Celestia’s POV
Moments after Allan was turned completely to stone, the chi he borrowed flowed out and returned to their original owners. We all stood there, mourning the loss of our friend for quite some time as the chaos influencing Ponyville slowly deteriorated. After a while a few of the others began to leave, giving various reasons such as checking on family and aiding other ponies. I noticed that it took Fluttershy to convince Rarity to step away from the statue, though Dojo remained perched on Luna’s shoulders. I looked over the statue, the two beings seemingly locked in eternal combat as Allan held the eye aiming at... how odd.
When no one but my sister, Dojo, and I remained, I walked over to Allan’s side and looked down his arm to where he had been aiming only to see the roof of a building. I wondered just what it was Allan had seen before turning to stone. Perhaps this was an ill omen of what was to come.
It would have to wait though. My sister was... heartbroken to say the least. I think she found a certain kinship in Allan, and after I saw the two at the gala I couldn’t help but be happy for her. I had wished the two would eventually move on in their relationship but now that seemed like a distant dream.
I knelt down next to Luna and nuzzled her, snapping her from her despair. “Luna,” I said calmly “We have to leave eventually.” She held her eyes shut tight as she grimaced. “I know you are hurting but there is nothing that can be done. The elements are a force much stronger than anything we have seen.”
Luna shivered somewhat before standing, opening her eyes. “Can we at least separate the two? It feels wrong to leave him in the clutches of… that.” I only nodded before turning to the statue, placing my horn delicately on Allan’s forehead. I teleported the two of us five feet to the left, leaving Discord coiled up where he stood and Allan with one arm outstretched to his side, the other aiming one of his Shen Gong Wu. I took this moment to notice that it, along with his scroll, had been encased as well.
Luna walked up, looking over Allan sadly once more before sighing. “Are you sure there is nothing that can be done? He gave so much just to save us, and he was but a stranger to our lands.”
“There’s gotta be something you can do!” Dojo exclaimed, popping out of Luna’s mane.
I opened my mouth to tell her it was hopeless before pondering the thought. Well, we never properly studied Discord’s prison the first time. After all, we didn’t want him freed. But is it really worth giving my sister hope that may lead to nothing? I shook my head. “I suppose we can study the spell, try to find a way to break it.” I saw my sister’s eyes light up just as I feared. “But I see little hope in such a thing Luna. I can’t have you divert all of your attention to such a thing so soon after your reinstatement as princess. The nobles would surely call for you to step down.”
“Than I will step down gladly.” Luna stated with determination. “If being a princess will get in the way of me making this right, then why should I continue to be so?”
“Luna, do you really think he would want you to do that?” I waved a hoof at Allan’s statue. “To throw away everything you’ve been working so hard to build these past few months?” Luna looked about ready to go through with it anyway before Dojo spoke up.
“The princess has a point, er… princess. Allan was actually afraid of what him being around you would do to your already shaky relation with the nobles.” Luna looked absolutely torn up inside about what she should do. Eventually she just broke down, lying on the ground as small tears began to form in her eyes.
“Why? Why did this have to be this way?” I stepped over to her and wrapped a wing around her, pulling her close.
“We will do our best to free him Luna, but Equestria comes first. We should follow his example and put the needs of the land before our own desires.” I just held her there, allowing her to let out the emotions broiling inside her. By the time she was done it had come time for the sun to be set and the moon to rise.
Luna got up and looked Allan in the eyes, her own now dry of tears. “I will take him to the study. He should not be left outside for the birds to prey upon with their droppings.” Her horn lit up and the two of them vanished, leaving me with Discord. I walked over to him calmly, though in all actuality I was furious.
“You take away so much all for your sick games.” I spoke to him, not sure if he could hear me but not caring either way. “So much has had to be sacrificed just to stop you, and in the end you just take a long sleep before returning once more to wreak havoc.” I brought myself face to face with him as I glared into his stone eyes. After a few moments of no response I sighed before teleporting us to the gardens and returning him to his pedestal.
* * *
Luna’s POV
After everything Discord had done, it took many days to set things right and calm ponies down. A week had gone by before I could even begin to work on finding a cure for Allan. I transported to the forbidden section of the study where I had left him, still standing petrified. Dojo had not left the room much since I had placed Allan there, spending his days polishing and cleaning the statue.
