//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 - Friendship is Magic part 2 // Story: The Cosmic King // by Theyellowninja13 //------------------------------// After the weird recap, of what just happened less than a minute ago, and the intro, Nightmare Moon is still laughing. “Let’s see what happens, when I do this.” I muttered under my breath, as I jumped up to her, and punched her. She turned to smoke before I could react, and I landed on the podium thing. The smoke whirled around me, and I could see it form her face. “Humans, such an interesting race. So strong, but also so weak. Let’s see you fly little one.” She started laughing again, as she threw me across the room. I stopped when I hit something that resonated like glass. I looked around and noticed I was in a glass wall, with something on the other side. None of the ponies seem to notice this. Instead, everyone was frozen, like it was paused. “What the?” I pushed myself out, and floated in midair. There. Is. A. Freaking. Hole. In. The. Air. I examined in a bit more, and realized what it was. “I think I just literally broke the fourth wall.” I enter the hole, and notice it’s a small room. The walls were made of brick, and the only stuff in the room, was a door, a few lights, a chair, a table, and a typewriter with a few lights in it. I walked up to the typewriter, and examine the paper. “This is the script for what’s happening. I didn’t even know that this room even existed.” I do a quick scan of the room. “Yeah, I’m definitely outside of the multiverse.” I looked over at the door, and then the hole. As much as I want to see what’s beyond that door, I know I can’t survive out here much longer, there’s no Cosmic energy. I put my hand on the side of the typewriter, and send a bit of my energy into it. I watched as the lights in the typewriter dim, before turning off. “I don’t want anything controlling the future. Anything could use that to determine how anything could happen.” I walked over to the hole, jumped out, and stopped in midair again. I snapped my fingers, and the hole closed up like nothing ever happened. I heard Nightmare Moon laughing again, as time started moving again. Mayor Mare sent some royal guards to attack Nightmare Moon, who was still laughing. “Stand back you foals!” She shoots some lightning at the guards, and one at me. She then turns into mist, and flies off through the door. Rainbow tries to follow her, but stops when Nightmare Moon is already over the mountain. I run out of the building, to hear Rainbow talk to herself about it being night time forever. I’m quickly pushed out of the way, as Twilight runs by me, heading to the library, with a still sleeping Spike on her back. The others and I quickly follow after her to the library. Rainbow rushes into the building when we get there and shoves her face into Twilight’s. “And just what are the elements of harmony? And how did you know about Nightmare Moon, huh?” She was pushing her into a wall. “Are you a spy?“ AJ pulls her back and I step forward. “She knows about Nightmare Moon because she read about it. She’s not a spy, Rainbow.” I said with a sigh. “But she sure knows what’s going on. Don’t you, Twilight?” We’re all looking at her, waiting for her to speak. “Connor’s right, I did all read about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the elements of harmony are the only things that can stop her. But I don’t know what they are, or where to find them. I don’t even know what they do!” Everyone looks at me now. “Connor, can’t you stop Nightmare Moon?” AJ asked. Twilight just looked confused. “I’m not good with light magic yet, and I don’t have control over dark magic for some reason.” I said with a shrug. I noticed Pinkie was looking through the books on the shelves. “What do you mean magic? You don’t even have a horn. You can’t do magic without a horn!” I chuckled a bit. “Who told you that? The unicorns that haven’t ever met someone who can use magic?” I chuckled a bit more. “Yes! And they are the wisest unicorns in all of Equestrian history! It’s common knowledge that you need a focusing point to use magic.” She said with certainty. “Yes it is. But I do have a focusing point.” I raised my left hand, and stuck up my index finger. “Actually, I have 10 of them.” I raised all my fingers. “And you can use magic across your body, right Connor?” Applejack pointed out. Twilight looked even more confused. “Yes I can, but I don’t remember showing you guys those tricks.” They all looked confused for a second. “You remember! When you go all purple, and beat up all the monsters!” I chuckled at the way Rainbow was saying this. “That wasn’t magic. That was Cosmic energy. It’s energy given off by the multiverse, and spreads everywhere when the big bang happens. Every universe has a few weak points in them as well that has an abundance of Cosmic energy, that’s why I like that tree on the hill so much, There’s a lot of Cosmic energy in that place.” After I finished talking, the four nodded their heads as they understood what I was talking about. Pinkie was upside down looking for the book. And Twilight looked more confused than before. “That made no sense! Do you girls know what he’s talking about?” She asked the group of four. “Don’t worry sugarcube, you get used to it after a while, and dealing with Connor’s crazy life.” She let off a small laugh after she said this. “But what does that stuff even mean!” Twilight started to have a crazy look in her eyes. “I’ll explain it when Equestria is not in trouble.” Pinkie found the book, so