Shining in the Darkness

“ ‘Important captain stuff,’ huh?” A familiar southern drawl came from behind him. He spun around to see Applejack standing there. “Looks to me like you’re just mulling over the recent past.” She stared at him with a piercing gaze that made Shining feel as if his soul was being searched. “Yer hidin’ something from Twi, aren’t ya?”

Shining sighed. “I guess I can’t really hide anything from the one who bears the Element of Honesty… It’s just that… it’s been three months since my wedding to Cadance, and I still feel horrible about the way I treated Twily after her… well, outburst.”

Applejack remembered well the disappointment they had all felt when Twilight burst into the hall, declaring “Cadance” evil. She also remembered how horrible they all felt when they realized that she had been right. Knowing this, she tried to comfort Shining Armor. “Don’t be so hard on yerself. We all acted that way, and yah more than made up for it later. Besides, Ah suspect you weren’t exactly yerself for most of that anyway, what with being under that Changeling’s brainwashin’ magic and all…”

“That’s just it, though!” Shining Armor shouted, startling Applejack and a few random passersby. Realizing this, he lowered his voice. “Up until right before the fake ceremony, the brainwashing only lasted a few seconds, just long enough for me to forget about any suspicions I was having. I meant everything I said to Twilight, and worse, I… I hated her for saying such things. And that’s not even getting into what happened later…”

“And what exactly DID happen later?” Applejack questioned him.

Shining sighed. “I can’t tell you that,” he replied, trying to avoid the farm pony’s gaze.

“Yah must’ve told Princess Cadance,” AJ pointed out. “And if she could forgive yah for whatever happened, Ah’m sure yer sister could as well. Families are supposed to talk to each other about these things. If they don’t…” She paused. “…If they don’t, they may never get the chance to.”

Shining stood there silently for a moment. Then he smiled. “You’re right,” he conceded. “Thank you.”

“Glad Ah could help,” AJ responding, smiling. “Now, we’d better head over to that tower so we can get this whole mess sorted out.”

+++++++++++++

Havok, who had been lying down in his cell, suddenly sat up. “It’s time,” he whispered, before breaking the chains that held him and teleporting out of the cell, knocking out the two guards before they could sound the alarm.

“Now, where was I? Oh, yes…” he whispered before teleporting straight to the castle vault.

+++++++++++++++++++++

“And then the sea ponies made me their chief.”

Cadance, who had taken Twilight and the rest of their friends to the tower where they would all be staying (which happened to be the tower Twilight had lived in before moving to Ponyville), had just finished telling them a story about a strange adventure she had had when she was a filly.

“Soooo… what happened to the cake ninjas?” Pinkie Pie asked, still eating from a bag of popcorn that she had mysteriously pulled out of thin air.

“Oh, now THAT’S an even more interesting story… A completely different story, at that,” came a familiar voice from behind them. The six of them turned and saw Applejack and Shining Armor standing in the doorway.

“Where have you two been?” Twilight asked, noticing that Shining Armor seemed to be in a much better mood.

“Ah was just havin’ a little chat with him about… certain events,” Applejack replied, nudging Shining Armor.

“Yeah, just talking…” Shining Armor noted. “Listen, Twily, I need to talk to you about something…”

Suddenly, a loud alarm began ringing throughout the entire palace. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the vault.

“It’ll have to wait,” Twilight said, giving the Elements of Harmony to her friends and placing her own Element of Magic on her head. “That’s the sound the spell was supposed to make if the vault was broken into again. We need to hurry!”

The six Element bearers, Shining Armor, and Cadance made a mad dash for the Vault…

++++++++++++++++++

The Canterlot Vault housed many magical artifacts that the Princesses had found over the centuries. One artifact Luna particularly enjoyed taking out when she was bored was a small ruby that, when activated, caused the target to do the most embarrassing thing possible. The particularly fun part about this ruby is that it causes each pony to do something completely different, tailored to whatever the pony would find the most embarrassing thing. When Twilight and her friends had been in the vault earlier, Pinkie Pie had accidentally zapped Rainbow Dash with this ruby, causing her to lose her wings for five seconds (they reappeared moments later). There was also a golden locket shaped like a quarter of a heart, though it seemed that the rest of it had broken off at some point.

None of these items mattered to Havok as he made his way to his real prize. Discord’s statue was in the center of the room. His face was still frozen in terror from the last time Twilight and her friends had fought them.

“Soon, master… very soon…” Havok whispered to himself as his horn began glowing a sickly shade of green. In a white flash much like Discord’s own teleportation, the statue draconequus disappeared from the room.

“HEY, YOU!” a mare’s voice came from the vault’s entrance. Havok spun around to see Twilight, the other Elements of Harmony, Shining Armor, and Princess Cadance standing there, giving him glares that would’ve melted solid steel.

“Just where do you think YOU’RE going?” Twilight yelled at the chaos user. “And where’s the statue?”

Havok grinned, looking rather pleased with himself despite the eight ponies bearing down on him, Elements primed and ready for use. “You’re too late. I’ve already teleported my master’s form to my lair in the Chaos World, where I shall free him unchallenged, and chaos shall reign over this land once more.”

“We’re not giving you the chance, you freak!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“Ready, girls?” Twilight asked her friends, the gem in her tiara beginning to glow.

“READY!” the other five Element bearers exclaimed as their own gems did the same. They got into the same formation that had served them well against Nightmare Moon and Discord, and began to float off the floor, eyes glowing a furious shade of white. Almost immediately, a giant rainbow sprang forth from the six ponies, heading straight for the chaos mage.

What happened next was something Shining Armor, nor anypony in all of Equestria, could have anticipated. Havok’s horn began to glow, and with a wave of his hoof, he stopped the rainbow wave in its tracks and deflected it back at the six ponies. The shockwaves sent the six of them flying in different directions.

“What… the hay… just happened?” Twilight Sparkle panted, the wind nearly knocked out of her from the blast. “Our friendship… is still… strong…”

Havok gave a quiet laugh. “You honestly thought mere fragments such as those could stop me?” He began to gallop towards the exit, only to be stopped by Shining Armor and Cadance.

“Did you forget about us?” Cadance asked, preparing a beam spell.

“Ah, the lovely princess Cadance, or was it Mi Amore Cadenza? Chrysalis was a little unclear. No matter.” Havok’s horn glowed once more, and he suddenly launched a green stream of fire from his hoof. The heat was too much for her, and she soon fell unconscious.

“CADANCE!” Shining Armor screamed, running to her side and catching her as she fell to the ground. He glared at the chaos mage. “You’ll pay for that.”

“And what can YOU do? I’ve already proven that I can withstand the Elements of Harmony. What chance, then, do you have?” Havok suddenly fell to his knees, his chest giving off sparks of electricity. “I guess I didn’t deflect that blast quite right after all… Well, I’ve wasted enough time here as it is. I’ll just recover my strength in the Chaos World, and then I can get on with bringing my master back. Goodbye, Captain Armor. I’ll let you all live for now, but the next time we meet, I won’t be so merciful.” With that, Havok teleported himself away in a white flash, leaving his foes behind.

Twilight and the others came up to the two, having recovered from their shock. The purple unicorn looked at her unconscious foalsitter with worry.

“We need to get her to the medical wing,” Shining Armor explained, carrying his wife on his back. “Once she’s recovered, we need to figure out what we can do to stop this threat.”