Waning and Waxing

by Calliope Pony

Chapter 21

The ponies enter the castle and look around. The hall is cold and desolate after all these years of neglect.

I remember when we built this hall. We were so happy about it.

Enough of that, the castle’s not important now. What is important is getting the Elements and making sure they cannot be used against me. Once I’ve done that I’ll find out where Celestia’s new castle is and declare myself sole ruler of Equestria.

As the ponies step forward Applejack speaks to the purple unicorn.

“Come on, Twilight. Isn’t this what you been waitin’ for?

Twilight. The purple unicorn’s name is Twilight. She’s the only one whose name I hadn’t caught yet. And she’s the one leading the search for the Elements.

The ponies make their way to a tall stand with arms supporting five stone spheres. They take the spheres and begin fussing with them.

Those rocks aren’t the Elements, are they? The elements are jewels, and there should be six of them. To my surprise I hear Pinkie raising the same question.

“One, two, three, four... there’s only five.”

Rainbow chimes in, “Where’s the sixth?”

Twilight studies the stones and answers, “The book said when the five are present a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.”

“What in the hay is that supposed to mean?”

“I’m not sure, but I have an idea. Stand back, I don’t know what will happen.”

Did Celestia lock away one of the Elements for some security purpose? Is that what this means? No matter now. They may not look like jewels anymore, but those stones must be the Elements, and I must grab them now before those ponies can find the sixth.

Twilight is preparing to cast a spell to reveal the final Element, and the other ponies step outside to let her work. Perfect.

As she begins her spell I sweep in and scoop up the Elements in my smoke form. As soon as I have them in my grasp I teleport away to the high tower. Just as I complete the teleportation spell, however, I feel something jostle me.

I materialize in the tower room with the Elements, and at once I see what the jostling was. Twilight must have jumped after me at the last moment and been caught in mid-teleport, for she appears with me and falls to the ground.

No matter. I have the Elements in my grasp, and there’s no way this pathetic little unicorn can stand against me.

She’s ready to fight, though. Lowering her horn towards me, she paws the floor and prepares to charge.

“You’re kidding. You’re kidding, right?” She can’t possibly expect to fight me and win, can she? She’s either very brave, very foolish, or very desperate.

Well, if that’s what she wants, I’ll make her sorry she dared to challenge me. I lower my horn and gallop forward to meet her mid-charge. I had considered letting them live, but now I’m ready to skewer this insolent mare.

Just as my horn is about to connect with her she vanishes. What? Where did she go? I whip around to see her materialize on the dais where I set down the stones. No! I won’t let her have them! I charge toward the stones as I see her cast a spell.

The force of her own spell sends her flying backwards as I land on top of the dais. The Elements are sparking and glowing. I brace myself... but nothing happens. The glow dies away, and the stones lie still and impotent. No more fooling around now. This is my chance to do away with this threat once and for all. Laughing madly, I rear up and bring my hoofs down, shattering the stones.

“You little foal, thinking you could defeat me! Now you will never see your princess or your sun. The night will last forever!”

Twilight stares up at me with the most wonderfully devastated look on her face. That is the look of a pony whose last hope has failed. I feel malevolent joyfulness rising up within me. These stupid, pathetic little ponies thought they could defeat me, ME, and bring back their precious sun. Well, this will show them. This will show them all that I am truly the greatest princess Equestria has ever known. None can defeat me! I have destroyed the last obstacle, and now I shall take the throne.

I throw my head back, laughing in malicious triumph.