The Fragments of Our Collective Destiny

Chapter 2
When the Sun Rose Again

None of the ponies slept particularly well last night, especially Twilight Sparkle. The fact that she and her friends had to catch an early train bound for Canterlot didn’t do much to help.

The purple alicorn’s eyelids fluttered open, only to droop seconds later. In her drowsiness, she saw Fluttershy and Rarity sitting in front of her, both giggling at something related to Opalescence. In another corner, Pinkie Pie proudly imparted Applejack and Spike on her latest “innovations” in pastry making. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash hovered idly; Twilight assumed she was bored from the train ride.

While nopony else shared the compartment with them, the seven friends nonetheless spoke of nothing regarding what they’d been informed of. There wasn’t much to talk about anyway, as their knowledge of the situation was limited to Celestia’s vague description in the letter.

This is no test; at least not a conventional one, Twilight thought. Still, that didn’t stop the diligent alicorn from browsing through history books all night, trying to figure out what, or who that “ancient adversary” could be. No, not some demented chaos lord, mare of eternal night, or magic-devouring thief; just an abstract “ancient adversary.”

Her search for a possible culprit was fruitless to say the least, and exhaustion eventually set in on the alicorn. But even when retired to the coziness of her bed, it was as if Twilight’s various speculations surrounding Celestia’s plea incessantly barged into her mind, and she ended up tossing and turning throughout the night.

It was then that she made the connection.

“Wow, Twilight. I know I’ve said this back at the train station, but you look awful today,” Rainbow Dash remarked as she landed and sat down next to her.

“Oh my, Rainbow Dash is right,” Rarity gasped, breaking off her conversation with Fluttershy. “Darling, surely you wouldn’t want to meet with the Princess in such a dishevelled state. Allow me to give you a quick makeover!” the fashionista offered in a sing-along voice.

Twilight nonchalantly gazed out of the window while the unicorn combed her mane. The train rounded a bend, signaling their imminent arrival at Equestria’s glamourous capital.

Why am I so worried? the alicorn asked herself. Indeed, this was far from the first time that she and her friends had been asked to tackle a ruthless villain threatening all of Equestria, but something was just off about the way Celestia worded her concerns—the future of all ponykind will be at stake. In that letter, Twilight sensed anxiety, panic, but most importantly, dread.

“Good heavens, I’ve never seen your mane in such a horrid condition,” Rarity commented.

Princess Celestia… The alicorn also felt somewhat abandoned. It was the same feeling that came upon her when she received the invitation to her brother’s wedding a few years ago. She hadn’t seen Celestia in a month, and suddenly her former mentor was asking her to embark on some sort of daunting quest to save all of ponykind.

Now she finally realized why Celestia had put her up to her studies.

Up to that point, the seven friends were doing a decent job of maintaining confidentiality—until Twilight let out an agitated groan.

“Uhg… I can’t believe it took me so long to make this connection!”

Realizing what she had done, the alicorn’s face flushed red as everypony suddenly turned their heads in her direction, staring at her with their eyes wide open. Rainbow Dash was startled, while Rarity almost dropped her comb in surprise.

“What connection?” Spike asked curiously.

“Uh… hehe… I mean…”

Rainbow Dash put her hoof on the alicorn’s shoulder. “You know, Twilight, maybe your sleep deprivation is starting to catch up with you…”

Twilight sighed guiltily. “Look, guys, I know we promised not to talk about this here, but… I kind of figured out something last night, and I’ve been wanting to tell you all morning…”

The cerulean Pegasus leaned forward excitedly. “You know who we’re going up against?”

“No, Rainbow, I don’t,” Twilight replied. “But I do know where we’ll probably be going—the Outliers.”

The compartment briefly fell silent, and from the looks of everypony’s faces, it was obvious that none of them had a hint of what the alicorn was talking about.

Applejack scratched her head in cluelessness. “Uh, the what now?”

“The Outliers, ancient lands south of Equestria. They’re what I’ve been doing research on lately. Princess Celestia—”

“Oh my gosh!” Pinkie Pie abruptly leapt forward and threw her hooves up her face, catching the purple alicorn completely off-guard. “The Outliers,” the party pony exclaimed frantically, “as in ‘the Outliers’ Outliers?!”

“Wait, you’ve know about them?” Twilight asked incredulously.

“Well, duh!” Pinkie cried. “I mean, obviously not from books, but when I was a little filly my grandma told me stories about a cousin of my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather! He was the forepony of an iron ore mine far, far, far away from Equestria. To get all the iron here, they had to cross the Outliers, and—”

The pink earth pony’s story was interrupted as the train pulled to a stop. Twilight glanced out of the window, seeing that the platform was empty, save for two conspicuous unicorn guards clad in golden armour. “We’ll let you finish your story later, Pinkie.” she said.

“Okey dokey!” Pinkie gleefully replied.

The guards trotted briskly to the seven friends as they climbed out of the train. “Greetings, Your Highness, and your friends, too,” one of them said solemnly. “Allow us to escort to you to the castle. Princess Celestia wishes to speak to you in private on a matter of utmost urgency.”

Well, here it goes, Twilight thought to herself.

Inside the castle, Princess Celestia paced the throne room anxiously. Her vibrant mane and tail danced gracefully as always, but from her frazzled look, it was clear that Twilight and her friends weren’t the only ones who didn’t have a good night’s rest.

The white alicorn had just raised the sun a few hours prior, and now its warm rays came pouring through the many stained glass windows that decorated the hallway, putting on an elaborate display of shapes and colours. Some of those intricate depictions told of troubling times, of great suffering and unrest. Most of them, however, symbolized the ultimate triumph of good over evil, in one way or another.

Celestia had been proud—proud of herself, but even more so of her fellow ponies, who had worked so diligently to preserve the very thing she and Luna had fought tirelessly to create: the kingdom of Equestria. It was by no means a utopian paradise, and Celestia knew for sure that it would never be, but she was proud nonetheless.

Now, it seemed as if the very same memorials that once bestowed upon the monarch a sense of fulfillment were mocking her instead. Being its co-founder, Celestia knew well the trials and tribulations one has to endure when establishing a kingdom. On the contrary, recent events had led her to understand just how easy it was for the reverse—the destruction of a nation, or even an entire civilization—to happen.

The alicorn glanced at the stained glass windows once more, which now hung like lifeless monuments baking in the heat of the sun, a constant reminder of the frailty of that which she swore to protect.

“Sister, may I have a word with you?” a familiar voice asked.

Celestia spun around to see Luna standing at the doorway. “Of course, Luna,” she said. “What is it?”

Like her older sister, the princess of the night wore an uneasy expression, which became all the more obvious as she approached the former. “I-I… I know it’s rather inappropriate of me to bring this up in the last minute, but… is there really no other way?”

Celestia dropped her head and sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time this morning. “Luna, please…” she muttered dully.

“Must we put those fillies in harm’s way?” Luna stressed urgently.

“I would do it myself if I could, Luna, but you know that there is no other—”

“What if we join forces with the unicorn task force and launch a massive offensive?” Luna proposed. “At least it might increase our chances of victory, compare to just six fillies—”

Giving her a stern look, it was clear that Celestia did not wish to put up with her sister’s lecture. “Luna, you know that won’t work out. There isn’t really a second option. There could be tens of thousands of unicorns confronting him, and they still wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“But—”

“It pains me dearly to have to resort to the help of Twilight and her friends,” Celestia said with sorrow. “But the Elements are powerful; you and I are all too familiar with their potency. They are our only hope, Luna.”

“I suppose that’s true…” Luna relented.

The white alicorn walked towards a window and gazed outside. It was an ordinary day in the capital of Equestria, with everypony minding their own business, and everything going on as they’d always been. Nopony, aside from the few bearing the burden of knowing, was aware that in the not so distant future, things around here could be subject to changes—major changes.

“What we can do for now is make every effort to prepare Equestria for the dangers ahead. I am anticipating some attacks in the near future, and I will not go down without a fight, Luna; not when it involves something I so dearly treasure,” the princess of the sun uttered, her eyes shimmering with determination.

Luna walked up to Celestia. Leaning her head against that of her elder sister’s, she momentarily shut her weary eyes, giving way to a more tranquil expression. “Neither will I, my dear sister.”

“Thank you, Luna,” Celestia replied as her countenance, too, relaxed. The royal pony sisters briefly fell silent, basking in each other’s warmth, trying to hold off their trepidation at what’s to come.

“Sister… do you think those fillies will make it?” Luna suddenly asked.

Immediately, Celestia felt her worries return. “I honestly don’t know, Luna. But I have to believe that they will.”

“I suppose that’s the only thing we can do.”

Celestia peered out the window once again. “We should get ready, Luna. They should be arriving at any moment,” she said, and not a moment too soon, for seconds later the sound of rapidly approaching hoofsteps could be heard resounding in the hallway.

Six colourful mares and one young dragon entered the throne room. Almost immediately afterwards, the doors behind them were slammed shut by the guards.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna,” Twilight called out in a somewhat stilted voice. She and her friends trotted towards them and bowed low to the floor. Once again, the purple alicorn’s movement seemed somewhat unnatural, as if she didn’t want to make this gesture.

“No need for that, my little ponies,” the princess of the sun said. “I’m sure you all know by now that I’ve summon you here for a matter of upmost urgency. Before we go into any specific details—”

“Pardon me, Princess Celestia,” Twilight interjected. She noted that the royal sisters had massive circles under their eyes which even their vibrantly flowing manes couldn’t divert her attention from. “Would you mind if I ask—” She spoke tremulously, before being by cut off by Luna.

The dark blue alicorn looked down at her with a stern expression. “I understand there’s a great deal you’d like to know, Twilight Sparkle, and your questions will be addressed eventually. But we must first impart on you and your friends on the task ahead.”

“T-task?” Twilight stuttered, even though she couldn’t say that it was unexpected.

“Thanks, Luna. Twilight, I will tell you everything you want to know later, but you must allow me to get several things out of the way first,” Celestia stressed urgently.

“Of course, Princess. Sorry about that...”

