//------------------------------// // C.11 // Story: The Sun and her little Sparkle // by Dark0592 //------------------------------// The group spent the rest of the night trying to find Dash a book she actually enjoyed, though Twilight eventually passed the task on to Cadence at around 11. Fluttershy and Spike were already asleep, by then. Twilight had to admit, the two of them curled up together on a beanbag chair was absolutely adorable. She was feeling strangely exhausted, though she normally wouldn’t be this tired for another few hours, and said goodnight to the awake ponies. She decided that she wanted to sleep in her mother’s bed tonight, and not just because of how simple it made sleeping arrangements. Twilight had made it to Celestia’s room without incident, but it was strange. The room didn’t feel right, but after a moment she brushed it off as having not been in here enough to really know the feel of it. Noticing a stack of books open on the desk, she walked over and climbed up the chair to see what it was. “Hm... ‘Royal Adoption’? But she already adopted me...” Twilight said after reading the title and started reading. What she saw worried and somewhat horrified her. According to this book, it was impossible for an alicorn to adopt a normal pony. If one did, then it could incite riots and violence all through Equestria. The law about royal adoption is one could only adopt from a family of equal standing or higher. Nopony was higher than the Princess. She was just minor nobility. It made sense, her now panicked mind told her. Why else would Celestia put her in self defense training? Blueblood did try to duel her, and even though she won she had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last of it. As she read on, the words genuinely scared her. She was starting to fear not only for her own life, but for Celestia’s. That fear escalated as there was a pounding on the door. “She’s in here!” Twilight heard a hoarse yell from the other side. Celestia’s chambers were enchanted to protect against spying, dragons, griffins and any other type of threat. Except for a mob of her own guards and servants, it would seem, as the door shattered and ponies spilled into the room. Twilight would normally have frozen in fear, unable to move, but something called her to action. She used a blast of magic to propel herself away from the guard snatching at her, blast him back into the mob to hold them up and try and escape. As the crash of broken glass sounded, she realized that she had succeeded in escaping. She opened her eyes, having closed them to shield her sight from the blast, and saw the night sky. A bit of red slowly detached from her head, to slowly fall behind as she fell. She blasted herself out of the window, head first it seemed, and was now concussed. Disoriented and unable to formulate a spell or even a train of thought, her life flashed between her eyes. Little things that made her happy, like getting her cutie mark. That one time she tried to cook. The last time she saw her brother. She fell quick and hard, but to her it was as if it was in slow motion. As she neared the ground, she could feel her imminent demise. She looked up at the moon, one last time, to say goodbye to it. One of her only friends. She closed her eyes and resigned to wait until the end, and therefore she did not see the flash of light on the surface of the moon. Nor how the flash broke off from its prison and left a trail of moonlight as it streaked towards her. She heard the sound of something impacting the ground with speed, though she barely felt anything. So this was what dying was like? She felt no different, so she opened her eyes to see if she could see anything. She saw the night sky. A soft smile graced her lips. “Even when I’m dead, the night is still there for me...” She whispered. “You... are not... dead... little one.” She heard. It was a powerful, but feminine, voice. It was also spoken between great gulps of breath. Slowly turning her head, she saw midnight blue eyes looking sideways at her. That midnight blue coat, mane like the night, horn and wings both. She remembered seeing this pony before... No, she remembered being this pony. At least in a dream. Then she remembered who she was. She looked down at this pony under her, how she was firmly planted into a four inch crater she had probably created impacting the ground to catch her. Princess Luna was there, not on the moon and not consumed by a Nightmare. Said princess finally caught her breath and straightened up, the disoriented filly still on her back. There was a flash of midnight colored magic and Twilight’s vision cleared and the pain in her head subsided. With another flash, they were gone from the base of the tower. They reappeared in a small alcove on the side of a very tall mountain. Twilight was lying on the ground and Luna was right next to her. Twilight blinked and realized they had been moved, and was promptly startled as Luna nuzzled her. “P-Princess? W-What... what happened? How are you here?” Twilight asked. “You freed me, Twilight Sparkle." Luna started. "A few nights ago, I felt the presence of a very powerful entity. Nightmare Moon felt it too and thought that her return was nigh. To me, though, it was too compassionate and innocent to help a monster like her.” She continued. “But... but how are you here? I mean, I did dream about that happening, but how did that free you?” Twilight asked, incredibly confused. “In my banishment, I can still dive into dreams. Unfortunately, the Nightmare follows and turns the dream into an abomination. A Nightmare. That presence, though... I did not know who it was or why I felt it. I traced it into a dream, a dream of yours, and found that the Nightmare could not follow. She was repelled by the pure harmonious energy you have within you, and it was that pure harmonious energy that gave me strength to fight back. So I fought, and I fought and fought until I was broken and battered. I fled into the world of dreams and hid, and the only place I could hide was your dream. As punishment for fighting back, she tried to break through to the familiar presence I know is you. Only a