Camaraderie is Sorcery

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 4:2 - A Ruler in Waiting, Part the Second

Author's Note:

Translations

Chapter 4:2 – A Ruler in Waiting, Part the Second

Luna—or rather, Nightmare Moon—cackled to herself as her star-filled mane and tail swirled around her like a spiral galaxy. Twilight Sparkle could feel the alicorn’s power thundering against her, far stronger than when she’d fought her before. Even then, she’d only managed to defeat Nightmare Moon with the power of the Elements of Harmony and her friends. The Element of Sorcery was still upon her head, but it was useless without the other five. Twilight tried opening a portal to Ponieville to reunite with her friends, but she found the task impossible. Is it the Everfree Forest interfering, or is it those vines?

“Luna! Think about what you are doing!” Twilight cried out, bewildered that the alicorn who’d seemed so penitent for her rebellion was now making a second attempt to seize power. “If you do not stop, you will be banished to the moon for another thousand years!”

A storm raged out from Nightmare Moon, lightning coursing through the hall and tearing down tapestries, sculptures, and columns. Why would she destroy this place after going to the trouble to rebuild it? Twilight Sparkle conjured a shield to protect against the lightning before it reached her, but the blinding streaks were unexpectedly deflected by another’s spell. Twilight turned in surprise to see Celestia behind her, standing tall and regal with a severe frown distorting her features.

“Luna, be not a fool,” Celestia said as she strode forward, lightning crackling around her but never reaching her. “Dost thou truly thinkest that thou couldst stand against me? Give up this madness and lower the moon. ‘Tis thy duty to surrender to the day in its time, just as ‘tis mine to surrender to the night.”

“Yes, thou wouldst wish me to surrender, as in all things, but no more,” Nightmare Moon declared as she let her spell subside. “Luna is no more; I am Nightmare Moon, and I will never be in thy shadow again!”

“If thou wilt not yield, then I shall do what I must,” Celestia said with a hint of remorse.

“Thou wilt certainly try!” Nightmare Moon bellowed as she let loose her dark magic upon her sister.

Celestia struck back, and the true battle began. Flame, ice, blades, lances of pure energy, and corporeal darkness shot back and forth between the two alicorns faster than Twilight could follow. She stood dumbfounded below as the two sisters lifted into the air, floor tiles cracking beneath them from spell impacts. Twilight was broken out of her stupor as the building started to crumble around her and she had to dodge falling masonry. Celestia and Nightmare Moon’s duel moved out through a hole in the roof, and Twilight flew unsteadily after them in pursuit. She wasn’t sure what she would contribute to the struggle, but she could surely do something to help Celestia against her traitorous sister.

Twilight emerged into a night illuminated by an overlarge moon and came to a halt as she realized that things were very different from what she had expected. The Everfree Forest stretched out in all directions, but it wasn’t choked by mysterious vines at all. Were they only on the edges? But then, why couldn’t I scry the Three Palaces? It appeared that all three palaces had been rebuilt (though that effort had been undone with Luna’s destruction of the Royal Court) along with a city to the west of the castles. The city was illuminated by rampant flames, and Twilight could hear screams as pony fought against pony. She spotted a few figures circling over the buildings, some with bat wings: Luna’s captains.

Everything was finally starting to make sense: Luna’s change of heart, the rebuilt palaces, Celestia’s speech, an Everfree free of vines. Twilight wasn’t witnessing another attempt by Nightmare Moon to bring about eternal night—she was witnessing Nightmare Moon’s first Rebellion, the one that had taken place over a thousand years ago. Celestia and Luna had completely ignored her presence, so it was unlikely she was actually here, but she was able to watch history unfolding. There must be something here she needed to see in order to defeat the threat in the present (provided the potion Zecor had given her did what it was supposed to).

Twilight Sparkle searched the sky for Celestia and Nightmare Moon; ultimately, she was able to pinpoint them not by sight, but by the vast amounts of magic they were expending. She tried to fly to them, but just as she started to dip out of the sky, she felt stuck, as if she were swimming in molasses. While she felt almost frozen in place, everything around her seemed to speed up. The city below was demolished, and the fires burned themselves out. Celestia and Nightmare Moon darted around near and far, their struggle doing great damage to everything they passed, including the Castles of Day and Night. The temperature plummeted without the sun, snow fell profusely, and frost covered everything. With the moon motionless in the sky, it was impossible to tell how much time actually passed, but Twilight estimated it had been weeks; through it all, Celestia and Luna never ceased their battle. When Twilight was able to move again, she fell out of the sky and barely caught herself in time as she fell back through a hole in the Royal Court’s roof.

