Many years ago, six ponies wielding the Elements of Harmony saved Equestria six times over. Nightmare moon was cast back into the body of Princess Luna, Discord was brought to a stone prison and the saved by the element of kindness, Queen Chrysalis and her army of changelings were defeated by the love they craved, King Sombra was defeated by the fire of friendship and love, and Tirek was sent back to Tartarus by the Elements. Years after the defeat of their foes, a peace settled throughout Equestria and the Elements were granted the time they needed to relax and settle in with their own families to focus on-

"Like their children and their fifth birthday," mom added to the story, messing up my mane in the process. I scrunched up my nose and batted at the hoof on my head,

"That's not how the story ends, there's still more to go," I pointed at all of the pages left in the story before looking at mom once more. She put a hoof to her chin and giggled, her long mane blowing in the small breeze. Mom looked at me, her purple eyes gleamed with pleasure and pride.

"You are definitely your father's son Mr Observant!" She told me as she went to mess up my mane again. I ducked and prepared to jump on her when a voice from behind me made me jump into the air in fear,

"you are just as observant if not more observant than I am" dad said, messing up my mane with a laugh.
"Not funny dad!" I squeaked out.

"Oh really well how about this?" He poked my side with a hoof tickling me.

"Hey! Not fair!" I laughed as he continued his assault making me squirm to get away. He lifted his head back and laughed as I finally got away. I pouted and turned away,

"Meanie butt!" I yelled. Then the sound of hoof prints approaching made me turn around to face the orange fur of my dad.

"Says the one calling ponies names," he told me as he lifted me off of my hooves and into the air with his own hooves. I felt another set of hooves grab me and take me higher as my mom flapped her own wings bringing us even higher. It wasn't long until dad flew up to us and hugged us tight, squishing me in between them.

All of a sudden they disappeared and I was falling, I looked at my hooves, I was grown up, and beneath me sat three creatures, only one looking like a pony. I felt magic grip me by my throat and watched an orange aura wrap around me. I stopped falling and came face to face with a beast with horns and eyes that shined with a fire of vengeance. He laughed a deep raspy laugh and I was thrown through the air towards another creature that was pony like but covered in holes and clear wings she gripped me with a sickly green magic and tossed me over to the pony that wore a king's robe. I stared into his eyes that reflected an image of me, one that was scared and powerless. He smiled,

"we...are...coming." all three laughed as they all charged towards me. I closed my eyes and screamed.

...............................................

"Duskshine! Duskshine, wake up!" I opened my eyes and saw my father who was sweating profusely.

"It was just a dream?" I asked as I looked around the room. I was in my bed, the dark orange comforters covering my own blue fur. I looked at my dad who looked alittle distraught, his armor was on which meant he was on duty.

"You had me worried there, kid, is everything alright?" I blinked away what little sleep I had left.

"I'm fine, just a nightmare." I told him as laid my head back on my pillow. He wiped the sweat off his forehead,

"well that's good at least it wasn't some-"

"mom was there," I interrupted.

"She was?" Dad questioned and sat on his haunches.

"Yeah it was my fifth birthday, and she was reading me a story about the Elements of Harmony, but then three creatures appeared and they all charged at me and that's when I woke up," I described, my heart still racing from it. My dad sighed before chuckling quietly,

"what a coincidence considering you turn eighteen today," he said as he stood back up.

"Huh?" I looked at him as he moved a wing and revealed a cake.

"Surprise!" I jumped as five ponies appeared in my room yelling the same thing my father had said. A blur of yellow and pink and brown jumped towards me, tackling me out of bed. I felt the blanket being pulled off of me as the blur turned into a pony, her face right in front of me.

"Neo! My floor is wood!" I said as my head throbbed. She giggled,

"sorry! I'm just so excited!" She replied and jumped off of me. An orange stallion walked up to me and held out a hoof with a smirk. I smiled and took it with my own and used his weight to lift myself up.

"Thanks Pippin," I told him with a smile. He nodded,

"don't mention it." He said with a deep accent.

I turned to face another pony, this one had a cocky grin and light blue fur.

