Family and Friends
Chapter 6
Return
Nightmare moon continued to cackle heartlessly, barely looking down and dodging in time from a large, purple beam that was shot from Twilight’s horn. Her face filled with fake surprise, grinning and laughing a bit more. “Getting a bit frisky are we? Well, I’ll give you some time to burn off that anger while me and this, thing get to know each other a bit more.” With that she let out a final laugh, then vanished with a bright light. Her evil cackling echoing in the silent room filled with surprise.
Twilight didn't dare look at the crowd of ponies, for she already knew they were staring at her in confusion. And making eye contact would only make it worse. She was on the verge of breaking down into tears, but she knew she didn't have a lot of time to get Andrew back. She immediately turned and ran off the stage, past the other girls and away from town hall. The other girls yelled her name and pursued her, including Spike who had some trouble keeping up with them.
By the time Twilight got back to her library she had tears streaming down her face. She ripped through almost every book in her library in panic and worry. “Elements, Elements, ugh! How can I stop Nightmare moon without the elements of harmony!?”
“And just what ARE the Elements of Harmony!?” Twilight was suddenly interrupted by Rainbow Dash who had burst into her library, throwing suspicious questions at the poor pony. “And how did you know about Nightmare Moon, huh? Are you a SPY?- whoa!”
Dash was pulled out of her questioning by Applejack who had grabbed ahold of Dash’s tail with her mouth. “Simmer down, Sally. She ain’t no spy..” She walked closer to Twilight, and so did the others who had arrived. “But she sure does know what’s going on, don’t you Twilight?”
Twilight stood quietly and paused as she thought about what she was about to let out.
“I heard all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her.” By this time her tears had dried on her furry cheeks, but her worry remained. “But I don’t know what they are, where to find them. I-I don’t even know what they do!”
“The Elements of Harmony; A reference guide!” Pinkie spoke normally, only to get violently shoved out of the way by Twilight who looked at it.
“How did you find that?!”
“It was under Eeee!” Pinkie cheered and bounced around the room, Twilight glared slightly, angry at herself for not knowing.
“Oh.-” Twilight shook her head in anger at herself for not looking there. The wasted no time in pulling out the book and rapidly flipping through the pages, until she stopped.
“There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known.”
“Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery-”
Twilight was cut off as a heavily panting Spike burst through the door, shutting it and leaning back on it to catch his breath.” W-What just happened!? Can somepony fill me in please!?”
Twilight did nothing but glare at Spike. She quickly shook her head and sighed. She didn’t want to get mad at him, or anypony for that matter except for Nightmare Moon. But she couldn’t help herself. She felt that she was running out of time to save Andrew. She looked back at Spike. “I’ll explain later Spike. Right now there are more important things to be done.”
Applejack stepped forward to look at the book. “Where are these, Element-thingys?”
Twilight cleared her throat and scanned over the book to find where she left off. “..In the ancient castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. It is located in what is now…”
“The Everfree Forest.”
- - - - -
Andrew woke in a panic as he eyelids flew open, his eyes rapidly searching the room as he sat up. He was in complete darkness, and the solid, damp, rock ground beneath him felt to carry negative energy. Without thinking, he stood up, his arms locked tightly to his chest. He shakily and barely took a step forward, a quiet whimper escaped his lips unexpectedly. The silent noise seemed to echo on forever, like he was in a large cave. But felt claustrophobic at the same time.
Every step he took felt as if he was about to step of a cliff. He was so paranoid that almost anything that happened caused him to flinch wildly. Suddenly, in front of him a dark, sky blue cloud of smoke appeared a few feet away from him. Even through the darkness, it was the only thing he could see. It was enough for him to back away shakily, causing him to fall onto his back. He looked up at the cloud in fear, as he could now see a mare’s face in it. Specifically Nightmare Moon’s.
The evil face grinned and chuckled slightly as she stared down at Andrew, drinking in all of his fear like a drop of water in the desert. Her laughter grew more until she finally stopped with a sigh. She moved closer and continued to smirk mercilessly.