Celestia crashed through the ceiling shortly thereafter, smashing her throne to bits as she landed on top of it. She rose shakily, her clothes torn and body damaged from the constant fighting. Her eyes were bloodshot and sunken into her head from facing her sister in battle for so long, and she looked as if she couldn’t go on. Keeping her eyes to the sky, Celestia limped through the destroyed throne room.

“Forgive me, Luna,” she said softly. “Thou hast left me no other recourse.”

Reaching out with her magic, Celestia caused a stone tree to rise from behind the thrones, a gem perched at the end of each branch: the Elements of Harmony. Celestia reached out with her magic and was surprised to find how difficult it was for her to take possession of them. Perhaps Luna was right; had she really fallen so far that the Elements no longer responded to her?

As Nightmare Moon crashed through a stained-glass window, dark magic lancing out from her, Celestia desperately reached out and pushed. The Elements of Harmony came to her, weaving into a spell matrix around the ruler that deflected Nightmare Moon’s attack. Celestia’s eyes blazed with light as she struck out at her sister with the power of the Elements. Nightmare Moon attempted to fight back but the power was too great, the light of the Elements soon overwhelming her darkness and surrounding her. Nightmare Moon screamed as her body appeared to burn away in magical fire. As the searing light faded, the Mare in the Moon so familiar to Twilight could be seen in its cosmic satellite overhead. Celestia looked up in tears at her sister’s prison for the next thousand years before causing it to set, bringing the sun back into view to thaw the frozen world.

The sight vanished from before Twilight’s eyes as her vision flashed and she found herself once more in Ponieville, surrounded by her friends and Discord.

“What? Why are you all staring at me?” Twilight asked.

“Well, y’ were mumblin’ t’ y’rself for a bit there an’ then’ y’ got quiet,” Applejack said.

“We didn’t know if you were okay,” Fluttershy added.

“I am fine,” Twilight Sparkle said. “I witnessed Nightmare Moon’s Rebellion, though I do not know what connection it has to these vines, or to Celestia and Luna’s disappearance.”

“Perhaps you need imbibe more of the potion,” Zecor suggested, gesturing to the phial, which was still mostly full.

Twilight Sparkle complied and took another draught from the phial. Her vision went white again, clearing this time to reveal an all-too-familiar scene. The world around Twilight was a patchwork of confusing and conflicting vignettes, a world in which chaos reigned supreme. A swarm of fish flew overhead in the direction of a towering throne, over the top of which poked a twisted horn and an antler. The throne spun around without warning to reveal Discord’s lounging form, his serpentine body stretched out along it so that he coiled over and through himself.

“Oh-ho-ho! Come at last, have you?” Discord chuckled, unconcerned. “I don’t suppose you’ve come to pledge fealty to me?”

“No chance of that, Discord,” Celestia replied, and Twilight turned to see her mentor and Luna trotting up together. “We have come to end thy cruel reign once and for all. Thou shalt return Equus to the way it was before thee camest.”

“Hmmmmmmm, nah,” Discord said after momentarily pretending to ponder the idea. “I think I like things the way they are, completely unpredictable.”

As the landscape shifted, Celestia found herself upside down above Luna and launched herself off the spiraled hill to rejoin her sister.

“Oh, you both look so serious, so dreary, so … boooooooring! Here, why don’t you help me feed the fish?” Discord asked as he extended a pouch filled with black seeds, some of them spilling over the top. “Come on, only tuppence a bag! I’m sure with the ‘vast and unknowable’ alicorn magic you have, conjuring up two measly pennies should be a trivial feat.”

“Enough, Discord!” Celestia exclaimed. “We did not come here to play thy games, but to defeat thee!”

Reaching into their saddlebags, Celestia and Luna produced three Elements of Harmony apiece, the gems appearing just as they had in Twilight’s previous flashback. Trustworthiness, Mirth, and Allegiance hovered around Luna; and Compassion, Charity, and Sorcery floated close to Celestia. Together, the alicorns directed the power of the Elements toward Discord, their power building into a beam of multicolored light.

“Oh, you actually believe you can defeat me?” Discord laughed. “That’s just too funny!”

As Discord laughed, the power of the Elements washed over him, transforming the mad ruler into stone and freezing him in the position he would remain in for the next sixteen centuries. As the surrounding landscape was cleansed from chaos, Twilight’s vision flashed and she returned to the present.

“Well?” Rarity asked as Twilight shook her head, a headache beginning to form.

“I saw Discord’s defeat,” Twilight said, and the draconequus arched a bushy eyebrow. “But again, nothing that helps us out in our current situation. I need to go again.”