“That’s alright. Now, everypony, before we speak of anything further, I must ask you…” A sudden pang of woe forced Celestia to stop midsentence; a few awkward moments passed before she asked carefully, “Do you think that you have what it takes to save ponydom?”

Hovering in the air, Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes in uncertainty. “If by ponydom you mean Equestria, then…”

Celestia turned her attention to the pegasus. “I wish that were the case, Rainbow Dash. As a matter of fact, I wish that none of this had to happen. But it is unfortunate that the current crisis concerns not only the survival of Equestria, but that of our very own species as well.”

The cerulean pegasus slowly descended until she found herself standing between Fluttershy and Applejack. “That’s… well… Survival?” She and the latter shared a glance of doubt.

Fluttershy shivered at such a burdensome thought. “Oh dear…”

“Ah suppose we could give it a try,” the earth pony said. “Not to boast about our previous victories, Princess, but we’ve got plenty o’ experience when it comes to these sticky situations, though Ah reckon this time it’s gonna be extra-sticky.”

“Uh-huh,” her friends exclaimed in unison; a noticeable tinge of doubt coloured the voices of everypony.

“I’m sure you all do, but this is no ordinary task, and I will ask that question again later on. In the meantime, there are quite a few things that you should know about,” Celestia replied. She exhaled softly before continuing. “For the past few years, Luna and I have been having visions about an ancient foe that possessed incredibly potent magic—far more powerful than even Tirek in his final form.”

Twilight swallowed hard and felt her forehead sweating. The alicorn found it hard to fathom an entity of such immense power. How come I’ve never heard of such a thing before?

“He was defeated thousands of years ago and never heard of again.” The alicorn lowered her head before tilting it up again. “But we now know that he has returned, and the visions Luna and I have been having are in fact disturbances caused by his magic, which is growing stronger day by day. However, he is also very elusive, and it took a long time for us to locate his whereabouts: the southernmost part of the Outliers,” the white alicorn explained.

“The Outliers are ancient lands south of Equestria that few know about. Even our knowledge of it is severely limited,” Luna added.

“S-so, that’s why you asked me to familiarize myself with them,” Twilight said.

“Yes, Twilight. That was my intention all along,” Celestia admitted; a shade of guilt decorated her face. “And I am afraid you will have to put that knowledge to practical use.”

“But… I haven’t found anything mentioning an all-powerful magical being,” Twilight countered perplexedly.

“That’s because nopony remembers him,” Luna answered her. “Nopony, except for my sister and I, and perhaps a few others.”

“What?!” the seven friends cried in unison.

Rainbow Dash shot up from the floor. “Is this some kind of Crystal Empire situation all over again?!” she questioned.

The royal pony sisters exchanged troubled glances, and while not even Twilight had any idea of what it might be, they were undoubtedly on the fence about unveiling a long kept, possibly dark secret.

“Before I start, my little ponies, I want all of you to know that although what I am about to speak of might sound outlandish or even make-belief, it is nothing but the honest truth,” Celestia said sincerely, looking down at the seven friends with a serious expression.

“Of course, Princess,” Twilight replied. “We have no reason to doubt you.” Her friends nodded firmly in solidarity.

“Very well then.” The alicorn took a deep breath. “A long ago, even before the dawn of ponykind, there was a being who travelled across the universe, observing the planets, the stars and the galaxies. No one knew its real name, but due to its nomadic nature, it was called the Wanderer.”

The heavy tone of Celestia’s voice probably made the story sound much more foreboding than it should’ve, and as those words left her mouth, Twilight and her friends stood gaping at what they’ve just heard.

“The Wanderer was a curious entity,” Celestia remarked. “It possessed inconceivably powerful magic, far more powerful than most forms of magic known to ponies. But aside from using it to traverse the universe, it seldom utilized its powers, and it never interfered with the natural processes of the planets and stars it visited.”

Dash rolled her eyes up. “Lame…” she muttered to herself.

“One fateful day, the Wanderer discovered our world, and found itself awestruck by the beautiful scenery. But what astonished it the most was something that it had never seen anywhere else. It—”

A certain earth pony started jumping up and down excitedly. “Oh, I know! It is candies?! How about streamers?! Or maybe parties!?” she cried in a high-pitched screech.

Twilight rubbed her hoof to her face in embarrassment. “Don’t listen to her,” she quickly said. Considering the circumstances, Pinkie’s nonsensical interjection couldn’t have been more inappropriate.

The ends of Celestia’s mouth slightly curved up. Twilight couldn’t tell if she was being tolerant, or that she found it genuinely entertaining amidst such times of peril; Applejack and Rainbow certainly did.

“Nice guess, Pinkie, but I can assure you none of these things existed at the time,” Celestia replied with a slight smile, but quickly shifting back to a more serious demeanour. “What it found, was life.”

Pinkie shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “Eh… Borrriiiing…”

“Pinkie!” Twilight shot the earth pony a glare. “Do you have any idea how strict the conditions are for life to exist? There—” She was about to commence one of her scientific lectures, which fortunately, was cut short thanks to Celestia’s timely interjection.

“I understand that life is a very ordinary thing for us ponies, but for the Wanderer, it was a unique experience. In fact, it was so fascinated by life that it stayed here for quite a while. It was also particularly drawn towards one species—it was us, the ponies.”

“Us?” Twilight asked.

“Maybe the Wanderer saw how awesome the ponies were,” Rainbow Dash suggested. “I mean, I have heard tales of some pretty amazing fliers back in the day.”

“Or perhaps it marveled at the works of art those ponies crafted; ancient, archaic art, that is,” Rarity added enthusiastically.

“In a way both of you are correct. The Wanderer was very fond of the culture and civilization of ponies. In fact, one day it decided to reveal its presence. The ponies welcomed the Wanderer warmly, and it was gradually assimilated into their society. It learned about everything, from food, clothing and technology to language, sports and art,” Celestia explained. “In the end, it even chose to take on the form of a pony.”

“So let me get this straight,” Rainbow Dash said, “you’re saying that the earliest ponies were visited by some sort of interstellar traveller, who eventually decided to become a pony?”

The princess nodded. “I couldn’t have put it better myself.”

“But Princess Celestia, I fail to see how all of this relates to the current predicament,” Rarity countered with a perplexed frown.

Celestia did not address the unicorn’s doubts. Instead, she turned towards Luna, who gave a quick bob in response.

“I shall carry on from here,” the princess of the night started in a deep, somber tone. “As time went on, however, the Wanderer grew ambivalent. The more it understood ponies, the more it questioned their ways, until one day, the Wanderer fragmented into two separate beings. They became known as Seraph and Nihility, respectively.”

“Whoa…” Rainbow gasped. Her friends were no less flabbergasted by this sudden twist in the tale.

“Seraph retained the form of a pony—an alicorn, to be precise. She viewed the ponies as a ‘chosen race,’ and swore to protect them at all costs. Her continued alignment earned her the ponies’ adoration; they constructed numerous temples and monuments in the honour of their guardian, elevating her to a god-like status.”

As if she wanted to say something, Twilight’s lips trembled a little, but found no words leaving her mouth. Her eyes wandered around the room, and they met Luna’s—only for a mere second—before the dark blue alicorn cocked her head to one side, looking out the window.

“Nihility was a different matter altogether. He assumed the form—or the formlessness, if you will—of a chaotic, swirling vortex,” she uttered tentatively, turning her head back to the ponies.

A chaotic, swirling vortex… Spike looked to Twilight, who winked at him in response.

“Later,” she whispered quietly to the dragon.

“Unlike Seraph, Nihility was averse to ponykind; he wanted them gone for good, and he certainly made effort to do so. The rift between the two beings resulted in two successive conflicts of monumental proportions. At the end of the first one, Seraph unleashed all her magic to finally subdue Nihility and banish him from our world,” Luna explained.

“Alright! Way to go, Seraph!” Rainbow Dash cheered jauntily, raising one hoof in the air while throwing another around Fluttershy’s neck.

“Uhm… I don’t mean to be a killjoy… but the Princess said that was only the first time…” the yellow pegasus reminded her.

“The ponies rejoiced at the victory of Seraph, showering her with unbridled praise and worship. But peace did not reign for long,” Luna said forebodingly, “because while in exile, Nihility refined and enhanced his magic. He built an army of vicious creatures called voidhangers, and together they invaded our world once again.”

“Oh my!” Fluttershy gasped as she cowered behind Rainbow Dash.

“And those were among the darkest times in pony history,” Luna remarked, her tone becoming grimmer still. “A full-scale war broke out with Seraph and the ponies on one side and Nihility and his voidhangers on the other. It was a devastating conflict in which both sides suffered heavy losses. Ultimately, Seraph found herself overpowered, so she resorted to an incredibly powerful magic: one which allowed to her finally put an end to the war by destroying the very essence of Nihility, thus rendering him and his minions powerless and unable to rise again.”

“S-so… what happened after that?” Twilight asked nervously. “And how does all of this connect to the recent events?”

Celestia seized the moment to reinsert herself back into the conversation, though she certainly didn’t look like she wanted to. “She was wrong: somehow, a part of Nihility endured. His defeat left him almost powerless, but he was nonetheless able to slowly rebuild his magical properties over thousands of years.”

“But… why is it only now that you and Luna are able to sense his presence?”

“For a long time Nihility was simply too weak to be detected, and even when he became stronger, he was able to conceal himself from the outside world by some unknown means,” Celestia replied darkly.

Twilight’s brows knitted together. “But now he is detectable, which means—” A sudden revelation left her too shocked to finish.

“—that he has already regained a large portion of his former powers,” Celestia finished for her. “At the moment, he is actually imprisoned…”

“Well, at least that’s good to hear,” Applejack muttered to herself, wiping sweat off her forehead.

Celestia swallowed. “But he is already capable of wielding a number of his powers, including the ability to create voidhangers. Even as we speak, the forces of Nihility are growing in numbers. To my knowledge, they are already on the move, and Nihility will only be mobilizing more of them in the coming months.”

Ah, ponyfeathers, the orange earth pony thought. It was one of the rare times she actually felt panic, although glancing around, she noticed that her friends were not doing much better.

