Surrogate Light

by scootalooftw

Planning

I groaned in agitation as I closed the cover on yet another book that didn’t hold the information I needed. Using my still shaky magic, I slid the book back in its spot before skimming the shelf for another. Seeing no more books that looked useful for my current line of research, I rounded the corner and began on the next shelf.

“Anypony find anything yet?” A thoroughly bored and annoyed Rainbow Dash called out.

“Ah’m not even sure what we’re lookin’ fer, ta be honest,” Applejack responded from the next aisle over. Stepping around the corner, she instantly spotted me and approached me. “What are we supposed ta be lookin’ fer?”

“I… I’m not sure,” I answered. Sitting on my haunches, I closed my eyes and put my forelegs to my head and began rubbing my temples. “Like I said, I can’t remember why I needed to come here, or what I’m supposed to be looking for. I just… I know that this is where I need to be right now.”

“Well, what kinda words?” Applejack asked. “If’n ya tell us, maybe we might know how to help.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, flying over the tops of the bookshelves and landing in front of us. “That way this isn’t a complete wild goose chase.”

“Well… I keep seeing this book in my head,” I said. “Brown book, alicorn on the cover. There’s also something about the ‘mare in the moon’, and the Elements... Elements of Armory?”

“You mean the Elements of Harmony?” Pinkie Pie gleefully called out as she hopped excitedly towards us.

“Yeah, that’s it,” I said. Snapping my eyes open as I turned to look at her. “In fact, that’s the book!”

Lighting my horn, I took the book in my magic and levitated it to myself. ‘The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide’ the cover read. Flipping it open, I began reading through it.

“It says ‘There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known,” I read out loud. “Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery.”

“What’s so special about these ‘element’ things that you had to have us in here tearing the library apart to find it?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“We weren’t tearing anything apart,” I snapped. “We were gently looking through the library for anything that might help.”

“Help with what?” Rainbow Dash snapped back stepping up in my face. “You still haven’t told us why these things are important, or how you know what you do.”

“And I already told you that I don’t know how I know this stuff,” I said, butting heads with her. “But something is telling me that those ‘element things’ are exactly what we need to defeat Nightmare Moon.”

“How can these elements possibly stop Nightmare Moon when the Princess couldn’t, they sound like something from a foal’s bedtime story.” Rainbow Dash said, shoving back with her own head. “What are we supposed to do, laugh at Nightmare Moon while complimenting her and telling her how she’s so much stronger than us?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But from what I’ve gathered, this is the only way we can set things right. We can’t just sit around doing nothing while everything slowly dies in eternal night.”

“Excuse me,” a posh voice cut us off, “but, am I interrupting something?”

Turning my head, I caught sight of a snow-white unicorn with a curly purple mane.

“Oh, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I could ask you the same thing, Fluttershy,” Rarity responded. “I was helping look for that unicorn from the crash, apparently she went missing from her hospital bed. When I was walking past the library, I saw the lights were on so I came to see who was in here. I remember somepony saying that she was supposed to be staying here.”

“Oh, uhm, well, we ran into her on her way over here,” Fluttershy said. “Rainbow Dash saw her fall out of the hospital window, and came to get us.”

“You fell out of the window, darling?” Rarity gasped, looking at me. “Are you alright, do you need me to go get a nurse or something?”

“No, I’m fine,” I said. “I need to be here.”

“And why is that?” Rarity asked, approaching our group. “Because it seems to me like you should be in the hospital resting. Just look at you, darling, you look as though you’re going to collapse at any moment!”

“Because I need to do something about whatever’s going on out there!” I snapped back. Burying my head in my forehooves, I groaned in agitation before massaging my temples. “Ever since I woke up, there’s been this little voice in the back of my head telling me I know what’s going on, and that I know how to fix it. It’s been driving me crazy just laying in bed doing nothing.”

In response to my outburst, Rarity eyed me warily for a moment before sidling up beside me and taking the book in her own magic.

“Well then, if you have an idea of what’s going on then there’s no time to waste,” Rarity said.

“What are you doing?” I asked, eyeing the white unicorn that had taken up a position beside me.

“Well, you said you knew what was going on,” Rarity answered. “I figured having another set of hooves would speed things up. I enjoy a cool starry night as much as the next mare, but if the sun doesn’t come back soon, then ponies are going to start going hungry.”

“She’s right, ya know,” Applejack said. “Mah gardens are already startin’ ta wilt, and Ah’m sure the trees won’t be far behind them.”

“It’s starting to affect the weather, too,” Rainbow Dash said, a small frown splitting her normally confident visage. “With the temperature dropping, the clouds aren’t acting the way they’re supposed to.”

“And the poor little critters,” Fluttershy said, tearing up. “With the temperature dropping, they’ve all started preparing to hibernate, but if they hibernate now than they’ll wake up in the middle of the winter when there’s no food…”

“And don’t forget about the ponies,” Pinkie Pie cut in. “This ‘eternal night’ business is making everypony all sad and cranky.”

As I looked between the five mares accompanying me in the library, I couldn’t stop a smile from slowly working its way onto my face.

“Alright,” I conceded, wiping my eyes with a foreleg, “let’s figure this out then.”

