It was just a normal day inside the walls of Canterlot High School. Most of the students were inside their classrooms taking in whatever knowledge their teachers were putting out to their students. However, even though today would be relatively normal, tomorrow will start the event that the school puts on every year. Most students got excited about it, but one student in particular was more pleased than just about anybody else.
As the school lunch bell rang, the students of Canterlot High School charged toward the school lunchroom. No one really cared for the lunch the school served; lunchtime served more of an opportunity for social gathering than for eating. Every student would sit in the same spot every day, usually grouped by interests, at least somewhat.
Every student ran past the notice boards that the school set up on the wall next to the cafeteria. Most students never gave the bulletin board a second look. Amid the blur of students trying to get to the cafeteria, there was one student who stopped and read the newest notice pinned to the board with a blue push pin.
The notice said, “Who’s going to be this year’s Fall Formal Princess? Make sure you vote today!!” There was more writing below, probably giving some sort of extra details. The person reading the notice didn’t seem to care much about the fine print. After she read those first two sentences, an eerie smile crept up on her lips. “It’s almost time”
“Congratulations Twilight!! Or should I say, Princess Twilight! You’ve completed your long running quest. Just always keep in mind that as one quest ends, another usually starts.”
“What do you mean, Princess?” Twilight asked her teacher, or former teacher, as the case was now.
“The first part of your destiny has been fulfilled. You’ve become an alicorn and a princess. You have learned a lot about magic, and the Magic of Friendship. I’ve given you tests throughout your time in Ponyville. Now your true test will begin. You and your friends will be tested like never before.”
“True Test?” Twilight asked. She couldn’t believe that she had saved Equestria several times, and yet, that wasn’t even her “true test” whatever that was. What more would she need to do?
Princess Celestia smiled. “I’ve sent a letter to Spike. He and your other five friends will be on the next train to Canterlot. I have something that all seven of you need to hear.”
Celestia could actually hear Twilight gulp. “Twilight, try to relax.” Celestia knew that asking Twilight to relax was probably useless. Her student had a breakdown about almost everything that she deemed was out of her control. “In the meantime, Twilight, I’m sure you have some questions for me. Why don’t we sit down and have some tea while we wait for your friends. I’ll try to answer whatever questions you may have.”
The two of them walked into one of Celestia’s private rooms. “Twilight, please have a seat, make yourself comfortable. I’ll make some tea.” As Celestia turned around to start getting the tea ready, from the corner of her eye, she saw Twilight fidgeting in her seat. “Twilight, please relax. What are you so worried about?”
Twilight sighed, “I’m sorry Princess. I’ve just been worried about something ever since I became a princess myself.”
“And what would that be?” Celestia asked.
“Well, you and Luna both rule over Canterlot and all of Equestria. When the Crystal Empire reappeared, you gave that to Cadence to rule. I’m scared that you’re going to do the same to me. The way you were talking about my true test beginning, I was thinking that you were going to assign me to rule somewhere. I just don’t think I’m ready for that!”
Celestia turned around to look at Twilight. “Twilight, my dear. Please do not worry about that. This is all so new to you, and you’re so young. You’re supposed to be having fun with your friends and doing things and going places. I’m not about to ruin that by making you sit on a throne day in and day out. The only thing I want you to do right now is to be there for your friends. We’re work on that throne a little later.” Celestia finished with a smile and a wink.
With Twilight’s immediate worries gone for now, the two of them were able to drink their tea and just chat idly about things of somewhat little importance. Mainly just to kill some time before Twilight’s friends could get to the castle.
When they were both done with their tea, Celestia got up, and using her magic, walked her tea set back to get it cleaned out. Twilight got up as well and walked with her former teacher. Twilight caught Celestia giving a glance toward her desk. More specifically, a picture frame sitting on her desk.
“What was he like?” Twilight asked, thought she’d take a chance on learning more.
“Hmm?” Celestia asked.
“The one in the picture. Could you tell me more about him? You told me once he was like a hero to you and the rest of Equestria, yet I’ve never heard of him. I’m just curious about him.”
“Sister! The train from Ponyville has arrived!” Luna called as she galloped into Celestia’s room. “Hello again, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Please Luna, you can just call me Twilight. No need to call me by my full name every time you see me.”