“Nihility himself is imprisoned under Black Smoke Island,” Celestia revealed.

Fluttershy gulped hard and felt her legs tremble upon hearing such a hazardous-sounding name. “B-B-Black S-Smoke Island?” she gibbered.

“That’s a volcanic island off the coast of the Outliers. It’s located on the Iron Ocean,” Twilight explained, though it did little to mitigate the pegasus’s fear.

“We fear that his prison will not hold him for long: eight months, to be conservative,” Luna added. “That must not happen, for if Nihility breaks free, none shall be able to resist his powers.”

And then there was silence.

Even a confident pony like Applejack couldn’t help grimacing at such a prospect. “So ya mean we’ve got eight months to avert this end o’ the world situation?”

A distressed sigh escaped from Celestia’s mouth. “We wouldn’t have asked you to carry out such a daunting task if we had another choice, my little ponies.”

“But why us, Princess?” Rarity asked perplexedly. “Surely I’m not trying to shirk this imperative undertaking, however… perilous it might be, but for six ponies to tackle a vicious deity and his equally fierce servants…” The unicorn winced and trailed off.

“Rarity is right,” Rainbow Dash agreed. “How exactly are we supposed to defeat something like that?” she exclaimed, throwing her hooves dramatically in the air. “Obviously we are not S-Ser… Ser…”

“Seraph,” Twilight finished for her.

“Yeah, whatever…”

“Do not underestimate your power,” Celestia said with a hint of optimism, “for you are connected to the very source of magic Seraph defeated Nihility with.”

“The Elements of Harmony…” Twilight muttered, looking up at the princesses.

“Yes, Twilight. It was the Elements of Harmony that allowed Seraph emerge victorious. It’s incredibly difficult to wield all six Elements on your own; I’ve—”

The alicorn turned her gaze to Luna and wondered whether her sister felt the same pain as she did. It’s hard to believe that it had been a thousand years; those images were still imprinted vividly on her mind, as with the grief she had suffered through.

Luna edged one corner of her mouth up in response, forming a solicitous smile. “Go on, Sister.”

“I’ve done it before, so I know how hard it is to control all of them at once,” Celestia resumed. “Seraph also succeeded in doing so.”

“B-but you said that Nihility was never truly defeated,” Twilight countered worryingly. “Does this mean that the spell didn’t work, or it was broken? I mean… his prison…”

“We don’t know what went wrong,” Celestia replied. “The spell was supposed to destroy Nihility powers, not merely enfeeble and incarcerate him. Still, we do believe that any effects the Elements had on him were greatly weakened when Seraph relinquished control of them.”

“Ooo,” Pinkie cried, “just like how Discord broke free of his stone prison after you and Princess Luna passed the Elements onto us!”

Rarity’s brows knitted in thought. “Doing so severed the connection between you and the Elements, freeing Discord from his petrified state. I suppose Nihility was liberated in a similar fashion?”

Celestia silently shook her head. “While Seraph helped the ponies rebuild their war-torn society, she witnessed firsthoof how seriously the scourge of war afflicted them,” she said somberly. “Seraph grew increasingly disenchanted over what she and Nihility had done to this once beautiful planet. She decided that this world didn’t need her guidance anymore, and with that, she gave up the Elements: not by passing them on to somepony else, but by using them on herself…”

Fluttershy winced fiercely. “My goodness, why would she do such a thing? Was she okay?”

“No, Fluttershy,” Celestia answered grimly to the timid pegasus. “The magic of the Elements destroyed Seraph, just as they had destroyed Nihility. With their sole bearer gone, the Elements were no longer connected to anyone, and any spell that previously kept what’s left of Nihility at bay atrophied.”

The yellow pegasus threw her hooves over her mouth in mourning of Seraph’s tragic fate.

The princess of the sun walked towards a stained glass window—the one which depicted the Elements and their six current bearers—and tilted her head up. “Not all hope is lost, but only if you are willing to confront Nihility and defeat him with the Elements for once and for all.” Her voice emanated conviction. “With you as their wielders, I am certain that the Elements will not fail this time.”

“You can count on us, Princess Celestia,” Twilight replied confidently. She’d seemingly shrugged off her earlier moodiness: regardless why Celestia chose to withdraw something so important from her, what mattered was that she now knew about it. And I’m going to do something about it, she thought to herself. “We will be happy to—”

“I do not doubt the capabilities of you and your friends, Twilight,” Celestia interjected, spinning around to face the ponies. Her resolve faded and she sounded much less certain than the purple alicorn. “You have proven again and again that with friendship, even the most powerful enemies can be conquered; the truth is that I’m not sure whether I am ready to let you carry out this task…”

The princess’s words baffled both herself and everypony else in the throne room. Her younger sister, in particular, was aghast with eyes as wide as the moon she raised every night.

Twilight stepped forward attentively. “What do you mean?” She felt it again—that sense of dread which pervaded Celestia’s letter; now it was written plain across her forehead.

“This is no ordinary task, Twilight,” Celestia reiterated as she approached her. “How far are you and your friends willing to go to prevent this disaster?”

“Well…” The purple alicorn turned to her friends, exchanging confused glances. “You wish that we journey through the Outliers to reach Black Smoke Island and find Nihility, correct?”

Celestia shut her eyes and nodded. She bore an expressionless, almost stoic countenance.

“Well, that will take a while…” Twilight mumbled.

“About three weeks without any interruption,” Luna uttered regretfully.

Before anypony could further comment on their uncompromisingly long journey, Rainbow Dash abruptly flied up to the princess of the night, who was much taken aback by her sudden intrusion.

“What?! You mean we have to walk there… like… on hoof? You can’t walk when doomsday is over the horizon!” the pegasus exclaimed impatiently. “There has to be a quicker way!”

“Uh,” Fluttershy interrupted with a soft voice, “perhaps we could ask Discord to open a portal for us, if he doesn’t mind, that is.”

“Yeah! That’s the best idea you’ve ever come up with, Fluttershy!” Dash exclaimed as she darted towards her fellow pegasus and hugged her. “Uh… no offense, hehe…”

“Oh… well, thank you?” she replied, somewhat hesitant to accept this compliment.

“I’m afraid that is not realistic,” Celestia said heavily. “Something in the Outliers is interfering with Discord’s portals. We’ve had him try it out before, but apparently something went horribly wrong, and he vowed never to do it again.”

Fluttershy threw a hoof over her mouth. “Oh my goodness… Is he okay?” she asked concernedly.

“He’s fine, Fluttershy, but it’s clear that opening a portal is not an option… Luna and I have been searching for alternatives, but we’ve come to the conclusion that walking is still the most practical way to reach your destination,” the princess of the sun affirmed.

“And the most time-consuming…” Rainbow Dash hissed.

Twilight let out a dejected sigh. “Well, if there’s really no other option then I guess—”

“Unfortunately,” Celestia interjected, her expression going from indecisive to downcast, “that also means that you will have to endure whatever those unfamiliar lands have in store for you.”

Twilight stroked her chin, recalling everything she’d been studying for the past few months. “Well, from what I’ve read, the Outliers are… tolerable… I guess. Ponies used to travel through them all the time,” the alicorn remarked.

“Only that it has been like a thousand years since anypony has done that! The old iron trade route must be in a horrible, horrible state of disrepair!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed cheerfully. It’s moments like these that would have her friends pondering on whether the party pony was truly capable of feeling negative emotions; aside from when under the most extreme—or ridiculous—of situations.

The princesses’ eyes quickly widened as those words left the earth pony’s mouth.

“Pinkie had a distant relative who worked in an iron ore mine. She knows a lot of things that we don’t,” Twilight quickly explained.

“And Pinkie does have a point: nopony has been there for a long time,” Celestia acknowledged. “To be honest, ponies never knew much about them. For the miners, it just happened that the fastest way back to Equestria was through the Outliers. And now that the iron trade is no more, any settlements or facilities would have been long abandoned.”

“I know…” Twilight mumbled, visibly less confident than she was moments ago.

Celestia caringly placed a hoof under Twilight’s chin, lifting her head up. “It’s a vast, remote, and possibly dangerous wilderness out there, Twilight, and I believe a lot has changed in a thousand years.”

Luna looked even more dejected than her sister. “To make matters worse, Nihility is already mobilizing his forces. At this point, most of them are scouts; they are not as deadly as soldiers, but shall you come across one of them, they will not hesitate to attack. The voidhangers are the foulest creatures imaginable,” she chastised fiercely, “bred solely for the purpose to destroy. They will not show any mercy, because they know not what it is.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash met each other’s gazes nonchalantly, not knowing what to say; next to the latter, Fluttershy tilted her head down and nervously slid her right hoof back and forth on the floor; beside her, Rarity put a hoof to her forehead and wore a conspicuous frown; Spike, whose expression was equally perplexed, glanced at the unicorn, only to avert his eyes seconds later.

Pinkie Pie, who stood next to Applejack, poked her head around constantly, looking at her friends’ troubled expressions in confusion.

Twilight Sparkle stood motionless in front of the princesses. She was completely silent.

After what seemed to be an eternity, the purple alicorn finally spoke; tremulously, but she nonetheless managed to utter a few words. “In that case, I expect that you’ll be sending some guards—”

Celestia—against her own will—shook her head before Twilight even had a chance to finish her sentence. “I wish I could, more than anything. I even wish that Luna and I could personally accompany you on this journey, but… no… that will not be appropriate…” The usually indomitable monarch felt tears about to spill out from her eyes.

“Why?” Twilight asked weakly. “That doesn’t make sense…”

Holding back her tears, Celestia raised her head. “It is for your safety, all of you. I believe that Nihility does not yet know that you are the new Element bearers, and it’s also unlikely that the largely uninhabited Outliers are of great interest to him; I wish to keep it that way until you’ve found him. An accompanying convoy would only attract unwanted attention, and our guards don’t stand a chance against—”

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and was airborne again. “But what makes you think that we stand a chance against them, Princess?” the pegasus asked incredulously. “I mean… Twilight might be able to fight them off with a spell or something, but the rest of us?” Moments later her gaze met Celestia’s, which was full of sincerity.

