Chapter 14
“Whoever wants to kill the princess planned it, but didn’t think it through well enough. Apparently, Doorstop and Leader – I don’t know their names - were hospitalised, and the rest are being detained.
“I’m intrigued by those gems. They’re obviously not just decorative; that ‘emerald’ seemed to block magic while the amethysts defended against it. These’ll be interesting to look at.
“Looks like Celestia’s put aside her depression with vengeful anger. Who would’ve guessed that almost getting murdered changes one’s perspective on things? I’ll stop trying to help for now; I don’t have anything at the moment anyway.
“As it turns out, I left the neuro-receptor running during the whole event. It’s definitely recording fear, which hardly makes sense, but there you go. I might be able to adapt this into something useful.
“When are the others getting here?”
It was unorthodox for the castle’s scientists to be called in on weekends, let alone this late at night, but considering that a human fell out of a spontaneous wormhole a few days ago, and that Princess Celestia was almost assassinated, normality didn’t particularly exist at the time.
The three members of the Science team were shocked when the Princess told them directly about the attempt on her life, and were happy to help analyse the equipment recovered. It didn’t take long for them to go back to the castle, even considering the time of night.
“Tell me your secrets,” Fred Walsh was holding the emerald ring near his face, speaking like Gandalf as the ponies, and Celestia, entered the lab. “I don’t think it likes me.” He placed the ring on a bench. The team was momentarily confused before each moving off to a different item to examine. Jenga Redheart took the knife, freshly pulled out of the ceiling, leaving a lovely mark up there. Doctor Green (still crimson) took an amethyst amulet, and the third scientist – Unicorn, grey coat, white mane; Fred hadn’t yet gotten his name – took the emerald horn ring.
It took merely a few minutes before the scientists finished their analysis of the equipment. Jenga stated her results first, “Well, the knife appears ordinary, along with the holster it came with,” pointing to the knife and a belt confiscated from the cult leader.
Next up was Dr Green, “These are amethysts, but I don’t recognise the magic used to enchant them. However, they seem to work by defending against magic used offensively.”
“Like the not-emerald?” Fred piped in.
“Most likely,” Green replied. “Doctor Cross, your analysis?”
“Is it kryptonite?” The human couldn’t resist.
The grey unicorn ignored him. “Same as you, doctor, I don’t recognise the magic either. It seems to draw upon all magical reserves in a radius and give it to the caster. It doesn’t seem to be currently active, though.”
Celestia spoke up: “So one of them wields this to disable our magic and hold the door, while the rest can use it freely with the amethysts.”
“Correct, it seems.”
“So why did his horn explode?” the Princess shuddered at the thought.
“My best guess would be he couldn’t handle the forces attempting to push the door open.”
“What does that mean?” Jenga asked.
Fred thought up an analogy: “Like arm or hoof-wrestling with strong muscles but weak bones, possibly.” Everypony in the room listened. “Imagine you have two ponies: Brick and Stick, and they want to arm wrestle. Brick’s this burly dude and stick is a weakling, so it’s pretty obvious who’s going to win. Stick’s a sore loser, so somehow he finds out a way to strengthen his muscles without work, so he can beat Brick, and then tries again. They wrestle once more but eventually Stick’s bones snap because he can’t handle the strain.”
“Now that makes sense, if a little gruesome.” She agreed with the analogy.
“Do you mind if I take a look at the ring myself?” Celestia asked Doctor Cross.
“Go ahead, princess.” He replied.
The alicorn telekinetically held the emerald horn ring for roughly twenty seconds before her eyes widened in disbelief. “This is the magic of the Elements of Harmony.”
Everypony was intrigued and confused. Doctor Green was the first to say anything, “I thought the Elements were just a myth.”
“They’re quite real, but I can no longer wield them. Though these gems contain the harmonic magic, they aren’t the elements themselves.”
They don’t seem very harmonic to me,” Fred stated.
Jenga spoke up, “Then what in Equestria gave them this magic?”
“I can’t say,” the Princess continued. “The last time the Elements were used would have been eight hundred years ago.”
‘I remember the princess’ torc and crown from the show. Weren’t they amethyst? I wonder…’ Fred realised something. “Those ‘harmonic’ amethysts block magical attack, right?”
“They do,” Doctor Green answered.
Fred turned to Celestia, “Then wouldn’t it be a good idea to wear one of those to ensure this doesn’t happen again?”
“That’s actually a good idea, Fred Walsh.” Celestia took one of the amulets and wore it. It looked rather crudely made, but practicality was important. ‘I’ll work on aesthetics tomorrow.’ “I don’t think there’s much more we can do tonight.”
Midnight. Everypony else had gone to bed, but Princess Celestia couldn’t sleep again. This time, it wasn’t her thinking about her sister, but rather the close-call earlier that night. There were too many questions the Princess was asking herself; it was easy enough to retrieve gems in Equestria, but
It made no sense that they were harmonically enchanted; she hadn’t even seen something like this before. In an attempt to understand, she believed that answers may be found at the resting place of the Elements of Harmony – Everfree Castle, better known as the mythical Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.
Celestia stood on the balcony connected to her chambers, looking South past Canterlot, to the Everfree Forest. Despite the old castle’s size, it was obscured by the forest’s foliage, but the Princess knew where to go. She spread her wings and flapped them a few times to begin her flight off the tower.
As she flew, she truly hoped that the Elements hadn’t been stolen. Even if they were, it shouldn’t be possible to use them maliciously.
Within minutes of leaving, the Princess’ powerful wings had flown her near her destination. She began to descend. The castle was clearly visible, and it was extremely clear how badly it had stood the test of time. The stone in the walls and ceilings had crumbled, the area had overgrown with vegetation, and some of the towers had lost all structural integrity and collapsed in on themselves.
Celestia landed gracefully and folded her pure white wings against her body. Behind her was a chasm with a broken rope bridge dangling on the far side, while in front of her stood the remains of the chamber that housed the Elements.
At this time of night, it was incredibly dark both inside and out of the ruins, even with the moon overhead. The princess channelled a light spell to improve her sight before venturing inside. The front door required a strong push to open, due to underuse. A pedestal in the centre of the room held all six of the Elements, safe and untouched. She tested the elements to ensure they weren’t fakes, but they were legitimate; the energies inside were dormant but detectable – they hadn’t been used since the last incident with Nightmare Moon. Plant life had partially grown over the currently-inert stones and it was clear nopony had been here in a long time, raising more questions. The Elements of Harmony are unusable to those who aren’t friends, nor does it work for those who wish malice, yet the gems recovered were affected by them somehow.
To ensure the Elements could only be wielded, let alone actually used, by only those with friendship in their hearts, Celestia magically hid the sixth Element within the other five – It would only reform itself in the correct circumstances.
Nothing had entered this chamber between Nightmare Moon’s banishment and Celestia’s return, which left more questions. ‘If the Elements aren’t directly involved, how did these gems get enchanted by their magic?’
With nothing else able to be done, the alicorn departed the old castle to return to Canterlot, hoping she could sleep slightly easier.