“There you go buddy! Spick and span.” We both noticed as a faint golden light emitted from the scroll despite being covered in stone. I almost expected to see Allan spring free from his stone prison right there only to be quickly proven otherwise. Dojo must have felt much the same as he sobbed into Allan’s shoulder.
I retained my composure though and began pulling out books from the shelves around me, looking for anything having to do with the elements, petrification, and unknown magic. Once the dragon pulled himself together he began helping me, putting books back where they belonged after I finished skimming them for useful information. After some time I had a small collection of books stacked next to me and a few hours to begin reading.
“Dojo,” I asked “I know you would prefer to be here, but would you go ask the cook to boil some tea?”
“Sure thing princess. One pot of tea coming up!” He darted off out of the study, leaving me alone with the statue and books. I moved to pull the first book off the top of the stack before glancing at Allan. I walked up in front of him so that we were face to face.
“I don’t know if you can hear me, but I wanted to tell you what a jerk you are.” I chuckled despite feeling tears beginning to form in my eyes. “I mean, you promised we would talk about what happened at the gala once the danger has passed but you just had to go and sacrifice yourself. I was afraid something like this would happen and…” I took a moment to collect myself before continuing.
“We had so few times together, but I felt like we knew each other in a way no one else did. Still, I was afraid. After all, we were two separate species, one coming from a world where the other were nothing more than beasts of burden.” I put on a small smile. “Of course, then you saw me at the gala and froze in awe, something I never dreamed you would do for me. I initially wrote it off as just you being easily distracted by my change of dress but then you continued to take glances when you thought I wasn’t looking. I never felt so nervous.”
I gave Allan another glance before rolling my eyes. “Yes, I was nervous. Being a princess meant learning to hide such things, and even then I continued to doubt you were really seeing me as beautiful until we ended that challenge. You couldn’t pull your eyes away from me, not even noticing the showdown was over. I didn’t want to look away from you either but I could feel the nobles beginning to stare.”
It suddenly dawned on me what Dojo had meant by Allan’s association causing more problems for me. “You… you stayed away after that night because you didn’t want to put more pressure on me. Those stuck up bastards saw you as a problem, not as a problem solver, and you knew. You… cared about me so much that you were willing to split us up to do what you thought was best.” My composure finally broke as I wrapped my hooves around him, crying into his stone shoulder.
“I’m… so sorry.”
* * *
Wuya’s POV
I couldn’t believe what luck we had! That foolish boy, Allan, thought he could handle the raw power of the Elements of Harmony and was turned to stone for his stupidity. As winter thawed into spring a few months later, I was already in possession of three new Wu! I watched over those idiotic brothers as they searched through the ocean with some sort of submersible machine they created.
‘There!” I called out, pointing ahead of us to a gleam against the ocean floor. They pulled over to it and a mechanical arm slid out, grabbing the Gills of Hamachi.
“Another Wu in the bag.” Flim chuckled before the two high hooved.
* * *
Rarity’s POV
Though I was rather busy meeting the elite of Canterlot, I made sure to have time to see Allan. He was staying with the princesses, resting after the battle with Discord. My friends for some reason thought he had been petrified, which was a ludicrous idea!
The guards to the castle let me in, the princesses having already told them of my visit. Imagine my surprise though when they lead me told a forbidden. section of the archives. There, it the center of the room, was Allan, as stone.
I rolled my eyes at him before walking up to Allan. "Very funny. Did Rainbow Dash help you paint yourself like a statue as some sort of prank?" Allan didn't move or even speak. "Come now, joke's over." Still he would not move.
With a huff of annoyance I walked over to him, putting a hoof on his leg and pushing. Oddly enough, he didn't budge, no matter how I berated his leg. After a few moments of this, it dawned on me what was really going on here.
"You didn't paint yourself to look like a statue. This is a statue!" I smiled, having figured out the ridiculous joke. "They made a statue copy of Allan and had the guards bring me here as a prank." I turned and walked out, looking at the guards. "I'm sure this was funny and all, but I am on a tight schedule. Now where is the real Allan?"
Both guards gave me all weird look before turning toward each other. When they looked back one spoke up. "That's the only Allan we have been told of, Ms. Rarity."
