//------------------------------// // The issue of the Elements of Harmony // Story: Pony Art Online // by Kaliann25 //------------------------------// It was midnight, still Nightmare Night. Princess Luna was having fun in Ponyville with all the colts and fillies; who were taking advantage next day were Saturday, and Celestia was in some private party somewhere in Canterlot. The moment was perfect, Nightmare Moon entered as mist to the chamber where her sister and her other self were keeping the Elements of Harmony. But the sound of some steps called her attention. “Is anypony there?” asked one of the guards. Nightmare Moon, who already took her physical form, just stared at him. The guard knew the ruler of the Night, Luna, was an expert in transformation magic and see her as Nightmare Moon in the Nightmare Night wasn’t something very surprising. But this time something didn’t feel good. Luna told the guards she was going to spend the night in Ponyville; why she was in there right in the chamber that protected the most powerful protection of Equestria? Nightmare Moon sighed, she doesn’t had time to waste so she knocked the guard with her alicorn power and flew away with the Elements. … The next day started very well, Rarity was caring a great basket full of gems. !Spikey Wikey!” she called after found the one she was looking for. “Good morning Rarity” greeted happily the dragon. “What are you doing with that? Are you going to design a new dress full of glitter? Good look” Rarity gave him the basket with her magic. “Oh, Spike, remember I’m the Element of Generosity. I was passing by the Diamond Dogs’ territory and when they saw me, they quickly gave me lots of gems; but it’s too much for me so I decided to give you half” Spike froze for a little and he quickly took a giant ruby to start his fest, but he froze again for another pair of seconds and ran to Rarity. The white unicorn opened her front hooves to hug the dragon, but he passed her away. Confused, she turned where Spike went and grumped when she saw the blue dragon walking around. “Pina, Pina!!” called Spike. “Hello Spike” said Pina blushing a little. “Why are you so excited?” Spike gave her the ruby to her. “Rarity just gave me a basket full of gems for my lunch, but are too much to eat it all by myself; so I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to the park and have a picnic, just you and me” Pina blushed even more and stared curious to the gem for a little; but at the end, she bit it. It was amazing, that was the first time she tried something so delicious. “Wow! Back in Aincrad, I remember to heard stories about dragons who eat crystals and gems but I never tried before. It’s amazing, the most delicious thing I ever tasted” Spike smiled to Rarity. “Thanks a lot, Rarity. I hope you don’t mind I share your present with Pina” “Of course not Spikey Wikey” lied Rarity. “Have fun in your picnic” Pina blushed again and took Spike’s claw with a shy smiled. He blushed too and after took the basket, he walked to the park with Pina. Rarity stayed where she was for a long time when she noticed somepony was looking at her from the sky trying to not laugh. She grumped. “What’s so funny, Rainbow Dash?” Rainbow grinned. “Let me see… you being jealous from a dragon perhaps. Anyway, Twilight sent an urgent message and she needs us in Canterlot right know. Oh! And she also asked to bring Silica’s body with us” Rarity grumped. “I truly don’t understand humans. Just think about how much trouble we could avoid if they did something else than use that NerveGear to have fun” Rainbow nodded and flew to Fluttershy’s cottage to took Silica. And they arrived to Canterlot after forty minutes, fifteen of those with Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity were dragging the Beats Tamer’s body to the transport Celestia prepared for them. “Damn it, why she didn’t chose to be a pegasus? We’re much more lighter! It was true, pegasus had lighter bones to made them easier to fly. But finally they arrived to the Palace where Twilight and Celestia were already waiting for them. “What’s going on?” asked Fluttershy. “Something bad?” Twilight and Celestia nodded. “The Elements of Harmony have being stolen… again” mumbled Twilight. “And this time I don’t understand anything. After what happened with Discord and Sunset Shimmer, Princess Celestia re enchanted the chamber to only you, the Princesses and I could access” Celestia sighed looking at Silica’s body. “Took