“You are an Element bearer, Rainbow Dash; you possess an immensely powerful magic.”

The pegasus crossed her forelegs over her chest. “Yeah… But there’s one problem: we… don’t exactly have the Elements with us right now. They’re… stuck on a tree…”

“Ooo, maybe we could borrow them just for an eensy teensy while,” Pinkie suggested enthusiastically—almost too enthusiastically.

Celestia once again shook her head. “The Elements cannot be removed at this moment; the tree is still recovering from its weakened state. However…” There was a glimpse of hope in her eyes. “You do not need to wear them physically in order to access their powers.”

Dash narrowed her eyes. “Eh… Come again?”

“You might have given up the Elements, my little ponies, but you are still very much connected to them, and when you are in need, the Elements will come to you,” Celestia emphasized. “May I remind you that when you defeated Tirek, none of you were wearing them?”

“But we had to open that chest thingy first!” Dash countered.

“That is precisely what I mean,” Celestia remarked calmly. “Trust in the Elements, my little ponies,” she implored. “They will come to your aid when you need them, perhaps not always in the way you’ve expected, but they will be there, because ultimately, it is the most powerful magic of all that drives them.”

“The magic of friendship…” Twilight uttered as she looked up at Celestia and then to her friends, breaking out of her catatonic state.

“Our friendship is why the Elements came to us in the first place!” Applejack concurred. “And Ah trust our friendship!” Her vibrant display of faith elicited cheers of solidarity from her friends; even Twilight smiled at last.

The corners of the princesses’ mouths, however, did not turn up; it was too obvious that Twilight and her friends hadn’t heard the end of it.

Celestia lowered her head again. “I am elated to hear that; I truly am. But I have yet to inform you on the most crucial—and daunting—part of your journey,” she said forebodingly. “The final confrontation with Nihility himself will not be easy, and frankly, I do not have a clue on what awaits you in his lair.”

“L-lair?” the alicorn stuttered.

“Uh… what’s a lair?” Rainbow Dash whispered to Applejack.

“It’s an underground place where animals, you know, like wolves dwell,” the farm pony explained. “Ah reckon Nihility’s lair must be plenty huge to accommodate him and his void-whatever-ers.”

“That doesn’t sound so good…” the pegasus replied.

“It isn’t,” Luna acknowledged, overhearing the conversation between the earth pony and pegasus. “Nihility is a being of pure malevolence; his dark magical powers are intended to instill fear and bring forth destruction. One can only imagine what hazards his lair would hold,” she said darkly.

“And we’re going to enter such a place—right into the wolf’s lair.” Dash said slightly sarcastically. She put a hoof to her chin in thought. “So basically we’re supposed pass through these lands that we know almost nothing about, avoid being bumping into voidhangers, and then enter this lair that nopony has an idea of what’s inside; all of this to save ponies from total extinction.”

“I suppose it’ll have to be a leap of faith then,” Rarity commented on the pegasus’s summary of their quest.

The princesses nodded in response; their expressions betraying the relentless trepidation they held within them.

“I wish we could elaborate more on the lair, but the truth is that we know no more than you do,” Luna said disappointedly.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, is there anything else that we should know?” Twilight was in no way a pessimist, but she had a feeling that she and her friends had yet to hear the worst.

Celestia nodded regretfully. “I am deeply touched by your willingness to take on such a daunting task; I am truly sorry when I say that I must burden you with something even more disturbing than our ignorance about Nihility’s lair, and I will only start when you are ready.”

The purple alicorn backed away from the princesses and rejoined her friends, placing herself between Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The looks on their faces betrayed their apprehension, and Twilight herself fared no better: she felt her forehead perspiring heavily and sweat trickling down the sides of her face.

At last, the seven friends reached an agreement in silence.

“We’re ready, Princess Celestia,” the alicorn said firmly.

Celestia’s mane had lost none of its lustre, but her visage was pale, her eyes were weary, and her countenance, which usually invoked a sense of majesty, was shrouded in a dismal shade of unsettledness.

“First I will have to explain why Seraph and Nihility came into existence at all,” she began. “It was because their predecessor, the Wanderer, eventually saw certain traits in the ponies: traits, which at the time, were unique to us. It’s a little difficult to explain, but I think they are best described as sentience, self-awareness, and consciousness.”

Seeing that Twilight was ready to try her luck again after her previous lecture on the scarcity of life in the universe was brought to a halt even before it began, Celestia gave her a look, raising her eyebrow. “I believe you would like to elaborate on this matter.”

“Ahem. Well, we all know that ponies are different from most other animals,” the scholarly alicorn explained, not bothering to hide her excitement. “That doesn’t mean we’re better, just different,” she added immediately, lest offending a certain pegasus, who was good friends with “other animals.”

“Uh…” She paused for a while and put a hoof to her chin. This is harder than I thought.

“Ponies are highly sentient beings,” Twilight continued. “By the strictest definition, sentience is the ability to feel subjectivity—like big and small; beauty and ugliness; good and bad. Obviously all of these things are concepts we’ve come up with, and chances are that everypony feels slightly different about the same thing—that’s subjectivity.”

Her friends, who had by then formed a semicircle around the alicorn, nodded in response to her words; even the princesses seemed rather absorbed.

“Ponies also display self-awareness, which is the ability to discern ourselves from the environment: it’s recognizing that you’re you, that you are a unique individual existing in this world. Most animals can undoubtedly feel things, but for ponies, we not only feel things, but we know that we’re feeling things. So we are capable of introspection—thinking about ourselves and our emotions.”

The response she received from her friends this time was less enthusiastic; some of them frowned slightly.

“Consciousness is an amalgamation of sentience, self-awareness and some other things. Basically, it’s everything that makes ponies, well, ponies; it’s what we experience every day—emotions, opinions, beliefs, ideas, and a lot of other things. Ponies may not be the fastest or strongest animals in the world, but because of how our brains work, we are able to accomplish much more than our appearances suggest; not only with our bodies, but also with our minds,” Twilight concluded.

“Very well said, Twilight” Celestia praised, her eyes emitting a tinge of pride for her former student.

Twilight herself was less certain. “Eh… was I being too technical?” she asked sheepishly; she’d surely made that mistake before.

“Not at all, sugarcube,” Applejack caringly replied. “It’s just a tad abstract for me…”

“Ahem,” Rarity cleared her throat. “I’m afraid I didn’t quite grasp everything you said, Twilight, but from what I understand, I’d say the Wanderer saw wonderful things in ponies,” the unicorn remarked. “Whyever would such a revelation would induce a personality split, much less produce a malevolent half who desires to rid the world of ponies?” she sneered, making little effort to keep the malice out of her voice.

“I don’t get it either,” Twilight said. “Such a high level of consciousness is a great thing to have in my opinion.”

Applejack shrugged her shoulders. “Think that Nihility maybe a bit jealous of—”

“He was anything but jealous of ponies possessing these traits,” Luna refuted instantaneously. “Nihility thinks differently from most of us. Sentient creatures like ponies are constantly talking about meaning, be it the meaning of life, friendship, love, or magic. Nihility does not talk about meaning; he detests it and considers the ponies’ pursuit of meaning folly, because in his eyes, there is none to be found.”

Nihility: the state or condition of being nothing; nothingness; nonexistence, Twilight recited in her mind.

“Why in the jumpin’ June bugs would he think so?” Applejack exclaimed with an unconvinced look.

An angry glower crept up Rainbow Dash’s face. “That’s ridiculous!”

“Nihility maintains that everything is inherently meaningless,” the princess of the night clarified. “Meaning, he says, is just a concept that ponies have conjured up—a concept that clashes in every aspect with the true nature of their existence. In his eyes, everything that ponies value and hold dear is absurd and completely irrelevant in the face of the universe; it’s all fantasy intended to conceal our fear of this inherent meaningless, or what he calls the Void.”

Rarity put a hoof behind her head. “I can somewhat see where he’s coming from, but still—”

“I, too, disagree with his logic,” Celestia interrupted, then turning her attention to Spike and giving him a gravely worried look. “There is, however, a rather jarring implication hidden beneath Nihility’s words.”

The dragon, who so far had spoken little, looked up confusingly at the princess, involuntarily averting his eyes when she failed to offer any hints on what she was expecting from him.

Then a truly frightening revelation came upon him—and it came without even the slightest warning.

“Uh… Everypony…” he began nervously. “I’m a s-sentient, self-aware, and c-c-con-conscious being, right?” It was as if his tongue was constantly tying itself into knots.

“Why, of course ya are, Spike; every bit as us!” Applejack replied reassuringly.

“If not a little more,” Rarity added, putting a hoof on his head.

Applejack’s answer confirmed Spike’s fears; Rarity’s friendly gesture did nothing to allay the panic that he could barely contain. Sweat began forming all over his face, and his throat felt uncomfortably dry, even though he didn’t really talk a lot this morning.

“Then… does this mean that Nihility is after me, too?”

The princesses were used to the throne room being noiseless; the place wasn’t exactly the liveliest place in Canterlot. But the quietness that reigned over the room immediately after Spike spoke was not that they were accustomed to: it wasn’t an idle silence or uneventful silence; it was an unnerving silence.

And judging from the terrified looks of everypony’s faces, none of them were in the condition to resume their conversation anytime soon; except for one.

Then pink party pony inhaled deeply before she started to spit forth words like her party cannon fired decorations. “And the donkeys, mules, zebras, horses, cows, buffalos, minotaurs, sea serpents, diamond dogs—”

“And the griffons and breezies!” Dash interrupted frantically. “Heck, even Discord’s in danger! I mean… he also sentient and so on, right Twilight?” She gave the alicorn a tentative gaze, as if she wasn’t sure whether the spirit of chaos fitted those criteria.

“Oh no! Not him too!” Fluttershy gasped in horror.

“Uh, Twilight?” the blue pegasus reiterated when she failed to get a response.