“My my, you are a strange little thing aren’t you? Twilight Sparkle definitely cares much about you, would be a shame if something were to… Happen to you.” Her laughter continued up again as a stream of blue cloud caressed Andrews face, in response he swatted it away immediately. Andrew wanted to speak. He wanted to yell and scream at the top of his lungs, but looking into this evil mare’s face; he felt paralyzed.
“Funny how Twilight Sparkle thinks she can gather all the Elements of Harmony and defeat me with her, pathetic little pony friends. I will enjoy erasing them ALL from existence! And you shall watch it all. NEVER shall you see your ponies EVER AGAIN!!” The cloud burst into wicked cackles that echoed everywhere around Andrew, leaving him alone once again. Scared more than ever before. Tears streamed down his face as he curled up and hugged his legs.
“...P-Please...D-Don’t get hurt, mommy...please…”
- - - - -Later- - - - -
“There it is! The ruins that holds the Elements of Harmony, we made it!” Twilight relieved as they finally came across the ancient castle, the ponies following suit. Twilight wasted no time in galloping towards it.
“Twilight, wait for us!” AJ chased after her, the others doing the same.
“We’re almost there!-WHOA!” Twilight quickly halted, being stopped by a broken bridge and almost falling off the cliff. Rainbow pulled Twilight’s tail and dragged her back to safety. Dash smirked.
“What’s with you and falling off cliffs today?”
“Not only cliffs, everything we went through has been too much!” Rarity whined, rolling her eyes as she looked at the rotten bridge.
“Now what?” Pinkie sighed, but her attention was grabbed to Rainbow flapping her wings.
“Duh.” She jumped into the air and dove down to grab the bridge ropes, flying back up to the other side to tie the ropes, when she heard faint voices around her calling her name. she dropped the ropes and looked around her. “Huh? Who’s there!?”
”Rainbow...Rainbow…”
“I ain’t scared of you! Show yourself!!” Dash hopped up on her two hind legs, throwing a few punches in the air with her fore legs.
“We’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the fastest flyer in all of Equestria.” The voices replied.
“Who?”
“Why, you of course!”
“Really?- I-I mean, yeah, me!” Dash grinned. “Hey, you wouldn’t mind telling the WonderBolts that would ya? Because I’ve been trying to get into that group for like: ever!”
“No Rainbow Dash, we want you to join us.” Three ponies galloped out of the shadows and into the clear, wearing dark clothing and eerie yellow goggles. “The ShadowBolts. We are the greatest aerial team in the Everfree Forest. And soon we will be the greatest in all of Equestria. But first, we need a Captain.” The mare that spoke of the three flew near and past Dash, speaking into her ear.
“The most magnificent-”
“Yep,”
“Swiftest-”
“Yes,”
“Bravest flyer in all the land.”
“Yes, it’s all true!”
“We need…” The mare got an inch close to Rainbow’s ear and whispered: “You.”
“Wohoo! Sign me up!”
Over the other side of the bridge, the ponies were becoming impatient. AJ finally groaned loudly, looking over the other side of the bridge. “Whut in tarnation is goin’ on over there!?”
“M-Maybe she needs help tying the rope tight enough.” Fluttershy supposed quietly, then backed down as no one heard her and Twilight spoke up.
“Rainbow! What’s taking so long!?” She yelled across the large ravine, and she gasped as she saw Rainbow with the three ShadowBolts. “Oh no…Rainbow!!” Suddenly, one of the ShadowBolts glared over at the group, their goggles shining bright as the thick fog around them blocked their vision to the group, also muffling their voices. “Don’t listen to them!”
“Well?” The mare ShadowBolt asked once again. Rainbow thought hard, before speaking.
“You.”
The ShadowBolt beamed in victory, until Rainbow corrected herself. “Thank you, for the offer I mean.” She flew over to the bridge and tied the rope. “But I’m afraid I have to say no.” Dash fixed the bridge then flew back to her friends, in which the ShadowBolts burst into the same dark blue cloud and disappeared into the forest.