Twilight took another drink from the phial, and her consciousness fled to the past once more. This time, she found herself standing in an underground cavern, the space illuminated mostly by bioluminescent lichen and faintly glowing crystals. There was one orifice in the cavern’s ceiling that allowed a shaft of light to fall upon a large crystalline tree. Twilight stepped forward cautiously and examined the odd structure. In almost every respect, it was like any other living, growing tree, though there were some notable differences. The trunk and branches were translucent and shone like gemstones, and veins pulsing faintly with light were threaded throughout the otherworldly flora. From the branches hung long, weeping willow-like strands of glowing leaves; and hanging like fruit among them were the Elements of Harmony. The flapping of wings alerted Twilight to Celestia and Luna descending through the hole above to land near the tree.

“The Tree of Harmony,” Luna whispered with awe.

“I told you we would find it,” Celestia said with a smile. “Now we will have the means to defeat Discord once and for all.”

“Wait, sister,” Luna said, placing out a hoof to forestall Celestia as she began to trot toward the tree. “Art thou sure that we shall not harm the tree by removing the Elements?”

“Even without the Elements, the tree possesses a magic all its own,” Celestia reassured her. “And once we defeat Discord, we shall return here and keep the Elements nearby. This is necessary to restore our world, dear sister.”

Luna nodded, and the two of them approached the Tree of Harmony together. They each picked three Elements, though not the three that Twilight Sparkle had seen them wielding against Discord—nor did the Elements project the kind of power that Twilight was familiar with. Celestia and Luna may have secured the Elements of Harmony, but they could not face Discord until they managed to embody the qualities the Elements represented. Twilight’s vision flashed and she returned, for the last time, to the present.

“Did you find out anything this time?” Spike asked anxiously.

“About the vines, I am not sure,” Twilight said thoughtfully. “Although, I may have learned something about a way to defeat them. I saw Celestia and Luna retrieve the Elements from the Tree of Harmony this time.”

“The … Tree of Harmony?” Rainbow Dash asked dubiously.

“Yes; combined with the Elements, it may be able to drive back the vines,” Twilight said.

“Well, all right then!” Applejack said enthusiastically, “Where is this Tree o’ Harmony?”

“I think it may be … in the Everfree Forest,” Twilight said as she considered the question. “Celestia said they would return the Elements to be near it, and we know that she and Luna kept the Elements in the Three Palaces of the Two Sisters. We should start our search near the ruins.”

“Into the Everfree Forest,” Rarity mused. “It seems only yesterday we departed into the forest to seek the Elements of Harmony.”

“There were no vines that time,” Rainbow Dash pointed out.

“Yes, but just like then, we will all be together, and we can overcome whatever the forest may throw at us,” Twilight Sparkle said. “If we defeated Nightmare Moon, then we can defeat some overgrown plants.”

With some difficulty, Twilight opened a portal into the Everfree Forest. The Everfree’s peculiar magic kept her from opening a portal directly to the Three Palaces of the Two Queens, but with the power of an alicorn, she was able to conjure one reasonably close. It had taken the Brave Companions two days of walking the last time they’d traveled to the palaces, so however much closer she could get them was an improvement. The ruined spires were visible over trees weighed down by vines, and Twilight beckoned her friends forward. Once they’d all passed through the portal, she let it snap shut behind them, leaving them in the middle of hostile territory.

The forest was strangely silent, much its wildlife already having fled from the vines. The vines themselves made most of the noise as they rustled through the trees, strangling them and reaching out toward the Brave Companions. Twilight readied a spell to smite them, but the vines pulled back, repelled by the Elements of Harmony even in their inactive state.

“Any ideas, Twilight?” Pinkamena asked as she looked around.

“The Tree of Harmony was in an underground cavern with an entrance from above,” Twilight said. “We should search the Three Palaces first for any entrances.”

Once they were all in agreement, the group struck out toward the ruins of Celestia and Luna’s ancient seat of power. Spike stayed near Rainbow Dash as her sword struck down the vines in their path; the wicked black tendrils seemed to have no problem with pursuing the young dragon, since he was only member without an Element of Harmony. As the Companions made their way through the landscape, they gradually became aware that the vines were most powerful in this area. The ground had been rapidly reshaped, vines having burst from it in great bundles or pushed it to the side to form unnatural hillocks with trees sticking out horizontally. Fissures had cracked open in the ground, filled with green, glowing sap. One of these blocked their path until Twilight found a route across along a set of rocks.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew over while Twilight made her way across on hoof, only using her wings to steady herself. Her ability to balance was put to the test as the rocks began moving beneath her hooves, rising out of the bubbling sap to reveal they were part of a living creature. The sorceress flapped furiously to get away as a long snout filled with crystalline teeth snapped up at her.

