One week had passed since the revelation that her first born could save Equestria. The Prince, as he was calling himself, had been on high alert since noon the day before. He hadn’t indicated exactly how long they had, but Twilight sincerely hoped it was at least long enough that any baby they would have to have would at least get to grow up. She still couldn’t quite wrap her head around it. “A baby… I have to have a baby in order to stop Nox… am I even ready to be a mother? Will I ever be ready? According to Celestia, I’ll live forever now that I’m an Alicorn. That means I have forever to decide if I ever want to have children. But am I ready now?” she thought to herself.

Hearing the gentle clicking of claws on the floor outside, she stopped pacing and turned to the door as it swung open. One of the guards, whose name she still hadn’t learned, carried in her meal. “I got what you requested.” He said as he carried in the tray with an oat burger and hay fries from her favorite restaurant in Ponyville. Blinking, she looked at him and noticed his form wavering. One moment, he looked like a wolf, the next, he looked like a unicorn with a bluish green coat, a dark blue mane, and bright blue eyes. The next, he was yet another wolf.

She kept quiet but nodded as he carried it over and set the tray on the table beside her. She watched him out the corner of her eye as he left. When he was leaving, she sat up and looked at the tray. An oat burger and hay fries with a drink. Her usual order. “Why?” She asked and he paused.

“My king ordered us to make you comfortable. Making you comfortable means feeding you your favorite food and giving you comforting sheets and mattress. Instead of just leaving you in the cells on a mattress of hay with a single rag for a blanket.” He said and she stared at his back. “If it were my choice, you wouldn’t be staying here. You’d be feeding our soldiers so they could attack your friends. But my king ordered us to leave you be save to bring you meals.” He said and she sighed. “Have a good day, Princess.” She didn’t bother asking her other question as he left the room, the door closing behind him.

Once she was sure he was out of ear shot, she sat down next to her tray of food and stared at the burger. “Why would he be kind to me after killing my parents…?” She asked out loud, knowing the guard wouldn’t hear her. Not that he was really a guard. She was free to walk around the castle as she pleased, as long as she didn’t leave the area. She could go to the barracks, though she had a guard with her when she did. She could go to the kitchens, or to the throne room. Thankfully she was allowed to go to the bathroom unsupervised.

“I love my home. My friends, my family, everyone. If I go through with this… they’ll be saved… but I’ll lose my first child… he said it would take a blood sacrifice… he would have to kill his child… MY child… to use the spell…” she thought to herself as she levitated the oat burger over and took a bite. Despite not really being all that hungry, she honestly did want to take the edge off. The wolves didn’t exactly eat oats. It seemed that at least one of them had traveled to the city where she and her friends had met Capper. Being that a lot of the creatures there were carnivorous, they traded gold for meat.

Either that or the wolves threw their weight around and forced the dwellers of that city to hand over supplies. From what Twilight had seen, the wolves were very strong. From her window, she’d seen several of them carry a giant boulder into the courtyard below and break it into smaller chunks, which they then chiseled down into bricks to rebuild the walls and some of the smaller buildings. They were turning the Castle of the Two Sisters, as well as the smaller buildings within its borders, into a livable, defensible castle once again.

“If I don’t go through with this… Nox will kill everyone… my friends, Shining Armor, Cadence, Celestia, Luna, Flurry Heart…” She thought to herself as she bit into the hay burger. Blinking, she pulled it back and lifted the bun. It was made exactly the way she’d order it. Medium cook with lettuce and tomato and a little bit of ranch to sauce it. “How did… they know what I’d order…?” she thought to herself. Looking at the drink, she replaced the bun and took a drink of her beverage and blinked. Carrot juice. Her favorite drink from the Hay Burger.

Shaking her head sharply, she went back to her considerations. Yes, having a child with the Prince would save her friends and the rest of her family, as well as her entire planet, but it would mean her first child would lose its life. Weighing the options in her mind, she mentally thought up a scale. One the one hoof, having a child was her dream. Getting married and raising a family was just one of her dreams, and one that she could fulfil sooner than she’d thought. Even if it did mean her world would die. On the other hoof, her world would die if she didn’t let her first child be sacrificed to power a spell that would seal away Nox. He hadn’t said exactly what the spell would do, but sealing seemed to be the gist of most of the spells she’d ever seen.

Thinking back on it, the prince hadn’t said he would marry her. Just that he needed her to bare his child, who he would then kill in order to protect Equestria. Which would mean he’d get her pregnant, she’d have the baby, and he’d then kill the baby in order to stop Nox and save Equestria. Sucking in a breath, she finished her meal and set the tray to the side before standing up and walking to the door. Pushing it open, she stepped outside and immediately stopped. Across the hall, on either side of a door that mirrored hers, were two guards. “The king is in the audience chamber.” One of them said.

