> The Element of Friendship
>  by The Derpy Doctor
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I was a good dog. I was loyal to the princess. I guarded the gates of Tartarus and stopped any from exiting when in my power to do so. I was generous. I gave any of my positions away to protect and to help my wife and litter. I was honest. I told the prisoners their sentence and reported anything in the right mind to my master: princess Celestia.  I was kind. I never treated any pony bad or hurt any monsters that I was to hold captive if I didn’t have to. I had a sense of humor. I always laughed at other’s jokes and helped others to cheer up when I could. I would never hurt anyone. I was a good dog. I am Cerberus.
But why don’t I have any friends? I am caged in the bottom of the earth. I protect and defend every pony from the dangers down here and they mock and scorn me for my doings. I am a good dog.
I tried to hold back the tears. I have a settled wife, two sons, and three girls, but I have no friends that could appreciate what I do.
I am a good dog. I know it, but I just don’t believe it. I wept now. I’m only a good dog if I am seen that way. I will only be seen that way if I have friends.
Then the darkness came. It settled there and all around me. It was him again: the dark cloud. I am the only one to be known to defeat him, and he has been trying to escape Tartarus ever since. He came upon me like a cougar on its pray. I was hopeless now. He had gotten me down. I had no friends. I had only myself: caught beneath the cloud. I was there to keep him from getting out. He was the darkness. He was the evil that we all must face… especially now: because he would kill me. He has been doing this from the start. He has been doing this since I trapped him here 500 years ago when I first defeated him. Now was too late he cupped his cold, dark hands to my ears: all of them. He is the darkness; he has all the hands that he wants. He whispered: “500 years now, Cerberus… and now, I can be the one that say: lights out to my prisoner.” Then he pushed and I was dropped far off the edge of one of the many small islands that are mounted on the interior of Tartarus. I fell 1000 yards to dark abyss from which no one returns. I spiraled and turned and yowled before hearing my last voice. The voice of my old prisoner:
“Lights out!”
He was right. It was lights out. I hit the ground and was immediately overwhelmed by the darkness and all of the cold that had been felt down there. I was a good dog. I had to be.
In the midst of the darkness, I saw a bright light. Fluttershy at the end of it was calling me to her. She understood me. She knew all of those times I had never done anything to hurt any pony. She called me a good boy when I was low. She was the one I saw now.
I felt the darkness embrace me one more time before I was taken entirely into the light and the warmth.
I was a good boy. I had to be.

> Dinky
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        	I am Dinky. I am the daughter of Derpy. I am a Unicorn girl filly that doesn’t have her cutie mark yet. I am not stupid and neither is my mom. We live as happily as possible, and today, I have more reason than ever to make sure that that statement is enforced. Today I will attempt to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I can find my true talent with them and I will make friends. I will have friends that don’t ever make fun of any pony. I will have friends that find me useful and don’t think that my mom or I am stupid. I will have the friends that I want to have. I can be the mare that I find myself to be.
“Hey scootaloo,” I said as she passed me sitting under the tree. I was shy and didn’t know if she would accept me into the Crusader’s club.
“Hi Dinky,” she said back, “are you ready for the ceremony today?”
This was good this means that she accepted me. I tried to respond, but I just replied what I was thinking only without much mind so it came out like: “I think accept… me.”
“That’s okay,” she responded. Obviously having Rainbow Dash as her mentor has paid off and helped her to Be smooth at talking to any pony as if they were just as cool as her. She continued: “not every pony can have the gift of speech in front of peers that appreciate you as much as us.”
“You do?”
“Dinky, why do ask so? You have been hanging around us and telling meaningful jokes ever since we met. Let me help you. We have an honest Applejack that helps us in our group: and that’s Applebloom. We’ve got a rainbow dash that besides every pony’s best efforts is awesome beyond compare: that’s me (again that was Rainbow Dash’s good work). Then we have a generous Rarity that gives us advice helps us to act mature: and that’s Sweetie Bell. We do not have anyone that could be the raw equivalent of a Pinkie Pie. There has to a link in our group that doesn’t exactly fit in as a regular citizen, but fits in even better due to her charm and whimsy. That’s you. You are our Pinkie Pie, and you cannot be taken from our group as of one hour from now.”
“Come with me, Dinky I will show you to our clubhouse.”
After a long walk, we reached the edge of the apple orchard, and after an even longer walk through the trees and branches of the orchard (as well as a sneaking crawl through a small portion of the south orchard still infested with fruit bats) We arrived at the finest clubhouse a filly could make.
“Who made this?” I said excitedly.
“Applebloom made it. She worked her hardest as we were finding things to get our cutie marks.”
“She sure did a good job.” I whimpered rubbing my right hoof against my left and shying my head away from Scootaloo. I wondered if they would really accept me. Any pony before has never accepted me. Besides the doctor and my mom that is: they have accepted me. They find me a better pony than my mind thought. If Applebloom could do all of this in one day, and still not have her cutie mark, then how could my talents ever be up to their standards? I thought this word-for-word.
“Snap out of it, Dinky. You can never be a part of a group that your mind never sees itself a part of. C’mon the others are waiting for us.” The last seven words were very playful. She had the effect with that sentence to get me off my short depression and to walk briskly with her to the clubhouse. The ceremony of induction will begin soon. I was more motivated than ever to be a part of a club that I would be accepted in.