“It’s a cragodile! Twilight, get out of there!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

Twilight tried to fly away but her wings failed her (albeit in an opportune way), and she fell beneath the cragodile’s jaws as they snapped at her. Thankfully, she was able to extend them into a glide long enough to cross the fissure of sap and put her hooves back on solid ground. By then, the cragodile was heaving itself up out of the sap, revealing the full extent of its massive, stony, crocodile-like body. It would undoubtedly be able fit a whole alicorn within its mouth, provided none of its teeth shredded the victim first. Twilight drew lines in the ground and prepared a spell to strike the cragodile as it lumbered toward her, jaw agape.

“Ye seni cavan’r affle!^[1]” she called out, and magic built up in front of her, prepared to drill a beam of pure energy through the cragodile’s body.

However, as Twilight should have expected so deep in the Everfree Forest, her spell went awry. The magical semicircle in front of her exploded with a light that temporarily blinded her and threw her back. She tumbled across the forest floor, smoke rising from her torn robes and scratches gouged across her body as she struck thorny vines. The cragodile continued its charge toward her until Rainbow Dash flew overhead, dropping bombs on its snout. The vine she had landed upon tried to wrap around her but failed, opting instead to begin coursing magic along its length in preparation to teleport her away. Applejack leapt the gap and bucked the vine away before it could zap Twilight, while Rainbow Dash continued her assault on the cragodile. As Applejack helped Twilight to her feet, the cragodile roared and charged again toward them, ignoring the pinpricks that Rainbow Dash was making in its flesh.

“Come on, Twi’!” Applejack yelled as the sorceress tried to clear her head.

The farmer grabbed Twilight’s foreleg and pulled her upward while leaping as the cragodile’s snout struck the ground where they had just been. Applejack landed on the cragodile’s nose and ran along its back while Twilight came to and tried to fly over it. The monster continued to snap up at her while she unsteadily flew over its back and it turned ponderously after her.

Rainbow Dash darted out of nowhere at incredible speed, a long branch held in her forelegs. The cragodile noticed her and tried to close its eyes, but she was already too close. While the tip of a makeshift spear glanced off the edge of the stony eyelid, the rest of the shaft still plunged into the vulnerable eye with a disturbingly wet sound. Rainbow Dash continued to force the branch in as the cragodile flailed in its death throes, its brain already pierced and its skull filling with blood. At last, the cragodile fell still, and silence descended over the Everfree again.

“That was too close,” Rainbow Dash said as she eased herself down against the immobile cragodile’s foreleg, her hooves resting in the great troughs its claws had carved into the earth.

“Twi’, are y’ okay?” Applejack asked the sorceress.

Twilight Sparkle’s ears were still ringing, but she patted at them with her hooves and they eventually quieted down.

“Yes,” Twilight said, a little too loud as she nodded. “I would be better, of course, if my wings would actually do what I want of them.”

“I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it,” Fluttershy said as she flew Rarity across the fissure.

“Of course she will, eventually,” Rainbow Dash said as she heaved herself back to her hooves.

“Eventually may not be soon enough,” Twilight said morosely as she examined the burdens upon her back. “I cannot teleport reliably in the Everfree, so these wings are all I have to escape harm.”

“Twi’ …” Applejack said hesitantly, “Maybe … maybe y’ should return t’ Ponieville or Cant’r Laht until we find th’ Tree o’ Harmony.”

“What?” Twilight asked incredulously. “Why?”

“Well, y’ were almost killed back there,” Applejack said. “That cragodile could’ve snapped y’ up in one bite.”

“The same could have happened to any of us, perhaps barring only Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said.

“Yes, but …” Rarity said.

“But what?” Twilight asked.

“Twilight, darling, you are a princess,” Rarity said, pleading for her friend to understand. “Your life is more important than ours.”

“No, that is not true at all,” Twilight insisted. “You are all just as important.”

“Twi’, Celestia an’ Luna are gone, an’ there’s no way o’ knowin’ if findin’ th’ Tree o’ Harmony or defeatin’ these vines’ll bring ‘em back. You’re th’ closest thing th’ Kingdom o’ Cant’r Laht has t’ a ruler right now. What do y’ think’ll happen if y’ die?” Applejack asked.

Twilight could imagine what would happen. The kingdom would fall apart as the nobles and sorceresses fought among themselves. With no strong leading figure like Celestia, the kingdom would face invasion from all sides: from Los Pegasus, Vanhuv’r, Stalliongrad, Balte-Maer, and perhaps even Applewood & Mareagon. The dragonlords might even decide to rescind their peace treaties and Ingrirtireth himself would invade Equestria. Chaos and destruction would follow, and Twilight’s home would be no more.

“I’m not some waif to be locked away and protected,” Twilight protested weakly.

