//------------------------------// // 54. Extinct No More // Story: Good Things Come // by Sweet Tale //------------------------------// The story will now switch back to Owen’s POV! ……. ……. ……. …..’wen?!” The pain...my head was throbbing…… “Ow….et up!” A voice was calling to me.  Angelic in sound...and all too familiar. “OWEN!” My eyelids slowly parted as a harsh light protruded between them.  Shutting them almost immediately, I raised my right hand to cover my eyes and felt something sharp poke in my cheek. “Ow...what the…” Dropping whatever I was grasping, I attempted to open my eyes again.  Using my hands to block out some of the light, I could make out that there were ponies in front of me.  Wincing at the harsh light, I looked down before slowly getting onto my knees.  I took deep breaths as my strength was immediately sapped from performing such a simple task. “What the hell...why am I so weak.  All I did was get up…”  I shook my head from side to side to try and wake myself up a bit.  “I must have had some heavy stuff last night.  Where did I even…” And just like that, a switch was flipped.  What happened in the past few days.  The voices, the Everfree, Nightmare Mo-- “AAAH!”  I shot my head up to see Celestia and Twilight looking down at me with worried looks.  I clamped my hands around my head.  “NO!  GET AWAY!”  I couldn’t let Nightmare anywhere near these ponies.  I shuffled backwards as fast as I could, breathing heavily.  “DON’T HURT THEM!”  I buried my head between my knees.  “I WON’T LET YOU!” I felt a set of hooves place themselves on my shoulders.  “Owen!  Calm down!” I heard Twilight shout to me. “All the things I did...I hurt that guard, I attacked Celestia...I ki…”  “I KILLED SOMEONE!  NO!  WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!”  I rocked back and forth as the events kept playing over and over in my mind.  She was in front of me...Celestia was in front of me.  I looked up, past Twilight’s worried face and stared at Celestia. “Owen...for what you have done, I--” she started. “NO!”  I got to my feet and instantly felt light-headed.  “I’m sorry!”  I shuffled backwards towards the wall.  “I didn’t mean to!  It was Nightmare!”  I began to hit my head repeatedly with my fist.  “GET OUT OF ME!  GET OUT!  GET OUT!  GET OUT!”  I saw Celestia slowly approaching me.  “STAY AWAY!  SHE’LL COME BACK!” Before I could do anything else, she lit up her horn and shot it at me, encasing me in a yellow aura.  My body levitated into the air and remained there.  My gaze never broke with Celestia’s as whatever spell she fired at me, still stayed strong.  All I could feel was fear...fear of what she was going to do to me. “Please Celestia!” I shouted at her, a tear escaping from my eye.  “I didn’t mean it!”  I tried my best to move my arms and legs but they stayed still.  “Don’t send me away!” “Relax Owen.  Please calm down.” came the soft voice of the solar Princess. “You need to be calm for this to work.” Hearing her angelic voice in my head made me calm down ever so slightly.  “What are you doing t-to me?” I asked.  Even my own thoughts were laced with stutters. “I am scanning your body.  Nightmare Moon could still be inside you.” “Celestia...I’m...I’m so sorry for attacking you.  I wasn’t--” “Shh...it’s alright.  Don’t speak for now, just relax.” I remained silent as the yellow aura still surrounded me.  I couldn’t bear to look in the faces of my friends out of disgust.  Disgust at what I had become...a monster.  I killed Time Turner’s father...I wanted him away, not dead! It wasn’t long before the aura dissipated and I was deposited onto the marble floor on my backside.  Celestia stood tall over me before extending one of her hooves out to me.  I looked at the hoof and then up at Celestia - she was smiling. I gingerly reached my arm out and softly grasped her hoof.  The cold feel of metal on my hand made me feel numb as she continued smiling at me.  Leaning herself forward, she took both my hands in her hooves and helped me to my feet.  With her just standing a mite taller than me, she looked down placed her left foreleg around my shoulder. “You’ve nothing to fear anymore.”  She pulled me close to her and nuzzled the top of my head.  “Nightmare is absent from your body.  She is gone.” My arms hung loose at my sides as she said that.  I looked behind Celestia to see my friends giving warm smiles and tearing up.  The words slowly sunk in and I pulled back to look in Celestia’s eyes. “She’s...gone?” I whispered.  She nodded at me and gave me an even bigger smile.  “She’s gone.”  I was myself again.  “She’s gone.”  I wasn’t that monster anymore.  “She’s…” There, behind the girls and Spike, stood...her.  She was staring at me with a worrying look and not breaking eye contact with me.  Celestia noticed my gaze and looked behind her - her smile immediately disappearing once she saw her younger sister. “Luna, it’s alright.  He’s perfectly safe.” she softly said. Not breaking the gaze, I slowly started to walk towards her.  Every step I took echoed around the room as my friends remained in absolute silence.  Luna remained stock still as I took another few steps towards her. Ten feet between us. The girls and Spike parted for me to walk past them.  A freezing breeze blew through the room, chilling me to the bone.  But that didn’t matter - I was focused on what was directly ahead of me. Five feet.  I stopped. Our eyes remained locked.  