The Twilight Years

by Kendrick

Fin? Part 2

The five friends stood staring in disbelief at the twin frozen figures before them. Each reacted in their own way to what was happening. Applejack pulled her hat of and stood there, deep in thought. Pinkie Pie sat beside Twilight, tears in her eyes as her hair straightened one hair at a time. Fluttershy extracted herself from the tree and flew over to Twilight's frozen form.

“Why, Twilight?” she pleaded, “You should have let it get me. You could have fixed me later.”

She strained to set Twilight back on her hooves and began to brush away the dirt stuck to her from hitting the ground. A low whine escaped her throat as she fought back tears. Rarity stepped up beside her and pulled an elaborate brush from her saddlebag and began to help Fluttershy clear the debris away.

“You know she would never have done something like that,” Rarity said.

Her voice held something the others had never heard from her before. Gone was any hint of dramatics or whining. Instead she spoke in a flat even tone that was simply unnerving coming from the ivory unicorn.

“She could never let somepony get hurt if she could stop it,” she continued in her near growl. “We should have been done better by her,” Applejack added.

“Which Twilight are you talking about Rarity?” Fluttershy asked, looking between the two statues.

“Does it matter?” Rainbow dash cried, “They were both our friends and we let both of them down. We have to find a way to fix this! Rarity, you have magic, can't you do something?”

“I'm sorry, Rainbow. I just don't have those kind of abilities,” she replied solemnly.

“Well come on!” Rainbow yelled at the group. “We're the Elements of Harmony for Celestia's sake! There has to be something we can do. I am not giving up on my friends.”

As she hovered there above them, continuing to yell the rest of the group could feel energy building in the air. A red glow began to form around Rainbow Dash stopping her speech. As they looked at one another an orange glow enveloped Applejack while Fluttershy was surrounded by a pink aura.

“Oooooh!” Pinkie Pie gasped with a sudden look of understanding on her face. Instantly her hair popped back into its normal frizzy state as a huge grin spread across her face. A blue glow covered her as she bounded back to her feet.

Finally a lavender light took in Rarity as they all began to understand what was happening.

“Come one everypony,” Applejack said. “We need to find a way to stop that thing before it flattens Ponyville.”

“Not yet,” Rainbow Dash countered. “We can't do this without Twilight. We have to save her first.”

As she lived up to her element the energy coalesced into her necklace. One by one the rest of the group's elements formed around them until only one was missing.

“Rainbow's right. We must do this!” Rarity insisted, focusing her magic on the figure of Twilight.

The others stepped in as well, each one working to activate their element. Warm light swirled around them, tendrils of it weaving around Twilight. They thought of the times they had shared with the unicorn and their feelings for her. All of the doubts and discomfort they had felt since they had learned the truth faded away as they looked at how readily she risked herself for them. The spark of friendship they felt grew to an inferno, the wave of power washing over Twilight's frozen form. When the light faded they stood there blinking as the stone crumbled away to reveal their friend.

“Look out!” Twilight screamed and staggered forward a few steps before coming to a stop, a confused look on her face. “What happened? Is it gone?”

“No, it turned you to stone and went on to town,” Applejack answered.

A loud crash in the distance punctuated her statement and reminded them all about the urgency of their mission. Twilight swiveled her head towards the sound and felt something slide in her mane. Looking up she was thrilled to find the tiara resting on her head. Reaching out experimentally she felt the power it held respond to her and squealed in delight.

“Thank you girls,” she laughed, happy tears in her eyes.

“Hey, that's what friends are for, right?” Rainbow Dash replied. “We are the Elements of Harmony after all.”

“That's just it,” Twilight explained, “I wasn't connected to the Elements anymore. You all had to have accepted me, truly considered me your friend for them to have come to us like this. Thank you.”

“This is great and all,” Applejack interrupted, “But don't we have a rampaging beast to stop?”

“But what can we do?” Fluttershy asked, “Celestia's magic just bounced off of it.”

Twilight looked back at the path of destruction and then at the frozen princess. She wondered if they should try to free her, but decided that there wasn't time.

“Think,” she muttered to herself, a hoof to her head.

Idea after idea was dismissed as fast as she thought of them. It had already proved immune to almost anything they could throw at it. She was sure that if the Elements could stop Discord they could take care of this thing as well, but she couldn't risk having magic as powerful as the Elements bouncing uncontrolled through town. Suddenly an idea came to her.

