//------------------------------//
// #36 - Secrets of the Crown: Part II 
// Story: Techorse Short Stories 
// by Spirals95 
//------------------------------//


Secrets of the Crown: Part II


Techorse Series: #36


By Spirals95






Rainbow Dash carefully finished carving another slash into the wall of the cell using a fragment of floor tile she had found on the ground earlier.

"Rainbow Dash, we've been in here for an hour," criticized Rarity, "there's no need to go making tally marks like we've been here forever."

"I'm just trying to keep myself entertained," groaned the pegasus, "I'm so bored."

"If only there was a way we could get out of here for just a few minutes," said Applejack, "I could really use a little exercise."

"Yeah, but the door is locked using a curse from the outside, and those shield runes prevent physical force from getting through, especially magic," explained Twilight, shaking her head sadly, "we'd need a way to get the lock open, and we can't steal a key since the door's solid."

Techorse then got an idea and offered, "Maybe I could try melting the lock using my laser cannons. Comettail didn't strip me of my battle saddle. I could use the solid beam mode to burn right through the door, and then we can just push it open and escape!"

"But what happens if we get caught?" interrupted Fluttershy, "They might hurt us!"

"Then let's not try to escape," said Techorse.

"Why not?" asked Rainbow Dash.

The inventor raised his front hoof and told her, "We're here to help the citizens of Hourglass learn that Equestria is a perfectly hospitable country, much like what we did with The Domain. I'm thinking we should all split up and make ourselves useful to the castle servants. By using our talents to help them out, maybe they'll convince the Prince to let us stay with them instead of locked up in here."

"That's genius!" cheered Pinkie Pie, hopping up and down, "I'll make a break for the kitchen and get baking!"

"I suppose there's probably some heavy liftin' that needs doing around here," mused Applejack, interested in a good physical challenge, "all right Techie, open the door for us."

"Just one second. We need to check to see if there are any guards out there first," warned Twilight Sparkle as she walked up to the door.

"HEY!" she shouted loudly, "We're hungry in here! Are you going to starve us?"

"Prince Sundials' a big loser!" called Rainbow Dash, figuring an insult might also draw fire from the guards.
"The coast must be clear!" smiled Twilight Sparkle, "All right Tech, open it up!"

Techorse moved over to the large wooden door and located the lock. With a mechanical click, the panels on the sides of his back-worn device opened up, and a pair of steel tubes mounted as barrels on small laser projectors emerged. The stallion aimed his weapons at the lock on the door, and using his thoughts to control the device, switched the machinery from firing individual pellets of electromagnetic energy, to firing a solid beam. Two rays of yellow light shot from the weapons and hit the door, slowly drilling into the lock. A molten stream of metal dripped from the hole of the lock and onto the floor, making a sickly sizzling sound as the steel melted and vaporized under the intense heat of the rays. Within a few seconds, the lock had been completely penetrated, and the ponies pushed open the door to find the hallway completely empty.

"All right everypony, split up and make yourselves useful!" said Applejack happily, rearing up on her hind legs.

The ponies split up to go find work in the castle and get the servants and guards on their side against the Prince. Pinkie Pie bounced merrily down the hallway to go find the kitchen, Rainbow Dash and Applejack went to find a damaged portion of the castle to help the maintenance team, and Fluttershy and Rarity went to see if the castle had a barber, tailor, or other help. This left Techorse and Twilight, who discussed as they walked down the hallways what they should do.

"I think I should see if there's a library in the castle," suggested Twilight, "I can easily be of help there! Maybe you can find the castle's boiler room and help them out with the steam machinery."

"Actually, I'd like to come with you, sweetheart," he replied, "I haven't had much of a chance to read books together with you lately, and I'd like to get back into that."

"Of course!" answered a happy Twilight giving him a hug, "Fiction, or non-fiction?"

"I guess we'll decide when we get there. Let's go!" he said, wrapping his tail around hers.

They both trotted together down the hallway in search of the castle library. From around the corner behind them, Captain Comettail watched with a keen eye from beneath her helmet. She gave an impressed smile as she moved a piece of mane hair out from in front of her eye, and knew she wasn't going to raise the alarm on her escaping guests just yet.

"Clearly they don't want to break out of the castle since they split up. I want to see what becomes of this," she said before clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, "maybe I can have some fun with our guests!"





The chef of the castle looked over her ingredient list, and back at the end result of the chocolate soufflé recipe she was supposed to be making for Prince Sundial's dessert. The picture on her comically oversized "royal cookbook" showed a fluffy, luscious looking desert certainly chock full of calories and sugar. The puffy cake like pastry was supposed to resemble a beautiful mushroom of chocolate cake in a ramekin. Of course, the chef was very dismayed, as her finished product resembled a flat, mushy brownie instead, all squished into the bottom of the ramekin.

"This is the fourth time I've messed up!" cried the dismayed lead cook, "His majesty is going to be furious with me!"

Her assistant, a unicorn pony who aspired to become a bread store owner one day, also had no luck in determining why the dessert continuously failed to bake correctly. The soufflé recipe itself had been easy to figure out, but something was going wrong with the baking process. Both of the ponies had tried changing the oven temperature, letting the batter sit before baking, and even letting the finished product cool inside the oven instead of removing it. But all attempts had resulted in the same disgusting flat product as before.

Pinkie Pie entered the kitchen area, and marveled at the fancy sets of cooking equipment and utensils hanging up on wooden racks on the walls. For such an old looking castle, it had contained a rather modern kitchen with all the bells and whistles, including electric ovens and stoves, blenders, and other cooking appliances.

"Wowie!" Pinkie Pie said as she trotted through the white-painted room, "They've got everything here! I bet the chef ponies have lots of fun cooking great meals and snacks here!"

The pink mare heard sounds of frustration and sorrow coming from a set of stainless steel doors in the kitchen, and walked over to them. Opening them up, she found the two chefs staring at the sad excuse for a soufflé.

"Hi!" she said.

The chef and her assistant looked up from the cookbook, and recognized Pinkie Pie as one of the prisoners.

The assistant asked with astonishment, "Hey, how'd you get out of your room?!"

"Laser beams!" answered the earth pony, smiling.

The two cooks looked at each other with slight shock and confusion, before returning to Pinkie Pie.

"I'm not going to try anything funny!" assured Pinkie Pie, "Well, maybe something funny, but not dangerous! Pinkie Promise!"

"Um... all right," muttered the lead chef, "well, we're kind of busy right now, if you don't mind."

Pinkie Pie moved at a blur of a pace, zipping up between the two mares, and looked at the cookbook. She then looked back and forth at the picture and recipe, and then at the finished, floppy cake.

"What's this?" asked Pinkie Pie curiously.

The assistant groaned, knowing Pinkie Pie had no intention of leaving them be, and said, "It's a soufflé we've been trying to make all day. No matter what we've tried, it comes out looking flat."

"Didja add water to the oven to steam it?" asked Pinkie Pie of the lead chef.

"Yes," she answered.

Pinkie Pie looked back at the dessert, and then promptly questioned the chef once more, "Remember to let it cool sloooowly?"

"YES!" she yelled angrily, "We've tried that too!"

Pinkie Pie scratched her fluffy head with a hoof, "And the noise?"

"Noise?" asked the lead chef.

"Well yeah," continued Pinkie Pie, "a souffle needs this stuff called 'white noise' to keep it from getting all floppy from loud sounds in the kitchen! I usually just put a desk fan in front of the oven, but you can use anything, like a dishwasher, or some maracas!"

"Let's retry the recipe and put a fan in front of the oven!" concluded the lead chef, "We'll see if you're right about this."

The mares worked together to try the recipe again, stirring up a nice chocolate batter and pouring it into a freshly washed ramekin. They added a small tray of water into the oven along with the batter to help moisten the cake, and closed the door, but not before setting up a desk fan in front of the oven to keep the noise inside down as Pinkie Pie had suggested. Sure enough, when the soufflé was done baking, it correctly achieved the puffy size and shape it was supposed to. The two chefs couldn't be more thrilled with Pinkie Pie having saved them from a berating by the Prince!

"Oh my gosh, you did it!" squealed the assistant, "It actually worked!"

"But how did you know?" the lead chef wondered.

"It's easy, I love baking things! In fact, I work as a baker for my boss back in Ponyville," answered Pinkie Pie with a cheerful grin, "I was taught this trick by his wife!"

"Can you help us sort out some other things? We're not really great dessert chefs," admitted the assistant, "we mostly cook meals."

"Of course! As an Equestrian, It's an honor to help another pony learn to bake yummy treats!" she said, closing her eyes and smiling.

The lead chef introduced herself, "By the way, my name is Flour Sift, and this is Pepper Mill, my assistant."

"I'm Pinkie Pie!" replied the pink earth pony, "It's really been fun cooking with you girls!"

Comettail burst through the door to the kitchen, the two male guards from before at her sides.

"Uh oh," gulped Pepper Mill, stepping back.

"Ah, Pinkie Pie is it?" asked Comettail, frowning.

"I just said that!" she answered, turning around, before her eyes grew wide as she saw the captain and her troops.

"Let's take her back to her cell, after teaching her not to escape!" laughed the first guard.

To Pinkie Pie's surprise, Comettail slapped him upside the head with her hoof, "I will handle this, corporal. You are to remain silent."

"Please Captain, don't take her away!" begged Flour Sift with big pleading eyes, "Pinkie Pie has helped us finish the Prince's dessert. Without her we couldn't have done it."

This made Comettail reconsider her actions. Originally she was going to toy with the prisoners before punishing them and returning them to their cell. Now, it seemed as if the so called "horrible Equestrians" under Princess Celestia were beginning to aid those around the castle. This is precisely the idea that Pinkie Pie and her friends had wanted to plant in the minds of the ponies of Hourglass castle, but Captain Comettail was unaware of this.

She said to Pinkie Pie, "Is that so? Why would you break out of your cell just to help the cooks? I thought you were out to cause trouble."

"Nope, I wanted to bust some boredom and bake things," answered Pinkie Pie, pointing at the dessert on the stainless steel table, "I guess you've caught me though..."

"Perhaps we can work something out," suggested the Captain of the guard, "The prince doesn't need to know you're all out of your cells, and if you're going to serve us, I personally don't see why I can't simply leave you under the supervision of the castle staff."

"Try anything stupid though, and we're throwing you behind bars again," sneered the other brother, who was promptly whacked over the head by the Captain.

The two brothers excused themselves, and left the Captain alone, retreating into the hallway. It was apparent that their leader had forgotten that she was dealing with enemies of Prince Sundial, and that kind of forgiveness could not be tolerated in their simple, rotten minds. They disappeared into the depths of the castle, plotting between themselves to warn the prince and perhaps gain a few ranks when he inevitably fired Comettail. They were corporals Slate and Granite, two earth ponies who had come from a background in mining minerals from nearby mountains before joining the military to gain influence over their fellow ponies. Always grumbling about their lot in life, never thankful, and most importantly, merciless towards any pony that stood in their way of becoming powerful, even their own boss.

"I'm sure you'll find my friends around too!" Pinkie Pie continued, "We're not escaping, we're trying to find some work while we wait for everything to turn out."

"I'll need to make sure of that first," said the Captain, nodding, "it is still my job to make sure you don't leave the castle grounds. Take care Pinkie Pie."

She then turned around and left, her armor making noises as she exited the kitchen and headed back into the castle to search for the others.

"Well, looks like I'm staying!" cheered Pinkie Pie, which was met by the squee's of the two chefs.




