Princess Celestia hovered just above the ruins of her old castle feeling rather bored. This night was - without a doubt - the longest of her life. Not to say that wasn’t expected, but she had thought her faithful student would have been able to correct the problem by now. Or at the very least, shown up.
Her eyes scanned the forest below her once more. Nothing. She groaned, and for perhaps the twenty-eighth time that night considered the possibility that Twilight had failed.
No, no. She hasn’t failed. Yet. I just need to be patient.
She gazed down towards the ground yet again. A caterpillar inched along the dirt. A lone leaf broke free of it’s branch and slowly made its descent through the air. A crow cawed through the night air.
WHAT THE HECK IS TAKING HER SO LONG?!
Impatience caused Celetia to clench her jaw firmly. She let out a sigh, sucked in air, and practically chewed on her own teeth. It was at that moment that she finally spied a purple figure emerge from the woods right before her castle, along with five others.
A smile planted itself on her face. Finally, and I see she brought the Bearers with her. Good, I knew you could do it Twilight. She took a closer look at the ponies and suddenly recoiled in shock. ...Wait, those ponies… they aren’t… oh no.
Celestia’s teeth, having only seconds of reprieve from being ground into each other, found themselves forced into another tight clench. So tight in fact, that any second they might shatter into tiny pieces, not that Celestia cared. She had a far bigger concern before her.
Twilight if you screwed this up I swear to me...
“So wait… DJ’s don’t perform in teams?”
“No Derpy.” Vinyl facehoofed. “They don’t. That’s why it was funny, you see?”
“Not really…”
“Well, maybe it’s just more of an inside joke.”
“Oh, no wonder I didn’t laugh; we’re outside.”
Twilight wanted to sigh, but at this point it was getting redundant. "Can you move any faster?" she instead asked Octavia.
"Not really. You're kind of heavy." Octavia grunted, attempting to shift some of Twilight's weight off her back.
“Well, reading doesn’t exactly give me the best physical exercise.” Twilight carefully removed her hoof from Octavia’s collarbone, and put her weight on her three good legs. “I’ll just walk from here.”
“Are you sure?” Lyra trotted over. “If Octavia’s tired then I can-”
“No,” Twilight cut her off. “I’ve already more than exceeded the amount of physical contact I expected for today. Besides, it’s not much further.” She hobbled the last few steps to the rotting wooden door of the decaying castle, careful not to let her battered limb touch the ground.
“As long as you’re fine with this.”
“I am.” Twilight pressed her shoulder against the door with all her strength in a pitiful attempt to open it. “A little help, please.”
Five ponies scrambled forward to help, and together they forced open the heavy, metal doors. The hinges creaked with the rust of a thousand years, and subconsciously Twilight worried they would break and fall on top of them. Luckily nothing of the sort happened and they cautiously walked in.
The first thing Twilight noticed was the cobwebs, particularly the one that wrapped itself around her face the second she stepped inside.
"Gah! What the hay?" She sputtered, spitting the sticky strings from her mouth. Twilight brought up her hoof instinctively to wipe her face, and in doing so accidentally put her weight on her bad hoof. With a yelp of pain she fell to the ground.
Lyra was the first to swoop down and helped her up. She found herself lifted back up, her bad hoof sprawled over her fellow unicorn's back. Bon Bon gave a few swipes of her hoof to remove the cobwebs from Twilight's eyes and mane.
“Thanks,” she grumbled. She got two smiles in return.
“So where are these Elements of Harm-pony things?” Vinyl spoke up, appearing next to Twilight.
“Harmony,” she muttered under her breath. “And I have no idea.” Her head darted to the side, her eyes scrutinizing every miniscule detail on the cracked and ancient walls, hoping to garner clues for the location of the Elements. “They could be hidden within the bowels of the castle, or scattered and stuck behind the walls, or guarded by some kind of trap.”
“Or on a giant statue in the middle of the room,” Derpy piped up.
“Well yes, but that would be ridicu-” Twilight froze mid-sentence when she looked at the center of the room. Derpy had been right, as there was a massive stone statue right there. The center was a giant orb of rock, and extending from it were five more stones, each shaped like a jewel. “But… but…”
“Certainly looks like they could be the ancient artifact that we came for,” Octavia said.
“But....”
“Hey, somepony help me get these bad boys down, then we can blast that Nightmare chick into oblivion and be back in time for breakfast.”