little bit ago, though, a blast of magic from that familiar presence gave me a second wind and I banished the Nightmare into oblivion. I followed the source and found you here, so I helped.” Luna explained softly. Twilight processed the information, turned it about and looked at it at every angle. No matter how she saw it, something still seemed off. It was the same thing that was off in Celestia’s room. What Luna said implied something, and Twilight figured it out after a few minutes of silence. “But wait... You never left the dream, did you? This is all a dream?” She asked. The Alicorn nodded and nuzzled the filly again. “A dream may be where we meet now, but dreams are as real as any castle- or dungeon. At least to me. What I told you is not just a dream, everything I said really happened. And thanks to you, Twilight Sparkle, I am finally free... Finally free...” Luna explained, though she gradually laid her head down on the ground and her voice came slower and slower. As she whispered the last syllable, the Princess seemed to be asleep. Twilight had no idea what to make of this. She had no idea how to try and even make anything out of it. Her mind overloaded and she passed out, entering the land of unconsciousness. --- “Hey y’all, she’s wakin’ up!” Twilight heard. “Oh hush darling! She hasn’t met you yet!” She heard after the first voice. The voice was right, that first voice was unfamiliar. The second, however, belonged to Rarity. “Well everypony here knows each other one way or another, Rarity. Applejack and Pinkie are both of our friends, but we only just met today.” That was Dash’s voice. “Oh... um... Maybe we should give her some space...” Definitely Fluttershy. Twilight opened her eyes and was surprised to see six faces staring at her. Three of them were her new friends, two she didn’t know and the last was a worried yet joyful Celestia. “Mom?” Twilight said sleepily. She tried to move, but something was holding her back. She looked down and was utterly surprised to find a filly only a bit older than her sleeping next to her. Well, holding her like a teddy bear but sleeping nonetheless. She had a blue coat, a moon for a cutie mark and a dark teal blue mane and tail. She looked like Luna, but if it was Luna why was she so small? Celestia seemed to anticipate all of the questions she had. “I don’t know, love. But whatever happened happened and I have my sister back.” Celestia said, slowly walking towards the bed and nuzzling the both of them. “Sister?!” The other five exclaimed. “Not biologically of course, we’re a century or so apart, but we thought of each other as such... Princess Luna... You’ll have to tell me all about it when you wake up; but for now I think you would like to know why these fillies are here, Twilight.” Celestia said softly. Twilight looked at her friends and the new ponies and nodded. “I have no idea why, but not long after you left we all suddenly started glowing. It was weird, but suddenly I knew I needed to go somewhere and do something. There was this flash of light, like when you teleport, and suddenly I was here on the floor. All of us were there too, but I dunno what they felt. I just felt like I needed to give everything I had, all of my strength, and lend it to something.” Dash explained. The others nodded in agreement. “That’s when I arrived. The first thing I saw when I opened my own door was a blinding light and something I’ll discuss with you later. After the light subsided, a rainbow of pristine and pure harmonic energy burst from the six of you and flew out the window. I looked to the sky and it lead to the moon. It took a few minutes, but the energy returned carrying her. The energy placed her next to you and dispersed. These five passed out after that and I was in disbelief for heavens knows how long.” Celestia explained. “We all woke up an’ there was a might ol’ fuss, but we got everythin’ sorted out in the end.” One of the two unfamiliar earth ponies said. Connecting the voice and the name from earlier, Twilight assumed this was Applejac and the pink one had to be Pinkie. She felt a strange bond between them, and now that she noticed it she felt it with the rest of her friends too. “Do you feel that, Twilight?” Celestia asked. Twilight looked up at her, surprised. She had her eyes closed and was smiling brightly. “I once wielded the elements of harmony, I know the feeling. I may not have the right to them anymore, but I can feel that they are yours to command now. The six of you.” She continued. “But... but there’s only five elements.” Twilight said, confused. “You have singlehandedly brought to life a sixth element, the element of magic. With it, you can probably wield the other elements yourself, but united you are at your strongest.” Celestia continued to explain, meaning the six of them. “Looks like you just made two more totally awesome friends, eh egghead?” Dash said. Twilight was still trying to wrap her head around everything that was happening. It was so much in so little a time. There was Luna, who was currently using her as a snuggle buddy after a mysterious end to her millennia long banishment. There was what Luna had told her, about her somehow being able to free her. There was the fact that she somehow summoned her friends and these two ponies she had never even seen before, and unconsciously at that. And lastly, all of this about the elements of harmony and her ushering in a sixth element. It was too much for her to handle. Confusion, mental strain and exhaustion all combined in one sleepy force and she was out in an instant. The others had worried looks, and Celestia made sure she was alright, but eventually she asked them to please return to their rooms- and for the two new ones to follow Dash and Fluttershy. She then smiled at the two little fillies dozing on her bed. Her adopted daughter, who had a very eventful and bright future ahead of her, who was the bearer of the newest element of harmony. And her adopted sister, who she hadn’t seen for a thousand years. The strains of a princess’ day finally caught up to her, so she did the most logical thing. She curled up with the two on her bed and fell asleep with a smile.