Prince Sundial had been alerted by his two guards of the escape of Twilight Sparkle and her friends. The bearded alicorn was furious that they had managed to get out of what was supposedly an inescapable room, and stormed off to go intercept them. He was currently wearing what he traditionally wore when indoors, his small silver crown and a set of brown leather and artificial fur boots that fit the cold climate of the nation he ruled. On his body was a fine coat made from a mixture of warm cottons and silk, somewhat light gray in color that was very soft to the touch. The servants of the castle grew afraid when the prince, rage burning in his eyes, stormed through the hallways of his own home.

Meanwhile, Techorse and Twilight had finally found the castle's library on the third floor of the fortress. It was a beautiful, well decorated room with wooden shelves stacked as high as four ponies, each clearly labeled and sectioned out, with blue carpeting on the stone floor laid out between the rows, and electric lights overhead. There were books that Twilight hadn't even heard of before, mainly because they had been written by citizens of Hourglass City. She was having a field day looking over the stories and studies done by the citizens, struggling to force herself to stick to just one or two at a time so that she could read one complete idea.

"Wow!" she said, giggling like a schoolgirl, "I have never seen so many storybooks in one place! There's more adventure novels here than what they have in Canterlot's library. Way more!"

"Maybe the prince likes stories too," Techorse thought allowed, picking up a volume with his robotic arms and reading into the first few pages, "you have something in common."

Twilight noticed a collection of dusty, thick tomes sitting behind the other more beautiful collections. The ancient looking books, bound with what looked like old leather, the pages clearly oxygen damaged as they were a yellowish color, were sitting by themselves, piled up.

Twilight tapped Techorse on the shoulder to get his attention, "Are those... spellbooks? We really ought to go check those out."

"All right, let's have a look," agreed the inventor as he replaced his book on the shelf in front of him.

They approached the old volumes, very large and heavy as each had to be more than 300 pages, with caution. Twilight picked up the first book in the stack, noting how weighty the massive book was even when lifting it with her magic. Techorse assisted with his robot arms, and together with their combined strength, lowered the book onto the blue carpeted floor below them. The eager lavender mare than opened up the oversized tome, and started to read the first yellowed page with excitement in her heart and a twinkle in her eyes.

"These are the remainder of Starswirl the Bearded's time spells and other magical discoveries!" she squealed, eying over each and every word with delight, "This is Equestrian history! The greatest discoveries by the greatest spellcaster of all time, and they're right here in front of us Techorse!"

Techorse looked at the depictions of unicorns learning to slow time within the pages, and began to wonder what the consequences of unicorns learning to do that could be.

"Twilight, I know you've experimented with time spells before... is it dangerous?" Techorse asked, concerned about the safety of the magic.

Twilight answered honestly, "Time magic is the most difficult type of spell to use. Even healing is easier, and I've only ever been able to use healing magic once as well."

"The time you healed me after my duel with Arbiter..." he said.

"Do you remember your theory about magic you told me when we first met?" she asked, smiling.

"Of course," he answered, smiling back, "thoughts and feelings are converted into useable energy through a focal point on the body, usually a large cluster of nerves, like your horn."

"That's right. To tell you the truth, I have never been able to use healing spells all that well due to their extreme difficulty," she said, blushing, "I was only able to do it because I was emotionally determined to save you."

Techorse gave her a warm hug, wrapping his front legs around her, "That's what makes you such a great mare, Twilight. You've always been determined to find a way to help your friends out of trouble."

"Aw, thank you," she said, trying to get back on topic, "but where I was going with all of this was that I was only able to travel in time for a few minutes. I doubt the information in these books will cause any problems for the rest of Equestria. The amount of practice and energy needed to do these time spells is probably too much for most ponies."

"I'm sure you could do it now!" challenged Techorse.

"No I couldn't!" she laughed, "Maybe with a little practice though."

"I definitely think so," he answered, giving her a loving look.

A thought occurred to Techorse that he had considered before, but had never really asked his marefriend, "Hey, Twilight, do you ever wish I was a unicorn so that I could learn magic with you?"

Twilight shook her head, "Of course not. You have your machines that make you special, and I think those are pretty neat too. But even if you weren't an inventor, I'd still love you for your personality. You're a great pony."

With a warm glow in her eyes and a movement of her head that swished her mane slightly, Twilight leaned in and moved into a kiss with Techorse. They locked lips for a second, and pulled back to look at each other in the soft light of the castle library.

"Back to reading?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," he answered.

They both eagerly dove back into the spellbook to learn about what Starswirl the Bearded had discovered during his time. While they were reading, they noticed that the light in the library had gotten slightly dimmer, as if there was some kind of darkness overtaking the book. The two realized what was going on, and knew that someone's shadow was being cast on the book. They slowly turned around, and were both grabbed and lifted into the air by Prince Sundial's magic. The two ponies kicked their legs, and Twilight attempted to use her own magic to counter his and secure her release. The prince simply grated his teeth, and stuck both of his captives onto a nearby patch of carpet. Casting a time freeze spell at their hooves, he effectively froze them to the floor, as their legs were stuck in a moment of time, unable to move.

"Let us go!" shouted Twilight, her legs rooted to the floor as if by superglue.

Prince Sundial ran a hoof through his blonde, jagged mane, and answered, "Why should I let you go? You've escaped your cell."

"We were trying to be of use around the castle," Techorse explained.

"You are of most use to me as captives," he answered, "plus, as Celestia's friends, no intention of yours can be good. Let's see what you've done in here this past few minutes."

The alicorn stepped between the two trapped ponies and his horn glowed a fierce yellow as he used a special form of time magic that allowed him to replay the events that had occurred in an area over the past few minutes. Ghost images of Techorse and Twilight entered the library, much to the real ones' amazement and slight horror. The books they had read had been replaced by spectral forms that displayed them entering the library and picking them up to read, both in the correct order, and the correct length they had read them. The spell even let the Prince listen to their conversation, eventually leading up to Techorse and Twilight kissing. Once he had reached the end of the events prior to him entering the room, Sundial ended his spell, and the ghostly figures vanished without a trace. He then removed Techorse's time shackles, and lifted him up into the air again, this time by his tail.

"You... kissed this guy?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at Twilight.

"Yes, he's my coltfriend!" answered Twilight.

The Prince laughed, "This pathetic little colt is your love? You are Celestia's top student, you could pick any stallion you want, and you go with this? The green one is not even a soldier, or anything!"

Techorse looked down at the ground, somewhat ashamed of himself, "Well, I'm not a soldier. I never wanted to be one."

"Pitiful," said the prince, before throwing Techorse like a toy across the room.

Techorse smashed into the library wall before falling onto the floor. He got back up on his legs, and looked back at the alicorn with an angry expression.

"He's the right pony for me," said Twilight with a hint of anger, "you're just being heartless to us!"

"You know what is heartless?" he answered sarcastically, "Having your little sister ripped away from you, by your own family."

Techorse walked back up to the prince, and wondered if he should consider trying to lure him into attacking him so that he would forget about his time spell, and free Twilight.

"My name is Techorse," he answered, bitterly, "I've come a long way ever since I first came to Equestria."

"...And he's not as weak as you think he is, Sundial," added Twilight.

The Prince turned around, "I do not use that name anymore."

Twilight rolled her eyes, "Ok, fine. Temporios."

"I do not go by that name either! I am just The Prince of Hourglass." he said, angrily as her turned back around, "I have not wanted any of my names ever since Celestia took Luna. I do not need a name."

"Well fine, if you're going to be this arrogant, I can't stop you," said Twilight, grunting, "we're just trying to keep you from doing something crazy. If we can't convince you that Princess Celestia is good now, and that Princess Luna has returned, then we're going to at least make sure you don't rule Equestria."

"You can't stop this," he answered, shaking his head, "Celestia values you too much, and will not watch you suffer. She'll either face me, or turn over her kingdom."

Twilight groaned as the insane alicorn moved over the to pile of ancient tomes on the floor.

The Prince continued, "I see you've read the spellbooks. As you can see, I am quite dedicated to time magic. It has always been my specialty."

"If that's the case, how come you never went back in time to stop everything from happening you didn't want to in the first place?" demanded Twilight, "Why put us all through this?"

"Because you cannot change the past," stated the Prince, "nobody believes you came from the future. Even you, do not believe you."

He then shuddered slightly and added, "And even upon success, even the slightest change can cause the future to be... quite unpleasant."

Twilight Sparkle knew that he was telling the truth, as she was well aware that her own past self hadn't listened. It was likely that Sundial had made hundreds of attempts to stop Princess Celestia from using the Elements of Harmony against her own sister, only to be thwarted by time limits on the spell, or the lack of listening by others.

"Starswirl's discovery was amazing, to be able to travel time, stop it, speed it up, slow it. It is only irony that his relative know it better," mused the Prince.

"You don't deserve to practice the magic such a great pony as Starswirl the Bearded did!" yelled Twilight, nearly making Techorse go deaf.

Prince Sundial stood there, giving a slight chuckle, "Starswirl, great? What nonsense must sister be telling you. Starswirl the Bearded was not the pony you think he was."

"W..What? You liar!" replied the unicorn, shocked at what he was saying. To a magic user such as herself, saying that Starswirl was not a great pony was almost blasphemy!
"Twilight, don't you remember what my future self told me earlier?" asked Techorse, "He said that Starswirl caused an imbalance in the Elements of Harmony."

"I do... but the way that you said he put it... it was all a big accident!" she said with desperation.

The Prince smirked, his beard moving with his face muscles, "An accident is a good way to describe it, but... perhaps you'd like to know the truth?"

Techorse and Twilight looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes. They really didn't have a choice in the matter as to whether or not they wanted to listen to Prince Sundial, but they were curious as to what he had to say about the past.






1,500 years ago

In the darkness of the late night, a moonbeam passed through the window of the west atrium, shining through the castle's glass, illuminating the center of the room in a subtle shine. The room was left unguarded, for the most part it was simply kept a secret, and the lack of decorations within the room made it a very unattractive choice of target for thieves and troublemakers. One of the sets of wooden doors leading into the room creaked open slowly, and was quietly closed shut as Starswirl entered the room, stroking his famous beard with the end of his magic floating staff. He walked towards the center of the room deliberately, taking care not to let the bells on his ornate cloak notify anyone of his presence as he went to the center circle in the room.

Once he had found the area where the mobile was being stored, he tapped his staff gently on the edge. The carpet and stone drew back, and the mobile rose out of the ground with a soft grinding noise of stone. Each of the Element crystals sat, shining in the darkness of the night, the arms of the mobile rotating around. Starswirl looked up at the top Element, the one representing Magic, and took a short breath before raising his staff in the air. White magic energy shot from his horn, connected with the tip of the staff, and then entered the top crystal on the mobile. The power balance of the Elements of Harmony was being disrupted, shifting it further and further towards Magic, leaving the other ones less powerful than their product.

"Very soon, Magic shall be the most powerful of the Elements! This imbalance will ensure Magic's dominance throughout the ages as the most vital force in existence."he said, the arc of magic from his horn glowing more furiously.

Meanwhile, in the city outside the castle, a disgruntled unicorn pony mare had found her way into the village most of the earth ponies called their home, carrying a brightly burning torch. During that week, a rude earth pony mare had dared to try and convince her brother that she was worth spending time with. Such an indignity could not go unpunished, thought the mare. Her lectures she had taken from the school of sorcery under Starswirl the Bearded had taught her that magic was the most powerful force in existance. 