Scootaloo banged on the drums in the corner of the clubhouse. Sweetie Belle read an exceedingly long paper that spelled out all of my duties as a member (which was mostly composed of clever alternatives to the word “friend”). Meanwhile Applebloom just sat next to me and observed the scene.
Finally, Sweetie Belle finished the long scroll of parchment with the words “Congratulations Dinky!” then she threw a robe lined with gold silk on my back with uncanny accuracy considering her positioning and distance from me. “Welcome to the crusader’s club!” All at once they shouted (still uncanny how they manage to say the same thing at the same time).
I am a crusader now. I have friends. Friends that I can stand up for, Stand behind, friends that I can trust and friends that I have common interest with or even friends in the first place. I can’t explain the glorious feeling that came from having friends. Just like Princess Twilight.
“Let’s celebrate!” merely seconds after the clothing hit my back Scootaloo had already suggested a party. “…And there’s only one way to celebrate here in Ponyville.” She didn’t conclude her statement. We all knew the one way to celebrate anything in Ponyville. We needed no reminders.



Pinkie already brought the Party when we got to Sugar Cube Corner. That’s the only way to celebrate in Ponyville by the way. You go to Sugar Cube Corner and enjoy a desert. Maybe if you are having a celebration that Pinkie finds worthy of a party (which is almost always) she will bring the party. On this occasion, Pinkie had put up several balloons, chairs, cakes, Ice cream and cupcakes for everyone. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and my mom: Derpy had also come to attend. They were sitting at the bar waiting for us drinking punch that must have come from nowhere (there was none on the counter in a bowl) and were already smiling down to us.
“Well if it isn’t all four of the cutie mark crusaders,” Applejack cheered in a voice even happier than usual. That was the only voice that was heard clearly after that. The rest of the time was about an hour of chatter and music and eating that all meshed together to make almost nothing heard. Occasionally, I would hear people congratulating me on being a crusader. I would hear Twilight talking to Sweetie Belle about magic. I would hear Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash talking it up. If I listened close enough, I could hear Fluttershy mutter about some animal trapped. She would say the word Trapped as though it were trapped forever. She only said this to herself, but she was very concerned. I waited for the chatter to calm before I went to talk to Twilight about something very close to me.

The Chatter did calm, but that was about an hour later after everyone had finished eating and talking about as much as possible. I went 	to Twilight and asked her about the books in her library. When I brought them up she turned and said:
“Sure, I would love to talk about books, do you want to borrow one?”
I replied with fast nod of the head before she showed me away from the party, unseen.
She had been taking me to see her books ever since I first took interest in them at the swap meet to the north of Ponyville. As we walked, she pointed out different books that I hadn’t read that she strongly recommended for me. Those are the books that tell the stories that I am obliged to. I read the books that tell stories of ponies that stood against a fate that stood unconquerable. The ones where the hero never seems to stand a chance, but out of courage stands against the darkness and stands alone. They give me hope. They tell me that even though there is so much darkness in the world, and so much grief and pain and suffering that there will always be one to stand for the light. The light may be thin, the darkness may be cruel, but even the smallest hero can bring the darkness down.
Twilight stopped me at the library and opened the door for me. “So which of my suggestions do you want to take home and borrow?” she asked politely.
“I want the one about the filly unicorn that can’t use her magic yet,” I called excitedly referring to the suggestions that Twilight had given me on the way over.
“I thought that you would choose that one.” She grabbed a book off of the shelf with her magic and held it out for me to take it with mine.
This was pretty much the last sociable time I spent all night. The whole rest of it was spent with my head in the book while the princess and I walked.
Twilight took me back the to party, where I met with my mom.
“Dinky,” she exclaimed.
“Yes, mom?”
“We need to go home now, it’s getting really dark.”
I was upset at this, because I knew I had to stop reading my book in order for me to go to sleep.
“Okay,” I said a little more tired and regretful of my position when I was still reading the book twilight gave me. Fortunately, I could use magic at a young age. I could turn the pages using magic just like Twilight. All I had to do was walk to my house and read as much as possible before I get there. This was sound. I could do it.
I soon found that after reading two pages I had arrived at my house with a small bump on my head from tripping and falling on a rock. I am never going to walk and read at the same time again.
I was welcomed inside to the best smell: warm sheets. Right now, napping couldn’t be any easier. I just started into my bed and found the sheets wrapped cozily around me before I closed my eyes and didn’t open them for hours.

> The light
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I woke up slowly. I was in no rush. It was still dark outside. Why would I need to rush? I had gotten a good night’s sleep and school doesn’t start for about another hour after night ends. I probably had a lot of time to just lay still.
There was one thing wrong, though. I didn’t know what it was, but there was just something so different about today. What though?
I looked outside to find that it was dark. My window pended no sunlight. There was no light that could stand against the dark. There was just darkness. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. It couldn’t be that early, I don’t usually get that good of a sleep from a single night and still wake up for it to be dark. I thought, but found no logical reasoning. I called for my mom.
“Mom?!”
“Yes?” was the response in an obviously tired voice.
“What time is it?”
“It’s eleven thirty,” this was then followed by a gasp.
“Dinky?” she again called, “It’s eleven thirty!”
That’s not possible. That can’t be possible. Never has anything bothered me like this. Never has anyone ignored the weather enough for clouds to gather for complete darkness. How could one miss the stream of darkness that now rested all over Ponyville. I witnessed this as I walked outside. No Sun. No stars. No pony anywhere.
“Dinky?” I could hear my mom calling from inside.
I didn’t call back. There is only one mare I know that can have any knowledge of what was happening. That was Twilight.


Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock. I pounded relentlessly on Twilight’s door calling for almost as furious as my knocking. Twilight answered the door and brought me inside with a tired face.
“Dinky, I told you if you read the books overnight, then you are going to drain this library in a month flat. Now what book do you want, and why do you need it at this ungodly hour?”
“Ungodly hour?” I said with a skeptical look.
“Yes d…”
I interrupted her “Eleven thirty?’’
“No…It… What?”
I pointed to the alarm clock that stood behind her.
She took one look and then hit the floor. She passed out. How rude of someone to pass out when they are trying to have a conversation with you.
I dragged her limp body to a chair and tried to rehabilitate her. Five minutes felt like an hour as I fanned her and splashed shy amounts of water on her to wake her up. Five minutes was all it took. She got slowly to her hooves and crawled away no word said.
“Excuse me? Twilight? Where are you going?” After her, I asked.
“I’m going to get Spike. These may be the last moments that we may stand beside one another.” She then cringed as if someone has moved her rug out of align (OCD senses activate). That look that says: “Oh no I have to rethink my whole life.”
“Last moments?” I said sadder than I meant to say it. “Why?”
“I can’t say, Dinky. Go home to your mom and take whatever time you two have to sort things out that you don’t have strait.”
She teleported off to her room with a flash and then locked to door behind her.
I returned to my home. I never understood some things. Why did she speak to me in such riddles? She only said things like that when they were too rich for me to handle. I asked my mom when I got home.
“Do you know what is happening?”
“Dinky, where did you go? Never mind that you’re here now. Stay close, okay? This might be a false alarm, but we must stand close by each other just incase it’s not.”
“I don’t understand. What false alarm?”
“I can’t say.” She said with mild shyness.
“Mom, tell me.”
“Dinky, there are some things that fillies like you shouldn’t know about.”
“What are those, Death?”
“Don’t say that, Dinky.” There was so much more worry in her voice now. “Because if I know myself well enough, then we are not going to be in the same place as before.” A tear trailed her cheek.



The castle guards stood watch all through the night. They did not need a clock to know what time it was. The time was nearly twelve. It was time that they all crossed inside to protect the princess. If the signs were right, They would be the ones that will defend her above all else. They would have to give whatever life they have to give in order to keep Equestria from being the source of destruction.


I looked at my mom. She looked at me. I can’t see why she speaks this way. I heard a knock at the door, and rubbed softly out of my mom’s grasp to go and answer it.
“Wait!” my mom spoke “look before opening.”
I then looked through the looking glass. It was Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.
I opened the door.
“Hi, Dinky,” they all said at once.
“Hi,” I said in a more shy voice
“Dinky, we all woke up early so that we could get to school on time, Applebloom told me more excitedly than anyone I’d heard all day by far. “We came over to your house to see if you were okay after we all found each other.”
“I’m okay,” I said. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know my sister…” Applebloom was interrupted
The earth shook.
I fell on the ground and the other crusaders gathered around me and helped me up.
“What was that?”
The earth then shook again. Not once like before, It lasted for about 25 seconds now. We all grabbed each other and held together like one band of sailors on a boat that had been tossed at sea. My mother clutched all of us. I was not myself. I screamed. Sweetie Belle screamed. I didn’t normally scream. That was the thing that scared me most. Not the darkness or the rumbling, but the lack of knowledge of what was happening and my own fear. I was afraid of the lack of fear that I had rumbling through me like a steer in a thunderstorm.
The Darkness closed in. It surrounded us. We thought that we would never see again, and then we saw only the slightest outline of one another not enough light to see clearly, but just enough to see ourselves. I tried to use magic to light the place up, but my magic was useless. I was too afraid to cast a spell.
Hopeless for help, we felt around for others. We felt for anything in the house but there was nothing. There was nothing with the exception of bars. Bars that were colder than ice and harder than Iron. Bars that hurt to touch due to their cold, and they surrounded us. We were trapped.
Sweetie Belle cried in the corner Scootaloo held her head.
“What do we do now?” Applebloom said to me, her accent putting a specific emphasis on “now”.
“I…” and then I wept. I was only in the coldest darkest room, with no knowledge of who or what was doing this, and I couldn’t use any magic to get myself out. I looked around the cage.
Was I even at my house anymore? I held back the tears so that I can see clearly. I could just make out other cages. Cages that contained other silhouettes like ours. There were other ponies here trapped in cages like ours with no one to guard us, but no one to save us. I thought for a second, maybe I could.
The darkness spoke to me as if on cue, “don’t get any ideas, Dinky, I know you, and I know that you don’t stand a chance against me.”
I could only hear him in my mind; his voice had an effect like the screeching of hooves on a chalkboard, but had the same tone as a cello. I watched as several other cages appeared, and filled quickly. I could name almost everyone in Ponyville streaming into the cages: Lyra, Bon Bon, Octavia, vinyl and even the Doctor. The doctor: the one that accepted me immediately upon meeting me; so nice he was to me, that he would be here and not protecting us drew shivers down my spine. Why would the doctor be here? He was one of the bravest ponies in Ponyville; He saved my mom from a serpent while she travelled with him once. She told me that story long ago, and I remember she told me about how out of sheer bravery he had dodged in front of the serpent, and pulled her out of the way. He was the one that met me shortly after to blush at my mom describing his bravery. He was here. Helpless just as I, he was, and now how could I expect to be saved? There was no hope for me.
All of Ponyville rolled into the monstrous darkness: darkness that seemed to roll on forever. Forever… The word seemed to echo throughout my mind. Forever it rolled onward, just the same with how far I will spend here.
Pony after pony came in, the cages stacking on top of one another, all of my friends, Twilight, Applejack, everypony I knew and more. I panicked.
“I can’t spend forever here!” Words finally came out of my mouth. I finally said what I thought. I shouted the words as if I had to.
Then Applebloom approached me. “You won’t spend forever here.” She spoke calmly.
“How do you know? Why would one put us in cages like these if he or she would ever want to eventually let us out?” My sense of doubt far outweighed my sense of reason as I spoke.
“There is always hope, Dinky. There is always light to outweigh the dark. There has and always will be a hero.” Applebloom again replied.
Somehow, I knew she was right. The voice that haunted me earlier was trying to suppress me, but she put strength in my bones, she gave me the power to ignore the doubt.
“You’re right!” I couldn’t hold myself back anymore, and neither could the voice. I can’t stand here and mope while ponies are being forced into cages and my new friends needed help. They needed me now.
I used a basic teleportation spell to get myself out of the cage, quickly turning around and using it on my friends to get them out one-by-one. I tried to use it on my mom, but she was too heavy.
“Dinky!” Sweetie Belle screamed, “The darkness hurts!”
I tried one last time to teleport my mom, before I was brought down by the voice.
My back burned with cold. I arched it in desperation, and fell sideways to meet whatever was trying to bring me there but it didn’t stop. The voice came again:
“You will never come out. You are useless, nameless. Have you ever even had friends before? You have no family or…”
It stopped. I found that my friends where already getting up to their feet right before the darkness unclenched itself from my back. I felt like it was going to break before I immediately found relief.
“Acerbus!” came a voice from far distant in the darkness. “You will never hurt these ponies!” It came more assertive than any other voice that I had heard thus far. It was a mere voice, a voice of power, grace, but it was royalty, and darkness and animal. And then I saw a light illuminating her face.
“Chrysalis?”


