Keepers

Flain's eyes blinked open. Everything around him was white. There was no sound until he pulled himself up. The sound of his hooves and body shifting echoed through the vast, empty space. He looked at the ground and found that he couldn't tell what was the air and what was solid ground. It was so white nothing could be distinguished.

Flain looked around cautiously as his memory came back to him. We're supposed to be in trials... is this the start of them? He thought.

Suddenly there was the sound of shifting, and hoof steps. Flain turned around and saw the other three getting up off the invisible ground. Aevum was the first to see Flain.

"It looks like we were sent here when we entered the light." Flain said. "There must be something significant about this place." Aevum said. Their voices echoed and reverberated around them.

"Cael, Madia. Come over here. We should stick together." Flain said calling to the mare's. They hurried over to join their companions. "What happens next?" Cael asked. "This is the part where I apologize." A female voice said.

The four looked around wildly, trying to find the source of the voice. "Apologize? For what?" Cael asked the air. "For me and my husbands behaviour and our failure to defend our kingdom." The voice explained.

Flain's eyes widened slightly. "Queen Alaria?" He said questioningly. Suddenly the familiar white and orange alicorn materialized in front of him. "Hello Keepers, and welcome to your trials." She said.

The four of them bowed respectfully. "You no longer bow to me, keepers. It is I who should bow to you." She said to them. Flain found himself suddenly standing upright again. "You four have already surpassed me and my husband, and you haven't even learned how to use your powers correctly." The mare pointed out.

"Your majesty, I-" Cael began to say. "Please, I am no longer a queen. Address me by my name Alaria. Also, do not feel bad for not helping us. You need to survive anyway." She told them.

"I have come to explain to you about the trials. You each will have your own individual trials to complete. Each will focus on one's power. However as you know you must work together to use your powers to their best." Alaria explained to them.

"This is why you will all go together into the trials. To complete the trials you must make it to a crystal matching your element colour. Each element has it's suitable colour. Red it time, green is space, purple is dream, blue is law." She continued.

"You will start with the trial of law. The trials will be based on a location and environment you fear or hate most." Flain sighed. Perfect... I already know what mine is going to be then. He thought to himself.

"I will be watching and telling you what the requirements of each trial is. You have to figure out what it is based on what I say." Alaria told them. "I thought you said we had to find the jewel of our colour?" Aevum asked. "That's only the physical goal. There's a goal that each of you must complete for yourself. You'll know when you've figured it." She answered.

"Finally, this is the worst part. If you die in the trials, you will not return to Equestria. You will be dieing for real and your body will remain here in this place."

Alaria lifted up off the ground with her wings, and floated above them. "Good luck keepers. I know you can do it." She said. With that she vanished in a flash of light.

"So this trial's whole purpose is to go against us." Flain said. "And we need to discover something about ourselves to succeed." Madia said. "At the same time we have to make it through and find the crystals, using our elements to help us and each other." Aevum said. "Finally, if we die in the trial, we fail and don't unlock our true power, and die for real." Cael finished.

"Then failing is obviously not an option. Are we ready?" Aevum asked the group. They all nodded.

Moments later a powerful wind struck them. Flain braced himself against the hurricane force winds as the white world transformed around them.

When the wind stopped, the environment had gone from completely white, to full of colour. This colour wasn't pleasent to Flain however. The ground was rocky and red, and it was hot. Looking around Flain quickly figured out the environment.

It was a rocky mountainous land, filled with lakes of lava. Boulders and hills of rock scattered around the landscape. They were standing on a flat plateau of rock. Across the ledge was a large lave pool.

"Just perfect..." Flain mumbled. "Is this your least favorite environment Flain? Rough and hot?" Aevum asked. "I wasn't expecting it to be both." Flain responded.

Of course it would be an environment with less life. Really defeats my powers when it comes to giving people energy from life. Flain complained in his mind. Madia looked at him concerned. He figured she must have read those thoughts.

Flain looked out across the pool of lava. There was a broken bridge, and on the other side was a cave. Suddenly Cael appeared on the other side. "I can get across easily, but it takes me a lot of energy to teleport multiple ponies." She called to them across the ledge.

"There isn't enough life in this place for me to restore your energy. I would have to give it to you from some one else." Flain said to her. Aevum walked up to the broken bridge. Flain followed.

The bridge was a suspension bridge, meaning it was wood and rope. It likely couldn't take the heat and burned.

