Journey to Save the Sun

by Geopocalypse

Chapter 1: Questions and Elements

Twilight Sparkle was lounging on her balcony reading a book and enjoying a cup of Camomile tea. It was another beautiful night and Twilight was using the time to relax after a rather eventful day. Today the Cake's twins had turned one year old and Pinkie Pie had thrown another massive party to celebrate the event. The party had ended just a few hours earlier and Twilight had returned home to unwind before getting to sleep.

"Hey Twilight," said Spike.

Twilight looked up from her book to see Spike standing in the doorway holding a silver tray of what appeared to be cookies in his claws.

"Oh, hey Spike what's up?" asked Twilight.

"Nothing much just thought I'd bring you some cookies from the party earlier," said Spike.

"Thanks Spike. To tell you the truth I was feeling a little hungry," said Twilight as she levitated a cookie off the tray.

"Aw it's nothing," said Spike "I'm just doing my job." Spike walked over and sat down next to Twilight placing the tray of cookies to his side.

"That's why you're my number one assistant," Twilight said as she ruffled Spike's spines with a hoof before returning to her book.

"So watcha reading Twilight?" asked Spike

"It's called The Complete Compendium of Constellations," said Twilight "It has every constellation ever made recorded in this book along with it's location in the sky and it's origin!"

Twilight pointed her hoof at a seemingly random part of the night sky "For example, this constellation is known as the Great Frog. It was first proposed by Lord English of Roam to Princess Luna during a summit meeting nearly two-thousand years ago!"

"Princess Luna was so impressed that it still resides in the sky today as one of the fourteen eternal constellations! Isn't that just fascinating?" said a very enthusiastic Twilight.

"Uhm, yeah it's really fascinating Twi," said Spike who was trying really hard not to yawn.

Twilight sighed dreamily staring up at the night sky. She could look at the stars forever. Stars had always been a great interest to Twilight and she had always been fascinated by how the stars were arranged in the sky. Princess Celestia had always done her best to maintain the stars and their corresponding constellations during Luna's absence, but not even Celestia could maintain the stars as expertly as Luna could. Twilight wondered if Princess Luna would allow her to design her own constellation if she asked. Twilight smiled at the idea.

Twilight was pulled out of her musings when Spike let out a belch of green flame causing a letter to materialize in front of her.

"Oh! A letter from Princess Celestia! I wonder what she could want at this hour?" Twilight asked.

Spike picked up the letter and unrolled it with his claws. Spike began looking over the letter before saying "Actually, Twi it's from Princess Luna."

"Huh, that's a little odd. Princess Luna hardly ever sends me any letters," said Twilight "knowing the Princess it's probably something important. Go ahead and read the letter, Spike."

Spike cleared his throat and began to read.

"Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I am afraid that I write to you with bad news. My sister and your mentor, Princess Celestia, has fallen gravely ill. It happened very suddenly and we do not yet know the cause of her sickness, though we do believe it is magical in nature. For now she is in the royal hospital being treated and looked over by Equestria's best doctors, but they can not make any sense of what is happening to her. That being said I request that you and the other Elements of Harmony come to Canterlot as soon as possible. I am sending a royal chariot to your library to take you to Canterlot so gather your friends and wait for the chariot to arrive. We will discuss this more when you all have arrived.

~Princess Luna"

Twilight Sparkle was stunned into silence. A million questions raced through her mind while her brain was trying to determine what emotion she should be feeling at that moment. Anger and confusion won out. 'How did this happen, what is happening to the Princess? Was there anything I could have done to stop this? Surely there must have been some signs, if I had paid more attention I could have possibly prevented this from happening! It's all my fault! Princess Celestia, my teacher is lying sick in a hospital suffering from who knows what and I didn't even know anything was wrong! I-I should've been there for her! I could have done something! Anything! Oh, what do I do? What do I do!?'

Twilight was pulled back from the brink of mental collapse by the sound of someone yelling her name.