Though he hadn't intended discrimination directly, the unicorn with the torch took his words to mean that the magic less earth ponies were to be avoided, and shown their place should they dare to express love or any kind of relation to them. This incorrect way of thinking, along with a grave miss-interpretation of Starswirl's teachings, led her to take her torch to the home of the stallion who had dared to hit on her sister. The unicorn mare gave her actions not another thought, before she lit the thatch roof of the home on fire. As the flames spread, the family inside awoke, and ran outside, unable to catch the arsonist unicorn who had fled to light other homes.

Unfortunately, the results of the fire became worse and worse within just half of an hour. The flames reached the home of a firework maker, and bottle rockets shot from the house into the cloud homes above, giving the pegasi fires to deal with and waking them from their sleep. The ashes that rained down from the homes burning above lit those below, and the tapestries within the unicorn pony forts and castles also ignited. Within just an hour, the entirety of Equestria was either burning, or keeping the flames at bay. With the fires, came accusations, even as the pegasi brought in clouds to pour rain on the fires, they too were brought to question. 

The conflagration continued, and the three types of ponies clashed, yelling and destroying property even more rapidly than the fires. The four alicorn descendents of the king and queen fled the castle to aid their citizens in stopping the blaze, but found themselves overwhelmed, not by the fires, but by the rioting and melee. It was only by luck that Celestia managed to reach and seal the pegasi's weapons vault before the other ponies did, that the violence did not turn tragic.

The King and Queen watched their city and the scattered fires throughout, and realized that their kingdom had likely come to an end. With such great social imbalance between the three classes of ponies, a large scale fire had left them unable to work with each other and unable to save their homes. They could feel the last of their subjects' happiness drain away as even the unicorn ponies were brought into the fight. Despite the horror before them, the king and queen sensed something down below in the castle. A flash of light had occurred from the west atrium of the building, and the couple looked at each other, realizing what had happened. They quickly moved for their work, hoping to save it before it was too late.





Starswirl had seen the fires outside, but figured it was simply a tragic accident, focusing on his task at hand. If he could gain just a few more moments, he would permanently unbalance the Elements of Harmony, and make the other ones meaningless in front of Magic, effectively destroying them.

"I suppose when the wielders of the Elements go to use them," he thought out loud, "the holder of Magic may very well absorb far more energy than their body can handle. No matter, a little change in the name of this art is no skin off of our coats."

"STARSWIRL!" shouted a loud, angry voice.

The magician ceased his modifications, and turned to face the large set of double doors. They swung open violently, and King Diurne barged in, accompanied by his wife.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, teeth bared and eyes glaring.

"I'm only doing what you two should have done before!" he answered, the heat of the fires outside shining into his eyes and across his white beard, "I have changed the Elements, increasing the output of Magic when the Elements have combined! Magic shall reign as the most powerful forever, no other concept shall stand!"

"You've gone mad," said Nocturna, trying not to cry, "The Elements of Harmony were our last hope for stopping the fighting, like what has happened to our city. The fires are raging, and here you are Starswirl, trying to preserve thine way of thought!"

"It's far too late nonetheless," admitted Starswirl, "without something to balance out your artifacts again, the holder of Magic will forever run the risk of suffering buildup of power until they become the most powerful magic users possible. They will become like you and your husband."

"Our lot is not something we would wish on any pony, Starswirl," grunted the King, throwing his crown off with a flick of his head, ready for combat, "to live forever, to be one of us, is a burden when you outlive each of your friends. Such power must be confined to those born into it, it is our burden alone!"

"Then, perhaps, should you not wish your fates upon any other pony, I should simply destroy these artifacts forever," offered the mage, pointing at the mobile, glowing with sickly gray energy, "if the Elements are used as is, terrible things will happen. I have not yet finished writing a spell to counter what I have done, and should it even be finished, the Elements will still not be balanced!"

"Then you'll finish it!" demanded the King and Queen stepping forward.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get you to see things my way," he answered, swinging his staff around, "I'll simply have to hold you back, until I can finish my work."

A beam of energy shot from his horn, to the tip of his staff, and at the pair of alicorns he once held as his adopted children. The alicorns fought back with their own magic, countering the beam of destructive energy with a bubble shield. A reflected ray of magical energy tore through the wall of the atrium, leaving an ugly burn mark. The king and queen dropped their field, and counterattacked Starswirl with their own bolts of energy, which the mage quickly responded to by teleporting himself out of the way, and onto the top of the mobile. He then raised his staff, and prepared to strike it through the Magic crystal, to forever remove any hope of balance.

The king and queen, weak now but capable, looked at each other and smiled before turning to Starswirl. They knew in their hearts that the only way to stop Starswirl would be to exhaust their own magical energies, but if it meant saving Equestria, it was worth it. They touched the tips of their horns together, creating an arc of magic across the two organs, and forming a small ball of white light. As energy built up between them exponentially, the ball soon turned into a fine white line of energy, which was then released from the two alicorns. The line shot for Starswirl's staff, and impacted the magical artifact at the middle, which to his horror, shattered his prized wooden cane. No sooner had this happened though, that the super concentrated magic that had mixed with the power of the staff detonated in a fierce magical blast spanning several dozen meters, knocking Starswirl off of the mobile, damaging the floors and walls of the atrium, and leaving the two alicorns drained.

The mage, his precious staff destroyed and his white beard burnt heavily at the bottom, stood up shakily from the ground. His two adoptive children had defeated him, as his staff had served as an amplifier for his own skills. Due to his actions, the alicorns had left themselves feeble, unable to barely stand, as the lack of happiness from their subjects, their illnesses, and their use of all their mental energy to make that one key attack. They would be unable to use any kind of spell in that kind of mental condition, perhaps for years.

Even though he had been badly shaken up by the blast, and he was unable to finish his attempt at destroying the Elements of Harmony, Starswirl remained conscious and full of thoughts. It was at that moment that he came to an epiphany. Perhaps it was the king and queen's love for Equestria that had motivated them to take him on, and sacrifice their magic abilities to stop him. Perhaps, the magic that all ponies could access, really was the solution to Equestria's problems. He could hear the distant yelling and screaming of ponies running from fires and realized that likely, his over-valuing of magic had caused the social gap he was working to overcome. Not only would he be unable to save magic as the supreme way of the land, but he had also lost the order Equestria needed to make that meaningful.

"Here am I, trying to stop the death of my art," he said, staring at the ceiling in pain, "instead, I have caused the death of peace in Equestria."

Starswirl stood up, and approached the two alicorns, heart heavy as he realized what he had done. Both of them continued to give him angry looks as he attempted to explain everything he had done.

He slowly told them, "I have failed Equestria by believing the power of magic alone was enough. I have denied its ponies access to the public magic thou hast described to me, and I was a fool for not genuinely celebrating your discovery. But know that I am not an evil being. I merely loved magic, enough to see it grow and flourish despite trouble."

After hanging his head, he continued, "I see now that all should be capable of participating in magic's cures. Those who suffer from the trials of life should be a part of the solution."

"Then reverse your damage," stated Nocturna, "it is not too late for forgiveness."

"Alas," he answered, "as I mentioned, I have not created a counter spell. It will be impossible to repair entirely."

The King and Queen did everything they could to not cry, believing their homeland would be thrust into darkness and fighting for all of time. Starswirl saw their sadness, and remembered the two teary-eyed alicorn foals he had rescued from abuse at a lonely orphanage many many years ago...

"And then, when you're grown, we'll turn Equestria into a grand kingdom! Perhaps we will live in this city now, but someday, we'll build a golden metropolis, a... Canterlot!" he had said to the two foals, following him down the streets.

"But sir," said the foal Diurne, "how will we do that? We're just foals."

"You're special foals!" he had answered, "Being both able to fly and cast spells is unique. Once I've promoted you to my school... someday they will value you. Someday they will crown you!"

"Crown us?" asked the young Nocturna, "I'll be a queen?"

"Yes, and it all begins once I've hailed in the new era of magic as the solution to life's worries!" he had replied, "You are the only two of your kind, and I am a well known magician. They say I can tell the future, and the future looks quite bright for you two!"

It had worked, too. Once it was determined quite rapidly that magic could solve most of life's ills, Starswirl was easily able to convince the citizens of Equestria to drop their silly town hall, and crown the alicorns, the gifts from the divine, to be the rulers of Equestria. But sadly, as time had gone on, magic became such a monopoly and force of power, that the ponies stratified themselves and fought.

Now, Starswirl's dream was coming to an end. He had put up a valiant fight to preserve the idea that magic alone would solve the world's ills. Now, the only thing that could keep Equestria from being destroyed, was the power of friendship, the very thing that represented and powered the mobile currently in front of him. Of course, even though Harmony could still come into being through the Elements, and friendship would bring these Elements into play in Equestria, there was still the matter of the unbalance he had caused. There would likely be books written about how he, the supposed master of magic, had ruined the most powerful magic force of them all. He could not bear the shame of the damage he had done, and decided to do the only thing he knew he could to make it right.

"I must now go into exile," he announced to his adopted family.

The king and queen did not agree with his decision. They two shared memories of better times in the past, and still saw Starswirl as their only family. To lose him meant losing far more than what they could handle at heart.

"Please, don't!" cried the Queen, "You may stay, we forgive you! Don't leave us Starswirl!"

"I have faith that the Elements of Harmony will still save Equestria. But even if they do, I no longer deserve to enjoy this land's glory," he explained, shaking his head, "I cannot bear the shame of being in a land I have ruined and brought trouble to."

Starswirl the Bearded took out a small dagger from under his cloak, and carefully cut off the burned part of his beard, shortening it. He then replaced the knife at his side, and charged his horn up, which glowed a furious white. A portal in time and space was torn open behind him and to his sides, a gateway to the forces of time itself.

"Starswirl..." called out Diurne, hoping to reconcile.

"We'll meet again... in time. Please, take good care of Equestria in my absence," he declared, a slight hint of smile and a few tears running down his face.

With that, he receded backwards into his own time travel spell, and the unicorn mage vanished as the portal collapsed in a bright flash. The queen wailed, and both her and her husband hugged and cried bitterly.

Not only had their kingdom burned, they had lost the very first friend in their lives.





Prince Sundial had brought Twilight and Techorse to his throne room to tell them the truth about the past, and why he was choosing to behave in such an isolationist manner when it came to the rest of his family. The throne room was a tall, circular room, almost one hundred feet to the ceiling, and Techorse recognized it instantly as the large main spire of the castle they had seen coming in. His throne was a large, fine wood chair with blue cloth for backing, and it was positioned in the center of the room, on a turnstile that allowed the throne to rotate in any direction the Prince wanted. Several windows were on the wall at equidistant areas on the tower, 12 divisions to be exact. Twilight looked at the edges of the room, and noticed the shadows cast on the floor from the main window at the top of the spire.

"Your throne room is a giant clock!" she said, "Did you make it this way?"

"This throne room was built with the care of architects from Hourglass. It is not my own design," he answered, seated on his throne, "My citizens have rewarded me for helping them to survive out here."

Slate and Granite, the ever-bitter guards holding their crossbows with their magic, stood at the doorway to the throne room, and watched with grins on their faces. They knew that their own reward for revealing Comettail's traitorous nature and re-capturing the Element holders would be vast.

"Well, are you going to tell us the truth about the past?" asked Twilight, "You know, before you lock us up again?"

