Bring Forth the Light

How many years has it been, sister?

How long have I been locked away?

How is Twilight and her friends? We believe we never did say thank you to them... for the last time. It has been so long... we have lost all sense of time and reason, sister. We feel like we reside in a shell, a dark shell with nopony in it but ourself.

We remember how the ground shock, how the wind roared, how the bitter spray sent up by the sea flecked stung. Did you know then, what was about to happen, sister? Did you know what the travelers were trying to do?

Did you lie to us, sister?

Ah, but what does it all matter? They came followed by a thick rain of arrows, which soaked the ground with blood: they had come. They hailed fire over the land, and it was followed by a drenching wave of ice water. What were they thinking, we had wondered. They came, and death followed in their stride.

We remember the sight of terror in everypony's eyes. We remember how everypony refused to flee. "Our Princesses will protect us!" Foals. Cowering behind our skirts. We were your downfall, and yet you saw us as your strength. Innocent foals who knew not the terrors of the world. You retained your innocence until your untimely demise, little ones. We are sorry we couldn't protect you.

When the blood of the little ones fell like water from the sky, we did not nothing. When the little ones screamed for help, we did nothing. And now, we sit here and do nothing. What is your game, sister? Why wouldn't you let us help? Why did you watch countless ponies fall and die in front of you? Sister...

We miss you more than all the stars in the sky. We want to see you, one last time. We are so sorry sister.

And the Elements of Harmony- they did what we did not. They stood up to them, to the invaders. They took up swords and bows and spears, and clenched the shields they stripped off corpses, even though they did not know how. In that moment, I knew it was time for us to step down. For here were the new generation- here they were, defending the common folk, here they were, keeping their honor. They... they are the true heroes of that day. We saw ponies capable of so much more than us. So young... so innocent... they had not yet even experienced a war. And yet they took charge in the chaos and would have given their lives for a victory. The six heroes- the six heirs to our throne, when this was over. We have sat on the throne too long. And during this time, we changed nothing- but these ponies would give Equestria a new dawn. These were the six ponies of the legend. These were the Elements of Harmony.

The Element of Kindness, Fluttershy- we had never seen her like this. When we looked upon her, we saw a naive foal who thought the world was just as kind as her. Here she was dealing fatal blows left and right, her eyes closed. This was the first time we had seen her anger and her overprotective side. She was terrifying to watch.

The Element of Laughter, Pinkie Pie- she was not laughing, she was not smiling. She was merely stabbing and parrying the swords of the enemy. Her face wore an uncharacteristic scowl and her hair had lost it's curl. It was straight and smooth. Her eyes had in-containable fury.

The Element of Honesty, Applejack- she went into the front ranks with neither sword nor spear, but was using her brute strength to smash their skulls and snap their bones. Her stetson was splattered with the blood of hundreds. Her hind legs even more so.

The Element of Generosity, Rarity- she was impaling the enemy using her levitation magic. Spear after spear she launched, stabbed, and retrieved. Her mane was no longer in it's carefully maintained condition. It was wild and matted. Her usually pristine white coat glistened with blood, not all of it the enemies. She had several wounds on her legs.

The Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash- we couldn't watch her. She was too fast; she would take to the sky, divebomb the enemy, crush a few of them with the impact of her landing, and all that could be seen of her was a rainbow blur. At some point, one of her wings was injured and she was earth bound. She was even more ferocious for it.

And the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle- she was incredible. Her level of magic was beyond ours. She would use numerous spells all at once; blasting spells, teleportation and levitation of many weapons to name but a few. But she would also do this while flying and galloping and hollering out commands to the other ponies who joined them, although it was a negligible number. Her knowledge of the troops layout was impressive. In the blind blur of battle, she spurred the others to continue to fight.

We remember how it was. Twilight turned around in triumph; they had almost beaten back the enemy, with just six ponies against thousands. We saw her face go from happiness to horror. "Princess! Look ou-"

We felt something hit our chest; we looked down, and it was a spear. The spear went through our chest. A curious sensation, it was- to feel the thing that has killed you, to live the last moments before your death. The blood soaked our fur crimson. We remember feeling our eyes grow heavy, remember whispering "good luck" and remember closing our eyes for the last time. Yet, we could not have died, could we? We can still hear our thoughts. Is this death? Is death when you see nothing, hear nothing, smell nothing and taste nothing, but can hear your own thoughts? Is it sister?

Are you still alive, sister?

We have been here for years. We have grown tired of this imprisonment of the mind. It is about time, we finally break free of this null void. It is about time that we finally do something. We were still for so long. Yet the mind never rests. It is time for us to make our move.

We open our eyes.

And for the first time in centuries, we see.

We see a dark sky, raining droplets onto our face, and we feel the droplets cascade onto our mane, our eyes. It is rain. It is a sky. It is a world.

We are alive.

And sister, whether you be dead or alive, we will find you.