> Chrysalis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I am the queen, I was born to rule, they said. I had understanding. I could help the ponies of Equestria, and die to save my people. I was involved in a prophecy made 500 years ago when Cerberus defeated Acerbus. Celestia sent her old guard, the most loyal guard of her watch to defeat the destructive titan before he could carry out any of his plans for Canterlot. Cerberus succeeded, but the prophecy was found etched into the stone of the palace floor. Celestia demanded the room it was on to be sealed off from any contact besides her. The words were never seen again except for her guards that were sworn to protect her, and me. I was her only hope. Even I know that there is light to outweigh the darkness. I was foolish once, and I tried to storm what was mine. I tried to take the tender loving care of others and steal it for myself and for my changelings. I was wrong, and Twilight and her friends defeated me. I am here now, I know the prophecy, and those that read it rarely forget it. That is the power of Acerbus. It reads:


Oh ye that cast me off, that banished me far,
I do say congrats, but I have to say,
While you think I’m gone, I’ll take your guard.
And you’ll tell when I come by no light of day.
So you think that I’m gone?
There is only one cure, and that’s light in the dark
How else can you this be known?
And forever in the dark, you know in your heart.
The dark you trust,
And the weak be strong
And I will be back to destroy the must.
And then you count my sentence long?
I will bring first down the queen,
And then shall they go, I show the ponies freedom
They will see what I do when I’m mean.
Don’t fight the darkness from Tartarus, fair one.



The line: “you know in your heart” was the worst. As this was addressed to her majesty: Princess Celestia, I saw it in her eyes, the words had more meaning than met the eye. There was no real way to ask her. Every time I visited her, she brought up my storm on Canterlot, and I’d apologize, and then she’d burn up. She would never respond to any of my questions. I could only know the truth one way, and that was to fulfill the prophecy. I was the light in the darkness, the darkness that had been searching for light. The light was in me, I needed the love of others, and I found it through trust, and my changeling minions found it too.
Today, I had to help the ponies that had done so much for me. Just by minding me even a little, I had been given the strength to bring light to my subjects. I was going to defeat the darkness. I had to. These ponies meant too much to me now.



I saw the darkness, and teleported deep into it. I was overwhelmed with the fear, the cages, and the darkness. The only way to even describe the feeling of creatures in a place like this was darkness. The loneliness, and fear, depression and anxiety all could only be classified as a whole new world of darkness. I have to stand now I thought very strongly to myself.
“Acerbus!” I yelled without letting my fear control me. I had to be the light. “You will never hurt these ponies!”
I let my horn shine bright. I had to let him know my powers. He would never stand against me. I had to be the light for all of the friends that 	I… but do I really have friends?
I tried to summon my strength. I forced light out through my horn. And told off the darkness.
“You are very brave to come here. You have been declined by my powers, because you don’t have any friends. You didn’t have to come to save these ponies. Since you think that you have them, though, I will make it abundantly clear for you that you have not the strength to have at me. I have everyone locked up, and no one thinks you a friend.” He chilled me.
“That’s a lie!” Doubt forming in my voice. “I do have a reason to fight, and you… you…”
An invisible force struck me down. I was powerless. The voice confirmed this:
“If that’s true, then you can watch your princess, and your friends die.” I wept. I can only do this now: weep. I had no friends. I had only myself, now. All my subjects had stayed. Celestia could not help. I was here alone and I was all I had.

> Through the Darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I saw the light fully illuminating the queen’s face. I, Dinky, stood by my friends and counted the seconds. Chrysalis was swatted to the ground, and her light went out. She had no magic to control the light, but there was still light, light that formed the most appealing circle. The circle brought my hope back.
“Come girls!” I shouted out excitement. I ran to the circle and I knew it was safe. Whatever darkness had kept us hear has no light for a reason, and I knew that the circle was a greater place to be.
“Where are you going?” Scootaloo shouted after me.
“Just come!” I mocked back playfully.
Unable to stop themselves, they leapt after me and shouted many things that all mixed together with each other’s words. I couldn’t make out any of it. I finally past through the circle, and so did the crusaders.