"I'd like your friends to be present for this, as they should know as well," said Sundial, chuckling, "Slate, Granite. Go deal with Comettail and bring Twilight Sparkle's friends back here."

"Yes sir!" they answered, leaving the room.

"Comettail? Your Captain? What did she do?" asked Techorse, a bit upset.

"She let you go free in my castle, disobeying my orders. For that, I'm having her locked up, and stripping her of her rank," he answered, shifting on his throne.

"That's horrible!" said Techorse angrily, hearing the injustice about to occur.

Sundial smirked, "Perhaps next time she will think not to betray me."

Techorse growled at the Prince, leaning down in a menacing pose and scraping his hoof on the ground.

"You'll get what's coming to you," he said, "you can't get away with all this hatred forever."

"I cannot? But time has always been on my side!" he answered, "You cannot stop me, Techorse, and neither can you, Twilight. Both of you will be powerless should I choose to pause time around you."

"Discord found a way to beat you, and so will we!" countered Twilight with determination.

The prince shook his head, and scratched at his beard with a hoof, "I will be rather shocked if that's so."

Slate and Granite found their former superior officer talking to Rarity and Fluttershy, who were busy aiding the castle seamstresses in fixing uniforms. The two treacherous unicorns laughed together, and then drew their crossbows, approaching their Captain.

"Freeze!" shouted Slate.

Comettail turned to face them, and put a hoof in the air, "I told you two it was ok if the prisoners were roaming the castle, so long as they don't leave the grounds."

"You're under arrest too, Comettail," snickered Granite, "the Prince has ordered us to take you away as well."

Rarity gasped, and Fluttershy could only mouth the words, "Oh my."

"Comettail, you're a big strong Captain! Twice as big as these fools!" Rarity said angrily, "Give these stallions a good roughing up!"

"The Prince has found you to be a traitor for aiding Princess Celestia's friends," Slate explained, "Fighting us will only help prove his case further. Now if you don't mind, we're going to be taking these two back to the throne room, and you're going into a cell. Remove your armor."

Wanting to speed things along, Granite pointed his crossbow at Fluttershy and said, "If you don't, we'll go for the prisoners instead, and tell the Prince that they were trying to flee."

Comettail was tempted to simply thrash the two disrespectful schemers and leave them unconscious in the hallway. However, if she did so, she knew that it was very likely that Fluttershy and Rarity would get hurt. So, she surrendered, removing her helmet to reveal her quite messy and unruly mane. After her armor was shed, her legs were shackled together by the brothers, and all three ponies were led away. After tossing Comettail into a jail cell in the same floor of the castle the previous cell had been on, the brothers left with Fluttershy and Rarity to go get the others. Pinkie Pie proved easy enough to bring back with them, but Applejack and Rainbow Dash put up quite the struggle before eventually being convinced to go along with the guards by their friends. Soon they found themselves in the throne room along with Techorse and Twilight.

"Ah, everypony is here. Excellent work my guards," said a rather pleased Sundial.

"I can't believe how you're acting!" huffed Rarity in a dismayed fashion, "Comettail was being quite reasonable with us, and you have her locked up! Some ruler you are, punishing good with evil!"

"I am a better leader than most," lied the alicorn, cracking the vertebrae in his neck, "I have a duty to protect my citizens from Equestria, even if that means punishing those who stand in my way."

"You'll pay for this," growled Rainbow Dash, "this is beyond uncool."

"Now that I have you all here," he said, ignoring the mare, "it is time I tell you the truth about Equestria's past. That is what I've gathered all of you for, to tell you how things really were."

The prince stood up from his throne, and his horn glowed violently before rays of light were cast from it, extending in all directions. The tubular room flooded with the light, projecting perfect images of the old country of Equestria, it's villages all organized in neat rows, leading up to Oldcastle, which stood at the back.

"Over a thousand years ago, my parents ruled this country you call home. They were orphan foals adopted by the so-called 'great' Starswirl the Bearded," he said.

An image of the old mage appeared in place of the town, in front of the young King and Queen from the past. The real ponies in the room looked at the perfect image with great awe, especially Twilight Sparkle, who understood how much talent it took to perfect such hologram magic.

"Although he brought them up well, taught them magic, and even brought alicorns to the throne in Equestria, he failed to consider anything but magic as a worthwhile subject. Magic was supreme to him, and he looked down upon earth ponies and pegasi. Not so much mother and father, nor my siblings, nor myself. We wanted an Equestria where all ponies were equal, and could express the talents represented by their marks to the fullest their lives could offer," monologued Sundial poetically.

The image changed to that of the adult king and queen creating the Elements of Harmony artifacts, placing each artifact into the mobile.

"To try and solve the fighting and bickering between the kinds of ponies, mother and father created artifacts for their discovery, the Elements of Harmony. It was a kind of magic they said any pony could access, and this made Starswirl furious, who believed in the superiority of private magic. He sabotaged their work, creating imbalance in the Elements."

Starswirl's hologram reappeared, and showed him tampering with the device with his staff, plus the argument between his adopted foals and him that ensued.

"Despite everything though..." said Sundial before catching himself.

"I... we'll return later," he said, dispelling what he was going to reveal. He didn't want the ponies to know that Starswirl eventually changed and felt remorse for his actions before leaving.

"Perhaps you've heard of the story of Hearth's Warming Eve?" he continued, "It may surprise you to learn that it is a metaphor."

"Well, duh!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, "It wasn't meant to be completely, historically... um... accurate? Did I get that right, Twilight?"

"Yes, historically accurate," finished Twilight Sparkle, smiling, "and yes, we know that the play is meant to be a representation of Equestria finding peace between the types of ponies. We've just never learned what actually caused that, or if that was the end."

"You see," continued Sundial, "while the story does have truth, and similar events did happen, the peace did not last. When alicorns came to rule, the story was all but forgotten, and the cold returned. We celebrate it again because of the newfound peace brought on by my family through the Elements."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Twilight.

The prince finished, "In order to fix the Elements, each of us had a price to pay. We were required to live forever, bound to the primary forces of nature."

"Is that why Princess Celestia has to raise the sun?" asked Rarity.

"Indeed, but it requires no action on her part to do so," he continued, "each of us are said to be in control of a force. My sisters, the sun and moon, and my brother, space. Myself, time. But as long as we are alive and have our magic, the sun will rise, and time will go on normally."

"So it works passively? Her looking in the direction of the sunrise is just for show?" asked Twilight, "I suppose this explains why the sun comes up when she gets sick..."

"Maybe it is passive, but it's tradition," said Rarity, "and that is what matters."

The Prince dispelled his holograms, and returned to his throne, "It is a good tradition amongst us four. But you must see, my guests, after Equestria's problems were solved, our sisters began to grow in contempt for each other. With the planet's natural cycles, and the forces involved in keeping Equestria whole, Luna became jealous of Celestia."

"If you admit that Princess Luna did wrong and became jealous, how come you're so angry with Princess Celestia?" demanded Techorse.

"Because using the Elements of Harmony against her was excessive retribution," stated the Prince, "that is why I am attempting to bring her to justice."

"Well, as the Element of Justice," continued Techorse, "I can tell you that Princess Celestia paid for her mistake and quick actions. She cried every night of her life for a thousand years, sometimes not coming out of her room for hours, because of what she had done to Princess Luna. In fact, Equestria has voting, equality, and many freedoms for ponies because Princess Celestia wanted to provide the most happiness for her citizens, knowing she could never make up for what she did, but wanting to try. Now she acts as an executive, but enjoys seeing what a constitutional monarchy has done for Equestria."

"Hold on..." urged Sundial, holding up his left wing, "Did you say... Element of Justice?"

"Yeah!" interrupted Pinkie Pie, "Techie represents Justice, it's the seventh Element of Harmony that Princess Celestia discovered ages ago!"

"So the auxillary Elements must exist after all! Mother and father were wise," the prince said, smiling, "Extra Elements that support the main ones in their goal. But what does it do?"

"It makes the Elements of Harmony remove evil magic instead of just banishing it!" continued Pinkie Pie, not thinking about the consequences of that.

"Hmmm, well, perhaps I can use this," he said.

"What do you mean?" gasped Rarity.

"Now that I know there are seven Elements, and I have all seven of you, I will find a way to create artifacts for you, such that you can erase Celestia!"

"No!" shouted the ponies.

"You can't!" wailed Twilight, "Princess Celestia doesn't deserve what you want to do to her."

"There's no changing my mind," he answered, "I have no proof that anything you are saying is true. If you won't participate in helping me secure my vengeance, I'll have to convince you otherwise."

"Contact my unicorns, Slate and Granite," he said to his guards, "Tell them to begin construction of artifacts. Meanwhile, show them back to their new cell with Comettail."
"Yes sir!" they replied before beginning to walk towards the ponies.

"What about your daughter, Candace?" said Twilight, about to cry, "She would be miserable If she found out this is what you were up to!"

The prince's eyes changed a bit as he heard his daughter's name, but he dismissed it, "Twilight Sparkle, my daughter left me years ago out of believing me to be too coldhearted. Her mother than promptly left me as well, to join her in Equestria."

"Wonder why..." said Applejack sarcastically.

"It is bad enough that my old dominion, The Crystal Empire, was seized by a shadow King," sighed Sundial, "countering my time magic with a stunning burst of dark energy, before beating me up and sending me away. I used to be a great judge, since my brother and I have always sought out justice, like you Techorse."

"Justice has a dark side," said the stallion, "becoming vengeful. I always feel terrible afterwords."

"Besides, King Sombra is gone!" said Twilight, "The Crystal Empire is back too, in one piece, and your daughter rules it."

"Oh my," said the Prince, standing up from his throne, "Is that so?"

"Yes!" they answered.

"Then justice has prevailed there," he said, before changing his tune again, "of course, my daughter still hates me. I suppose it's best that she's moved on to other things. In the meantime, I still have this score to settle."

The ponies groaned, having made no progress, as they were being led away.

"Sundial," warned Techorse as the guards approached him, "revenge is a really filthy road to go down. Are you sure you want to face the consequences for being so thirsty for it?"

"I suppose time will tell," he answered, smirking.

As soon as they had left, however, Prince Sundial canceled the order to have the artifacts built. If the Crystal Empire was still standing, there was hope. Reason was beginning to chisel off the ice covering his heart and soul.

The seven ponies were dragged back off to join Comettail in her previously lonely jail cell. Then, Slate and Granite returned to their posts, planning on goofing off for the rest of their shifts. There was no rush in their minds, as dragging the day out further increased their chances of getting the recognition they believed they deserved.






1,500 years ago
The following few months became a time of sorrow for Equestria, as repairs from the great blaze had proceeded slowly due to the incessant quarreling of the ponies. As the time of great unhappiness progressed, the king and queen began to get more and more ill. It was bad enough that they had to tell their foals that their godfather had left them, leaving the remainder of their diplomacy lessons and magic lessons up to themselves. They had taken it to mean that they would never see him again, and were moping about the castle. Despite this, the four alicorns continued to learn things they hadn't before, and grew in maturity as they realized they could function on their own even if their parents were sick, and their mentor vanished.