Flain closed his eyes and began thinking about the different things his powers could potentially do. Energy... Weather... Physics... Gravity... Flain opened his eyes. Gravity. He could effect his own gravity and walk or float across.

Flain looked over the edge, hiding his nervousness and putting on a brave face. He took a deep breath and focused his magic. He took a step out over the open air. There was a split second where Flain thought he was about to fall, but then his foot stopped.

He looked down. He was standing on thin air. "Be careful Flain." Aevum said standing on the ledge. Flain nodded and slowly stepped across the air, focusing his magic on his body and his feet.

He had caused gravity for him to have no meaning, so he could completely control his own movements. It took almost all his focus though.

Flain looked up to see how close he was. Cael was nervously watching him, and he was about half way there. No turning back now. He thought to himself.

Unfortunately, that thought and moment where he looked up was enough to break his concentration. He felt his weight return to him and he went falling towards the lava.

He heard Cael yell "No!" Flain looked up and saw her leaning over the edge to jump. "Wait, stop!" Flain called up as he thought of something. He remembered how the temperature changed back in Equestria earlier, and realized that was something law had power over.

His horn lit up and he focused his magic on the lava below him. He braced himself for the impact and landed in the lava.

Flain's eyes were squeezed shut, he felt cold, like he had just jumped into a lake back in Equestria. Only this was much thicker. Without opening his eyes, Flain swam to the surface and popped out taking a huge breath.

He opened his eyes and looked around. He was swimming in the lava, but it was cool like the ocean. He almost laughed to himself after that, orange lava dripping down his face. He felt a little tired after that, but he didn't care. He had survived.

"Flain, I'll get you out of there." Cael said. "Is it safe to come down?" Flain nodded as he floated in the lava. "Don't worry, it's cool as water now." He called up. Cael dived from the top of the cliff and landed in the lava beside him. When she surfaced, she shook her head sending orange drips off her mane. "This is so weird..." She said.

She put her hoof on Flain and there was a flash of green light. A second later they were standing on the cliff where the cave was. "Flain, you alright?" Aevum called over. Madia had a look of relief on her face, and Aevum looked a little confused.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I used my powers to make the lava cool." Aevum smiled. "I didn't know your powers could do that." Aevum said. "Neither did I until right before I hit the lava."

"How are you guys going to get across?" Cael said. She was panting a little bit. Probably from teleporting Flain with her. "I think I might have an idea." Aevum said.

He closed his eyes and his horn began to glow red. The collapsed bridge glowed red as well. A transparent red clock appeared above the collapsed bridge, and the hands spun backwards. Aevum stumbled a moment but he regained his footing. The bridge suddenly seemed to break down in reverse. The bridge rose up and joined together. Flames burned on it for a moment, but they died down, and the bridge's charred wood and rope turned as good as new.

Aevum opened his eyes and sighed. The red glow and clock disappeared, and the bridge sat there like it had never happened. Madia and Aevum walked across the now repaired bridge and met up with the others.

"What did you do?" Cael asked. "I turned back time for the bridge. Used a little more energy than I wanted though." He said panting.

"Alright, let's head into the cave." Flain said. The keepers entered the cave and looked around. Sure enough, there was more lava scattered around. There were platforms scattered around and the occasional island. At the end was a large crystal coming up out of the ground, coloured blue.

"That must be what we're looking for." Flain said. "First things first let's take care of the lava." He focused his magic on the rivers of lava flowing around them. However when he did he discovered it was using far more energy than last time. He had to stop after a while because he didn't want to lose all his energy just for that.

"I can't do it. Something is wrong, this lava is different." Flain told them. Madia looked at it a moment. "Hm, it's enchanted. You can't effect it." Madia said. Oh come on! Flain said in his mind. He kept his cool though settled with a sigh.

Examining their surroundings, Flain realized the platforms were too far apart to jump. It would be too risky to use the air walk with how close they were to the lava. The only one that hadn't used any energy so far was Madia, and there wasn't much she could do. Or was there?

"Madia, is there anything you can do with your imagination to help?" Flain asked. "Well... I might be able to make more platforms. I'll try." She offered.

Madia's horn glowed purple, and the lava began shifting around a certain spot. Suddenly Cael walked along side her and began using her magic. The lava spun like a current at one spot, and came together and hardened.

Madia let out a breath. "Thank you Cael." She said to the blue pony beside her. "Space can do more than destroy things." Cael said to her.

"All that energy though, for just one platform. This isn't going to work..." Madia said disappointed.