I groaned. "So you don't even know where he is. Well I suppose I will have to find another time to visit. I have to be at a soiree soon." I saw myself out, though I could have sworn for a moment I heard one of the guards mutter "crazy mare."
* * *
Twilight’s POV
It had been a crazy couple of days, filled with disaster-proofing Ponyville and leading ancient protectors of Tartarus back to their station, and still whatever horrible future was still coming! All my work up to this point had been for naught, so I came up with only the most sensible plan I could think of. Stopping time itself!
Once Spike, Pinkie, and I were all suited up in black, we snuck our way into the Canterlot archives, making our way to the forbidden section in search of a spell that could stop the inevitable horror only a few hours away. I immediately began scanning over novels and scrolls, looking for anything I could use before grumbling in anger.
“Ugh! Why are there so many scrolls and tomes missing?! What could they possibly be-” I turned and noticed for the first time that Allan, or rather his petrified self, was standing in the middle of the room. Various books were strewn across the table nearby, answering my question as to what once filled the holes on the shelves.
He didn’t deserve this. I thought, slowly walking toward him. He might have stopped me from studying his Wu and possibly making several breakthroughs in magic, he might have been somewhat frustrating to deal with when he wasn’t spending all his time on that hill, he might have angered Spike for whatever reason. But he still fought to protect a place he was still new to. A place that wasn’t his home. I can’t imagine how he remained so calm through all of that.
I must have been staring off into space for awhile as Spike nudged my leg. “Hey Twilight. You alright?” I quickly shook my head before looking down at him with a smile, suddenly realizing how tired I was after the days of staying awake worried about the future.
“I’m fine.” I yawned. “Just… thinking.” I looked back at Allan, my smile only widening. If Allan could face his future calmly after losing everything he once knew to be thrown into another world, then I’m sure I can face mine. “Let’s head home, Spike, Pinkie. Suddenly the future doesn’t seem so scary.”
Spike’s jaw dropped. “But what about stopping the disaster and all that? We even found a time spell. Here.” Spike handed me a scroll, which I looked over for a moment to find it was a spell that would allow me to travel back in time for a short time, and only once. Wait… I could use this to make sure I don’t worry about the future for a week and go nuts!
I shook my head. “I’m confident that whatever the future holds, we can face it. This spell will help though. I can use it to go back and make sure I don’t spend the week worrying.” And with a flash of my horn, I transported through time, feeling rather light for the first time in awhile.
* * *
Applejack’s POV
I could not believe it. The entire town had been countin’ on me to bring home first place in the rodeo competition and I barely made it out above average. How was I gonna face ‘em with a bag full of red n’ yellow ribbons?
I stood at the train station, tryin’ to figure just what I was gonna say to break the bad news to everypony when I came up wit’ an idea. I just won’t go home. I reckoned. After all, if I don’t come back, then they got nothin’ to be disappointed in. It would be better for everypony if I just left. Maybe Aunt Cherry could give me a new job and I would-
“Pardon me miss.” Now this new pony surprised me, but I didn’t jump. No siree. “Are you alright? You seem kind of skittish.” The stallion seemed fairly average looking with light blue coloring. He was also wearing a gold star around his neck with a ruby center to it. For some reason it reminded me of-
“Hey, you there? Can’t imagine my choice of necktie is that distracting.” He chuckled. I shook my head before giving him a bit of a stink eye.
“I’m fine. Just… where did you get that?”
“What, this old thing?” He put a hoof on it. “I found it out in the desert. Why do you ask?”
“It just reminds me of an ol’ friend is all.” I guess I didn’ do too well of a job hiding my sad memories, what with his next question and all.
“This friend of yours ain’t around anymore, I’m guessing?”
I shook my head. “No. He was a good guy, despite having the luck he did. Heck, he’d been in Equestria for, what? A couple of weeks or so? He went out to help protect good ponies and really beat himself up when he failed. Spent two months cooped up, working his butt off in some strange way of makin’ up for it.”
The stallion chuckled. “Sounds like he had a good heart in him, even if he was a bit pig-headed.”
I chuckled in response. Ya, we all worried about him a lot. I got a bit of a warm smile as I realized somethin’. And they would worry about me if I did the same.
“Here.” The stallion pulled the star off and held it out to me. “Why don’t you have it? Just a pretty piece of metal to me.” I looked at the star for a moment, a mite bit shocked at this before noddin’ to him and putting the star in my bags.
