//------------------------------// // Fourteen Elements // Story: Hope and Fear: Shadows // by Dasher924 //------------------------------// “Alright, everypony get comfortable. I’m afraid I haven’t been totally truthful to any of you concerning the Elements of Harmony. Well, I guess ‘truthful’ is not the right word. I have been truthful to you, all of you, but I just haven’t told any of you everything I know about the Elements.” “What do you mean?” Twilight asked “Well, if I were to ask you how many Elements there were, you would probably tell me six: Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, and Magic. But what If I told you that there were actually fourteen Elements?” “Fourteen? How are there fourteen Elements?” “Wait!” Pinkie Pie said with a gasp. “You’re trying to tell me that there are—uh, let’s see: carry the two…” “Eight” Twilight sparkle cut in with a roll of her eyes. “And you don’t carry when you’re subtracting anyway, Pinkie.” “Well, you have your way of subtracting and I have mine.” Pinkie said as Twilight rolled her eyes. “Besides I was about to say eight anyway. But anyway, that means that we’re going to have eight more friends? This calls FOR A PARTY!!” Twilight used her magic to close her mouth with a zipper. Pinkie gave her a dirty look, while Princess Celestia Flashed Twilight a thankful one. “Go ahead, Princess.” “Let me just say you do not want to be friends with seven out of the eight other Elements. Most ponies think that ‘Harmony’ simply means ‘happiness’ or ‘living in happiness,’ but in reality, living in Harmony means that we are all living in a world that is balanced between two powers. Every Element has an opposite. When you first met Discord, he actually showed you what your opposites are like. They aren’t all that pleasant. Discord only showed you a small taste of that, though. I have a feeling that the real thing will be much, much worse.” “But you said the seven of the last eight are like that. What about the eighth one?” Twilight asked. The room grew quiet as Celestia lowered her head and looked at the floor. Every pony in the room could see the question bring back some sad memories for the princess. Luna came up and sat next to her sister, and laid a hoof on her shoulder. Luna seemed to be the only one who wasn’t surprised by Celestia’s sorrow. Finally Celestia spoke despite some water starting to show under her eyes. “The Eighth element would have been your friend. He also would have been your protector. Just like he was for me.” She used her magic to bring a picture frame from her desk. “I know, Twilight, you’ve asked me about this before.” She passed the frame to Twilight, who then, after another look at it, moved the frame down the line so that all her other friends could see it. “His name is Alan. He was a species known as Human. Humans are creatures that walk on only two legs, and use his other two legs, although he called them ‘hands’ to pick up stuff. It’s similar to the way Spike walks and uses his claws to pick things up. Unfortunately, he died, maybe 25 years ago. He did his best to protect Canterlot, and to protect me. He was killed in the caves beneath Canterlot trying to stop an escape at Canterlot Prisons. The escapee, before he was jailed, had attempted, or at least bluffed, to blow up a part of Canterlot. Alan chased this pony into the caves, but when the bomber was cornered by Alan; the bomber killed him, and then escaped before I could do anything.” Celestia decided to leave out the part about her former student. At least for now. Celestia wondered if that decision was going to come back and bite her later. “But why didn’t you tell us this earlier?” asked Rainbow Dash, flying up into Celestia’s face. It then hit her whose personal space she just infringed upon. She backed off quickly as she managed to squeak out an apology. Princess Celestia ignored Rainbow Dash, except for a single nod she gave to the pegasus. “Maybe I should have, but over the last couple years you all have had so much on your plates that it didn’t seem right to give you something this big on top of it all.” “I’m not sure I totally understand everything, Princess.” Twilight commented. “I have questions. A lot of questions. Where did you first meet Alan? “Let me start at the beginning.” Celestia responded. “You know about how Luna and I defeated Discord all those years ago, right?” 