“We know that, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash assured her. “You’re the most powerful sorceress I’ve ever met, and you’ve got the guts of a hundred Hunters, but … here in the Everfree Forest, your magic can’t be depended upon, and your flying … well, it still needs some work. We don’t want to split up again, but … it may be for the best.”

“You really think so?” Twilight asked melancholically and she looked to her friends, who all nodded agreement sheepishly. “Well ... okay, then.”

Feeling defeated, Twilight took some items from her saddlebags and passed them off to Spike.

“Send me a letter when you find the Elements of Harmony, or … if you need my help,” she said. “I will be in Cant’r Laht.”

Twilight opened a portal to the mountainside city and reluctantly strode through it, looking behind her one last time as she let the portal close, cutting herself off again from her friends.

***

Twilight Sparkle sat morosely in Cant’r Laht Castle’s council chamber. She’d returned to find that the council had made no progress during her absence toward solving the current crises. Multiple sorceresses were now convinced that Celestia and Luna (or at least their bodies) were somewhere in the Everfree Forest. There were no records anyone could find about the mysterious vines, nor on how to raise and lower the sun. The day was beginning to heat up, already nearing temperatures common on only the warmest summer day, and it would only get hotter until the natural cycle of day and night was restored.

“We know that sorceresses were able to form cabals to raise and lower the sun and moon together before Celestia and Luna became alicorns, so it is not a lost cause,” Twilight told her council authoritatively. “You must continue the search. Has anypony checked the archives in the Crystal City?”

“The Crystal City?” Duchess Reigna asked dubiously.

“Yes. It is possible that Celestia had all records of spells for raising and lowering the sun and moon destroyed, much the same as her orders to destroy all records of Nightmare Moon’s Rebellion,” Twilight said. “However, the Crystal City disappeared before her purges, so there is a chance they may still have records of such spells.”

Duchess Reigna looked uncomfortable at having to seek help outside of her precious Cant’r Laht, but she would comply. Twilight turned next to Mother Hesperatia, her court chaplain, a position on the council Luna had insisted upon.

“What of the Church of One? Have you any records in your archives on the matter?” Twilight asked.

“Your highness, the Church is not in the habit of storing grimoires,” the priestess replied.

“Nevertheless, I want you to search for them,” Twilight said. “A bevy of information on Nightmare Moon’s Rebellion came to light from your archives after Luna’s return; you may have what we’re looking for squirreled away somewhere and not know it.”

“Yes, your highness,” Hesperatia said. “Perhaps you would wish to speak with High Priestess Rubius?”

“The High Priestess can wait,” Twilight said as she stood, dismissing the rest of the council who followed her lead. “I have other matters to attend to at the moment.”

As the councilors scattered to attend to their assigned tasks or whisper conspiratorially in hallways, Twilight made her way down to the makeshift office she’d set up in the Prince of the City’s quarters. She missed her friends but had to admit that they hadn’t been entirely wrong in sending her away. As the effective ruler of Cant’r Laht—temporary though she hoped that would be—Twilight had to be more careful with placing herself in danger. Still, she didn’t have to like it.

“Why the long face, Twilight Sparkle?” Out of the blue, Twilight heard the question in what sounded like Discord’s voice. She backpedaled upon noticing one of the torch sconces had morphed into his face.

“Discord!” she exclaimed, “Why are you not in Ponieville?”

“Oh, but I aaaam. What makes you think I can’t be in four places at once?” Discord asked as two more wall sconces transformed into his face, his voice multiplying with them.

“I just wish you would focus on your duty of holding back the Everfree Forest instead of using your power to come bother me here,” Twilight said as she resumed her trot down the corridor.

“Well, I can’t very well bother you in the Everfree Forest, now can I?” Discord sniffed as he made more of the sconces take on his appearance, staying ahead of Twilight as she trotted along. “You know, I never expected you to abandon your friends.”

“I did not abandon them,” Twilight insisted as she picked up her pace. “They decided it was too dangerous for me to trek through the Everfree until they found the Tree of Harmony.”

“Ah, so they abandoned you,” Discord said. “It all makes sense now.”

“They did not abandon me,” Twilight snapped as she came to a halt, though it felt like a lie saying it out loud.

“Whatever you say, queenie,” the wall sconces mocked. “If you agree with them that your life is more important than theirs, then you’re making the right decision. After all, what are friends to the Crown of Cant’r Laht?”

“Be silent!” Twilight commanded, sending a wave of magic down the hall that restored the wall sconces to their natural appearance.