"Twilight! Snap out of it!" yelled Spike "You need to get a grip, the Princesses need you!" Spike gave Twilight a smack to the face.

"Ow!" shouted a stunned Twilight.

"S-sorry Twilight I d-din't mean"

Twilight shook her head "Wow, thanks Spike I needed that," said Twilight.

"Um you're welcome I guess," said Spike "what now?"

"We need to go gather our friends and meet back here so that we can get to Canterlot as soon as possible," she said.

Twilight began walking downstairs heading to the doorway with Spike following close behind.

"Don't worry so much Twi you gotta calm down a bit, I'm sure everything will be fine," said Spike "After all it seems like stuff like this happens every week."

Twilight stopped in the doorway and turned to look at spike.

"Spike how can I possibly calm down! Celestia is sick and Luna needs us to meet her in Canterlot. Why should I calm down?"

"You said it yourself Twi, Luna asked for you and all our friends to meet her in Canterlot," said Spike "You guys are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony I'm sure that if anyone can cure Celestia of whatever it is that's wrong with her it would be you six. Now come on let's go roundup the others," said Spike as he walked past Twilight out into the night.

"I hope you're right Spike, I really do," she said as she trotted out into the night after the little dragon.

* * *

"Now how in tha hay did Princess Celestia even get sick in the first place?" said Applejack "I thought Alicorns were supposed to be immortal."

"It's a magical sickness AJ," said Rainbow Dash "you don't have to explain magic, isn't that right, Twi?"

"Rainbow that entire statement is so untrue that it's not even funny, but that's hardly the point," said Twilight "the point is that Princess Celestia is sick and that we need to be there to help her in any way that we can."

"Don't worry Twilight everything will be just fine you'll see!" said Pinkie Pie "I'll have the Princess feeling super duper better in no time! Then I can throw her a yay-the-Princess-is-feeling-better party! Oh Before I do that I could throw her a get-better-soon-Princess party! We could have two parties! There's no way anypony could still be feeling sick after two parties! Or what if she is still sick? Oh my gosh we could have THREE parties!"

Twilight sighed as Pinkie continued to increase the number of parties that would inevitably be given to the Princess. At least all her friends were there and she was glad they were there to support her through this troubling ordeal.

"Twilight how are you feeling?" said Fluttershy

"I'm worried about the princess is all," said Twilight "but don't worry about me Fluttershy, now that you all are here I'm feeling much better."

"Oh thank goodness I know if I was in your position I would be terrified," said Fluttershy "If you ever need someone to talk to I'm here for you Twilight."

"And so am I Twilight dear," said Rarity "If you ever need anything Twilight don't hesitate to ask."

"Thanks girls I'm glad you're here with me to help me through this," said Twilight.

"But of course darling, what are friends for?" said Rarity "Goodness this chariot certainly is taking quite a while to get here."

Rainbow Dash snorted "Tell me about, I could have already been to Canterlot and back by now."

"Don't worry Dashie I'm sure the chariot will be here any second now," said Pinkie with a smile "After all the author has to advance the plot sometime."

"Uhm Pinkie, what are y'all talkin' about?" asked a puzzled Applejack.

"Oh don't worry about it Applejack it's not important," Pinkie said bouncing away merrily.

Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash with a look of utter confusion plastered on her face.

"Don't sweat it AJ she's just being Pinkie Pie," said Dash.

It was at that moment that the chariot appeared off in the distance slowly growing larger as it got closer and closer.

"See, I told you so." said Pinkie

Once it had gotten closer the six ponies and the dragon saw that the chariot was being pulled by two very strong looking night guards. They landed on the cobblestone street with a resounding thud and traveled several more hooves before coming to a complete stop.

"Are you all the Elements of Harmony?" asked one of the Pegasi.

Twilight spoke up "Yes, yes we are."

"Is this everyone in your party?" He asked.

"Yes this is everypony," Twilight said.

"Then please hurry and get in, the Princess is expecting you," He said

"Alright everypony," said Twilight "let's go."