“But… I… it…”
“Twilight, are you okay?” Lyra asked from under her. “You look a little upset.”
Her eyelid twitched erratically. “I’m just a little surprised that the most powerful and ancient artifacts in all of Equestria would be practically on display like this.”
“Well, they are in the Everfree Forest if that helps,” Bon Bon justified. She glanced over to Vinyl; the DJ was attempting to climb the massive statue to retrieve one of the Elements.
"Vinyl get down from there!" Octavia demanded, trotting over.
"Well how else am I supposed to get them down?"
"Gee, I don't know, why don't you ask your horn!"
"Oh..." Vinyl looked around a bit before saying. “Okay, I’m coming down then.” Her grip on the stones loosened.
“No wait, let me get clear first!” Octavia’s protest were useless. Vinyl dropped down, colliding with her. Both mares crashed to the floor, causing Twilight to wince.
Derpy was the closest to the pile, and took it upon herself to help the two mares up. Octavia brushed herself off and glared angrily at Vinyl.
“Sorry ‘bout that, Tavi.”
“I hate you sometimes.”
“Hey!” Twilight barked. “Focus! We still need to get Elements!”
Vinyl rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I got it.” Her horn sparked to life, and she grabbed the stone orbs one by one.
“Hey,” Derpy called out. A few heads swiveled towards her, and Twilight saw she was looking back at the castle entrance. “The smoke’s back.”
Twilight rolled her eyes and turned her focus back to Vinyl, who was haphazardly flinging the stones to the floor. “Be careful!”
“These things won’t break.” Vinyl waved her off.
“Don’t be so sure.” Twilight felt her blood freeze with shock. Something inky black shot past her head. It began swirling in the center of the Elements, blowing Vinyl back with its sheer force. When the spectacle ended, a tall, dark figure stood before them. Her armor glinted in the moonlight, and her fanged teeth were curled into a nasty smile. Nightmare Moon
“No,” Twilight whispered.
“I told you about the smoke,” Derpy accused the group as a whole. “But nopony listened.”
“Derpy, now isn’t the time to gloat.” Bon Bon’s knees were quaking in fear.
Nightmare Moon cackled. “So, you made it. I’m legitimately impressed a bunch of ponies such as yourself survived long enough.”
“Uh, Smart Mare, what do we do?” Vinyl was cowering behind fear-stricken Octavia.
Twilight glanced from them to Nightmare Moon. In a desperate attempt to do something, she tried igniting her horn, but it only sputtered and fizzed out.
“I… I don’t know!”
“What about the Elements?” Lyra asked. “Didn’t you figure out how to use them?”
Her eyes bulged in remembrance. “Yes! The book said a spark was needed to reveal the sixth Element. All I have to do is…” she trailed off, only just now realizing how vague of an instruction “a spark” really was.
“You mean you don’t even know what to do?” Octavia squeaked, her voice high-pitched with anger and terror.
“I guess I didn’t think this through…”
Nightmare Moon cackled again. “This is just priceless!” With surprising ferocity, she slammed her hoof into the ground. The stone orbs shattered, eliciting six consecutive gasps. “I honestly thought the Bearers would’ve put up a better fight than this.”
“The… Bearers?” Twilight blinked.
“You seem confused.” Nightmare Moon looked her over. “You… are the Bearers of the Elements, are you not? Hasn’t my sister been preparing the six of you for this moment for the entirety of your pathetic lives?”
“I’m really more of an independent studier,” Twilight admitted.
“I deliver mail!” Derpy chipped in, sounding more cheerful than she should be in this situation.
Nightmare Moon appeared considerably more nonplussed now. Slowly she opened her mouth. Then she roared with laughter so loud the entire room shook.
“This…” she chuckled wildly. “This is what Celestia sent to stop me? A bunch of foals that don’t even know who they are, let alone what they’re doing? It’s just too priceless.”
“Wait a minute,” Twilight glanced at the ponies all around her, and the puzzle pieces clicked together easily. “Sweet Celestia, I’m an idiot!”
“I thought you were the smart one,” Vinyl said.
“No, I’m an idiot for not seeing this sooner!” Twilight smiled as Nightmare Moon doubled over in her laughing fit. “Girls, don’t you see? We’re the Elements of Harmony!”
The shattered remains of the stone orbs suddenly lit up with a vibrant light. They levitated into the air, independent of any unicorn magic, and swirled over to the six mares.