It wasn’t that the Rainbow’s inquiry didn’t register with her; it wasn’t that she didn’t take notice of the consternation which coloured the faces of her friends in spades; it wasn’t that she failed to perceive the royal pony sisters standing motionless before her like statues in the most helpless fashion. No; Twilight was simply too occupied at the moment to address to any of those things.

Twilight was occupied with thinking; nothing but thinking.

She thought of Nightmare Moon, who sought to shroud Equestria in perpetual darkness. That malevolent version of Luna went to great lengths to ensure that she and her friends would not thwart her machination—she failed, and the various tribulations she brought forth only served to unravel the beginning of something beautiful.

The magic of friendship prevailed.

She thought of Discord—the yet-to-be-reformed Discord—who envisioned a disorderly world governed by his extreme idiosyncrasies. At one point, he actually succeeded in tearing what she and her friends treasured the most to smithereens—he failed, and they came out stronger than ever, learning that while it wasn’t always easy defending what they loved, there’s no doubt that it’s worth fighting for.

The magic of friendship triumphed.

She thought of Tirek, a ruthless tyrant with the grand ambition of consigning everypony to a state of servitude and poverty while he alone revels in all the power he could possibly yearn for. His insatiable avarice left a gaping void in the hearts of everyone unfortunate enough to cross his path—he failed; barely, but he nonetheless failed, for there was something that he could only dream of robbing: something that could be undone, but never unmade.

The magic of friendship shined.

And then she thought of the being supposedly called Nihility. He was scheming like Nightmare Moon; eccentric like old Discord; malicious like Tirek. Yet, he desired not to reign, to distort, or to subjugate. He sought solely annihilation, and unlike previous adversaries, he wouldn’t just stop at the ponies.

She and her friends will be confronting this nightmarish entity very soon. And the magic of friendship… What have I gotten myself into? What have we gotten ourselves into?!

Overwhelmed by remorse, Celestia found herself involuntarily lowering her head until her flowing mane brushed against the floor. “I’m sorry. I truly am.” She shut her eyes, not knowing what else to say.

Her sister followed suit and bowed to her subjects solemnly.

And room was once again noiseless.

Strangely enough, this time it was Fluttershy who first spoke up, despite—along with her friends—being visibly intimidated by their quest, which had all at once gone from saving all ponykind to saving everything on the planet capable of advanced mental activities. “H-have the other creatures been alerted?” the pegasus asked meekly.

“Of course, although as with us ponies, only the selected few are aware of this for the time being,” Luna answered, standing up straight. “W-we’ve being taking precautions…”

Celestia, too, was on her hooves again. “I wish that Luna and I could personally assist you on your quest, but there is a good reason that we must remain in Canterlot. As we’ve mentioned, Nihility has already mobilized his voidhangers. It’s up to us to coordinate our forces should there be any major attacks, even before he has broken free.”

Fluttershy shuddered in fear. “A-a-attacks?”

“Forces?!” Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, was unperturbed. If anything, she was a little intrigued.

“Luna and I have assembled a task force consisting of powerful unicorns from all around Equestria.” She turned towards Twilight, who looked up cluelessly; while she found nothing but disquietude in her eyes, Celestia nonetheless refused to hold back the truth.

“Your brother and Princess Cadance will be leading them, Twilight.”

Twilight felt her stomach drop. She tried to speak, yet nothing but incoherent murmurs came out. “My brother… and… Cadance will be… fighting voidhangers?” she finally uttered weakly.

“I hope it won’t come to that,” Celestia replied heavily. “I do not believe that Nihility will launch a full-scale assault until he has regained his full strength, but our enemy is cunning, and we must be prepared for the worst. The unicorns have already conjured up a force field that encloses all of Equestria and some neighbouring lands. We hope that it will be powerful enough to hold off our enemies until Nihility himself is defeated. In that case, his legions will cease to be as well.”

Hearing this, the ponies’ eyes finally lit up with something akin to optimism.

“Awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in amazement.

“But those unicorns are also capable of performing magic of a more aggressive variety it the situation demands it,” Luna said with conviction. “They’ve been trained to cast ancient spells that were specifically designed to repel voidhangers. My sister and I are also capable of wielding them, and we surely will if called upon.”

“Wait a minute!” the cerulean pegasus gasped. She gave Twilight a nudge on the shoulder. “Can’t you learn those spells too?”

“Actually… I already have,” she replied sheepishly.

“And you didn’t bother telling us earlier?!” Rainbow cried.

“I didn’t know that they were specifically meant for this purpose, Rainbow; the book Princess Celestia gave me never made any explicit mentions of the voidhangers,” Twilight explained. “Those offensive spells are actually quite dangerous, so I always go to the old castle when I practice—”

Rainbow Dash’s enthusiasm skyrocketed. “Oh my gosh—you have the power to vanquish voidhangers!” the pegasus gushed as she leaned forward with a cheery expression. “That’s so awesome!”

“I guess,” the alicorn replied, looking somewhat absent-minded.

The ill feeling crept up her stomach again, this time with searing intensity. Twilight had a lot of things going on in her mind. There was of course, the terrifying prospect of having to undertake a perilous journey, whose objective had all of a sudden turned from saving ponykind to saving every remotely intelligent life form on the planet.

There was the apprehension of traversing unfamiliar and possibly hazardous terrain. There was the fear—the most profound kind of fear—of not knowing what exactly awaits them at their destination, and any attempt to somehow picture it did nothing aside from evoking rather grotesque and terrifying images.

And then there was the uneasiness of leaving the familiar land of Equestria behind. Shining Armour, Cadance, Celestia, Luna, Mom, Dad… Those were among some of the names that resounded within the alicorn’s mind, bouncing back and forth between the walls of her sanity. What would happen in their three-week absence? Will home still be what they’d always known when they return? If they do return.

Her inner tremors had obviously been felt by her friends. Applejack placed a hoof attentively to her shoulder. “Uh, are you alright, Twah’?”

Spike walked to her side. “Please, Twilight, say something,” he said concernedly. But he didn’t get a response; none of them did. Twilight held her head low, her eyes shimmering with tears.

“Ahem,” Celestia cleared her throat, even more crestfallen than she was earlier. “I am truly sorry for asking so much of you, my little ponies, but… I still have to ask: do you think you can take on this task?”

“Yes.”

She couldn’t quite convince herself that it was her who uttered that word. Part of her was content with the explanation that somepony else—somepony who was stronger, braver, and more daring than her—perhaps Rainbow, Applejack, or even Pinkie had said it. But she knew who that voice belonged to. She also knew that the resolve embedded within it was not feigned.

“Uh… Twilight, are you alright?” Rainbow Dash asked skeptically. “You’re rather… unstable today; haven’t been acting like yourself.”

There was that part of her which festered with doubt, fear, and panic; but there was also the part which harboured feelings of hope; and undying faith. She wouldn’t say that she believed in herself; she was putting her trust in something bigger.

Twilight ignored the pegasus’s remark. She tilted her head up and instead focused her gaze on the princesses. With her right hoof, she quickly wiped away the tears in her eyes, which were so close to spilling out. “Yes,” the alicorn reiterated, this time with more conviction. She looked back and smiled hopefully. “And I believe that my friends are with me.”

“Twilight…” Celestia was overcome with emotion.

The purple alicorn took a couple of steps forward, exchanging glances with everypony present. “Sorry, everypony. I wasn’t really in such a good mood this morning, and when I heard about our quest and everything that came with it, it only got worse. I was genuinely scared; I think all of us were.”

From the corner of her eye, Twilight caught Pinkie Pie putting on one of the most ridiculous expressions she’d ever seen. Whatever it meant, there wasn’t an ounce of fear to be found.

“Almost all of us,” she amended, before spinning around to face her friends. “It’s just like the Princesses said: this quest is like nothing we’ve experienced before. I started thinking about all the things we gone through, and all the foes we’ve battled before; they’re nothing compared to this. But…” A glimmer of hope shone in her eyes. “I think it’ll be alright; I mean, as long as we’re there for each other, right?”

Her friends simply smiled warmly at her; that question didn’t need to be answered.

“Now that’s the spirit!” Applejack exclaimed, putting a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.

Rainbow Dash landed beside Twilight and wrapped another hoof around her neck. “What were you worrying about anyway?” she said consolingly. “Just look around! I’d say that we already have ourselves a pretty sick team! We’ve got Applejack, the toughest and most dependable pony around! And we’ve got you: Twilight ‘Voidhanger-vanquishing’ Sparkle!”

Twilight wiped the remaining tears off the rim of her eyes. “Thanks, Rainbow,” she replied with a small smile.

Rainbow shot up to the air again. “Fluttershy can tame any wild animals and monsters we encounter along the way! Rarity can—” She hesitated, apparently having trouble coming up with an apposite compliment. “She’s creative! I’m sure she’ll be awfully resourceful!” she finished lamely.

“Oh I don’t know if I can do that… but I’ll try my best,” the yellow pegasus remarked meekly.

Rarity raised an eyebrow in doubt, somewhat hesitant to accept the pegasus’s half-hearted praise. Still, Rainbow’s morale-boosting was more than enough to elicit a warm smile from the unicorn.

“Then we have Pinkie Pie, who does whatever she’s supposed to do. And—”

“Hey!” the party pony yelled angrily. “As a matter of fact I know a great deal about—”

Rainbow stuffed a hoof in her mouth while she thumped her chest with the other. “And we’ve got me—the fastest, bravest, and awesomest pegasus in Equestria!”

“Hey, what about me?” an anxious Spike countered. “I’m part of this team too!”

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow amended. “Spike—”

“No, Rainbow.” Twilight halted her little speech and shook her head in disapproval. She directed her gaze to the dragon. “Sorry, Spike, but this journey is dangerous even for us; I’m afraid I can’t let you come along,” she said sternly.

“I will have to disagree with that,” Luna countered out of the blue.

“What?!” the ponies gasped in unison, with Twilight and Rarity particularly aghast.

“Yes!” the dragon exclaimed, all the while dancing jubilantly.