“Very well, Twilight Sparkle, I will remember that.
“Hmm,” Celestia thought to herself as she came up with an idea. “Luna, how would you like to get out of this castle for a few days?”
“Oh, I would love that. You know it’s been far too long since I had a vacation.”
“How about you, Twilight?” Celestia continued, “Do you think you and your friends could use a few days too?” I was thinking about a visit to the Crystal Empire.”
“That sounds fun!” Luna said very excitedly. “It has been over a millennia since I had seen the Empire.”
“Yeah, I guess I could use some days of fun. I’ve been pretty stressed lately.” Twilight said.
“Good, then let’s meet your friends at the train station. Then I’ll get us a train to the Crystal Empire. Why don’t you go down and meet your friends. Luna and I will be out in a couple minutes.”
“Alright then.” Twilight said as she left the room to go find her friends. “See you soon.”
“When are you going to tell her?” Luna asked her sister after Twilight left.
“Twilight and all her friends will know everything when we get to the Crystal Empire. I want Cadence and Shining Armor to know as well. Equestria is in great danger. When does the mirror open again?”
“Tonight at midnight.”
“That doesn’t give us much time. We need to tell them everything as soon as we get to the Empire.”
Later that day, Princess Celestia was able to get a private train to the Crystal Empire. It was a shorter train than that usually runs. This train only had 2 cars plus the engine. Luna, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were sitting in the first car, talking and laughing to and with each other. In that car the atmosphere was light and fun. In the rear car, however, it felt dark. The lone passenger of the car was Princess Celestia. She had a bad feeling about tonight. She wasn’t sure exactly why she had such a bad feeling. The portal in the mirror had opened before with no signs of danger, but she was sure something bad was going to happen this time. It was as if she knew a huge army was going to come walking out of that mirror. “What if the Elements of Harmony can’t handle what’s coming?” Celestia thought to herself.
“Come on, Tia” Luna said, as if she had been listening to her sister’s thoughts.
Celestia looked up to find Luna standing right next to her, a look of worry on her face. “Don’t worry so much about the future. You don’t know what’s going to happen, so stop trying to change and manipulate it. Isn’t that one of the lessons Twilight learned at some point? Anyway, whatever is going to happen, we will be able to overcome it together.”
“But what about---” Celestia began.
“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it, Tia.”
A small snicker escaped Celestia. “The phrase is, ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it’. Not burn the bridge.”
“Are you sure, Tia?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Well, whatever, then. Now come on Tia, let’s have some fun with the others. I hate to see you miserable.”
“You’re right, Luna. I’m sorry.”
The train ride from Canterlot to the Crystal Empire didn’t take near as long as it usually did. The private train the princesses got didn’t have to make any stops to reach its destination like other trains did.
The train station was riddled with Crystal Guards-the Royal Guards of the Crystal Empire. There weren’t near as many Crystal guards as there were Canterlot Royal Guards, but there was still enough to deter most ponies from doing anything stupid anywhere near the castle.
After the train stopped at the station, the eight ponies, and one dragon, walked out of the train, and was instantly greeted by a third alicorn.
“Cadance!” Twilight called, running up to her former foul-sitter.
“Twilight!” Cadance called, giving Twilight a hug. “It’s so good to see you again, and all your friends as well. Let’s head back to the castle. After I got the letter from all of you saying you all were coming for a couple of days, I got our extra rooms in the castle ready. You’re all welcome to stay as long as you want. I do have a question, however. Something tells me that this is more than all of you wanting a vacation.”
“Indeed.” Princess Celestia said. “I have much to tell all of you. I just wish I could say that it was better news.”
“What is it Princess?” Twilight asked.
“I will tell you all, but first let’s get into the castle and get comfortable. The story I have to tell is a long one.
“The Master of Shadows…There he is. We found him.”
“Him? Really? He doesn’t look all that impressive to me.”
“Neither do you, but that doesn’t mean that you also don’t have an important part to play.”
“Yeah yeah yeah, whatever. Look, Faust, I can’t believe you’re risking the entire universe on this guy, but if you’re sure, I’ll set the test up. Just remember, if you’re wrong, we’re going to be in even deeper trouble than before.”