I was just trying to wrap it up. “The Elements of Harmony: A reference guide.” Twilight ran over, and pushed her out of the way. “How did you find that!” Pinkie started bouncing over from where she was flung to. “It was under ‘E’!” She said in her usual cheerful tone. “Oh.” Twilight said disappointed, before she started to magic the book over to herself. “There are several elements of harmony, but only five are known. Kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty, and loyalty. But the others are a complete mystery.” I flinched back at that. More than six elements! How many more? Twilight kept reading. “It is said that the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now… the Everfree forest!” They all said that last part at once, as I rolled my eyes. “Well, lets get going!” I said in a cheerful attitude, as I made my way to the door. The others looked at me like I was crazy. “How can you stand to go in such an awful place!” Rarity started. “The clouds move on their own…” Rainbow continued. “The plants grow on their own…” AJ spoke up. “And the animals take care of themselves!” Fluttershy finished. “Yeah, kinda reminds me of EARTH. My home world. Saying that stuff isn’t scary. Besides, we were in the Everfree a year ago, stopping CFTDP.” As I was saying this, they finally decided to leave the library, and head for the forest. “What’s CFTDP?” Twilight asked. “It stands for Creatures For The Destruction of Ponies. They’re an evil organization that despises ponies, and tries to kill them. Unfortunately, they also see me as a threat, and try whatever they can to stop me. We finished them off a year ago. But I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other branches of their organization” I said, remembering the event. “Connor, you forgot the important part. How the building was collapsing, so you grabbed all of us, and the dead body of Scootaloo, and heroically jumped out of the building’s top floor, and made a perfect landing, before you almost risked your life to bring back Scootaloo’s.” Rarity reminded me. She said it like it was a story about a knight in shining armor. I sighed. True stories aren’t like that. “And then you jumped into the rubble, and grabbed the bomb, and flew it up into space before it could kill anyone else, while knowing that the bomb could easily kill you.” Rainbow started flying around while saying this. “And then you fell through the sky, and crash landed in the forest, where you were almost dead, but we sent some lightning bolts into you, waking you back up!” Twilight looked at her like she made it up. “That’s a really ridiculous story Rainbow Dash. How could one person do that much in such short time!” She said with confidence. “It’s true. It really happened. When I arrived in this universe a year ago, I got incredible powers. I’m incredibly strong, can fly with or without using my wings. I have knowledge about almost any facts about the multiverse, and I know about every kind of science and math. I can run faster than sound. And I think my powers are based off what I can imagine them being.” Twilight has the crazy look again. I decided to stop her before she freaks out again. “Just because you haven’t read about something, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Twilight calmed down a tad. When we finally arrived at the edge of the forest, I was about to keep walking, when I noticed the others all stopped. “What are we waiting for? Nightmare Moon isn’t going to stop herself. Although she might suffocate herself from laughing so much.” I smiled at my little joke. “Look, I appreciate the offer, but I’d really rather do this on my own.” Twilight said. “No can do, sugar cube. We sure aren’t letting any friend of ours go into the creepy place alone.” AJ replied, not noticing the grimace on Twilight’s face. The others started walking forward into the forest. “We’re sticking to you like caramel on a candy apple.” The other ponies all ‘mm-hmm’ed in agreement as we continued walking. “Especially if there’s candy apples in there.” Pinkie started walking into the forest. “What? Those things are good.” “Yes they are Pinkie, yes they are.” I nodded in agreement, as Twilight started following us, and I took the lead, using the flashlight function on my arm, which kinda freaked the others out for a bit. As we continued walking, the others were talking about the rumors about the forest. I noticed Nightmare Moon’s ethereal state slide in between the rocks. I took a deep breath, as Rainbow, started trying to scare Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie. Suddenly the cliff broke off, and we all started falling, except Rainbow and Fluttershy who quickly started flying. While Rainbow grabbed Pinkie, and Fluttershy grabbed Rarity, I quickly slid down the cliff, grabbed AJ, and dug my hand into the cliff, as we watched Twilight almost fall off. AJ looked at me for a brief second, before we both nodded, and I let her go to grab Twilight. While AJ was trying to get Twilight to let go, I slid down the side and landed on the ground. I looked up to see Twilight falling, and Rainbow and Fluttershy quickly grab her, and slowly bring her down. I try to take a step forward, before almost falling down, as the bones in my legs start regenerating. After a few more minutes of walking, and Rainbow telling everyone how she saved Twilight. A manticore suddenly jumped in front of us, and roared. Rarity first tries to attack the manticore, before her mane got messed up, AJ tried to ride the manticore, as if she was at a rodeo. She