“Octavia, who wouldn’t leave anypony behind after the cliff collapsed on us, represents the element of... Loyalty!” Part of the stone pieces encircled Octavia. She opened her mouth to say something in response, but Twilight plowed onward.
“Bon Bon, who gave away her candy to the manticore, represents the element of… Generosity!” More fragments began circling, this time centering on Bon Bon. Despite the concern in her eyes, she looked hopefully at Twilight.
“Lyra, who consoled that blubbering sea serpent with compliments, represents the element of… Kindness!” Fragments descended over Lyra, and began orbiting her. One hit Twilight in the eye, so she backed away, hobbling on her three good legs.
“Vinyl, who when confronted by a group of…” Twilight struggled to think of the right word.
“Posers?” Vinyl offered.
“Yes, thank you. When confronted by a group of posers merely chuckled. She represents the element of… Laughter!” Stones descended over the DJ, who was likely about to make a “this rocks” type of pun before Twilight continued.
“And… um… I guess I represent…” Twilight scrunched her face in thought.
“Honesty?” Octavia suggested.
“Yeah!” Bon Bon agreed. “You’ve been brutally honest with us this whole trip!”
“Like with the trees!”
“Okay, then I represent… Honesty!” The stones lowered over Twilight, dancing through the air around her.
“What about me?” Derpy asked. The group collectively turned to her. Nightmare Moon’s laughter was dying down as she appeared to notice the situation before her.
“Well, there’s still the sixth Element.” Lyra glanced to Twilight. “Any ideas?”
Twilight nodded. “Yes, there’s only one logical thing the last Element can be. M-”
“Muffins!” Derpy jumped excitedly into the air.
“No.” Twilight shook her head slowly. “Not… not even close.”
“Oh. Whoopsie.”
“The last element has to be Magic!” The giant stone in the center of the room rumbled, startling even Nightmare Moon. Out of it rose a singular stone, which flew over to Derpy, burst, and sent fragments to circle around her.
Twilight turned smugly to Nightmare Moon, who was now noticeably concerned. “Together my acquaintances and I represent the Elements of Harmony! And now we’ll use them to defeat you!”
The stone fragments burst with magic, clinging on to each pony in a dazzling display of light.
“No! No! Noooooo!” Nightmare Moon held up her front hooves in defense as the blinding light penetrated the room. Twilight had to shut her eyes for fear of losing her vision. When the light died down, she opened them again.
Nightmare Moon was still standing, her hooves shielding her face. Slowly, she peaked an eye open, and observed the ponies before her. Out of curiosity, Twilight did the same.
Everypony looked the same, except now most of them were bearing golden necklaces around their throats. When she looked closer, Twilight saw that there were Cutie Mark shaped emblems embedded in center of each. Feeling a weight on her own neck, she glanced down and saw her own necklace, purple Cutie Mark and all. When she glanced back up, she saw Derpy. The pegasus pony had no necklace, instead she was now wearing a tiara. Seven jeweled bubbles lined the rim, and at the peak was what could only be a muffin.
Her head swiveled back to the tyrant at the front of the room. Twilight’s jaw unhinged, seeing that she was still standing after such a display.
“Is… is that all?” Nightmare Moon inquired, her voice a mixture of tentative relief and incomprehensibleness.
“I guess.” Twilight frantically looked around. “I kinda thought there would be a beam of pink acquaintanceship energy shot from our Elements to defeat you.”
“Actually it’s supposed to be a rainbow beam,” Nightmare Moon clarified. “But yeah, I thought the same thing.” The seven of them awkwardly looked around, waiting to see if something would happen. Vinyl burped, but that was about it. “Well, seeing as how I’m still free, I suppose I’ll be killing you all now.” Nightmare Moon ignited her horn.
Before Twilight could so much as cringe, a beam of magic slammed into Nightmare Moon and flung her into a wall. Six heads whipped to the side, searching for the origin of the spell.
“Alright, that’s enough out of you.” Landing firmly on the floor with an authoritative glare was Princess Celestia. Twilight’s face brightened at the sight of her mentor; it seemed they might survive the night after all.
Recovering from the blow slowly, Nightmare Moon seethed. “You. You’ve got some nerve trying to get the drop on me like that. Don’t expect another lucky sho-” She was interrupted when another beam of magic struck her squarely in the chest, this time sending her through the stone wall.
“Princess!” Twilight rushed forward to embrace Celestia before remembering proper etiquette and bowing as deep as her injury would allow.