“Then we’d better hope I’m right.”
Author's Note
Finally!! Another story out for you guys to read!
I really want to thank my friend Freewing Alchemist P for helping me through a long writers block.
Anyway, as always, help is always welcome, if you have ideas on how to help me improve.
Hope you enjoy!
Author's Note
This chapter just went under a little edit. Just rearranging some stuff for better story flow. 
Fourteen Elements
“Alright, everypony get comfortable. I’m afraid I haven’t been totally truthful to any of you concerning the Elements of Harmony. Well, I guess ‘truthful’ is not the right word. I have been truthful to you, all of you, but I just haven’t told any of you everything I know about the Elements.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked
“Well, if I were to ask you how many Elements there were, you would probably tell me six: Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, and Magic. But what If I told you that there were actually fourteen Elements?”
“Fourteen? How are there fourteen Elements?”
“Wait!” Pinkie Pie said with a gasp. “You’re trying to tell me that there are—uh, let’s see: carry the two…”
“Eight” Twilight sparkle cut in with a roll of her eyes. “And you don’t carry when you’re subtracting anyway, Pinkie.”
“Well, you have your way of subtracting and I have mine.” Pinkie said as Twilight rolled her eyes. “Besides I was about to say eight anyway. But anyway, that means that we’re going to have eight more friends? This calls FOR A PARTY!!”
Twilight used her magic to close her mouth with a zipper. Pinkie gave her a dirty look, while Princess Celestia Flashed Twilight a thankful one. “Go ahead, Princess.”
“Let me just say you do not want to be friends with seven out of the eight other Elements. Most ponies think that ‘Harmony’ simply means ‘happiness’ or ‘living in happiness,’ but in reality, living in Harmony means that we are all living in a world that is balanced between two powers. Every Element has an opposite. When you first met Discord, he actually showed you what your opposites are like. They aren’t all that pleasant. Discord only showed you a small taste of that, though. I have a feeling that the real thing will be much, much worse.”
“But you said the seven of the last eight are like that. What about the eighth one?” Twilight asked.
The room grew quiet as Celestia lowered her head and looked at the floor. Every pony in the room could see the question bring back some sad memories for the princess. Luna came up and sat next to her sister, and laid a hoof on her shoulder. Luna seemed to be the only one who wasn’t surprised by Celestia’s sorrow. Finally Celestia spoke despite some water starting to show under her eyes.
“The Eighth element would have been your friend. He also would have been your protector. Just like he was for me.” She used her magic to bring a picture frame from her desk. “I know, Twilight, you’ve asked me about this before.” She passed the frame to Twilight, who then, after another look at it, moved the frame down the line so that all her other friends could see it.
“His name is Alan. He was a species known as Human. Humans are creatures that walk on only two legs, and use his other two legs, although he called them ‘hands’ to pick up stuff. It’s similar to the way Spike walks and uses his claws to pick things up. Unfortunately, he died, maybe 25 years ago. He did his best to protect Canterlot, and to protect me. He was killed in the caves beneath Canterlot trying to stop an escape at Canterlot Prisons. The escapee, before he was jailed, had attempted, or at least bluffed, to blow up a part of Canterlot. Alan chased this pony into the caves, but when the bomber was cornered by Alan; the bomber killed him, and then escaped before I could do anything.”
Celestia decided to leave out the part about her former student. At least for now. Celestia wondered if that decision was going to come back and bite her later.
“But why didn’t you tell us this earlier?” asked Rainbow Dash, flying up into Celestia’s face. It then hit her whose personal space she just infringed upon. She backed off quickly as she managed to squeak out an apology.
Princess Celestia ignored Rainbow Dash, except for a single nod she gave to the pegasus. “Maybe I should have, but over the last couple years you all have had so much on your plates that it didn’t seem right to give you something this big on top of it all.”
“I’m not sure I totally understand everything, Princess.” Twilight commented. “I have questions. A lot of questions. Where did you first meet Alan?
“Let me start at the beginning.” Celestia responded. “You know about how Luna and I defeated Discord all those years ago, right?”
9 months later
If anypony were to take a stroll through one of the deeper parts of the caves beneath Canterlot, they might come across a body lying on the floor in the middle of a room of one of the caverns. Surrounding the body lie only shadows; one Shadow in particular.
