The Curse of the Elements

by Art Inspired

Chapter Three: Revelations

"It's so nice to be able to sit with you before going to bed," said Princess Celestia.

Her Highness was enjoying some quality time with her sister, Princess Luna. The two siblings only got to be with each other for almost an hour a day. Before Luna went to bed, she'd sit in the garden with her sister while she ate her breakfast, and vice versa. The garden looked lovely today, for the flowers were at last in bloom, and all the birds were chirping in seemingly perfect rhythm.

"Yes, well, the night needs the moon needless to say. I've been meaning to ask... How in the world did you cope with raising the sun and my moon while I was banished?"

"Hmm… you know, Luna, there are things that I don't enjoy chatting about, and that is only one of them."

"Oh, come on, my sister. You can share this secret with me. I won't tell anypony, I promise."

They were the only two individuals there, so she decided that little harm could come from Princess Luna knowing.

"Well… you see, at first, I spent… What was it? Three to four days trying to stay awake? It just wasn't working out I'm afraid."

Luna laughed at this. "I can imagine."

"I would fall asleep during mid-rising... How embarrassing," Celestia hoofed. "Finally, I researched a very old spell that could create an artificial... well, me! Granted, the spell required an immeasurable number of unicorns to help in order for it to work. Many, many generations of ponies within the castle have offered assistance in creating this replica of myself, and it worked. She would go to sleep during the day, like you do, and the replica would control the moon at night. It was never even a real Princess, but rather just a shell of hardened magic, and it unfortunately had to be renewed every one hundred years. It was efficient, but it could never replace you."

"Why doesn't anypony hardly know about this?"

"Because it looked like me, talked like me, and it even made a vile attempt to try and rule in my place. After that ordeal, I had to change its shape. You know the old stand that is used to hold my clothes inside of my room? Looks like a pony?"

"Yes, but what does that… oh!"

"Yep," Celestia said victoriously. "That's her. It took a lot of magic to make it hold the moon up, but it did fine. I mean, you didn't actually think I stayed up day in and day out, raising the sun, then raising the moon without ever sleeping, did you? We may be alicorns, but we're not that powerful!"

Suddenly, a greenish sparkle of smoke wafted towards Celestia's eyes. Lune seemed to have seen it, too, but didn't know what it was, and prepared to take action.

"Oh, calm down, Luna," Celestia said while waving her hoof towards her sister, indicating her to sit back down.

"It's just a note from my student, Twilight Sparkle... Again..."

The smoke turned into a note and was opened by Celestia's magic.

"Dear Princess Celestia... She's always so formal!" Luna rolled her eyes, but Celestia kept on reading. "Uh... It... This couldn't be..."

"What is it, my sister?"

Princess Celestia began to giggle. She put her hoof up to her eyes to wipe away a tear drop of joy.

"This is actually quite amusing. Even though it doesn't expressively state that she needs the book for the curse… Oh, Twilight... My student...."

"Curse… What curse? Why are you making those funny noises for? Is there something humorous about that letter?"

"Allow me to explain," Celestia offered humbly. "Come with me."

The two Princesses proceeded to enter the library, and then Celestia looked around for a particular book. Once she had located it, she told Luna to listen closely while she read aloud.

"Ok… Now then, listen to this." She cleared her throat and proceeded. "The Curse of the Elements… When developing the elements all those years ago, I originally was going to make seven elements of harmony, but was too weak to finish the last one. Instead... and this is where I might have made a mistake... I put a spell on the elements that would rest within the original three couples that were made together."

Luna teased, "So you took the easy way out?"

Ignoring that, Celestia continued calmly, "Laughter and loyalty were the first to receive the spell. An unpredictable reaction to the spell then occurred between those two elements. They began to magnify, and were irrevocably attracted to one another. I chose to hide away everything that I had done by putting the enchantment to rest deep within the coupled elements. Once that was taken care of, I continued to the next couple of elements one hour later, which were kindness and generosity. The same reaction occurred and I had to do the same thing. I put the spell to sleep within the elements."

Luna nodded, "I'm following along so far..."

"Finally, the last two elements remained. Honesty... and... magic. Once again, I witnessed the same reaction, and the same outcome."

She rose her head towards her sister and asked if she might've known what spell she placed on the elements.

"I do not know, my sister. What is it?"

Princess Celestia smiled widely. She could barely contain herself from laughter.

"I accidentally placed a love spell on Twilight and all of her friends!"

Luna didn't respond for a moment and asked what that meant.

"The original seven elements were supposed to be laughter, loyalty, kindness, and generosity, honesty, magic and finally, love! I put the seventh element inside the other elements as an easy workaround, but now, they're cursed because the elements are no longer inanimate objects. They're ordinary ponies now! It's taken the curse some time to awaken, but I would have never thought that it would've happened now of all times!"