She nodded as she turned and walked down the hall, peeking over her shoulder. They didn’t follow. All they did was watch until she was out of sight. As soon as she was around the corner, she looked around as she walked. This was the first time seeing the castle in good repair. It had been a while since she actually saw the tapestries in perfection, the walls were restored to perfection, and even the throne had been repaired. To the side of the throne room was her destination. An audience chamber, were the king held court and made official decisions.

Walking to the door, she stopped and peeked inside, hoping that he’d be alone so they could talk. No such luck, as she found he was in a meeting with his own soldiers. What they could be talking about, she had no idea, but whatever it was, they were intent on a map sitting on the table in front of them. Sitting outside the door, she waited until they were done, hoping he’d be in a decent mood. Hearing an explosion inside the room, she peeked through the crack in the door and her eyes widened. There was a smoldering ruin on one side of the table, smoke rising from the palm of one of the other soldiers. A mage, clearly.

“Does anyone else wish to question our king? If so, speak now and your death will be swift and painless.” She said and Twilight blinked. Someone had questioned him? About what? “Now then… if that is the last interruption, your majesty was saying…”

“Ponyville needs protection. Without the Elements of Harmony, Nox will return. He will likely target the last ponies to be connected to the Elements, which means Princess Twilight’s friends.” He said and Twilight blinked. “However, as I’m sure you know, when I changed to this, I attempted to kill the Barers. I very nearly succeeded with Applejack, and Pinkie Pie.”

“Why, if I may ask your Majesty?” One of them asked and he looked at the inquirer.

“It was my first time not feeling weak. The first time I felt I could do anything. I wanted to prove to myself that I could, and so I destroyed the Elements. At least the gems containing their magic.” He said and the one who asked the question nodded. “As you well know, magic cannot be destroyed. It merely changes vessels if it requires one. Without the Elements knowing themselves, Nox has free reign to return to Equestria and attempt to destroy it. We can’t let that happen for two reasons. One, if he destroys Equestria, he will have the power to open a gateway between realms and enter a new reality, destroying worlds as he goes. Two, we live here and we can’t survive in the vacuum of space.”

“What do you mean by the elements knowing themselves? The Elements of Harmony were pretty straight forward. Magic, Laughter, Generosity, Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty. It doesn’t get much more straight forward than that.” One of them said and Twilight nodded silently. He was right. One couldn’t get any more straight-forward than magic itself, laughter incarnate, generosity given shape, kindness given form, loyalty to no end, and honesty without fault.

“Magic can be twisted. It can be good or evil. It’s also not the purest thing in the world. To stop Nox, we need purity. Laughter can be corrupt. You can be too generous, too kind, too loyal, and too honest.” He said and Twilight blinked. He was right. She’d seen at least magic twisted in many different ways. Sombra, Tirek, Chrysalis, Nightmare Moon, even the nightmare she’d had about Celestia’s nightmare form, Daybreaker. All of them could be magic corrupted. Even Starlight and Sunset. Trixie had proven that magic could be corrupted by putting on the Alicorn Amulet. But what could the other elements be corrupted as?

Even as the thought crossed her mind, she knew. Flim and Flam had taken Applejack’s honesty and Fluttershy’s kindness and twisted them to benefit themselves. Lightning Dust had used Rainbow Dash’s loyalty against her. Suri Polomare had used Rarity’s generosity against her and even Cheese Sandwich, though subtly, had used Pinkie’s joy against her. Even if he hadn’t really meant to, Cheese Sandwich had twisted Pinkie Pie’s laughter, almost making her give up her home. All of the elements could be corrupted and twisted to benefit some ponies self instead of those around them.

“Magic’s truest self is Sorcery. Laughter’s truest self is Joy. Honesty’s truest self is Truth. Loyalty’s truest self is Devotion. Generosity’s truest self is Selflessness. Kindness’s truest self is Care. If we can discover the ones holding those six Pure Elements, Nox can be stopped.” The prince said and Twilight sat down, her mind reeling.

“Six pure elements. Elements even stronger than the Elements of Harmony… but… Celestia would have told me… wouldn’t she?” Twilight thought to herself. Sucking in a breath, she stared at the wall across from the door. “Sorcery, Joy, Truth, Devotion, Selflessness, and Care… I thought I’d learned everything I could about the Elements…” closing her eyes, she lowered her head and opened them slowly, staring at the floor.

“When do we start?”

Author's Note

To those of you who are giving me dislikes, I would very much like to know WHY you dislike the stories. I can't improve if I don't know what you aren't liking.