An enemy that preys on negative emotions invades a future Equestria where Twilight is the only remaining Element of Harmony.
Twilight Sparkle knew what being an alicorn meant, but it never really hit her until the death of everyone she loved, including Celestia and Luna, who gave up their long lives and their powers to Princess Twilight and Princess Cadence. With Cadence, as Princess of Love and Light, raising the Sun, and Twilight, Princess of Friendship and the Night, raising the moon, Equestria has been at peace despite Celestia and Luna's departure over a thousand years prior. The loss of her friends left Twilight in a deep pit of despair.
A strange visitor from one of the many mirror worlds tries to talk her out of the depression by letting her know of a new threat to the peaceful Equestria that she and her friends fought for, but it might not be enough, and the beings from the mirror world that prey on negativity may have already got their tentacles in the Princess. Can Cadence and another unlikely royal manage to pull Twilight out of her despair long enough for them to reform a new, more powerful version of the Elements of Harmony to defeat the Sha?
Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and the Night, stood silently on the balcony of Canterlot's palace. Since Celestia and Luna's departure from this mortal coil, the palace had been taken over by Twilight. Cadence was still needed in the Crystal Empire, although she was now Princess of Love and Light. Sunlight, in particular, but she liked the title 'Princess of Love and Light' and was known far and wide by it.
No one remembered Celestia anymore, besides Twilight and Cadence, and the two younger princesses were never compared to their departed predecessors. Cadence was loved and adored by all. Ponies came from all across Equestria to bask in her light in the Crystal Empire. Ever since Cadence had taken the Sun mantle up, the capitol of Equestria had shifted from Canterlot to the Empire. Twilight didn't care. She didn't care about much of anything, lately.
The night was silent, thoughtful, and velvety dark, just like her thoughts. The dreams of her subjects were an escape from her hated reality. There was no way she could have embraced the Light so thoroughly like Princess Cadence had.
Cadence had lost Shining Armor and most of her friends as well, but since Twilight had always been her best friend and sister-in-law, she hadn't seemed to suffer near as much as Twilight from the loss of friends through the ages.
The loss of Shining Armor had caused two weeks of night only lit by distant stars, Cadence being so lost in her depression that she had been unable to raise the sun. Twilight understood and kept the moon lowered, also mourning her brother and best friend's passing. The only light in the sky had been softly twinkling stars. No moon, no sun, just velvet darkness and pinpoints of distant light.
Shaking her head to try and rid herself of the morbid thoughts, Twilight glanced up once, quickly, at Cadence's brilliant sun. She turned and trotted back into her own palace. The Glass Hall was her favorite and most hated location in the palace. It brought back wonderful memories, and sad memories.
Twilight stopped at her favorite stained glass window. The art was a masterpiece of magic, Celestia's magic. In the magical work of art, a mare of darkness twisted in silent shock as beams of rainbow light shot from the six ponies surrounding her. The Elements of Harmony.
Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and herself, as the Element of Magic. Her best friends. Her gaze rested on another panel, a panel showing her own palace and seven thrones, each occupied by the five Elements of Harmony, herself, and Discord, who had become a dear friend in his own right.
Despite his own immortality, she hadn't seen Discord since the last of her five friends, Fluttershy, had passed on. Cadence hadn't either. There had been no outbursts of chaos, no change in Equestria's magical balance, nothing at all to indicate that Discord was even in Equestria. Discord's loss, shockingly, had hurt as much as Fluttershy's had that day. She had seen it in his eyes. The loss of meaning, of hope, the desire to simply fold in upon himself and fade away. And so he had.
She slowly walked past the other works of glass art, tears that wouldn't come burned in her eyes. She wanted to cry, but she hadn't, not once, not even for her friends. Tears, sadness, wasn't the way of the Princess of Friendship and guardian of the Night. Tears would...make it real. Too real.
The violet alicorn princess stopped at one of the panels, the only one that still gave her hope. It was the glass art that showed Spike holding the Crystal Heart, saving the Crystal Empire and Princess Cadence from King Sombra. Spike...she missed him so, but in her heart, she knew he wasn't dead. She simply wondered why he hadn't stayed with her.