“Girls, I have a plan! Pinkie Pie, get your party cannon,” Twilight ordered. The pink mare shot off towards town like an arrow. “Rainbow Dash, can you still fly Ghastly Gorge?”

“With my eyes closed,” the pegasus boasted.

“Good. Applejack, Pinkie Pie will blind the thing with her cannon. Once that's done Rarity and I will keep it that way. I need you to try and get the rope free from that tree and get it to Rainbow Dash.”

“I see where this is going,” Rainbow grinned. “I pull it towards the canyon and get it to follow me through.”

“Exactly,” Twilight agreed, “And Fluttershy, we need you to go on ahead and try to talk to the eels if you can. We want them to hit this thing, but I don't want to see anything else turned too stone if we can help it.”

“Okay, Twilight. I'll do my best,” she promised.

“Let's do this!”

The ponies charged to town as fast as they could. Rainbow Dash streaked overhead picking out the clearest path while Fluttershy cut away towards the canyon. The path of the beast was easy to make out. A swath of wreckage marked everywhere it had been. The group refused to dwell on the destruction they passed as they hurried to intercept the catoblepas. Pinkie Pie returned to the group, cannon in tow as they neared the creature.

“Pinkie, fire at its face. We want it as blind as possible,” she commanded.

“Yes Ma'am!” Pinkie shouted with a salute.

Charging ahead, she got the cannon in position and fired several rounds at the catoblepas's head. Tablecloths covered its face while balloons and streamers festooned its snout and horns. It roared in rage and blew cloud after cloud of vile green steam through its nose only managing to turn the tablecloths and a few balloons to stone.

Twilight and Rarity ran along side it and used their telekinesis to hold the party supplies in place. As it tossed its head around and stomped, trying to free the obstructions Applejack dove onto the log. It swung back and forth dragging the orange mare with it as it flew.

“Yee-Haw!” she yelled almost gleefully as she rode the tree trunk across the sky.

Expertly turning she shifted and bucked, keeping herself on top of the flailing log. In the brief moments it was at rest she worked frantically at the knot Rainbow Dash had tied. Before too long she had it loosened and tossed the rope into the air as she rode the log to a sliding stop with a satisfied smile.

Rainbow snatched the cord out of the air and rocketed towards the canyon. Snapping tight, the cord drew her up short, but the momentum made the catoblepas step in that direction. Pulling with all of her might, Rainbow Dash continued to fight against the beast's wild flailing and managed to earn one slow step after another in the right direction.

“This isn't going to work,” Twilight yelled to Rarity, “She's going to get hurt before we get there if this keeps up.”

“I'll hold these on while you find something to get it moving,” Rarity shouted back.

Releasing her hold on the things covering the catoblepas's face, Twilight looked around for something she could use. With a smile she settled on the log Applejack had just vacated and magically lifted it into the air.

“Rainbow, Rarity, let go now!” she screamed as she smashed it in the head with the log.

The tablecloths fell away as the log smashed into the thing again and Rainbow released the rope. Suddenly able to see and angrier than ever the catoblepas fixated on the only pony it could see. With a roar and a snort it charged after Rainbow Dash as fast as it could. The group made their way to the canyon where they found Fluttershy waiting.

“Everything is ready,” she said as she fell in beside Twilight.

“Good,” she replied, “Rainbow, now!”

“Can't catch me!” Rainbow Dash taunted and tore into the canyon faster than before.

The blue pegasus dove into the tunnel just inside the canyon entrance, easily weaving through its winding course. The catoblepas ripped in after her smashing stone and grinding its way through the too small opening. When it emerged on the other side rainbow had opened the gap between them and it bounded ahead trying to catch her. Where Rainbow had to weave and duck through the thorny jungle at the heart of the canyon the catoblepas plowed a straight line through leaving a clear path in its wake. It grew dangerously close to her as she hit the section of the gorge infested with eels.

Pouring on all the speed she could muster, Rainbow shot ahead not even dodging the eels, but allowing her speed to carry her by faster than they could lunge. Hot on her heels, the catoblepas ended up receiving the brunt of the eel's attacks as one after another drove it into the side of the gorge. It turned ready to attack, but they had all retreated to their caves by the time it had turned.