her to the dungeons, along with my sister” Celestia ordered to the guards. “WHAT?” asked all at once. Celestia let escape a tear. “I don´t like to proceed like this, but in normal circumstances our visitors would be the prime suspects; because their unique abilities in this world. But the guard who was protecting that area, assured than Nightmare Moon was the one who took the Elements. Send my sister to the dungeons was a suggestion of Luna herself, so don’t worry about it” “It doesn’t have sense” said Applejack looking at the guards grabbing Silica to the dungeon. “Why would Princess Luna suggested such thing if we all trust her?” Twilight saw at her mentor expectantly, and she nodded. “It started a few weeks ago, before Kirito and Asuna even entered to this world: Princess Luna made a special ritual.” started to explain Twilight “She still felt the dark presence of Nightmare Moon inside her, so she used an old ritual of self-exorcism to get rid of her. But we don’t know if it worked; because that ritual existed long before the Princesses even born. And Luna said that she felt like she did a mistake during the ritual and after that she have being afraid than her dark self took control when she’s unconscious” They all seemed worried, but now they understood Princess Luna. After a while Celestia spoke: “Right now I have guards looking for the Dark Swordsman, the Flash and Leafa from the clan of Sylf. We don’t know where are they hiding but we better act fast” Fluttershy mumbled another bad comment against Kirito and Asuna, but her friends ignored her. The issue was very serious; and if it was true than the warriors themselves weren’t a menace, it was obvios than something or somepony was using them for something dark. … Ayano Keiko put her NerveGear ready for another day of help her new friend Fluttershy with her animals. “Link Start!” When she opened her eyes as Silica the Beast Tamer, she immediately noticed than something was wrong. She was in a cell, with the Princess of the Night. “Princess! What’s going on? Why are we in a cell?” Luna only sighed. “It’s complicated, young Silica. Let’s say Equestrias’s greatest treasure and defense has being stolen and you, your friends and I are the prime suspects; but take it easy. Everything is going to be okay when my sister clear the issue” “I have to alert my friends” said Silica panicking. “I don’t think you can, young one. Nopony have being able to locate them yet and, even if you know where are they hiding; you’re not able to communicate with them locked in here” Silica winked and eye and selected the private messages from her player options. And before Luna could react, she already sent the message for all the members of her group. “It’s done, remember I’m a gamer, Princess. I asked them to investigate what’s going on; I’m sure Kirito, Asuna and Leafa will solve this in no time. Luna couldn’t do anything but laugh. “I hope you’re right, young Silica. I trust in the four of you; besides, your unconventional methods are very effective in this world like when you freed Sunny Town from Ruby” … Back in each one’s home, Asuna Yuuki and Kazuto and Suguha Kirigaya connected to their virtual reality equipment. Asuna and Kazuto used the NerveGear; Suguha a more recent model called the AtmuSphere. After shout “Link Start” they were transported to Equestria, where they found a message from their fourth group member. Leafa ran downstairs where her friends were living and the both of them seemed to be really worried, just as her. “You’re the strategist Kirito, what should we do?” asked Leafa. Kirito sighed after read the message one more time. “Just as Silica says, investigate from our own, trying to not to call the guard’s attention. All of this seems like dark magic, so we have to move in the lowest levels of pony society. Luckily, we have a friend who can help us with that; just I hope she’s home” Asuna and Leafa nodded. Yui hugged her parents and the five of them knocked Trixie’s door. The unicorn received them, looking as he haven’t sleep in days. “Are you okay?” asked worried Asuna. Trixie grumped a little and indicate them to follow her. They haven’t being in Trixie’s home until that day, even if she constantly visited them. Everything was spotless and very clean, with the exception of the bed that seemed to be used recently. “Take a seat and sorry about Trixie’s appearance” apologized Trixie. “Trixie have being having very little rest for four days and I was trying