Dragons were immortal, powerful, eternal. In the thousand years since Spike's departure to, in his own words, find his dragon family and his true meaning, she knew he wasn't dead. He had become something different, however. A dragon that was over five hundred was more powerful than even an alicorn princess, perhaps even a 'defect' like Spike had thought he was, and maybe he HAD been a defect.
That was the reason Spike sought his dragon family in the first place. To find out if his lack of wings were what caused his parents to abandon him to ponies. Spike had been so upset when he'd found the dragon book and found absolutely nothing about wingless dragons.
He had determined that that was why his parents abandoned him. Because they could smell his birth defect from the egg and refused to raise a freak. He thought it had just been pure luck that had saved his egg from dying to the elements or to predators like Timberwolves.
As for dragons in general, there were so few of them, however, that they were not a threat. Also, many earth ponies had learned to speak to animals, and dragons, and they had become allies of a sort.
Spike was over a thousand years old, wherever he was. He was one of those inscrutable, impossibly powerful beings now. Would he even remember Twilight? Would he even CARE if he did remember her? To an ancient dragon, even the lifespan of an alicorn was considered to be a simple blink of an eye. Or was he really a freak, and therefore possibly dead, indeed?
She passed Spike's portrait and opened one of the secret side doors in Canterlot castle. A massive mirror stood on a dais in the center of the room. Twilight looked into the mirror for a long, long time. She saw not her own reflection, but her friends, everything, as it had been when she'd first come to a small town called Ponyville.
Pinkie Pie was laughing, Rainbow Dash was showing off, Fluttershy was quietly speaking to Discord in a corner, Applejack, whose honesty not even a magic mirror could erase, lay on the ground, her eyes closed and her body too still. Rarity was going through a rack of dresses, shaking her head as each one passed her harsh scrutiny. In the far background, the small group of Cutie Mark Crusaders were sailing down a zipline. Spike was mooning over Rarity.
Her eyes burned even more. Why did she come here? Why, every day, hours on end, decades and decades, did she stand in front of this mysterious mirror? She never understood what it was. Never even tried. She was afraid that if she understood the magic, it would stop. Stop showing the best days of her life. Stop showing her everything she ever wanted. Her friends back. Ponyville. Days when she had been happy.
“Twilight Sparkle...” said a soft female voice, wise and soft, so very much like Celestia's, “Tarry not in front of dreams, or you will fall into them, lost forever. Equestria needs you.”
So lost in the mirror was the alicorn that it took her an extra few moments to be startled at the voice. The only voice she ever heard in this room was her own, and now this one...had someone followed her? She turned around slowly, afraid of what she might see. A strangled gasp escaped her throat.
So beautiful, the being in front of the alicorn princess. At first glance, it was a dragon, a massive dragon, except she noticed that it did not have wings and seemed to glow with an unearthly emerald light. It was floating several feet off the ground, seemingly held up by the mystical green light. It's undulating body reminded her of Discord. It's dragonlike face was so very similar to Spike's. What was this gorgeous being?
She realized that her mouth of was hanging open and closed it quickly. Twilight pulled upon the massive well of alicorn magic that boiled inside of her, readying a defense, in case this being meant harm. Futile. Twilight thought, There is no way my magic could even leave a dent on this creature.
She knew without knowing how. The creature was so powerful. She, for Twilight could tell that the being was female from her voice and her innate beauty, simply waited in front of Twilight. Her undulating body still giving off that soft jade light.
“What...what ARE you? What do you want? I don't understa-” Twilight was shouting, not in fear, but in confusion and shock.
“Be at peace, young one.” The being interrupted. “I mean no harm, only aid. I came here from another world. Through the other mirror, the one that leads to other worlds. Yes, worlds. So many. Equestria, my world, Tirek's world, the world you traveled to long ago, a broken world called Draenor...so many. So many possibilities.”
Her voice was calming, sweet, and yet impossibly powerful and ancient. “What do you mean? Are you stuck here?” Twilight realized her voice was barely above a whisper. “Did the mirror close on you? I can try to reopen it, I-”
“Shhh, child. The mirror for the world I am from will not open for a great many years to come. I am ancient. So ancient not even you could comprehend, and yes, the portal to my world is closed for what I consider to be a long time.” She tilted her glorious jade head upward, toward the stars that were painted on the ceiling of the massive mirror room.