“Come on slowpoke. You'll never catch me like that,” Rainbow Dash jeered, kicking a rock at the catoblepas.

It turned back to her and resumed its chase. She flew through the most treacherous portion of the canyon, careful to avoid the sides on this trip through. Once she was clear and the catoblepas was in place Twilight and Rarity hit the sides with blasts of their magic sending sheets of falling stone raining down on the beast. The group gathered at the end of the canyon and caught their breath. They stood there panting, covered in sweat, but smiling at each other.

“Do you really think that will hold that thing?” Applejack asked dubiously.

“Oh, no,” she replied, “It will only slow it down for a few minutes.”

“Well what do we do now?” Rainbow asked with shock.

“You'll see,” Twilight said with confidence.

Minutes later the catoblepas staggered out of the canyon. Its once gleaming scales now scratched, dented, and dull. Sap coated it in thick patches, thorns and leaves clinging to the sticky paste. Dust, dirt and rocks covered it from head to tail further dulling its appearance.

“Now girls,” Twilight stated calmly.

In unison the bearers activated the Elements. The energy lifted them into the air as the glow surrounded them. A blinding flash of light swept through the gap between the assembled ponies and the catoblepas, followed by a shimmering rainbow. The blast caught the beast in the chest and enveloped it. Unable to reflect the magic it struggled as the power swept it up and slowly changed it into pristine marble. Once the transformation was complete the torrent stopped and the ponies drifted back to the ground. In a group they approached the figure and examined the result.

“Not that I'm complaining, mind you,” Applejack began, “But how come this thing didn't turn to stone from that green stuff but did now?”

“That was petrification and it was immune to that, but this was transmutation,” Twilight explained, “They are different kinds of magic entirely.”

The rest of the group gave her blank stares making her sigh in dismay.

“That was very well done, girls,” they heard from behind them. Shocked they turned to find Celestia standing there.

“But how?” Rainbow Dash gasped in disbelief.

Celestia chuckled and stepped up to the group with a smile on her face.

“Would you care to explain?” she offered to Twilight.

The unicorn smiled sheepishly and turned to face the group.

“Celestia's connection to Equestria runs deeper than anypony knows. As long as Equestria survives, so will Celestia. I never had cause to test it so I wasn't sure how it would work,” she admitted, “but I had my suspicions.”

“So that's why we went after that thing instead of trying to free the princess?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah, it is. I wasn't sure, but I thought she would be okay.”

“And I was,” Celestia agreed, “but you all needed to know you could do this without me. You had to see that you could still rely on each other.”

“I'm just so happy that everypony is here and friends again!” Pinkie squealed with delight. “You know what this calls for?”

“A party,” the group finished for her in unison.

Turning to walk back to town they were met with the scene of destruction before them.

“Perhaps it would be best if we postponed that for a few days,” Celestia observed dryly.

With a chuckle the group made their way back to town to see what ponies needed help.

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Author's Note:
I know the end is kinda cheesy. I was aiming for that, I just hope it's the same brand of cheese as the show. :)

If inspiration strikes me, and there is a desire for it, I may add to the story in the future.
Please feel free to give me any observations on how I could improve the characters and make them closer to the show's portrayal.
Thanks for reading!!

Comments

[archonix]

Well, personally I'd love to see more adventures of the new Twilight, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it would be hard to make anything more of it than this. Best to end on a high note.

[BenRG]

Interesting and it does show the degree that Twilight is learning the same lessons that Celestia learnt - that it is necessary to let one's subjects prove to themselves that they can fix a problem rather than always rely on you.

I wonder if, in Season 3, we'll see the Elements getting bound closer to their bearers so that they can summon them without going to the vault in Canterlot.

This was a great story that kept me engaged. I liked how your portrayed Celstia's mindset and I thought that your handling of Luna was very realistic. I also think that you correctly predicted the reactions of the other five. Finally, you found a great action sequence to end the story. All in all a great job. Well done!

[JKaneH]

darn my estimation was a bit off....the world didnt implode. only a minor malfunction of space time bringing back a once exstint animal thingy....

[Foals Errand]

I reviewed your fic tonight find it here

[Celefin]

Great concept, beautifully done.
Yes, the end was as cheesy as many of the show's endings... I'd have liked it differently and more in the tone of the rest of the story; but it's fitting nonetheless.
Good job :)