"Finally! Only took ya all year to age up!" He told me as he leaned against the wall.

"Isn't that how long its supposed to take Blue?" A gentleman like pony questioned as he fixed his purple green tie. Blue looked at the pony,

"no...really I totally didn't know Em." He replied sarcastically. I looked at the two staring each other down.

"Emeraldlight and Blueblitz, cut it out not on Dusk's birthday," my dad told them as he moved in between them. Emerald flicked his green bangs back up onto his head and looked away while Blue snorted and turned away, his bright blue and red mane following his movement.

"Hey Dusk." A voice said above me. I looked up to see a pegasus flying above me.

"What are you doing up there?" I asked as she started to lower herself.

"I was avoiding Neo's incoming attack," she replied with a smile as she landed. She folded her cream colored wings and looked at the two behind bickering stallions behind me.

"Today is not the day for that," she said.

"Boys! That's enough!" She yelled and the two froze and stood up straight. I rubbed my ears,

"was that necessary?" She smiled sheepishly,

"sorry may have gotten carried away, but I'm gonna go handle those two, be back in a sec," she moved past me and looked at the two stallions that towered over her.

My father walked past her and up to me.

"What her mother lacked in social skills Silvermelody makes up for them," he told me.

"That would be Thunderlane's fault," I blamed the mare's father,

"he's been the one raising her so that's to be expected," dad replied as she turned and waved at us before turning back to Blueblitz who was trying to argue with her.

"I think we need to take this party to Sugarcube Corner with the Cake Twins, I have some work I need to do." I nodded and grabbed everyone's attention.

"Hey guys, we gotta leave my dad has some work to do in the castle," my friends all looked at me. I walked towards my door and turned back,

"come on, we gotta get going of we are gonna have fun," I told them as I left. I heard hoofsteps behind me soon after and we made our way to Sugarcube Corner.

...................................................

"I'm not being responsible for one of you two hurting the other, so cut it out!" Silvermelody yelled at the two stallions, now arguing about something else. She pushed a silver strand of her mane back to the rest of it as she turned back around. The Blueblitz and Emeraldlight fell silent as we entered the door to Sugarcube Corner, two ponies sat behind the counter, the mare wiping it down while the stallion struggled with a tall cake.

"Hey Neo!" The stallion said, finally putting the three layer cake down.

"Hey uncle! Guess whose birthday it is!" Neo questioned her uncle who came out from behind the counter.

"Well wouldn't it be Dusk's birthday since Silvermelody's was last month," Neo jumped in joy,

"we have a winner!" She fell back down.

"Well happy birthday kid!" The mare wiping the counter said with a smile. I nodded and went to a booth close by. Sugarcube corner had always looked like this to me, but apparently back when the Twins' parents were the owners it was rather small. Now it almost looked like a restaurant, tables everywhere, booths on all of the walls. I could only guess that since this was the home of the Elements of Harmony at some point that Ponyville attracted ponies from all over. I looked at the booth I was at, the rectangular table was between the cushioned seats and each could fit three ponies on them. I chose the window seat, as I was the first there and to let the mares out first when it was time to leave. Silvermelody sat next to me with Neo sitting next to her at the edge while Blueblitz sat in front of me with Pippin sitting in between him and Emeraldlight who sat at the edge. I turned to look out of the window for a sec only to be met by a pink tinted panel.

"That's new," I pointed at the window before realizing it was all over every window.

"We had a lot of customers complaining about the sun coming through too bright so we tinted the windows to help everypony out." Neo's uncle explained as he disappeared underneath the counter.

"Yeah silly! You act like it hasn't been here for a whole week!" Neo tried to ruffle my hair with a hoof.

"You forget that Dusk has been engrossed in his studies the past couple of weeks dearie," Emerald told the mare as he shifted in his seat. I turned red with embarrassment,

"yeah about that, sorry, I've just had a lot on mind recently." Silvermelody turned towards me with a confused look in her eye.

"Like what?" She asked.