“I know this world. Of the ponies of Equestria. Of you, Princess of the Night, Twilight Sparkle. And of Princess Cadence, Princess of the Sun. I can only offer my aid and...friendship. My name is Yu'lon. On my world, it means Serpent of Jade. I was...the Element of Wisdom, to put it into terms you can comprehend. I am the mother of beings called cloud serpents. Equestria has cloud serpents, but few, so very few. Creatures of pure shadow, representations of the dark emotions within us all, stole a single clutch of my eggs, over a thousand years ago, and took them through a portal to this world.”
“I do not mourn them, nor will I seek them out, my lost children. Cloud Serpents are resilient, and inextricably attached to magic. I know, if my hatchlings were not killed in the egg, that they were cared for by the powerful unicorns of your race. That is why I do not worry. You, too, should not worry about things you cannot control. You should not cry for your friends, for surely they would be greatly saddened to see you the way you are this day.”
Something in Yu'lon's voice seemed to grab Twilight's heart and twist it, fiercely, and yet gently. The princess felt wetness in her fur, streaking down her face. She tasted salt. Tears. Real tears. What was it about Yu'lon that had caused her to finally, finally, break down into the wracking sobs she'd held inside of her for so long?
Was it because she spoke the truth? That her friends would indeed be very sad to see her a cold, depressed mess of a pony? Yes. It was. She could almost hear Pinkie Pie's voice, telling her 'turn that sad frown upside down!' and to smile. Thick, wet sobs escaped her. She sank to her knees, curling her legs under her and continued to let out great gasping sobs, healing tears, at long last grieving for her friends. True grief, of loss, sadness, and in the end, acceptance.
Twilight felt a soft paw touch the top of her mane. The tiny paw stroked softly, murmuring words of comfort. Twilight raised her tear stained face and found herself looking into the startling jade eyes of a tiny bear cub, standing upright on two legs, white with black markings and a tiny puffed tail. Another unfamiliar creature, but Twilight didn't need magic to know that it was Yu'lon, in a small, more comforting form.
“I come to you, to aid you, because Equestria is in grave danger, young princess. You and Cadence...and perhaps others...are the only ones capable of fighting them. The...Sha.” Yu'lon's new voice was high-pitched and sounded like a filly's.
The mention of another great danger to Equestria almost broke through Twilight's finally released grief, but she shook her head in the end, tucking her legs beneath her and lying down.
“Yu'lon, find someone else. Go to Cadence, she will be happy to participate in your...whatever it is you want to accomplish. I'm just so...tired. So tired. I want it to be over.” Tears streaked down her face again.
“There is no one else, young one. Dear Princess.” Yu'lon ran one of her soft, furry paws down Twilight's sparkling mane. “The Sha prey on negative emotions. The Sha of Despair will find your sadness to be a feast. You must understand. Every other threat against Equestria you've faced will be as nothing compared to what the Sha can bring.”
The tiny bear-like creature that was Yu'lon sighed. “They are every negative emotion ever experienced. They feed off negativity and conflict. And-”
“You want me and Cadence to use the Power of Friendship, the Power of Harmony, to send them away, right?” The alicorn princess spat. “No. You're more powerful than I am. YOU defeat them!”
Yu'lon tilted her head to the side, and, to Twilight's shock, smiled. “I cannot. One Element Of Harmony has no power alone. I am only the Element of Wisdom. The Elements of Strength, Fortitude, and Hope are no longer with me. They protect my home world. Now, I come here to offer my Element, my power, my aid, to the new Elements of Strength, Fortitude, and Hope. Together, they can end the Sha in this world. Forever.”
“The true Elements of Harmony on this world are no more, you pathetic excuse for a dragon. No wings, turns into a fluffy baby bear...I don't know how you even became powerful at all. I'm tired, I'm bitter. I just want everything to GO AWAY!” She shouted, she covered her tear stained eyes with her hooves.
Twilight's eyes were squeezed shut as tight as she could get them. Again, she felt the tiny paw beneath her chin, tilted it up with an odd amount of strength for a creature so small.