9 months later If anypony were to take a stroll through one of the deeper parts of the caves beneath Canterlot, they might come across a body lying on the floor in the middle of a room of one of the caverns. Surrounding the body lie only shadows; one Shadow in particular. “Come on, Alan. This isn’t funny anymore. Wake up!” Alan stirred for a bit before finally, much to Shadow’s relief, he opened his eyes. “W-Where are we?” Alan asked without moving. “I think we’re still in those caves beneath Canterlot. I’m so glad you finally woke up. I couldn’t even talk to you in your head. I couldn’t hear your thoughts at all. It was kinda like you were sleeping, except that when you sleep, I can still make contact with both your conscious and subconscious mind. I couldn’t make contact with you at all.” Shadow sighed. “You scared me. I thought I had lost you; lost a friend. The only friend I’ve ever had. ” Alan flashed a weak smile “I see the big shadow demon has a soft spot.” “Hey now!” Shadow responded, “I’m not afraid to say that I’ve grown pretty fond of you, as a friend. I don’t want to lose you now after we’ve been through so much.” Alan was taken aback. He’d never heard Shadow speak that way before. He was at a loss of words, so all we did was sit up, and wrap an arm around his friend. “Thank you, Shadow. Thanks for protecting me over the last two years.” They both sat there for a minute before Alan broke the hug. He looked around the cavern thinking about that to do next. “We need to get out of here. Sunset Shimmer still needs to be stopped. Where did she go?” Alan had trouble seeing in the cavern; the light was very faint. Even through the almost nonexistent light, Alan could see just about every part of the cave wall, ceiling, and floor. Nowhere could he find a way out. He was able to make out an area of the cave that looked like a cave-in. “Shadow, I don’t see a way out.” Shadow looked around the cavern, his eyes able to see better in darkness. “Wait a minute. Where is this light coming from?” He asked. “I’m not sure.” Alan thought out loud. We’re in a world of magic, so I’m not too worried about that. I’m sure it’s some magic something or other. But I just don’t understand what happened.” The last thing Alan remembered was going in for an attack on Sunset, then everything went blank after that. He thought harder. “Wait, wasn’t Princess Celestia here in the cave with us at one point. I thought I heard her voice for like a split second.” Before Shadow could say anything, they both saw a bright light appear right in front of them. When the light subsided, there, standing before them, was a human female, or at least humanoid-ish. Something about her made Alan think she wasn’t exactly human, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “Hello, Alan; Shadow. Wait. Before you say anything: Faust. I’m here to help. I can’t think of a single reason why you should.” “Huh?” Alan and Shadow asked at the same time. “I was simply answering your questions; at least the questions that a person in your position should probably ask.” “Um, ok…?” Alan paused, thoroughly confused. “Mind telling me what questions I was about to ask?” “I don’t know. You haven’t asked me anything yet.” “but…but…but…” Alan stammered, before he stopped. “No, you know what? Nevermind. Can we just start over? Who are you?” Alan finally asked. “My name is Faust.” She said simply. “Ok, then, Why are you here?” “I’m here to help.” Alan’s eyes narrowed as his brain was finally trying to get a grip on the situation. “Why should I trust you?” “I can’t think of a single reason why you should.” Alan stopped, realizing that she really had anticipated his questions. “How?” “I’d love to tell you, but I have something more important to tell you right now, and we don’t have much time. Long story short: The whole universe is resting on your shoulders.” “Oh, well, that’s reassuring.” Alan said sarcastically. “Before I continue, you must know that I know all about Equestria. Probably more than you, and possibly even more than the ponies themselves. A great evil is rising. This evil is preparing for war, and you must lead the side of good to victory.” “I know about that. I was almost killed a few minutes ago by something that seemed to be pretty evil to me.” “What if I told you that, your little battle didn’t happen just a few minutes ago?” Faust asked. “Uh, yeah, I’m pretty sure it did. I was there, last I checked.” “How can you be so sure?” “Because…” Alan began. “Exactly,” Faust continued, “Nothing is as it seems right now. What if I told you the battle you fought happened approximately 25 years ago? You are now at a time that matches the time period of your world. As a matter of fact, you’ve been time-hopping over the last 2 years, as you perceive time.” “Do you think you could tell me something that actually makes sense, or at least actually say something that would answer more questions than it creates?”