Her gaze bore into me and I could only see one thing in her stare.  That was fear.  I slowly raised my hand towards her.  “Luna...I--” Almost immediately as I spoke, her horn ignited and shot a spell at my chest, levitating me once again.  I could just about make out her face - she was crying. “Luna!  What are you doing?!” I heard Celestia shout. “I...I have to be sure!”  I heard her sob a little.  “T-to be sure it’s him!” “But I scanned him Luna, three times over!  Nightmare is gone!”  I could just about make out Celestia approaching Luna.  “Luna!  STOP!” The spell immediately ceased and I dropped to the ground, landing on my backside with an audible thump.  A bit of pain emitted from the impact but it easily went away.  I felt myself being lifted onto my feet by a set of hooves and looked to see Celestia at my side. “Luna, I promise you, he’s--” “Human.” Luna’s tears continued to flow as she stared at me, smiling ever so slightly.  I gingerly approached the Lunar Princess and raised my hand again.  This time she didn’t hold back and allowed me to place it on her shoulder.  My eyes started to water as I noticed how hard she was trying to hold back her tears. She slowly rose one of her forelegs and placed it on my shoulder, mirroring my action.  “I…”  I raised my other hand and held it over her hoof.  “You’re…”  She raised her hoof, with my hand placed on it, and stroked my cheek.  Her lower lip trembled as she couldn’t look away from me.  “I’m so…” I slipped my arm around her neck and stroked her mane.  “It’s alright...I’m…”  I took a deep breath as I tried to contain my emotions.  “This i-isn’t your fault...we...we didn’t know…”  I stuttered with my speech as I tried to find the right words to say. Luna suddenly lunged forward, throwing her hooves around my neck and pushing me to the ground.  She buried her head into my chest and sobbed profusely.  Hearing that heart wrenching sound caused my emotional barrier to be breached and I let the tears flow freely as I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her tight. We stayed like that for a few minutes, holding each other tightly and sharing our body heat.  At that moment, there was no-one else in the room...just me and her.  It wasn’t just us who were crying though as we heard a few sniffles from behind us as well. Eventually, Luna raised her head and softly kissed me.  “This is all my fault…” she whispered.  “It’s because of me that…”  She sniffled softly and let another tear fall. I raised my hand and wiped it away with my thumb.  “You saved my life, remember that.”  She gave a tiny smile at this.  “But…”  I covered my face with my hands as I remembered what I did to her.  “Luna I…”  I tried my best not to tear up again.  “I attacked you...I punched you...I...I killed…” Luna nuzzled my cheek with her own to stop me talking.  The thoughts of what I had done replayed over and over in my mind and were not going away.  “You were not yourself.” she firmly said.  “Everything you did, everything you thought, that was not you.”  She gave me a light kiss on the nose and nuzzled me once again. This is why I loved her so much.  She knew exactly what to say, even when I was at my lowest point.  The wind continued to blow through the hall as our combined body heat saved us from feeling the cold.  After a few minutes more, I leant my head back and looked straight into her eyes. “I love you.” I whispered before leaning forward and embracing her lips with my own. “I’ll always love you, no matter what happens.” she replied, booping me on the nose with her muzzle. Getting to my feet, I turned around to see seven friends all staring at me with huge grins.  I knew exactly what they wanted.  I crouched down onto my knees and matched their smile with a greater one.  “Thank you.” I said quietly. Twilight rushed forwards and threw her hooves around me, hugging me tightly. It wasn’t long before Rainbow, AJ, Pinkie, Spike and Rarity joined suit and embraced me from wherever they could. “It’s good to have you back.” Twilight mumbled. “It sure is!” Pinkie added. I noticed there was someone missing.  Breaking the hug, I looked over to Fluttershy who looked a little anxious about approaching me.  “Fluttershy?” “I um…”  She looked away from me.  “I don’t know if…” “He is safe my dear.” Celestia spoke up.  “Trust me.” Instead of waiting for her to approach me, I shuffled over to her and sat myself in front of her.  Holding my arms out, I smiled at her the best that I could.  She looked a little hesitant at first but it looked like a switch was flipped and she leant forward and planted a small kiss on my nose. “Look at the smile...I know you can’t be evil.” she said sweetly.  I quickly threw my arms around her and squeezed her tight. “Thanks.  You didn’t have to--” *BOOM* “What the hell was that?!”  I got to my feet and ran over where a window used to be.  Looking over Canterlot, it was horrific.  A swarm of unicorns were attacking the city, throwing spells left, right and centre.  Many buildings were ablaze with many more already destroyed.  Screams and shouts could be heard all over.  “What the hell is going on?!” “Nightmare.” I turned to the lavender unicorn who was now standing next to me.  “Nightmare?”  I looked out over the city again to see another building collapse into rubble.  “But you said she was gone!” “She is.” came the voice of Celestia.  “But only from you.”  She approached me and took my hand in her hoof.  “We used the Elements of Harmony on you, don’t you remember?” “Yeah you did.”  I looked at the ponies facial expressions - they were scared.  “What happened to me?” “The Elements worked like they normally did...for a little while.” Luna added.  “The energy backfired and reversed back into the Elements, turning them the same colour as Nightmare’s magical aura.” “We didn’t know what had happened.  Before any of us could react, Nightmare re-appeared completely unharmed.  It was then when she…”  Celestia suddenly went quiet. “What?”  I looked around but no-one said a work.  “Seriously, what?” “You weren’t part of the body anymore.” Twilight spoke up.  “Princess Celestia scanned her body for any remnant of you...but there wasn’t any.” I swore my brain was going into overload.  “Wait wait wait, hold up.  So...the Elements failed and...I was gone?”  Twilight nodded.  I padded down my body to check if I was really here.  “But…wait…”  I shook my head.  “How does that make sense?  If she had my body then…where is she now?  And how am I here?”   “She escaped from us.” Celestia carried on.  “She teleported away before we could do anything else.  We...we thought you were dead.” I gulped and looked at Luna who looked like she was about to tear up again.  I walked over to her and placed a hand around her shoulder.  “Sounded like I was.” I mumbled. “Technically...you were.” Luna said, shuddering afterwards.  I rubbed her shoulder and leant into her slightly.  “But something happened.  The Elements detached from the Bearer’s necks and formed a circle around the black spot, over there.”  She pointed towards where I woke up. “They started to spin and emit a white light, shooting it at that spot.  We couldn’t see a thing.” Rarity added. “When the light dimmed…”  Luna placed a hoof on my hand.  “You were there.”  She turned to look at me.  “Are you alright?” “I...I don’t know.”  I got to my feet and paced the room, ignoring the sounds of destruction from outside.  “So...I’m not really me?”  This wasn’t my body.  This was new. “You are you Owen...you always will be.”  Celestia started circling my body.  “You’re the same person, you’ve got the same mind, the same features…”  She lifted my chin with her hoof.  “The Elements gave you freedom in a new body.  One free of Nightmare.” “So Nightmare is still out there?!” I asked in shock.  The others nodded.  “Then what the hell are we doing here?  We should go out there, find her and stop her!” “It won’t be that easy.” Luna replied.  “She has an army of an unknown size attacking Canterlot and probably the rest of Equestria.  She has power equal to myself and Celestia.  She will not be easy to defeat.” “But we have the Elements!”  I pointed at Twilight’s crown. “They didn’t work last time.” replied Rainbow.  “They’re not gonna work again.” I slapped my face and dragged my hand down.  “Just LOOK OUT THERE!” I pointed to the burning city.  “We have to try!”  I turned around to face Celestia.  “You yourself said you don’t fully know how the Elements work.” Celestia said nothing as I tried to explain my point.  All the time I was waiting for a response, the sounds of explosions and screams echoed up from the city. “It’s possible. They might work again. But we need a plan.” she instructed. “Hang on a second!” AJ interrupted.  “Now Ah don’t know how these fancy Elements work or nothin’ but there’s one thing that still confuses me.” “What’s that?” asked Spike. “Why was Owen holding mah Element?” “Your Element?”  She pointed to her Element of Honesty.  “Ohh...so that’s what I prodded my cheek with.  That hurts you know…”  I turned to Celestia and Luna.  “Any ideas?” “I have a possible idea but it’s not important for now.  We must make haste and find Nightmare Moon.” Luna replied. I sighed and rubbed my forehead.  The sounds of outside hit my ears again and gave me the motivation I needed to move forward.  “Then let’s start looking.  What’s first?” “Owen…”  Celestia walked forward and placed her wing around my shoulder.  “There is something you must do before we leave the castle.”  She took a deep breath.  “I’m sorry but...Time Turner is in the castle.” That name.  It sent shivers down my spine.  I couldn’t face him now, I just couldn’t.  But she was right. “Right…”  I sighed and shuddered.  “How the hell am I gonna do this?” I felt someone take my hand and was surprised to see it was Fluttershy.  “Come on.  I’ll show you where he is and I’ll help you talk to him.” “We all will.” added Rarity. A small smile adorned my lips as they spoke.  “Thanks guys.”  I looked down at the pegasus who nodded slowly at me.  “Lead the way…” The younger alicorn watched as her beloved walked out of the room with seven relieved friends behind following behind him. "How did this even happen?  The Elements have never acted like that before." said Celestia. My gaze was fixed as Owen moved out of sight and sound.  "I don't care.  He's back with us and he's safe."  I shuddered and looked down.  "I just...how is that possible?" "The Elements act in strange ways.  Even I don't--" "Not that." I interrupted.  I glared at my sister as she wore a frown.  "The scan..." Celestia slowly closed her eyes and approached me slowly.  "I'm sorry Luna, but I scanned him three times.  It was the same each time.  He is...he is no longer himself."  She lay a wing over my back.  "Are you going to tell him?" A stray tear fell from my eye as I thought about what I learnt.  "I can't...it would break his heart..."