“Please, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and the Night. All I ask is that you consider it. A great darkness is already beginning to sweep the land. Cadence has already noticed it. Do not let despair enter your heart, or you are lost. The essence of despair will overcome you. The Sha will control the greatest Princess Equestria has ever known. Don't let that happen.”
Yu'lon leaned over and pressed her furry little mouth against Twilight's cheek, a soft kiss, and transformed back into the glorious, beautiful Mother of Serpents that she really was.
Her voice was again ethereal and every word she spoke sounded of the utmost importance. “I will leave you to decide. I must speak with Princess Cadence now. She knows of my impending visit. Think, Princess. Think hard. Do you really want the Equestria you and your friends fought so hard for to fall under shadow and darkness once more?”
Princess Cadence, Princess of Love and Light, stood on the great balcony of the Crystal Empire, basking in the love and light powering both the Crystal Heart and her own heart.
She raised her head, horn pointed skyward and slowly spread her wings and rose into the velvet night sky. Elsewhere, she knew that Twilight was doing the same thing, to an audience in Canterlot, bowing before the night sky.
The Crystal Ponies bowed and muttered with awe as a brilliant orb of light engulfed Cadence as she rose higher and higher, eventually the light engulfed the entire Empire in it's warm, loving rays.
She watched Twilight's moon lower in a silvery, lovely flash of dark. The day had begun. The Crystal Princess slowly floated back to the floor, ignoring the Crystal Ponies and their awe and muttering.
She smiled. The sun, raising the sun, basking in the sun, it always made her happy. It made her feel less loss than she should have felt, losing Shining Armor and her daughter, Princess Skyla.
Skyla was born an alicorn, but soon her wings shriveled and fell off, leaving her a unicorn, like her father. Shining Armor was so proud of his daughter.
This just proved, once more, that alicorn-hood had to be earned. One would never, could never, be born an alicorn.
Proud of her horn and her cutie mark when she had received it. It had been a yellow swirling star, surrounded by a blue magical shield. Skyla was meant to be part of guard. The first female royal guard in the history of Equestria.
It was her destiny. She had trained hard, ignored the boys' taunts, and eventually became one of her parents' fiercest guardians.
She had even once beaten Discord in a fair fight (just for fun, Discord was reformed too much by then to harm any pony), which was practically impossible.
But then, both her parents had embodied a power greater than the elements of harmony and friendship. They embodied the greatest force in the universe. Love, of course. There was nothing more powerful than love, ever.
Slowly, Cadence lowered herself to the ground, amidst the cheers of the Crystal Ponies and others who had moved to the Empire. Smiling, she waved to the crowd and returned to the throne room. One of her great-great-great many times great granddaughters nuzzled her softly as Cadence moved to relax on a soft couch in to the left of the throne.
Her dear grandchild was a pegasus, just like she had been before she'd become an alicorn. She was an adult who eagerly awaited a stallion who would give her a foal. Her name was Sapphire Heart and her cutie mark was, indeed, a shining gold heart surrounded by sapphire spirals. She bowed to her princess/ancestor and asked how the morning had went.
“Well. As always. One can't mess up raising the sun.” She laughed softly.
Sapphire smiled, running a hoof through her silky gold mane. It was lovely with her cotton-candy fur and green eyes. She put her helmet back on. Sapphire was a member of Cadence's royal guard, now all-female, a tradition established by Sklya, Cadence's headstrong daughter. The male ponies were now free to pursue a course of action besides royal guard. Twilight still employed male guards, but the Crystal Empire only employed females, thanks to Skyla's precedent.
“Princess...do you ever get sad, or lonely? Outliving all of your descendants. I mean, I know I'll die before you, but just having you as my many-times great grandmother is an honor. As is being part of the Guard, just like my mother.” Sapphire asked.
“Of course I do, dearest.” She nuzzled Sapphire softly. Of all her descendants, Sapphire looked the most like her. Even her wings were similar, as well as her fur, the color of soft cotton candy. Her mane and eyes were the only huge difference.
“But, Sapphire, we can't despair for the past. Something I wish my sister, Princess Twilight, would learn. I've tried so hard, Sapphire, but nothing I do can bring her out of her depression. I even asked my...Visitor....to talk to her first, before coming here.”
Cadence's wings drooped slightly. As mainly a pegasus princess, the horn only an afterthought, really, she expressed herself with her wings more than her magic.