got flung off, and Rainbow started flying around it fast enough to make a miniature vortex around the manticore. It lashed its scorpion tail out, and knocked Rainbow away. Seeing as it’s my turn, I just walk up to it, and pimp slap the manticore’s face. It looked surprised before I pimp slapped it a few more times, till it was dazed. “Fluttershy! Do your thing!” The others looked confused as I walked away, and Fluttershy flew up to it. Fluttershy nuzzled the manticore’s paw, and it revealed the underside of it’s paw to Fluttershy, who pulled out the spike or whatever was in the paw. It roared and picked up Fluttershy, and started licking her in gratitude. We just walked by it, and waited for Fluttershy to return with her new mane style. Once we were all back together again, we continued walking. After another couple of minutes of nothing happening, Twilight trotted up next to me, while I was at the front of the group. I could tell she wanted to ask me questions. I mentally sighed, and braced for her questions. Once she opened her mouth, a chimera came out of the trees and started trying to attack us. As me and Twilight took a few steps closer, the ground right below us gave way, and only me and Twilight started falling through a small tunnel. While we were falling, I quickly positioned myself so I could grab Twilight, and I held her close as the ground came rushing up to us. A loud crack was heard as we hit the ground, and I let go of Twilight, before falling to the ground, waiting for my legs to regenerate. I looked over at Twilight, who was worryingly looking at my legs. “You okay?” She looked surprised. “Am I okay? I should be asked you that! Both your legs are broken!” I chuckled a bit as my legs both crack and fix themselves. I stood up, and started looking around. “How did you do that!” She asked as she examined my legs. “Regenerative factor.” I reply, as I activated the light on my arm. Not a moment too soon because the hole we fell down closed up, leaving us in the darkness. As Twilight started panicking, I calmed her down, and we started walking through the only other tunnel in the caves. “How are you staying calm at a time like this?” Twilight asked. I just chuckled again. “I haven’t been calm in an entire year. Every second I’m worried that I’ll lose control and kill someone, or destroy the planet. I haven’t even had a good night’s sleep in a long time either. Every night, I always have a nightmare of the possible future, the past, what could have been, and all that stuff. I just act calm because someone has to be courageous enough to take lead and keep the group together.” I answered, as I saw something sparkle up ahead. I quickly pick up the pace till we reached it. “What is that?” Twilight asked as I picked it up and examined it. “It’s a stone made up of three connecting circles.” I felt like it was important, so I just put it in my pocket, and kept on walking. “Why did you save me when we were falling? Wouldn’t breaking your legs hurt?” Twilight asked after a while. “It is a very excruciatingly painful experience. But I have a regenerating ability, and you don’t. So I made sure you would be okay if I only had to deal with a few seconds of pain. I have the ability to become invulnerable, but pain helps me remember who I was before I got my powers.” I sighed. “How did you get your powers?” Twilight hesitantly asked. After several minutes of explaining to her of who I truly was, and how I got my powers, we found a staircase out. We started walking up it till we got to a little door like you would see on a cellar. I pushed it open, and we climbed out to notice we were right next to where we fell. The others were still fighting the chimera. I quickly ran up to it, and punched it on the head, before grabbing it and sending it flying into another part of the woods. The others fell down, breathing rapidly. “Mighty thanks Connor. But where were you for a few minutes?” AJ asked in between breaths. They all looked at me confused. “Twilight and I fell down a hole, and we followed the way out, till we came out through that cellar like door over there.” I pointed to the door sticking out of the ground. “How long has that been there?” I just shrugged, not knowing myself. We continued on after they all got their breath back. After Rarity whined complained about needing a break from the scenery, I noticed the moon going down into the treeline, making it hard to see. Well, it would be hard to see if I didn’t have night vision always activated. “That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces, and we wouldn’t even know it.” Twilight pointed out. I just tried to activate the flashlight function on my arm, but it didn’t seem to be working. “Magical darkness. Lights don’t work in it.” I stated. We kept on walking, some of the ponies bumping into each other. After AJ stepped in mud, and we all noticed the really weird faces on the trees, the ponies all screamed and backed into each other. They finally stopped screaming when Pinkie started laughing. I mentally braced myself for the singing. Which did come. “When I was a little filly and the sun was going down!” “Tell me she’s not.” “The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown!” “She is.” “I’d hide under my pillow, from what I thought I saw. But Granny Pie said that wasn’t a way to deal with fears at all.” “Technically it is. But it isn’t very effective.” “Then what is?” “She said, “Pinkie, you got to stand up tall, learn to face your fears. You’ll see that they can’t hurt you, just laugh to make