“Twilight.” Celestia’s voice sounded almost cold. Twilight blinked, turning her head up in confusion. Princess Celestia was eyeing the five ponies behind Twilight with noticeable discomfort. When she saw the tiara on Derpy’s head the discomfort shifted to almost anger. “By Starswirl’s beard, you screwed this up even more than I’d thought.”
“W-what?” Twilight stammered, not fully comprehending what she’d just heard.
“Twilight, by now you’ve probably figured out I sent you to Ponyville with a rather specific purpose in mind.”
“Yeah,” she glanced down at the necklace around her throat. “You wanted me to find the Elements of Harmony, right?”
“Not just the Elements. You needed to find the Bearers of Harmony as well.”
“The… Bearers?”
Celestia nodded. “Every generation, six ponies are born as the chosen wielders of the Elements. They are the only ones who can ever hope to use the Elements properly, and these five,” she waved a hoof dismissively to Twilight’s acquaintances, “are not those ponies.”
“But… wait… no!” Twilight scrambled to think of something to say. “I didn’t know anything about the Bearers of Harmony!”
Celestia blinked. “Did you never read about it? I could’ve sworn I left a book in the Ponyville Library that contained very specific information....” Twilight yanked the tome from her saddlebags. “Yes that’s the one.”
“But I never saw anything about the Bearers of Harmony!” Twilight neurotically flipped through the pages of the book. “There just… wasn’t anything.”
“Check the Table of Contents!” Lyra called out in suggestion.
“Or the index!” Octavia added.
“Or maybe read the darn thing instead of randomly flipping through the pages!” Bon Bon yelled.
Twilight bit her lip but offered no response. Flipping dozens of pages at once, she found the Table of Contents and scanned it. “Oh…” she realized, a luminescent blush springing to her cheeks. “Bearers of Harmony. Page two.”
Princess Celestia hung her head solemnly. “You didn’t even read the book.”
“I skimmed it!” Twilight protested. Celestia merely shook her head. “I was under a lot of pressure, okay!”
“Well it shouldn’t have mattered,” Celestia continued. “The instructions I gave you prior to your departure should have easily allowed you to run into the Bearers.” Her head turned to the five behind Twilight. “How did you even meet these ponies?”
“Wait, you knew who the Bearers were?” Twilight’s jaw unhinged. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“Had I interfered by giving you anything more than the vaguest of instructions, you would not have been able to form genuine friendships with the Bearers, thus rendering the Elements useless. Though, that’s the least of my concern at this point.” She tightened her lips upon looking at Derpy’s tiara once again. “Honestly, what were you thinking? You gave the Element of Magic to a pegasus for crying out loud!” The Princess of the Sun facehoofed with enough force to decapitate a normal pony.
Derpy glanced at Vinyl. “Should I be offended?”
“I think so,” came Vinyl’s reply. “That sounded tribalist to me.”
Twilight ignored them. “There weren’t any Elements left after I gave myself Honesty. What was I supposed to do?”
“Twilight, your Cutie Mark is magic. Clearly you’re the Element of Magic! Was it really that difficult to understand? Did I need to spoonfeed you the answers?”
The stone wall exploded as a temperamental tyrant blasted her way back in. “I will not tolerate this!” Nightmare Moon screamed. “I am the rightful ruler of Equestria! Goddess of the Moon! I will not be-” The rest of her words were cut off as Celestia formed a bubble around her. Nightmare Moon blinked, and proceeded to pound her hooves against Celestia’s spell to no avail.
“Did you really even need the Elements?” Octavia wondered aloud. Celestia shot her a look. “Well, it just seems like you made Twilight go on a frivolous and deadly quest without proper preparation to find some artifacts to do a job you seem to be doing just fine on your own.”
Celestia sighed. “It’s true that I do not need the Elements to defeat my sister.”
“That’s your sister!” Vinyl suddenly shouted in surprise.
“But I didn’t want her defeated,” the Princess continued, undeterred. “I wanted her reformed. And only the Elements of Harmony have that power.” Her eyes returned to her student. “And I hoped you would have been up to the challenge.”
“...I-I made it this far, didn’t I?” Twilight glanced back at the five ponies that had helped her. “We made it this far. Doesn’t that count for anything?”
“What you did was nearly get yourselves killed, and…” she gestured to Twilight’s neck. “... and do whatever that is to the Elements of Harmony.”