Sapphire nodded. “I understand, your Highness. I...suppose I'll go back to my post now. I just wanted to see how you were doing, Princess.”
The gold-maned pegasus couldn't help herself and flew up and pulled Cadence into a hug. “Never lose hope, your Highness. Ever.” A few tears leaked down Sapphire's eyes as she nuzzled her grandmother.
Sapphire saluted Cadence and returned to her post outside the palace doors. Cadence was alone at last.
“Yu-lon? It is alright to show yourself now. Do not fear.” Cadence almost laughed. A creature like Yu-lon fearing ANYTHING was amusing indeed.
“Yes...thank you again for listening to me, Princess of Love and Light, raiser of the Sun, guardian of Love.” A shining jade dragon-like creature appeared slowly in front of her, silver-jade light eventually coalescing into Yu-lon's true form.
“The threat spreads, Princess. Twilight would not listen to me, still so lost in her sorrow. I fear the Sha of Despair may already have gotten to her. I know not what we would do were it true.” Yu-lon regally bowed her great head to Cadence.
Cadence returned the bow, kneeling to the floor, to show her greater respect for Element of Wisdom and Mother of Cloud Serpents.
“Twilight...she is so very strong, great guardian of Wisdom. Surely she will heed your words about not wanting to lose the Equestria her friends fought so hard to keep safe.” Cadence's eyes sparkled with tears. Her sister's sorrow made her entire body ache.
As Princess of Love, Cadence felt broken, twisted love in Twilight's heart. She loved her friends, but she was in love with the past. Nothing at all had roused her to do anything beyond her duties in the past seven hundred years, when her last remaining friend had passed on, Princess Luna, returning to the moon forever.
Luna had mourned Twilight's friends with her, mourned Celestia's passing with her, been Twilight's last friend and beloved. Twilight hadn't even taken a stallion. She had not married, not even with Flash Sentry's many attempts. She had known what would happen and didn't want to hurt him. Or didn't want to hurt herself.
No, Twilight was anything but selfish. She had kept his affections at a distance for his own sake. When he was old and dying, she would still be young and beautiful, powerful. She couldn't imagine the pain that Flash would feel. Would also feel if they had had foals. Losing a foal would just be too much for Twilight, Cadence knew.
Skyla's loss had almost sent Cadence into a spiraling depression, and would have destroyed the love in her heart were it not for Skyla's daughter, Cadence's beloved granddaughter, explaining that it didn't matter, that Cadence would always have family, that Skyla and Shining Armor would live forever in their descendants.
Yu-lon made a slight coughing noise. She appeared in front of Cadence now as a pony, not the tiny bear-like creature she had when Cadence had first met her, or the massive jade dragon that was her true form. She had green fur, striped with different shades of jade and a brighter green mane with blue-green highlights. Her eyes were a deep violet and had no pupils, just a bright white light in the center reflected in them that reminded Cadence of Twilight's moon, and she wore golden anklets above her hooves.
Instead of a single horn like a unicorn, she had two spiral horns on each side of her magnificent jade mane. Even the horns were a shade of green. Only the gold anklets and sparkling violet eyes were a different color. She was, after all, the Jade Serpent, Cadence remembered. She noticed that her mane had an almost feathery texture to it, rather than hair. As if even in her pony form, the great serpent could not disguise who and what she really was. Cadence noticed that, oddly, her mane ebbed and flowed like Celestia and Luna's manes. It wasn't truly surprising. Yu-lon was a powerful creature. A goddess.
Pony Yu-lon sat down and gazed at the brilliant blue sky, illuminated by Cadence's sun.
“Princess, did you know, on my world, we too have beings in charge of the sun and moon?” Yu-lon asked.
Cadence tilted her head, puzzled. “You said there were no ponies in...what did you call your world?...Azeroth.”
Yu-lon smiled. “There are no ponies. You should know by now that ponies are not the only beings with great power, and power over their surroundings. These beings, even to this day, I am unable to truly comprehend what they are.”
“But...you? You're...you're a goddess! The goddess of wisdom! Surely, if anyone can understand-” Cadence was cut off by the pony-serpent.