“…And if you just. Woe!” Applebloom silenced when we made it through the circle.
I saw the light. I could see the light of day clearly. The beauty of the earth after being tortured by the dark was a site. I could taste the air. I could feel it press against my sides and my face. I knew I was safe. There were no houses, just trees of green, grass, and white flowers.
“Where are we?” Applebloom started talking before anyone.
“I think that we’ve gone out beyond Equestria,” I replied confirming to her my gut feeling.
Sweetie Belle rubbed the remaining tears from her eyes and joined the conversation.
“How are we here?” she moaned dopily.
“We got here through the portal,” I replied, “the circle.”
“What portal?” again Sweetie Belle answered less upset now.
“The… y-you didn’t see it?”
“No,” they all responded at once.
“Well, Never mind. I saw it and what’s important now, and what’s important is that we save our friends. “But did I have friends other than these?”
I turned to them.
“We have to use light.”
“What?” Applebloom said in an exceedingly confused voice.
“That shadow… what did she call it… Acerbus must have a weakness, and Chrysalis tried to fight it. She knew him, she must know his weakness; it must be light.” I thought over how lucky I was that Twilight taught me how to reason like this in such situations.
“We don’t know that,” Scootaloo can back into focus, “How can we try for this?”
“Because we are their only hope,” I looked down.
“I saw Twilight in there, I saw our teacher Miss Cheerilee, and I saw all of those faces staring back at me.” My voice started to weaken and crack.
“I saw my mom, I saw your mom, and I saw every one of our moms looking at us: seeing us escape. They were telling us that we had to get out and find a way to break the darkness and win them back.” I was on the verge of tears, now.
“They need us now, and they need us every day, they know that we are their only hope now, because I saw Celestia there, too! You know 	that I know this so please help me now!” I cried. I sat and wept. I couldn’t hold back the emotions now. I had just seen my friends in Cages, all of them without hope. I was the hope now and all I had were my friends. I knew that that the words that  had said were completely destructive of my friends faith. I had told them about the capture of their princess and it was unlikely that they would ever find their rightful ruler as anywhere near the level of power (whatever it was before) as they would again. I wondered if they’d follow me. Did they really accept me? Am I really their friend?
“We never said that we wouldn’t help you,” Scootaloo stepped forward and spoke, “You are our friend. You never were unworthy of our attention.”
“You are the one of us that had valued this friendship the most of any of us, and you clearly have what it takes to show us the way” Applebloom said and then asked, “would you lead us into the darkness?”
I tried to stop crying, but it kept coming. when I could muster the maximum amount of strength that I could, I accepted “yes” timidly, I mustered.
“Sweetie Belle, are you in?” Applebloom turned to the intimidated filly in the corner.
Sweetie Belle cowered to me, barely assertive enough to stand and say: “I know… one thing… and one thing for sure, and that is the greatest lesson that princess Twilight had ever taught us. She taught us that a true friend helps a friend in need. I know that Dinky is our friend and that she is in need. I know that we will help her now, because the cutie mark crusaders never split apart. I will help.”


“So, You thought that you could bring me down? You thought that you, a friendless, unfortunate little changeling could take down the very essence of darkness? and that little fillies would have the courage and strength to come back and fight me?”
I, queen Chrysalis understood my terrible mistake as he said it. I had come against a very word itself. I had come up against one of the strongest forms of magic. I had fought the power of a word; one word: Acerbus the very phrase that makes those that hear it it cower in fear. Acerbus is a concept meaning: no light. Concepts were the most powerful forms of magic and I was foolish enough to make a portal where 	Dinky and her friends could get through. I had just made Acerbus mad by giving up a little bit of hope. He hates hope.
“Now,” he continued, “You will watch your princess die. you will watch the princess that accepted you into her home be destroyed and never hear of her again. Then you queen Chrysalis will go. I will remove your hope just as you were warned in my prophecy.”
“You can’t!” I responded the best I could, he put weight on me, and it came out more choked.
“That’s just it though, I can’t destroy her. Not yet. Not until your little friends are here to become the darkness. Thank you, queen, thank you for helping create more hope for me to destroy. There is no better torment besides the ones that you will suffer.” He snickered the last words, his face nowhere to be seen.
He then got out a knife and pliers and described the worst forms of torment that he would then try. I dare not say more.