I rubbed the back of my head and sighed,

"I've been having these reoccurring dreams recently, all of which end the same way but something different is always happening beforehoof," all five of them looked at me, expecting me to share.

"Who said I wanted to talk about them?"

"Well you kinda did when ya brought 'em up, so start talking," Blue exclaimed. I sighed,

"fine, I guess I owe all of you some explanation then. The first one I had was Neo's fifth birthday, all of us were there including our moms, then these three creatures showed up, only one was a pony but he didn't look right. After doing some studying I found out about dark magic so I can only assume that's what it was," I told them as they waited for me to continue. "Well when they appeared our moms gave us to our dads and then my mom brought all of them together and then there was this bright light and then I woke up," "every dream was similar until the one from last night," I put a hoof to my chin. "This last one didn't end the same way instead I was thrown around by the three and then they all said three words...we are coming."

They all looked at me with a mixture of fear and confusion. Blue was the first to speak,

"sounds like something Princess Luna would do to warn you, but nothing else has happened right, so maybe they are just bad dreams," he said leaning back.

"I guess, but even Luna wouldn't force him to have so many in a row, she's not a cruel princess," Emerald argued.

"But, she is a busy one," Silvermelody intervened,

"I mean think about all the ponies in Equestria and watching all of their dreams, she can only do so much," she finished. I nodded,

"hopefully, I don't think I can take another night of this," I went to lean back in my own chair before a loud BANG came from outside the building and shook the tables inside.

"What in Celestia was that!" Blue cried out, sitting back up. I tried to look through the window but the pink tinted glass was difficult to see through.

"I can't see through this glass, let's go outside," I waited for the mares to get up but Silvermelody didn't move, instead she looked at me.

"I don't know about this what if its those creatures you were just talking about?" I gave her a warm smile,

"we have to look, it's not like we are gonna be safe in here so come on, it could just be something my dad is doing." I reassured her. She sighed and slid out of the booth letting me go after her. I followed the rest of my friends out there and we could immediately see the source of the noise.

A clear bubble encircled all of Ponyville, and it flashed repeatedly from what look liked several beams of light on the edges, except for one. The last one was firing from inside the castle, my home.

"Guys, we need to get back to my place, my dad should know what's going on, maybe he can tell us," I could feel my heart start to race as a surge of panic and fear washed over me. More ponies were leaving their homes to see what was happening and the open path to the castle was starting to get crowded. "Come on, We have to beat the crowd!" I yelled as I ran for the castle, the others following me.

..............................................

"I don't need you trying to lecture me, he is still not ready!" My father yelled from behind the two large doors that led to the throne room. I looked at my friends,

"something is definitely wrong, my dad never yells unless it is to some new guards or other guards breaking some form of rules," I told them as I enveloped the handles with my navy blue magic and pushed the doors open.

"-he will have time on the journey to-"

"dad!" I interrupted the other pony in the room.

"Oh thank Celestia, I thought you had gone out of Ponyville!" He ran down the stairs of the throne he was just sitting on and hugged me. He was still wearing his armor from earlier, except the helmet was now different, a blue metal was where his mane should have been.

"No we didn't leave Sugarcube corner until the bubble came out of nowhere," I told him as I stepped back from the hug.

"Right, about that, we are kind of under seige," I looked at him,

"by who?" He sighed and stepped back, the blue metal on his helmet glowed and a light protruded from the helmet and made a square. My eyes widened. It was the three creatures from my dreams.

"Wait I thought our mother's destroyed those three years ago," Emeraldlight spoke up.

"Yeah, didn't our moms use the Elements on them, and well sacrifice themselves to save Equestria in the process," Neo added while doing a cartwheel. My dad opened his mouth but then closed it,

"dad what's-"

"he's been keeping a secret from you, all of you," the pony that was still in the room told us, walking through the picture and past my father.

The pony had no color on him but his eyes, which were amber colored, the rest of him was just black, from his fur to his mane, even his cutiemark, which was a black heart, was a lighter shade of black.

"Who are you?" I asked the pony.

"This is Blackheart, an old friend of mine," my dad said, shoving his way past Blackheart.