“I am no true goddess, Lady of Love. I am merely like you. An...element...of wisdom. These beings, called An'she and Elune, do not merely raise the sun and moon, they can grant power through the celestial bodies.” Yu-lon sighed, closing her eyes and remembering the soft heat of An'she's sun and the silver glow of Elune's moons.
“Grant...power? I can't even imagine how such a thing would even work. It would require magic beyond even Twilight and Celestia, and they're, forgive me for being honest, far more powerful than I. Well, Celestia was.” Cadence closed her eyes, remembering her brilliant, shining aunt, raiser of the sun and granter of light.
“Yes.” said Yu-lon. “As I said, those beings...were always beyond comprehension. None of the races on my world ever discovered their true nature. Warriors called paladins and magic users called priests came as close as they could, but it was never enough.”
Yu-lon yawned. “Forgive this old serpent for remembering. I do miss my world, but this is of far greater concern. We must reforge Equestria's elements of Harmony to end the Sha threat before it becomes too large and widespread.”
Cadence tilted her head a bit, inquiringly. “How can we reforge the elements? I...Yu-lon, I was never even part of the elements. I know that you know that. Perhaps there are six other ponies who would work-”
“No. No others would work, and it is not six. It is four. Possibly five, if the element of Pride has power here. I have already found them, but for two of them, they must accept the power and responsibility. The element of Wisdom. Strength, Tenacity, Wisdom, and Hope. And occasionally Pride. These are the elements of harmony needed to end the Sha, once and for all.”
A bright flash and Yu-lon abandoned her pony form, once again taking the form of the slightly mismatched jade serpent. She hovered a few feet above the crystalline floor of Cadence's throne room, and her aura seemed to bathe the entire place in pale green light.
“M-mistress of Wisdom...how..how can Twilight and I tap into these powers? I...Yu-lon...I honestly don't even have the slightest idea of which of these elements I could possess. You say I do possess one, but where is it? How do I use it?” She remembered her first conversation with Yu-lon, who had told her she possessed one of Azeroth's Elements of Harmony.
Yu-lon smiled. Her teeth were like large daggers, but there was no malice in her smile. The jade serpent leaned her head forward a few inches and nuzzled the Princess of Love.
“You honestly do not know which element you possess? You have endured, and endured without giving in to depression, like Twilight. You possess a great hope. Hope beyond any other. Hope and love. Hope is believing in things that are possible, and even things that are not, and you...you have that, Princess. You knew that you would outlive your family, but you hoped that you never would. In the end, that hope ended up becoming reality. Your husband and daughter, yes, you far outlived them, but your true family? They are still here. Your sister, Twilight, and your descendants. And, of course, the Crystal Empire.”
“I must...for my subjects, and my descendents. I must hold the Crystal Empire together, and I must hold the Light and Love of Equestria together. It is...merely duty. As for hope...it's just something I've always had. I never had to try.” Cadence sighed.
“Not duty.” said Yu-lon. “You would feel...lost...without this hope. If you did not possess this great element of power, you would have followed Shining Armor and your child into the next world. I have had much experience with such things, on Azeroth.” The serpent sighed and shook her great head.
“If I may, mistress serpent, who is the last Element? I know of myself, Twilight, and of course you...but..who else? There are no other alicorns!” Cadence bit her lip in confusion.
Yu-lon smiled, slightly devious. “You don't know much about your other family members, do you? This alicorn hid his true self from everypony. Only Celestia and Luna knew. He's older than you by at least eight hundred years.”
Cadence blinked. “A male alicorn? A stallion? I didn't even know that was possible!”
“Anything is possible, little one. This stallion was granted alicornhood by Princess Celestia after discovering many lost continents and exploring countless lost worlds, including mine. I know him, in fact.” The serpent smiled.
“I...do I know him? I mean...well, do I?” Cadence was confused.
“You do, sweet Cadence. You knew him as the unicorn Prince Blueblood.” Yu-lon gave a soft laugh.
Cadence's jaw dropped in utter disbelief.
AN: I know Cadence is spelled wrong. I was tired of the spell checker constantly wanting to correct it, so I left it “Cadence” instead of “Cadance”. Sorry if you don't like it. Also, my grammar isn't perfect, I know. Any reviews are loved, and constructive criticism. Thank you for reading!