With a light nudge from me, Rarity turned the book so we could both read it.

“'It is said that the last known location of the Elements was in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.’” I read off, picking up where I had left off. “‘Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters’, does that sound familiar to any of you?”

“Not ringin’ any bells,” Applejack said.

“Can’t say that I’ve ever heard of it, either,” Rarity said. “But keep reading, maybe it will give us a hint about where to find it.”

“Alright,” I said, turning my attention back to the book. “Let’s see… ‘in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters’... It’s located in what is now the Everfree Forest.”

I jumped in shock, nearly falling over backward when everypony in the room gasped in shock simultaneously when I read off where the castle was located.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, attempting to get my heartbeat back under control. “Is that far away?”

“It ain’t far away at all,” Applejack said. “In fact, the south side of town borders it.”

“Then what’s the problem?” I asked.

“The problem,” Rainbow Dash said, “is that it’s dangerous in there!”

“Rainbow Dash is right,” Rarity said, putting a forehoof on my shoulder, “it’s full of all manner of dangerous creatures.”

“Be that as it may, this is still the only option we’ve found so far,” I said. “If we wait to try and find something else, we may be too late.”

“She’s right,” Fluttershy said. “If we don’t fix this now, ponies aren’t going to be the only ones that suffer.”

“You heard the mare,” Pinkie said, bouncing excitedly in place, “if we’re gonna bring the sunshine and smiles back, we better get movin’!”

“Pinkie, darling, I don’t think it will be that simple,” Rarity said, trying and failing to calm the prancing pink pony.

“It may not be easy,” Applejack said, getting everypony’s attention, “but ya said so yerself, Rarity. If somethin’ isn’t done soon, ponies’re gonna start goin’ hungry.”

“She’s right,” Rainbow Dash cut in. “Everypony else is busy running around just trying to get by, but we actually came up with a solution to the problem. If we don’t do anything, nopony else is going to.”

Fluttershy mumbled her support, and soon all five ponies present were looking to me for guidance. Despite the warm feeling that filled me at the idea of finally having a plan of action and a group of capable looking ponies to support me, I couldn’t stop an unsteady frown from working its way onto my face.

“Now what’s wrong, darling?” Rarity asked. “We just found a possible way to bring the sun back, isn’t that what you wanted?”

“It is, but…” I sighed, turning to face Rarity, “but I didn’t want to get anypony else involved, and now I’ve got five of you that want to follow me into what's supposed to be a dangerous forest, with no guarantee that what we’re looking for will be there.”

“You expected to do this all yourself?” Rarity asked. Shaking her head, she gently rested her forehoof on my shoulder and gave me a reassuring smile. “We aren’t following you because we feel obligated to in any way, we’re following you because we want to.”

“That’s right,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering in the air and smugly crossing her forelegs over her chest. “Something tells me that you’re going to need a little bit of my concentrated awesomeness if you’re going to pull this off.”

“Yer gonna need all of us, sugarcube,” Applejack said, glaring lightly at Rainbow Dash. “There’s safety in numbers, and there’s far too much at stake ta entrust this ta one pony alone. Besides, Ma n’ Pa would be pretty disappointed if’n Ah just let a friend wander inta danger by herself like that.”

“Friend?” I parroted, giving Applejack a funny look. The warm feeling that had developed in my chest grew tenfold and, much to my embarrassment, I couldn’t stop the corners of my mouth from turning up into a dopey grin.

“There it is!” Pinkie exclaimed, continuing to bounce on three hooves while pointing at me with the fourth. “There’s a smile!”

A giggle escaped my muzzle before I could stop it, and it wasn’t long before the serious air of the room had faded slightly as the occupants devolved into fits of giggles.

“While I would prefer that nopony else get hurt following me,” I said, “if you all do insist on coming, we should probably make sure we’re properly prepared.”

“Yer probably right about that,” Applejack said, adjusting the stetson on her head. “Why don’t we take thirty, go n’ gather some supplies ‘n whatnot. Since you seem ta be tha thinkin’ type, why don’t ya see if ya can come up with anything else about these ‘Elements’ while we’re doin’ that.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea, Applejack,” Rarity said. “I should have more than a few spare cloaks laying around the boutique, all they’d need is a few adjustments and they’d be perfect to protect us out there.”

“And between Applejack and me,” Pinkie said, “we should have plenty of extra food we can pack.”

“And, umm, I have lots of first aid supplies I can bring,” Fluttershy offered.

“Well, there ya go,” Applejack said, “you go on n’ read up on what ya can about the forest, and we’ll go get tha supplies together. We can meet at tha entrance ta the forest in an hour. Sound good everypony?”

Getting a confirmation from everypony present, the five ponies quickly discussed how much they should bring before going their separate ways. Finally alone, I glanced around at the plethora of books surrounding me before my eyes settled on the open tome before me.

“Well, better get started,” I said, trying to psych myself up, “everypony’s going to be counting on me.”

Doing my best to ignore the storm of confusion tearing through my head, I poured my everything into the task before me. I may have come here seeking answers, but I ended up roped into a world-saving adventure, and I’d be damned if I end up as the weak link.

Comments

[ChiefKitsune]

This is so good!