. I had been defeated. But did that mean…? “Indeed you do.” Yep. I knew that voice all too well. She was free. “Princess Celestia.” Bingo. “Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I knew you could do it.” Wait, student? She taught now? “But…you told me it was all an old pony tale.” “I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon’s return and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let the magic of friendship into your heart. Now if only another will as well.” She had planned this? Was this her scheme all along? Sometimes, my sister really disgusted me. “Princess Luna.” At the sound of her voice saying my name, all the memories came back. Not the ones I was hanging on to out of bitterness, but the ones that mattered—the ones of the good times we’d had together. I realized then just how much I missed her, how much I longed for her company, and opening my eyes, I also realized I’d forgotten to breathe. I took in a sharp breath as she began to speak to me again. “It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this,” she told me. “Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister.” “Sister?!” everypony collectively exclaimed. Maybe they didn’t know their history as well as they should. “Will you accept my friendship?” Celestia asked with a smile. Everypony leaned in to hear my response, the pink one leaning so far she ending up falling with a “whoa.” It took me a few seconds to ponder all this. She was talking about us ruling together, but did she mean like we used to, or would I have my fair share of power now? Looking at the ponies around me, I could see they loved her…and one was even her student. They went through all this trouble to free her from the sun. No one had gone through such endeavors for me…she must really be a new pony. “I’m so sorry!” I gushed tearfully as I ran to her embrace. “I missed you so much, big sister!” She rested her head on my shoulder and whispered a soft, “I missed you, too.”