“Thanks.” We both turned to see the train pulling into the station. “Well here’s my train. Thanks for the talk.” Once I was aboard I waved good bye to the stallion, realizin’ I didn’t even know his name. ‘Fore I could ask, the train jolted forward. I settled in to the seat, the weight of the ribbons in my bag not feeling so heavy.
* * *
Fluttershy’s POV
I had been working all day to try and help the other pegasi get the water up to Cloudsdale, but after so long I still couldn’t match the others. I just felt so… useless. Even my animal friends couldn’t cheer me up as I sat out in the field alone.
“Are you alright, young pony?” A soft voice spoke. I looked up to see it was that minotaur that been training Allan to fight. It took me a few moments to collect myself before I could speak.
“Sorry if my crying was bothering you, Mr. Gongniu.”
He held up a hand while wearing a small smile. “No need to apologize. Now, what seems to be troubling you?”
I sniffed. “Oh, it’s nothing really. I just… really wish I could help the other pegasi but there’s no way I can match their wing power.” I shoved my face back into my hooves, crying a bit more, but when I didn’t hear a reply from Mr. Gongniu I looked back. He was still there.
“Perhaps it is not place to say, but giving up now would only cement your failure. There was one, such as yourself, that in the face of failure wanted to quit. Do you remember who that was?”
I thought about it for a few moments, trying to figure out who when it dawned on me, the memory making my heart ache a bit. “You mean Allan?”
Mr. Gongniu nodded. “Yes. When he failed for the first time, he wanted to quit, wanted to give the job to someone more experienced. It took a bit, but I managed to show him that failure is not the end of something, rather it is the beginning of making something greater.”
I pondered Mr. Gongniu’s words for a minute, along the way thinking about Allan. I miss him. We all do. I took a moment to wipe the tears from my eyes. He wouldn’t want me crying and giving up either. He’d want me to do all I can to help my friends. I looked up and gave Mr. Gongniu a small smile, which he returned before turning around and continuing on his walk.
“Alright.” I said to myself. “Other ponies watching me or not, I’m going to give it my all.”
With my new found courage I went back and helped the pegasi the next day, though we couldn’t beat the record like Rainbow wanted. Turns out a few the pegasi caught the feather flu so we barely had just enough wing power to even get the water to Cloudsdale. I even managed to get up to five wing power!
After everything was done, Rainbow came up to me with big grin on her face. “Fluttershy! Why’d you come back? I thought you were still afraid of ponies judging you for how you fly.”
“Oh, I was, but then I remembered how Allan lost once and almost gave up, but instead he worked hard until he was stronger than ever. I figured if I worked hard like him, it wouldn’t matter what the other ponies thought.”
Rainbow smiled, though it quickly faded. I guess mentioning Allan brought up some sad memories. “You know, it’s been over two years since he’s been gone.” Rainbow sighed. “Still wish there was something I could do.”
I put a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “We all do Rainbow. Princess Luna’s been working hard to try and get him out. Twilight helps her when she can.”
“I know they’re doing egg head things to help him, but I wish there was something I could do! I hate just standing around while one of my friends is stuck in stone.” Rainbow stomped on the ground in anger, forcing me to take a step back.
“Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t know you meant you specifically.” Rainbow seemed to calm down a bit at my apology.
“No, it’s not your fault. It’s just frustrating, you know?” I nodded, a few moments of silence falling between us as Rainbow seemed to take that time to perk back up. “Enough being down in the dumps! We just got the water to Cloudsdale. We should be celebrating a job well done. Let’s go Sugarcube Corner and grab something sweet to eat.” I nodded in response before the two of us flew off.
* * *
Chase’s POV
I was sure to take advantage of the dragon warrior’s… disappearance to begin building my army back to the glory it had been. I challenged great fighters across the world, defeating them with my superior skills before enlisting them into my army of cat warriors. By two years end, it was a far cry from the army I once had a thousand years ago but it was still a strong force nonetheless.
I trecked through the jungles, about two dozen cat’s following my lead as I pushed through the thick brush until I finally arrived at my old fortress, a skull shaped fortress embed in a mountain. The gates were overgrown with foliage as the jungle tried to reclaim it, however the doors still held strong after all these years.
I grinned. “Ah, it’s good to be home.”