//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: MLP FIM Guardians of the Elements // by Hyena King //------------------------------// The ponies were frantic. Where'd Thunder and twilight go? "Twilight, where are you?" Applejack asked and looked around. "Hold on, they're still around here." Lightning said, looking like he was concentrating on something. "How do you know?" Applejack asked, turning to look at him. "I can just sense it." Lightning replied. "Look!" Rarity suddenly said. She was looking out the window upon a castle, where the inside was glowing with a bright light. Lightning didn't wait, flying straight at the place. "Come on!" Applejack said and with that the rest of the ponies headed towards the castle. Meanwhile, Thunder and Twilight reappeared in a puff of smoke inside the castle, coughing as they recovered. They both gasped as they looked up and beheld Nightmare Moon, who was chuckling evilly and holding the elements in the hair with her magic, lightning striking next to her. Thunder immediately put himself between Twilight and the great alicorn of the night, his face thrown back in a snarl. "Well, isn't it on of the numbskull brothers trying to protect his princess." Nightmare Moon said, laughing at her own joke. Twilight went to stand next to Thunder. The two exchanged brief glances, Which Thunder ended with a nod. Thunder crouched down, while Twilight lowered her head and pawed the ground. Both looked ready to attack Nightmare Moon. "You're kidding. You're kidding right?" Nightmare asked, wondering if they truly had the audacity to attack her. Twilight suddenly charged forward, her horn channeling magic as she did. Nightmare Moon went for to meet the charge, her own horn lowered. Before they collided, however, Twilight suddenly disappeared in a flash of purple light. "What?" Nightmare said and turned to see Twilight reappear next to the elements she had abandoned. A sudden crash of noise drew her attention back forward, where Thunder collided with her face and held on with all his might. Nightmare shouted in anger and swung her head back and forth in an attempt to dislodge the pegasi. Twilight, on the other hand, recovered from her sudden spell and lowered her head towards the elements. "Just one spark." she said "Come on, come on." She began to once again channel magic into the elements. Nightmare gave a final shake, throwing Thunder into a wall. She then turned into a vortex and teleported right in front of Twilight. Before she could do anything however, the elements sparked, sending Twilight flying. "No, no!" Nightmare said as the elements glowed brighter and brighter. Twilight smiled at this triumph. The elements glowed for several more seconds, then faded back into unimpressive stone. "But where's the sixth element?" Twilight asked, shocked that it didn't work. Nightmare Moon laughed and, raising her hooves, smashed the elements in front of a stunned Twilight. "You little foal, thinking you could defeat me!" Nightmare said in anger. "Now you will never see your princess, or your sun. The night will last forever!" With that, Nightmare laughed evilly, her mane turning into a swirling vortex. "Wanna bet?" a voice suddenly said. Nightmare looked up to see Thunder flying towards her. The alicorn snarled, catching the pegasi in mid-air with her magic. "And here I was thinking you were the smart one of the two." Nightmare said with a smile, "Can't you see it's hopeless? The elements are destroyed. You failed. Can't you accept that?" Thunder closed his eyes for a second, then opened them again. "No. There's always hope. There's always a way. And as long as there is, I will keep fighting for the safety of Equestria!" With that, Thunder began to struggle viciously against the alicorn's magic. Nightmare snarled once again and threw the pegasi into another wall. Twilight, who had been watching all this in shock, turned suddenly as she heard the other ponies crying out her's and Thunder's names. In that instant, Twilight had it all figured out. "You think you can destroy the elements of harmony just like that?" She said as she turned to face Nightmare Moon, whose face was one that was confused. "Well, you're wrong." Twilight continued. "cause the spirits of the elements of harmony are right here!" As she said this, the other ponies were assembled behind her(Except for Lightning as he was helping Thunder to his hooves.). The elements shattered remnants suddenly began to glow and float around Nightmare Moon, Much to the Alicorn's surprise. Twilight continued to talk as this happened. "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 fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of Laughter! Rarity, who calmed the 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!" As Twilight pointed out the ponies in question, The shards of the elements of harmony suddenly began to spin around the five mares. "Whoa." Thunder and Lightning said as they watched in stunned silence and awe. "The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us." Twilight concluded. "You still don't have the sixth element. The spark didn't work!" Nightmare Moon pointed out. "But it did, a diffrent kind of spark." Twilight said. She then turned to the other ponies. "I felt it since the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared for you. The spark ignited inside me, when I realized that you all," She turned to face Nightmare Moon, a determined look on her face."Are my friends!" "Yeah, we helped too, but feel free to forget about us." Lightning said with a scowl. The sixth element appeared suddenly over Twilight's head, glowing radiantly in the room. "You see, when the, uh, the spark, is ignited in us all, it creates the sixth element. the element of Magic!" With that, the elements suddenly transformed in to glowing crystals then, forming on the mare's necks, became necklaces with the symbol of everypony's cutie mark. Twilight was the sole exception, her's being a tiara. They then began to glow and a rainbow began to form. "No! I'll will not be defeated!" Nightmare Moon suddenly cried. With a shout of anger, She sent a burst of lightning to destroy the Mane six. Thunder and Lightning, who had been watching this whole thing with awe, suddenly gasped as the lightning went straight at the ponies. With brief nods to each other, the brothers put themselves between the ponies and the lightning, waiting to get incinerated. Then something strange happened. The pegasi began to glow as well. In between them, a bluish shield of energy formed deflecting the lightning into the nearby wall. The shield then disappeared, the brothers falling to the floor unconscious. "What?" Nightmare Moon asked shocked. Then she looked up to see the rainbow the ponies had made coming towards her. "No!" she cried as the rainbow enshrouded her in a vortex. It continued to spin around the shouting alicorn as the whole room was bathed in white light.