The group cheered as Rainbow returned from the other side, and they all crossed it together. “See? I’d never leave my friends hangin’.”
- - - - -
Ugh! These arrogant little ponies are so STUBBORN. They will ruin my plans for Equestria if they carry on with this! Nightmare Moon’s cloud of smoke watched the ponies inside with the 5 orbs of the Elements. She smiled and giggled somewhat. But I doubt Twilight Sparkle will know how to reveal the sixth Element of Harmony...What’s this? She watched as Twilight laid by the orbs, her horn glowing and the other ponies leaving the room. She grinned wider. This will be my chance to finally stop Twilight Sparkle…
- - - - -
Twilight focused harder and harder on the spell, until the sound of the rock orbs spinning rapidly caused her to break out of concentration. She opened her eyes to see a dark blue swirling cloud in front of her, spinning the orbs. She let out a yelp, alerting the others outside. The swirling tornado of blue grew taller and span faster. “The Elements!” Twilight yelled as she leaped into the vortex, and it imploded and disappeared just as the ponies entered.
The ponies scattered around the room, searching for her. “Look!” Rarity alerted as the tower outside the window was glowing brightly from the windows.
“Come on!” Applejack ordered as they sped out of the building, towards the other tower.
In the other tower, Twilight appeared from a dark cloud of smoke. When she stopped coughing, she looked up. In front of her stood Nightmare Moon, levitating the orbs around her with an evil laugh. Twilight immediately gave Nightmare Moon a look of anger and disgust.
“Twilight Sparkle, how very nice to see you again.”
“Where. Is. Andrew?!”
“Oh, that thing? you cherish?” Her horn glowed as suddenly beside her sat a curled up Andrew, his eyes flying open as he saw Twilight.
“Andrew!!”
“M-Mommy!”
He stood up and tried to run to her, but was stopped as a spherical orb around him kept him in place. Twilight tried to use magic on the shield, though her horn exploded with navy blue magic, blasting her back.
“No, I don’t think so, Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight got back on her hooves, and gave Nightmare Moon the most terrifying death glare as she kicked her fore hoof back, steam coming out of her nose, anger and adrenaline pumping through her veins. Looking ready to charge.
“You’re kidding. You’re kidding right?” Nightmare Moon smirked, amused by the unintimidating look of Twilight. Though Twilight’s horn glowed brightly as she charged full speed at Nightmare Moon. In response Nightmare Moon charged as well, but instead of attacking, Twilight had something else in mind.
Just before they reached each other, Twilight teleported away from Nightmare Moon to behind her, into the circle of Elements. Twilight turned to Andrew, who was standing up and punching the wall of the shield around him. “I’m going to get you out, okay Andrew? Every thing is going to be okay!”
Alright, activate the elements, defeat Nightmare Moon, and that should drop the shield spell so I can get Andrew out. Just one spark…
Nightmare Moon turned and saw What Twilight was doing, and turned into a cloud of smoke, once again spiraling into a tornado and charging at Twilight. Just as she appeared in front of her, it was too late. Twilight was launched back by the spell she had casted on the Elements. A spark jumped from each of the orbs.
“No, No!” Nightmare Moon gasped, and Twilight grinned in victory. Until the spark un expectantly stopped.
“What!? But, where’s the sixth Element?!” Twilight cried. Nightmare Moon took back her triumph and let out a fearful cackle. Her hooves lept up then smashed down on the ground, shattering the orbs around her into tiny shards of meaningless rock.
“You little FOAL! Thinking you could defeat ME!? Now you will never see your Princess or, sun! The night, WILL LAST, FOREVER!! HAHAHAHAAAA!!!” Thunder cracked in effect to the swirling cloud of dark smoke that surrounded the room. During her defeat, Twilight heard the voices of her friends coming up the stairs, and that’s when it finally hit her. Twilight turned back to Nightmare Moon, hope spread across her face.
“You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well you’re wrong.” She stood tall as her friends gathered around her. “Because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony, are right here!” Suddenly, a few of the shards that were previously one of the orbs, levitated up. Nightmare Moon gave out a confused ”What?