Twilight mulled things over in her head, debating her course of action. She knew Discord was just egging her on and whatever he was pushing her toward couldn’t be good … but she so desperately wanted to take the bait. She couldn’t accept her friends’ premise that, as Cant’r Laht’s ruler, her life was somehow more valuable than theirs. She certainly didn’t feel that way anymore. And just like that, her decision was made—she wouldn’t have them risk their lives for her when she wasn’t willing to risk her own. Twilight Sparkle opened a portal in the corridor to the Everfree Forest and stepped through.

The forest’s magic had thrown her off course again, and she was alone among the trees near the Three Palaces of the Two Queens, in a different direction for when she’d last been here. The ruined spires, pierced with thorny vines in some places, were easy to see, and she made her way in their direction. The vines tried to block her path, but she skirted or flew over them whenever she could.

She was convinced by now that the vines possessed some form of intelligence, as they soon prevented her from taking to the air by forming a canopy over her head. If only she were better at flying, she could have broken free from them entirely and soared to the ruins; instead, she was stuck on the ground. Whenever the vines pulsed with magic, she put some distance between herself and the teleporting tendrils, constantly begrudging the fact that it was unsafe for her to use her own magic to blast a path through. As Twilight was starting to regret her rash decision to return here alone, she realized that she was completely surrounded, the vines forming a wall between the tree trunks and closing off the path behind her.

Dangerous or not, she wouldn’t be trapped like this, and Twilight prepared a spell to cut herself free. Before she could cast it, though, a new type of vine slithered out from between the gaps—vines ending in large, thorny, flower-like heads. As they unfurled, they filled the space with slightly glowing gas. Twilight Sparkle tried to hold her breath, but she became drowsy the moment the gas touched her. When she breathed in a lung full of it, she lost consciousness completely and collapsed to the ground.

***

While Twilight had been busy in Cant’r Laht and returned unannounced, her friends had been at work searching the ruins of Celestia and Luna’s old home for signs of the Tree of Harmony. Rainbow Dash flew through the canyon that separated the palaces from the town to their west, and the others searched the palaces and their grounds. The vines had completely infiltrated the ancient castles, making it even more difficult to search effectively. In spite of these facts, the ponies and dragonling managed as best they could.

“Oh, come over here,” Fluttershy called as they investigated the throne room.

At the base of the pedestal where they’d found the Elements of Harmony, next to where a vine had burst through the floor, there was a hoof-sized hole. After the group got closer to the new discovery, they could hear a faint wind blowing through it. There was something beneath, and Applejack attempted to push the pedestal aside. Miraculously, she was able to budge it some, but not enough for any of them to fit through the gap. They had to wait until Rainbow Dash was fetched; once she arrived, the Hunter used a bomb to expand the opening for them.

Using Spike’s breath to light torches, the companions descended into the hole, coming upon a set of stairs after the initial drop. The staircase wound down past abandoned hallways that were blocked off with rusted iron gates before continuing down into a larger cavern and hugging the wall. The torches proved mostly unnecessary as they descended into the cavern, whose walls were lit with glowing crystals and bioluminescent lichen. The black thorny vines smothered the light in some places, including in the center of the room, where they were wrapped tightly around a dimly glowing tree whose internal light pulsed weakly. Around the base of the tree was a massive bundle of overlapping vines with spines preventing anypony from getting too close.

“Oh dear,” Fluttershy said as she flew toward the tree. “I think it’s dying.”

“It must be the Tree of Harmony,” Rainbow Dash said. “Twilight was right about it being connected to the vines.”

“Well, then, let’s save it already,” Applejack said as she trotted up to the tree and tried pulling at the vines. No matter how she tugged or bucked, they didn’t move in the slightest, those around the base having formed a shell nearly as strong as stone.

“Leave it to me,” Rainbow Dash said as she rushed in with her sword drawn. Before she could strike at the vines surrounding the tree, they struck out at her and batted her aside. Unlike the vines suffocating the forest, these seemed unconcerned about the Element of Allegiance around Rainbow’s neck and kept the Hunter’s attacks at bay.

“Valiant efforts, but we seem to have made no progress, darlings,” Rarity said. “The Tree of Harmony remains in jeopardy.”

“D’ you have any ideas on how t’ save it?” Applejack asked defensively, and Rarity grew sheepish.

“Twilight will know what to do,” Fluttershy said. “I wish we hadn’t sent her away.”

“Me, too,” Pinkamena admitted.

“We all agreed ‘twas for the best … for Cant’r Laht,” Applejack said.

“Maybe it was, but I still wish she was here with us,” Rarity said.

“A-hem,” Spike cleared his throat, and they all turned to look at him. “Twilight didn’t want to leave any more than you wanted to send her away. We send her a letter, and she’ll be back in two shakes of Pinkamena’s tail.”