“But Princess Luna, he-I…” Twilight stuttered incoherently. Seeing that even Celestia had nodded her head in approval had her wondering whether all the stress resulting from the recent events had gotten the better of the princesses’ decision-making.

“Dear Princesses,” Rarity exclaimed in a worried tone, “I do think that Twilight has a point. This quest of ours is simply treacherous; aside from the six of us who are to deliver the Elements, we cannot afford to have anypony else tag along.”

No, not even the unicorn’s words did anything to weaken Spike’s resolve; if anything, it bolstered it.

The princess of the night once again shook her head, before turning her attention to the dragon. “Spike,” she began, “as I understand, you’ve been having some rather strange dreams lately.”

“Yeah,” Spike admitted. “But how did you know? I never saw you in them.”

“I had come into most of those dreams, Spike. However, I was, for the lack of a better term, blotted out,” Luna explained. “During those episodes, I found myself unable to intervene. That could only mean one thing: they are visions originating from an external source.”

“Spike is having v-visions?” Rarity gasped.

“Oh my. What are they about?” Fluttershy asked concernedly.

“I do not know why they’ve come to you or what they mean, Spike. I also cannot say why there were two alicorn-like figures in your last vision instead of one. However, I am rather certain that the last being you met was Nihility.”

“Whoa!” Rainbow Dash leaned forward. “You saw Nihility in a vision? What did he look like?”

“He’s just as Princess Luna described: a vortex, chaotic, swirling,” Spike explained. He remembered it all too well.

“For this reason alone, I believe that it would be wise to have Spike accompany you six. His visions might be crucial to the success of your mission,” Luna said firmly. Her demeanour then suddenly shifted to one of a more foreboding quality. “But beware, we know not from whence they come, and we cannot rule out the possibility that they are the work of malicious powers,” she warned ominously.

Those words sent a shiver down Spike’s spine. “You mean… like Nihility himself?”

“Nothing can be ruled out, Spike; so be aware, and do not let them lead you astray.”

The dragon swallowed hard. “Sure… I will…” he replied nervously. So not only are those dreams actually visions, but it’s possible that a being thousands of years old is messing with my mind… Wow, just wow…

A thought rose in the dragon’s mind; he wanted to disregard it as a whim, but found himself imparting Celestia on it anyway.

“Uh, Princess Celestia, you see, when I received your letter—”

He didn’t even need to finish, for the princess already knew where he was going. “Spike, I assure you that your old letter wasn’t sent out by mistake. It was something that came to me in one of my visions. I do not know the significance behind it, but I believe it’s a good idea for you to have it in your possession for the time being,” the princess remarked.

Twilight wasn’t yet convinced. “Princess Celestia, are you sure—”

“I understand your concerns, Twilight, but there’s nothing more that needs to be said. Spike might not be an Element bearer, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t helpful,” Celestia acknowledged.

“That’s true…” Twilight concurred reluctantly.

Celestia then gave her former student a sly look. “And besides, it would be rather unfair to leave him behind while the rest of you go on this quest, don’t you think?”

“Well, alright,” the purple alicorn relented as she relaxed her shoulders. “You get to come with us, Spike.”

“Thanks, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” the dragon said gleefully. He elbowed Twilight’s leg. “You know, I would still find a way to tag along even if you guys tied me to a tree or something.”

The alicorn sighed and smiled. “There’s no stopping you, is there?”

“Nope.”

Celestia cleared her throat, now clearly more at peace than she was minutes prior. “I believe it’s settled then: the seven of you will journey to Black Smoke Island and defeat Nihility with the power of the Elements.”

“We won’t disappoint you, Princess Celestia,” Twilight exclaimed reassuringly.

“Thank you, Twilight. Thank you all. I must reiterate that this quest won’t be easy, and it is yours to undertake alone,” the princess of the sun stressed, slightly reverting to her previous concerned look. “Still, if there’s anything that Luna and I can do to help, we’ll be more than willing to lend a hoof.”

“Strictly speaking, you shall not be entirely unaccompanied in this endeavour,” Luna added hopefully, prompting Twilight and her friends to once again gasp in disbelief—and relief.

Celestia’s horn illuminated itself with a gold aura. A brown, rectangular case floated up from the floor adjacent to her throne and slowly drifted towards the seven friends until it found itself in the hooves of one particular mare.

“I believe this is for you, Fluttershy,” the alicorn said mysteriously.

“For me?” The pegasus opened it to reveal a wooden flute. Carefully removing it from its case, she couldn’t help but chuckle when she noticed that the instrument was stylized to resemble a certain draconequus she knew all too well.

Applejack glanced at the curious object and her eyebrows knitted together in doubt. “What in tarnation… Is that a… Discord flute?”

“Discord might not be able to use his portals, but there is still much he can do,” Celestia acknowledged. “This is an enchanted flute crafted by Discord himself. It can be used to summon him for four times; summoning a powerful being like Discord requires a tremendous amount of magic, and there’s only so much of it that this flute can contain, but I’m certain that it will aid you on your quest.”

“Oh my, that would be a big help to us,” the pegasus timidly remarked. “Although I’m not so sure about having him involved in this dangerous quest too…”

Celestia approached the pegasus, putting a reassuring hoof to her chin. “I know you care deeply about your friend, Fluttershy, but the same can be said about Discord. In fact, this was his idea.”

Fluttershy wore a puzzled expression as she looked up at the princess. “W-what do you mean?”

Celestia retracted her hoof. “Discord will be helping out with the defence of Equestria while you are away. However, he specifically requested that he be allowed to devote some of his effort to ensure that your quest goes more smoothly.”

“Discord requested what?!” Rainbow Dash gasped incredulously.

“Now, Dashie,” Fluttershy said softly, “Discord might not have been at his best in the Tirek incident, but we all make mistakes—”

“No, that’s not what I meant!” the cerulean pegasus exclaimed. “This is the best news I’ve heard all day long! We’ll need all the help we can get if we’re going up against that Nihility. Don’t get me wrong; I do trust in the Elements, but now we have Discord on our side!”

Celestia smiled. “I don’t know to what extent Discord will be able to assist you on your mission, but I believe that he will very resourceful.” She turned her attention back to the yellow pegasus, winking at her. “Do use it wisely, Fluttershy, and when you feel that you need him, just play his favourite song and he’ll be there in no time.”

“Got it, Princess Celestia,” Fluttershy replied confidently.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Ah wonder what that could be…”

“Uh… I think we’ve heard him singing it before,” Dash remarked. “You know, he was in the middle of a shower…”

“Oh… right…”

The princess of the sun stepped forward, her head lowering steadily. As she shut her eyes, her smile once again dissipated, and was replaced by a look of solemnity. “Equestria and the lands beyond are forever indebted to you, my little ponies.”

Luna repeated her sister’s gesture, and she did it thoroughly, to the degree of almost bowing down. “Please be safe, and may the Elements show you the way.” Her voice was somber, although decorated with a hint of wishfulness.

Soon after, Twilight Sparkle led her friends in returning the princesses’ bows.

“Alright, everypony! Let the quest begin!” Pinkie leapt into the air, but then scratched her head embarrassedly when all she saw was the puzzled glances coming from everypony else, a much less enthusiastic response than she had anticipated.

“Uh… hehe… right… where exactly do we begin?”

The realm of Equestria, populated ponies and a host of other wonderful creatures, and yet remaining largely uninhabited due its vast extent. Major settlements lay scattered within its borders like oases in a desert, linked together by a series of railways, which had always been the ponies’ preferred means of long-distance travel. That aside, the magical land consisted mostly of primeval wilderness, both untouched and unspoilt.

The castle’s watchtower offered a grand view of Equestria’s capital and the lands adjacent. Ponyville stood serenely on the plains south of Canterlot. Other than this small speck of civilization, it was forests, mountains, and rivers as far as the eye could see.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it, Twilight?”

It was almost sundown when the meeting came to a close. Celestia and Luna, with occasional input from Twilight, had spent the entire afternoon imparting the band of would-be travellers on every piece of information that could possibly be of aid to them.

After be informed on everything there was to know—or to be more precise, everything that could’ve been known—about the long road to Black Smoke Island, nopony, save perhaps Rainbow Dash, was as confident as they were when they agreed to go on this quest earlier that day. Still, now that they’ve wholly devoted themselves to this grand undertaking, their conviction remained strong; it had to.

“I must admit it’s quite a view.”

But the day wasn’t over just yet, at least not for Twilight. While her friends had been dismissed, the alicorn’s former mentor requested that she stay just for a little longer. Now she found Celestia and her atop the watchtower. Compared to that morning, the former had been rather calm and collected during the remainder of their meeting. However, a change had taken place, and Twilight couldn’t help but notice that somewhere in the princess’s expression, doubt and trepidation had resurfaced.

An awkward silence took hold. Twilight’s eyes wandered; she observed six familiar figures down in the courtyard of the castle, some of which appeared to be looking at her—her friends.

“Ahem… Princess Celestia, are you alright?” she asked cautiously, her gaze returning to the princess of the sun.

The white alicorn focused her eyes on the setting sun, which would soon be making way for her sister’s moon. “I think that’s a question that I should be asking you, Twilight.”

“Well… I guess I’m still a little taken aback by the prospect of embarking on this… quest,” Twilight admitted, drawing closer to Celestia. “But don’t you worry, Princess. I’ll be alright; my friends will be alright. We’ll look after one another.”

Celestia did not respond; her line of sight never left the diminishing orange orb.

“Princess Celestia?”

Her eyelids fluttered shut, then immediately sprung open. “Do you wish to know why I kept this a secret from you for so long?”

Twilight idly slid her hoof back and forth on the floor. Realizing what she was doing in front of Celestia, she quickly forced it to remain still. “Well… sure, but I guess it’s not really that important anymore. And I’m sorry about this morning; I was—”

“No, I am sorry, Twilight,” Celestia replied, finally turning her head away from the sun.

“Wh-I-uh… You don’t need to say that. It’s nopony’s fault that—”

Celestia did not let her finish. “I kept it a secret from you because I did not want you to bear this burden, Twilight, even though I knew all along that it is you and your friends who must do this. But I didn’t want to accept that; I kept looking for other ways to avert this crisis, and so did Luna. But… in the end, we found none…”

Twilight did not know what to say. She allowed herself to sigh softly in response to the princess’s words.