"I only know of one possible alternative. One of us could give our remaining energy to Cael and we can teleport over. It would be risky though." Flain offered. "Alright, I'll do it. I have the most energy out of all of us." Madia said.

Flain's heart skipped a beat when she said that. Flain never liked showing emotion. He thought showing too much emotion made you look week. That's why he generally avoided people when he was in an emotional situation.

However Flain had been watching and following Aevum and Madia for some time before he joined up with them. He had been in Canterlot when they arrived and watched them talking with the magician through a window.

Flain hated to admit it, but he had grown attached to Aevum and Madia. Flain also knew Madia was the youngest of them, and that it would be risky for her.

He struggled with himself about how to respond. He didn't want to show them that he cared for her, but he was afraid she might die in the trials. Flain finally decided he wasn't willing to risk that.

"No, I'll do it. You're too young, you might not be able to make it." Flain told Madia. "Flain, your only a couple months older than me!" She said to him. "I'll do it, I'm the oldest other than Cael." Aevum said. "You don't have enough energy, you would die." Flain pointed out.

"Flain, please let me do it. I have the best chance of survival." Madia tried to convince him. "It's too risky for either of you at this point!" Flain responded, his annoyance starting to show. "Flain, why are you being so stubborn about this-" Cael was saying. "Because I don't want any of you to die!" Flain interrupted her yelling.

There was a silent pause where everyone stared in shock at Flain's sudden reaction. Flain looked back at them, his face no longer hiding anything. He was angry, and cared for his friends. He wasn't about to let any one of them die.

"Cael, I'm giving you my remaining energy. Get ready." Flain said. Without waiting for a response, Flain crouched into a ready position and focused his magic. He could feel his energy draining from him as he sent it all to Cael.

His legs began to shake as he began to lose the energy to stand. Finally, he couldn't do it anymore without losing consciousness and stopped, causing him to collapse to the ground. Madia immediately ran over. "Flain! Are you all right?" She asked.

Flain was barely aware of it. He didn't even have the energy to speak. He could barely breath.

Suddenly a green light surrounded them and everything went silent. In an instant they were suddenly in front of the large blue crystal. Flain panted and heaved as he tried to stay awake.

"Flain, I had no idea you were so caring. You never showed it." Madia said to him. He couldn't respond. He was too tired. "All this time you weren't so blunt after all." Aevum said walking up to him.

Cael was on the ground too, but she was just resting. "Flain, you almost killed yourself." Cael said between deep breaths. "Next time, let me just use my own energy."

Suddenly Flain could feel his energy returning to him. "W-what the..." He said out loud. He pulled himself up of the ground shortly after. He saw Cael had already gotten up.

"Our energy returned to us..." Cael said. "What happened?" Aevum asked confused. Suddenly a female voice spoke.

"Keeper of Law. Place your hoof on the crystal." Flain looked around a moment, then approached the large blue crystal. He placed his hoof on it. The crystal flashed, and lit up. "Keeper of Law. What is it you have discovered about yourself." The voice said.

Flain thought back to every one's reactions to what he did. "I realized emotion doesn't make you weak. In fact, it can make you stronger, and be more respected by others. That is the hidden truth the riddle spoke about back in the cave in Equestria." Flain said.

Suddenly the powerful wind blew again, and the world transformed. The lava, rocks and crystal all turned white and vanished.

The wind died, and they found themselves back in the white place. "Flain, you have succeeded in the trials. It was I who returned you and your friends energy." Alaria materialized in front of them.

“What a fool I was. Emotions don’t make a weakness. In fact, having emotions and not showing them makes you weaker.” Flain said. “I shouldn’t have hid them from everyone.”

Aevum sighed. “Flain, I could tell you were hiding your emotions from the start. When the princesses found out about their parents, you were fighting back tears. In fact you turned away from us to avoid being seen.” Aevum said to Flain.

Flain thought back to that moment. He was right of course. His eyes had watered from how everything was going at the time. He couldn’t stand seeing the princesses like that at their age.

“You saw that huh?” Flain said smiling a little. “I saw it, and immediately knew you were hiding something.” Aevum said.

“Either way, you have successfully passed the trial of law. The next trial, is the trial of dream? Are you prepared?” The once queen of Equestria asked.

Madia stepped forward. “I’m ready.” She said.

Alaria nodded, and disappeared in a flash of light. The familiar blast of wind struck them as the world transformed around them.