“Come on, Alan. This isn’t funny anymore. Wake up!”
Alan stirred for a bit before finally, much to Shadow’s relief, he opened his eyes.
“W-Where are we?” Alan asked without moving.
“I think we’re still in those caves beneath Canterlot. I’m so glad you finally woke up. I couldn’t even talk to you in your head. I couldn’t hear your thoughts at all. It was kinda like you were sleeping, except that when you sleep, I can still make contact with both your conscious and subconscious mind. I couldn’t make contact with you at all.” Shadow sighed. “You scared me. I thought I had lost you; lost a friend. The only friend I’ve ever had. ”
Alan flashed a weak smile “I see the big shadow demon has a soft spot.”
“Hey now!” Shadow responded, “I’m not afraid to say that I’ve grown pretty fond of you, as a friend. I don’t want to lose you now after we’ve been through so much.”
Alan was taken aback. He’d never heard Shadow speak that way before. He was at a loss of words, so all we did was sit up, and wrap an arm around his friend. “Thank you, Shadow. Thanks for protecting me over the last two years.” They both sat there for a minute before Alan broke the hug. He looked around the cavern thinking about that to do next. “We need to get out of here. Sunset Shimmer still needs to be stopped. Where did she go?”
Alan had trouble seeing in the cavern; the light was very faint. Even through the almost nonexistent light, Alan could see just about every part of the cave wall, ceiling, and floor. Nowhere could he find a way out. He was able to make out an area of the cave that looked like a cave-in.
“Shadow, I don’t see a way out.”
Shadow looked around the cavern, his eyes able to see better in darkness. “Wait a minute. Where is this light coming from?” He asked.
“I’m not sure.” Alan thought out loud. We’re in a world of magic, so I’m not too worried about that. I’m sure it’s some magic something or other. But I just don’t understand what happened.”
The last thing Alan remembered was going in for an attack on Sunset, then everything went blank after that. He thought harder. “Wait, wasn’t Princess Celestia here in the cave with us at one point. I thought I heard her voice for like a split second.”
Before Shadow could say anything, they both saw a bright light appear right in front of them. When the light subsided, there, standing before them, was a human female, or at least humanoid-ish. Something about her made Alan think she wasn’t exactly human, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Hello, Alan; Shadow. Wait. Before you say anything: Faust. I’m here to help. I can’t think of a single reason why you should.”
“Huh?” Alan and Shadow asked at the same time.
“I was simply answering your questions; at least the questions that a person in your position should probably ask.”
“Um, ok…?” Alan paused, thoroughly confused. “Mind telling me what questions I was about to ask?”
“I don’t know. You haven’t asked me anything yet.”
“but…but…but…” Alan stammered, before he stopped. “No, you know what? Nevermind. Can we just start over? Who are you?” Alan finally asked.
“My name is Faust.” She said simply.
“Ok, then, Why are you here?”
“I’m here to help.”
Alan’s eyes narrowed as his brain was finally trying to get a grip on the situation. “Why should I trust you?”
“I can’t think of a single reason why you should.”
Alan stopped, realizing that she really had anticipated his questions. “How?”
“I’d love to tell you, but I have something more important to tell you right now, and we don’t have much time. Long story short: The whole universe is resting on your shoulders.”
“Oh, well, that’s reassuring.” Alan said sarcastically.
“Before I continue, you must know that I know all about Equestria. Probably more than you, and possibly even more than the ponies themselves. A great evil is rising. This evil is preparing for war, and you must lead the side of good to victory.”
“I know about that. I was almost killed a few minutes ago by something that seemed to be pretty evil to me.”
“What if I told you that, your little battle didn’t happen just a few minutes ago?” Faust asked.
“Uh, yeah, I’m pretty sure it did. I was there, last I checked.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because…” Alan began.
“Exactly,” Faust continued, “Nothing is as it seems right now. What if I told you the battle you fought happened approximately 25 years ago? You are now at a time that matches the time period of your world. As a matter of fact, you’ve been time-hopping over the last 2 years, as you perceive time.”
“Do you think you could tell me something that actually makes sense, or at least actually say something that would answer more questions than it creates?”