to make the most of my weekend to sleep; but it doesn’t work” Kirito and Asuna looked each other worried. “Sorry for waking you, Trixie, we didn’t know” said Kirito ready to go out, but Trixie shook her head. “You awoke Trixie from a horrible nightmare, so it’s nothing, okay? In fact, Trixie is grateful with you” Yui seemed to be the most worried of all. She was born as a psychological support program and she was extremely sensitive for people’s problems, like Trixie’s; and the unicorn seemed to be very bad. She looked the unicorn to the eyes. “Please, I know is weird but can I ask you to go to sleep?” asked Yui. “Please…” Trixie looked confused at the filly; what she was thinking? But Yui insisted for a while and at the end, Trixie agreed. Why did she obeyed a filly? Probably she was too tired, probably to desperate; or probably both. It doesn’t matters why, but she went to bed just as Yui asked her; and she was to exhausted than she immediately fall asleep. “Yui, what are you thinking?” asked Leafa. The little girl just looked at Trixie. “I’ll try to sleep as well, but you three please enter to sleep-mode” “You mean log-out?” asked Asuna. Yui shook her head. “No; I need you still here, just enter to the sleep-mode without log-out, like when you were in Aincrad. I have a spell that allows us to enter to Trixie’s dream and see what’s disturbing her. Trust me: if we help her to rest well, she’ll be able to help us” Without understand, they obeyed. And once the warriors entered to sleep-mode, Yui used the spell she learnt. As a computer program, she could process information twice as fast than an average pony; and she used her capability to learn all the magic she could. So the four of them were guided by a tunnel of light to the realm of Trixie’s dream. They appeared in the middle of a lot of ponies who were walking to a huge stadium. They realized too than they have tickets to see the Great and Powerful Trixie. Asuna was about to ask something to Yui, but the little one was exhausted. They all panicked but she just smiled. “I’m fine, mama, papa, auntie Leafa… is just my body couldn’t resist such effort. My mind is a computer program, but I have real body now and it almost don’t resist the effort of such spell. Mama, can I rest in your back, please?” Asuna levitated Yui with her magic and gently placed her daughter in her back before get into the stadium. Like the other times, the whole public was expecting for Trixie, but this time the blue unicorn seemed to be really scared; looking for an unknown danger. Leafa was the first one who noticed the audience was frozen. “What the heck is going on in here?” asked Leafa. Kirito and Asuna started to look the danger than altered their friend. And one by one the ponies around them started to froze… when a dark shadow crossed the sky and stand before Luna. The three warriors gasped recognizing the disguise Luna used to the Holiday Event; but this time she felt different from Luna, surrounded by a dark aura. “Please… LEAVE ME ALONE!!” cried Trixie. “Let me rest at least one night. Please… I haven’t do anything against you, our beloved Princess of the night. Please… let me rest… Trixie is asking you humbly… Nightmare Moon laughed cruelly. “Don’t you see it, my dear? Rest is not an option for you now than you’re almost on my side. Besides, all I ask is what do you want. TELL ME, TELL ME NOW! “I just don’t know” screamed Trixie. “Please STOP, my most beautiful dream is now my worst memory, isn’t that enough? Obviously not, because Nightmare Moon only laughed louder- “You are very important to me, darling, but first I have to finish all resistance coming from you; and once I get what I want, you could rest as long as you want” “LEAVE HER ALONE” shouted somepony. Nightmare Moon turned. Kirito flew to her with his two swords, along with Leafa. Asuna was busy caring Yui, but still had her sword ready in case things go wrong. “Kirito the Black Swordsman; I had no idea Trixe had dreams about you” smiled Nightmare Moon. “Somepony noticed Trixie’s nightmares weren’t natural, so she helped us to enter to her dream” said Leafa. “Now leave her alone, you don’t know what we’re capable” Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes. “I don’t know, you say? Whatever, that small program of psychological support is more amazing than I thought. But now I have to ask you, how important is Trixie for you? After all, she’s not real. Just an NPC” “So you’re not the real Luna” continued