them disappear.” Ha ha ha.” [Ponies gasp] “So giggle at the ghostie, guffaw at the grossly, crack up at the creepy, whoop it up with the weepy, chortle at the kooky, chuckle at the freaky...” Pinkie pushed me in front of another tree. I just sighed, and activated the flamethrower function on my arm. I held up my arm, and gave a low deep laugh that caused the tree to scream and poof away. “Snortle at the spooky. And tell that big, dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone. And if he thinks he can scare you, then he’s got another thing coming, and the very idea of such a thing just makes you want to…” She starts laughing a bit. “LAUGH!” When she finally finished singing, all the ponies were on the ground laughing uncontrollably. I was just leaning against another tree. After a few minutes of laughing, we finally started moving again. As we were moving, the others were still laughing until we came across some roaring rapids. “How are we gonna cross this?” Pinkie asked. “Easy, like this.” I jumped into the river and was immediately swept away. “Connor!” The ponies all yelled, about to chase after me. “What?” The all jumped and turned around to see me right behind them. “But...how...we….” Twilight stammered. “I have an extra guy.” I pointed to above my head where it shows my face times one. “But we still have a problem. How are we going to get across?” AJ pointed out. Before I could respond, we heard someone crying out. I sighed as we went to where to crying was to see Steven Magnet wailing about his mustache. “Excuse me, sir. Why are you crying?” Twilight asked. “Well, I don’t know. I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me, and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off. And now I look simply horrid!” He fell back into the water splashing water over all of us. “Seriously! I don’t have the ability to dry my clothes without burning down the forest.” I mutter to myself. “Oh, give me a break.” Rainbow said softly. “That’s what all the fuss is about?” AJ asked. “Why, of course it is! How can you be so insensitive?” Rarity walks up to Steven. And I notice that the others are all dry, but I’m not. “Oh, just look at him. Such lovely luminescent scales.” While they were Rarity was doing that whole generous thing, I quickly flew up into space. When I got there, I flew over to the sun and stayed there for a bit, drying myself off. After a bit longer, I flew back down and landed to see Rarity cut off her tail and magic the tail over to replace Steven’s mustache. I grimaced at how even uglier he looked. “Oh, Rarity… your beautiful tail.” Twilight pointed out. “It’s fine, my dear. Short tails are in this season. Besides, it will grow back.” Rarity said nervously. “Hang on a second.” I walked up to Rarity, my left hand glowing orange and I pointed it at her. A second later, her tail was back to normal. “There we go.” “Oh thank you Connor!” Rarity said making sure her tail still worked. While Twilight and the others were being helped over the now calm river, I just jumped over the entire thing. We kept walking for a few more minutes until we could see the castle in the distance. “There it is! The ruin that holds the elements of harmony. We made it.” Twilight starts running forward until she almost fell off the cliff, but Rainbow pulled her back. “What’s with you and falling off cliffs today?” Rainbow pointed out. “Now what?” Pinkie sighs. “Duh.” Rainbow said flapping her wings and flying over to get the bridge. We all watch as the fog on the other side starts to thicken. We notice the shadowbolts talking to Rainbow as the fog thickens enough so that we can’t see over there. After a bit longer, Rainbow flies over and does that one pose. We start walking across the bridge and Rainbow tells Twilight; “See? I’d never leave my friends hanging.” After another minute, we were inside the castle staring at the machine that held the elements. Rainbow, Fluttershy, and I start moving the elements to the ground. Once they were all there, Pinkie pointed out that there are only five of them. “The book said, “When the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth element to be revealed.” Twilight recalled. “What in the hay is that supposed to mean?” AJ asked. “I’m not sure, but I have an idea.” Twilight responded. “Stand back. I don’t know what will happen.” We all started to walk out of the castle, and we waited until we heard Twilight yell. We ran in to see Twilight jump into the dark blue tornado. “Everyone, this way!” I yell, leading them to the staircase that we need to go to. After a few minutes of running, we could hear Nightmare Moon’s laughter. We entered the room to hear Twilight say how the spirits of the elements of harmony are in the room. I walked over to a wall and leaned against it, as Twilight did the whole thing where she says how represents which element, and the elements start circling each of them. “You still don’t have the other elements, the spark didn’t work.” Nightmare Moon pointed out. “But it did, a different kind of spark.” Twilight turned around to face the other elements. “I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all…” she turns around again. “Are my friends.” The element of magic appears above her. “You see Nightmare Moon, when those elements are ignited by the… the spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element, the element of magic.” The light from Twilight’s element got so bright it filled up the room as the stones form themselves into their necklace forms. Except Twilight’s became a