“You’ve been through a lot ever since you and your friends discovered the Elements, Twilight. You are a wise and strong mare, but I know that deep down, you had to endure a lot of heartache.” The princess gently put a hoof to her former student’s face. “I know how difficult the Tirek situation was for you; for all of you.”

“Aw, that’s okay,” Twilight replied reassuringly, although she wasn’t certain whether she really thought so. “And I was never alone to bear these burdens; my friends were always there for me.”

The edges of Celestia’s mouth curved up ever so slightly, but within seconds her half-formed smile collapsed.

“I know; just like I’ve said, you are strong, Twilight, and so are your friends. But still… I did not, and still don’t want you to be the ones who have to carry this burden. I-I…” She felt her eyes tingling and quickly realized that tears were about to escape.

“Princess Celestia…” the purple alicorn sighed.

“I don’t want you to go on this quest, I really don’t. It’s… it’s a dangerous business, Twilight…”

Twilight lowered her head. Never before had she seen Celestia so… vulnerable, so she did the only thing that she could do: she reached out with her forelegs and held the princess of the sun in a tight embrace.

“Twilight…” Whereas most of the time it was Celestia comforting Twilight when she was in doubt, now the roles had been reversed.

“I don’t think anypony would want to go on such a quest, Princess Celestia,” Twilight remarked, breaking the hug. “But… if there’s one I’ve learned from being your student, it is that we all have a destiny to fulfill. The world works in strange ways, I guess, but if it’s something that was meant for me to do, then it would be wrong of me to back away.”

Full of emotion, Celestia finally gave in and a stream of tears began cascading down her cheeks. Meeting Twilight’s gaze, she saw that her former protégé, while bearing a solicitous look, also had tears welling up in her eyes.

“Thank you, Twilight. Thank you so much,” Celestia whispered quaverily as she hugged her tightly.

And for a moment, the two alicorns stood in silence, enfolded in the comfort of each other’s company, their weary heads leaning against one another, their eyes closed in a deeply serene expression.

“Twilight?” Celestia suddenly asked.

Twilight tilted her head up, removing herself from Celestia’s warmth. “Yes?”

“I don’t mean to rush you and your friends, but when are you planning on departing for Black Smoke Island?”

“Oh… Actually, we’ve decided to set out tomorrow morning. We’ll reach Ironhoof by Thursday night and begin our journey the day after that,” Twilight answered.

The princess of the sun nodded her head and smiled. At last, this time it did not fade away. “I wish you and your friends the best.”

Twilight smiled back. “Thanks, Princess Celestia. I wish you… and everypony else good luck, too; with the defences and everything.”

Celestia’s horn lit up. The sky grew darker as the sun neared the horizon, and sundown had given way to dusk. “I believe you should get going, Twilight,” she said as she worked her magic. “You wouldn’t want to keep your friends waiting.”

“Oh, of course.”

She didn’t find herself moving away though. Something on her mind stopped her from doing so.

“Uh… Princess Celestia, may I ask you one last question?”

The sky was now almost dark.

“I would be happy to answer it,” Celestia replied.

Twilight furrowed her brows in thought. “So, about Seraph and Nihility, why is it that so few ponies remember them?”

“For one thing, it was a long time ago, Twilight,” Celestia explained. “However, the main reason was because of a spell Seraph cast on the ponies.”

“Seraph did what?” Twilight gasped in disbelief.

“That spell was called the Gift of Ignorance: it erased all memories of her and Nihility from the minds of everypony. Of course, that also meant the end of Seraph worship. It was the final spell the she cast before she ended her magic using the Elements of Harmony, and it was only one she ever cast on the ponies,” the princess revealed. “It has been said that Seraph did so because she didn’t want the ponies to be haunted by memories of the war, but even more importantly, because she believed that for ponykind to truly shine, they should not be confined to living under the shadow of higher powers, be them benign or malign.”

“But you do remember…” Twilight muttered.

“Yes. A few ponies, including Luna and I, still remember these events. That I do not know why, Twilight, nor do I know why some still worship Seraph to this day. But like many things as of late, my instincts tell me that this might ultimately be pointing to something bigger.”

The day had barely begun for Applejack, or anypony, for that matter: it was five in the morning. However, the orange earth pony swore that several hours have already passed, thanks to her annoyingly persistent little sister. Looking down, Applejack saw her pouting for what seemed to be the thousandth time as she clung fast to her foreleg.

“Applejack, please…”

The yellow filly had been pestering her ever since she returned from Canterlot yesterday, and she was certainly determined. Come to think of it, Applejack couldn’t recall the last time her little sister woke her up in the morning instead of the other way around.

“Fer the last time, Apple Bloom, Ah can’t tell ya! Princess Celestia’s orders.”

“But yeh said you’d be gone fer weeks!” Apple Bloom countered, her voice quavering with desperation. “It must be somethin’ mighty important! Yeh can’t just leave without tellin’ us where yer goin’! We’d be worried about you!”

“It is mighty important, little sis. And mighty confidential!”

Putting on her hat, Applejack found the filly still attached firmly to her leg; if anything, she was grasping even tighter than she was moments ago. Ugh, fillies these days…

“Please… Just a little…” Apple Bloom begged as she wore that expression—that very expression which probably softened Twilight insistence on leaving and convinced her to stay for brunch the day she first came to Ponyville.

“Fine…” Applejack hissed reluctantly. “But could you please get off of me first?”

All at once, Apple Bloom released her grip and sprung up from the ground. The filly had stars in her eyes and if that wasn’t enough, her grin was almost as wide as Pinkie’s; which was in stark contrast with Applejack’s annoyance as she squirmed and buried her face in her hoof.

“Ah’m… goin’ on a… a mission…” she revealed at last.

“A mission?!” Apple Bloom cried.

“Yeah, a mission. Or a quest… or journey… Whatever yeh call it is fine,” she added nonchalantly.

“For what?”

“For… uh… you know… for somethin’…” she gibbered lamely.

And then Apple Bloom put on one of the slyest expressions she’d ever seen. “Somethin’ huh?” She said while elbowing her sister’s foreleg, prompting her to take several tentative steps backwards.

Applejack swallowed hard. “Yup! Somethin’ alright! Somethin’ mighty important! And Ah better get goin’,” she added nervously. “Wouldn’t wanna miss the train!”

The earth pony dashed to one corner of her room and slid on her saddlebags. Out of all her friends, hers was unarguable the most jam-packed. She still remembered last night—how packing itself had become a challenge. After all, there were so many things that could come in handy on a three-week quest.

Being a practical mare, Applejack eventually settled for the essentials: a tarp, a vest, rope, blankets, and of course, apples—she also distributed some to her friends. While they surely wouldn’t last for three weeks, Applejack still felt more secure devoting almost half of the space in her saddlebags to those fruits.

Applejack spun around, seeing Apple Bloom standing right in front of her, unamused by the vagueness of her reply. A whim came to the farm pony, and without second thought, she bent down and embraced her one and only sister. It caught Apple Bloom slightly off-guard, but seconds later she also hugged her back.

It was several moments before they released one another.

“Listen, Apple Bloom… What Ah’m about to do ain’t no jokin’ matter.” Applejack gave her a serious look. “It gonna be dangerous…”

“It is?” Apple Bloom asked concernedly.

Applejack nodded solemnly. “Ah’m a tad scared to be honest. But Ah gotta do it; Princess Celestia assigned this to us because she had no other choice.”

The filly tapped her chin in thought, and Applejack knew that there was more to come. “This doesn’t have anythin’ to do with the Elements of Harmony, does it?”

The earth pony was never good at lying, so she simply ignored her little sister’s horrifyingly accurate guess.

“Anyway, be a good girl, alright? Somepony will have to help out Granny and Big Mac with all the chores while Ah’m gone,” Applejack said, putting a hoof on Apple Bloom’s shoulder.

“You can count of me, big sis!” the filly replied confidently. “You be careful too, you know, wherever yer goin’.” She slumped her shoulders. “Ah guess yer still not gonna tell me.”

Applejack tilted her head up. “Nope,” she replied, attempting her best Big Mac impression. “But tell ya what, when Ah return, let’s all go swimmin’ in the lake. We haven’t done that—”

“Applejaaaaaaaack!” an enthusiastic voice coming from outside called out.

The earth pony poked her head out of the window to see a pink, bouncing figure rapidly approaching the barn.

“Mornin’, Pinkie. What brings you here?”

“Just seeing if there’s anything to help out with,” she replied cheerfully. “Yesterday when I finished packing everything in Equestria that I could possibly need on this mi—oops, I mean thing, I realized that there’s still some extra room left in my saddlebags!”

Applejack smiled. It was in such situations that she especially appreciated the party pony’s presence. Pinkie was always fun to be around—despite her sometimes eccentric antics—but under such stressful conditions, when everypony was all anxious, worked up, and having the very limits of their sanity tested, that’s when the ever-merry earth pony truly shines. Element o’ Laughter indeed.

“Well come on in! Would be nice if you could help carry some more apples.”

She turned around to see that an up-to-no-good smirk had surfaced on Apple Bloom’s face.

“Yeh know Pinkie would never reveal a secret even if her life depended on it, right?”

That made Apple Bloom growled in exasperation. Applejack smiled again and ruffled her mane. “Come on, AB, let’s go greet yer cousin.”

In another corner of Ponyville, Rarity had already woken up an hour ago. She would have slept more if she hadn’t been so occupied with packing. Apparently Applejack wasn’t the only pony that had trouble deciding what to bring, although for quite different reasons.

We’ll be scaling icy mountains, traversing barren wastelands, treading vast meadows and even sailing on the ocean—ugh, since when did saving the world become synonymous with wilderness survival?!

Rarity browsed through her wardrobes, while constantly reminding herself not to turn her saddlebags into a travelling wardrobe; the fashionista had stripped it down to the essentials, or what she perceived to be the essentials; she swore that she had forgotten something important.