“Dinky?” Applebloom asked me for more of an answer on our plot, “how does it work again?” 
“We will use the light from all of these things to destroy the darkness. Then we will break the cages open using all the unicorn’s magic combined. Those cages can’t be that strong.”
We had gathered multiple items that could possibly be used as a source of light. We had gathered small shiny rocks, small jewels we found in the last hour of looking, and quartz. I was going to use magic as light, and so was Sweetie Belle. We were ready. We had light to defeat the darkness. It only made sense.
“Do we have everything?” I turned to Sweetie Belle.
“Not yet.” She reached around her neck and fully attached a necklace. It was shiny (almost pure gold) and carried not but one red jewel at the base.
“What’s that?” I asked politely not trying to sound like I was prying.
“My sister gave it to me the day of the sisterhooves social. She told me that it was a symbol of our sisterhood. That we would never stop being friends. She had love for me, and I was something to somebody. I mean something and I have a purpose.
“Wow,” I said, “She must really like you.”
“She doesn’t,” Sweetie Belle defended, “She’s my sister what like? It’s love, Dinky, We love our siblings.”
“You hold onto that necklace, then. We will need something shiny like that.”I shook my head and walked. I sometimes wish I had a sibling, but I didn’t think that someone would want it more than one that already does. Sweetie Belle really wanted to have this friendship with her sister and she had it now. I couldn’t even want it that much.
“Are we ready, now?” I asked again.
“Yes,” everyone said at once. Everyone looked so happy, they had just been put through so much and after not much time already recovered. “I guess they just have that effect on each other” I thought to myself.
“Let’s get to it, everypony!” I called. We charged into the woods and had no idea where we were going. I just knew that we had to get there sometime, as long as there is no distance limit, I would get anywhere if I just kept walking.
No sooner had we took off then we were there. I had just went through the bushes in the edge of the clearing when we were already face-to-face with black.
“So. You play games?” The darkness blinded me and I was forced into a ball with no friends on either side. I was trapped.
> Darkness Prevails
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Where are your friends, Dinky?” The voice came. Taunting me, it made me regret leaving. If I hadn’t had left then It wouldn’t speak to me like this. “They left. They knew they couldn’t stand against me.”
“They’re here.” I said in the most reassuring voice I had.
“Are you sure? Because you look quite alone,” again he came with an evil laugh.
“I see them over there in the cages. You put them there!” I talked at him. I was done with this I can’t play games now. wanted my friends back.
“How can you tell? This placed is very dark.”
“This place is dark, because you made it this way. And it’s not all that dark, I can still see through the…” It hit me. I was right. I knew what this was.
We had gathered shiny things to combat the darkness. This darkness was not worthy.
“You are not even as powerful as you think yourself to be.” I told him off. “You think that you have such dominance over us? You think that you’re strong? You’re just the sort of villain from my books. You demonstrate a sense of darkness in this world that we all must face, but no matter how dark it gets, there is always light. There is always one no matter how small to combat the darkness, only those brave enough to stand against it are enough.”
“Can you be so sure?” He responded in the evilest of voices. the words themselves brought me to my knees. I wriggled under the force of his voice, It hurt me, and stung to the point that I was brought to tears. It was like a large ripple of electricity, blowing throughout my body, back especially. I could only feel the pain of this situation, the hurt of his very words.
“Can you be so sure that you will live the remaining seconds of your life in this agony?”
I shook my head. I knew now that I would only live for a few moments by the conclusion of those last words of his. I would spend them with my friends.
“Good, then you have sense enough to choose a mildly longer life.” He snickered.
I closed my eyes and prepared myself for him encagement, but when I opened them, I was already in my own cage. The bars of frozen blackness seemed to glare at me, and tell me that I will not escape. That I would spend forever here, and that forever would only last minutes.
“Oh ye that cast me off, that banished me far,
I do say congrats, but I have to say,
While you think I’m gone, I’ll take your guard.
And you’ll tell when I come by no light of day.
So you think that I’m gone?
There is only one cure, and that’s light in the dark
How else can you this be known?
And forever in the dark, you know in your heart.
The dark you trust,
And the weak be strong
And I will be back to destroy the must.
And then you count my sentence long?
I will bring first down the queen,
And then shall they go, I show the ponies freedom
They will see what I do when I’m mean.
Don’t fight the darkness from Tartarus, fair one.”

He recited the words that he had left in the darkness of Celestia’s castle. “Those are the words I left with your fair princess, she has wandered the halls many a year wondering what it meant. The truth is: it means that your special guardian, Cerberus will die in his own despair. I will hold you all witness as I destroy the greatest source of love in your world, Celestia herself. I will then slowly take each of your souls… and dispose of them.”
“Why?” some random pony weeped.
“Have you found any light in the room? Have you seen my face? I will take great pleasure in watching you burn, I am the darkness, I live to determine you will not.”
He then lit his face and I could see clearly that he was an alicorn with an amulet dark as the cages that bound us.
I was hopeless. I had nothing. I was friendless.
“Dinky?” Applebloom behind me noticed with the light that Acerbus now shown.
I was in the same cage as them.
We all hugged each other (four different ways).
“You tried, Dinky,” Applebloom recalled back to me.
Acerbus was going to destroy us, now. No doubts.
I turned to watch as Acerbus used his magic to send out a ray of lava-hot fire as white and bright as diamonds and as fast as Rainbow Dash on a windy day: burn Celestia into no more than the cage that she had just been in, and the crown that she had once wore.
“Your princess is dead!” Acerbus shouted cheerfully. You all belong to me.” and the echos floated throughout the nowhere that we dwelt in.