* * *

Princess Luna was pacing back and forth outside of her sister's room. It had been almost three hours since she had discovered her sister writhing in pain on her bathroom floor with the changes already beginning to show. After her initial encounter with her sick sister the guards and castle doctors had rushed in and taken her sister here. During the past hour they had tried all manners of tests and procedures to try and determine what was wrong with Celestia. So far they had learned very little other that the fact that whatever was happening to Celestia was almost definitely magical in nature.

Luna's pacing was interrupted when Twilight and her six friends burst through the door.

"Princess Luna! We got here as fast as we could. Is Celestia all right, is she in pain? Is that her room? What kind of test have-" Luna stopped Twilight's flurry of questions by raising a hoof.

"Perhaps it would be better if you saw her for yourself," said Luna

Twilight Sparkle nodded and her and the rest of her friends followed Luna into Celestia's room.

The room inside looked surprisingly like a normal hospital room, except for the fact that it was about twice the size and almost every other thing in the room was coated in gold. The room was full of many medical devices that Twilight was familiar with and others that she was not. There were heart beat monitors emitting a steady beeping, magical analyzers making sure the princess' magic was stable, and several IV bags administering all sorts of different chemicals. However Twilight didn't notice any of this. Her eyes and the eyes of the others were all focused on the bed in the center of the room.

In the bed was Princess Celestia, only she was... changed. The right side of her face and neck were a dark black. Her horn was also partially black on the lower portion and was beginning to slightly curve at the base of her forehead. Fangs could be seen sticking out of her mouth and she appeared to be losing a substantial amount of feathers.

When they all saw this Rarity let out a gasp, Fluttershy eep'd and hid behind Rainbow Dash, Pinkie stopped smiling and Applejack took off her hat and held it over her heart. Twilight could only stare at her mentor.

'Dear Goddesses what has happened to her?' Twilight was pulled out of her thought when Spike tugged on her mane.

Twilight turned to face Luna and said "Princess, what happened to her?"

"I am unsure Twilight Sparkle, but I do know that this isn't your normal sickness and that it is spreading faster," said Luna

"Beggin' your pardon Princess but why is her coat turnin' yah know.. black?" asked Applejack

"We do not know the answer to that question, Applejack, but our best guess is that it has something to do with the Changeling attack on Canterlot," said Luna

They all gasped. The Changeling attack was months ago, there hadn't been any sightings of them in Equestria since then, but here was the Princess, suffering from some unknown disease that is slowly but surely changing her body.

"Princess have you found any evidence to suggest what might have been the cause of this?" asked Twilight

"No," said Luna "We are having trouble with determining the source of the sickness."

"Well that's something isn't it? It might not be Changeling related after all," said Rarity.

"Rarity have you seen her?" asked Rainbow Dash "I mean just look at her! She looks like a Changeling!"

"Calm down Dashie, I'm sure it'll be okay," said Pinkie.

"Pinkie this is anything but okay! How can you know this is going to be okay?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"I dunno, all I know is that were gonna need a bigger party than what I planned!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Ahem, yes well the reason I summoned you all here is because I believe that you can help," said Luna.

"Just tell us what you need us to do Princess," said Twilight.

"Very well," said Luna "I would like you to use the Elements of Harmony on Celestia."

"Do you think that would work?" asked Twilight.

"I can not say for certain, but I sincerely hope that it will work," Luna said.

"Well if the Princess thinks it's worth a shot we'll give it a try," said Applejack as the other six nodded their heads.

"Excellent," said Luna "let's begin immediately then." Luna pulled out the ornately covered box that housed the Elements of Harmony and opened the lid. She then levitated each element over to it's respective bearer.

"Spike, go stand by Princess Luna okay?" said Twilight

"Alright, Twilight," said Spike as he walked over to were Luna was standing.

"Okay girls let's get into position," Twilight said

Twilight walked over to the hoof of Celestia's bed while the other five formed a rough semicircle around the bed.