"So, basically, those ponies that represent the elements of harmony are cursed by a love spell?"

The two sisters slowly started to smile at each other. Finally, they bellowed over laughing hysterically. After a good five minutes, they got up and looked at one another fairly sternly, and seriously.

"Now then," Celestia started. "What should I do…? Chances are they will simply fall in love with each other over time... That is to say, if they haven't already. They'd be unable to resist the lustful thoughts in each of their own respective heads. I suppose the right thing for me to do is to send them the book to Twilight, and let them figure it out."

"I think you should just wait it out and put the spell to sleep one couple after another," Luna suggested.

"Yes, that would be the case if it weren't for the fact that the spells that I used on each of the three couples were three separate spells. That means they're now three separate curses. It used to be possible to put it to sleep one couple at a time but years of being dormant has allowed my magic to form into something else. In order to put it to rest, I would need the couples to openly accept the other's love in front of me or none of them will ever have this curse released from any of them!"

Luna checked the clock in the library and gasped at how late she was.

"I should have raised the moon an hour ago! Why didn't you say anything?" Luna yelled as she exited the library, and galloped strait for her room.

"I guess I'll just wait it out until they all have fallen for each other," Celestia mused with a yawn. She proceeded to go to bed and deal with the matter tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle and the other mares were all waiting for her reply as well as the book. When nothing happened, they all naturally became a little bit worried. By then, Applejack was trembling with lust for Twilight. She understood the situation, but still, Applejack just wanted so badly to pounce on Twilight like a lion, and have her way with the bratty unicorn.

The others, however, merely did whatever they pleased. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were cuddled up to one another in a corner slowly falling asleep. Fluttershy and Rarity were kissing on the sofa found next to a bookshelf. Twilight was pacing the floor asking herself why there still wasn't any reply from her mentor, and Applejack as nervous as she was couldn't help but watch Twilight's every strut and movement.

"Umm, Twilight…"

Twilight almost groaned from just hearing Applejacks voice. "Yeah?"

"Um, it's getting late. Do you wanna go t-to bed… with, umm…?"

She was cut off by Twilight finally losing her patience. "Look, Applejack... I have just as much desire for you as you do for me, but I'm not going to get all romantic with you until I know what's going on! This is a really big deal!"

"Oh… Ok then, so… Ah guess we'll just have a sleep over?"

Twilight looked around and saw all her friends were slowly falling into blissful slumber together. "Y-yeah… looks like it."

"So… but, um… where will Ah… you know, sleep?"

"I have an extra bed. It's up stares."

"Oh… well, Ah guess that'll… That is, well… Oh, Tarnation, Twi!" The earth pony was fed up with being put off for so long. "Please, Twi, please! Can Ah please sleep with you tonight?"

Twilight could feel her legs wobbling from the strain. All she desperately wanted to do was say yes, but she couldn't. She still didn't fully know what was going on, so she refused. "No, Applejack... I'm sorry..."

---

Later that night, she could hear Applejack sobbing directly across from her room. Hearing her friend, and her current love complex crying somewhat loudly made Twilight feel as though her heart was being stabbed furiously by a dagger. She decided to succumb at long last, and timidly invited Applejack to sleep with her.

Applejack got into bed while Twilight laid down some ground rules. "No kissing! Got it? None of that! And no more sobs, either. I can't stand it when you cry."

Applejack shut off the water works and asked if she could at least cuddle with her. Normally Twilight had expected this behavior from somepony like Fluttershy.

"Oh… all right, Applejack. I guess that can't hurt anything."

Applejack came up close to Twilight and wrapped her hooves around her friend. The soft fur felt like silk to Twilight. She noticed Applejack smelling her mane, and this made her smile.

"Mmh... D-don't get carried away."

"Right, sorry… you just smell so… magical!"

"You're so corny, Applejack."

The two snoozed rather peacefully throughout the whole night. Applejack kept putting her hind leg over Twilight's flank, but Twilight was actually enjoying the heat coming off of her friend. It kept her nice, warm and cozy.

The main six were cuddled up and happily together with their corrective pairs, and even though this wasn't their true feelings for each other, it came pretty close to feeling genuine that night.

Will the curse be lifted? Is this new, but short acceptance of Applejack's love enough to put to rest the curse of the elements, or will Twilight eventually force herself to push Applejack further and further away? Why are you still reading this? You know this is how these chapters always end. Do you really think the answers will be anywhere within this part of the story? Because they're not. Find out what happens next time on The Curse of the Elements.