The second month, a few weeks away from winter, brought the alicorn ponies with perhaps the worst experience they would ever face in their lives. Queen Nocturna and her husband become very ill, the coughing and fainting had increased exponentially, and they both became bedridden in their chambers. The doctors and nurses of the land tried their very best to supply them with the greatest medicine, potions, and anything they could muster to try and heal the fading alicorns. Alas, they both knew that without their subjects being happy with life, they would soon run out of time. During the last week of the month, they called their four offspring into their bedchamber, and shooed away the medical staff.
Princesses Luna and Celestia stood to the left of the bed, on their father's side. Princes Darkmatter and Temporios stood on the other next to their mother. Great concern crossed their sad, worried eyes as they looked at their now weakened parents. Dark circles sat underneath their mother's eyes, and their father's mane had gone dull.

"My sweet foals," said Queen Nocturna weakly, "your father and I love you more than anything else in Equestria. Did you know that?"

Princess Luna, still just a baby in the eyes of a millennium-old alicorn, nodded her head, trying not to burst into tears.

"We love you too!" she answered, a tear escaping her right eye.

"Oh, please do not cry," soothed Nocturna.

The King then spoke, "Celestia, Luna. You are the ones who will inherit the Elements of Harmony. We have left instructions in the mobile for you to carry out when you feel the time is right."

"We will," assured Celestia.

"My sons," turned the King to the two colts, "I wish for you to continue your pursuit of justice. The courts need you more than ever in this time of conflict. Someday, learning to judge fairly will make you great kings as well."

"We're not ready to be kings," said Temporios, hanging his head, "we'll never be!"

The queen brushed away his doubts, "All of you, my little ponies, will become great leaders someday. Perhaps for now you cannot see it, but in the future, Equestria will thank you for your work."

Darkmatter choked on his tears, and asked, "Why is this happening?"

The king answered him softly, "Darkmatter, this happens to all. I assure you it's nothing to be worried about. Everything has been taken care of, all you will need to do is keep the world in motion. Just as we love you, love this nation, and build it up again!"

"You may not be able to see it now, but it will come in time. And should you feel scared... just remember..." added the Queen.

Queen Nocturna and her husband looked at each other, and gave a small smile to each other, knowing the future would be taken care of. They then looked back at their four descendents, who had all gathered at the foot of the bed.

"How much we love you..." they said softly.

With those words, two heads rested against the pillows of the royal bed, and the king and queen passed away peacefully with their family present.

"Mother!" cried out Luna, trying not to scream, "Father!"

Tears ran down the faces of the four young alicorns, who all gave each other looks of despair before crying, hugging each other and letting out their emotions. Each royal face was stained with tears and agony, even Celestia, considered to be the strongest of her family, cried until her throat clogged and her makeup ran. The nurses and doctors entered the room, realizing what had happened, and attempted to console the princes and princesses, but to no avail. As they began to dress the king and queen to take them away, Celestia had to be dragged back by her siblings.





Four hours had gone by, each a small eternity to the young royal ponies, who waited in their parents' throne room. They were still depressed, felt alone, and could barely think about anything but their loss. Two thrones of gold and gems were in the red-carpeted room, two thrones that would never see use again. The oak doors leading to the throne room opened, catching the attention on the mourning alicorns.

The entire castle staff and servants entered the room, dozens and dozens of ponies, from guards to cooks and cleaning crew. The four stood up, now in front of their parents' thrones, and watched as the ponies they thought only did their chores for them form lines in front of them. Each of them had a determined look on their face, something between anger and pride that filled them as they filed into the room. Once they had all entered, well over eighty different mares and stallions, they all bowed humbly before the four new rulers of Equestria.

"Wh... what are you doing?" said Luna, standing up.

The ponies stood up, and Test Keeper stepped forward with Fine Dust. They had recently gotten married despite the objection of their parents, and had eloped from them simply by spending all of their time in the castle.

"You're our new leaders, Princess Luna," explained Fine Dust, "we believe that you four can save Equestria! All of us grow weary of the fighting and suffering."

"Please! Usher in the new era of Harmony as predicted by your parents!" continued Test Keeper.

Princess Celestia thought about what her servants were saying, and spread her wings valiantly, getting the attention of her siblings.

"They are right," she said loudly to her brothers and sister, "We are the new leaders of Equestria now, and we have a duty to our subjects. Our days as foals are over. Let us go to the atrium and begin the use of the Elements of Harmony!"

The four royals galloped for the atrium, and reached the doors leading to the enclosure, when they noticed that their servants had taken a step back.

"What is wrong now?" demanded Darkmatter, craning his neck to see if any of them had left.

"As per... final request of the king and queen," explained Test Keeper, "we are to allow no pony other than your majesty and his family into the room."





The alicorns continued on into the room unescorted, and noticed that the center platform now had a leather-bound book, brown with gold metal encasing the cover and back, had been left on top. Prince Temporios picked up the book first with his magic, and opened up to the first page of canvas, finding the instructions.

"The Elements of Harmony may be used so long as they are present in those around them," he read, "the Magic they create are stronger than any force in existence."

Princess Celestia held out her horn, and Temporios took that as a cue to relinquish the book. He gave her the volume, and the four siblings crowded around it, reading the contents.

"In order to save Equestria, you must use them to provide a reason for ponies to live in Harmony. Although we wish not to deceive our subjects, the Elements of Harmony, when not shown by Equestrians, quickly fall to chaos and fighting," read Princess Celestia, "the fighting seen in the real world is the result of the Elements not being present."

"The Elements of Harmony exist without artifacts?" questioned Darkmatter.

"Yes, each is a virtue of living in harmony," answered Celestia, understanding the text, "they are made of the hopes, dreams, and wills of all beings on the planet. Perhaps there are even more than what we have now..."

Princess Luna picked up with the next passage, "With imbalanced Elements, however, they will not shine through without a price."

"A price?" gasped Luna, recoiling, "What?!"

"Had the Elements not been tampered with, there wouldn't be a cproblem," sighed Celestia, "but for now, we must manage it as best as we can."

Darkmatter pushed past with his solid black wing and continued, "Each of us must take on the role of an alicorn in support of a natural force. We must bind oursevles to our force, and as long as we live forever and retain our magic, those cycles will carry on. Celestia, you shall raise the sun. Luna, you shall raise the moon. Temporios, use your knowledge of time to make each second count. I shall make the forces of gravity seem stable!"

"We are to somehow move the heavens with magic?" grunted Luna.

"No!" answered Celestia, "What this means is that we will passively control those forces to hold the Elements together. By retaining our magic and planning to live forever as our parents did, we will help the Elements to bring peace."

"It has been discovered that when ponies are in conflict, it generates a curse, a negative energy force capable of stopping the planet, causing the darkest days and the harshest cold. But the Elements can undo even the strongest evil, and solve the worst dispute. Should you bear the burden of being royalty, the Elements will usher in a new era of peace!" finished Luna, closing the book.

Silence overtook the four of them as they realized what their parents had wanted them to do. The Elements of Harmony, once activated, would due to their imbalanced state require them to stay alive and empowered to keep the sun, moon, and space and time going. Having both the power to restore good, and vanquish evil, the Elements would offer a solution to the conflict in Equestria. Unfortunately, before this would happen, the conflict of the ponies would build up so much negative will and energy that the planet would become cursed and cease rotating. This curse was generated by the negative energy from pony conflict. Very likely, the cold caused by this was the very cold the founders faced during the first Hearth's Warming Eve.

When the clock had reached midnight, the four alicorns gathered around the mobile, each in a corner of the center platform. The arms rotated around each other, passing by Celestia, Luna, Temporios, and Darkmatter, each glowing softly.

"Are we ready?" asked Celestia.

"Yes!" answered their siblings.

Princess Celestia shut her eyes, and her horn glowed a violent light, before she unleashed a beam of pure magic above the middle crystal of the mobile.

"For Equestria!" she shouted, her pupils vanishing as her eyes glowed.

"For Equestria!" shouted her siblings as they contributed their own rays.

The four rays, each a different shade between black and white, met in the middle and formed a rapidly spinning sphere of pure magic energy. A strong humming noise emitted from the mobile, each of the Element crystals glowed furiously and brightly as they became active from the bonds between the four siblings. The mobile rotated at its max capacity, and bands of various colors started to seep up and out of the Elements, slipping into the ball of light. Eventually, the four alicorns, now sweating as they contributed their magic to the greatest force they knew, released their power.

A huge, rainbow colored column of energy shot up from the mobile, leaving a large ring of white light in its path. A very loud discharge of sound akin to a sudden storm of magnetic particles filled the castle as the ray tore through the ceiling, vaporizing the stone above in a perfect circle. The large ray of rainbow colored light tore high up into the stratosphere, and created a burst of energy that wrapped Equestria temporarily in a band of white magic that crossed the entire globe before dissipating. The ponies in the burnt city below had seen the column erupt from the castle, and began to wonder what the significance of the extraordinary event might be.

Then, the beam receded, dissipating into nothing, leaving the four alicorns exhausted. As they stood up from completing the task, the mobile moved entirely on its own, each of the artifacts glowing as they retained their power. The Elements of Harmony were now active and beginning their work restoring Equestria, but the curse from the conflict was still going to grip the planet.

In addition to the grand spell they had just cast, each of the alicorns' manes had been highly affected by their first use of powerful magic. Celestia now had her multicolored hair, Luna's mane gained the stars of the night sky, Darkmatter's wisps of silver energy danced his brass colored mane, and Temporious's jagged mane ebbed and flowed to the pattern of a single second, like a clock. Their manes all flowed and animated, a sign of their maturity and power. With their own eyes, the four had seen the power of the magic created by the Elements, and believed that it was true that they would usher in a new era of hope for Equestria. Silently thanking their parents for the legacy left to them, the alicorns re-sealed the mobile within its container and retired for the night with joy in their hearts.





Prince Darkmatter had retrieved Spike and PAL from the town before heading to his brother's castle in hopes of rescuing the team. The two had managed to gain quite a bit of support in town, proving to many of the residents that Equestria wanted them back, and was far more forgiving of a land than what had been told to them by their leader. They had left Wintergreen in charge of spreading the rest of the news, and joined Darkmatter in hopes of rescuing their friends from the castle. Once they had made it to the gate, Darkmatter spied two guards, one female earth pony, and one male pegasus, standing up on the battlements near the gate.

"Hello!" called Prince Darkmatter, "I'm looking for my brother, the Prince!"

The female guard answered sarcastically, "Oh, sure you are. The castle is closed off to the public."

"Look, he's an alicorn!" said Spike with frustration, "I know the Prince is also an alicorn, so he has to be his brother!"

"He could be any alicorn. Besides, the Prince's brother wouldn't look so weak," answered the male guard with a smug face, "he's no royal."

Prince Darkmatter rolled his eyes and shook his head, sending his brass mane back and forth, "We don't have time for this nonsense."

His horn glowed a furious black, and a large gravity well overtook the two guards, pinning them to the ground instantly and holding them down by the weight of their armor.

"Hey!" shouted the pegasus, "HELP!"

"Spike, PAL, get the gates open," ordered Darkmatter.

PAL picked Spike up off of his shoulder, and held the dragon in his hands up to the bars of the gate. Spike breathed a stream of green flames at two points on each of the bars, and the metal glowed yellow as it heated up. Then, after all of the bars were heated, PAL put Spike back on his shoulder, and physically pulled the heated bars apart with his robotic strength, putting his actuators into each movement of his arms. The bars easily parted, and the three of them passed through the hole, leaving the two guard trapped on the battlements until Darkmatter eventually let them go. Both of them ran inside to warn the others, and Spike got a worried look on his face.

"Not to worry," assured Darkmatter, "brother will recognize me. You two need to find Twilight Sparkle and the others, and get them out of here!"