> There is Always Light to Outweigh the Darkness
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“As your new leader, I demand an extermination order. All ponies will be killed. I am sure that you all can find what use you can of anything around you. Anypony that can possibly muster the hatred of murdering another pony, please do so. I want to watch.
There was silence. Nopony wanted to kill another.
I sat by friends. We knew it would be our last sit. The only real magic, now was the magic that we shared.
“Dinky,” Applebloom forced the words, “We can still be together, now.” Let it be said that we spent our last moments together.”
I chuckled a sad chuckle at her optimism. There was something wrong, though. There was still light, here. If there weren’t then we’d be blind in these cages, but we could still see. I knew that there was always light to outweigh the dark. That was the saddest part, because there wasn’t. Our demise would be swift and bleak.
“My friends,” came my final response to Applebloom. For a certainty, now, I was the undeniable friends with ponies that would follow me into the worst of situations. I wish I had known sooner. Now I would know if I ever would, though. That was the best part.
“If nopony insists on killing anypony, then I will just do all of the work. No?” Acerbus finally concluded his terrible speech, “alright, then. Last words?”
Lyra Heartstring stepped forth, and told him about her life. “I was born just outside of ponyville… I-I never really thought that I was worth what I was. I tried to be like the humans. They seem to have the answers. You may have power, but never have the answers. You will never know what your heart wants, just as any of us do know. I know who I am, and I will never regret this life that you spent.”
Every word, true. She spoke what was on her mind.
“Any more?” Acerbus smirked.
Twilight stepped forth and prophesied her words. “I want to talk about my friends. They have always been there for me. They are truly the sort of mares that I want to be like, and thankfully, I can have my last words be about them. I thank you all for being there for me every day. Thank you for being my very best friends.”
“That was sweet,” Acerbus announced, “not sweet enough to save you, but it sure is sweet. Now, though, I’m getting tired of the last word requests. You will all die.”
“Wait!” I yelled without the slightest thought.
“No, too late, I would like to be rid of all the ponies that I have hated for many years.”
“You don’t hate us,” again without thinking I spoke, “You just know that we can defeat you. Only pure light can defeat darkness and you cannot stand a chance. You are not even real darkness. You are mildly light. No matter what you do, you will always have some light. there will always be light to outshine you. That was proven just now as two brave souls spoke against you. You will never be over us.”
I had no idea where that came from. I braced myself for his gaze. I would likely be the next to go. I had just doomed myself. I thought about whatever I wanted my last thoughts to be. Nothing came to mind.
“Well. Hero. So, I guess you don’t mind if I were to destroy you first hm?”
I couldn’t respond to that. I had no logical response set out.
“Them so it be.” Acerbus seemed overly  fond of his next action.
I braced myself more.
“We’re here for you, Dinky,” Applebloom said (too calmly if I might add).
“We will be until the bitter end,” came Scootaloo after.
“...and maybe after the end.” Sweetie Belle by far the most shy stepped into the circle.
They stood at both of my sides Sweetie belle and Applebloom stood at my left and Scootaloo at my right.
I knew what I wanted my last thoughts to be, now. It was my family, and friends. That was when the darkness came.
I only remember my thoughts. I thought about the doctor, my mom, my friends, Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Those were my thoughts. The light of the great ray then came upon me and my friends. We were burnt into nothingness. I felt no pain. It is difficult to feel 	pain when you are around friends.

> In Acerbus's Halls
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	When I opened my eyes, I was in by far the second darkest realm in all of Equestria. I was in what could only be Tartarus.
Silly human, haven’t you ever read greek mythology, Tartarus is just a world where immortal bodies are born in invisible form and are often tortured, but here it is much better, it is just a prison where evil is kept. Since Cerberus died, it is now a place for souls to go when they die. I’m just the same as I was before, just immortal until I leave here. That’s the human myth.
I still have to get up to the surface. I lunged for whatever place would lead me out of here, but as I did so, I was held back by shackles wrapped around my back hoof.
“Dinky, it’s okay, we’ll be here with you.” Applebloom reassured me.
“I know,” I said beginning to cry, now, “We’ve failed, though. We’ve left all of Equestria up there to come to the same fate.”
Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw Celestia. She was trapped here too.
“Celestia!” I shouted at her, but she was too distant to hear me.
“Dinky,” Applebloom said, “It will be alright.”
“But Celestia, She’s all alone. She’s crying. Can’t we help her.”
She cried, and that wouldn’t cut the kind of motion that she had doing. She was weeping, and she had the greatest reason. The ruler of all Equestria. Possibly the most worthy of us to guard and protect the rest. Instead, she died in seconds.
Scootaloo confronted me: “She’ll be okay. We’ll all be okay. There is always light to outshine the dark. Even if none of us are there, there will be something there to destroy the darkness.
“I…” I couldn’t counter her argument. Heck, half of it was what I said. How could I?
We sat in silence for a while. I hoped that maybe what they were doing up there was worth us dying.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------




“Acerbus!” I shouted (Chrysalis here again), “That was not called for. Innocent ponies, just standing for what they believe in. You had to eliminate them for that?”
“To be fair, didn’t I already say I would destroy each of you anyway?”
“Not Justified…” My voice faded. Another voice crept in. “I WILL NOT SUBMIT!”
I was overrun with overdoses of dark magic. It all exploded out of me in one very big burst of energy hot enough to compete with Celestia’s own sun.
I missed. I wasn’t expecting it to come out. I just missed. Way, way, waaaay off to the right.
I was not alone.
Others used magic. Unicorns and earth ponies all. Several rays of light, several wing beats, and so many lights. Everypony seemed happy many ponies found strength in the light and broke the bars on their cages with a swift kick and blew Acerbus off of his feet.
All of this happened in seconds. Acerbus was stunned until he regained some composure and tried to destroy us, but he was too late, and we found him on the ground. He was defeated by the light. He was at our will, now.
“What should we do?” Somepony asked.
“I think that we should do what he did to Dinky.” Another suggested.”
Then Twilight became the voice of reason.
“Listen up everypony!” Twilight screamed relentlessly.
Everypony stopped yammering and listened to the other princess (that really, they should have listened to in the first place).
“Dinky is not dead,” She continued before everypony muttered in disbelief. “Quiet!” They silenced and listened again. “She is in the halls of 	Tartarus along with Celestia and her friends. As for all of the help that she has given us. She has done something that I had only heard of in books, and we all need to get to her immediately. As for Acerbus!” insert long pause.
“I have a plan for him.”