Twilight lowered her head. “I’m sorry. Is… is there any way to fix this?”
“No.” There was silence, save the angry beating noise of hoof-on-magic-bubble from Nightmare Moon. Everypony stared at the Princess, hoping for some explanation. Celestia eventually sighed. “Whatever you did Twilight, it somehow bonded the Elements to these ponies. They can no longer be matched with the Bearers, and they can’t be utilized by these five.” She stared at the ground. “They’re worthless now.”
“I’m sorry,” Twilight whimpered. She felt miserable. Never before had she failed this spectacularly.
Celestia knelt down to be eye level with her. “Do not feel bad, Twilight. It’s… not entirely your fault.”
“It kinda is,” Vinyl interjected. They next thing heard was a slap followed by a yelp of pain.
Celestia draped her wing around Twilight. “Do not feel bad, my student. Accidents happen… granted I would have preferred you messing up your first levitation spell instead of this, but…” Twilight sniffled. “I’m terrible at cheering you up, aren’t I?” Twilight could only nod in response, so Celestia rose. “Sorry.” She glanced back to the trapped overlord. “I should probably get back to Canterlot. Nightmare Moon needs some magical restraints along with a nice, cozy dungeon, and Equestria needs its sun.” Her eyes lingered on Twilight. “I’ll send a chariot to come pick you up in the morning.”
Twilight’s eyes fell, but the gears in her brain whirled with activity. Celestia turned, her magic lifting Nightmare Moon as she prepared to teleport away.
“Wait!” Twilight called out. Celestia tilted her head. “I… I want to stay. I know you think the Elements are worthless now, but maybe there’s a way to fix them. If I could just find a way to… I don’t know… reset them, then I can make this whole screw-up go away.”
“Twilight…”
“Please, Princess. Let me fix my mess.” Twilight attempted the largest puppy-dog eyes she could. It usually worked with her old foalsitter, so she was hoping the same would apply with Celestia.
She heard a defeated sigh. “Okay,” Celestia mumbled.
Twilight’s face brightened. “Really?” Her three good hooves left the ground as she bounced with joy. “Oh, thank you thank you thank you!”
“I expect an update with every breakthrough, Twilight.” Celestia then muttered under her breath. “Assuming there are any.”
Twilight stopped her enthusiastic hops. “Absolutely, Princess.”
“And do make sure you get out a little.”
“Of course. Not all of my research can be done through books this time.” She began pacing. “I’ll need to thoroughly analyze the Elements, and potentially even the Bearers. I’ll need to examine every inch of this room, take soil samples from the nearby grounds to compare with Ponyville and… say, you wouldn’t happen to have a lightning rod, would you?”
Celestia sighed. “That’s not exactly what I meant.”
“You’re right. It’ll be a much more meaningful experience to construct my own.”
A faint smile creased Celestia’s lips. “Goodbye Twilight. And good-bye, everypony else.”
“Good bye, tribalist princess!” Derpy waved enthusiastically. Four other hooves joined hers, and in a flash the Princess was gone.
Twilight turned to face the other five. “Well, I suppose we should be getting home."
“You mean we have to walk all the way back?”
Octavia sighed. “No Vinyl, we’ll just take the hot air balloon that I conveniently brought along but forgot about until this exact moment.”
“Oh, awesome!”
“Sweet Celestia....”
Lyra trotted up to Twilight. “Thanks for lying to the Princess so you could hang out with us a little longer.”
Bon Bon nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t expect that from you of all ponies.”
“I didn’t lie!” Twilight exclaimed. “Element of Honesty, remember?”
“I thought you were Magic.”
“Nope… er… maybe. Look, I’m going to find out how to set this right. I just need some time is all.”
“But you heard the Princess.” Bon Bon pointed to her necklace. “These things are worthless now.”
Twilight shook her head. “I can’t believe that. She may think I’ve screwed everything up, but I know I can fix this.”
“Well, props for stubbornness I guess.” Vinyl lowered her sunglasses back over her eyes. “Now come on, we just sorta saved the world. It’s time to party!”
Twilight facehoofed, accidentally sending her battered limb into her face. After a short cry of pain she said, “can we at least do so at the hospital?”
“Ditto.” Derpy indicated her damaged wing.
“Aww,” Vinyl groaned. “But they have a policy against subwoofers.”
Twilight began hobbling towards the exit, and her acquaintances followed. “Good.”