"Right!" answered Spike, "Ok, PAL, let's go find them!"

"Let's!" said the machine, smiling as he stomped his way into the main entrance of the castle.

Darkmatter spread his wings, and flew into an open window on a nearby tower. He landed inside the castle, and began to look around for his sibling, whom he hadn't seen in over one thousand years. The prince hoped that he could be reasoned with after so long, and would take the news of Celestia's remorse for her mistakes seriously.





Spike and PAL found themselves in an open area in the castle, the dominate characteristic being the brown rugs lining the floor. It seemed to be some kind of an atrium that led to various rooms in the structure, and a few lit candles on the wall provided light that the windows could not quite reach with the natural sun.

"This place gives me the creeps," whispered Spike into PAL's ear.

"Me too," the machine answered, "perhaps it's because of the lighting though. We should move into a more well-lit area and begin our search for master and his friends."

"Let's try down that hallway over there!" suggested the dragon, pointing at a ray of light coming from down the dark hall.

They moved through the passageway, and entered the detention cell area, where they could hear the other ponies talking.

"Master!" shouted PAL, putting his hands to his robotic jaw, "Are you there?"

"PAL?" came the response, "Yeah, we're over here!"

The robot ran over the cell eagerly, nearly throwing Spike over his shoulder and onto the stone floor. The large jail cell was barred over with strong steel, making it impossible for PAL to get Spike to heat it up enough to bend, unlike the iron gate which had a lower melting point.

"Oh, thank goodness you two are ok!" Twilight said with relief, "We were worried about you."

"We should be the ones worried, you got locked up!" said Spike, with a worried tone, "We're gonna get you guys out though."

"Is that so?" said Slate, stepping forward from a nearby shadowy wall, crossbow hovering to eye level.

Granite stepped forward as well, "We don't know why you're here, golem, but we do know you're under arrest for trespassing. We saw you smash the gate out front."

"Actually, I am a robot," he said, ignoring their threats as his servos hummed while he turned to face them, "it's quite a common misconception though."

"Shut up!" yelled Slate, taking aim, "Now, put your pet dragon down, and come with us."

"I am not a pet!" complained Spike, getting rather tired of being called that.

"Did you lock up my master and his friends?" questioned PAL, pointing at the ponies behind bars, "If so, I'm going to need you to release them immediately. You're making a mistake following anyone's orders to lock them up. They are diplomats on a peaceful mission."

"Hey, the more ponies the prince thinks are a threat, the closer we get to becoming high ranking officers, since we're always the ones to capture them," laughed Granite, "we're gonna be captains soon, seeing as we're replacing that stupid mare behind in the cell with your friends."

Comettail smiled weakly at PAL, whose orange electronic eyes met hers. The robot understood that the two ponies in front of him were complete traitors and opportunists, but was willing to give them a final chance.

"I must insist, sirs, that you release them," PAL said.

"What if we don't?" growled Slate.

PAL brought his hands together and pulled back on them. The sound of metal and motors crunching came forth as PAL cracked his robotic knuckles loudly, in hopes of intimidating the two.

Spike answered with a frown, "We're gonna kick your sorry butts, duh."

PAL sighed, "I was trying not to put it that way."

"Yeah, I've had just about enough of this crud," said Slate, "let's get them."

The brothers unloaded their crossbows, and Fluttershy screamed as the two arrows smashed straight into the robot and the young dragon within a second. The arrow aimed at PAL bounced off of the thick armor on his front, and the other arrow stuck into Spike's scales. The young dragon wiggled the arrow out of his armored skin, and handed the projectile to PAL, who immediately snapped it in his metal fingers as if it were no more than a toothpick.

Slate and Granite gasped, and backed up as they tried to reload their crossbows. They fired again as the robot trudged forward across the carpet, but each bolt simply bounced off of the metal PAL was constructed out of, doing no damage whatsoever. The two guards panicked, continuing to fire their weapons, but PAL eventually caught up to them, and grabbed their crossbows.

"Here you go, Spike," he said, a broad smile on his face.

Spike breathed fire over the two wooden weapons, incinerating them. Ashes of the arrow launchers scattered everywhere as the dragon burned them up. Slate and Granite looked at the two piles of ash on the ground with terror, but gained the courage in their hearts to draw a set of daggers from their sides in their teeth, and rushed the machine and his friend.

PAL simply looked at Spike, who smiled and laughed even as the two guards yelled and rushed them. The machine then looked back at the two stallions, and cracked his mechanical knuckles again before lunging at the guards. Dodging the slashes of the knives, PAL leaned down and sent his metal fists into the armor of the two ponies, crushing their chest plates and knocking them back. Spike ignited the carpet beneath them with a fireball, surrounding the two brothers in flames. 

They could no longer escape, their armor was ruined, and they had also dropped their knives from having the wind knocked out of them by PAL. The machine, with his strength, picked up the two average-sized guards, and held them up by their necks. Slate and Granite screamed in terror from the sight of the robot holding them by their necks above a burning floor, and passed out. Spike dropped down from the robot's shoulders, and stomped out his own flames to make sure the green fires didn't spread.

"Oh my," said the robot, holding the two unconscious ponies.

"PAL!" yelped Spike, "Too far, bro!"

"They'll be ok," assured the machine, "I merely damaged their armor, and they passed out from fear and anxiety. We haven't harmed them at all."

"Wow!" said Rainbow Dash, impressed, "I can't believe you handled that without hurting those guys."

"That's my PAL!" said Techorse, smiling.

Spike found the set of keys on Granite's armor, and picked them up, "Hey, I found the keys. Let's get you out of there."





Prince Darkmatter found his brother's throne room, and opened the door casually with his hoof, entering the open room. He saw his sibling sitting on the throne, who looked up at him, and immediately recognized his family.

"Brother?" he called out softly.

Darkmatter answered with a beaming smile, "Yes! It is I, your younger brother! I haven't seen you in ages Sundial!"

"Darkmatter, you big fool, get over here!" said Sundial, laughing.

The two brothers embraced quickly before letting each other go.

"What brings you here, Darkmatter?" he asked eagerly.

"Why, brother, it's to discuss what's been going on in the outside world," he said, "our sister Celestia is quite a different pony from how she was before, you see."

Prince Sundial's tune changed, and he angrily asked, "Do not tell me that you as well have gone soft on her! She deserves to be punished for what she did to our little Luna all those years ago."

"Oh dear, is this how I sounded?" Darkmatter asked of himself while looking at the floor, as he had been guilty of hating Celestia too.

"Brother, we made a pact not to ever make contact with her again unless it was to take action against her," Sundial growled, "tell me you haven't really made peace with her."

"I'm sorry," answered the Prince honestly, "but sister has changed. Luna has returned, and she is happy now. They both get along well, and all has been forgiven. In addition, Celestia has always been very remorseful about her choice to banish her."

Sundial had heard those same words from Techorse and Twilight, but still adamantly refused to believe it, "Horsefeathers! All of it! Celestia has brainwashed you as well!"

"Brother, listen to yourself!" urged the dark colored stallion, "You have an outdated way of thinking, and need to listen to the truth. You can't simply keep your ponies sealed off from Equestria forever. I tried to do that, and it was very selfish of me!"

"I can, and I will," he answered, "now leave! We made a deal, and I expect you to keep it."

Prince Darkmatter became angry, knowing differently from his brother, and yelled back, "Well then, I see how it is. You refuse to listen to even your own brother, who swore never to see Celestia again, and has changed his own ways? You even think I would be stupid enough to fall for a brainwashing?"

He then charged his horn up, glowing black with intent, and said, "If you won't listen to me, then I'm going to have to bring you down so you will have to listen!"

"Very well. I never thought it would come to this, brother, but perhaps it's for the best! I see the entire family has turned against me now," he yelled in response, his own horn charging white.

The guards in the room fled as the alicorns galloped towards one another. An alicorn duel was no place for a pony, especially when one of the alicorns knew how to control black holes! The two brothers clashed in the middle of the room, their horns crossed, energy arcing back and forth between them. Dust in the room was vaporized or pushed out of the way in a cyclone as they butted heads, and the throne in the center of the room shattered to pieces when a pulse of energy emitted from the brothers.

"I'm sorry..." said Sundial, grunting under the force of the magic, "That it has to be this way."

"The same..." answered Darkmatter ominously.

And then, with a burst of magical energy exploding into a flash of destructive power, the battle between the brothers began. They shot back from each other, spreading their wings and bouncing along the walls of the stone spires, shooting beams of highly destructive magic from their horns. A black ray of energy carved its way through the stone wall near Sundial, who rolled to the left in mid air. Stone melted and fried as the beam finished, leaving a large, molten scar on the wall. In retaliation, Sundial shot a blistering hail of small white magical pellets, threatening to perforate the other prince.

Darkmatter summoned a small wormhole, which eagerly devoured the magical pellets. With another burst from his horn, he opened the other end of the wormhole above his brother, and the white pellets shot down, burning him and pockmarking his mane and coat.

Sundial recovered from having his attack redirected at him, and slowed time around the two of them. Darkmatter could see his brother moving quickly from his point of view, and had no idea what he was attempting. Suddenly, a sharp pain entered the back of his neck as a white beam of light entered it, and Darkmatter screamed as he crashed into the floor below.

"You're weak!" he laughed, "Time bends to me, letting me predict your moves!"

Darkmatter pulled himself from the neat crater he had left on the floor, and smirked. The dirt-eating grin tipped off his brother, still flapping his wings to hover above, that his younger sibling was about to do something powerful. He expended an untold amount of energy to cast a large black hole beneath him, making sure the event horizon stayed in the middle of the room. Loose stones from their fighting got sucked into the void, possibly vanishing forever under the sheer gravity. Darkmatter flew back up to his brother, and watched as the glass of the dome above shattered and was vacuumed up by the black hole.

"Impressive! Perhaps I was wrong!" shouted Sundial, "But how about this!"

His horn flashed as he cast a spell to freeze time, which would allow him to finish off his brother without much effort. He then charged up an explosive magic attack he had previously tried on Twilight, and let loose with a trio of large magic missiles. The explosive bolts of magic sailed towards Darkmatter. In response, the Prince elevated himself, and the bolts redirected as homing projectiles did to catch him. They then hit the invisible event horizon, and swirled down into the hole below.

"What?" gasped Sundial, "Impossible!"

"You've forgotten, brother!" laughed Darkmatter, "Time stops over a black hole! Your magic is powerless!"

"I can still defeat you without it!" he yelled, foaming at the mouth.

The two brothers charged each other, and every time they struck, a flash of light occurred, and they bounced upwards towards the top of the tower. Below, the black hole began to fall apart, mostly under the weight of its own gravity, but also because of the sheer amount of energy it was being forced to absorb. Should the black hole collapse without Darkmatter sealing it first, it would likely supernova, possibly destroying all of Hourglass. The fate of the country rested in the hooves of the dueling brothers.





1,500 years ago

The winter chill had begun to set in as per usual during Equestria's cold months. The scorched town was under slow repair due to the fighting, despite the "sign" the townsponies had taken awe to of the giant ray that had emerged from their leaders' castle. In fact, the ponies of the land believed that all the royalty had left them since the king and queen had died. At the very least, they believed the alicorns had stopped caring about their problems, leading to revisionist history showing in the books that Equestria had lacked alicorns at its start. Snow had been falling for a month, nonstop, blanketing the city in a white sheet that froze the carts on the road and prevented much movement. It was only by the work of the ponies desperate to not get trapped that they managed to dig themselves out of the piling winter frost and make it to the outside world. Now with all in the same boat, pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony covered in ash and filled with hatred for each other, they still stubbornly refused to help one another despite the slowly dwindling supplies of useable firewood, clean water and food.