"Okay, everypony ready? Good let's do this," said Twilight.

Twilight began to channel magic into her horn and then into the Element of Magic. As she gathered more and more mana the other Elements began to draw magic from their respective bearers, pooling all the magic into the Element of Magic. Twilight began to feel a familiar tingling sensation as she and her friends began to levitate off the ground. The Elements began to glow brighter and brighter and Twilight could feel the complex spell forming right before the magic was unleashed. Twilight's eyes started to glow white from the magical overflow as the Elements of Harmony activated. A rainbow of pure magical energy shot out of the Elements and spiraled into the air, twisting and turning as it streaked down and enveloped Princess Celestia. The magic began to swirl all around Celestia's body as it did it's work. Luna watched on in awe at the sheer power of the Elements before having to turn away from the intensity of the light being produced. The magic was slowing down and beginning to disperse. Twilight and her friends gently floated back to solid ground and shook their heads to clear it from the sheer volume of magic that was just released. When they regained their senses the all looked at Celestia in anticipation. As the brightness faded they could clearly make out that... Celestia looked exactly the same.

To her credit Twilight Sparkle did not freak out for a full five seconds. Then those five seconds were over.

"WHAT?!" screamed a livid Twilight "How in Equestria is that even POSSIBLE?! The Elements of Harmony are the single most powerful magical artifacts in the known world, and yet they did absolutely nothing!"

"Twi, maybe you should calm down down just a tiny bit," said Applejack.

"Calm down? Calm down?!" yelled Twilight "How in Equestria do you expect me to calm down when we just failed the Princess, both of the Princesses! Princess Celestia is still sick and there's nothing I could do to fix it!"

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE, THOU MUST GET THY GRIP! DOEST THOU BELIVE THAT THOU ART THE ONLY ONE WHO CARES FOR CELESTIA'S WELLBEING? WE ALL DO AND LOSING THY MIND SHALL HELP NO ONE!" Luna said.

Twilight stopped yelling and said "I'm sorry everypony, I didn't mean to yell like that."

"It's alright Twilight we all understand," said Fluttershy "you're just frustrated, we all are, I want you to know that we all love you very much."

Everypony else agreed with Fluttershy said.

"Thank you Fluttershy, thank you all for putting up with my... quirks," said Twilight.

"Aw shucks it ain't no problem at all sugar cube," said Applejack.

"Ohhh come here you guys," Pinkie said as she pulled everyone into a group hug.

"Well now that everypony has settled down I believe we should have the Doctors examine my sister to see if there were any changes," said Luna.

"But Princess, we saw what happened, the Elements did nothing!" Said Rainbow Dash.

"They did not cure her, no, but something may have happened that we just can not see," replied Princess Luna "For now why don't you all get some rest, it's quite late and there's no reason for you to be up anymore."

"But-" Twilight began.

"No buts, you all need rest and I'm going to make sure you get it. You may use the royal guest chambers, I'm sure Twilight can show you the way," said Princess Luna.

"Very well, Princess as you wish," said Twilight "Come on girls let's go. Goodnight Princess!"

"Goodnight my little ponies," said Luna "Sweet dreams."

Author's Note:

And thus marks the beginning of the beginning. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Chapters will probably all be about this length or longer from now on.
Thanks for reading!

Comments

[Xaldon Ajide]

The beginning of this story follows a similar path to another story I saw Called the threat of change involving Celestia chrysalis Twilight and Luna. hopefully the author doesn't get too mad at the similarities..

other than that it's a really good story.

[Geopocalypse]

2873349 huh I've never read that story before I promise. Also The story will be focusing more on the mane six rather than the princesses. Also I'm glad you liked it!

[Xaldon Ajide]

2873384 Sounds good, I was just being careful and letting you know ahead of time.

[Geopocalypse]

2873395 Thank you I appreciate it

[Skeeter The Lurker]

So far... I like what I read.

Seems a bit OOC in some places, but other than that, not bad.

~Skeeter The Lurker