Leafa. “She know we know this is a real world. Probably we entered her thinking it was only a game, but now we know all we need about Equestria. And Trixie is not an NPC, she is a true friend” “So congratulations, you saw through what I wanted you to see. But it doesn’t matter, my plan is on the move and at this point I don’t care if you know this is reality too” Enough, both pegasus attacked Nightmare Moon, who only raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?” Yes, seriously. The both of them reached with their swords; but Yui reacted. “NO!! LEAFA, PAPA, SHE’S A GM!! “A GM?” asked Asuna in fear. A green bar appeared above Nightmare, three times bigger than the other players, but the real problem was Kirito and Leafa only could do 800 points of damage every ten seconds; and her automatic recovery was of 2000 every ten seconds. Smiling, Nightmare paralyzed them with her magic and laughed loudly. “So sad, Black Swordsman. After so many times you were about to die in a game, you are still so stupid. I’d see trough Kayaba’s memories and you’re amazing, amazing but stupid” “So Kayaba is the one who locked us in here” said Asuna. Nightmare Moon shook her head slowly. “No child, I was the one who locked you in here. I have my reasons to keep you in Equestria; and Kayaba doesn’t care so he helped me in exchange I help him to explore the reach of his invention. Anyway, I need you alive, so I’ll let you go with a warning. System ID; Nightmare Moon! The warriors gasped, that wasn’t going to end well. “System command; lower the HP of players 001 and 004 to 10%” Kirito’s and Leafa’s HP descend to red. “System command, delete all healing items from the inventory of all players” Before all warriors, the white screen appeared without any healing crystal or medicine. Nightmare Moon laughed, when a red lightning attacked her. She turned to see what was going on. Trixie flew to her with her eyes surrounded by a red light and a dark aura. She had a black necklace that represented a black alicorn with red eyes. “How did you get that?” asked Nightmare Moon staring to the Alicorn Amulet. “This is the Great and Powerful Trixie’s dream. Do you understand? Trixie’s dream!! And I’ll not stay here just looking you’re attacking Trixie’s friends, do you understand? I can’t take it anymore. THIS IS TRIXIE’S DREAM, AND THE ONLY WHO RULE HERE IS TRIXIE!!” A new lightning, ten times stronger than the first one, tackled Nightmar Moon. She screamed in anger and tried to use her powers against Trixie; but the blue unicorn recovered control of her own dream and her GM powers didn’t work in real ponies. “GET OUT AND PRAY I NOT SEE YOU HERE AGAIN!!” Shouted Trixie making a black hole sucked Nightmare Moon out of her dream. At the end, Kirito walked to Trixie. “Are you all right, Trixie?” he asked. “That’s what I’m asking you, pal” said the unicorn. “Thank you for saving me, if it wasn’t for see you in danger, I’ll never found the strength I needed to banish that monster out of my subconscious. Thank you, Kirito, Asuna, Leafa; and specially you, Yui” Yui smiled warmly, still on her mother’s back. Then a light started to transform the stadium into a cottage in a hill. Even Trixie was transformed into a filly. She giggled peacefully. “Once again thank you, but can you explain the little and happy Trixie what was all that? Please” The warriors sighed and started to tell her everything. Trixie was their closest friend and she deserved to know the truth; so they started explaining all about the virtual reality, RPGs, and the years they spent in Sword Art Online. Everything. The blue unicorn listened the whole story and at the end, she just nodded. “Everything is fine, but I’m still worried about Kayaba and Nightmare Moon. Obviously something big is about to happen. I don’t like Sparkle and her friends but even Trixie have to admit we need their help to end this once for all” … Twilight and Celestia opened the door of the dungeon. “Sister, is all cleared now? Did you spoke with the Flash and the Black Swordsman?” Celestia shook her head. “I’m even more confused than before, my sister. Witnesses tell me thant they saw Nightmare Moon again, but this time she just returned the Elements of Harmony. We already checked them and are completely intact. We don’t know what’s going on” They all remained in silence. Like Trixie, they knew something big was about to happened and they had to act fast; but they needed the help of Kirito, Asuna and Leafa too.