That raised their spirits some, and they ascended from the cavern to allow Spike to compose his letter with better light. The dragonling soon became thankful that he usually only had Twilight dictate letters to him, as she was normally clear and thoughtful in what she wanted to say. Trying to write a letter composed by five ponies who all had different ideas of what should be included and how it should be phrased was a tricky task, but in the end, he managed to throw something together that would relay all the information that Twilight would need.

“Huh, that’s odd,” Spike said after igniting the letter and watching the smoke fly away.

“What is?” Rarity asked.

“Usually the smoke vanishes, unless the letter’s recipient is nearby.”

***

Twilight slumbered while the vines closed in around her, magic pulsing through their fibers as they prepared to teleport her away and imprison her. She was jerked out of her sleep by the sound of explosions and slashing. Rainbow Dash broke through the canopy of vines above her and decapitated several of the flowers spraying the alicorn with gas. As the air began to clear, the rest of the Brave Companions piled into the thorny cage, striking at the vines however they could, throwing debris and bucking at weak points cut open by the Hunter. Once the vines were driven back enough, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash grabbed hold of Twilight, holding their breaths, and dragged their groggy friend out of the trap. Midway through the flight, she regained enough consciousness to spread her own wings and glide unsteadily down to the ruins of the Royal Court.

“You saved me,” Twilight said with gratitude before drooping, “Again.”

“Y’ surely would’ve done th’ same for us in another situation,” Applejack said as she placed a hoof on her friend’s side. “Twi’, y’ may have more duties an’ responsibilities now, but we should’ve trusted y’. We need t’ be y’r friends first an’ worry about other concerns after.”

“Thank you,” Twilight said. “How did you find me?”

“We sent you a letter,” Rainbow Dash said.

“We found the Tree of Harmony!” Pinkamena exclaimed.

Any more questions would have to wait until after the Tree was safe. Twilight Sparkle trotted with her friends, more grateful than ever for their company, down to the cavern beneath the Royal Court. As they descended, her friends explained the trouble they’d run into, and the problem was quite apparent as they arrived before the Tree of Harmony. The vines continued to shift around the tree, attempting to strangle it, and the light within had nearly died. Twilight Sparkle examined it while pondering what she’d seen in her visions from past.

“I think I know what we have to do,” she announced after several long minutes, to the relief of those around her. “We need to surrender the Elements to the Tree of Harmony.”

“Surrender … the Elements?” Rainbow Dash asked incredulously. “How are we supposed to protect Equestria without them? What if another world-ending threat arises?”

“Not to mention the world-ending threat we already have on our doorstep,” Rarity contributed. “How do we keep Discord from going back on his agreement if we abandon the option to turn him back to stone?”

“Twi’, th’ Elements o’ Harmony are what connect us,” Applejack said. “After what we’ve just been through, do y’ really want t’ give them up?”

“We need to be mindful of the threat of our present circumstances and not worry about possible futures for the moment. Besides, if another threat does arise, I am sure we can face it together—as we always have,” Twilight Sparkle said. “Applejack, the Elements of Harmony may have brought us together at first, but after the past three years, we have all forged new bonds and connections through our time together. Even without the Elements of Harmony, our friendship will not be broken. No, not even if we are apart for a time do we need to worry about such a possibility.”

“Now,” Twilight continued, “Are you ready to use the Elements of Harmony, perhaps for the last time?”

The others agreed and assembled around Twilight. The gems around their necks and upon the sorceress’s head began to glow, and they lifted off the floor of the cavern. Beams of light shot from the Elements of Allegiance, Trustworthiness, Charity, Compassion, and Mirth into the Element of Sorcery. Twilight Sparkle accepted the pure power of the Elements and channeled it into a spell that not even the Everfree Forest could make go awry. The six elements vanished, teleported to the positions they’d once held on the Tree of Harmony.

The vines recoiled from the tree as the Elements revitalized it, shriveling up from the magic that began to pulse from within the nearly dead organism. Light and life returned to the Tree of Harmony, and it sent out a wave of power that obliterated the vines into nothingness. The Everfree Forest was cleansed of all traces of the scourge as the Tree of Harmony shone with a blinding brilliance. As the light subsided, the Brave Companions could see, sitting at the base of the tree, a collection of unconscious ponies that the vines had teleported here. Some were dead, drained of life by the greedy vines, but most of them were still alive; these including Celestia and Luna, who rose unsteadily to their hooves as Twilight Sparkle ran up to them.

“Here?” Celestia asked as she looked up in awe at the ancient tree restored nearly to the glory it had embodied when she and Luna had removed the Elements from it. “The Elements of Harmony?”

“We returned them to the tree,” Twilight told her mentor. “With the Elements restored, the Tree of Harmony should regain its former glory and power.”