"Is that what you call it Sentry?"

"I guess I need to tell you all what is going on, the truth," he ignored the stallion. "I don't know how to put this, but your mothers aren't dead, they are in hiding." I felt my heart drop.

"What, what do you mean?" Silvermelody questioned. My dad looked down in what I could only assume was shame.

"Around Dusk's fifth birthday, Celestia called upon the Elements to put them into hiding until the time was right for them to return, when Equestria's greatest threats joined together. She-"

"you are kidding right, all these years of believing our mothers are dead, that they sacrificed themselves to save all of Equestria!" I yelled, cutting him off, my face turning red with anger.

"She believed that if the enemy thought they were dead that they would appear sooner and stronger in fear of a new group of ponies playing the role of the Elements!" He yelled back, tears streaming down his face. Blackheart stepped forward and with a loud stomp of his hoof made everypony in the room fall silent.

"You think that all of you were the only ones that suffered, nopony was allowed any contact with them, and your fathers had to lie to keep them hidden, do not blame them, if anything blame Princess Celestia. Her plan was foolish as now the Elements have no means of knowing-"

"she is not foolish!" My father countered, "she had a plan just in case the Elements could not be reached." He turned and lifted a cushion of the throne and pulled out a slip of paper. He made his way back to us and I took the slip from his hoof.

A golden text flashed on the strip.

Equality by design, true kindness in it's center, you will find me there.

I read aloud.

"That would be your mother's fault, she has always had a thing for riddles," Blackheart shook his head took the slip in his own amber colored magic.

"And you, have always been bad at riddles, kindness is one of the Elements and only one pony could wield that one, Fluttershy." Silvermelody looked up,

"my mom?" Blackheart nodded.

"Sure looks like it, I also have an idea of where she will be, the first verse sounds like a place I know fondly," he told us, passing the riddle back to me. "We are going to have quite a journey ahead of us though, but first we are going to head to my cabin in the Everfree Forest, everything we need is there."

"Wait we, what are you saying?" Emeraldlight asked.

"We are going to find your mothers and the Elements of Harmony, is that going to be a problem?" Emerald looked at the rest of us.

"Well don't you think that all this is going to be dangerous, I mean do we even know where these three are coming from?" He did raise a point, for all we knew they were already in the forest.

"From what I have been told they are coming from the south with an army of changelings," my dad said.

"changelings? I thought a pony saved all of them a long time ago," Silvermelody replied.

"not all of them, fortunately only the Queen decided against Harmony, but unfortunately she is a Queen, she probably reproduced these over time to build an army for her revenge." Blackheart explained, in the whole few minutes I had known him, I noticed he had shown very little emotion.

"I know I'm not the smartest pony here but I'm pretty sure the Everfree Forest is south of Ponyville," Blueblitz finally spoke up, his face had tears running down his face, but he spoke confidently, he knew his mom way more than any of us knew ours, he is the oldest along with Pippin. Blackheart walked past us,

"you are correct it would be wise to get moving then, considering that it is only going to get more dangerous." He left all of us in the room alone.

I looked at my dad,

"are you coming too?" My dad looked up and shook his head.

"I wish I could Dusk, but I have to protect Ponyville until you all return, hopefully with the Elements of Harmony, until then I am going to be sending for help from other creatures such as the changelings and the griffins," he told me as he turned and made his way back to the throne. "And son?" I looked back up, "don't think I didn't tell you without a reason, it killed me every day to not say anything," he said as he finished his climb and sat on the throne. I smiled and nodded before looking at my friends.

"Come on we don't have much time to waste," I took off after Blackheart, a mix of emotions flowing through me. I looked to my left and right as my friends joined me, we were all feeling different things, but I knew we could do this.

Don't worry mom, I'm on my way!

Author's Note

So this is actually a rewrite of a story that I had already written back when I was younger, so I felt like I needed to redo especially since the show is coming to an end, speaking of which, this takes place after season 6 but before 7 and onward with a few twists that changed the past. Otherwise this is Silvermoon signing off...PEACE OUT!