The princesses and princes had gone into their city on a daily basis since the activation of the Elements, going incognito by wearing thick black cloaks, which gave them a scary and mysterious appearance such that no pony dared to try and figure out who they were. The royalty were actually attempting to help their ponies whenever they could, dropping off stacks of firewood or a few blocks of hay where needed, if it meant keeping a subject from freezing or starving to death. The sun no longer shown through in the sky, a constant atmosphere of dim light and overcast skies choked the land due to the curse. The four alicorns went to a remote part of the town after doing their sweep of the day to give aid, and removed their hoods to look at each others faces again.

"It's no use," sighed Darkmatter, "our subjects still have no interest in cooperating or learning harmony. Equestria will freeze in a matter of weeks, and our kind will become nomads."

"Please try to be positive," urged Celestia, "we musn't give in."

"Who knows what tomorrow may bring?" concurred Luna.

Temporios saw a trio of ponies approaching their area, and said, "We've got visitors. Let's hide!"

The four threw their coats back on, and ducked into a nearby abandoned tavern, which had been nearly burned to the ground from the fire. They identified the three ponies as wanderers in the town who were coming to use a small fire pit to warm up. Each of them had planned on burning a set of logs they were carrying on their back, a total of 3 sets of firewood between 3 citizens. One had come from her master's castle, another a new officer in the pegasus army, and the last an earth pony who was an advisor to the earth ponies' clan wardens. The three of them reached the fire pit, a stone circle clear of the snow, with a few soft oak logs laid down for seats. Each of them stared at each other blankly, exchanging nasty looks, before sitting down at the logs in a circle. The cords of wood fell to the ground with a soft thud in the snow, which had thankfully been thinner in that area of the town.

With hatred in their hearts, the three ponies sat around the empty fire pit. Each of them refused to burn their wood, because they knew as soon as they started a fire, the other two ponies would be able to warm themselves up as well. Selfishness and loathing caused the fire to remain unlit, and Princess Luna felt like crying as she could sense the cold beginning to harm the three ponies who lacked sufficient clothing for the cold weather.

Suddenly, the unicorn started to speak to her acquaintances, "We're all going to be ice in a month if the weather doesn't look up. Heh, don't suppose it's those old windigoes huh? They're just a myth, right?"


The windigoes were mythological creatures that supposedly messed with the cold weather behind the pegasi's backs, in truth, the cold weather clouds remained because of the equally cold hearts of the ponies. Of course, it was far easier to blame a species a northern ice wyrm than admit that there was such social division in their land. Would they learn the same lesson their ancestors did?

"Well, good chance we're going to be ice I guess," said the earth pony, "I sure hope we don't freeze though."

The earth pony sighed heavily, and shook her head at the situation. Her superior had demanded for her to continue to pretend the fire was everypony else's fault. But she still felt somewhat sorry for the others, after all, they were ponies as well. In fact, each pony began to think about the others in the circle, and realized that without action, all of them would freeze to death. Each stared at the others and knew that if they just got along, they would survive, creating a spark of hope. Uknowingly, they were using the Elements of Harmony by hoping for peace and survival through the winter. Yet still, one of the ponies had yet to act.

After a few moments of observing their struggle, the peagsus removed her iron helmet and tossed it to the ground, saying, "I don't want to be ice... and you know something? Neither should either of you."

She gathered up her logs, and placed one of them in the center of the fire pit, fruitlessly trying to light it with a piece of flint and steel left in the middle for igniting fresh blazes. The unicorn and earth pony looked at each other, and then watched as the pegasus, too kind to be a real soldier, struggled to strike the flint and steel hard enough to get sparks.

"Here," said the earth pony, rolling a log from her pile into the center ring, "we're going to need at least two to start a fire, plus tinder. We can use a few pieces of straw I've got in my saddlebags."

The unicorn pony watched the others, and then, with her magic, grabbed another log of birch and added it to the ring, on top of the two logs next to each other. The other two ponies looked up at her, and the unicorn pony smiled.

"Let's build ourselves a nice fire then," she said, "we'll set the logs up like this..."

Using magic, the unicorn arranged the three logs in the best order possible, and the earth pony added her straw underneath for the tinder. The pegasus then successfully managed to get a spark off with the starter, and soon, a small fire had begun beneath the three logs. Within just a few minutes, the pile was burning brightly, and the three began to warm themselves up, adding more fuel when they needed to.

"Hearth's Warming Eve is today," said the unicorn pony, "it's something we should have remembered all this time, before the fire, before the magic academy, everything."

"Then we should celebrate it again!" declared the pegasus, "Let's invite everyone to pitch in to the fire here, and build a celebration around it."

"I'll get the word out," said the earth pony, "this is going to be far better than freezing!"

Just that one instance of cooperation and kindness had launched a phenomenon. Passersby and those notified joined in on the small fire, bringing with them extra pieces of firewood, and spare food and drink to share. The community of ponies had come together for once, to try and forget the cold and the burning of their land to celebrate an old holiday they'd almost forgotten. They were having such a good time, and many friends were made as happiness, laughter, and stories spread throughout the town. Equestria was so busy enjoying themselves, that they had failed to notice that their planet was turning again, and the darkness was being lifted. When night fell, however, they finally realized that the snow had stopped falling, and the winter had returned to its normal, more bearable cold.





When morning finally came, and the ponies woke up from their time spent reconciling their kind, they began to work hard at repairing the town and put together a granary to make food distribution easier. Each pony was valuable for their unique skills, and every last scorched home, business, and fort was getting a renovation. As they worked to fix their city, the alicorn's castle once again become more noticeable to the citizens, who had overlooked their leaders in their earlier struggle. The mobile had absorbed so much energy from their friendship and harmony, that a rainbow released from the artifact holder, projecting a beautiful scene in the now clear sky. The warmest winter was now here for the citizens to enjoy, and they had all gathered in the town square to admire the rainbow.

"The four alicorns must have done it!" cheered a pegasus pony, flapping her wings to hover above the crowd, "They've given us this beautiful rainbow!"

With a burst of bright light, blinding most of the crowd, Princess Celestia, flanked by her siblings, no longer needing to hide behind the dark cloaks, stood before their subjects, who all bowed at their presence.

"WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO STAND!" bellowed Luna, lacking an indoor voice.

The citizens obeyed, standing up and looking at the alicorns in awe.

"Citizens of Equestria!" said Princess Celestia triumphantly, "On this Hearth's Warming Day, you have finally overcome the struggle between unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony. We did not give you the rainbow you see today, it was created by you through the Elements of Harmony. Your friendship and peace has brought Equestria into the light, and from this day forward, Equestria shall be known as the Land of Harmony!"

A great loud cheer spread throughout the citizens, as they welcomed in the new era they had created. After the grand observance of the Hearth's Warming Day, full of joy and celebration, the two brothers became the heads of the courts of Equestria, bringing justice and equality. The princesses were now viewed as being responsible for the day and night cycle. All were seen as the saviors as Equestria, even though the Elements of Harmony they had discovered were powered by their subjects. It became a time of peace and prosperity, and as the economy skyrocketed and the food multiplied rapidly, construction began of a new town miles away. The city, built near a waterfall side cliff where the castle was planned, would be a representation of the new era of Harmony, a reminder of what friendship and peace can accomplish.

And they called it Canterlot...





The massive explosions echoing throughout the castle had obviously drawn the attention of Twilight and her friends, along with Comettail, who had placed her head on one of the castle walls. Bricks occasionally fell from the ceiling, and dust resettled as the vibrations bounced off the walls.

"It's coming from the throne room!" she said, "We need to get there as fast as possible."

"Prince Darkmatter must be fighting with his brother!" exclaimed Twilight, "Maybe calling for him wasn't such a good idea."

"Too late for that. We need to get there and stop them," urged Comettail.

They ran into the chamber, and observed the massive black hole on the floor, keeping them away from the center of the throne room. The friends looked up, and saw the two alicorns fighting, blasting away at each other with beams. Without his time magic, Sundial couldn't cheat against his brother, but still managed to defend himself well. Eventually, the two alicorns stared at each other, having blown several holes in the walls of the castle without doing much damage to each other.

"There they are!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"Darkmatter!" called Techorse, who was looking at the black hole and observing its fluctuations, "Your black hole is about to go critical, you've got to seal it off!"

Prince Darkmatter looked down, and noticed the storms forming around the edges of the black hole. He knew that if he sealed it off, his brother would regain the upper hand in the fight by gaining back his time magic. But unless he sealed it off, the black hole would surely explode. Making up his mind, the alicorn shot down a thin beam of energy, and the black hole shut, disappearing in a flash of white light.

"Ha!" shouted Sundial, "You've given me an opening."

"What are we going to do?" wailed Rarity.

Prince Sundial's horn glowed, and he froze his brother in time, leaving him unable to move by his own will. He then charged up his horn to deal a blow with a beam attack. Twilight looked up at the two alicorns fighting, and knew what she needed to do. As soon as Sundial fired a beam at his brother, Twilight rushed forward, and a burst of fuchsia color exploded from her horn. A large bubble shield formed between the brothers, separating them and bouncing Sundial's energy away from Darkmatter. The purple colored sphere of energy held against the alicorn's attack to his surprise, and also severed his connection to the space around Darkmatter, ending the time spell. Both alicorns were now locked away from each other, a solid wall of purple energy blocking them.

"That's enough!" shouted Twilight Sparkle, "You two are brothers! You shouldn't be fighting like this!"

Sundial noticed that Twilight had failed to create a complete bubble around both of them, leaving her open below. He then laughed in a sinister manner, and shot a large bolt of white energy down at her. Twilight gasped, losing control over her shield, and felt the giant blast of magic explode beneath her, much to the horror of her friends. The unicorn mare was sent flying, and hit the tile floor, rolling over many times. Twilight lay on the ground, her coat slightly singed in multiple places.

"Twilight!" screamed Techorse, running forward.

"Can't you see, inventor?" laughed Sundial, his eyes glowing a demonic red, "It was her time. Along with any who side with Celestia."

"Brother..." said Darkmatter slowly, looking at the burnt and knocked out Twilight, "How could you..."

"Now I'm going to do the same to the rest of you," he answered, "nopony will know you ever came to Hourglass!"

The doors to the throne room opened with a loud blast, as a magical bolt tore it open. In rushed both princesses, along with Captain Arbiter and Limpwing. Sundial saw Celestia, and flew down to land on the ground near Twilight, who was being held by Techorse. The prince looked at the inventor, who promptly burst into tears while searching for his marefriend's pulse. Captain Arbiter drew his sword with his magical gauntlets in preparation to aid in combat against the Prince, but Celestia ordered him to put it back by raising her wing.

"Temporios!" shouted Celestia, "I'm here. There's no more need for violence."

"As am I!" declared Princess Luna.

"Luna!" said Sundial, no rage disappearing from his eyes, "So... it's true that you've returned?"

"Yes!" she answered, "I have been cleansed of my demon, as has Darkmatter. Perhaps it is your turn."

"I'm no monster!" he roared, "Your sister banished you, she is the monster!"

"She had no choice!" answered Princess Luna, "It was rash, but we've become family again! We want the same for you."

Princess Cadance and Shining Armor entered the room at this point. 