“To surrender the Elements must have taken great courage from you,” Luna commented.

The alicorns extended their wings to steady themselves as the ground shook beneath their hooves. Twilight feared at first that the vines might be making a return, but the Tree of Harmony glowed fiercely and its twisted crystalline roots shifted. One branch of roots pushed itself out of the ground near Twilight, revealing a nodule that didn’t look like it belonged to the tree. While the Tree of Harmony did appear crystalline, it still had the curved flow of a living thing—not so the tetradecahedron that detached from the root to fall at Twilight’s hooves, which had flat sides and sharp edges.

“A gift from the Tree of Harmony,” Luna said with awe.

“But … what is it?” Twilight asked as she examined the crystal curiously. When she placed a hoof against it, it seemed to be made of wood, in spite of its appearance.

“Six keyholes,” Celestia noted, pointing to the indentations on the upper six sides that ringed the box. “To find the six keys to open this mysterious case, I can think of no better ponies.”

Twilight Sparkle was joined by the rest of the Brave Companions. They didn’t have the Elements of Harmony to join them together any longer, though the Tree of Harmony had given them this. Twilight wasn’t worried; she knew that with or without Elements or mysterious boxes, the bonds she and her friends had were real, and they would all fight for them.

***

“My beloved subjects,” Celestia announced from the stage built for her in Cant’r Laht Castle’s grounds, “It is with great joy that I raise the sun in your sight and today usher in a new year on this, the summer solstice.”

Twilight waited behind the stage for her moment in the solstice ceremony. It had taken her some time to figure out connection between the vines and her visions. The flashback to Nightmare Moon’s Rebellion had revealed where to find the Tree of Harmony, and Celestia and Luna’s discovery of the Elements had shown her a previously unknown power that could combat the vines, but what about Discord’s defeat? Eventually, she’d realized that a seemingly insubstantial detail—Discord offering Celestia and Luna seeds—had been the clue she was supposed to see. Indeed, when pressed on it, Discord admitted that the vines had arisen from those seeds that had spilled upon the ground and had likely been held back by the Elements’ proximity to the Tree of Harmony until the Brave Companions had discovered them. The draconequus claimed to have forgotten all about that scheme, but Twilight suspected otherwise. Whether he’d planned it or not, it had eventually been to his benefit: without the Elements of Harmony, the Brave Companions were unable to turn him back to stone. He seemed to accept his position without that threat looming over him, at least for the moment, but it was something Twilight would need to keep in mind, along with all her other new duties and responsibilities.

“For so long, the summer solstice ceremony was a reminder to me of the banishment of my sister,” Celestia said, looking to Luna, who also stood on the stage nearby. “Now, however, it is a joyous reminder of my sister’s return. And so, it truly is with a joyous heart that I now raise the sun.”

The crowd looked eagerly to the east as light crested the White Mountains and the sun came into view.

“Forever may it be so, that sun and moon shall continue in their course through the heavens unhindered,” Luna spoke, “Guided by alicorn power.”

At her cue, Twilight took off from the ground and soared past the sun before circling back around to the stage. Her flight wasn’t the steadiest, but since most ponies weren’t expecting it, they weren’t paying attention too closely. She managed to land successfully and stood between Celestia and Luna, establishing in the crowd’s minds the continuity of alicorns from the two ancient sorceresses to herself. Celestia raised the sun and Luna the moon and, one day, Twilight Sparkle would be expected to do both.

Comments

[Snowdrifter]

“Oh, you both look so serious, so dreary, so … boooooooring! Here, why don’t you help me feed the fish?” Discord asked as he extended a pouch filled with black seeds, some of them spilling over the top. “Come on, only tuppence a bag! I’m sure with the ‘vast and unknowable’ alicorn magic you have, conjuring up two measly pennies should be a trivial feat.”

Feed the birds, tuppence a bag..
That's a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious reference!

[TasermonsPartner]

Um, why didn't Fluttershy try communicating with the cragodile? It worked okay with the manticore the first time, and I'm sure the cragodile was just irritated by the vines invading its home.

We send her a letter, and she’ll be back in two shakes of Pinkamena’s tail.”

I love that! Haha!

Hmm, once again, despite being the one to make the potion for Twilight, Zecor didn't seem to take as strong or central a role here as in the show. I know she's a foreigner in a land where magic doesn't work quite the same as where she's from, but for someone who lives in the Everfree (which is far more dangerous in this story than in the television show), she sure does seem to be lacking in courage in some areas. Also, one would've hoped that Twilight and the others would've thought of Zecor's safety beforehand when the vines started appearing, but they appear to have forgotten her until she just showed p (again, much like the show, but maybe they could've been more thoughtful here, despite the pressing nature of the crisis).