crown-like thing. Once they fired the rainbow at Nightmare Moon, and Nightmare Moon started screaming, I thought it would all be over. But once the rainbow stopped working, and Nightmare Moon was still there, I gulped. Nightmare Moon looked at herself before laughing. “You still are missing an element!” She starts laughing again, while the others laid on the ground confused. Nightmare Moon charges up her horn and prepares to fire it. “Now say good bye to your precious elements!” Once she fired it at Twilight, I quickly ran forward and pushed her out of the way, taking the blast straight through my heart. I grunted in pain, as I held the wound, noticing how my body is having trouble healing from the dark magic. Twilight ran up to me concerned. “Connor! Are you okay?” “No, not exactly.” I managed to say before coughing up blood. “I might not be able to regenerate out of this one. Reminds me of when I got my powers.” I noticed Twilight was starting to cry. “I’m so sorry Connor. If the elements worked, you wouldn’t have needed to get herself killed. I should have been the one who died.” I frowned at that before lifting her head to meet my eyes with my non-bloody hand. “Don’t you say that. You still have a long life to live with your friends.” My vision was fading. “But why, why did you save me?” Twilight asked. “Because, you needed help, and I had the courage to help.” Right after I said that, I noticed my pocket glowing green. I reached in an pulled out the stone I picked up earlier. It was vibrating like mad and glowing a familiar green. “What the?” Was all I had time to say as it quickly flung itself onto my neck, making me float up into the air. “Of course.” I said to myself. “Twilight! I think I found the missing element. The element of courage! The courage to stand by your friends no matter what! The courage one gains from their friends to do difficult tasks! The courage to put your life in danger for your friends!” After I finished saying that, the elements started firing again, this time joined by my own element. The rainbow circled Nightmare Moon who was screaming again. When the light cleared away, we were all on the ground again. I stood up, before quickly grabbing my chest, making sure that the wound is gone, which it was. “Everypony okay?” AJ asked. “I certainly am okay!” I said in a cheerful mood, as everyone started noticing that the elements look like their cutie marks. I noticed mine did too, but was a forest green that reminded me of the Kokiri’s emerald. “Gee, Twilight, I thought you were just spouting a lot of hooey. But I reckon we really do represent the elements of friendship.” AJ said. “Indeed you do” Celestia just teleported in with a bright flash, bringing the sun back as well. While the ponies were bowing, I just stood there. “Connor! Why aren’t you bowing!” Twilight whispered to me. “I don’t bow to just anyone. I only bow if someone earned my respect. Plus I’m higher up than Celestia.” Twilight flinched when I didn’t say ‘princess’. After a bit of awkward silence, Twilight ran up to Celestia, and they hugged nuzzled. “Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I knew you could do it.” Twilight looked confused. “But you told me it was all an old pony tale.” Twilight pointed out. “I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more.” Celestia recalled. “I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon’s return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her. But you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart.” Twilight looked to us, and we all just smiled back. “Now if only another will, as well…” Celestia walked over to Luna, “Princess Luna.” Celestia stated and Luna woke up. “It has been 1,000 years since I have seen you like this.” Celestia sat down in front of Luna. “Time to put our difference behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister.” “Sister?” Twilight said in surprise. “Will you accept my friendship?” Celestia asked. The ponies were all leaning forward and Pinkie fell on her face, waiting for the response. “I”m so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister.” Luna ran forward and hugged/nuzzled Celestia, tears running down both of their faces. “I’ve missed you, too.” Celestia responded. Pinkie started bursting into tears for a second before she stopped. “Hey! You know what this calls for?” Suddenly we were outside of the Everfree forest. “A party!” When we were back in Ponyville, Twilight was tackled by Spike, Luna was given a floral wreath. And Twilight looked sad. “Why so glum, my faithful student? Are you not happy that your quest is complete and you can return to your studies in Canterlot?” Celestia asked. “That’s just it.” Twilight answered. “Just when I learn how wonderful it is to have friends, I have to leave them.” “Spike, take a note please.” Celestia adjectived. “I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn Twilight Sparkle shall take on a new mission for Equestria. She must continue to study the magic of friendship. She must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville.” The others ran forward and congratulated Twilight, while I just stayed behind with a small smile on my face. “Oh, thank you, Princess Celestia. I’ll study harder than ever before.” After Twilight said that, all the ponies started cheering. “Connor, come here. You’re one of our friends too.” Twilight said noticing how I was just standing there. “No, I’m fine over here.” I responded, but Twilight brought me over to the group with magic, and we all group hugged.