One by one, the ponies crept into the library. Their eyes were stretched wide with fear, reflecting the cold moonlight that filtered through the window by their side. They crouched low with their bellies close to the ground, their gazes flickering from side to side as if they expected the shadows to leap at them.
The glimmer of moonlight illuminated their surroundings, turning them into glowing silver. Ahead of them, a light gray-colored stallion with yellow eyes and a gray-and-light brown beard, mane and tail was settled on the ground, emotionlessly gazing at them as they approached.
"Starswirl?" A young, pure white-colored mare with dark-to-light green mane and tail called, blinking her purple eyes.
"Step forward," ordered Starswirl The Bearded in a rasping voice.
The mare obediently took a few paces forward until she was standing in front of him. The stallion's haunches were low, his yellow eyes were troubled, and he looked completely defeated.
"Why are you here, now, Clover The Clever?" He asked with a hint of hopelessness in his voice.
"The elements, we need to–"
"They won't work," the stallion interrupted.
"What do you mean? I've-" and once again, she was interrupted by the older stallion.
"No, Clover. I told you–I tried. I tried activating them. I tried making them work, but my magic wasn't powerful enough – not like the king and queen's. And, who knows? Maybe their magic wouldn't have been good enough, too. They went to find the Great Darkness that's hunting us all, and never came back. So tell me, what hope do we have?"
"Are you saying all we can do is wait for the Great Darkness to kill all of us, one by one, without doing anything?" Asked a red-colored mare with battle-scarred muzzle and dark mane and tail, her yellow eyes glaring furiously.
"We don't have another choice," he replied hopelessly.
"I do!" She said stubbornly. "Fight!"
"We tried that before, and what happened? More victims without any progress."
Before Commander Hurricane could reply, Clover The Clever interrupted. "You're right, fighting won't help us, but magic will," she said firmly.
Starswirl The Bearded fixed his yellow gaze on her, and he had all of their desperation and sorrow in them as he asked, "how? I couldn't activate the elements; my magic wasn't enough. It's all my fault."
Clover blinked sympathetically at him. "No, it's not," she said reassuringly, giving him a shoulder rub. "We can fix this together, using the power of friendship."
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and echoed, "friendship?"
"Yes. Remember when the three tribes were freezing to death? It was because of hate. Later on, when we became friends, a powerful feeling surged though me—made me feel like I can do anything; and so I did. I used the magic and saved us – the magic of friendship."
When she saw her mentor's ears perk up with interest sparkling in his eyes and the same expression of hunger for knowledge she continued her explanation. "I talked with the ponies that witnessed it—Commander Hurricane and the others—about it. You wanted to at least activate six gems, and we're six ponies. I asked them what they mostly liked about that event. Commander Hurricane said she liked the loyalty, Chancellor Puddinghead said she liked the laughter, Princess Platinum said she liked the generosity, Smart Cookie said she liked the honesty, Private Pansy said she liked kindness, and mine was magic. It could be possible that we can make the gems work, right?"
He gazed at her for a few moments before replying. "It could be," he said at last. "But I'm not sure if your power is enough."
"Already thought of that," she said with a determined grin. "We decided that we will choose the most loyal, humorous, and so on, ponies from each tribe and assemble in a week so I could try my spell."
"Alright, Clover The Clever. I'd like to see what you have."
7 days later…
Clover The Clever was standing in the middle of the forest beside the waterfall where the royal family used to live with Starswirl The Bearded and Princess Platinum by her side, a group of unicorns flanking them. A few minutes later, the green leaves rustled and a group of Pegasi glided toward them with Commander Hurricane on the lead, making a rough land in front of them, followed by the Earth Ponies on the opposite side, led by Chancellor Puddinghead.
"Are all the tribes here?" Clover The Clever asked, breaking the silence.
The three leaders nodded, and Clover stepped forward until she was in the middle. Flashing a glance at her mentor, she was hopefulness and encouragement glimmering in his eyes as he gazed at her, and she lost all of her hesitation. She had to do this.
"Alright," she started with a confident voice. "Most loyal ponies, step forward. Concentrate on times when you were truly loyal."
The leaders of each tribe motioned for a group of ponies to step forward, and they obediently did until they were in front of her. Clover could see the determination in their expressions – how they'll do everything to keep their land safe. They were truly loyal.
With a last stare at them, Clover closed her eyes and flattened her eyes, doing her best to consecrate on making the right process of the spell that would transform the power of these ponies' loyalty to the first ruby.
Her horn glowed powerfully at last, ruffling her dark-to-light green-colored mane. She shot the chosen ponies a strike that sent them trembling for a moment. A ball of light formed, and with the best of Clever's efforts, it was carried into the gem.
Opening her eyes again, she gazed at the ruby with expectant eyes. It was shining powerfully with the energy of the countless ponies who participated.
Flashing a glance at her mentor, she saw him gazing at the ruby with amazement, it's glitter reflecting in his widely-stretched eyes.
"Did it w-work?" That was Commander Hurricane, padding over to her, rubbing the back of her head with a dizzy expression crossed on her face.
"Yes, it did," she replied with a half-shaky voice. "We have the Element of Loyalty."
She did the same for the rest. Well… except for one amethyst. Clever poured all of her magic into the 6th element, adding the magic of friendship of everybody around her into it. Soon, all of the 6 elements were shining brightly, reflecting all of the energy the ponies gave them.
"We did it!" Clover The Clever exclaimed brightly after losing her dizziness and realizing what they did. "We activated the 6 elements!"
Wails of victory rose from the crowd, and they stomped their hooves on their ground, glaring with determination.
Clover and her friends picked up the elements, exchanging smiles with each other as Starswirl The Bearded approached. "You've done great, Clover," he started with a warm smile. "You've done what I couldn't have done. You deserve respect and admiration from us all," he finished, bowing to her, and was followed by the rest of the crowd, even her friends.
"Thanks, everypony," she said, her ears flattened with embarrassment with a faint blush appearing on her face. "I couldn't have done it without you.
"Now," she continued more confidently. "We can defeat the danger that's threatening Equestria."