“Applejack, Who reassured me when I was in doubt. Represents the spirit of: Honesty!”
As Twilight spoke those words, the shards began to circle around Applejack.
“Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion. Represents the spirit of: Kindness!”
The same happened with Fluttershy, Nightmare Moon was already beginning to feel weaker with every word that Twilight spoke.
“Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger. Represents the spirit of: Laughter!”
“Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift. Represents the spirit of: Generosity!”
Andrew had stopped fighting inside the bubble, and his fear had disappeared, but Nightmare Moon’s grew more and more.
“And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire. Represents the spirit of: Loyalty!”
“The spirits of these ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!” Twilight finished, taking the advantage of seeing Nightmare Moon’s fear.
“You still don’t have the sixth Element! The spark didn’t work!” Nightmare Moon tried.
“But it did. A different type of spark.” Twilight turned around to her friends. “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…”
Twilight turned back to Nightmare Moon. “Are my friends!” Abruptly, above all of them with a flash of light, the orb of the sixth Element appeared.
“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 whole room exploded with magic and light, each of the shards becoming consumed by each of the ponies into elemental necklaces. The last, being a crown upon Twilight’s head. The magic around them grew more and more until a powerful rainbow beam shot out of the group of friends. Both Nightmare Moon and Andrew braced their eyes from the light as it fired into the air, then down on Nightmare moon.
“NOO!!!!” Nightmare Moon screamed as she became engulfed in the beam, wrapping around her until she wasn’t visible anymore. A white light blinded everyone in the room. And when it cleared, all six ponies were lying on the ground.
Once Andrew clarified at the shield was finally gone, he spent no time in running over to Twilight and the rest, even stumbling a bit as he couldn’t run very well. Twilight was still on the ground, but she got up immediately as she felt the hug of someone so familiar that she couldn’t have mistaken who it was. “Andrew!”
Twilight got up and grabbed him, pulling him tightly against her chest as she gently cried tears of joy. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay..”
The other girls around had gotten up and recovered from what just happened. Applejack rubbed her head as she looked at her necklace, then over at Twilight. “Gee Twilight, ah thought you were just spewin’ a bunch of phooey-” She stopped as she looked at Twilight and Andrew, a relieved and relaxed smile grown on her face.
“Awwww!” Pinkie cooed, bouncing near them until Fluttershy held a hoof in front of her.
“Shh, let them have their moment.” She smiled, dropping her hoof back down.
“Mommy...i-is she gone?” Andrew pulled away for a moment to look at Twilight, the fear slowly beginning to show again.
Twilight didn’t know the answer, but she hoped yes like everypony else. Though the question was lost as a bright light grabbed everyone’s attention to the center of the room. The light burst, and there stood a spread-winged Princess Celestia. Twilight and Andrew stood up as the others bowed. Twilight trotted lightly towards the Princess of the Sun. “Princess Celestia!”
“Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student.” Celestia replied as they neck hugged. They parted as Andrew followed Twilight and hugged Celestia’s leg.
“Hi Pwincess Cewestia!” He smiled, and she smiled back. Looking down at the small, cute little thing.
“Hello to you too Andrew.” Celestia’s smile suddenly faded as she closed her eyes. “But there is still one other hello. Princess Luna.”
Where Nightmare Moon was previously defeated, lay a smaller, Alicorn Princess. Her eyes quickly opening as she gasped.
“It has been a thousand years since I’ve seen you like this.” Celestia walked towards Luna, with an unreadable expression. “It’s time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together little sister.”
“Sister?” The group of ponies behind them questioned themselves.
“Will you accept my friendship?” Celestia stood over Luna, awaiting her answer.
Luna leaped forward after a brief pause, hugging her sister as tears formed in both of their eyes. “I’m so sorry! I missed you so much big sister!”
“I missed you too.” Celestia held Luna and looked down at her.
In the back with the group of ponies, Pinkie had literally started crying waterfalls in the corners of her eyes, until she unexpectedly stopped and smirked. “Hey, you know what this calls for?”
“A PARTY!!”