“Sweetie Belle? do you have any food?” I, Dinky, asked.
“No.” she then responded. I hadn’t eaten all day and I had died of explosive rays. The least I could ask for was some food.
“Why would I-” She continued, but I thought over that. Metaphorically sighing in my brain.
The light came. It hit my head with a force. 
I saw all of my other friends. I saw my mom. I saw Twilight, Luna, Doctor, Chrysalis. I saw all of Ponyville. I saw everyone in one tiny hole. 	The only hole. The only way out.



“How did you find us?” I asked as we all got out of the prison with the help of Rainbow Dash, Celestia and Spitfire. As I was no longer in 	Tartarus, no longer an immortal being (remember from before).
“We didn’t, Twilight said. “We just had Derpy use her destructive skills to put holes in the ground above the Tartarus before we found one 	so close.”
“Did you defeat Acerbus?” I asked in the most enthusiastic voice I had.
“We did.”
“How?”
“You inspired us, Dinky.”
I blushed. I couldn’t just take all of the credit.
“Well… I…” blushing again. “...had my…”
“She had us.” Sweetie Belle finally finished my thought.
“Yeah,” I concluded.
“You used the unknown element,” Twilight assumed, “An element that was never found, but never really even created, only mythical 	poems tell about it. You used that element to spark fires within each of us. We were all just acting on a new element!”
“Well…” I then checked for a cutie mark and then thumped my hoof on the ground in disappointment. Nothing.
Celestia stepped forth and looked down at us.
“Dinky?” She thundered.
I bowed. “Princess Celestia.” I honored.
“Stand!” I needed no second thought, I had no intention of going back into the depths of Tartarus.
“You have proven yourself worthy. You are certainly my next personal protege at Princess Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns.”
“Yes!” I shouted not able to hold it in.
“Oh and one more thing. Celestia pointed out.” At this I panted and brought myself to the closest reality.
“More?” I echoed my own thoughts out my mouth.
Celestia pointed to my flank. No words.
That’s where I found a great Cutie mark. It was a lot like my mom’s. It was a lot of bubbles, only shiny, beautiful, and they all seemed to 	have formed a shape much like a crown.
Celestia turned away and muttered to herself. “Works every time.”
I barely made out Twilight speaking to Celestia: “Will she become an alicorn like me?” and the Celestia respond.
“Either that, or she’ll become rogue, and I will have to banish her to earth where she will spend much of her time trying to open doors 	with hands, and picking things up with her non-snouted mouth.”

> Answers
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	After, the community had stopped hustling about the entire situation, me and my mom, and all my friends sat at the fireplace at my home. We sat and talked about what questions that we had.
“So, what happened to Acerbus?” I asked my mom very intently.
“Twilight summoned Discord from his dwelling place,” she spoke, “and talked at him for not happening to be there for us through the whole ordeal. Then he went on to tell her that he had no clue this was happening. He does live outside of Equestria. She then told him that he needed to take care of Acerbus. He gladly agreed. He would reform him.”
“Do you think he can handle it?” I perplexed. 
“Yes, Acerbus is the real dark magic that cannot be stopped, but…um...reversed, I guess.”
We sat for a while thinking about all of the questions that we had to ask. Until I finally got a good one.
“How did you and Twilight know about the Darkness?”
“Well. What…” she paused “Oh that I knew what would happen if we the darkness were Acerbus?”
“Yes” I confirmed.
“Well, The doctor planned on taking me to see something that nopony had ever seen before. He took me to the room that the prophecy 	was hidden in. Twilight knew probably, because….”
“Books!” I responded.
“Yeah. Books.” My mom responded.
“One more thing. Where were we held captive?”
“We were held in the darkness itself. That place doesn’t exist any more. It can’t.”
“How do you know?” I asked in my most polite voice. 
“Twilight told us.” I was surprised she’d say Twilight. She knows a lot, but she certainly does not have that form of surety.



Pinkie Pie threw a party that night. I say that night in the most literal way possible, because it lasted all night long.
The doctor met with me. He told me about how proud he was, and then he offered to have me for an adventure in the TARDIS. Derpy objected in seconds. He gave me his business number behind her back.
Near the end of the night came the saddest moment I ever encountered.
“By, Dinky,” Came Applebloom’s voice, “It was nice having you in the club.”
“What do you mean?” I responded.
“You don’t have to be with us anymore considering you already have your cutie mark,” Sweetie Belle answered.
“I don’t know why I can’t stay and help you guys find yours.” I smiled.
They all lit up. They thought that I would leave them that easily. 
“Really?” Scootaloo cried (first time all day).
“Yes.” There was a group hug, and then a night of music, drinks and jokes all provided by the Super Duper party Ponies: Pinkie and Cheese.
I had friends. I had a cutie mark. I had a great mentor, now. All I needed was to be the new successor of Princess Celestia.
Her standards can’t be that hard, Right?
> Epilogue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Discord guided his new friend into his house.
“Welcome home, new friend, I’m sure that you will find yourself qui-i-i-i-te comfortable.”
Acerbus Smiled up at him. His eyes flamed with disgust, and his tail flickered with flame of no light or hue. Lips curling, he mustered the devious word: 
“Quite.”
The all-powerful draconequus knew his intentions. He knew all of his thoughts.
He thought it over in his mind.
Discord had no plans for being this guy’s plan.
“You’ll do fine,” Discord said.
The ground shook and the entire barrier of his house lifted off of the ground, as darkness closed in, and discord fought with an unconquerable strength. Acerbus could not take him on. This was true. It had to be.