The unicorn glanced at the clock. Sweetie Belle and her parents insisted that they check up on her before she headed out, with which she gladly agreed; it would be a long time before she could see them again, or anypony else, aside from the five ponies—and one dragon that would be joining her on this… quest.

While last night went by rather peacefully, Rarity found herself once again musing during her waking hours. If anypony were to say that she’d become a national hero several years ago, she would have dismissed it as utter nonsense. And yet, here she was, having saved Equestria numerous times along with her friends.

Everything changed the day Twilight arrived to Ponyville. Of course, they became bonded to the Elements, but it was something even deeper that brought them together, and without it, the Elements themselves would not have manifested at all. Times had been tough, some more so than others, but it was nonetheless a worthwhile journey.

And yet, the same thing that forged unbreakable bonds between the six friends was also the same thing that made them into ponykind’s—and many other creatures’—only salvation today; that she had not foreseen.

Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow, Twilight. Spike.

She couldn’t say that she truly trusted the princesses’ judgement. The mission seemed dangerous enough for a pony to undertake, let alone a young dragon; she couldn’t deny that having Spike accompany them—having him by my side—was rather tempting, though.

The unicorn trotted to one of her drawers and opened it gently. There it lay—the heart-shaped fire ruby that Spike gave to her, still every bit as dazzling and pristine as it was a few years ago. Of course, it was only natural that the fashionista would treat such a fine gem with utmost care, but she wasn’t fooling anypony; there were other reasons to why she had come to treasure it so much.

Rarity levitated the gem, and for what seemed to be an eternity, simply stared at it.

“Rarity.”

She thought she heard someone calling out her name, but in reverie, Rarity dismissed it as her mind playing tricks on her.

“Rarity! We’re here!” No. That voice was all too familiar, and it was coming from the doorway.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity shrieked in mortification. She turned around to face her sister. In her panic, it completely slipped her mind that she was levitating the fire ruby, and it went flying across the room.

“No! I—Sweetie—do something!” As the gem came closer and closer to the ground, Rarity couldn’t but cover her eyes.

There were no shattering sounds; there was only silence, aside from the sound of her heavy breathing.

Rarity hesitatingly opened her eyes; the gem was floating in front of her, completely intact, and enveloped by a light green magical aura.

“I can do magic now, you know?” Sweetie Belle said proudly, moving the gem onto Rarity’s work table.

“Oh, Sweetie Bell, you are truly a lifesaver!” Rarity gushed. She immediately wrapped her sister in a tight hug, and just as quickly retracted her hooves. “But do learn to knock next time, young lady! I was…” The unicorn trailed off and her face paled.

“You were staring at the fire ruby Spike gave you,” Sweetie Belle finished for her, wearing a wide and undeniably sly grin. “Aww, I know Spike has a crush on you, but I never knew that those feelings were—”

Rarity stuffed a hoof into Sweetie’s mouth, looking down sternly at the filly; her already pale face turned ghastly. “Were what?”

“Were nothing…”Sweetie Belle replied sheepishly. Backing away from Rarity, her grin resurfaced yet again. “Anyway, come down when you’re ready! I’ll leave you alone for now!” And with that, she trotted out of the room, leaving Rarity in her own confused mess of thoughts.

Oh dear. Oh dear… She saw it all…

There was no use obsessing over what had happened. Rarity’s attention went back to the fire ruby, inspecting it with careful eyes—it was completely unscathed.

Nice save, Sweetie Belle, but you are not getting away with this.

And it was as if it didn’t want to return to the drawer.

Rarity drew a small pouch out from her drawer. The gem fitted into it nicely. Then she slid it into one of her saddlebags.

Near the edge of the Everfree Forest, Twilight, Spike and Rainbow Dash had just arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage to drop off Owlowiscious and Tank, which will be tended to by a most unexpected caretaker in their absence; the others had already made arrangements the day before.

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said attentively, noting her lack of saddlebags, “are you sure you don’t need to bring anything along?”

Dash shrugged her shoulders dismissively. “No, I don’t; you already asked me like ten times, Twilight. I’m a hardy pegasus! A little weather isn’t going to hold me back!”

The alicorn was unconvinced. “How about some food?”

“I don’t mind eating whatever we find along the way.” The pegasus shot up from the ground. “Besides, I don’t want to be grounded,” she remarked, thumping her chest. “We’ve already agreed that somepony needs to be constantly on the lookout, you know, for voidhangers.”

“Fine…” Twilight reluctantly acknowledged, before giving her a sly look. “But you still have to help us carry our stuff if we get tired.”

Just a split second later a yellow pegasus and a certain draconequus appeared right in front of them.

“Okay everypony, we’re all done,” Fluttershy said. “Let me go get my stuff and we’ll be on our way.”

Discord stretched out and yawned hugely. Looking down at the ponies and their pets, a rather mischievous-looking smirk crept up along the edges of his mouth.

“I see you are entrusting me with the responsibility of taking care of your pets while you are away on ‘a quest to save all intelligent life forms,’” he remarked mockingly, quoting what Celestia had told him.

“Yeah…” Twilight replied, unamused by his annoying theatrics. “Anyway, thanks for the help, Discord.” The alicorn gave Owlowiscious a look, who was perching on Spike’s head. The owl spread her wings and took off, before finding his way onto a perch Fluttershy had prepared.

Standing next to Twilight, Rainbow Dash gave Tank an affectionate farewell nuzzle. “Yeah, thanks, Discord,” she said, looking up at him skeptically. “But… don’t get any bright ideas…”

A halo manifested on top of Discord’s head. “Oh, Rainbow Dash, why I would ever do anything to harm these absolutely delightful animal companions of yours?” Another face surfaced on the back of his head; it grinned slyly at Angel, who was eating his salad near the couch. The bunny sneered in response.

“Aww, Dashie, I’m sure Discord will do a great job taking care of Tank,” Fluttershy said in defence of the draconequus while trotting the staircase, now with her saddlebags on.

The halo hovering on Discord’s head glowed brighter.

“And… thanks again for helping me take care of my animals while I’m gone,” the pegasus added. “I hope it’s not too much of a burden.”

“Anything for you, Fluttershy.” Discord winked fondly at her, which in turn made Rainbow roll her eyes in mild disgust.

Seeing that everypony was prepared to depart, Twilight allowed herself to sigh softly. “Well, I guess this is it.”

“Good luck, everypony!” Discord snapped his fingers, and a ridiculously luxurious canopy bed appeared out of nowhere, its fabrics decorated by intricate patterns that rivaled some of Rarity’s designs. The draconequus was tucked in nicely and wearing a sleep mask. “I’m off to catch some beauty sleep! I have a meeting with the Princesses later.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know that the spirit of disharmony needed beauty sleep.”

Discord’s sleep mask vanished for a moment and he turned to the alicorn. “Why Twilight, you ponies seem to have a rather warped conception on us high-level magical beings. You know that you and I are very much alike.”

“Ugh… As if…” the alicorn groaned.

As Twilight, Rainbow and Spike walked out the door, Fluttershy went up to the draconequus one last time. “Oh, Discord, we are ever so grateful that you volunteered to help, especially when you already have an important task at hoof.”

“Volunteered? Who said anything about volunteering?” he refuted.

“Well, Princess Celestia told us that the flute was your idea, if I am correct.” The pegasus leaned forward and gave him a brief, gentle hug.

Discord squirmed in bed. “Ugh… Celestia…”

“Although I hope that everything goes smoothly so that we don’t need to resort to your help too much,” Fluttershy added carefully.

“We’ll see. Now, off you go, Fluttershy; your friends are waiting.”

Fluttershy spun around and walked towards the door. Noticing her unusually shaky hoofsteps, the pegasus allowed herself a brief moment of introspection. She was never the adventurous type; she preferred above everything else, peace. Unlike Rainbow Dash, who was somewhat excited about going on a three-week quest, this was the last thing she wanted to do, and the fact that they will be crossing what was supposedly “dragon territory” did not do much to help.

We’ll see… For some reason, Discord didn’t feel quite comfortable in bed as those words resounded in his mind like a mantra.

“Then again, I suppose I could accompany you to the train station. I can catch some sleep later.”

The two joined Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Spike, and together they walked at a brisk pace across the town of Ponyville, a sight all too familiar, yet one that they will not be seeing for a while. Twilight opened her left saddlebag; she had already checked them for like ten times, but she would never forgive herself if she happened to forget her maps and notes concerning the Outliers.

“Mornin’, ya’ll,” Applejack greeted as they reached the train station, with Rarity and Pinkie next to her. The orange earth pony frowned slightly. “I take it that Rainbow still insists on bringin’ nothin’?”

Rainbow Dash grinded her teeth in exasperation. Having been questioned numerous times already by Twilight, she didn’t bother to respond to Applejack’s remark.

“Uh, Rarity, how are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked attentively. “You look… pale…”

“No, I’m not!” the unicorn denied nervously, averting her gaze from the pegasus. “I-I appreciate your concern, Fluttershy, but I am perfectly fine.” It is really that obvious?!

Pinkie giggled delightfully, wrapping a hoof around Rarity’s neck. “Oh, Fluttershy, you silly, how can Rarity be pale? She’s already white!”

The unicorn rolled her eyes nonchalantly while the others broke into laughter; even Discord couldn’t help chuckling.

In the distance could be heard the sound of a rapidly approaching steel locomotive, growing louder with each passing moment. Departure was imminent, the laughter died down, and everypony’s eyes followed the train as neared the station and decelerated.

“I can’t believe we’re really going on an adventure,” Spike said to Twilight.

“I can’t believe it either, Spike,” Twilight replied. “Let’s just hope that everything goes according to plan.”

The seven friends boarded the train, which, not surprisingly, was empty at this hour. Although they had just been amused by yet another one of Pinkie’s random jokes, their smiles quickly vanished as the train took off. The six ponies and one dragon gazed out of the window somberly—Discord stood alone on the platform bidding them farewell; Ponyville quickly retreated in their wake, until it became a mere speck among the vast landscape.

It was going to be a long journey.