Sundial's eyes grew wide, "Cadance... you actually came back to see me?"

Although Cadance knew it was her dad immediately, the first thing she laid her eyes upon was the injured Twilight and Techorse. She approached her father, concern in her eyes over her friend's condition. Sundial said nothing, still surprised that his daughter had actually returned to him.

"Dad, I've wanted to see you for years," she answered, before she noticed Twilight on the floor.

She ran up to her and helped Techorse prop her up, saying, "Oh my gosh, Twilight! What happened?"

"Sundial did this to her," answered Techorse, holding her tightly.

Cadance's eyes filled with tears, and the slender mare turned her head up twoards her father, who landed on the floor, ceasing his flight.

"Why would you do this father?" she asked, "Twilight is my friend. Don't you love me enough to not hurt my friends, even if you can't love Aunt Celestia anymore?"

"I do love you Candace, more than anything," he answered.

But after his stern response, his heart sank, his ears fell back, and he said to her pitifuly, "But, I know you don't love me anymore. You and your mother both left me."

"Only because you kept us here," she answered, frowning, standing up as Shining Armor took her place holding up Twilight, "we wanted to see the outside world, but you kept going on and on about Princess Celestia being evil. We figured out for ourselves that this wasn't true, and we lived our lives out there, where we should have been, in Equestria."

She then held back the lump in her throat and said, "But dad, I hoped that someday I'd come back and you'd have changed. I've always wanted you to come back home."

"You... have?" he asked, his heart strings being tugged, "But why?"

"Because," she answered, bursting into tears, "You're dead wrong. I still love you. You're still my father, and I've just wanted you back. Aunt Celestia told me you were a happier stallion before, and I wanted to see you happy."

"Despite everything... you still love me?" he said, slowly, "You didn't favor Celestia's company, you only wanted me to give her a chance?"

"Yes!" she answered, weeping, "I told Princess Celestia you were still alive, and she hoped every day that you'd come back around, just like your brother! She told me of all the times she had been up crying, not only because of Princess Luna being gone, but because she had lost her brothers as well! She was alone, and figured she would be for the rest of eternity."

Sundial's heart broke open when he heard the same words Twilight Sparkle had told him earlier. The truth broke through his shell of emotions, and crushed him, leaving him with an epiphany.

"Twilight was telling the truth," said the alicorn of time slowly, "all along, my daughter has hoped for my return. My sweet Cadance."

He began to cry gently, tears rolling down his cheeks as he reflected on his pain and his evil deeds, although perhaps his psychological state had indeed collapsed.

"I've... been a complete monster," he said, "I've held on to my anger forever, and now, I've caused harm to another pony."

Sensing Princess Celestia's bag, and knowing what that particular sack was used for, he pointed at it and said, "I see you've brought the Elements of Harmony, Celestia."

Princess Celestia smiled, and shook her head, opening the bag to reveal nothing but a pile of bits she had brought from her personal vault.

"I put the Elements of Harmony back in the vault, and came without them," she said, "at first, I thought we would need to use them. But then, I remembered Cadance's love for you, and knew that she could help you."

"I suppose I would have deserved having them used on me as well," he admitted, "it would set things right, after the crimes I've committed. I've lied to my people, I've hurt Twilight Sparkle, and I've failed to give my sibling another chance."

Twilight Sparkle's ear twitched as she recovered from being blasted away by Sundial's magic. She slowly stood up on her legs, and Shining Armor aided Techorse in getting her up.

"Sundial," she said shakily, "I was the one who brought Cadance here. When I sent a letter out from your prison, I asked for her to come, because I knew deep down, you were still family and still loved each other. I hoped her love for you would change your mind, and it did."

Prince Sundial turned to face her, "I know you're being kind to me, but I hurt you badly. I'm pleased you're alive, and that you set up me seeing my daughter again, but this changes nothing."

"I forgive you anyways," she said weakly, "there's only one pony you owe an apology to, and that's Princess Celestia."

The Prince of Time looked at his sister, who's facial expression sunk back into a much more neutral one.

He said to her while looking at the ground, "I am never going to be able to make up for everything. If you forgive me, I do not deserve it."

Princess Celestia then looked at her sister, and back to him, before bursting into tears and answering, "None of that matters, Temporios, I just want my brother back!"

He then wept and answered, "Sundial. It was always Sundial!"

He ran up to her, and the four alicorns hugged, crying tears of joy over getting their brother back, and ending the thousand year old feud that had separated them all.

"It's wonderful," whispered Twilight, trying not to cry herself.

"Twilight Sparkle, you've brought our family back together again," said Princess Celestia, "thank you!"

The four alicorns watched as the ponies in the room assembled before them, from Arbiter and Limpwing, to Spike and PAL, and all the friends of Twilight Sparkle.

"It's just what we do!" she answered, regaining her strength, "Right guys?"

Her friends gave her hugs and cheers, and the ponies took the time to celebrate what had happened that day.






Thanks to Wintergreen's actions, the ponies of Hourglass were more than ready to explore Equestria, travel to which was unbanned by Sundial that day. He dispelled the winter storms he had cast to separate his city, merging the territories together. Hourglass was placed on the map as a fine city to visit, and the ponies traded information and goods within days.

A massive celebration planned by Pinkie Pie took place in Canterlot to celebrate the return of the four siblings, and the complete unison of Equestria. Although the brothers chose to stay as the rulers of their towns, they were welcome back to Canterlot at any time they wished, and two traditional thrones were built for them for when they visited.

Everyone was partying in the ballroom of the castle, having a good time and celebrating the momentous occasion. Which brought Sundial to ask an interesting question of Cadance, who to him, hung around Shining Armor a lot for an unknown reason.

"So who is this stallion?" he asked of his daughter.

"Well daddy, this is my husband, Shining Armor. Twilight's brother," she said, a bit embarrassed.

Prince Sundial looked at Shining Armor suspiciously, who smiled nervously. Meeting a parent was a always a bit of a challenge. But to his surprise, the Prince laughed, and scratched his blonde beard before giving him a huge hug.

"He's perfect for you!" he said in his Russian sounding accent, "It is a shame I missed your wedding day."

"Um... maybe you wouldn't have liked it very much," said Cadance, embarrassed, remembering what had happened, "Every day's been a great adventure for us though! As for mom..."

"Another time," Sundial said, "But for now, let's enjoy the day."

He noticed that Pinkie Pie had been shooting off confetti with her party cannon, and she shouted, "Come on everypony! Let's form a line and dance!"

"Yes!" shouted Prince Sundial merrily, "Everypony do the conga!"

Starting the head of a conga line, the prince managed to get over twenty ponies in the room, including a few nonponies such as PAL and Spike, to dance with him. The line of ponies proceeded around the room, enjoying the music. Prince Darkmatter grabbed the tail end of the line and joined the dance, who was surprised to see Comettail holding on to him. She blushed a bit, but the Prince simply shook his head and encouraged her to dance. Prince Sundial was having a wonderful time leading around the line with Pinkie Pie's help.

"Conga!" laughed the prince, "Such a merry dance!"

"We've definitely gotten our brother back!" chuckled Princess Luna, watching the antics.
Techorse and Twilight approached the sisters.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" asked Princess Celestia, noting her concern.

"It's just that... Sundial told us that Equestria freezes if we don't get along, and that you and the other alicorns are bound to the natural forces you control, even if it's passively," she said, "the prince later told me that he hadn't told me the truth about Starswirl. He had made some mistakes, but truly loved Equestria in the end."

Princess Celestia smiled, "Twilight, Starswirl really did love Equestria, and there wasn't a moment we didn't miss him and hoped he'd come back."

"Will the planet ever freeze again? Can ponies fighting cause a curse still?"

Princess Celestia smiled and shook her head, "I'm not even sure it's really even a curse. Perhaps the magic of Equestria reacts negatively to our fighting and bickering, and can cause everything to come to a hault. But now that it's been proven that all ponies can be friends, and that friendship truly is the most powerful form of magic, the cold will never return. We will still argue from time to time, but we never have to fear another freeze again, so long as we have the magic of friendship!"

"But then what about you raising the sun?" she asked.

"Some traditions are nice to keep around as a reminder of the past," she said, smiling, "as long as I'm around, the sun will rise, and the majesty of it has helped ponies to feel safe knowing we will aid them when they are in trouble."

Techorse and Twilight looked at each other, and then at the brothers, who were enjoying themselves. They walked slowly away from the sisters, and then looked into each others eyes.

"You've done it Twilight," he said, "I'm so happy for you."

"I couldn't have done it without the support of my friends, or my coltfriend," she answered, love in her eyes, "come here."

They kissed, drawing the attention of Pinkie Pie, who gave a loud whistle at them. Techorse and Twilight ignored them, finishing their kiss, to the applause of several present.

"Maybe we should have gone outside first," said Techorse, blushing.

"Yeah, probably," she answered, giggling as her ears drooped.

"Come on you two! Dance!" said Rainbow Dash, "You're missing all the fun."

"Better do what she says!" said Twilight, "Come on, let's dance!"

The two hitched onto the conga line, and enjoyed the fast, rhythmic dance, until suddenly, the door to the ballroom burst open. In the doorway stood Discord, wearing a pair of dark shades, and a white disco suit.

"What?" he said, taking off his glasses, and acting offended, "I heard a party going on from my home. You didn't throw such a... chaotic party and not invite me, did you?"

"Get in here!" said Pinkie Pie, "We're gonna start the ice sculpture contest soon!"

"Ooh, ice sculptures!" he replied, entering the room by sliding in on his tail, "Count me in!"

"You invited Discord?!" whispered Twilight to Pinkie Pie.

"Well yeah!" she said, "Probably best to let Sundial know Discord's cool too now!"

"Classic Pinkie Pie," sighed Applejack, who took a sip of her punch.

"That's for sure!" answered Fluttershy, smiling.

Wintergreen had joined in on the fun at this point, trying to aid in bringing in the ice blocks needed to get the sculpture contest set up. She smiled and waved a hoof at Techorse and Twilight, who were moving for the door. They left the room together after Discord had gotten settled into the room, and went to go watch the stars together, away from the party. They stood on the balcony Princess Luna traditionally stood on, and watched the night sky.

"What do you think the future of Equestria is going to be like?" asked Techorse.

Twilight answered his question with, "I'm not sure. Nopony knows the future for sure. All I know is, as long as there's friendships in this world, things can always be changed for the better."

"Family are also the best friends you can have," he added, "speaking of which, there's something I wanted to talk about."

"What's that?" she asked.

Techorse thought for a moment, and then decided some things were best announced later, and answered, "It's just, I'm so happy to be here now with you."

"I'm happy you're here too," she said, nuzzling his nose with hers.

"You two ponies, really really need a room!" catcalled Pinkie Pie, who stood at the doorway to the balcony.

"Pinkie Pie!" they both shouted together, and the pink mare disappeared with a giggle back inside.

"Well, we ought to go back in anyways." Twilight said, winking, "I wouldn't want to miss seeing Discord struggle to make an ice sculpture!"

"Now that sounds like fun!" answered Techorse, "I'm right with you Twilight."

The two ponies headed back inside to enjoy the rest of the party. From that day forward, the royal family would be united again, and Equestria's leaders would no longer fight or harbor bad feelings about each other. The land was finally whole, and the banishment of Princess Luna, after a thousand years, had finally come to an end and was forgiven. Just as the land of Equestria had become one piece again, so had the relationship between the four siblings.